Bato: Rody to unmask more cops in drugs

Transcription

Rody: 5PNP execs in drugs
Police officials deny Duterte accusation
Chief Supt. Bernardo Diaz, Deputy Director General Marcelo Garbo, Vicente Loot, Chief Supt. Joel Pagdilao and Chief
Supt. Edgardo Tinio.
CLARK FREEPORT—Moving his antidrug campaign
forward, President Duterte
named five former and active
directors of the Philippine National Police as drug lord coddlers, and ordered them investigated and the active officers
relieved of their posts.
The five are retired Deputy
Director General Marcelo Garbo; retired Chief Supt. Vicente
Loot who is now mayor of
Daanbantayan in Cebu province; Chief Supt. Joel Pagdilao,
who until July 4 was head of the
National Capital Region Police
Office; Chief Supt. Edgardo Tinio, the former director of the
Quezon City Police District;
and Chief Supt. Bernardo Diaz,
the former Western Visayas
director who is temporarily
assigned at the Camp Crame
headquarters.
Please turn to Page 9
Mike Arroyo wants NPA rebs still the
enemy--AFP chief
case junked
FORMER first gentleman Jose
Miguel Arroyo asked the Sandiganbayan antigraft court on
Tuesday to throw out a corruption case against him over the
scuttled $329-million national
broadband network project
with China’s ZTE Corp., calling it an “inexistent, victimless
crime” whose key witness was
motivated by “biblical envy.”
Arroyo argued for his acquittal as he moved to discredit
one of the whistle-blowers in
the case, Jose “Joey” De Venecia III, son and namesake of
the former House Speaker, as
a disreputable witness, whose
claims the prosecution had
failed to corroborate.
CLARK
FREEPORT—The
Armed Forces of the Philippines still classifies the communist New People’s Army
(NPA) as an enemy of the state
pending its return to the negotiation table, the new AFP chief
said here on Tuesday.
“Until there is no formal
resumption of peace talks, we
shall continue pursuing [communist rebels in the provinces],” said Gen. Ricardo Visaya
on the sidelines of a program
for the 69th founding anniversary of the Philippine Air Force
at the Haribon complex here.
Before he assumed office,
President Duterte had set in
motion the continuation of
Bato: Rody to unmask more cops in drugs
ALREADY shocked to learn
that five Philippine National Police generals have supposed ties
with drug syndicates?
President Rodrigo Duterte’s
startling revelation of the names
of five generals allegedly involved in drugs was just the
first wave, according to Philippine National Police chief Director General Ronald “Bato” Dela
Rosa.
There is a long list of policemen, including high-ranking officials, who are protecting drug
syndicates or engaging themselves in illegal drug activities,
Dela Rosa added.
Philippines ready
to talk to China
after ruling on
sea claim
PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte
says the Philippines is ready
to talk to China, not go to war,
if an arbitration tribunal rules
in its favor in a case it brought
against Beijing’s claims in the
South China Sea.
The President on Tuesday
said the Philippines remains
optimistic that the tribunal will
rule in its favor. But he says if
the ruling is not favorable, then
the Philippines would accept
and abide by it.
He says the country will
proceed accordingly after it obtains a copy of the judgment.
The official China Daily reported Monday that China
is ready to start negotiations
with the Philippines if Manila
ignores the tribunal ruling,
which is expected to be issued
on July 12.
PNP Chief, Police Director General Ronald De La Rosa
gestures to show how he was sworn in as a police during
a press conference at Camp Crame, Quezon City.
He said people can expect the
President to name more police
officers who are coddling drug
syndicates from the rank of Senior Superintendent down to
Police Officer 1.
“For all we know, ang listahan
ni Presidente hindi lang sa rank
na senior superintendent, hanggang PO1 pa nga eh. Madami
’yung nasa listahan niya,” he
said in a press briefing at Camp
Crame on Wednesday.
The police chief met with the
three active generals – Police Director Joel Pagdilao, Chief Supt.
Edgardo Tinio and Chief Supt.
Bernardo Diaz – in his office at
the PNP headquarters.
Pagdilao, Tinio and Diaz, along
with retired police officers Marcelo Garbo and Vicente Loot,
were among the PNP generals
Duterte identified as drug protectors in his speech on Tuesday
at the 69th anniversary of the
Philippine Air Force in Clark
Field, Pampanga.
Rody asks Leni to help run gov’t
Vice Pres. Leni with Pres. Duterte
SHE WAS not promised a Cabinet post but President Duterte
wants Vice President Leni Robredo to visit him in Malacañang more often and help with
his job of running the country.
This was revealed on Tuesday by Robredo who found
the President kind and warm
in their meeting in Malacañang
last Monday.
In an interview at her “Boracay Mansion” office in Quezon
City on Tuesday, Robredo said
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PHILIPPINE TRIBUNE
www.thephilippinetribune.com
July 7-13, 2016
July 7-13, 2016
PHILIPPINE TRIBUNE 3
4
PHILIPPINE TRIBUNE
Patriotism’
Philippine-style
NOW that we’ve elected a president who talks straight, and
seems to be inspiring Filipinos to straighten out our society,
is he sounding the drums for “patriotism”? Ordinarily, it’s
defined as “love of country.”
If so, the patriotism of the United States is different from
our brand of patriotism. And, obviously, from the patriotism of China, or of Japan, and, of course, of North Korea!
It brings to mind our “firebrand” of the Commonwealth,
Manuel L. Quezon: “I prefer a government run like hell by
Filipinos instead of a government run like heaven by the
Americans!” Or words to that effect.
Patriotism as doing away with criminals—quickly by
shooting them—drug lords, drug pushers, and drug addicts (who can please surrender and stop their bad habit). He also would like to kill other criminals like rapists,
thieves, holdup men, kidnappers, and the like by hanging.
The President is calling on the patriotism of Filipinos to
help him clean up our society, which, since 15 presidents
ago, has built up filth and scum that make the government
machinery not only work slowly but also, and most of the
time, miss its target: the uplift of the “hopeless, helpless
and defenseless”—the poor.
Patriotism varies in definition as the years go by. During Quezon’s time in 1935, it was independence from the
Americans. That patriotism was a continuation of the first
Asian revolution against colonialism by Andres Bonifacio
and his Katipunan in 1896. It was inspired by the “reformers,” notable among them Jose P. Rizal who wrote two
novels making fun of the Spanish friars and the Catholic
Church.
The revolution, with the same agenda of independence,
was put on more formal war footing by Emilio Aguinaldo.
The national flag was sewn by the ladies Agoncillo and a
national anthem was composed by Julian Felipe. The Filipino declaration of independence, the flying of the national
tricolor, and the first public singing of the national anthem
took place on June 12, 1898, in Kawit, Cavite.
Our patriotism is awakened every time the flag is unfurled and the anthem sung.
It is far easier to imagine and feel patriotism whenever
we have a struggle, a fight with an enemy, where hundreds
of thousands of Filipinos die—such as against the Spaniards in 1896, against the Americans from 1898 to 1902, and
against the Japanese from 1941 to 1945.
It is a bit harder to feel patriotism when we go about the
traffic-choked streets of Metro Manila or Metro Cebu to our
workplaces and then go home exhausted at the end of the
day. Or when the only break is taking the family to the airconditioned mall, not to buy, perhaps, nor to eat, but just
to savor the cool air, and be rid of the humidity of the tropics. It makes one wish to leave these islands for temperate
climes abroad.
Now, for the next six years, a new leader is calling us to
fight, not invaders, but our fellow Filipinos—a social cleansing. The initial response to the President’s call to arms is
warm: Lots of people presumed to be involved in the trade
in illegal drugs, and other criminals, have fallen in this war
since the elections in May. And many more will fall; the toll
is averaging five a day despite murmurings from the Commission on Human Rights.
At the same time, our patriotism will be tested as Mr.
Duterte calls for peace. At the installation of the new Armed
Forces chief of staff, Gen. Ricardo Visaya, he said his main
role is to talk to the communists, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, the Moro National Liberation Front, etc., so
peace can come. The soldiers can then fight with the drug
lords and others who have not sued for peace.
And with peace—and less traffic, if I may add—there will
be prosperity and happiness (i.e., freedom to move about,
unmolested by bombing, kidnapping, robbery, rape, cell
phone snatching, air pollution, illegal street parking and
sidewalk congestion.
This, then, is how I see Filipino-style patriotism, circa
2016: peace and freedom to move about, work, and play. It
takes one’s breath away, leading one to wish one could stay
put in good old “Pinas.”
Duterte’s Unorthodoxy:
The New Orthodoxy
WITH no major political organization behind him and
no big donors to fund his
campaign, President Rodrigo “Rody” Duterte was propelled to power by people
from all walks of life. He
beat four other candidates,
three of whom – Jejomar Binay, Mar Roxas, and Grace
Poe -- were funded by executives of some of the country’s top companies, including San Miguel Corporation,
Araneta Group, and Aboitiz
Group. Shunned by the major newspaper outlets – or
was it an organized boycott?
-- Duterte waged an intensive grassroots campaign
and used the social media
to reach out to the ordinary
people.
He hammered in a promise to fight – nay, kill – the
criminals and drug lords,
and stop corruption in
government. He vowed to
restore the death penalty
by hanging. And for drug
lords, he’d hang them twice
– once to kill them and the
second time to severe their
heads. And with his reputation as “The Punisher” during the two decades that he
was mayor of Davao City,
no criminal would ever
doubt that he was serious
about his threats. And to
make his point crystal clear,
he appointed his most trusted police officer, Gen. Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa, as the
new Director General of the
Philippine National Police
(PNP).
Dela Rosa, on his first day
on the job, warned the policemen involved in illegal drugs
that “they have 48 hours to
surrender to him.” Indeed,
Duterte couldn’t have chosen a better PNP Chief than
Dela Rosa, who earned his
moniker “Bato” – which
means “Stone” – for what he
is, a hardened cop who had
served “The Punisher” well
in fighting criminals. But
calling him “Bato” would be
kinder than what I’d call him
– a pit bull… without a leash.
Digong and Bato
It did not then come as
a surprise when the drug
lords put a P1-billion price
on the heads of Digong
(Duterte’s street moniker)
and Bato. The bounty was
offered by 20 imprisoned
drug lords who’d pitch in
P50 million each for their assassination.
But instead of cowering
in fear from the jailed drug
lords’ threat to assassinate
them, Digong and Bato
went on the offensive. To
put an end to the corrupt
culture inside the New Bilibid Prison, where the drug
lords are given VIP privileges, Duterte ordered the replacement of the correctional officers with commandos
from the PNP’s elite Special
Action Force (SAF).
Poverty and corruption
Duterte’s unorthodox ways
and style have earned him
the respect of the people,
who have been waiting for
a “messiah” to deliver them
from the clutches of poverty
and the evils of corruption.
But election after election,
pretenders and charlatans
promised to eradicate poverty and stop corruption,
only to make the lives of the
common tao worse than before. But they saw in Duterte
someone who is like them
and thinks like them. He
talks, looks, and walks like
them; therefore, he must be
like them… nay, he is them!
It is an alchemy that created
a harmonious relationship
between the people and
him. And, hopefully, that
fusion would stand the test
of time.
But Duterte doesn’t have
too much time to deliver on
his promises. He said he’d
stop crime and corruption
in six months. While that
might sound quixotic – and
it is in all honesty – his determination to put an end
poverty and corruption
gives the people a flicker of
hope.
However, it is a challenge
that ordinary politicians
would fail the moment they
take the helm of leadership.
Indeed, a few days ago, Sen.
Ping Lacson said that corruption couldn’t be eradicated in six months, not in six
year, and not in 60 years! In
a way, he’s right, corruption
has been with us in the last
70 years since the Philippines
gained her independence.
But that’s putting it mildly.
The truth is: corruption has
been ingrained in our culture since the Spanish era.
That’s more than 400 years!
So, how can it be eradicated
in six months? Impossible!
But Duterte can at least start
sending drug lords and corrupt politicians to the gal-
July 7-13, 2016
lows. Only then do I know
that corruption can be mitigated and could eventually
be stopped.
Communist insurgency
Another daunting challenge
for Duterte is the communist insurgency. The communist rebellion in the Philippines is the only one of
its kind in the world today.
While Duterte was known
to have links with communists and leftists during the
early years of his mayorship of Davao City, he is a
self-described “socialist.” It
would alarm some people
-- especially those who are
in the upper strata of Philippine society – who brand
the socialists as “communists.” But there is a large
chasm that separates the
two; although, politically,
they find them themselves
rooting sometimes for the
same causes that benefit the
common tao – particularly
the poor.
And being leftist or socialist sometimes puts someone
in league with those who
have anti-American sentiments, which begs the question: Would Duterte veer
the country away from the
United States and bring the
country closer to communist
China?
I have been wondering myself where he’d lead the country? Would he terminate the
U.S.-Philippines Enhanced
Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA), the Visiting
Forces Agreement (VFA), the
Logistics Support Agreement
(LSA), and the Mutual Defense Treaty (MDT)? Would
he withdraw the case against
China that is now before the
United Nations’ Permanent
Court of Arbitration (PSA)?
Indeed, during the presidential campaign, he sent
strong signals about his
position vis-à-vis the territorial disputes in the West
Philippine Sea (South China
Sea). Early on, he wanted to
initiate bilateral talks with
China; thus, abandoning
the multilateral negotiation
that his predecessor, former
president Benigno Aquino
III, preferred. The Ambassador to the Philippines Zhao
Jianhua took the cue and
hopped into a plane to go
visit Duterte in Davao City.
And even Chinese President
Xi Jinping wasted no time in
conveying his congratulations when Duterte was being sworn into office.
Wind of change
But following his swearing-
July 7-13, 2016
Chasing the wind
The Duterte controversy
MOST of us Filipinos for sure
will relate to my sentiments,
when it comes to our country’s
governance, we somehow at
one point in time along the
road have thrown the towel
and accept the fact that we are
doomed as a nation, even the
once good politician when in
power succumbs to the temptations of greed.
We accept that this trait was
somehow bestowed from generation to generation, we do
know that even a mere mayor
of a town can amass wealth
and imbibe his coffers that can
last his lifetime and another
kin’s lifetime.
Why do aspiring politicians
commit crimes to outdo his
rival, why would one defame
another to be belittled, why
would one scrounge for one’s
mistakes and misdemeanors
just to throw it all at an opponent’s face? We have witnessed presidents, supreme
court judges, generals, secretaries of various bureaus,
mayors down to city and town
councilors who in one way or
another used or embezzled
our country’s coffers for personal gain. Some have been
incarcerated for proof of corruption, some have been proven guilty of such but lo and
behold, still manages to come
back to power and continue at
what they are good at. Now
here comes a mayor out of the
blue, like a surge from the vast
ocean, it comes as a big wave
after the seventh wave, he is
very much outspoken, irreverent in all of his ways, speaks
out his mind in contradiction
to corruption, to criminals, to
drug pushers, rapist and the
lot. I put him in high regard to
these matters, but then I abhor
his blasphemy of the catholic
church, his irreverence to the
pope, his presumptuous allegations of pedophilia with
all the priests. Then the way
he speaks, he curses and uses
foul language as a much as a
sailor does, I would hate to
have a president who does not
have the professionalism to be
speaking in public much more
broadcasted on television
where the kids who we protect
from hearing such blasphemy
may think it is the norm to do
so. Then another thing to dislike this persona is his philandering with women, his public
display and disregard of respect to good looking women.
I come to think he was once a
sailor by profession, lust is his
middle name. But at a flash,
the gloom that is perennially
cast on our country seems to
fade, changes are obviously
being felt, good changes are
somehow being implemented.
Young kids are no longer loitering after the wee hours of
the night, vulgar videoke enthusiasts have to tone down
at night, no more drinking of
liquor out in the open, high
ranking generals who cohorts
with drug lords or who runs
their own drug trade are being
persecuted. We have heard of
this mayor’s city in Davao, it’s
cleanliness, the serenity of the
place, town folks bragging of
being able to walk its streets
without having to worry about
being mugged. Then there is
the presence of a 911 emergency system that the people
can utilize without having
to worry about paying a fee
after the aftermath. We have
seen the very first meeting
with the activist inside the
Malacanang, we have heard
about the red people’s army
to have amicable talks with
this new president. I, as well
as a lot of us do feel a mix
of emotions with this new
president, a love-hate roller
coaster can get us a dose of
self daze. But to top it off,
never have we witnessed a
president who is so gang ho
when it comes to change for
the betterment of our nation.
We have witnessed a constant downward spiral of our
country from one president
to another. From Marcos the
tyrant, Erap the corrupt, Ramos the sly fox, and Pinoy
abnoy. Now we rejoice in our
silence. At last we see something good is looming in the
horizon!
THANK YOU FOR
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AS the experimental homemade helium silver balloon
measuring 20-feet long by
5-feet high soared above the
clear Colorado skies for more
than an hour in the early afternoon of Thursday, October 15, 2009, the whole nation
watched in fear that a six-yearold boy named Falcon was
trapped inside the balloon.
People were apprehensive as
television crews on helicopters and police authorities on
ground vehicles tracked the
50-mile flight of the balloon
at a height of 7,000 feet from
Ft. Collins to a field near Colorado Springs. Flights in and
out of Denver International
Airport were rerouted. The
Colorado National Guard sent
helicopters for possible rescue
efforts. People transfixed in
their televisions sets watched
in horror when the balloon
landed without the little boy.
An intense search followed.
The drama, however, ended a
couple of hours later when the
boy came out of hiding from
the attic of his family home.
After several television interviews of the family and of the
six-year old boy, the jubilation
over the finding of the boy was
dampened by the speculation
that everything that happened
was a planned hoax. The parents may face criminal charges
which would result in many
years of imprisonment and
their three boys, including
the six-year-old may have to
be taken into foster care. If it
turns out to be a hoax, one may
ask “for what reason was this
done?” if one is to consider the
consequences of the parents’
actions. Solomon, in the Book
of Ecclesiastes 2:11, laments
“Yet when I surveyed all that
my hands had done and what
I had toiled to achieve, everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind; nothing
was gained under the sun.”
Many things in our lives become meaningless when we
put personal interest, greed,
ambition, and pride above
God’s will and purpose in
our lives. We feel privileged
when we live in a big beautiful house, ride expensive cars,
wear beautiful clothes, live in
luxury and dine with wealthy/
popular people. But, we too,
will die with the have-nots, so
everything is meaningless –
like “chasing the wind.”
We work hard to obtain material wealth, but what is the
purpose of amassing wealth
that we cannot even take with
us to wherever we are going
after life on earth. Everything
is meaningless if we leave God
out of us lives – we are merely chasing the wind. “To the
man who pleases him, God
gives wisdom, knowledge and
happiness, but to the sinner
he gives the task of gathering
and storing up wealth to hand
it over to the one who pleases
God. This too is meaningless,
a chasing after the wind.” (Ecc.
2:26)
What would a few hours of
fame, an evening of pleasure,
a life lived in luxury and comfort be if we will be forgotten
like a fool when we spend
eternity in the dark, blazing
inferno called hell. You have
a choice right now. You can
either go on living a meaningless life by chasing the wind or
allow yourself to be filled with
the Wind of Life that brings
joy, peace, and assurance of
eternal life in heaven. If you
will repent of your sins and
accept the Lord Jesus Christ as
your savior, you will receive
the wind power from God and
everything in your life now
and in the hereafter will be
meaningful.
We invite you to join us in
our Sunday morning worship
service at 9:30 a.m. We are Silver Lake Foursquare Church,
also known as, Open Door
Christian Fellowship.
We
meet at the Social Hall of FACLA,, 1740 West Temple Street,
Los Angeles, California 90026
PHILIPPINE TRIBUNE
people “are guided on the priorities of the Duterte presidency in agriculture and fisheries
and [that] the road map for the
mission to provide Available
and Affordable Food for the
Filipinos is clearly explained.”
Piñol has also cued a cash-forwork program for farmers and
fishermen who were adversely
affected by the El Niño.
Irrigation
Farmers will be tapped to
work on the repair and rehabilitation of irrigation facilities
while fishers will be engaged
in cleaning coastal waters of
garbage and planting of mangrove trees.
The list includes:
A nationwide mapping project to determine which crop or
agricultural activity would be
best in a specific area based on
geographic, climatic and soil
type conditions.
The conduct of the National
Food Consumption Quantification Survey to determine what
kind of food and the volume of
food commodities consumed
by the Filipinos.
Nationwide inspection of irrigation services, dredging of
silted dams and provision of
shallow tube wells to ensure
sufficient supply of water for
the next rice planting season.
Provision of seeds, fertilizers,
farm inputs—considered as calamity assistance—during the
year’s two planting seasons for
farmers, and distribution of fishing boats and nets for fishers.
Nationwide face-to-face interaction between the agriculture
secretary and the stakeholders in
the agriculture and fishery sectors to address their concerns.
Forming teams in coordination with the local government
units of the country’s 10 poorest provinces to ensure that the
DA’s food production program
would also result in poverty alleviation;
Launching of Pagkain Para sa
Masa project in Metro Manila,
with arroz caldo feeding stations to ensure that the street
dwellers and the homeless,
who will be trained in growing
vegetables in greenhouses.
Launching a communitybased milk feeding program
in areas where farmers are involved in dairy production;
Directing Philippine Crop insurance Corp. to include in its program the crop insurance farmers
in the high-risk areas in the La
Niña phenomenon occurs.
Close coordination between
the DA and the Bureau of Customs to ensure that the smuggling of agricultural products
will stop.
Photo by: BOBBY CRISOSTOMO
6
THE NEW agriculture secretary
was still three weeks away from
assuming office when, on June
8, he took part in a transition
meeting with current officials at
the Department of Agriculture
(DA).
Emerging from the meeting for
a joint briefing with the media,
Emmanuel F. Piñol clearly had
taken charge as the incumbent
chief—Proceso Alcala—seemed
nondescript beside him.
Piñol wasted no time telling
everyone in the jampacked
room that he would do better
than his predecessor because
he was himself a hands-on
farmer, being an experienced
grower of several crops and
raiser of several species of farm
animals.
The 63-year-old native of
M’lang, Cotabato province,
served as governor of the province that used to be called North
Cotabato, from 1998 to 2007.
After serving a notch down as
vice governor to Jesus Sacdalan, Piñol ran again for governor in 2010 but lost to the current provincial chief executive,
Emilou Mendoza. He challenged her again in 2013, but
lost for a second time.
The Inquirer reported that Piñol conceded defeat, but—citing the clamor of people who
believed in him—later questioned the results of the balloting, particularly in the towns of
Carmen and Pikit.
Doctorate degree
According to a biography that
Piñol himself supplied, the father
of three is pursuing a doctorate
degree in rural and economic
development at the University of
Southern Mindanao.
From the same university, he
earned a bachelor’s degree in
development communication
only 10 years ago, in 2006. In
2008, he earned his master’s
degree in science and rural and
economic development.
Mike Arroyo...from page1
Through his lawyer, Ruy Alberto Rondain, Arroyo filed a
demurrer to evidence before
the court’s Fourth Division
asking to be absolved of the
graft charges linking him, and
his wife, former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, to the
controversial deal, which was
aborted in 2007.
A demurrer to evidence is a
pleading by an accused seeking the dismissal of the case
over the failure of the prosecution to present strong evidence.
NPA rebs...from page 1
“If Joey can’t have it, no one
can. This is therefore nothing
but a case of biblical envy. It is
one of the Seven Deadly Sins,
probably because it consumes
people, and it pushes them to
do unjust acts,” Arroyo argued
in the 54-page demurrer.
De Venecia had said Arroyo
told him to “back off” the deal,
And despite his seat being
on the other side of the press
briefing table, Piñol considers
himself an industry guy. In a
list of jobs he has taken over
the years, the first is as a newspaper and radio reporter from
1973-1977, although he did not
say with what organization.
From 1977 to 1978, he also
began to be familiar with DA
affairs as a public relations officer of the National Grains
Authority, precursor of the National Food Authority.
Then on to a media desk job
for a total of 12 years, first as an
editor with the state-run Philippine News Agency until 1982
and then as a senior copy editor and sports columnist with
Tempo until 1990.
He worked for President Fidel V. Ramos as a “close-in
writer” in 1992, then as chair of
Cotabato Sugar Mill in 1993.
High expectation
Before Piñol became governor of Cotabato, he served one
term as mayor of his hometown from 1995 to 1998. He
also described himself as a boxing commentator and writer.
Probably the most vocal in
the Duterte Cabinet, Piñol has
talked about a slew of proposed programs and plans that
he intends to implement soon
after he was designated agriculture secretary on May 17.
One is a road map he wants
to see done in the first 100 days,
mainly to meet the “very high
expectation” of those who
voted for Rodrigo Duterte, and
which he said he developed
during a tour of the archipelago that he embarked on and
which brought him “to almost
all parts of the country.”
On top of the list is an initiative on a nationwide orientation and “mind-setting” initiative for all DA officials and
employees.
This is to ensure that the DA
a claim that the latter stressed
remains uncorroborated. He
said it
was “insufficient to prove a
conspiracy” adding that even
De Venecia’s own father did
not support the claim.
Arroyo said the prosecution
failed to establish his involvement in the deal, stressing that
the primary witness against
him, De Venecia III, was “not a
credible source.”
Incredible claim
“Aside from De Venecia III’s
perjurious and incredible claim
that Jose Miguel told him this
was ‘his project,’ no other evidence was presented to incriminate Jose Miguel. None of the
witnesses had ever met him,
or heard him discuss the NBN
project with anyone,” Arroyo
said.
De Venecia III, then the president and owner of the losing
bidder Amsterdam Holdings
Inc., only cried foul when it became apparent he would lose
the deal, Arroyo stressed.
NPA rebs...from page 1
talks which broke down when
Benigno Aquino III was president. Mr. Duterte also appointed Cabinet members who are
identified with the Left.
Visaya said the priority of the
AFP under his watch remains
the internal security. “In three
to six months, there shall be
change (in terms of dealing)
with the Abu Sayyaf and our
support to the (Philippine National Police).”
“For now, we are monitoring (the NPA’s) activities,” he
added.
Founded in 1968 as the armed
wing of the new Communist
Party of the Philippines (CPP),
the NPA has been waging the
longest guerrilla war in Southeast Asia.
July 7-13, 2016
Lacson: Proposed ‘no work, no pay’
policy in Congress ‘demeaning’
REELECTED Senator Panfilo “Ping” Lacson rejected
on Wednesday the proposed
“no work, no pay” policy for
members of Congress, saying
it would be “demeaning” to
them as elected officials.
“We are not daily wage earners to be subjected to no-workno-pay scheme,” Lacson said in
a text message.
“I think it’s demeaning to our
positions as elected officials,”
he said.
Lacson was reacting to Navotas Representative Toby Tiangco’s bill which seeks to impose
salary deductions to any lawmaker who would not attend,
participate and take part in the
regular and special sessions of
Congress.
The senator said he would oppose the bill “only to maintain
the dignity and honor of the
legislature and its members.”
“The proposed legislation is
good copy for the media but I
think it won’t pass. I will oppose it if only to maintain the
dignity and honor of the legislature and its members,” he
said.
“We are responsible officials
and we answer to our constituents when we misbehave or
commit misdemeanor like not
attending sessions whimsically
or without justifiable reason,”
Lacson added.
QC drug rehab center suddenly can’t cope
BECAUSE of the increasing
number of drug addicts and
pushers submitting themselves
for rehabilitation, the Quezon
City Drug Treatment and Rehabilitation Center is looking
for ways to take in more patients.
Mayor Herbert Bautista said
on Tuesday that those who
surrendered had been told to
go home and wait to be called
since the rehab center—more
popularly known as Tahanan—in Barangay Payatas B,
Quezon City, could accommodate just 150 persons.
“We are waiting for the Department of Health (DOH) accreditation for additional bed capacity,”
Bautista told the Inquirer.
Solutions to the Puzzle on page 20
Figures from the Quezon City
Police Department (QCPD)
showed that over 1,000 drug
users and peddlers from different barangays had voluntarily
surrendered to authorities and
asked to be committed to a rehabilitation facility.
Tahanan currently houses 150
inmates who stay in a dormtype facility that accommodates more than 10 persons per
room. Government workers at
the center told the Inquirer that
the “residents” usually stay for
a minimum of six months, a
period that may be extended if
necessary.
Right now, the facility is at
full capacity with another 36
people on the waitlist. The
center’s personnel said that
the number of drug users voluntarily giving themselves up
to the facility has gone up to
around 30 a day.
Introduced in 1993, Tahanan,
through its DOH doctors, provides drug-dependency evaluation for individuals who are
either referred for rehab or
counseling. Once admitted,
drug users undergo therapy
programs and are given specific work roles to help them get
their lives back on track.
July 7-13, 2016
Munti cops add to drug war
killings, shoot 2 brods in cuffs
THE killings—and the explanations given by the police to justify them—continue to pile up.
Two brothers in Muntinlupa
City added to the growing list of
“drug personalities” shot dead
by law enforcers, whose operations have drawn impetus from
President Duterte’s strongman
rhetoric against crime.
The siblings were killed while
already in police custody—
and handcuffed to each other—after the younger brother
allegedly tried to seize the gun
of one of the officers escorting
them to the hospital in the wee
hours of Tuesday.
Rolando Dizon Jr., 34, and
his brother Julius, 25, both Barangay Tunasan, Muntinlupa,
were first caught playing cara
y cruz (coin toss) on Arandia
Street around 1:30 a.m., according to PO2 Jeremias Guevarra, one of the arresting officers from the Muntinlupa
police intelligence unit.
But when frisked, the two
men were found carrying a .38cal. revolver loaded with four
bullets, and suspected “shabu”
contained in three plastic sachets and a larger plastic bag,
Guevarra said.
Guevarra said the brothers were believed to be working for a group led by Dennis “Langaw” Esmeralda,
Muntinlupa’s most wanted
drug pusher. Esmeralda was
arrested in 2014 for frustrated
murder but was freed after the
victim’s family agreed to an
out-of-court settlement.
Senior Insp. June Reyes, the investigation chief, said the brothers were being escorted by four
officers in a Toyota Avanza going to Ospital ng Muntinlupa
for a routine medical checkup
when Julius used his “free
hand” to grab the 9-mm pistol
that SPO2 Emme Linah Baldovino kept in her sling bag.
With the Dizon brothers
seated right behind Baldovino,
Julius reached over to get the
gun. He managed to get the
gun out and tried to shoot Baldovino, but the gun didn’t fire
because the safety catch was
still on, Reyes said in a report.
Fearing for Baldivino’s life,
the three other officers in the
vehicle—PO3 Arnel Rubio, PO3
Leoren Javier, PO2 Jeremias
Guevarra—shot the younger
Dizon, killing him on the spot.
Rolando, the elder Dizon,
was also shot dead because he
“also grabbed” Baldovino during the commotion, Reyes’ report said.
In an interview, Reyes explained that both brothers assaulted Baldovino—
“pinagtulungan
nila”—and
that one of them landed a
punch on the policewoman before they were shot.
Manila death toll
In Manila, the police killed
a suspected drug peddler in
a buy-bust operation that allegedly went awry. Two more
men—including one who was
last heard “mocking” the new
chief of the Philippine National Police—were also shot by
still unidentified assailants.
Supt. Jackson Tuliao, chief
of the Manila Police District’s
Sta. Cruz station, said a man
known only as Rashid and his
unidentified cohort were shot
dead by PO1 Alexander Dioso
after Rashid “tried to grab” the
officer’s gun.
Dioso, Tuliao said, was about
to arrest Rashid after the latter
sold 100 grams of shabu to undercover agents who met him
near Isetann department store
on Quezon Boulevard around
3:30 a.m. on Tuesday. Rashid’s
cohort who stood “at a nearby
alley ” was also shot by Dioso
because he drew a gun after
seeing Rashid fall.
‘He mocked PNP chief’
Meanwhile, 37-year-old Alfred
Ceasico was shot dead while inside his house on Kawit Street,
Barangay 35, in Tondo, around
11:30 a.m.
Supt. Red Ulsano, chief of the
Manila Police District’s Raxabago
station in Tondo, said that days
before Ceasico died, he was heard
mocking the newly installed PNP
chief, Director General Rolando
“Bato” de la Rosa, doubting his
ability to fulfill his promises in
battling crime.
“Maniwala ka diyan. Hanggang daldal lang yan (Go ahead
and believe him; he’s all talk),”
Ceasico allegedly said, according to Ulsano. The station commander said he learned about
this from barangay chair Alejandro Ramos.
Members of the MPD’s
Smokey Mountain precinct
earlier included Ceasico on
their list of drug users and couriers in the area, Ulsano said.
Meanwhile, the bullet-riddled
body of Reynaldo Estrada, 42,
was found at the corner of M. Natividad and Lope de Vega streets
in Sta. Cruz, Manila, around 1:10
a.m. on Tuesday. Placed on the
body was a piece of bond paper
bearing the message: “Huwag
niyo ko tularan, pusher ako.
(Don’t be a pusher like me).”
The MPD said witnesses earlier saw Estrada being ambushed
by three men who were on a
scooter without a license plate.
Tuesday’s incidents in Manila brought to 13 the number
of killings in the city that were
being attributed to the war on
drugs since Sunday. Eight of
them were the result of police
operations, while the rest bore
signs of vigilante-style executions, with the victims dumped
on the streets.
SENATOR Gregorio “Gringo” Honasan II
Honasan decries
‘trial by publicity’
on ‘drug’ generals
SENATOR Gregorio “Gringo” Honasan II lamented on
Wednesday the “trial by publicity” on the five former and active
police generals earlier named
by President Rodrigo Duterte as
coddlers of drug lords.
In a statement, Honasan emphasized that due process and
the rule of law should prevail.
“The names are immaterial
as long as due process and the
rule of law are applied; and
until the final verdict on their
guilt or innocence, they should
not be subjected to trial by publicity dahil kawawa naman ang
mga pamilya at anak na walang
kinalaman dito,” he said.
Honasan issued the statement even as fellow Senator
Panfilo Lacson said that he had
no reason to doubt the validity
of the information of the President in naming the top cops
allegedly involved in illegal
drugs trade.
Lacson said that Duterte
must have had “good basis”
in divulging the names of the
generals.
“All I’m saying is, since the
President himself mentioned
those two names among the
five, he must have good basis
in what he divulged, especially
if he had a different source of
that information,” Lacson said
on Wednesday.
Lacson said that he received
information on two of the five
generals during the campaign
period.
In his speech during the 69th
anniversary of the Air Force,
Duterte named retired Deputy
Director General Marcelo Garbo; retired Chief Supt. and now
Daanbantayan town mayor
Vicente Loot; Chief Supt. Joel
Pagdilao; Chief Supt. Edgardo
Tinio; and Chief Supt. Bernardo Diaz as drug lord coddlers.
“I am compelled by my sense
of duty to tell you everything,
especially the policemen who
are involved in drugs. One way
or another [they are] contributing to the deterioration of the
law and order of the country,”
Duterte said.
All five generals denied the
President’s claim. They told
separate interviews that they
were willing to face any investigation to clear their names.
8
PHILIPPINE TRIBUNE
Bontoc women show the
way in fighting crime
BONTOC, Mountain Province—As the clock strikes 10
each night in this Mountain
Province capital, stores and
pubs selling beer and liquor
hurriedly close their doors
while drunken men gingerly
make their way home, lest they
face the wrath of mothers and
grandmothers.
The women, aged 30 to 80,
conduct nightly patrols on the
streets of this town to help implement the curfew and liquor
ban that start at 10 p.m.
“We volunteered and made a
vow to [keep] the night watch
for our children and grandchildren. We do not really get tired
because it is for our children,”
said Cecilia Ofo-ob, who joined
the women’s patrol on June 27.
“I am over 70 years old now
but for as long as my body allows, I will continue to do the
rounds,” she added.
Caridad Fersway, a 60-yearold grandmother, said the
tasks of the women’s brigade
include making sure that computer shops also close their
doors once the curfew starts.
Flashlights
“We warn them on the first
round. The stores should be
closed and they should have
stopped drinking when we
return,” said Fersway, one of
the six elderly women who
patrol Samoki village where
most of the town’s pubs and
shops are.
Armed only with flashlights,
the women were eventually
escorted by policemen as they
conduct their rounds.
Caroline Castañeda, the brigade head, said the elderly
patrol started with 64 women
in 2002 but the number has declined over the years, as some
members have passed on or
were “unable to withstand the
physical challenge.”
According to Fersway, the
Samoki women brigade now
has only 12 members, who
used to patrol the streets every night until they realized
it would be better if they took
turns.
The brigade has changed the
women’s daily routine. In the
morning, they tend to their rice
fields and swidden farms, or
attend to house chores. Their
nights are devoted solely to
keeping things calm and quiet
in the community.
The brigade was composed
of volunteers and that some
of the funds they receive from
the provincial and municipal
governments are used for uniforms, flashlights and batteries,
Castañeda said.
Stun guns
One village resident donated
stun guns and truncheons for
the brigade, “[but] we do not
want to use these because we
do not want to hurt anybody,”
Ofo-ob said.
“We prefer persuading peo-
ple not to violate the law,” she
added.
Bontoc Mayor Franklin Odsey
said the local government had
suggested making the brigade
monitor computer shops during school hours, as the nightly
patrols might be too taxing for
the women.
But the brigade members refused, saying they were “still
fit and could handle [the] situation,” the mayor said.
SPO2 Gilbert Batane of the
Bontoc police, who went with
the Samoki women during
their June 27 patrol, said the
presence of the elderly women
had made people more cooperative.
“There are some stores that
close at 10 p.m. but continue
the drinking session inside,”
he said.
So the brigade members
would visit these stores and
talk their customers into obeying the curfew.
“Those drunk men would
ordinarily fight the police
when we enforced the curfew,
but they would not dare disobey their wives, mothers and
grandmothers,” said PO1 Paul
Afidchao.
The police continue the patrol
at midnight when the brigade
members have gone home,
“but by that time, nobody is
loitering around anymore so
it makes our job easier,” Afidchao added.
July 7-13, 2016
‘Enrile bust’ ordered
demolished by new
Cagayan gov
BUSTED Pay loaders uproot the bust, purportedly of former Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile, moments after it
was ordered removed by Cagayan Gov. Manuel Mamba
during Monday’s flag ceremony at the Capitol grounds.
TUGUEGARAO
CITY—A
concrete bust many believed
to be that of former Sen. Juan
Ponce Enrile was ordered demolished by Cagayan Gov.
Manuel Mamba on his first day
of work on Monday.
The bust, which had been
standing in front of the provincial capitol since 1984, was toppled by a pair of payloaders. It
was installed during the term
of former Gov. Justiniano Cortez, supposedly as a tribute to
Enrile, who was then defense
minister of the late strongman
Ferdinand Marcos, according
to Domingo Matammu, former
provincial administrator.
The 92-year-old Enrile announced his retirement from
public service on June 30 when
his term as senator ended.
But Mamba, a longtime political enemy of Enrile, said he did
not see the historical significance of the bust when he addressed provincial government
employees during their weekly
flag ceremony on Monday.
Katrina Ponce Enrile, the senator’s daughter, said the family did not even know that her
father had a bust at the capitol.
“Those are just meaningless
trappings of things that are
not truly important in life. My
father never marveled at such
things ever in his life [and] is
never comfortable with accolades of any sort,” she said.
“He wouldn’t care less if the
good governor burns it or like
what he did, had it bulldozed
… It does not matter,” she said.
Speaking to the Inquirer,
Mamba said: “Why did he (Enrile) have a bust there when he
is still alive? Besides, how can I
work effectively when I see his
bust every time I step inside
[the capitol compound]?”
According to the guidelines
set by the National Historical Commission of the Philippines, no monument to a living
person can be erected in a public area and sanctioned by the
national government or any local government.
The bust did not have a single
inscription though it was public knowledge in Cagayan that
it represented Enrile, Mamba
said.
“For years, it stood there
and no one wanted to have it
removed because they were
afraid of Enrile. But it is more
of an injustice for the people of
Cagayan and the whole country if we let it stay there,” he
said.
Lawyer Cristina Antonio, assistant to former Gov. Alvaro
Antonio, said Mamba should
focus time and resources on
more important matters. Mamba defeated Antonio in the
May 9 elections.
“Instead of facing the affairs of the province, Mamba
drowns in his own spite. His
order to remove the bust shows
his kind of politics and governance—arrogant, petulant and
unable to rise above personal
ill will,” she said.
Mamba said he ordered the
bust removed because he did
not want the youth to emulate
the former Senate president
and former representative of
the province’s first district.
Enrile is out on bail on plunder
charges in connection with the
alleged misuse of his Priority
Development Allocation Fund.
He had served six administrations, including four terms
in the Senate and in at least 48
government positions, according to records.
“How do we now tell our
children that the person for
whom we have built a monument is facing charges of plunder?” Mamba asked.
But Katrina said: “That [my
father did not deserve the bust]
is [Mamba’s] opinion and his
perspective and we have nothing to say. May I ask the good
governor if he is willing to
hand over the bust of my father
to me for me to keep it?”
Duterte’s... from Page 4
for doing the unexpected in
his unorthodox way, he just
might surprise everybody
with what he would do.
And to quote British
Prime Minister Harold
Macmillan’s famous “Wind
of Change” speech to the
South African Parliament in
1960: “The wind of change
is blowing through this continent. Whether we like it or
not, this growth of national
consciousness is a political
fact.” Today, that “wind of
change” is blowing through
the 7,000 islands of the Philippines.
And with that
change, what used to be
Duterte’s unorthodoxy yesterday would be the new
orthodoxy today.
(PerryDiaz@gmail.com)
in, Duterte’s tone changed.
He said he’s going to wait
until the PCA made its
judgment on the arbitration
case, which many believe
would be favorable to the
Philippines. However, China had repeated over and
over again that she would
not abide by the PCA’s ruling. If that would be the
case, the international community might treat China
as a “rogue” or “outlaw”
state, which would have a
highly negative impact on
China’s economic and political standing with the rest
of the world. The question
is: What are Duterte’s options? With his penchant
July 7-13, 2016
CALLER: I am behind on my
payment for a second mortgage,
can I refinance my home, I have
a lot of equity and would like to
stay in this house.
Ken: After reviewing their situation, this caller is actually in
a good position. The second
lender was not paid due to a BK
(bankruptcy) filing over a year
ago. Since they did not collect
the caller neglected the payment
and finally got notice of intent to
foreclose. The lender did their
homework and realizes that
being in second position of this
property will still benefit them if
they foreclose due to the ample
equity. My recommendation is
for the borrowers to sell an existing rental property that they
Rody” 5 PNP... from Page 1
All are graduates of the Philippine Military Academy.
“I am compelled by my sense
of duty to tell you everything,
especially the policemen who
are involved in drugs, one
way or another contributing
to the deterioration of the law
and order of this country,”
Mr. Duterte said at rites commemorating the Philippine Air
Force’s 69th anniversary.
He ordered the active officials to report to Director
General Ronald de la Rosa, the
newly appointed head of the
150,000-strong PNP.
“Certainly I would expect the
police commission to do their
thing. Investigate this and do
not give me a zarzuela. Look
for the truth,” he said.
Good basis
Sen. Panfilo Lacson said he
had no doubt about the validity of Mr. Duterte’s charges
against the five PNP officials.
He said in text messages that
he had heard the same information about two of the police officials that the President
mentioned from his former officers in the defunct Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Task
Force. He did not name the two
because he had not validated
the previous information.
“All I’m saying is, since the
that information,” said Lacson,
a former PNP chief.
He insisted that “the Commander in Chief, more than
anybody in this country is in
the best position to have access
to all these vital and sensitive
information and I have no reason to doubt or question its validity.”
Sen. Aquilino Pimentel III
lauded the presidential move.
“Wow. Great job by the President,” said the incoming Senate President.
Sen. Vicente Sotto III said Mr.
Duterte’s intelligence information “must be A-1 for him to
have done that.”
Trial by publicity
But Sen. Gregorio Honasan II,
a former Army colonel, warned
that those accused “should not
be subjected to trial by publicity because the children and
family who are not involved
here are affected.”
Ditching the prepared speech
handed to him, Mr. Duterte
slammed men in uniform involved in criminal activities.
It was an honor to join the
uniformed service, whether
the Philippine National Police
Academy or the Philippine Military Academy, at the expense of
public money, he said. And it
hurt that the people whom the
taxpayers spent for would commit crimes, he added.
Refinancing opportunity
is back. Rates down to all
time lows.
own and pay off/down the second mortgage on their current
residence. Refinancing is not an
option due to the BK and the
mortgage rates.
Caller: I currently have a 30
years loan that I have been pay“By any language, it is really
treason,” he said.
The President said it was not
his practice as a politician to
humiliate anyone. But he said
he had a “sacred obligation to
the Filipino people.”
“By my oath of office, I have
to tell you the truth,” he said.
He said the names he mentioned had come out even when
he was Davao City mayor.
PNP probe
De la Rosa told reporters in
an ambush interview that he
would be investigating the
active officials and expected
them to appear before him.
“I will talk to them and I will
listen to their explanation,” he
said.
He said that he could not compel the retired PNP officials
to report to him. But the PNP
can investigate and if there was
evidence against them, charges
would be pursued, he added.
Mr. Duterte warned police
personnel against involving
themselves in criminal activities and putting themselves in
the line of fire, and reiterated
his desire for the military to get
involved in the battle against illegal drugs.
His anticrime campaign won’t
be pretty, but he would take
full legal responsibility for anything done in the line of duty,
he said.
“It’s going to be a dirty fight, it’s
going to be a bloody fight, I am
not apologizing for it,” he said.
PNP-execs-2-0706
“And may I tell all and sundry, everyone, even the international community, all accidents, cases, any cases under
the Revised Penal Code, in the
fulfillment of your duties as
public authority, that is mine,
mine and mine alone. I assume
full legal responsibility for it,”
he added.
Arroyo raised threat
“I am lucky because President (Gloria Macapagal) Arroyo during her watch raised
the level of the drug problem
as a national security threat
and therefore paving the way
for me to ask the Armed Forces
of the Philippines … to help me
in the campaign,” Mr. Duterte
said.
At least 23 people have been
killed in reported encounters
with the police purportedly
in connection with the war
against drugs since the inauguration of the Duterte administration on June 30.
On Monday, presidential
spokesperson Ernesto Abella
said the President was aware
of the spate of drug killings involving the police and of what
appeared to be summary executions of drug suspects.
Mr. Duterte himself has raised
the possibility that some of the
victims may have been rubbed
out to prevent them from implicating policemen involved
in drug activities.
ing on for about 9 years at 4.5%
interest rate. I have a lot of equity and would like to know if
it is worth to refinance the loan,
I took out some funds for home
improvements from my credit
card with 0% interest for 10
months.
Ken Go: Your in a good situation now having yourself a lot of
equity, I am sure a lot of people
will love to trade places with
you. Your at an age where you
probably want to think about
retiring and would oppose to
starting your loan over again for
30 years. So, I suggest a 20 year
loan fixed for you, I also suggest
that for you to pay the credit
card balance of 25,000. I don’t
care if that is zero interest. You
will still need to pay it off when
time comes. Because you will
stay in this house for long term
and you want a lower payment.
I am suggesting for a no points
loan and for you to pick up your
own escrow and title cost. You
will save about $200.00 and not
have to start a 30 year mortgage
again.
Recommendation: DO IT
NOW!
Caller: I am a single mom, a
CNA (Certified Nurse Assistant) making about $4,000.00 a
month. I am selling a piece of
property in the Philippines that
will net me close to $150,000.00.
I would like to buy a house
and pay off some debts. Please
advise me on what is the price
range I can qualify for and
where I should be buying. My
two grandchildren will also be
immigrating to the US to live
with me.
Ken: I congratulated her for being able to hold on to a piece
and real estate and selling it for
a profit. However, due to her income and her debts, I can only
qualify this caller to buy a property around $200,000.00 that will
leave her with about $50,000.00
of her net proceed from the sale
of the land overseas. Due to her
age and added responsibility
that she will have to care for I am
advising her to just rent in a better area with a good to descent
school district for her grandchildren. I am afraid that because
she cannot find anything descent with $200K to buy which
will ensure her grandchildren
good education, renting would
be a better option for her now. If
she buys and almost deplete all
her savings just to own a house,
she might be stretching herself too thin. Homeownership
comes with a lot of responsibilities towards the property that
will cost money. Her income is
very limited, especially if she is
expecting to support more family member staying with her.
Recommendation: RENT first
and keep your funds in an interest earning Mutual funds and
buy a house later when the market retreats and your new fam-
ily members are settled in.
Caller: I have a 1st mortgage of
$350,000.00 at 4.75% 30 years
fixed and I have a second loan
at 8% for $60,000.00. I would
like to see my payments become
lower, I have good credit and I
have a good job.
Ken: Your property value is
right around $ 410,000.00.
Your paying a combination of
$2482.77 for both. Your property
value is just about worth exactly
how much you owe now on
your mortgage. Unfortunately,
you are neither a Fannie Mae
or Freddie Mac loan therefore
will not qualify for the HARP
refinancing. Since your second
mortgage was included in your
previous bankruptcy 7, I would
suggest for you to try to negotiate a settlement pay off with
them. You have some savings
that you can offer the second
lender to wipe out this debt,
since you are already slightly
behind on the payment this
would be a good time to ask for
a settlement payoff.
Recommendation:
Call your lender to settle on
the second mortgage that is included in your BK 7 previously.
RATES ARE DOWN, I RECOMMEND FOR YOU TO START
TO INQUIRE ABOUT A REFINANCING WITHOUT COST.
I could be reach at 562-508-7048
anytime or at the office 562697-7028 or write to me at kennethgo@verizon.net. Don’t delay CALL NOW. BRE 01021223
NMLS 238636
10
PHILIPPINE TRIBUNE
July 7-13, 2016
Film piracy on Facebook breaks hearts of local directors, stars
BLOCKBUSTER
filmmaker
Antoinette Jadaone and other
movie industry workers cried
foul as her film, the Star Cinema romantic comedy “The
Achy Breaky Hearts,” was
leaked on Facebook shortly after it was released in theaters.
Jadaone, first posted a series
of tweets last Monday slamming those who leaked her
movie online.
“Hay, mga Pinoy talaga.
Minsan tayo rin pumapatay sa
sariling industriya natin e no?
Tapos magrereklamo kapag
di nakuntento. NAPAKAHU-
SAY!!!” Jadaone said.
(Sometimes, Filipinos are
the ones destroying our own
(film) industry. And we have
the gall to criticize a movie if it
does not meet our standards.
Just great.)
She said that she is starting to
lose faith in the Filipino movie
industry after her 2014 breakout movie, “That Thing Called
Tadhana,” also fell victim to
piracy.
“NAKAKAGALIT ANG
MGA PINOY. Nawalan na
ako ng tiwala sa mga Pinoy.
Change is coming, pero sarili
natin hindi natin mabago.”
(I am starting to get mad at
Filipinos. I have lost my trust
in them. They say change is
coming, but we cannot even
change ourselves.)
“Ginawa n’yo na ‘to dati sa
Tadhana e di ba? Naniwala pa
rin ako sa pelikula pagkatapos. Tapos eto uli. Masisisi mo
ba akong mawalan ng gana?”
she said.
(You already did this to
‘Tadhana.’ Yet, I still believed
in making films. Now you do
this again. Can you blame me
if I lose interest?)
Other movie workers also
joined Jadaone’s call to fight
piracy. “Magtanggol” screenwriter Henry dela Cruz Jr.
came up with a list of Facebook users who posted links
of the leaked movie. He also
estimated that the movie has
lost about P40 million in ticket
sales because it was leaked online.
“202114 (Views+Shares) x 200
Pesos (Average Movie Ticket)
= 40, 422,800. 40 Million Pesos
and COUNTING! Yan lang naman ang halagang ninakaw
niyo sa industriya tonight…
Yan lang naman ang ninakaw
niyo sa mga taong naghirap
at nagtrabaho ng patas,” dela
Cruz said.
(It has been viewed and
shared 202,144 times, multiply
it to P200 and you come up
with P40 million and counting. That’s how much you
stole from the movie industry
tonight. That’s how much you
are stealing from people who
worked hard and fairly.)
Director Jun Robles Lana also
retweeted some of Jadaone’s
tweets slamming the piracy of
her film.
Celebrities also expressed
their support for Jadaone.
The romantic comedy stars
Jodi Sta. Maria whose character is torn between those
played by Richard Yap and
Ian Veneracion. Sta. Maria
and Yap have urged their fans
through social media to report
the illegal links of the pirated
copy of their movie.
Angelica Panganiban, who
starred in “That Thing Called
Tadhana,” said on Instagram: “Hindi ho namin sinisira ang kabuhayan ninyong
mga nanonood ng pirata.
Pero bakit kayo? Tinatanggalan ninyo kami ng kabuhayan? Yes. Affected ako. Dahil
biktima na ko ng piracy. At
affected ako dahil pangalawang beses na tong nangyari
sa kaibigan kong direktor na
walang sawang nagbibigay
sa inyo ng pelikulang nagpapasaya, nagpapaiyak at
nagtuturo sa inyo kung pano
magmahal. Tigilan niyo na
ang piracy.”
(We do not want to destroy
the lives of those who watch
pirated movies. But you are
killing our livelihood. Yes,
I am affected because I am
also a victim of piracy. I am
affected because you have
done this twice to my director
friend who has done nothing
but make films that make you
laugh and cry and teach you
how to love. Stop piracy.)
Miles Ocampo, who also
stars in the movie, said that
she hopes that the culprits will
be apprehended soon.
Star Cinema has already released a statement condemning the circulation of the pirated copy of the movie on
Facebook.
July 7-13, 2016
Finally, Lady Gaga gets
driver’s license after
years of driving
LADY Gaga, the glamorous
pop diva who walked the red
carpet countless times and
performed in hundreds of
concerts, is “rolling with the
homies” with her driver’s license.
After “years of driving with
a learner’s permit” and with an
adult companion, the 30-yearold singer passed her driving
examination in California. She
shared her “edge of glory” moments on social media site Instagram last week.
WATCH: ‘Encantadia’s’ first
full trailer released
GMA released the first
full trailer of the muchawaited retelling of its
highly successful fantasy series “Encantadia.”
THE trailer was revealed during “24 Oras,” the station’s
flagship newscast.
The 2016 remake, which
comes 11 years after the series first aired, stars Glaiza de
Castro as Pirena (keeper of fire
gem), Kylie Padilla as Amihan
(keeper of wind gem), Gabbi
Garcia as Alena (keeper of water gem), and Sanya Lopez as
Danaya (keeper of earth gem).
They will reprise the roles
previously played by Sunshine
Dizon, Iza Calzado, Karylle
Yuzon, and Diana Zubiri.
Other cast members of the
“requel” or retelling include
Marian Rivera, John Arcilla,
Rocco Nacino, Solenn Heussaff, Ruru Madrid, Rochelle Pangilinan, Pancho Magno, Carlo
Gonzales, Klea Pineda, Noel
Urbano, and Migo Adecer.
Former Wonder Girls
member approves of
new single
Wonder Girls
During an interview with
Wonder Girls, current member
Yeeun revealed to Sports Chosun that former member Sohee
approved of the new single
“Why So Lonely” before it was
released.
Yeeun said in the interview:
“We let Sohee listen to it and
she said it was really good. Sohee is a very objective girl. If
she doesn‘t like something, she
will speak her mind.”
Yeeun added “Sohee thought
all the songs on the single were
good and were all great to listen
to nowadays. She wanted the
single to be released quickly.”
Wonder Girls member Sunmi
also told Sports Chosun that
Sohee invited the members of
Wonder Girls to the premiere
of her upcoming movie “Train
to Busan” on July 17.
Former and current members
of the group have reportedly
been supporting each other’s
personal careers and endeavors, and their relationship remains to be healthy.
Last year former members
Sunye and Sohee were seen
supporting Wonder Girls at
Music Core on Aug. 8. Yeeun
also said that Sunye came to
the filming of “I Feel You” with
her daughter.
‘Kapatiran’ lands in
Hollywood Reporter
PEPE Diokno’s “Kapatiran”
scores a positive review from
The Hollywood Reporter’s
Clarence Tsui. In an essay published June 30, Tsui, who saw
the Filipino film at the Karlovy Vary film fest (ongoing
until July 9), describes it as “a
harsh but heartening hymn set
amidst the lives of both mon-
eyed young gods and penniless plebeians.” The movie follows privileged law students
undergoing initiation to join a
fraternity.
Tsui asserts that “Kapatiran” is not just a spine-tingling
thriller,” it offers “a raucous
twist on the filth-and-fury, realist aesthetics … of Lino Brocka
and Brillante Ma. Mendoza.”
The critic points out that
“while eschewing the extreme
grotesqueries … of Khavn dela
Cruz’s ’Mondomanila,’ Diokno’s visions are equally scary.”
Tsui insists that the film is
“dizzying in its structure, but
deadly when it lands that fatal
hook.”
In sum, “Kapatiran” shows
Manila as a “living nightmare …
firmly in the grip of … the claws
of darkness rather than light.
Emily Blunt, husband
John Krasinski welcome
2nd baby
BRITIS actress and future “Mary
Poppins” star Emily Blunt and
husband, “13 Hours” and “The
Office” star John Krasinski, celebrated the Fourth of July announcing the arrival of their
second child, a daughter named
Violet.
Krasinski, 36, announced the
news on social networking site
Twitter on Monday, two weeks
after their daughter’s birth.
What better way to celebrate
the 4th… than to announce
our 4th family member!!! 2
weeks ago we met our beautiful
daughter Violet #Happy4th
“What better way to celebrate
the 4th… than to announce
our 4th family member!!! 2
weeks ago we met our beautiful daughter Violet,” the actor
gladly tweeted.
Blunt, 33, gave birth to their
first daughter, Hazel, in February 2014. Both have been happily married since 2010.
Miley Cyrus introduces
new pet, spends time
with Liam Hemsworth
MILEY Cyrus celebrated the
Fourth of July, cuddled up with
her loved ones–her on-again
love, Australian beau Liam
Hemsworth, and her new pet
beagle Barbie.
Although the former “Hannah
Montana” star and the 26-year-
old “The Hunger Games” star did
not publicly confirm their rekindled romance, the sweet couple
were spotted enjoying a romantic
date at Soho House in Malibu,
California, on Sunday, entertainment news sites US Weekly and
People Magazine reported.
On the same day, the 23-yearold American pop star introduced her new pet dog, a beagle
named Barbie, on her Instagram
account. She also posted snaps
of her pit bull Tani.
“Happy to introduce the newest member of my family Barbie@beaglefreedom #stopanim
altesting#donttestonbeagles,”
she wrote.
As previously reported by entertainment news sites, Cyrus
and Hemsworth dated for three
years and were engaged in 2013,
but later called it off. The ex-couple reunited last December and
were rumored to be scouting for
venues for their big wedding day.
12
PHILIPPINE TRIBUNE
July 7-13, 2016
Man claims he paid $3.7
million to have sex with celebs
HONG KONG — Actress Angelababy is seeking legal help
after a Chinese businessman
claimed he paid an escort agency A$3.7 million (S$3.7 million)
to have sex with Hollywood
beauties, including the Chinaborn star.
“We will ask lawyers how to
handle this matter,” her manager told Ming Pao Daily News
in response to reported claims
by Mr. Martin Yu Xu that he
paid a Sydney escort agency
for “sexual services” from actresses Megan Fox, Angelababy and Victoria’s Secret model
Candice Swanepoel.
Mr. Xu is suing Nalwa Holdings, the parent company of
Royal Court Escorts, to recoup
the A$3.7 million which he
claimed he paid.
In documents filed at the New
South Wales Supreme Court,
he claims that an agent at Royal
Court Escorts told him it would
provide “female escorts of international standing for the provision of sexual services”.
He could meet the beauties
anywhere in the world, as long
Director Alvin Yapan’s
back-to-back WPFF win
as he paid for their airfares and
lodging, Ming Pao said, quoting reports in the Herald Sun
and Daily Mail newspapers.
“It was agreed that if (Mr. Xu)
paid the sum of A$3.7 million,
(the agency) would provide
Megan Fox, Candice Swanepoel and Angelababy as escorts
for sexual services,” Mr. Xu’s
statement of claim said. It is
not suggested that the women
are escorts.
Mr. Xu said he made partial
payments until the entire sum,
which included an alleged
A$24,000 “joining fee”, was
paid in August 2014. But he
said he never met the three at
rendezvous spots in China.
He said the agency agreed to
send Angelababy in September
2014, but “the person was not
provided.”
Angelababy, who is married
to actor Huang Xiaoming, is
starring in Independence Day:
Resurgence, now in theaters.
Antoinette Jadaone–following in
her mentor’s footsteps
Behind every successful director is a mentor.
THIS was according to Antoinette Jadaone, the director behind the box-office hit, “That
Thing Called Tadhana,” and
the top-rating TV program,
“On the Wings of Love.” She
is also the writer of the 2015
Metro Manila Film Festival hit
entry, “English Only, Please.”
“Direk Joyce (Bernal) has
always been my idol,” Jadaone told the Inquirer. To meet
Bernal, Jadaone volunteered
to contact and invite the director to be a workshop speaker
for an organization she was a
member of at the University
of the Philippines, where she
studied film.
Shortly after, Jadaone joined
Bernal’s team as script continuity supervisor and production assistant. “This was years
before I began directing indie
films,” Jadaone recalled. “It
matters to me that I have a
mentor like her. I have someone to consult during times
when I doubt myself.”
Jadaone’s first full-length
feature, “Six Degrees of Sepa-
codirected by Sunshine de
Leon Lichauco and Suzanne
Richiardone, also got special
jury prize. Lichauco dedicated
the project to her 104-year-old
grandmother Jessie, who also
plays the lead role.
The Vietnamese film “Yen’s
Life” by
Dinh Tuan Vu
snatched the Grand Festival
Prize in the Main Competition
category.
The grand jury prize (main
competition) went to the Philippine entry “Daughters of the
ration from Lilia Cuntapay,”
won six awards at the 2011
Cinema One Originals Digital
Film Festival.
In 2014, four of her movies
were shown on the big screen:
“Relaks, It’s Just Pag-ibig,”
“Beauty in a Bottle,” “English Only, Please” and “That
Thing Called Tadhana,” which
also won awards when it was
screened at the Cinema One
film fest.
Jadaone’s latest work, “The
Achy Breaky Hearts,” which
features Jodi Sta. Maria, Richard Yap and Ian Veneracion,
began its theatrical run last
week.
Asked what it was like to
work with Jadaone for the first
time, Sta. Maria said: “For me,
she’s a genius. We already have
a good script [which Jadaone
cowrote with Yoshke Dimen],
but when she makes revisions,
they always work.”
Yap admitted that he felt nervous working with Jadaone on
their first shooting day. “It’s
because when she talks to us,
she speaks using a microphone
(for everyone to hear). But
when you talk to her face-toface, she’s actually very sweet.”
“Her vibe is very light. She’s
never ill-tempered,” said Veneracion. “She encourages her
actors to collaborate with her.
She’d tell us our objective, then
ask us how we’d do it. That’s
really the work of actors—I like
the fact that we’re able to come
up with our own interpretation
of the characters we portray.”
Jadaone said she has always
followed Bernal’s directing
style. “She’s cool. If she loses
her patience with you, it means
that what you did was really
bad.”
DIRECTOR Alvin Yapan said
he was surprised to have
bagged the best picture trophy
for “Edsa” on Sunday night’s
2016 World Premieres Film
Festival (WPFF) awards ceremony because he didn’t expect
to be “so lucky to win twice in
a row.”
“Last year’s jury already gave
the same award to me so my
expectation for this film wasn’t
that high,” he said during the
after-party held at the Cinematheque Center in Ermita, Manila.
The film, which competed in
the Filipino New Cinema section of the WPFF, bagged four
other awards—best sound for
Corinne de San Jose; best editing, Benjamin Tolentino; best
cinematography, Ronald Rebutica; and special citation for
acting ensemble.
Last year, he also won the
best picture trophy for “An
Kubo sa Kawayanan,” starring Mercedes Cabral, who
snatched the best actress plum
then.
“Edsa” recently received endorsements from the Department of Education and the People Power Commission, said
Yapan. It is now touring Metro
Manila schools, and later those
in the provinces as well.
Another big winner was
Rahyan
Carlos’
“Ringgo:
The Dog-Shooter” with four
awards—second best picture;
best actress, Janice de Belen;
best actor, Sandino Martin; and
best screenplay, Ricky Lee.
“Iadya Mo Kami,” by Mel
Chionglo, received the special
jury prize. It was also cited for
best musical score by Emerson
Tecson and best production design by Edgar Martin Littaua.
Lead star Aiko Melendez said
one of the most challenging aspects of making the project was
the 16-hour ride to get to its set
in Benguet.
The documentary “Curiosity, Adventure and Love,”
Three Tailed Banner” by Gutierrez “Teng” Mangansakan II.
It also took home the best artistic contribution plum.
“This is my way of giving
back to the people of Bangsamoro, to the people of Mindanao,” said Mangansakan in his
acceptance speech. “There was
even a time, while we were
already on location, our producer had to resort to writing
on Facebook to beg for money.
Thirty people were on the set
with nothing to eat the next
day. People heeded our call for
help to make this film.”
Malaysia’s “Redha” by Tunku
Mona Riza won special festival
prize, and best actress for its
lead star, June Lojong. Tunku
dedicated the film, about raising a son with autism, “to parents who want to be heard.”
Tunku said she was pleased
that members of the Autism Society Philippines attended the
movie’s gala premiere.
France’s “By Accident” by
Camille Fontaine won two
awards—best ensemble performance and best actress for Emilie Dequenne.
Spain’s “Love Above All
Things” received the technical
grand prize and the best actor
award for Israel Elejalde.
The winners in the Intercontinental section were: “The
Storm Inside” (France), best
film; Gua Xiaodong for “Pleasure. Love” (China); best male
performance; Marina Fois for
“The Storm Inside” (France)
best female performance;
“Parasol” (Belgium), technical
achievement.
The winners in the Asean
Skies category were: “Beast”
(Philippines/Australia), best
film; “Laut” (Philippines),
special jury prize; Chad McKinney for “Beast,” best male
performance; Angela Barotia for “Remittance” (Philippines), best female performance; “Beast,” technical
achievement.
July 7-13, 2016
PARK PLACE IN ONTARIO OFFERS BRAND NEW HOMES
AND OUTSTANDING SCHOOLS FOR ALL AGES
(Ontario, CA) — At Park
Place, we recognize the importance of an exceptional
education–an education that
enhances knowledge and enriches life whether one is just
starting out in kindergarten
or expanding their horizons
at college. Close proximity to
a broad spectrum of schools is
just one of the many reasons
we selected the outstanding
location for this one-of-akind master-planned community. Park Place presents 7
distinctive new-home neighborhoods from CalAtlantic
Homes, KB Home, TRI Pointe
Homes and Woodside Homes.
Extending from approximately 1,656 to 3,984 square feet,
this dynamic collection offers
as many as 6 bedrooms and 5
bathrooms plus spacious 2-or
3-car garages–ideal for growing or multi-generational
families. Home prices start in
the $300,000s. Please call 888750-8881 for more information.
At Park Place, we’re bringing home back to its authentic
roots: incredible craftsmanship, beautiful and inviting
places to gather and celebrate,
all surrounded by shady trees
and abundant places to play.
You’ll love the combination of
modern floorplans, inspired
architecture, and resort-caliber
amenities. The wide variety in
our detached residential collections ensures that everyone
can go home again. And that’s
the way it should be.
At the heart of Park Place
you will discover The Park-
house and Celebration Park,
magnificent amenities that are
already open to explore. The
Parkhouse presents a worldclass 14,500-square-foot central
gathering place for residents
and features a sprawling resort-style pool, fully equipped
fitness and business centers,
Wi-Fi, multiple game rooms,
a library and state-of-the-art
movie theater with club seating. A masterfully appointed
catering kitchen and adjoining
multipurpose room are ideal
for hosting special celebrations
in style. The 3-acre grounds
of The Parkhouse are home to
tennis and basketball courts,
creative play areas and a dog
park. Neighboring Celebration
Park provides the ideal spot for
memorable picnics, outdoor
play, and relaxing and socializing with friends, family and
neighbors.
Conveniently located near
Los Angeles, Riverside, San
Bernardino and Orange Counties, Park Place is perfect for
every commuter. Residents
will find an array of shopping
close to home, including Eastvale Gateway, Ontario Mills
and Victoria Gardens, along
with dining, entertainment,
employment, recreation, and
transportation options.
Directions: If traveling the
15 Freeway, exit on Limonite
Avenue and head west. Proceed on Limonite Avenue for
approximately 2 ½ miles, and
turn right at Archibald Avenue.
Travel approximately ½ of a
mile on Archibald Avenue, and
turn right at Merrill Avenue.
Continue on Merrill Avenue
for approximately ¼ of a mile,
where The Parkhouse Information Center will be located on
the left.
If traveling the 60 Freeway,
exit on Archibald Avenue and
head south. Proceed on Archibald Avenue for approximately 3 ¼ miles, and turn left
at Merrill Avenue. Continue
on Merrill Avenue for approximately ¼ of a mile, where The
Parkhouse Information Center
will be located on the left. For
more information, visit www.
parkplaceontario.com or call
888-750-8881.
The master-planned community of Park Place reflects
the vision and experience of
Lewis Community Developers and Stratham Communities. Park Place is a true collaborative
effort
between
award-winning homebuilders
CalAtlantic Homes, KB Home,
Woodside Homes, and TRIPointe Homes. We understand
the wants and needs of today’s
families because we have families of our own. We designed
and built a community that we
would live in.
Forget the
$3.9-Million
Mansion. We Want
Kylie Jenner’s
Shoe-and-Purse
Closet
IT was a pretty big deal when
Kylie Jenner bought her first
mansion in Calabasas before
she turned 18. But now, she’s
officially put it up on sale for
$3.9 million.
According to Trulia, the
4,850-square-foot
Calabasas
mansion has five bedrooms
(that’s enough for half the Kardashians), a media room, and
even a shoe-and-purse closet.
Yup, you read the last one
right. Even her bags and shoes
have their own room. How
many does she even have that
they’d need their own space?
Then again, she also had a
Glam Room for her massive
makeup collection. (And if
you’re following her on Snapchat, you’ll see that a second
one is in the works.)
14
PHILIPPINE TRIBUNE
Tita Jessie’ at 104: A story of
curiosity, adventure, love
“TITA Jessie” at home in the
1990s. In the last days of the war,
the Lichauco house became a
way station for refugees fleeing
the devastation of the city.
In Buddhism, a bodhisattva is
an enlightened being who, out
of compassion, chooses to remain in the world of suffering
to help others along the path to
liberation.
I have never met a bodhisattva, at least, as far as I know.
But if ever I do, I imagine he
or she would be someone like
Jessie Lichauco, “Tita Jessie” to
nearly everyone who has ever
met her.
At 104 years old, she still looks
at the world with a clear-eyed
sense of curiosity and good humor, and at the fellow human
beings that life sends her way
with a rare openness, empathy
and acceptance.
I have met only one or two
people with this aura about
them, and they had arrived at
this state of grace after years of
intensive study and rigorous
spiritual practice.
Tita Jessie, as far as anyone
can remember, has been always this way.
“She’s like a 104-year-old Buddha,” says granddaughter Sunshine Lichauco de Leon. “Maybe that’s why people are drawn
to her. She’s touched so many
lives, and they remember.”
Tragedy
I first met Tita Jessie 30 years
ago. It was a horrific family
tragedy that sent me, as a journalist, knocking at the gate
of the 150-year-old Lichauco
house along Herran Street in
old Sta. Ana.
Rex Baquiran, the husband
of her daughter Loretta, was a
progressive-minded military
officer who had gone into the
Cordillera to help villagers
form a coffee cooperative. But
the New People’s Army accused him of being a spy, and
had kidnapped, tortured and
executed him.
Loretta Lichauco kept a remarkable composure as she described how her husband’s mutilated body betrayed evidence
of savage torture that went beyond any tactical necessity.
Her mother stayed silent in
the background; perhaps her
presence helped her daughter
keep it together where most
would have fallen apart.
Happier
I met Tita Jessie again six
years later, under somewhat
happier circumstances.
I was visiting with my brother-in-law’s family in Massachusetts, and they took me to
the Lichauco house in Belmont,
a suburb of Boston.
The Lichauco house was a
sort of informal clubhouse
for Filipinos studying in the
Boston area. There, Tita Jessie
played den mother to a revolving group of Filipinos, mostly
students at Harvard, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Boston University.
By then she was already in her
80s, a lively, silver-haired figure
in brightly-colored caftan. But
the entire household—mostly young men in their 20s—
seemed to center around her.
“That’s one theme in her life,”
says De Leon. “She has provided a home for people who needed one, wherever they were.
When she was living in London,
she had the doors open to every Filipino in London during
those years, and in Boston it was
the same thing. It seems she
has spent her life inadvertently
providing a home for people, in
those places that are not theirs,
whether it’s foreigners in the
Philippines, or Filipinos in London or America.”
Gala premiere
A freelance journalist who
writes for the international
press, De Leon felt compelled
to tell her grandmother’s remarkable life story shortly after
returning to the Philippines 10
years ago.
It started out as a biography,
but somewhere along the way,
it turned into “Curiosity, Adventure and Love,” a documentary film on the life of this
remarkable woman, which had
its gala premiere last July 2 at
the World Premieres Film Festival Philippines.
“It was never my dream to
make a film,” says De Leon. “I
had no concept of how to make
a film. But the story drove me.
It was going to be a book, but a
very wise person told me that
the fact that she can speak and
tell her story is far more compelling.”
At one point in the film, Tita
Jessie says:
“I can’t imagine living all over
again. It would be impossible
for anybody to live the kind of
life that I have lived.”
Singular
It has, in fact, been a singular
journey. If one believed in fate
or predestination, one might
speculate that the thread of Jessie Lichauco’s life was meant
to intersect with that of her adopted country, even before she
was born.
Her father was an American
officer during the SpanishAmerican War—the same
conflict where Spain ceded
the Philippines to the United
States. He settled in Cuba after
the war, fell in love with a Cuban woman, and in 1912 Jessie
Josephine Coe was born.
She spent the first 10 years
of her life on one of Hemingway’s “Islands in the Stream.”
It would have been an idyllic childhood in the tropics, if
both of her parents didn’t die
young.
“She had to raise herself,”
says De Leon. “She told me she
became reliant on her own self,
because she had to be.”
July 7-13, 2016
The orphaned Jessie was sent
to live with relatives in the city
of St. Augustine, Florida, where
she attended a convent school.
In the film, it is pointed out that
St. Augustine was where Ponce
de Leon searched for the fabled
fountain of youth, which might
explain her longevity and her
youthful outlook on life.
‘Ilustrado’
In any case, after leaving the
convent school, she made her
way to New York where she
would meet the man who was
to become her husband, and
the father of her seven children.
Marcial Lichauco had been
born to a prosperous and prominent family in 1902. His father
was a member of Aguinaldo’s
revolutionary government.
In the “ilustrado” tradition,
Marcial went to the United
States for college, becoming the
first Filipino to graduate from
Harvard in 1923. He went on
to earn a law degree from Harvard Law School three years
later.
In the early 1930s, he was
persuaded by his law partner,
Manuel Roxas, to become the
secretary of Osmeña-Roxas
Mission, whose sole purpose
was to lobby for Philippine
independence in the US Congress.
It was during this time that
Marcial was introduced to Jessie.
Although he was 10 years
older and already an official
of the Philippine government,
and she barely out of convent
school, they hit it off, and before Marcial left for the Philippines, having accomplished his
mission with the passage of the
Hare-Hawes-Cutting Act, he
invited Jessie to come visit him
in his home country.
In 1933, the 18-year-old Jessie found herself journeying,
alone, to a country she knew
very little about.
The train journey to California took a week, and the ocean
voyage to Manila nearly a
month; and this at a time when
a young girl venturing out into
the world alone was all but unheard of.
But she was possessed of three
attributes that carried her to
these shores: boundless curiosity, a sense of adventure and
love—hence the title of the film.
And although today Tita Jessie
doesn’t get around as much as
she used to, these three attributes
continue to govern her life.
Marcial met her at the pier.
Within weeks the couple were
married. Together they would
weather World War II and the
Japanese occupation of Manila, which Marcial would later
record in “Dear Mother Putnam,” his memoir of daily life
in the occupied city.
Heritage house
In the last days of the war, the
Lichauco house became a way
station for refugees fleeing the
devastation of the city, which is
part of the reason it was declared
a “heritage house” in 2010.
Marcial and Jessie would
have seven children: Cornelia
Beatrice, Loretta Ramona, Sylvia Maria, Marcial Jr., Tomas,
Jessie Joanne Valentine and
Faustino Antonio.
Marcial would later become
one of the country’s ambassadors, most notably to the Court
of St. James, and wherever the
family found themselves, Jessie would invariably open their
home to homesick Filipinos.
Jessie also joined the Asociacion de Damas de Filipinas,
a charitable organization caring for abandoned, neglected
and orphaned children. She
was one of the founders of Red
July 7-13, 2016
Destination: Nueva Ecija
& Pangasinan Part 1
THERE are countless reasons
why tourists love the Philippines. Foremost of these are the
stunning beaches found all over
the archipelago. As among the
most visited places and most
popular destinations in the Philippines, Boracay and Palawan
are always on top of the lists of
places to visit in the country.
But with over 7,000 islands
making up the archipelago, the
Philippines has countless more
destinations to offer to the travelers. Beaches, mountains, bays,
lakes, and dive sites are only
some of the attractions for any
traveler to the Philippines.
Having considered it as my
second home, I have travelled
to the Philippines numerous
times. In each of these travels,
I always visit places that I have
not seen before. In doing so, I
discover that there endless possibilities for tourists to enjoy the
Philippines. On going back to
America, I bring with me additional knowledge and information to share with our clients at
Travel International especially
those who want to discover
more of the Philippines – even
Filipino-Americans who have
not been to the country for a
long time, or those who have
roots in the Philippines and
want to retrace them.
Last month I was back in the
Philippines for the nth time.
It was still summertime in
the tropics and naturally the
beaches are the favorite destinations of both local and foreign
tourists. But I have something
different planned. I wanted to
revisit Manila and explore the
countrysides.
Manila has been the seat of
power in the Philippines since
the Spanish times. While Manila today seems like a distant
cousin to posh and modern
districts like Makati and Global
City, it is still a beautiful city that
boasts art, leisure, entertainment and history. The best way
to rediscover Manila and learn
about its history is by visiting
Rizal Park, located in the heart
of the city’s financial, commercial, industrial and institutional
Luzon region.
Nueva Ecija has always been
known as the “Rice Granary of
the Philippines”. Agriculture is
the main industry of the people
in this province because of its
naturally rich soil. Besides rice,
other lowland crops such as
corn, onions, vegetables and
sugarcane are produced in the
great quantities in Nueva Ecija.
But if you think that Nueva Ecija
is just about agriculture, you’re
in for a big surprise. Within the
province are picturesque lakes,
stunning rivers and waterfalls,
gorgeous limestones and thermal pools and surprisingly an
Jane Stark with with Monika and Loubelle inside of Province of
Pangasinan Capitol Building.
centers, overlooking the famous
and picturesque Manila Bay.
Rizal Park, which was a tribute to the Philippines’ national
hero, Dr. Jose Rizal, is an expansive area that features gardens,
historical markers, plazas, a
grand stadium, an observatory,
an open-air concert hall, restaurants, food kiosks and dozens of
playgrounds.
Only a few blocks away from
Rizal Park is Intramuros, the
walled city, another historical monument. For hundreds
of years, Intramuros was the
center of Spanish political, religious and military power in
the region. Intramuros was constructed almost entirely of stone
blocks in the architectural designs and traits as those of other
Spanish defenses. Today, Intramuros is attractively landscaped
with abundant tropical flowers
and plants. Some the features
are old gunpowder rooms used
as recently as World War II,
seminaries and chapel, the Manila Cathedral and museums.
For added history, one should
also visit the nearby Fort Santiago, where Dr. Jose Rizal spent
his last days writing his famous
“Mi Ultimo Adios” before he
was executed.
After my “rediscovery” tour
of Manila, my next destinations
were the provinces of Nueva
Ecija and Pangasinan, both
north of Manila in the Central
interesting zipline and hanging
bridge for those who seek adventures.
Also found in Nueva Ecija is
one of the most stunning parks
in the country – the Minalungao National Park, a 2,018-hectare protected landscape with
brilliant turquoise water of the
Penaranda river flowing between towering limestone cliffs.
Another place to visit when
in Nueva Ecija is the multi-purpose Pantabangan Dam, one
of the cleanest reservoirs in the
Philippines. The scenic views
of Pantabangan Lake look most
spectacular during sunsets.
Other places to see include the
Gabaldon Falls, Gen. Luna Falls,
the Diamond Park, and the hundred-step stair that leads to a
church at Mt. Olivete.
From Nueva Ecija, a two-hour
trip will take you to neighboring
Pangasinan, one of the country’s
most prized regions. Pangasinan derived its name from the
word “panag-asinan”, which
means “where the salt is made”,
due to the rich and fine salt beds
which were the prime source
of livelihood of the province’s
coastal town.
With its picturesque landscapes, natural wonders, interesting culture, sumptuous
dishes and friendly people, Pangasinan regularly attracts a considerable number of local and
international tourists.
Topping the list of attractions
in the province is the postcardworth Hundred Islands National Park. Located in the town
of Alaminos, the Park is composed of 123 islets within the
18.44-square kilometer spread
of Lingayen Gulf just near the
South China Sea. Of the total
number of islets that make up
the Hundred Islands National
Park, only few are inhabited,
but some are definitely worth
exploring like the Quezon island which has splendid cottages and kiosks.
Lingayen Gulf is another
stunningly beautiful place one
should not miss. Its powdery
sand is perfect for either walking or running, or building artsy
sandcastles.
Glimpse into the province’s
cultural heritage by visiting the
Lingayen Capitol Complex. The
structure sustained heavy damage during World War II, but
was since rehabilitated. Today
it still exudes the same beauty
and elegance as the first day it
was constructed. It is regarded
as one of the eight architectural
treasures of the Philippines,
while the Veterans Memorial
Park, also located in Lingayen
showcases the Lingayen Gulf
Landings War memorabilia.
Meanwhile, within the dense
forests of Bolinao lies a majestic
waterfall with emerald green
waters that is refreshingly cool
for everyone to dive in and
enjoy. It is a perfect stop after
hours of hiking and trekking.
Also found in Bolinao is the
Cape Bolinao Lighthouse, a tall
structure erected sometime during the American settlement of
the country. It is second to the
Cape Bojeador Lighthouse of
Laoag in terms of height. You
would not want to miss that spectacular 360-degree view of the sea
Old World City
VIGAN, with its centuries-old
edifices, is a breathing reminder
of what was once a royal city.
One of the earliest Spanish
settlements in the country, Vigan
was founded in 1572 by Juan de
Salcedo who patterned its design to that of Intramuros (Old
Manila). It became the seat of the
Archdiocese of Nueva Segovia
and was called Ciudad Fernandina in honor of King Ferdinand.
Today, Vigan retains much of
the patina of 18th century Castillan architecture as seen in some
150 stone houses which stand in
the town’s Mestizo District, notably Mena Crisologo Street. Many
of these ancestral homes are still
in good condition and some have
been turned into cozy inns, museums, and souvenir shops.
Along with the homes are other
vestiges of the town’s colonial
past:
from the top of this lighthouse.
For this trip, I also had an
educational stopover at the National Integrated Fisheries Technology Center , met Chief Dr.
Westley R. Rosario and visited
Bolinao Mangrove Information
Center and Fish Farm and Also
the had short meeting with the
President of Central Luzon state
University Dr. Tereso A Abella
Honestly, I did not know what
to expect from the Fish Farms
and Philippine Bangus Center
, but at first sight of the Outdoor Hatchery my eagerness
was instantly picked. Here at
the institute, they culture giant
clams from its juvenile stage up
to when it is big enough to be
transferred to the sea. Among
other marine life, they also culture sea cucumbers, sea urchins,
corals and seaweeds and Bangus , Fresh water Prawn .
From talking with some of the
staff in the facility, it is amazing to learn how the institute –
through its many projects – was
able to provide livelihood to the
island barangays
Which takes us to the second
part of this article: agricultural
tourism, one of the projects on
our planning board, and which
I shall write about next week.
For information about our
forthcoming 6 Days/5 Nights
Filgrimage Tour of Manila, Nueva Ecija and Pangasinan this
coming September to October,
call us at Travel International
Group at (310) 327-5143 or at
our toll-free number at 1-844320-1499. You can also check
out our amazing tour packages
and special promos at www.
travelinternational.net. Travel
International Group, Inc. has
a global network of offices in
Yangon, Myanmar; Hanoi, Vietnam; Bangkok, Thailand; and
Manila, Philippines.
The majestic St. Paul’s Cathedral was built by the Augustinian friars along the distinct
“Earthquake Baroque” style of
the Ilocos region and features
Neo-Gothic and pseudo Romanesque motifs. Standing on
an elevation west of the cathedral is Plaza Salcedo, the oldest
monument in Northern Luzon.
The Archbishop’s Palace is a rich
repository of religious artifacts
from the Ilocos region. Plaza
Burgos was built in honor of Fr.
Jose Burgos, one of three Filipino
priests who were garroted by the
Spaniards for espousing church
reforms.
But it is not only edifices which
are preserved in this town inscribed in the World Heritage
List. Viganos also remain steadfast in their traditional crafts, notably pottery (burnay) and handloom weaving (inabel).
The horse-drawn calesa (rig) is
as much a presence in the streets
as motor vehicles.
16
PHILIPPINE TRIBUNE
Brent oil falls below
50% as Nigeria ups
production
July 7-13, 2016
Filipino hurt in China blast
A FILIPINO seaman was among
those injured in a bombing at
Shanghai’s Pudong International
Airport on Sunday, the Department
of Foreign Affairs said Monday.
DFA spokesperson Charles
Jose said the Philippine consulate in Shanghai confirmed that a
52-year-old Filipino seafarer was
injured in the bombing, sustaining a minor foot injury. He was
treated at a nearby hospital and
was put up in a hotel after he was
discharged.
Jose said the seaman, who was
not identified, had disembarked
from a container ship from the
United States that had docked in
Shanghai. He was at the airport to
catch a flight to Manila.
3 others injured
Wire reports said the blast at
Pudong, China’s second-largest
airport, injured three other persons aside from the Filipino, including a 67-year-old man and
a 64-year-old woman, both of
them Chinese. Doctors said they
suffered injuries in their heads,
hands and legs.
Report said a man was seen
throwing an “explosive wine bottle” before severing his own throat
at around 2:20 p.m. at Terminal 2.
THE ‘SHABU’ house at
Philamlife Village, Pamplona
Dos, Las Piñas, apparently has
a counterpart at BF Homes,
Parañaque. The clandestine
drug labs found inside the two
homes were allegedly run by
three Taiwanese men arrested
Tuesday. Photos by Jan Escosio, Radyo Inquirer
THE ‘SHABU’ house at
Philamlife Village, Pamplona
Dos, Las Piñas, apparently has
a counterpart at BF Homes,
Parañaque. The clandestine
drug labs found inside the two
homes were allegedly run by
three Taiwanese men arrested
Tuesday. Photos by Jan Escosio, Radyo Inquirer
Three Taiwanese nationals
were arrested Tuesday night as
the police raided two “shabu”
laboratories in Las Piñas and
Parañaque cities.
The Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) said a total of 300 kilos of shabu worth
P1.5 billion were recovered at
the two homes used for clandestine manufacturing.
At around 6:30 p.m., a joint
team from PDEA and the Las
Piñas police found Shih-ming
Tsai and Kuo-chuan Cheng in
a bungalow in Philamlife Village, Barangay Pamplona Dos..
The Las Piñas police chief, Senior Supt. Jemar Modequillo,
said a typical observer would
not suspect that the house being rented by Tsai and Cheng
was used for illegal activities.
“I saw a compressor, refrigerators, a tank. But if I were an ordinary person, I wouldn’t think
this was a drug lab,” he said in
an interview Wednesday.
Aside from the drug-manufacturing equipment, seized
from Tsai and Cheng were
50 kilos of suspected shabu
powder and buckets containing what authorities believe to
be liquid methamphetamine,
Modequillo said.
Found at Lin’s house were
15 packs of suspected “shabu”
and 24 balikbayan boxes containing suspected ephedrine
powder hidden in tape dispensers, one of shabu’s main
ingredients, said Carumba.
0707laspinas
According to the neighbors, the
house was newly constructed
and the suspect moved in only
two weeks ago. “They thought
the packages being brought in
the house were still for its construction. They had no idea he
was bringing in drugs,” said the
Parañaque Police chief, Senior
Supt. Jose Carumba.
Modequillo and Carumba
said the three suspects were
taken to PDEA’s headquarters for further questioning, as
none of them spoke in English
at the time of their arrest.
The suspects will be charged
with violation of the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act
before the Department of Justice, PDEA director Isidro Lapeña said.
CHINESE paramilitary policemen guard a closed off area of
the Shanghai’s Pudong airport after an explosion
SINGAPORE, Singapore—Oil
prices retreated in Asia Tuesday, with Brent easing below
$50 on news of increased production from Nigeria following the repair of infrastructure
damaged in militant attacks.
Bloomberg News reported
Tuesday that Nigeria, Africa’s
biggest oil producer, pumped
an average 1.53 million barrels
a day last month, up around
90,000 a day from May.
The Nigerian state minister
for petroleum resources, Emmanuel Kachikwu, said last
month that a ceasefire with
rebel forces had allowed the
Nigerian government to repair the damaged oil pipelines,
Bloomberg reported.
At around 0325 GMT, US
benchmark West Texas Intermediate for August delivery
was down 67 cents, or 1.37 percent, to $48.32 and Brent crude
for September eased 42 cents,
or 0.84 percent, to $49.68 a barrel.
“Oil prices are pulling back
on easing supply disruption
concerns, as markets reacted to
news that Nigerian production
has increased last month,” IG
Markets analyst Bernard Aw
told AFP.
“Nonetheless, oil prices
remained relatively stable
around the $50 mark. This will
be welcomed by the oil sector.”
Despite the increase in production, a recent resumption of at-
tacks on Nigerian oil pipelines
has underscored the volatility of
the situation in the country.
Crude prices had edged up
on Monday after Nigerian oil
militant group Niger Delta
Avengers on Sunday claimed
five attacks on the country’s
oil and gas infrastructure in a
revival of their sabotage campaign after a recent lull.
The Avengers are fighting in
the Niger delta region for a bigger share of crude revenue and
greater political autonomy.
British bank Barclays said
prices will also remain under
pressure from the impact of
Britain’s vote to leave the European Union, which is yet to
fully unfold.
“The dire warnings about the
effect on global financial markets and risk appetite from a
UK vote to leave the EU are yet
to manifest themselves in commodity markets, which in general have performed robustly
over the past week,” it said in
a market analysis.
“Whether this proves to be
the calm before the storm depends on the extent of negative
contagion,” it added.
“The deterioration in the
global economic outlook, financial market uncertainty and
potential ripple effects on key
areas of oil demand growth are
likely to exacerbate alreadylacklustre industrial demand
growth trends.”
Taiwanese trio ran ‘shabu’
labs in Las Piñas, Parañaque
FOI advocates press
Palace on promised EO
MALACANAN executives on
Wednesday held a consultation
meeting with freedom of information (FOI) advocates who
want to make sure that the President’s impending executive
order (EO) to put the principle
in effect should actually lead to
the faster release of government
data to the public.
Communications Secretary
Martin Andanar and Executive
Secretary Salvador Medialdea
met with Nepomuceno Malaluan, convenor of the Right to
Know. Right Now! Coalition,
and Malou Mangahas of the
Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism.
Following the consultation, Andanar said the executive order on
FOI may be ready by tonight. He
posted a picture of the meeting on
his Twitter account.
Malaluan said the FOI advocates offered suggestions on
what could be included in the EO
which is currently being drafted.
One key point for the FOI advocates is that the transparency
measure should really have
practical application for ordinary
people and would lead to swifter
release of information. Requests
for information should not be easily denied, said Malaluan.
“There should be a clear directive to the agencies to provide
information within a definite
time period, and any denial
should have a clear basis,” he
said in a phone interview.
“In case there is such a denial,
there should be an opportunity
to appeal,” he added.
In an earlier statement, FOI
advocates said the executive
order on FOI should clarify the
provision in the code of ethics
for public officials that requires
a 15-day response to requests. It
should mean that the response
should be the actual release of
the requested information, they
said.
Malaluan also said that in
drafting the FOI order that
would cover agencies in the
executive branch, “balancing”
should be the operative word.
The government is expected to
keep certain sensitive information under wraps.
Palace officials did not present
a copy of the draft executive order on the FOI during the meeting on Wednesday.
But Malaluan said the FOI
advocates were supportive of
the President’s plan to issue an
EO that will pave the way for a
more transparent government.
“It’s a big step that the new administration will provide the direction to the executive branch
and all agencies to give a clear
signal that it upholds the right
of the people to be informed,”
he said.
But their support will also
depend on the final EO to be
handed down.
July 7-13, 2016
Fil-Am nurse fired for union PH Embassy reminds Filipinos
in Iraq to be vigilant
drive settles with hospital
LOS ANGELES – Filipina
American nurse Alysha Almada settled with a hospital
in Southern California that she
said fired her for trying to start
a union.
Just shortly before a hearing with the National Labor
Relations Board, Almada and
another fired nurse reached a
settlement with Huntington
Hospital in Pasadena, which
agreed to pay them nearly
$30,000 each in back wages.
Huntington Hospital management also agreed to inform
nurses of their rights as hospital
staff prepare for a second union
certification vote in October.
The settlement also calls for
a National Labor Relations
Board compliance officer posted at the hospital for the next
eight months to monitor the
management’s handling of
the hospital staff’s workplace
rights.
Leaders of the California
Nurses Association/National
Nurses United (CNA/NNU),
other nurses joined Almada in
celebrating the settlement and
vowing to fight for “a union
contract” with the hospital.
Almada has been reinstated
at Huntington but may not return, saying she still felt insecure working there because of
the “anti-union” atmosphere.
In a statement, hospital management said the settlement
was in “the best interest” of both
parties and the patients, and
confirmed that it had reached
an agreement with the nurses’
union and the National Labor
Relations Board “to clear the
way for a rerun election.”
British lawyer seeks to
raise funds for Filipino
LAWYER Isabelle Claisse will
be running 17 kilometers to and
from work every day to help
raise funds for cancer patient
Dave Caba’s medical expenses.
Lawyer Isabelle Claisse will
from work every day to help
raise funds for cancer patient
Dave Caba’s medical expenses.
SINGAPORE—Earlier this year,
British lawyer Isabelle Claisse
shaved her head to raise nearly
$63,000 for her Filipino maid’s
son, who had bone cancer.
Dave Caba, 11, has now gone
through two operations to replace a cancerous bone in his
leg with an implant, and completed chemotherapy. But he
has since contracted an infection in his leg after a minor
corrective procedure, and will
need to be put on IV antibiotics, which cost $200 a day, for
six weeks, in addition to hospitalization bills.
To help raise funds for these
additional medical expenses,
Claisse, 38, aims to pull off another feat this month: She will
from work every day, putting in
extra distances over the week-
ends to clock a total of 500 km
by the end of the month.
“We were hugely blessed to
have been able to raise a very
substantial amount of money
through the enormous generosity shown by people during the
original fund-raiser,” she said.
She and her family, who are
based here, have decided to
pay for the treatment themselves, but donations will be
able to help them cope financially with the constant cash
outflow requirements.
She aims to raise $12,000 for
Dave, who is now in the Philippines, and is appealing for
people to sponsor her for every kilometer that she runs.
Alternatively, she hopes that
the reach of the fund-raiser can
be extended by getting people
to pledge to run distances,
and get corporations to sponsor amounts based on the total
aggregated distance that has
been run by the whole group.
Tita Jessie... from Page 14
very little about.
The train journey to California took a week, and the ocean
voyage to Manila nearly a
month; and this at a time when
a young girl venturing out into
the world alone was all but unheard of.
But she was possessed of three
attributes that carried her to
these shores: boundless curiosity, a sense of adventure and
love—hence the title of the film.
And although today Tita Jessie
doesn’t get around as much as
she used to, these three attributes
continue to govern her life.
Marcial met her at the pier.
Within weeks the couple were
married. Together they would
weather World War II and the
Japanese occupation of Manila,
which Marcial would later
record in “Dear Mother Putnam,” his memoir of daily life
in the occupied city.
Heritage house
In the last days of the war, the
Lichauco house became a way
station for refugees fleeing the
devastation of the city, which is
part of the reason it was declared
a “heritage house” in 2010.
Marcial and Jessie would
have seven children: Cornelia
Beatrice, Loretta Ramona, Sylvia Maria, Marcial Jr., Tomas,
Jessie Joanne Valentine and
born to a prosperous and prominent family in 1902. His father
was a member of Aguinaldo’s
revolutionary government.
In the “ilustrado” tradition,
Marcial went to the United
States for college, becoming the
first Filipino to graduate from
Harvard in 1923. He went on
to earn a law degree from Harvard Law School three years
later.
In the early 1930s, he was
persuaded by his law partner,
Manuel Roxas, to become the
secretary of Osmeña-Roxas
Mission, whose sole purpose
was to lobby for Philippine
independence in the US Congress.
It was during this time that
Marcial was introduced to Jessie.
Although he was 10 years
older and already an official
of the Philippine government,
and she barely out of convent
school, they hit it off, and before Marcial left for the Philippines, having accomplished his
mission with the passage of the
Hare-Hawes-Cutting Act, he
invited Jessie to come visit him
in his home country.
In 1933, the 18-year-old Jessie found herself journeying,
alone, to a country she knew
“Every little amount will help. It
will be a gift that will keep on giving for the next 10 years,” she said .
She has set up a Facebook
page to document her 500 km
attempt: www.facebook.com.
BAGHDAD—The Philippine
Embassy in Baghdad again
reminded Filipinos in Iraq to
remain vigilant in the wake of
the latest suicide car bomb attack that killed at least 120 people and wounded more than
200 others in the Iraqi capital
early Sunday.
The Embassy, at the same
time, said it has not received
any report of Filipino casualties in the attack, which it described as one of the deadliest,
if not the deadliest to strike
Baghdad this year.
“The Philippine Embassy
joins the people of Baghdad in mourning the loss of
many innocent lives,” Chargé
d’Affaires Elmer Cato said in
an advisory the Embassy is-
sued to the more than 2,000
members of the Filipino community in Iraq immediately
after the incident.
“In anticipation of more attacks before the end of the holy
month of Ramadan, the Embassy reiterates its call for our
kababayans in Baghdad and
other parts of Iraq to remain
vigilant in the coming days
and to restrict movement,” the
advisory posted in the Embassy’s Facebook age said. .
“Filipinos are strongly urged
to remain indoors as much as
possible and to stay away from
public places such as shopping
malls, restaurants and markets.
Those who wish to be repatriated
should contact the Embassy so
arrangements could be made for
their return to the Philippines.”
The Embassy’s emergency
contact numbers are: +964-751616-7838 or +964-773-569-9562.
The Embassy estimates that
there are 300 Filipinos who remain in Baghdad despite the
government’s mandatory repatriation program that has been
in place since 2014 when Iraq
was placed under Alert Level
IV due to threats posed by the
Islamic State.
More than 1,500 members of
the Filipino community are
based in Iraq’s northern Kurdistan region while the rest are in
Basra and in the southern provinces of the country that have
been spared the level of violence
that Baghdad and other provinces continue to be subjected to.
ISIS videos declare war on
Malaysia and Indonesia
PETALING JAYA — A guntoting adult is surrounded by
children, and a teen standing
away from the group is seen
cradling an AK-47 assault rifle.
The man is wagging his right
index finger back and forth,
and talks in a mix of Bahasa
Malaysia and what sounded
like Arabic.
He expresses gratitude to Allah for “easing our journey and
jihad” and for appointing them
as “soldiers of Tawhid (The
Oneness of God)”.
He called out to the authorities of the nusantara (archipelago) – especially in Malaysia
and Indonesia.
“Know this … we are no longer
your citizens, and have liberated
ourselves from you,” he said as
the camera panned to show a
goateed man nearby holding
another Malaysian passport.
“With His permission and
His assistance, we will come to
you with a military force that
you cannot overcome.
“This is Allah’s promise to
us,” he said.
This footage is seen in one of
the video clips released by the
Islamic State in Iraq and Syria
(ISIS).
The man also referred to the
toppling of governments and
leaders who did not follow Islamic principles to make way
for the supremacy of Islam.
Shortly later, he threw his
passport into the middle of
the circle, and the children followed suit.
A young boy stepped forward with a silver lighter and
uttered Bismillah before lighting up a folded piece of white
paper.
He then placed it among the
pile of documents to set the
heap ablaze, a sight which is
greeted by raucous cheers and
singing from the other children
as their fists punched the air.
The scene then moves to
a classroom setting, depicting children wearing songkok
chanting during religious lessons supervised by an adult,
and undergoing combat training under the watchful eyes of
another.
They also go through outdoor
learning sessions, where a man
in a red headwrap conducted
quizzes for his young charges.
In another clip of a sandy
clearing surrounded by coniferous trees, children stood in
line as they fired rounds from
semi-automatic pistols.
In a testament to their tender
years, their small bodies jerked
back from the recoil, with the
hems of their oversized camouflage fatigues falling past their
knees.
An adult nearby, clad in camel khakis, long-sleeved shirt
and a vest, raised his right fist,
shouting takbir as the children
followed suit with a chorus of
Allahu Akbar (God is Great).
Faustino Antonio.
Marcial would later become
one of the country’s ambassadors, most notably to the Court
of St. James, and wherever the
family found themselves, Jessie would invariably open their
home to homesick Filipinos.
Jessie also joined the Asociacion de Damas de Filipinas,
a charitable organization caring for abandoned, neglected
and orphaned children. She
was one of the founders of Red
Feather Agency which later became the Community Chest,
an organization that raised
funds for other charities.
And in a private capacity, she
helped hundreds of children,
putting many of them through
school.
“She has a soft spot for children in need,” says De Leon.
“You can surmise that perhaps
it’s because she was alone as a
child, and deep down, probably
recalls what it was like not to
have a mother, not to have anyone. I’m sure she identifies with
children who have no parents
or who get abandoned.”
‘Other children’
After Marcial’s death in 1971,
Jessie devoted more of her time
to helping children in need.
Over the years, she divided
her time between caring for her
children and grandchildren as
they built lives for themselves
abroad, and going back to her
home in the Philippines to care
for her “other children,” the
ones in need that she took under her wing.
When all her children were
settled and secure, she returned home to her house by
the river in Sta. Ana, where she
lives to this day.
Ten years ago, De Leon moved
to the Philippines to work as
freelance journalist, and got to
know her grandmother even
better.
“We have this great symbiotic
relationship,” De Leon says.
“We’re friends. I’ve learned to
see the Philippines from a different point of view, through
her eyes, and she’s taught me a
lot of things about it.”
“She’s also my anchor,” De
Leon continues. “She’s just a
really good source of wisdom
and advice on anything. She
listens well and doesn’t judge,
and is quite insightful. She’s
got a good eye for people.”
Citizenship
In 2012, for her 100th birthday, Jessie got an unexpected
gift. Through an act of Congress, the Senate granted her
Philippine citizenship. It made
official what Jessie had always
felt since marrying Marcial in
1933: This was home.
It took seven years to complete “Curiosity, Adventure and
Love,” says De Leon, who enlisted the help of US-based filmmaker Suzanne Richiardone as
coproducer and codirector.
“It’s a unique opportunity
to get people interested in the
Philippines,” De Leon adds.
“At the same time I think she
has great wisdom and insight
to offer. She’s a great example
of how we can live, if we want
to.”
Back when the project was
still a book, De Leon wrote, by
way of prologue:
“Some people come into youlife and leave a footprint. My
grandmother leaves something
stronger and lasting in a different way: She infuses you with
part of her spirit. Whether you
meet her for a moment or a
lifetime, your life is somehow
affected. And this change can
come from the simplest and
most complex place: a piece of
advice, a random act of kindness, a shared experience, a remembered part of history, or a
perfectly timed anecdote.
“Many say that her great gift
is her memory. This is without
question. However, those who
know her story understand
that her even greater gift is her
heart, as it overflows with empathy, compassion, tolerance
and love—and I mean love in
the universal sense of things.
Combined with an insatiable
curiosity, fearlessness and sense
of adventure, her life has been a
collection of moments spanning
almost a century and across the
globe which make one both
dream, inspire and learn.”
18
PHILIPPINE TRIBUNE
25 drug peddlers, users
surrenders to Camarines
Norte governor
by Daet Mayor Benito Ochoa,
Camarines Norte PDEA chief
Judith Rigo and Supt. Wilmor
Halamani, Daet police chief.
Lacson has no doubt
on Duterte’s info on 5
generals
Camarines Norte governor
Edgardo Tallado
DAET, Camarines Norte — At
least 25 self-confessed drug
peddlers and users surrendered to Camarines Norte Gov.
Edgardo Tallado on Tuesday
to heed the call of President
Duterte to stop the illegal drug
trade and use in the country.
Tallado said those who surrendered came from a village
in this capital town, with ages
ranging from 20 to 47.
He said he received feelers on
Monday morning, informing
him about the plan of several
drug peddlers and users to surrender for fear that they would
be harmed or killed after the
President announced a bloody
war against illegal drugs.
Tallado said the village where
they came from has been
known for illegal drug activities.
Those who surrendered
signed a document confessing their illegal activities and
agreeing to undergo any background check and investigation by the Philippine Drug
Enforcement Agency (PDEA).
Tallado, in turn, urged them
to reform and promised to help
them find alternative means of
livelihood and put them in a
rehabilitation program.
The event was witnessed
July 7-13, 2016
Senator Ping Lacson
RETURNING Sen. Panfilo Lacson on Tuesday said he had no
doubt on the validity of the information of President Duterte
in naming five police generals
allegedly involved in illegal
drug operations, especially
when he had heard the same
information on two names
there.
In text messages, Lacson said
during the campaign period
he heard from former subordinates in the defunct Presidential Anti-Organized Crime
Task Force, who at the time
were seriously involved in
anti-drug operations in their
areas, the names of the two police generals.
He declined to identify the
two police generals as he had
not validated the information.
” All I’m saying is, since the
that information,” Lacson said.
He insisted that “the commander-in-chief, more than
anybody in this country, is in
the best position to have access to all these vital and sensi-
tive information and I have no
reason to doubt or question its
validity.”
Other senators did not comment on the five identified police generals.
Sen. Gregorio Honasan said
“names are immaterial” as he
underscored the importance
for authorities to observe due
process and the rule of law.
“And while there is no final
verdict yesterday, they should
not be subjected to trial by
publicity because the children
and family who are not involved here are affected,” Honasan said.
Incoming Senate President
Aquilino Pimentel III lauded
the presidential move.
“Wow. Great job by the President,” Pimentel said.
Incoming Sen. Vicente Sotto
III said President Duterte’s intelligence information “must
be A-1 for him to have done
that.”
Dela Rosa sacks some
members of Metro Manila, QC anti-drugs unit
PNP chief Director General
Ronald “Bato” Dela Rosa
sacked members of the National Capital Region and Quezon
City Police’s anti-narcotics unit
and sent them to regional police offices in Mindanao.
Philippine National Police
chief Director General Ronald
“Bato” Dela Rosa immediately
sacked some members of the
anti-illegal drugs unit of Metro
Manila and Quezon City Police
and sent them to Mindanao on
the day he assumed office last
Friday.
Dela Rosa ordered the relief
of the members of the National
Capital Region Police Office
Regional Anti-Illegal Drugs
Unit (NCRPO-RAID) and Quezon City Police District’s AntiIllegal Drugs Unit (QCPDDAID) and transfer to different
Mindanao provincial units.
President Rodrigo Duterte
earlier identified two former
QCPD chiefs as protectors of
drug syndicates—Police Director Joel Pagdilao and Chief
Supt. Edgardo Tinio.
Pagdilao was also ordered
relieved as the director of the
National Capital Region Police
Office (NCRPO) effective July 1.
Dela Rosa’s classmate at the
Philippine Military Academy
Chief Supt. Oscar Albayalde
replaced Pagdilao.
The relieved anti-narcotics
operatives will be assigned to
the regional police offices of
Zamboanga, Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, and
Caraga.
The relief order was signed
by Chief Supt. Fernando Mendez Jr., chief of the Directorate for Personnel and Records
Management, and Chief Supt.
Ramon Apolinario, Chief of the
Directorial Staff.
Disgruntled members of
QCPD DAID, however, are
complaining about the transfer order, saying that it is unfair for Dela Rosa to assume
that all personnel are involved
in drugs.
Ex-CHR chair: Marcos
is no a hero
FORMER Commission on
Human Rights chair Loretta
“Etta” Rosales on Wednesday
called on the government and
the public to stop plans to
give late dictator Ferdinand
Marcos a hero’s burial.
Reacting to the remarks of
President Rodrigo Duterte,
who has said he is a close
friend of the Marcos family,
Rosales said the late strongman could not be buried at
the Libingan Ng Mga Bayani
because he was not a hero.
“Ang panawagan ko hindi
pwedeng ilibing si Marcos sa
Libingan ng mga Bayani, sapagkat ang pangalan noon,
Libingan ng mga Bayani. So
para sa mga bayani ‘yun. Eh
Rody asks... from Page 1
that before she left the meeting,
Mr. Duterte told her: “Please
assist me in my job.”
Though no follow-up meeting
was scheduled, Robredo said
Mr. Duterte told her: “Visit me
more often because you are part
of this administration. It’s better
that you are also informed of
the country’s situation.”
Robredo, who left her contact
number with Duterte’s staff to
get his instructions, felt honored that Mr. Duterte escorted
her outside the Palace driveway and didn’t leave her side
until her service car arrived.
Ice breaker
She called the Palace meeting
last Monday as an “ice breaker” because the two have never
really sat down together since
they won the May 9 elections.
After touching base with Mr.
Duterte, Robredo reckoned
that she would have more momentum to do her work.
“Our image alone that we
are friends will appease many
troubled minds. I hope the
feuds between our supporters
will be reduced. This is important moving forward,” said
Robredo.
Robredo said it was only during the Malacañang meeting
that she was able to talk to Mr.
Duterte formally and personally pledge her full support to
his administration.
“He was more warm than
the first time we met (last Friday at the Armed Forces of the
si Marcos mahirap siyang
tawaging bayani sapagkat
hindi lang naman siya sundalo. Peke nga ‘yung kanyang
mga medals sabi ng American
government,” Rosales told reporters at the sidelines of the
“True Philippine Heroes Stories” activity at UP Diliman.
“Paano siya magiging bayani kung siya ay responsable
sa pagpapatay ng libu-libong
mga estudyante, mga guro,
mga taong simbahan, manggagawa, magsasaka, mga
Pinoy. Responsable siya sa
pag-utos niya nito. Responsable siya sa enforced disappearances. Responsable siya
sa torture at mga karahasan,”
she added.
The two-decade Marcos
regime was marked by imprisonment, killings and disappearances of activists and
human rights defenders. It
was ended by a people power
revolution in 1986, which sent
the dictator’s family into exile
in Hawaii, where Marcos also
died. The Marcos family was
allowed to return to the country years later, bringing in the
patriarch’s remains.
Duterte had said before he
would allow a hero’s burial
for Marcos, whose cadaver is
currently embalmed and enclosed in a glass casket in his
hometown, to end decades of
divisions that hounded the
country.
But Rosales said human
rights groups were poised to
counter a future decision to
bury Marcos at the heroes’
cemetery through a temporary restraining order.
“We’re having a petition for
a TRO by the way. We’re going to file it but we are still
working on it,” she said.
Citing the need for human
rights education amid “whitewashing” of history, Rosales
also reiterated her call to establish local museums that
Philippine change of command
ceremony). We talked about
adjustments in our new lives,”
said Robredo.
Robredo said the topic of her
having a Cabinet post in his administration was not broached
during her courtesy call.
“I wasn’t there to apply … I
told him that with or without
a Cabinet post, he can expect
from me the same kind of support,” said Robredo.
She found him “good natured,
very respectful.” “He called me
‘ma’am’ and it was embarrassing,” said Robredo.
Sudden opportunity
She said they talked about
what they went through in
their lives and their respective
campaigns and they found
similarities between them.
“We were both gifted with
this sudden opportunity. We
were both reluctant candidates.
He told me that he was still getting used to all the protocols,
security. And I told him, me
too,” said Robredo.
Robredo said Mr. Duterte also
confided about the difference
in his life in Manila and Davao
during their exchange of notes.
On her political plans, Robredo said she would meet with
leaders of the Liberal Party (LP)
to discuss what role she would
play considering that she was
their highest-elected leader.
She said she was new to LP
and not considered as one of its
core members.
July 7-13, 2016
UNITED KINGDOM — The
pound dropped on Tuesday,
reaching lows against the dollar not seen since 1985, as the
British central bank warned
the outlook for financial stability was “challenging”.
The Bank of England eased
commercial banks’ capital requirements to boost lending,
saying financial risks had “begun to crystallize” in the aftermath of a British vote to leave
the EU.
Around 1545 GMT, the British
currency stood at $1.3032, having
earlier slipped to $1.3028, a level
last seen in the summer of 1985.
“A downward trend in the
pound seems to have been
triggered thanks to the measures taken by the Bank of
England and the possibility of
the pound returning to parity
with the euro,” said Sylvain
Pound plunges to 31-year low vs dollar
Loganadin at online trading
firm FXCM.
It was quoted at 85.07 pence
against the euro, below its
two-year low seen post-Brexit,
having earlier slipped as far as
83.89 pence.
The pound could well fall
further, predicted Capital Economics analyst John Higgins.
“The ongoing economic and
political uncertainty, as well as
the backdrop of the UK’s huge
current account deficit, would
surely justify a bigger decline,”
he said.
Higgins added however that
this was not a bad thing for the
British economy.
“While sterling’s fall is clearly
a symptom of other problems,
Cebuana Lhuillier strengthens
business presence in Middle East
AIMING to better serve Filipinos within and outside the Philippines, Cebuana Lhuillier executives led by Cebuana Lhuillier
Services Corporation Vice-President Andre Lhuillier, recently
headed to the United Arab
Emirates to cultivate linkages
with new and existing partners
in the region for the company’s
international remittance arm.
Enriching its portfolio of partners, a memorandum of agreement between Cebuana Lhuillier and Al Fardan Exchange–one
of the largest exchange houses
in UAE–was signed by Lhuillier
and Osama Al Rahma, CEO of
Al Fardan Exchange and President of Foreign Exchange and
Remittance Group (FERG).
Andre Lhuillier, Noel Cristal
and Ergie Ong with Al Fardan
Andre Lhuillier, Noel Cristal
and Ergie Ong with Al Fardan
Highlighting the importance of
the company’s strong network
of partners, Lhuillier said, “I’m
glad that we continue to expand
our reach in the Middle East.
These partnerships are tremendously valuable because they
allow us at Cebuana Lhuillier
to serve more Filipinos abroad
and their families in the Philippines.”
“We have a lot of overseas Filipino workers in the Middle East,
the very reason why we opened
a marketing office in Dubai last
year. Making our services available to more Filipinos is one of our
it may also be part of the cure.
Inflation will be somewhat
higher than otherwise, but net
exports should benefit,” he
said.
In a bi-annual report, the
ways to empower our clients and
help them uplift their lives,“ said
Jean Henri Lhuillier, President
and CEO of Cebuana Lhuillier.
Also present to meet with partners were CLSC General Manager Noel Cristal and Cebuana
Lhuillier Chief Information Officer Ergilio Ong.
Aside from representatives of
RAKBANK, Al Fuad, XpressMoney, and several other
partners, the Cebuana Lhuillier team also met with MoneyGram global leaders Peter Osher and Grant lines, along with
the money transfer company’s
regional directors.
By establishing key partnerships in the Middle East, Cebuana Lhuillier wishes to make
international money remittance
between clients in the region
and in the Philippines more
convenient. There are as many
as two million Filipinos currently based in the Middle East.
Bank of England said that “the
current outlook for UK financial stability is challenging”.
The British central bank announced it has cut its so-called
capital buffer rate from 0.50
percent to zero, where it will
stay until at least June 2017.
The move will boost lending
by up to £150 billion ($199 billion, 179 billion euros) — and
reduce banks’ regulatory capital buffers by £5.7 billion, the
BoE announced.
BoE governor Mark Carney
pledged it would do whatever
is needed to aid monetary and
fiscal stability following the
June 23 referendum that saw
Britain vote to exit the EU.
“The bank can be expected
to take whatever action is
needed to promote monetary
and financial stability, and as a
consequence, support the real
economy,” Carney told reporters in central London.
San Miguel takes 100%
control of MRT-7
CONGLOMERATE
San
Miguel Corp. has obtained
full control of the Metro Railway Transit (MRT) 7 project by
buying out the 49 percent stake
held by businessman Salvador
Zamora II for $100 million.
Through its wholly owned
subsidiary San Miguel Holdings Corp., SMC signed a deal
to buy the additional 49 percent in Universal LRT Corp.
BVI Ltd., the conglomerate disclosed to the Philippine Stock
Exchange on Tuesday.
As part of the deal, SMC also
bought 100 percent interest in
ULCOM Co. Inc., the desig-
nated facility operator of the
MRT7 project.
The $100 million consideration for the deal consisted of
payment for the shares as well
as the outstanding shareholder
advances amounting to $3.8
million.
Universal LRT holds the exclusive right, obligation and
privilege to finance, design,
construct, supply, complete
and commission the MRT7
project, a planned 22-kilometer-long elevated railway starting from San Jose del Monte in
Bulacan and ending in North
Avenue in Quezon City.
DON’T DRINK & DRIVE
20
PHILIPPINE TRIBUNE
July 7-13, 2016
How Ian King’s IG posts shook us Bohol parish priest did not
kill self over cancer, he was
last weekend–and still do
murdered – NBI
THE last time this writer saw
hotelier-entrepreneur Ian King
and his celebrity wife Joey
Mead was at the wake of his
father, Archimedes, Archie to
many, who died in a helicopter crash on July 4, 2015. The
couple looked calm.
The news of the crash grabbed
headlines not only because of
the suddenness of the tragedy,
but more so because of the
older King’s stature in business and society, and because
the other passengers were also
socially visible.
A year later, social media
is agog again, this time over
the younger King’s comingout photos posted on his Instagram account, hailtothe_
queen_.
The different posts show the
couple, who was married in
2011, twinning in skinny jeans
and heels, and in a shoe store
trying on matching spiky stilettos. In a latest selfie posted
on Monday afternoon, Angelina Mead King, as Ian now
identifies himself—and who
now has close to 25,000 followers—wears a pair of mirrored
RayBan aviators. The caption:
“First day out <3 it’s both scary
and surreal! #transgender #betruebeyou #girlslikeus #noh8.”
This wasn’t about genderbending fashion or transvestism.
“A transvestite is a man who
likes to dress up in women’s
clothes—usually underwear—
but not necessarily gay. He can
have a family and a straight
sexual preference,” explains a
psychologist.
Angelina used the term
“transwoman,” which a psychologist defines as a “man
transitioning to be a woman or
lives like a woman before surgery.”
(This is not to be confused
with “transgender,” which,
unlike the transsexual, is a
person whose sense of being
a male or female, mind-set
and behavior do not adhere to
what society expects from the
gender they were born with.
A man can still be interested
in women, but likes to wear
makeup.)
Just as the late King received
an outpouring of tributes last
year, Ian was equally deluged
with good wishes and support
from netizens. Publications
worked overtime for the story.
Meanwhile, those close to Ian
protected his privacy.
Public interest
“Controversy and curiosity about the rich and famous
lives—scandals,
alternative
lifestyles, reality shows, tabloid
news shock and fuel public interest,” says the psychologist.
To the baby boomer and GenX generation, Ian is seen as the
grandson of Angelo King, motel chain founder, glass tycoon
and philanthropist, who has
donated billions to education.
His late father, Archie, was also
a staunch supporter of Gawad
Kalinga, the antipoverty foundation; an adventurer; and to
close friends, an aficionado of
unique sports cars.
Archie’s late mother, Belen,
was a Rosario, the prominent
Vigan clan that owned the
iconic department store COD.
Ian’s mother belonged to the
Del Rosario clan that became
CROSSWORD
PUZZLE
Answers on Page 6
known for Trebel piano.
In the rarified circle of sports
cars enthusiasts, Ian is highly
regarded as a pioneer and a
resource person for luxury car
customizing. He founded Car
Porn Racing, an automotive
shop that caters to individualistic owners who don’t mind
plunking six or seven figures
to dramatize the body kit or exterior and boost the car’s performance.
He also set up RWB (RauhWelt Begriff or Rough World
Concept) Manila, which strikingly transforms the Porsche
and tunes it up. In short, he
likes to give cars makeovers
that make heads turn, and
which car devotees lust after.
“We like to deliver stuff that
no one has seen yet, no one
has done yet. We want to bring
fresh ideas to the table,” Ian
said in an episode of the TV
show “Game Changer.”
It seems ironic that Ian is in
the business of cars and fixing them which, according to
social stereotyping, is considered a “guy thing.” Yet, in the
past few years, Ian flaunted
his feminine traits to people he
was comfortable with.
Relatives thought Ian’s long
hair and the dark nail polish
seemed harmless, as if he were
taking to Goth fashion, or they
just looked the other way out
of deep respect.
(Ian politely declined to be
iterviewed, explaining, “I’m
not ready yet.”)
Despite the growing recognition of various gender classifications and acceptance of
unconventional romantic preferences, the fear of being stigmatized still continues.
Coming to terms with people’s perceptions of you and
expectations from others can
put a lot of pressure on the individual.
Then again, these are different times. Regardless of all
these
labels—transwoman,
transsexual,
transgender,
etc.—people’s outlook and expression today are more liberal, no longer pigeonholed to
conventional gender roles.
What was considered feminine before, such as indulging
in grooming and fragrances,
is now acceptable to men, on
one hand. On the other hand,
women are taking up oncemasculine professions such as
joining and excelling in the police force, or flying a commercial jet.
The gender boundaries are
shifting now more than ever.
CEBU CITY — The parish priest
of the St. Peter the Apostle
Church in Loboc town, Bohol
province, did not commit suicide after being diagnosed with
colon cancer; he was murdered,
the National Bureau of Investigation in Bohol said.
The NBI on Wednesday revealed that Fr. Marcelino Biliran
was killed based on the autopsy
report conducted by its medicolegal officer, Dr. Rene Cam.
“We have the results and from
here, we shall conduct an investigation (to find out who killed
him),” NBI-Bohol chief Rennan
Augustus Oliva told the Philippine Daily Inquirer.
He and Cam were tight-lipped
about the details of the autopsy
report and let Fr. Val Pinlac, the
spokesperson of the Diocese of
Tagbilaran, speak regarding the
case’s development.
In a phone interview, Pinlac
said Cam found horizontal lacerations on Biliran’s neck—an
indication that the priest did not
commit suicide.
In cases of suicide, the NBI explained to the diocese that the
lacerations on the victim’s neck
would always form a vertical
pattern.
“In Fr. Mar’s case, there were
no vertical lacerations. All were
horizontal. And so, the NBI concluded that he was killed, and
the perpetrator/s made it appear
that he committed suicide,” Pinlac said.
He said Biliran’s family last
week requested the NBI to conduct an autopsy on the priest’s
body to find out if the latter indeed committed suicide.
“Fr. Mar was condemned and
judged based on assumptions
particularly in social media.
People were made to believe
that he committed suicide, and
the autopsy report just proved
all of them wrong,” Pinlac said.
Bishop Leonardo Medroso of
the Diocese of Tagbilaran announced the result of the autopsy conducted by the NBI during
his1 p.m. Mass at the St. Joseph
Cathedral on Wednesday.
“Ang kamatayon ni Padre
Marcelino Biliran dili ug dili gayud mahimo nga suicide. Dili
mahimo nga magkihug, dili
mahimo nga pagpatay sa iyang
kaugaligon,” Medroso said.
(The death of Father Marcelino
Biliran is never and can’t be a
suicide. He could not commit
suicide, he could not kill himself),” the bishop said.
“Busa niining tungura opisyal
ipadayag kaninyong tanan nga
dili suicide ang kamatayon ni
Padre Marcelino Biliran (Please
allow me to officially announce
that the death of Father Marcelino Biliran was not suicide),”
he said.
The bishop said Biliran would
be given full funeral rites for
a Christian who died, includ-
ing a complete liturgy mass in
the Church. “He is a brother, a
priest, a good pastor and we will
send him to his journey in the
other life,” he added.
Biliran was found dead inside
the toilet of his room last June 27.
The initial investigation of the
Loboc Police pointed to suicide by
hanging, using an extension wire.
Some of the priest’s friends and
relatives assumed that Biliran
suffered from depression after
being diagnosed with colon cancer in September 2015.
Fr. Pinlac, who also served as
rector of the Immaculate Heart
of Mary Seminary in Tagbilaran,
said the autopsy result was a
“sigh of relief” for Biliran’s family and all priests.
“Saying that Fr. Mar committed
suicide was an affront against
priesthood. He died. Worse, he
was murdered and judged by
people. Yes, we’re grieving. But
we’re even more hurt by the condemnation thrown at Fr. Mar,”
he said.
Now that the NBI has dismissed insinuations of suicide,
Pinlac said it’s time to move on
and identify the persons who
killed the priest.
“We are determined to proceed
with the investigation,” he said.
Pinlac, however, said he could
not think of any person who had
a grudge on Biliran.
“Fr. Mar was a most likable
person. But it doesn’t mean that
when you’re good and admired
by people, you are safe,” said
Pinlac, a classmate of the deceased priest in the college seminary in Tagbilaran.
Leah Sumampong, 34, niece of
Biliran, said the family refused
to accept that he killed himself
and so decided to get NBI help
for a thorough investigation.
“We knew him and we knew
he could not do it,” said Sumampong. She also said Biliran “was
the decision maker of the family.”
The family members and the
Diocese of Tagbilaran called for
a deeper investigation into what
has now emerged as a killing.
“After finding the autopsy report, we will of course pursue
the investigation so that we can
achieve justice for our Father
Mar,” said Sumampong.
Biliran was ordained in the Diocese of Tagbilaran on April 12,
1999. He celebrated his 25th sacerdotal anniversary two months
ago.
He graduated Bachelor of
Arts Major in Philosophy at
the Immaculate Heart of Mary
Seminary in Taloto District, Tagbilaran City and he studied at
Seminario Mayor de San Carlos
in Mabolo, Cebu City.
He served as the parish priest
of the St. Isidore the Farmer Parish in Bilar before he was transferred to the St. Peter the Apostle
Parish in Loboc on June 8, 2015.
Ex-CHR chair... from Page 18
will remind Filipinos of what
really transpired during martial law.
“Let’s make a mass movement upang sa ganon we will
liberate society from being entrenched by fascistic, repressive ideas and make sure that
the values of justice, freedom
and democracy prevail,” Rosales said.
Amid allegations of plundering $10 billion in public coffers,
Marcos’ wife and children have
returned to power over the past
years. Imelda is a representative
of Ilocos Norte, while his eldest
daughter Imee is governor of
the province.
His son Marcos Jr. was elected senator in 2010, and almost
won the vice presidential race
in the May elections. Duterte
has been vocal about his
friendship with the late dictator’s son and namesake, citing
it as reason as to why he was
noncommittal about giving
Vice President Leni Robredo a
Cabinet post.
July 7-13, 2016
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22
PHILIPPINE TRIBUNE
Valdez:
Pocari Sweat
deserved to win
THEY really deserve the win.
They trained so hard. Ang tagal
na nila nag-training as a team and
we can’t find any excuse naman
kung bakit kami natalo. They really fought like a team,” said Valdez, the three-time UAAP MVP.
“Sobrang deserving nila and
I’m happy for them, added the
San Sebastian spiker Soltones.
Both agreed that chemistry truly
was the difference maker in the
all-important Game 3, as Pocari
Sweat clipped Bali Pure in four
sets, 15-25, 27-25, 25-11, 25-23 on
Monday.
“They’re super composed, unlike us na hindi pa talaga nag-jell.
Yun ang pinagkaiba, yung composure as a team,” said Soltones.
“They had teamwork today. They
had everything today, so they won
the game,” Valdez added.
The duo gave it their all but
could only muster a combined 34
points in the sorry defeat.
Valdez, though, is hoping that
this wouldn’t be the end for the
Purest Water Defenders.
“We’re really happy na nagkaroon kami ng chance na magteammates ulit. Siguro nagkaroon
lang kami ng
pagkukulang also sa team, pero
ganun talaga,” she said. “We’re
hoping lang na mabigyan pa ulit
kami ng pagkakataon na maging
isang team and makapaglaro ulit
sa mga ganitong tournaments.”
“This is just the start for team
Bali Pure naman, this is the first
time naman na sumali and magform kami ng isang team, and
we’re just hoping for the best.”
July 7-13, 2016
Gilas guards get their moment
vs NBA star Tony Parker
THE moment Jayson Castro
had the ball and stood eye-toeye with Tony Parker when
the Philippines took on France
Tuesday night, the anticipation for the matchup the crowd
wanted to see was palpable.
The scene repeated itself
when Terrence Romeo wiped
his sneakers with his hands
and checked in midway
through the first quarter with
Parker yet to take a breather.
“I felt excited and at the same
time pressured,” Castro admitted when asked about the experience of being on the same
floor with the kind of star power Parker boasts.
Romeo, the showman that he
is, immediately went at Parker
at the top of the key and tried
to shake him off. The crowd
rallied behind him, nearly everyone expecting the four-time
NBA champion to stumble the
way most of Romeo’s defend-
ers do.
The 34-year-old Parker stood
his ground, but eventually,
Romeo had his moment. He
drilled a contested triple with
Parker’s hand on his face as
part of Gilas’ blistering run
early in the game that triggered an eruption from the
crowd.
Parker, though, got the better of Castro and Romeo. He
finished with 21 points, four
rebounds and six assists in
nearly 30 minutes of action to
lead France’s 93-84 victory.
Romeo wound up with 19
points while Castro had 14 as
both managed to leave quite
an impression from Parker.
“They were pretty good. They
were very aggressive. They try
to make stuff happen. They
were aggressive going to the
basket and create open shots for
their teammates and they play
pretty well,” Parker said.
We have to keep our
heads up--Pingris
THE 84-93 defeat to World
No. 5 France in the opener of
the Fiba Olympic Qualifying
Tournament hardly put a dent
on Gilas Pilipinas’ morale.
And that should serve the
Filipinos in good stead as they
fight for survival against New
Zealand Wednesday night
on Day Two of the tournament that dangles a spot in the
Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.
The Filipinos refused to sulk
even after the loss to the powerhouse French team led by
NBA players Tony Parker and
Boris Diaw, quickly switching
their focus to what is expected
to be another dogfight with the
Tall Blacks.
“I told the team, we have to
keep our heads up because we
played well,” forward Marc Pingris told the Inquirer in Filipino
before boarding the team bus.
“We lost but we learned and
we have to bounce back tomorrow because its a do-or-die
game.”
Much to the delight of the
sellout crowd that included
President Rodrigo Duterte, the
Filipinos got off to a scintillating start, leading by as many
as 10 points in the opening period behind Andray Blatche.
“I think we could have beaten
them (France),” Pingris said.
“When we were playing the
running game, we got the lead
because they couldn’t handle
our speed. We needed to run
because they were the bigger
team.”
Indeed, Gilas flirted with an
upset early, but couldn’t find
another gear as the French methodically picked the Filipinos
apart in the second half.
Still, the Filipinos were in the
thick of the fight heading into
the last three minutes when
they were only down by four,
81-85, before the French scored
inside baskets to seal the game.
“We were up by 10 and we
relaxed and we got selfish,”
said Blatche who finished with
21 points and eight rebounds.
“We lost our discipline on
both offense and defense and
France just kept on attacking
us.”
“We didn’t move the ball,”
said gunner Jeff Chan, who accounted for three of Gilas’ 11
treys. “Coach told us we lost
our lead because we played
too much one on one.”
Guard Jayson Castro said cutting down on turnovers should
put Gilas in a good position to
win against New Zealand.
“Maybe we should limit our
turnovers because we had too
many in this game,” said Castro, referring to the 18 errors of
Gilas.
Blatche is adamant that Gilas responds with a strong effort on both ends of the floor
against New Zealand.
“We are disappointed but we
have a chance tomorrow. We
just have to win by any means
necessary,” said Blatche.
July 7-13, 2016
24
PHILIPPINE TRIBUNE
July 7-13, 2016

Bato: Rody to unmask more cops in drugs

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