Asian Journal May 14-21, 2010

Sarah Geronimo comes to San Diego

$34,000 condo units in Tagaytay. While you are away, you can rent out your unit as a condotel and make money on your investment. Presentations available in June 2 & 6, 2010, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Asian Journal offi ce at 550 East 8th Street Suite 6, National City, CA 91950 (in Old Schoolhouse Square). Call (619) 474-0588 or e-mail [email protected] for more information.

Attend a free presentation for MONTELUCE -

the high point of TagaytayWith great discouragement and

sadness, I closed my eyes to a sore truth---the reality of life--- that no matter how much my parents wanted to give the six of us a good education, they could never afford to send me to medical school, a very expensive course that was totally beyond their means. However, despite the apparent adversity, I did not fail to nurture my dream. A real dreamer! Day in day out I continued to keep the torch afl ame. I learned to savor the joys as well as the pains in life. In my moments of despair and disappointments, I never quit! I relied on the saying, “ Tough times never last, but tough people do.”

By Dr. Cesar D. Candari

See page 18(Continued on page 3)

Over 5,000 attend San Diego’s 1st Asian Cultural Festival

Councilmember Todd Gloria of District 3, Executive Director of Mabuhay Alliance Faith Bautista, and Councilmember Tony Young of District 4 at the Asian Cultural Festival.

“We are now a major minority in America, so unity is both our des-tiny and our duty,” said Faith Bautista, Mabuhay Alliance Executive Direc-tor. The nation, she explained, has about 18.5 million Asian Americans, including 6.1 mil-lion in California alone.” -- See page 12, Asian Cultural Festival

May 14 - 20, 2010

EntertainmentMsgr. Gutierrez CommunityIt’s Now or Never!

Philippine Scene

Asian CulturalFestival

BORACAY HOLY WEEK CROWD. Hundreds of thousands of tourist crowd the shoreline of Boracay during the Holy Week cel-ebrations to spent time away from the big city. PINOY GONZALES/ PNS

Pinoy soap operas a big hit from China to Africa

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From Antique to America:Memoirs of a Filipino American Doctor

Tough times never last, but tough people do

Dr. Cesar D. Candari’s uncles and aunts in Pandan (now all deceased) in 1984.

In the most recent past, the Filipino television audience have been hooked on drama series from countries in South America, particularly Mexico and Argentina, Asia, most specially Korea, Taiwan, and Japan.

Now, it’s the Philippines’ turn to show the world what this small country in the Pa-cifi c can offer.

While Filipinos around the world have been enjoying dra-ma series from the Kapamilya network, little many Filipinos in the archipelago know that ABS-CBN programs have become hits in other nations as well.

Recently, Pangako sa ‘Yo was telecast on China’s na-tional television and, believe it or not, it rated second over all local and foreign programs airing in the country. Ten years after Filipinos became so attached to the Kristine Hermosa-Jericho Rosales tan-dem, the now classic teleserye still appealed to the Chinese audience and even hit the Top 30 list in the national weekly ranking, covering over 2,000 channels and capturing 1.3 billion viewers.

Prior to China, the love story of Angelo Buenavista and Yna Macaspac have mesmerized people in Malaysia, Singa-pore, Indonesia, Cambodia and even Africa. As Cambo-dian Nai Hiu Mei recounts, “The teleserye, broadcast here dubbed in Khmer, was so popular that many Cambodian babies have been named An-gelo.” The Times of Zambia writer Meluse Kapatamoyo wrote, “The series has become a topic of discussion among families, friends and even neighbors who daily ponder on how the show would end.” René Lötter of One Africa Television said, “When is Pangako sa’Yo coming back?’ I wish I could get a dollar each time I get that question. From teenager to grandma, from household organizers to tax consultant—it’s gripped people across all genders.”

Ikaw ang Lahat sa AkinAside from Pangako sa ‘Yo

(known internationally as The Promise), several other homegrown entertainment programs have been brought to a broader global audience through the pioneering efforts

“Balang araw, makakaraos din tayo sa kahirapan (Some-day, we will uplift ourselves from poverty),” she kept tell-ing her mother and brothers.It was at that low point that

she missed her departed fa-ther.“Mag-aral kang maige anak,

iyan lamang ang maipama-mana ko sa iyo (You study hard, daughter. That’s the only one I can bequeath to you),” her father kept telling her when he was alive. “Ipagtataguyod ko ang pag-aaral mong maging doktora habang nabubuhay ako (I will support your education to become a doctor while I am alive).”Tragically, he did not live long enough to make good his promise.

By Simeon G. Silverio Jr.Publisher & Editor

Asian Journal San DiegoThe Original and First Asian Journal in America

See page 10

A Complicated AffairHer Parents’ Daughter

May 14 - 20, 2010Asian Journal - (619) 474-0588 Visit our website at http://www.asianjournalusa.com

Food for thoughtRead previous articles by visiting our website at www.asian-

journalusa.com

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By now, I suspect every-one is familiar with snopes.com and/or truthorfiction. com for determining wheth-er information received via email is just that: true/false or fact/fiction. Both are excellent sites.

Advice from snopes.com VERY IMPORTANT!!

1) Any time you see an email that says “forward this on to ‘10’ (or however many) of your friends”, “sign this petition”, or “you’ll get bad luck” or “you’ll get good luck” or “you’ll see something fun-ny on your screen after you send it” or whatever --- it almost always has an email tracker program attached that tracks the cookies and emails of those folks you forward to. The host sender is getting a copy each time it gets forwarded and then is able to get lists of ‘active’ email addresses to use in SPAM emails or sell to oth-er spammers. Even when you get emails that demand you send the email on if you’re not ashamed of God/Jesus --- that is email track-ing, and they are playing on our conscience. These peo-ple don’t care how they get your email addresses - just as long as they get them. Also, emails that talk about a missing child or a child with an incurable disease “how would you feel if that was your child” --- email

Forwarding Emailstracking. Ignore them and don’t participate!

2) Almost all emails that ask you to add your name and forward on to others are similar to that mass letter years ago that asked people to send business cards to the little kid in Florida who wanted to break the Guin-ness Book of Records for the most cards. All it was, and all any of this type of email is, is a way to get names and ‘cookie’ tracking information for telemar-keters and spammers -- to validate active email ac-counts for their own profit-able purposes.

You can do your Friends and Family members a GREAT favor by sending this information to them. You will be providing a ser-vice to your friends. And you will be rewarded by not getting thousands of spam emails in the future!

Do yourself a favor and STOP adding your name(s) to those types of listing re-gardless how inviting they might sound! Or make you feel guilty if you don’t! It’s all about getting email ad-dresses and nothing more.

You may think you are supporting a GREAT cause, but you are NOT!

Instead, you will be get-ting tons of junk mail later and very possibly a virus attached! Plus, we are helping the spammers get rich! Let’s not make it easy for them!

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by Patricia Estevesfrom The Philippine Star

MANILA, Philippines – Liberal Party (LP) stan-dard-bearer Sen. Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III yester-day said he is making house building for the poor through Gawad Kalinga (GK) part of his platform of governance.

Aquino and running mate Senator Manuel “Mar” Roxas II yesterday attended the 60th birthday celebration of GK founder Tony Meloto in Barangay Bagong Silang in Caloocan City to show sup-port for his advocacy.

GK Bagong Silang, built in 1999, is the first-ever housing project built for the poor in Caloocan.

Before the GK village was built, Bagong Silang was re-puted to be a breeding ground of criminals and a dump of assassination victims.

Today, it is a peaceful community of responsible and hardworking people with simple but beautiful homes.

Aquino said he is amazed by the transformation of Bagong Silang and promised to build similar communi-ties in slum areas all over the country.

“Because of your hard work, cooperation, willing-ness to change your com-munity and yourselves and allowing GK to help you, you were able to transform this place. GK Bagong Silang is now a picture of a successful Philippines,” Aquino told the residents of the village.

“This is what I want to rep-licate all over the country, not just build homes but to change and correct what is wrong in our country,” he added.

Aquino promised that once he is elected, he will provide

Day-care pupil Chariz Darie Cudog gives the Filipino sign of respect to Sen. Noynoy Aquino, as Sen. Mar Roxas applauds, when the Liberal Party tandem graced the 60th birthday celebra-tion of Gawad Kalinga founder Tony Meloto in Bagong Silang, Caloocan City . ERNIE PE-ÑAREDONDO

Noynoy, Mar share Gawad Kalinga vision

for the needs of the poor by following Meloto’s example.

“My hats off to Mr. Melo-to, the Couples for Christ (CFC), and Gawad Kalinga for transforming the poor and slum communities. They walked the talk and did not merely give empty promises,” he said.

For his birthday wish, Meloto said the next presi-dent should make community development a priority in governance.

“One of my birthday wishes is for a new president who will make this holistic, community-based develop-ment platform as the priority of the new administration,” he said.

New campaign strategy

Aquino said he would no longer prioritize attending presidential forums or debates if the issues are not focused

on the country’s problems and the ills of the Arroyo administration that need to be addressed.

He said he would still at-

tend some of them and ac-commodate interviews but would focus on discussing his work in the Senate and other activities related to his campaign instead of personal is-sues.

He pointed out that he paid attention to the budget and the joint session of Congress on

the imposition of martial law in Maguindanao in December and hardly spent time on his campaign.

“I have other obligations and I must balance my work and the campaign because I promised to serve (as a law-maker),” Aquino said.

He said he voted against the P1.541-trillion national budget because it contains provisions that are anoma-lous.

“Everyone is claiming they want change but where were they when we were discuss-ing important issues like the budget? This is an important tool to influence the policy of government,” he added.

Aquino said he is priori-tizing his work in the Senate over invitations to debates.

“I would not be able to do anything if I would keep de-bating with people,” he said. – With Aurea Calica

(Continued on page 22)

Asian Journal - (619) 474-0588 Visit our website at http://www.asianjournalusa.comMay 14 - 20, 2010

“Smiles from the Heart” book launch is about 1 idea

x 3 friends x 10 booksAsian Journal | SAN

DIEGO, 4/14/2010 -- Soledad Oropesa Bautista must have been smiling from her vantage point in the great beyond, upon the crowd that gathered at Liberty Station for the book launching of “Smiles from the Heart,” a collection of poems she had hand-picked from over the

200 she composed in her lifetime.

Friends and family were on hand to see the dream of the 91-year old poet come to pass, on May 8th, one day before Mother’s Day. Soledad or “Nanay Sol” as she was known to many, had passed away quietly in March 2009 before she had a chance to see the publication of the book. Smiles from the Heart was a name she picked herself.

The book cover was also her idea. It was a cover showing the smiling face of her grandson Kristofer Linus, then 2, surrounded by an enormous heart. Gawad Kalinga was the heart. It was

a heart that treasured what she valued most as a retired public school teacher in a far-fl ung village of Mindanao -- caring for the children of the poor.

The book cover was unveiled by Donna Bautista, Soledad’s daughter in law who had encouraged the artist to write more poems.

Featured on the montage with the book cover was the poet’s fl awless and beautifully written letters that would shed light on the origins of the project. GK1World Founder Tony Olaes, who came to explain Gawad Kalinga shared his memories of Soledad and the Gawad Kalinga movement. A friend also came forth to read one of the poet’s prized poem, “Smile”, which won an award in Florida to the applause of the audience. Dan Vidal and his wife Emmy also shared their anecdotes of Soledad, the poet and teacher who became a dear friend of the family.

Soledad wanted a project

that would benefi t Gawad Kalinga. The book of poetry was her way of passing on her legacy to the children of Gawad Kalinga. In her discussions about the project with the editor of the Asian Journal, Sol said she wanted the book to be used not only as a learning tool in the classroom for teaching

English but also as primer of the culture of values that the typical Filipino holds dear -- love of family, and the love of God expressed in one’s love of neighbor and country.

It was a timely idea. Soledad had then read about the plight of so many Filipino children left behind without the watchful guidance of close family members because their own parents had to seek jobs overseas. She also saw hope in what Tony Meloto and what so many other advocates of Gawad Kalinga were doing at the time for the poor. They were building communities with their hands. By their example, they were teaching

pride and self-reliance based on the values she once taught as a school teacher to the least of the children.

The proceeds from the sale of the book will be donated to the Gawad Kalinga USA, a 501(3) non-profi t organization based in San Diego, California, which is the funding entity for Gawad Kalinga projects in the Philippines.

Soledad wanted the book incorporated into the school curriculum. But it would take years to push the idea among the decision makers at the Philippine Department of Education. Instead the campaign is relying on the bonds of friendship among graduates of the many schools in towns in across the Philippines who now fi nd themselves in better circumstances in the United States and want to give back.

“It only takes three friends to fi ll a classroom with books,” according to Gen Silverio, editor of the Asian Journal. The Asian Journal has been running a campaign in the paper to promote the book in the Filipino American community. “That’s right. Three friends from high school or elementary school or the same town x 1 idea x 10 books are all it needs to fi ll a classroom with 30 books.”

The campaign encourages local San Diego residents to help the cause of Gawad Kalinga with a donation of books. “Help Gawad Kalinga USA by pre-ordering a set of 10 copies of the book ‘Smiles from the Heart,’ a collection of the late poet’s work featured in the Asian Journal from 2006-2009. Then ask two of your friends to match your pledge of $150.”

For more information, please email [email protected] or [email protected]. To learn more about Gawad Kalinga USA, please visit www.gk1world.com.

GK One World Founder Tony Olaes (center in white shirt) was the guest speaker at the Smiles from the Heart Book Launch. Dr. Lino Bautista, who is holding Kristofer, and Donna Bautista organized the event held during the Asian Cultural Festival on May 8th at Liberty Station.

Pinoy soap operas a big hit from China to Africa

(Continued from page 1)of ABS-CBN Global’s Inter-national Sales and Distribu-tion (ISD).

Carried by the biggest state television broadcaster in China, Ikaw ang Lahat sa Akin (a.k.a. Only You) aired on primetime, alongside Pan-gako sa ‘Yo. Meanwhile, Sana Maulit Muli (a.k.a. Chances), Maging Sino Ka Man (a.k.a. More Than Love) and Gu-long ng Palad (a.k.a. Stand for Love) are expected to be aired in the Republic soon.

Also earning international recognition worldwide is the Angel Locsin-Piolo Pas-cual starrer Lobo (a.k.a. She-Wolf: The Last Sentinel). In the recently concluded 2009 International Emmy Awards, She-Wolf was recognized for the stellar performance of Angel Locsin who received a nomination for Best Per-formance by an Actress. This recognition is second for the show, which won the Best Telenovela award at the 30th BANFF World Television Festival in Toronto, Canada last year. Currently, the pro-gram is enjoying wide view-ership in Brunei and is antici-pated to be released in other countries in Indo-China, Asia, Europe and Africa this year.

ABS-CBN shows are sub-titled and dubbed in several languages, including English, Turkish, Khmer, Mandarin, and French.

One of the programs dubbed in French is Kay Tagal Kang Hinintay (a.k.a. La Longue Attente in French and The Long Wait in English) will cater to French-speaking

viewers in Africa and Europe. According to International Sales and Distribution Head Reena Garingan, ABS-CBN programs are easily bought because they resonate to the African audience. “Our writers, directors and actors are able to capture real-life experiences on screen. Our stories show pain and suffer-ing but in the end, give view-ers a glimpse of hope. As we

demonstrate that obstacles and fear may be overcome, we help mend the broken African spirit,” Garingan said.

Kay Tagal Kang Hinintay

For more than a decade, ISD has been the premier source of top quality programs from the Philippines, making ABS-CBN Global the fi rst and the biggest Philippine content distributor in North America, Europe, Australia and Asia-Pacifi c and the leading Asian distributor in Africa.

Through ISD, Kapamilya shows have become so popu-lar among non-Filipinos that ABS-CBN is now regarded as a market mover and thought leader in the fi eld of broad-casting in Africa. In fact, Garingan recently attended a content and distribution forum to speak in front of leading journalists and broadcasters in Africa and discuss the social and ethical responsibilities of media professionals.

Indeed, ABS-CBN has made its mark in the global market. Through the efforts of ABS-CBN Global’s International Sales and Distribution group, homegrown Pinoy entertain-ment has been given a chance to shine on the global stage.


SACRAMENTO - At-torney General Edmund G. Brown Jr. announced today that special agents with the Department of Justice, work-ing closely with the Depart-ment of Resources Recycling and Recovery (CalRecycle), have shut down three bever-age-container recycling fraud rings in which rogue entre-preneurs trucked millions of cans and bottles from Arizona and Nevada to illegally claim California Redemption Value (CRV) refunds.

In total, the fraud rings robbed the state of more than $3.5 million used to operate the state’s recycling program as well as to promote recy-cling throughout California. Thirty-one individuals have been arrested in connection with these fraudulent activi-ties.

“These bands of thieves have been caught red-handed running tons of cans and bottles from across the state’s border and fraudulently col-lecting money through the California Redemption Value program,” Attorney General Brown said. “Defrauding the state’s recycling program is not a way to make easy money. We are looking for you and you will be caught.”

Conviction of redemp-tion fraud and the importa-tion of recyclable materials is a felony if the redemption amount is over $400.

In one case originating in Nevada, a ring imported to California 1.6 million pounds of cans and bottles - enough, if not compacted, to fill 464 18-wheelers.

In another case, cans were not only hauled from the Phoenix area to Moreno Valley for the CRV deposit,

Attorney General’s Agents Arrest 31 People in Recycling Fraud Rings That Stole $3.5

Million Worth of Cans and Bottlesthey were filled with sand to add weight for an increased deposit return.

In a third case, agents look-ing for one recycling fraud suspect along Interstate 8 ob-served yet another truck car-rying thousands of cans. That observation spurred a two-month investigation, resulting in the arrest of the owner of a recycling center and three

other suspects. California is one of 11

states with a bottle and can redemption program. Among its neighbors, Oregon has a program, but Nevada and Ari-zona do not. When a person purchases a bottle or can in California, the CRV is paid at the checkout stand. When the container is redeemed at one of the state’s 2,000 recycling facilities, the CRV is returned to the consumer. For beverage containers weighing less than 24 ounces, the CRV is 5 cents; for containers 24 ounces and greater, the CRV is 10 cents. For aluminum, the CRV equals $1.57 per pound.

When an out-of-state can or bottle is fraudulently redeemed in California, the

program loses money be-cause money is paid out for a container for which the CRV was never paid. This robs the CRV program, which relies on unclaimed CRV to administer the program and support a va-riety of activities that promote recycling across the state.

“Recycling fraud is a crime against California consumers and we take it very seriously,”

said CalRecycle Director Margo Reid Brown. “Our inspectors work closely with state and local law enforce-ment to root out and prosecute criminals who steal the money used to repay Californians and support our state’s recycling programs. These arrests are evidence that recycling fraud will not be tolerated.”

California’s program began in 1987, following legisla-tion passed in 1986. Today, about 80 percent of bottles and 84 percent of aluminum cans purchased in the state are returned for recycling.

“Californians are doing a great job recycling their bottles and cans,” added At-torney General Brown. “We don’t want people intent on

committing recycling fraud to harm a program that is work-ing well.”

To combat recycling fraud, CalRecycle staff visits major recycling processors to inspect loads of bever-age containers delivered for CRV reimbursement. In 2009, the department removed 25 recycling centers from the state program for submitting fraudulent claims. CalRecycle refers recycling fraud cases to the Department of Justice for criminal investigation and prosecution.

Here’s how the three recy-cling fraud rings were broken up in April by the Department of Justice:

1. Department of Jus-tice special agents observed Mariano Dejesus-Solis col-lecting and storing recyclable materials at his Las Vegas residence, as well as at several storage facilities in North Las Vegas. Twice a week, Deje-sus-Solis and his accomplices drove 16-foot and 24-foot rental trucks filled with ap-proximately 5,000 pounds of aluminum cans and bottles to a storage facility in Montclair (San Bernardino County) where the loads were parceled out to accomplices who would take them to recycling centers. The group defrauded the CRV program an estimated $2.5 million by illegally importing more than 1.6 million pounds of cans and bottles. On April 8, 15 suspects were arrested in Riverside and San Bernardino counties, with assistance from local law enforcement.

2. In the Phoenix area, a group collected used bever-age containers from consum-ers and purchased some from recycling centers at a reduced rate and then transported them to a residence in Moreno Valley (Riverside County). Daily, members of this group took multiple smaller loads to the Perris Valley Recycling Center (Riverside County) to redeem the CRV refund,

defrauding the CRV fund an estimated $1 million. On April 20, a search warrant resulted in the seizure of 50,000 pounds of bottles and cans, with an estimated CRV value of $100,000. Many cans contained sand to add weight. Twelve people were arrested.

3. On Interstate 8 near Winterhaven, Calif. and Yuma, Ariz. agents with the Imperial County and San Diego Major Crimes Teams were looking for a CRV fraud suspect when they encoun-tered another suspected CRV fraud ring -- two men trans-porting a large quantity of aluminum cans in a truck. This observation launched a two-month investigation, with assistance from CalRecycle, which resulted in the April 23 arrests of four people, includ-ing Michael Barshak, the owner and operator of ACE Recycler, a recycling center in San Diego. Agents have ini-tially estimated that the ring’s operation, which spanned four

months, transported 40,000 pounds of cans with an ap-proximate value of $135,000.

These investigations were conducted by the Attorney General’s Division of Law En-forcement/Bureau of Investi-gation and Intelligence (DLE-BII) Major Crimes Team and CalRecycle, with assistance from many other law enforce-ment agencies including the offices of the San Bernardino and Riverside County Sher-iffs, the Riverside County District Attorney’s Office, the California Highway Patrol, Immigration and Customs En-forcement, the United States Marshals Service and other Dept. of Justice enforcement teams.

To learn more about Cal-Recycle and the California Beverage Container Recycling Program, visit http://www.calrecycle.ca.gov/. CalRecycle contact: Mark Oldfield (916) 319-9942 or [email protected].


By Benjamin G. Maynigo*

The most significant event in the Philippines during 2009 is the Maguindanao massacre.

Philippine Daily Inquirer de-scribed it as “a crime so horrific, so unspeakable that it led people to ask whether it was commit-ted by animals or monsters..”. Columnist Rodel Rodis calls it: “…the barbaric slaughter of 61 innocent people, including 30 working journalists. ”

Reviewing my notes in International Criminal Law and going over the relevant juris-prudence, this systematic attack against a civilian population which included children, women and journalists, is considered as “crime against humanity”.

The reaction of former Filipinas Magazine Editor Mona Lisa Yuchengco struck me: “Why aren’t more people up in arms (no pun intended) over this massacre demanding for justice? Will this, like all other atroci-ties, be buried in our national consciousness? No wonder we’re always in the dumps! Sorry, but I am very pessimistic about the government doing the right thing right now.”

Charges for “crimes against humanity” mean that the case would fall under “universal jurisdiction”. The trial would be heard outside of the Philip-pines free from judicial corrup-tion, intimidation, and political intervention. The nationality of the victims is irrelevant. Any assertion that the alleged acts are legal under domestic law would not be defense against it.

The Statute of Limitations does not apply to crimes against humanity. So, GMA, et al can be charged anytime in the future. In certain cases, even “ex post facto law” was considered not in

Crime Against Humanity vs. GMA, Ampatuan, et al?

violation of the rule of law.Why should GMA be includ-

ed in the charge?Conrado de Quiros said it

best: “She not only stole lives—though that is staggering enough in itself, ushering as it did the culture of impunity, which is re-ally a pale phrase to describe the murder of crows or the slaughter of the innocents or the gunning down of suspects and burying them in shallow graves—she stole everything else. She stole this country’s hope, she stole this country’s spirit, she stole this country’s life.”

The degree of responsibility

is commensurate to the degree of powers and resources that one has to meet that responsibility. GMA had all the powers to pre-vent or stop the Ampatuans from committing this “orchestrated at-tack on the very dignity of man” as described in Article 6(a) of the Nuremberg Charter.

On the issue of GMA’s responsibility, Jose Ma.Montelibano said: “the barbarism happened because the barbarians were encouraged by their unholy alliance with Gloria that anything goes for as long they do their part in keeping Glo-ria in power. The arms that have been discovered so far around

the barbarians’ complex also came from the AFP and DND as well as from other sources. The unholy alliance gave not only a signal of encouragement but arms to affirm support beyond the law.”

Solita Collas-Monsod con-tributed: “SHE CODDLED THEM. That is the only way one can describe the relationship of President Macapagal-Arroyo and the Ampatuans of Magu-indanao. And that coddling has resulted in the Maguindanao massacre..”

Following the doctrine enun-ciated in the Yamashita case and in other International law cases, Command Responsibility as a legal basis for criminal liability has been accepted. Command responsibility is an omission mode of individual criminal liability: the superior is respon-sible for crimes committed by his subordinates and for fail-ing to prevent or punish. In the Yamashita case, Yamashita was charged solely on the basis of responsibility for an “omission”. Ironically, it involves Japanese troops engaged in atrocities against thousands of Filipino civilians. He was charged, found guilty and executed.” In the other cases, actual knowledge by the superior or commander of the criminal acts is not necessary. A lesser level of knowledge is sufficient.

These doctrines of Command Responsibility and Universal Jurisdiction are incorporated in the Statutes of ICTY, the ICTR, the ICC, and the Belgian Anti-Atrocities Law. Atroci-ties similar to the Maguindanao massacre have been investigated in Belgium, Spain, Rwanda and Yugoslavia. The laws of Austra-lia, Germany, New Zealand and South Africa have been amended to allow such investigations as well. Austria, Denmark, Germa-ny, the Netherlands and Switzer-land brought alleged perpetrators to trial on the basis of universal jurisdiction.

Spain’s indictment of for-mer Chilean President Augusto Pinochet is an example. He was

At the Asian Cultural Festi-val held in San Diego and attended by 5,000 primarily Asian Americans from San Diego and Orange County, Mabuhay Alliance conducted a survey of 150 adults relating to Goldman Sachs’ responsi-bilities to the government and to the public. The questions included whether the city and county governments of San Diego and Orange County should do business with Gold-man Sachs and whether Gold-man Sachs should actually do “God’s Work” by investing in low-income local communi-ties.

Mabuhay Alliance, the host for this event, which was at-tended by seven congressmen and local government officials and/or their representatives, did a random survey that demonstrated that the public overwhelmingly does not wish to have their government do business with Goldman Sachs and that by a three-to-one margin, they would not recommend that their children work at Goldman Sachs. Fur-ther, by a five-to-one majority, the public supported Goldman Sachs doing God’s Work by tithing up to 10% of its $20 billion in income annually for philanthropy to the under-served. (Precise results below and survey attached.)

This survey is likely to be the first survey in Califor-nia on the issue of Goldman Sachs’ public responsibilities.

Faith Bautista, the Presi-dent and CEO of Mabuhay

San Diego and Orange County Residents Urge Their Government

Officials to Stop Doing Business With Goldman Sachs

Alliance, which has offices throughout California and Nevada and in Washington DC, stated: “Goldman Sachs’ CEO has claimed that he is doing God’s Work and that their reputation has not been harmed by the SEC’s civil fraud suit or the Department of Justice’s preliminary criminal investigation. These results demonstrate that there is a need for Congress and local agencies to stop doing busi-ness with Goldman Sachs until it does God’s Work by invest-ing in low-income communi-ties.”

“We will be meeting with local officials from Orange County and San Diego to discuss these results and will be meeting with key congres-sional leaders during the week of May 17th in Washington, on this issue. We will also be sending a letter to the CEO of Goldman Sachs requesting that he visit San Diego for a meet-ing with our congressional leaders and key local govern-ment officials.”

Questions and Responses (sample questionnaire at-tached)

Of the 153 adults surveyed, the responses were as follows:

1. Goldman Sachs’ CEO has claimed that his company does “God’s Work.” If they are doing God’s Work, do you be-lieve that at least 10% of their $20 billion in profits should be used to help homeowners fac-

ing foreclosure and to create jobs?

a. 74% Yesb. 14% Noc. 12% No Opinion2. If they are doing God’s

Work, do you believe that at least half of the $17 billion in bonuses to top executives should be voluntarily set aside to prevent foreclosures and to help create jobs?

a. 67% Yesb. 13% Noc. 20% No Opinion3. Goldman Sachs’ top of-

ficials recently told students that Goldman Sachs has no obligation to serve the public. Do you believe they have an obligation to serve the public good?

a. 46% Yesb. 22% Noc. 32% No Opinion4. Many corporations and

government agencies are now considering doing no business with Goldman Sachs. Do you believe San Diego’s city and county government agencies should stop doing business with Goldman Sachs?

a. 48% Yesb. 23% Noc. 29% No Opinion5. In light of what is hap-

pening at Goldman Sachs, would you recommend to a good friend or relative that their children take a job at Goldman Sachs?

a. 18% Yesb. 56% Noc. 25% No Opinion

___

Congressman Filner gave the Community Service Lead-ership Award to the founder of Mabuhay Alliance, Faith Bautista, during the opening ceremony of the Asian Cul-tural Festival on May 8, 2010.



by Dr. Ofelia Dirige Co-Founder and Director, Kalusugan Wellness Center

Contemporary Asian American Issues

Read Dr. Dirige’s previous articles by visiting our website at www.asianjournalusa.com

KCS will undertake a stra-tegic plan to determine where it is going over the next three years and how it’s going to get there. Community leaders are invited to participate in this planning session - - we need your input and creative ideas.

Kalusugan Community Services (KCS) will be con-ducting a Strategic Planning Meeting on May 15, Saturday, from 9:00 AM to 2:00 PM at the FilAm Wellness Cen-ter located in 1419 East 8th Street, National City, 91950. Melissa Pregill, Founder of Cipher, a marketing com-munication business, will be the facilitator of the meeting. She was also our moderator at the last strategic planning session held in March 2007 to develop our plan for the years 2007-2010. Melissa has been moderator at one of our workshops co-sponsored with Mabuhay Alliance held March 25, 2006, on “How to Be an Effective Board Mem-ber”.

The meeting aims to evalu-ate the progress of KCS’s Fil-Am Wellness Center (FWC) in National City, review its mission, design realistic goals

Kalusugan Continues to Blaze New Trails - Part IIStaff, Board and Community meet for Strategic Planning

2nd Strategic Planning meeting in 2004.

and objectives that are respon-sive to the changing environ-ment for the next three years, and carry the organization to a new or another level of ac-complishments and outreach services. Due to the passing of our founder, Dr. Riz Oades, the changing economic situation that has affected our budget and programs, and recruitment of new staff and board members, it is essential that we plan our future taking these matters into consider-ation. Besides, our present plan ends in June and we need a new one for the next three years.

A strategic plan is a blue-print for action that guides and supports boards and staff as they go about doing work in the organization. It

provides a way with which to monitor achievements and assess results. It is a way nonprofi t organizations build commitment among its board offi cers, staff, and community members to prioritize what is essential to its mission and to ensure that they are working toward the same goals amidst a changing environment.

Successful strategic plan lays the groundwork for meaningful change by focus-ing on what’s really central to the organization’s long term success. For KCS, it brings

everyone together to pursue and seize opportunities for better meeting the needs of its primary target population—our underserved Filipinos and Filipino Americans. (Riz Oades).

Defi nition of Strategic Planning and Process

Strategic planning is a management tool to help an organization do a better job—to focus its energy, to ensure members of the organization are working towards the same goals, to assess and adjust the organization’s direction in response to a changing environment. In short, it is a disciplined effort to produce fundamental decisions and actions that shape and guide

what an organization is, what it does, and why it does it, with a focus on the future. (Alliance for Nonprofi t Man-agement).

The process is strategic because it has something to do with responding to a dynamic and often hostile environment in pursuit of a public service mission. Thinking strategi-cally means being informed and consciously responsive to a dynamic environment. The process is about planning be-cause it involves intentionally setting goals (i.e., choosing a desired future) and develop-ing an approach to achieving those goals. For example, one of KCS’s goals in the 2007 plan is “to strengthen organi-zational capacity” and an ap-proach to achieving this goal is to conduct board develop-ment or in-service training at least twice a year.

The process is also disci-plined in that it calls for a certain order and pattern to keep it focused and produc-tive. It highlights relationships between the different steps in strategic planning such as determining the mission and which actions are most im-portant based on assessment of strengths and weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT). Examples of KCS’s strengths include situational leadership, grant writing skills, facility ownership, excellent and diverse pro-

grams, loyal community volunteers, credibility and respect-ability, Cen-ter’s good location and well-quali-fi ed, diverse board mem-bers.

Weaknesses worth men-tioning are inadequate core operating support, weak organizational structure, lack of parking space and program continuity, uncertain funding, burn-out staff and volunteers, and key offi cials “working too hard.” Opportunities include the current interest on health and wellness and lots of com-munity volunteerism. Threats to fulfi ll-ment of goals and objec-tives include compe-tition, copycats, “double agents”, negative Filipino values and bad publicity. The last include malicious gossips, unsubstantiated or irresponsi-ble statements, and bad public relations.

The strategic process is also about fundamental decisions and actions because choices must be made to answer the questions above. The plan is a set of decisions about what to do, why do it, and how to do it. Some decisions are more important than others and much of the strategy lies in making tough decisions about what is most important to achieving organizational

success.

Strategic Planning Pro-cess: This involves prepar-ing for the meeting, going through the process, writing the plan, implementing it, monitoring, and evaluating its outcomes.

Getting Set-up for SuccessGetting ReadyDefi ning Your ChallengeArticulating Mission and

Vision Assessing the Environment

(SWOT analysis)Setting your course Agreeing on Priorities,

Goals and ObjectivesWriting the Strategic PlanKeeping the Plan relevant Implementing the Strategic

plan Monitoring and Evaluating

KCS History of Strategic Planning

KCS has been conducting

strategic planning since 2001. The fi rst one in 2001 was a requirement by The Califor-nia Endowment (TCE) before we established the Wellness Center in 2002. We had to identify the specifi c goals and objectives of the planned community center before we build and open the facility

Perspectives

ASIAN JOURNALThe fi rst Asian-Filipino weekly in Southern CaliforniaAn award-winning newspaper, it is San Diego’s most

widely circulated Asian-Filipino newspaper!

Ashley SilverioAssistant Editor

In Pursuit of ExcellenceEugenio “Ego” Osin, (1946 - 1994)

Joe Cabrera, (1924 - 1996)Soledad Bautista, (1917-2009)

Dr. Rizalino “Riz” Oades, (1935-2009)

The Asian Journal is published weekly and distributed in all Asian communties in San Diego County. Publication date is ev-ery Friday of the month. Advertising deadline is Thursday prior to publication date at 5 p.m. For advertising rates, rate cards, or information, call (619) 474-0588. Subscription by mail is available for $50 per year (56 issues). The Asian Journal is not responsible for unsolicited manuscripts and photographs but welcomes sub-missions. Entire content is © 2009 copyrighted material by Asian Journal. Materials in this publication may not be reproduced without specifi c permission from the publisher.

Genevieve SilverioManaging Editor

Simeon G. Silverio, Jr.Publisher & Editor

Miles BeauchampAssociate Editor

Santi SilverioAssociate Publisher

At Large...

Read Miles Beauchamp’s previous articles by visiting our web-site at www.asianjournalusa.com

by Miles Beauchamp

It’s mid-May! What are you doing this summer?

It’s not quite time for summer vacations just yet, but it is most defi -

nitely time to start planning them - if you haven’t already. So to help out I offer the fol-lowing info about Hawai’i.

What’s new

Time to think once more about Hawai’i

Kaua‘i’s Makai Golf Club at The St. Regis Princeville Resort recently reopened fol-lowing a multi-million dollar renovation and now features two distinct courses: the 18-hole Makai Course and the 9-hole Woods Course. The teeing areas, fairways and greens now feature Seashore Paspalum turf, the bunkers have been reshaped, and the practice facility upgraded. In

addition, the golf carts will be equipped with GPS systems by the end of April. The resort renovations also included an upgrade of the adjacent tennis complex, with the four ten-nis courts being resurfaced. For more information, visit MakaiGolf.com.

Four Seasons Resorts Läna‘i at Manele Bay is now provid-ing complimentary amenities for parents traveling with in-fants and toddlers. The “Keiki Welcome Package” consists of shampoo, conditioner, lotion, dia-pers, and baby wipes. Parents can have their rooms equipped with cribs, toddler beds, bed rails, play-pens, baby monitors, and vaporizers, and also bor-row jogging strollers and car seats to use when ex-ploring the property and the island. Babysitting services are also available. For more information, visit FourSea-sons.com/ManeleBay.

iPhone users can now take advantage of two new travel applications (apps) to help plan their Hawai‘i itinerary. Photographer Douglas Peebles recently released a Hawaii’s Best Beaches app, which al-lows users to search photos of Hawai‘i’s beaches by loca-tion or activity. The app also comes with a map to guide us-ers to the beaches. Peebles is creating a second app, Seeing Maui, with more projects to follow. For more information, visit DouglasPeebles.com.

The second Hawai‘i app is called What Chefs Eat and was created by Melanie Ko-saka of ShareYourTable.com

and Eric Nakagawa of ADAM (App Dev and Mktg). The app offers recommendations on restaurants and favorite foods by highly acclaimed Hawai‘i chefs and purveyors, such as Roy Yamaguchi, Alan Wong, and D.K. Kodama. It also pro-vides information on travel specials, dining deals, and fun events. For more information, visit WhatChefsEat.com.

Visitors wanting to be re-imbursed for airline baggage fees can now look to three

Hawai’i resorts for help. On Hawai’i’s Big Island, the Wai-koloa Beach Marriott Resort and Spa will credit guests $25 per bag with a minimum two-night stay through December 24, 2010. For more informa-tion, visit WaikoloaMarriott.com.

On Maui, the Napili Kai Beach Resort will deduct air-line baggage fees up to $125 from the total cost of each reservation, with a minimum fi ve-night stay. For more information, visit NapiliKai.com.

Aston Hotels and Resorts is also offering its customers a $50 luggage credit at all of its Hawai’i properties, with a minimum fi ve-night stay. For more information, visit Aston-Hotels.com.

For Maui visitors wanting to stay fi t while on vacation,

Hotel Wailea Maui now offers a “Sunrise Yoga” package. Guests enjoy a fi ve-night stay in an ocean view suite and daily private yoga sessions with a personal instructor. For more information, contact [email protected] or visit HotelWailea.com.

Couples seeking a romantic getaway on Kaua‘i can now make plans for a complimen-tary vow renewal ceremony when staying at the Outrigger Kiahuna

Plantation. The ceremony takes place every other Thursday af-ternoon and begins with an exchange of lei followed by the kahu (priest) giv-ing a Hawai-ian chant with English trans-lation. Couples then learn about Hä, the breath of life,

before exchanging vows. The vow renewal special is good through June 30, 2010. For more information, visit Kia-huna-Plantation.com.

In support of The Fairmont Green Partnership Program, The Fairmont Orchid on Hawai’i’s Big Island is help-ing to protect endangered fi sh species, by having chefs at its Brown’s Beach House restau-rant showcase seafood entrées featuring 100 percent sustain-able fi sh caught in Hawai‘i’s waters under strict guidelines set by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Adminis-tration (NOAA) and Pacifi c Regional Division. For more information, visit Fairmont.com/Orchid.

Events and attractions

Experience the sights and sounds of authentic Hawai-

ian music and hula at the 21st Annual Big Island Hawaiian Music Festival held at the Afook Chinen Civic Audito-rium in Hilo from July 10-11. This year’s event is specially dedicated to one of Hawai‘i’s great kumu hula (hula teach-er), the late Uncle George Na‘ope, who co-founded the prestigious Merrie Monarch Festival. The two-day affair will feature live performances from some of Hawai‘i’s top entertainers, hula from Hawai‘i’s Big Island hälau (hula groups), and slack-key guitar and ‘ukulele work-shops. For more information, visit EHCC.org.

Huaka‘i is a new cultural program offered daily at the Keauhou Beach Resort onHawai‘i’s Big Island that is free and open to resort guests and the public.

Participants are immersed in the history and culture of Hawai‘i through a variety of activities, including Hawai-ian language classes, ancient Hawaiian games, hula and ‘ukulele lessons, lei making, arts and crafts demonstra-tions, and property site tours offering insight into the sur-rounding landscape. For more information, visit Keauhou-BeachResort.com.

Hyatt Regency Waikiki Beach Resort and Spa on O’ahu has introduced two new tours giving visitors and residents a unique perspective on its surrounding area. The Historical Tour of Pualeilani focuses on the cultural aspects near the hotel, with guests learning about Hawai’i’s ali’i (chiefs) and other cultural ele-ments such as the true mean-ing of Aloha.

Okay, so now you have just a bit of information on Hawai’i. I’m not sure what destination I’ll spotlight next, but I promise it won’t be cold.

Sources: Hawaii Visitors and Convention Bureau



For many years, our U.S. immigration policy has been the I-130 Petition is auto-matically revoked when the petitioner dies while the I-130 Petition is pending. As far back as 1938, our immigra-tion regulations provided the automatic revocation of the approval of the visa petition upon the death of the petitioner. More recently, the regulations provided for humanitarian reinstatement of petitions that have been re-voked because of the death of the petitioner. In 2006, a new regulation was issued stating the automatic revocation does not apply to a spousal imme-diate relative visa petition, if the deceased petitioner and the alien widow or widower had been married at least two years before the petitioner died. Widows or widowers of U.S. citizens who had died before the second anniversary of the marriage and faced deportation challenged this regulation as inconsistent with our immigration laws. This issue has been one of the most litigated issues in federal dis-trict courts and most decisions were against USCIS.

Fortunately, Congress acted to resolve this long-standing issue. On October 28, 2009, President Obama signed into law the FY10 DHS Appro-priations Act (P.L. 111-83), which included a provision eliminating the widow pen-alty or the requirement that

Analysis of the New Law Eliminating Widow Penalty

the surviving spouse of a U.S. citizen be married for two years prior to the death in order to self-petition for legal permanent residence status. When a widow or widower qualifi es as immediate rela-tive under our immigration laws, his or her children also qualify. The new law applies equally to foreign nationals living abroad and applying for immigrant visa and those liv-ing in the United States who are applying for adjustment of status. It also applies to aliens whose petitioners died before October 30, 2009, and had a pending I-130 petition before said date. If no I-130 petition has been fi led and marriage was less than two (2) years, the foreign national whose petitioner died before October 30, 2009, may fi le his or her own petition provided that he or she has not remarried and the self-petition is fi led no later than October 28, 2011.

The new law applies retroac-tively so that a foreign nation-al who has been married less than two years when his or her U.S. citizen spouse died may self-petition no matter how long before October 30, 2009, the petitioner died. However, the widow or widower has two years from October 30, 2009, to fi le the self-petition and provided further that the foreign national has not remarried.

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IMMIGRATION (619) 819-8648Speak directly with an Attorney

The Law Offi ces of SUSAN V. PEREZ offer the following services:

We also handle ALL PHILIPPINE cases and have an offi ce in Manila to service your needs there.

*Susan Perez is a licensed attorney both in the State of California and the Philippines. She has eighteen (18) years of combined experience in both jurisdictions in the areas of Immigration, Family, Appellate, Juvenile Dependency, Civil, Criminal, Labor, Contracts, Tax, and Business Law. She is also admitted to practice before the Ninth Circuit of the Court of Appeals, and the District Courts of Southern California and Central District of California.

Nagsasalita ng Tagalog asin Bicol.

By Appointment only from 9:00 to 5:30, Monday thru Friday.

San Diego Office: Manila Office:625 Broadway, Suite 1015 Suite 2502-A East TowerSan Diego CA 92101 Philippine Stock Exchange CentreTel. No. (619) 819-8648 Exchange Road, Ortigas Center, Pasig CityFax No. (619) 923-9555 Tel. Nos.: (632) 687-2565 / 687-9851 Email: [email protected] Fax No.: (632) 687-2565

Atty. Susan V. Perez

Visit our website: www.law-usimmigration.com

by Atty. Susan V. Perez

Legal BriefRead Atty. Susan Perez’s previous articles by

visiting our website at www.asianjournalusa.com



An Unauthorized History of the Philippines

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Twentieth of a seriesBy Rudy D. Liporada

In the first series, the author stated that history is written by those who have the time to interpret events based on their perspectives and believed by those who do not know better. In the subsequent series, the author traced why Spain, the United States, and Japan came to the Philippines and why the Filipinos failed to see their economic intentions; and how the subjugated the Filipinos who eventually rose in arms against the colonial-ists in spite of the complicity of the landed elites with the colonialists.

The Japanese Collabo-rators and Real Freedom Fighters

Before Manuel Quezon

and his cabinet joined MacAr-thur in Corregidor to escape to Australia, he appointed Jorge B. Vargas, his execu-tive secretary, as mayor of Greater Manila. Dubbed as the “little president” during Quezon’s Commonwealth administration for being the confidant and chief executive of the President, he met with the Japanese when the invad-ers entered Manila. His main instruction from Quezon was to place the Filipinos out of harm’s way by obeying the Japanese without pledging al-legiance to the Japanese. This dictum was open to opportun-ism bordering to collabora-tion without being guilty for rational cooperation with the Japanese.

Characterized by opportun-ism during the Spanish regime and American colonialism, the landed elite readily ac-cepted the Japanese invaders. Thus, the Constantinos write: “During the first days of the occupation, prominent lead-

ers of the Commonwealth met daily to assess the situa-tion. There were preliminary interviews between General Masami Maeda, Homma’s chief of staff, and Mayor Var-gas, Quintin Paredes, Claro M. Recto and Benigno S. Aquino. On January 7, Vargas presented himself to Maida who, acting in the name of Homma, ordered the mayor to implement the the demands of the military administration…On January 8, Vargas, Recto, Paredes, Jose Yulo, and Jose P. Laurel paid their respects to General Homma…On January 23, they constituted themselves into a Provisional Council of State and con-sented to carry out the orders of the Japanese authorities…the Filipino leaders’ formal assurance of submission and cooperation…It was a model of that elite continuity which

had characterized every change of government and master since the last days of Spanish colonialism.”

Same Objectives through Comparative Methods

When the Spaniards came

to find the Spice Islands, they subjugated the indios by conscripting natives from one area to subdue natives in another area. Using religion, the Spaniards also captured the souls of the indios to be subservient to the Spanish Crown. Moreover, the Span-ish colonialists coop-ted the reigning datus or barangay chieftains to lord over their subjects in consonance with the wishes of the Crown. Only Spaniards and the reli-gious orders, however, were given vast tracts of lands. There was no promise of independence and no promise of representation to the gov-erning body for the indios.

When the American colonialists came to dump their surplus products and subjugate the Filipinos for

their cheap raw materials, the American colonialists posed as liberators of the Filipinos against the tyranny of Spain. They massacred as many as 600,000 Filipinos but prom-ised independence when they Filipinos would already be ready to govern themselves. Their definition of a Filipino who they will train in gov-ernment is a member of the landed elite. For over four decades before the Japanese came, the Americans taught the Filipinos English and pic-tured America as the country of milk and honey subtly transforming the Filipinos into Little Brown Americans.

When the Japanese came, they had they same goals as the American colonialists – that of dumping their surplus products and making the Philippines a source of raw materials. The Japanese posed

as liberators of the Filipinos from West-ern tyranny and hoist the idea of a Greater East Asia Co-Pros-perity Sphere. Why should Asians not help Asians, the Jap-anese insisted. Why should a Western tyrant be in charge of the Philippines’ destiny? In order to

inculcate the concept of their being liberators and Asia for Asians, the Japanese, at the outset of their occupying the country controlled the educa-tional system, the press, and other cultural presentations. They also promised indepen-dence only if the Filipinos would submit to the whims of the Japanese Emperor and be a satellite of Japan.

Unlike the Americans who were able to subtly assimilate the Filipinos, however, the Japanese were harsh and bru-tal. The picture of them being liberators from the Americans and partners in a cooperative for Asia for Asians was en-tirely opaque by their brutal-ity from the simplest form of slapping Filipinos for simple lack of greeting such as bow-ing even just to the lowest ranked soldier; to murderous tortures of suspected freedom fighters or American support-ers. Rape of women was also prevalent.

Under Japanese atroci-ties and with the promise of the United States to grant independence to the Filipi-

nos seemingly stunted due to Japanese invasion of the Islands, the Filipinos hated the Japanese – forgetting that just four decades ago, the Ameri-cans did the same massacres and atrocious acts against the Filipinos. The Filipinos were blinded by the Japanese cruelty that the Fili-pinos longed for lib-eration under the Ameri-cans who, to them, would save them and truly grant them independence.

The landed elite cooper-ated with the Japanese

Nonetheless, the landed elite were again in the fore-front of supporting the Japanese regime on behalf of the Filipinos. The Japanese allowed them because besides being conduits to their goals in the Philippines, the landed elite already knew how to administer the government having had initial training from the Americans.

Thus, at the outset, the Japanese immediately or-ganized a Council of State manned by the likes of Roxas, Aquino, and Laurel – all members of the landed elite. The Japanese directed the state of affairs through this council until October 1943 when they declared the Philip-pines an independent republic. Jose P. Laurel was installed as president of the Japanese im-planted Philippine Republic.

Most of the Filipino elite corroborated justifying their action through the directive advocacy of Quezon himself – that of protecting the people from the harshness of the Japanese regime. Above all, however, the landed elite only used such rationale to pre-

serve themselves, protect their family, and personal interests. Nonetheless, there were those who, while corroborating with the Japanese, wanting to preserve themselves should the Americans come back and not be tagged as traitors, also used the underground to pass information to the allies and helped the underground gue-rilla movement.

The Guerilla Movement Defeated the Japanese

The Japanese was opposed by Filipinos who opted to wage a guerilla movement. Postwar estimates show that around 260,000 fighters were in guerilla organizations scat-tered all over the Islands.

There were two types of guerillas, however. One was composed mostly of Bataan and Corregidor escap-ees, mostly led by American soldiers. They also had lo-cal recruits. The other was the Hukbalahap or Hukbo ng

Bayan Laban sa Hapon (Peo-ple’s Anti-Japanese Army). Although both were supposed to be anti-Japanese, their ori-entations differed. Those units organized from the USAFFE forces’ initial main concern was to be recognized as units by making sure they contact first MacArthur in Australia and have his blessings to oper-ate as guerilla units. The Huk-balahap was the army created by the Communist Party of the Philippines. While the order of MacArthur to the USAFFE forces was to hold on to their units and not to engage the Japanese forces until he comes back, the Huks intensified their guerilla attacks on the enemy as often as they could. These differing orientations drew the two guerilla move-ments to be at odds with each other with the USAFFE forces not recognizing the Huks as legitimate for they were not even recognized by MacAr-thur. So, while the Huks were thinking that they were in a united front with the USAFFE forces against the Japanese, the USAFFE absorbed the thinking that the Huks were communists who were against the US from the beginning and would be problems after the war. Nonetheless, MacAr-thur had instructed his units to use the Huks “when it is to our advantage.”

The Malady of the Huks

So, during the guerilla warfare in the Philippines, it was mostly the Huks who were annihilating the Japanese while the USAFFE forces were preserving themselves for the return of MacArthur. Numbering to around 30,000 forces, the Huks engaged the Japanese in ambuscades and harassments whenever they could. Before MacArthur



to illustrate who the new law should be applied.

Example 1. Todd, a U.S. citizen was married only three months to Maria, who is a Fil-ipina, when he suddenly died of heart attack. Maria has a 10-year-old daughter from her Filipino husband. Maria may fi le her own petition and ob-tain a green card. She has two years to fi le her self-petition from the date of Todd’s death. Maria can include her 10-year-old daughter in her petition. If Todd died in 2007 while they were living in the Philippines and Maria has not remarried, she has until October 28, 2011 to fi le her own petition.

Example 2: In the ex-ample above, Maria entered the United States on a B1/B2 visa in June 2000 which

Analysis of the New Law Eliminating Widow Penalty

allowed her to stay for only six months. She met Todd in June 2009 and got married six months later. Three months into the marriage or in March 2010, Todd died in a car ac-cident. Todd has not fi led any petition on behalf of Maria. Since Maria has been out of status and does not have the benefi t of INA section 245(i), she cannot fi le for adjustment of status. Maria can fi le a self-petition but needs to go home to do consular process-ing. However, since she has been out of status for more than one year, going home will trigger the 10-year bar.

Example 3: In the example above, Todd and Maria got married in the Philippines. Shortly after Todd came back to the United States, he died. At the time, Maria was six months pregnant. Maria can self-petition to immigrate to the United States with her baby. Is the baby a U.S. citi-zen considering his father was a U.S. citizen? I will discuss this issue in my next article.

We welcome your feedback. If you have any immigration questions, please feel wel-come to email me at [email protected] or call 619 819 -8648 to arrange for a telephone consultation.

(Continued from page 7)

ARE YOUR MORTGAGE PAYMENTS TOO HIGH? Foreclosure is not your only opti on

FORECLOSURE NIGHTMARES? A short sale at no cost to you may end your sleepless nights.

Call me today for a free evaluati on. I’ll be happy to explain all your opti ons so you can make an informed decision on what is right for you and your family.

Ligaya Cruz,

Broker Associate/Realtor

DRE#01486032

Weichert Realtor Elite

E-mail: ligaya.cruz@yahoo.

com

Cell: 858-829-5452

By Patricia Esteves (The Philippine Star) Updated May 10, 2010 12:00 AM

MANILA, Philippines- Gawad Kalinga (GK)

recently held its fi rst Builders Night that “aims to nurture love of country and pres-ent a vision of hope” and at the same time, empower and inspire GK volunteers to the work of building homes for the poor.

GK founder Tony Meloto said the Builders night is the fi rst of monthly meetings that will gather volunteers and friends of GK to talk about a range of topics on nation building and poverty eradica-tion.

The theme that night cen-tered on Kalinga politics or

Gawad Kalinga pushes for politics of caring

the politics of caring.“These are critical times that

present historic opportunities for a lasting change. We hope to gather monthly our next generation of decision mak-ers, inspiring speakers, shar-ing stories and news, building friendships as we build a nation,” Meloto told hundreds of GK volunteers at the NBC tent in Taguig.

Next month, the next GK Builders Night will be held at the Rockwell tent and discuss Bayanihan Economics or the business of sharing.

At the event, outgoing vice-president Noli de Castro discussed servant leadership.

“Kalinga Politics means not caring about politics… It’s about putting people fi rst,” he told the audience.

Dean Alex Brillantes of the University of the Philippines NCPAG also presented their work on the GK Builders Institute and the “Kalinga Bills.”

The Kalinga Bills are omni-bus legislation that will help facilitate GK work all over the country.

“The Kalinga Bills will pro-vide the enabling framework for sustainability of poverty reduction,” he said. (Continued on page 22)

Brillantes stressed that GK should be a partnership where government, business and civ-il society must come together to uplift the lives of the poor.

“GK is a converging point for partnership. Partnership is the key. We must work with the LGUs and use GK as a Filipino indigenous model to eradicate poverty,” he said.

He also introduced the vol-

Broker Associate, Weichert Realtor Elite (858-829-5452)

by Ligaya Cruz

Real Estate/Mortgage Tips

The possibility of losing your home due to inability to make the mortgage payments is terrifying. It could be due to you or your family member suddenly becoming unem-ployed, or maybe you took out a mortgage that has fi xed rate for the fi rst two or three years and then revert to an adjust-able rate. Your mortgage pay-ments went up and you’re un-able to make those payments. No matter what the reason is for your mortgage anxiety, you should know there are options to save your home as well as how to recognize and avoid foreclosure scams.

First: Know your mort-gage. Do you know what type of mortgage you have? Are your payments going to increase in the near future? If you cannot decipher your mortgage documents, contact your loan servicer and ask. A hybrid Adjustable Rate Mort-gage (ARM) for instance, is a mortgage with fi xed rate/payments for a few years, and then it turns to an adjustable loan. A 2/28 or a 5/25 hy-brid ARM – the fi rst number refers to the years the loan is fi xed and the second number refers to the years the loan has an adjustable rate. A 3/1 or 5/1 hybrid ARM – the fi rst number refers to the years the loan has a fi xed rate, and the second number refers to how often the rate changes. In 3/1 hybrid ARM, the interest rate is fi xed for three years, then adjust every year thereafter. A fi xed mortgage is where the rate is fi xed for the life of the loan.

Second: If you’re Behind on Your Payments, contact your loan servicer to discuss options. You may be able to modify your loan. It is worth calling your servicer even if your request was turned down before. Currently, servicers are getting lots of calls so you need to be persistent and patient.

Third: Consider Foreclo-sure Prevention Program if you are unable to modify your loan. You can sell your house. This approach will work if you have enough proceed from the sale to cover what you owe as well as the expenses associated with the sell (i.e. realtor fees, escrow,

Mortgage Payments Too High? Here is What to Do

title, etc.). You can “short” sale your house. Your lender may allow you tell your house by agreeing to forgive any “short” between the sale price and your mortgage balance. This approach avoids a dam-aging foreclosure entry on your credit report. It would still going to be noted on your credit report as lender ac-cepted less than the mortgage balance or something like that. You can Deed in lieu of foreclosure. You can vol-untarily transfer your title to the lender in exchange for the cancellation of your mortgage balance.

Fourth: Be Alert to Scams. Their pitches may sound convincing but oftentimes their intentions are far from the truth. Some claims to be a “foreclosure prevention specialist” but they actually they are phony counselor who charges high fees for doing a phone call or completing paper work that you could do yourself. The “lease or buy back scam” where owners are deceive into signing over the deed to a scammer and are told they can rent the house and eventually buy it back. The terms are usually makes buy back impossible and the homeowners end up getting evicted and the scammer walks away with the house or its equity, if any. The “bait and switch” where owners think they are signing docu-ments to bring their mortgage current but instead they are signing their deed to the scam artist.

As always, you should consult a legitimate real estate professional (accountant, real estate attorney or a real estate agent) when making these decisions.

Ligaya Cruz was a mort-gage/real estate broker prior to joining Weichert Realtor Elite. She originated residen-tial and commercial mort-gages. She is also a certifi ed paralegal and worked for the City Attorney’s Offi ce, City of San Diego. She assisted Deputy City Attorney in legal research on issues involving land use including but not limited to zoning, building, health and safety and environ-mental. She has a degree in Business Administration from

University of Phoenix and Paralegal studies from Uni-versity of San Diego. She is a member of the San Diego As-sociation of Realtor (SDAR) Housing Committee. The committee provides education to home buyers and partners with business to promote ho-meownership. If you have any questions, email her at [email protected] or call her at 858-829-5452.


Philippine Stories

Read Sim Silverio’s previous articles by visiting our website at www.asianjournalusa.com

by Simeon G. Silverio Jr.

Chapter 6

At fi rst Ditas ignored Romy’s letters, but they kept coming in.

He wrote her at least twice a week and people started to notice.

“Wala sigurong magawa ang taong ito (This guy must have nothing else to do),” she told herself.

“Sagutin mo naman, kawawa naman ang tao (At least answer his letter, the guy is pitiful),” her friend Angie told her.

“Why don’t you answer him yourself,” Ditas replied. “Ikaw ata ang may gusto (You might be the one who like him).”

“If he wrote to me, I would,” Angie answered. “Mabilis pa sa kidlat (As fast as a light-ning).”

But Ditas was reminded of her last statement to Romy: “I would never fall for you even if you were the last man on earth.”

Not that she had regrets and wanted to take it back. As far as she was concerned, her main goal was to work hard, save a lot of money, and provide a better life for her mother and two brothers. The last thing she would do was get married and devote her time and energy to a husband and neglect her own family. But out of courtesy, she suc-cumbed to peer pressure and sent Romy a letter.

“Kumusta ka na (How are you doing?)” she wrote. “I hope you work hard so that you can take care of your family.”

But the polite response trig-gered an avalanche of letters. When at fi rst she only got two a week, Romy started fl ooding her with letters every day. He confessed that he had been in love with her since they were kids growing up in their barrio. He recalled even trivial incidents about their encounters, which she did not remember. But her attitude toward him remained unchanged. She remembered him as an easy-go-lucky guy who liked to hang out and drink with friends. In fact, he barely graduated from high

school until he joined the U.S. Navy, the last resort for many boys in their neighborhood. But then, her mother got sick.

Her mother’s frail body sim-ply gave up after years of hard work. She would stay in the fi eld picking wild grass to sell to horse owners. She could be found in the fi eld when-

ever she was not doing laundry work for rich folks in town. One day while in the fi eld, she collapsed. They rushed her to the town doctor who advised her to rest.

“Your mother has a weak heart,” the doc-tor told Ditas.

“She needs an operation right away.”

The prognosis seemed like a death sentence to Ditas’ mother. There was no way she could undergo an operation because the family could not afford it. Nonetheless, Ditas sought the help of their rela-tives and friends, although she knew it was a futile attempt. They were poor themselves and had nothing to spare. She even received a scathing rebuke from her Aunt Marta, her mother’s only sister and the mother of her cousin Isabel.

“Kasi kayo, pinababayaan ninyo ang ina ninyong mag-trabaho para sa inyo (It is because you let your mother work hard for you),” she reprimanded her niece. She didn’t even give Ditas fare money to go back to the prov-ince.

In the end, all she could do was cry and feel helpless.

“Umutang ka muna kay Romy (You borrow money from Romy),” Angie sug-gested when Romy’s letter for the day arrived.

Ditas would not hear of it. But then, she heard her mother cough inside the room. Her mother was getting weak every day. Finally, her love for her mother prevailed. She got a ball pen and started writing in a piece of paper. “Dear Romy,” she wrote.

The letter merely requested for fi nancial help as she explained her mother’s grave situation. “Don’t worry, I will pay you back,” she kept promising in the end. “Even if

I offer myself in servitude to other people.”

It took only one week for Romy to receive her letter and one day for $2,000 to arrive on Ditas’ doorsteps. Right away, the heart opera-tion was scheduled. After a month in the hospital, Luc-ing, Ditas’ mother, was back home. But she was not the same as before. The operation merely stopped her from get-ting worse. She remained frail and weak, unable to do heavy tasks like doing the laundry for rich folks or working in the fi elds. To top it off, she needed to continuously take her medications, which her family could not afford.

Ditas tried her best to get a decent-paying job, but as a high school graduate, all she got was an offer to work as a saleslady at a department store.

“Isn’t it against the law?” she asked Vilma, a family friend who recommended her for the job. “How come that

store can get away paying its employees half of the re-quired minimum wage?”

“Kaysa naman sa wala (It is better than nothing),” Vilma explained. “Besides, nakatayo ka lamang naman maghapon (You are just standing at the store the whole day).”

Ditas knew that at that rate, she would not make both ends meet for her family even if she worked two jobs. She was at her wits end when Romy came home for a vacation. At that point, her mother was taking her required medica-tion less often than needed. Ditas was afraid it would take a toll on her.

“Pasensiya ka na, hindi pa ako nakakabayad sa iyo (Sor-ry I still haven’t paid what I owe you),” she apologized when Romy appeared at their doorstep. She learned before-hand that he was coming.

“Okay lang iyon (that’s okay),” he replied. “How’s your mom?”

She just managed a bitter

smile. She was embarrassed to tell him that her mother was getting worse for lack of medication, and that she needed more help.

Romy could sense her problem. Like a cat that had his prey cornered, he later proposed: “Marry me, Ditas, and I will help you take care of your mom.”

She fl ashed a bitter smile once again. And tears started fl owing down her eyes. She didn’t give him an answer. Romy left the house later like a young boy hopelessly in love. He visited her every day until he returned to his work in the U.S.

Days passed but Ditas didn’t have time to think about Romy’s offer. The pressure from her relatives and friends and her mother’s worsen-ing condition forced her to make a rash decision. It was a decision made with her head not with her heart. Growing up she had long fantasized of

being fi nancially independent one day, of being able to earn a living, make enough money to buy things she liked and provide for her family.

“Balang araw, makakaraos din tayo sa kahirapan (Some-day, we will uplift ourselves from poverty),” she kept tell-ing her mother and brothers.

It was at that low point that she missed her departed father.

“Mag-aral kang maige anak, iyan lamang ang mai-pamamana ko sa iyo (You study hard, daughter. That’s the only one I can bequeath to you),” her father kept tell-ing her when he was alive. “Ipagtataguyod ko ang pag-aaral mong maging doktora habang nabubuhay ako (I will support your education to become a doctor while I am alive).”

Tragically, he did not live long enough to make good his promise. – AJ

(To be continued)

SMILES FROM THE

HEARTQuestion: How many people will it take to furnish a classroom with books?

The answer is 3. That’s right. 3 friends from highschool or elementary school or the same town x 1 idea x 10 books are all it needs to fi ll a classroom with 30 books.

Join the Friends of Sol Bautista in her quest to benefi t Gawad Kalinga USA by pre-ordering a set of 10 copies of the book “Smiles from the Heart,” a collection of the late poet’s work featured in the Asian Journal from 2006-2009. Then ask two of your friends to match your pledge of $150.

All proceeds will be donated to Gawad Kalinga USA, a 501(c)3 non profi t organization, to raise funds for community building in the Philippines. To learn more, email [email protected] or [email protected].

A Complicated Affair

Her Parents’ Daughter


A recent article in the in-ternet aroused our curiosity. Entitled “US Birth Tourism Becoming Flourishing Busi-ness” (by Devin Dwyer), it re-ports that “Millions of foreign tourists visit the United States every year, and a growing number return home with a brand new U.S. citizen in tow.” As we all know, a child born in the United States is automati-cally an American citizen, so some foreigners come here just to give birth. Indeed, the practice has now become a thriving industry so much so that, according to the report, travel agencies and hotels of-fer “birth tourism packages”. Of course, this exposes the “birth tourist” to charges of immigration fraud as her in-tention was not really consis-tent with her declared purpose of just visiting the United States.

But the reverse may hap-pen too. For some reasons, U.S. citizens and permanent residents may give birth abroad either because they chose to or through force of

Child Born Abroad to Immigrant Parents

circumstance. We have previ-ously written about a child born abroad to American parents (“American Child Born Abroad”, Asian Journal, March 19, 2010). This time,

we will discuss the case of a child born abroad to immi-grant par-ents.

Man-ny and her wife Jacklyn are both immigrants. Because of a death in the family, they were forced to go home to the Phil-ippines although Jacklyn was already six months pregnant with their first baby. They were intending to be away for ten days, just enough time to complete the traditional nine-day novena or “pa-siyam”.

It was difficult for Manny and Jacklyn to get their plane tickets. It was April, a peak season because of the sum-mer vacation in the Philip-pines. Prices were high and the flights were fully booked. To top it all, they wanted a direct flight to Manila, which only Philippine Airlines pro-vides, because the family was just waiting for them before proceeding with the funeral. It

is customary among Filipino families to wait for all mem-bers of the family to arrive before burying their dead. Manny was also worried about Jacklyn’s condition and did not want her to be further burdened by layovers. Fortu-nately, they were able to get a booking and hurriedly packed their things for the short trip.

The short trip took longer than intended. Jacklyn prema-turely gave birth in the Phil-ippines, perhaps because of the hasty travel preparations, late nights at the wake, and all the anxieties and emotions she experienced. Although healthy, the child was placed in an incubator and she and Jacklyn stayed in the hospital for more than a week.

Manny and Jacklyn want to know how and when they should bring their baby to the United States. They are ask-ing this question because their relatives are willing to take care of the baby and there is no one in the U.S. who can do that for them, One of them might be forced to resign from work to take care of the baby, but this option will be very difficult because they both need to work. They are thinking of leaving the baby behind for a few years until they are already financially stable to take good care of her.

Since Manny and Jacklyn are immigrants, and their child was born in the Philip-pines, the child is a Filipino citizen. Ordinarily, an alien such as a Filipino citizen needs a visa to enter the United States. However, the baby is exempt from the visa requirement – meaning that they can bring her into the U.S. without a visa – provid-ed two conditions are met.

The first condition is that Manny and Jacklyn must bring their baby with them on their first trip back to the United States. If they return to the U.S. now without the

baby, the baby must have a visa before she can enter the United States.

The second condition is that the baby must be less than two years old by the time she enters the United States. If she enters the U.S. after that, she will need a visa.

If they decide to bring their baby with them now, they will need to present reliable docu-mentation of the parent-child relationship and the child’s age (which will anyway be ob-vious if they travel soon), such as the child’s birth certificate plus hospital records.

If they decide to leave their child behind, they must later on file an immigrant petition with the USCIS for the child to enable her to rejoin them in

the United States. It may take a few months for the petition to be processed and for the baby to get her immigrant visa. One other thing that they should know is that if they naturalize while their baby is still in the Philippines, the baby will not get derivative citizenship.

The new parents will have to consider many things but we hope that with the information we have provided, they will be able to make the correct decision.

Atty. Rogelio Karagdag , Jr. is licensed to practice law in both California and the Philippines. He practices im-migration law in San Diego and has continuously been

a trial and appellate attor-ney in the Philippines since 1989. He travels between San Diego and Manila. His office address is located at 10717 Camino Ruiz, Suite 131, San Diego, CA 92126. He also has an office in the Philip-pines at 1240 Apacible Street, Paco, Manila, Philippines 1007, with telephone numbers (632)522-1199 and (632)526-0326. Please call (858)348-7475 or email him at [email protected] for your free consultation. He speaks Tagalog fluently. Articles written in this col-umn are not legal advice but are hypotheticals intended as general, non-specific legal information.

Read previous articles by visiting our website at www.asianjo-urnalusa.com

by Atty. Rogelio Karagdag, Jr.Member, State Bar of California & Integrated Bar of the Philippines

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Over 5,000 attend San Diego’s 1st Asian Cultural Festival at Liberty Station

Asian Journal | SAN DIEGO, 5/14/2010 -- The fi rst Asian Cul-tural Festival attracted a record crowd of 5,000 locals to Liberty Station, a new community north of downtown San Diego.

The event was the fi rst of its kind to be held on the park grounds of the former Naval Training Center fronting Historic Decatur Road.

During the opening ceremony, Faith Bautista, founder of Mabu-hay Alliance, the main sponsor for the event, was presented with the Community Service Leader-ship Award by the Offi ce of Con-gressman Bob Filner. She was joined on stage by City of San Diego Councilman Tony Young and Councilman Todd Gloria.

Festival Director Dennis-Michael Broussard attributed the event’s turnout to the all-volun-teer staff and the effort they had put in. “There were over 5,000 people from the expected 2500 we estimated! We couldn’t have had a better team, who were all dedicated and committed to see-ing this event excel.”

“Celebrating the diversity of our city and recognizing all the different ethnic and cultural backgrounds, Asian and non-Asian, are much of what is fes-tival is about. This exciting new heritage and culture festival held on May 8th at the NTC Park at Liberty Station is San Diego’s offi cial celebration for Asian Pa-cifi c American Heritage Month,” added Broussard.

AwarenessThe festival is a new project

initiated by Mabuhay Alliance, a 401(c)3 non profi t organiza-tion, to unite San Diego’s many ethnicities, both Asian and non-Asian.

It is also intended to draw awareness to the growing demo-

graphic of Asian Americans. According to Mabuhay Al-

liance, nation-wide, the Asian American community’s aver-age annual income is $600-bil-


Photos reprinted with the permission of Areeluck Parnsoonthorn and Andre Gonzalez.

Asian Cultural Festival


EntertainmentMovies to Watch

(Following are movies now showing or soon to be shown in San Diego.)

by Simeon G. Silverio Jr.

L01A_Frappe_Mocha_PrintAd_Filipino_F_PO.indd 1 4/15/10 7:39 PM

REDWOOD CITY, CA, May 7, 2010 – Riding high on the recent box-office success of the Sam Milby-Anne Curtis light romantic comedy, Babe, I Love You, ABS-CBN Inter-national’s Starry Starry Store goes full throttle with the laughs via the hilarious new film, Here Comes the Bride, a joint summer offering from Star Cinema, Octoarts and Quantum Films. The film will screen in San Francisco, Milpitas, Vallejo, San Diego, Los Angeles-Buena Park, Los Angeles-Chino and New Jersey-Bergenfield.

Here Comes the Bride stars the versatile and sexy Angelica Panganiban and the eternally wacky Eugene Do-

Angelica, Eugene go for big laughs in “Here

Comes the Bride”Starry Starry Store brings soul-swapping comedy

riot for summer to 7 U.S. cities this Maymingo. Angelica has already scored a winner this year in the U.S. with the mature dra-ma I Love You, Goodbye back in January. Eugene proved she can carry a movie by playing the title role in Kimmy Dora: Kambal Sa Kiyeme which was a major hit in the Philip-pines last year. Joining them in this new film is a very able supporting cast with Tuesday Vargas, Cherry Pie Picache, Jaime Fabregas, John Lapus, Kim Atienza, Tom Rodriguez and a host of unknown good-looking creatures in skimpy clothing.

The plot is delightfully original and incredible, mer-rily mixing cultural supersti-tions and pseudoscience to

generate humor-ous situations of the metaphysical kind. Gentleman Harold (Tom) and the virginal Stefanie (Angelica) are set to have a roman-tic beach wedding. They did not factor in that their wedding day coincides with a solar eclipse. As their guests - which include their spinster godmother Precy (Eugene), the ring-bearer’s harassed nanny Medelyn (Tuesday), the bored groom’s grandfather Bien (Jaime) and flamboyant make-up

artist Toffee (John) – head for the wedding site, they pass a high magnetic field spot. Showing shades of the Bermuda Triangle mystery on ground, a freak accident occurs where everyone loses consciousness. The result? An absolutely chaotic soul ex-change that threatens to mess up the lives of the entire bridal entourage forever! Will the wedding ever push through for Harold and Stefanie?

“It’s a pandemonium of a movie but it’s a lot of fun,” laughed Kerwin Du, ABS-CBN International’s head of theatricals. “That’s the kind of mood that we want to cre-ate this summer – we want to bring in a barrel of laughter, have families go to the the-ater, enjoy watching a Filipino film and have a real good time.”

Written and directed by award-winning producer-screenwriter-book author-director Chris Martinez (who penned Caregiver and Sukob), Here Comes the Bride will be shown in the following cities:

May 21-27SAN FRANCISCOUA Stonestown Twin501 Buckingham WaySan Francisco, CA 94132

MILPITASCentury Great Mall1010 Great Mall DriveMilpitas, CA 95035

VALLEJOCentury Vallejo109 Plaza DriveVallejo, CA 94591

SAN DIEGOUA Horton Plaza475 Horton PlazaSan Diego, CA 92101

LOS ANGELES-BUENA PARK

Krikorian Premier Theatres8290 La Palma AvenueBuena Park, CA 90620

LOS ANGELES-CHINOCinemark Movies5546 Philadelphia StreetChino, CA 91710

May 21-June 3NEW JERSEY-BER-

GENFIELDClearview Bergenfield

Cinemas58 South Washington

AvenueBergenfield, NJ 07621

For more informa-tion, please visit www.abs-cbnglobalmovies.com. Catch the trailer also at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FwOuNsclEpI

About ABS-CBN Inter-national

ABS-CBN International was created over 15 years ago to be of service to all Filipinos. With the launch of The Filipino Channel (TFC), the company became the first and most successful Filipino broadcaster in the U.S. The company offers telecommu-nication, retail, theatricals, money remittance and cargo services, online audio and video streaming, IPTV con-tent along with philanthropic support for Filipinos and the communities they now call home. Based in Redwood City, Calif., ABS-CBN Inter-national is a wholly-owned subsidiary of ABS-CBN Broadcasting, the Philippines’ largest entertainment and broadcasting company. For more information, visit www.abs-cbnglobal.com.

Vincere - A cinematic tour de force, Vincere is Italian master Marco Bel-locchio’s (Good Morning, Night, Fists in the Pocket) portrait of Benito Mussolini (Filippo Timi), and Ida Dalser (Giovanna Mezzogiorno), the fiery woman who was his secret wife and the mother of his abandoned child. The closely guarded story of Italian dictator Benito Mussolini’s secret lover and son is revealed in fittingly operatic proportions. Thunderstruck by the young Mussolini’s charisma, Dalser gives up everything to help champion his revolutionary ideas. When he disappears during World War I and later resurfaces with a new wife, the scorned Dalser and her son are locked away in separate asylums for more than a decade. But Ida will not disappear with-out a fight. The film was a standout selection of the 2009 Cannes, Telluride, Toronto, New York and AFI film festivals, and received awards for Best Director, Best Actress and Best Actor at the Chicago International Film Festival.(Fully subtitled) www.ifcfilms.com/films/vincere

This film is Not Rated by the MPAA. Running time 128 minutes.

Landmark’s Hillcrest Cinemas3965 Fifth Avenue, Suite 200 – (619) 819-0236

The secret in their eyes - Told in flashback, the romantic crime thriller The Secret in Their Eyes is winner of this year’s Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. Benjamín Espósito (Ricardo Darín, Nine Queens) has spent his entire working life as a criminal court employee. In 1999, recently retired and with time on his hands, he decides to write a novel. Drawing on his own past life as a civil servant, he recounts a true, moving and tragic story in which he was very directly involved: in 1974, his court was assigned an investigation into the rape and murder of a beautiful young woman. Moved by the grief of the husband, only married a short time, Espósito tries to help him find the culprit, despite having to contend with the apathy, ineptitude and even hostility of the police and legal system. For assistance he turns to Pablo (Guillermo Francella), a close friend and un-derling at his office who seeks release from his routine by drinking himself unconscious, and his boss, the beautiful upper class lawyer Irene (Soledad Villamil), with whom Espósito is secretly in love. Espósito’s investigation spanning decades takes him deep into the world of Argentina in 1974—a perfect backdrop for the violence, hate, revenge and death—no longer as an observer, but an unwilling central character.(Fully subtitled) www.sonyclassics.com/thesecretintheireyes/

This film is Rated R by the MPAA. Running time 129 minutes.

Landmark’s Hillcrest or La Jolla Village Cinemas3965 Fifth Avenue, Site 200 or 8879 Villa La Jolla Drive – (619) 819-0236


Spiritual Life

Read Monsignor’s previous articles by visit-ing our website at www.asianjournalusa.com

by Msgr. Fernando G. Gutierrez

Lower Your Nets Balintataw

Read Virginia Ferrer’s previous articles by visiting our website at www.asianjournalusa.com

by Virginia H. Ferrer

LuhaSinikap kong pigilan ka na dumaloy sa aking pisngigaano man ang lungko ko ng wala nang masabisadyang napakasakit ng mga pangyayarikung kaya’t di napigil patak mo ay maikubli.

‘Di mabilang na panahon ang lumipas ng mabilismga matang kong palaging luhaan ‘yong mamamasidmahapdi man ang kirot pilit paring tinitiisganyan ako kahangal sa ngalan ng pag-ibig.

At sa dakong huli naman luha pa rin ang kasamaiyo siyang mamamalas dito sa aking mga matasubalit iba na ngayon ang dahilan ay masayasa pag-ikot nitong gulong ngayon ako ay maligaya.

Joke of the Week: Haven is a small town near Hutchin-son, Kansas. A minister from the little town who was a poor driver with a heavy foot was tooling down a street in Wich-ita, Kansas, when a traffic cop pulled him over. Among other things the officer asked, “Where are you from?” “From Haven,” answered the minis-ter in a way that made Haven sound like heaven. With a smile the officer observed, “Well, if you keep on driv-ing like that, you will wind up in hell.”

Scriptures: First Read-ing: Acts 1: 1-11. Since the apostles had seen and heard Jesus after this resurrection, they are formi-dable witness-es to his life, death, and res-urrection. At Pentecost the Spirit who was with Jesus at the beginning of his public ministry will be given to the apostles and the Gentiles even before they could be baptized with water. God’s action shows not only the new presence of the Spirit in contrast with his presence at the baptism of repentance that John performed, but also that Christianity is God’s work not the result of human endeavors. Second Reading: Ephesians 1: 17-23. The res-urrection of Jesus shows the strength of God’s power. Jesus is now seated at the right hand of God and has power over all cosmic forces. Gospel: Luke 24: 46-53. In the Gos-pel, the Ascension takes place

Ascension: It’s now or neverright after the resurrection. In the Acts, it takes place forty days later. The Ascension is treated also here as the begin-ning of the Church’s mission. The apostles’ homage to the Lord shows their profound understanding of the resurrec-tion that reveals his divinity. Exegetes are in agreement that the Ascension in the Lucan Gospel is considered as the climax of the resurrection triumph

Reflections: Biblical num-bers symbolize perfection or totality. Forty is a number that connotes a long period of time. For example, the Israelites spent forty years in the desert in preparation for their entrance to the Prom-ised Land. Forty carries a

symbolical meaning of puri-fication through punishment and penance. For Luke, forty signifies a sufficient period of time for Jesus to prepare his disciples for their mission.

Just as Moses received instructions from God during forty days on Mount Sinai, so the Apostles received during the forty days after the resurrection instructions from Christ how they should proclaim God’s reign. God’s kingdom is not a restora-tion of Israel as the disciples had expected. He made them realize that God’s kingdom in-cludes a wider perspective: all the people of the world. How is this mission to be carried out? Jesus calls his disciples

“witnesses to all” that he had said and done. They witness to Jesus by keeping his pres-ence alive in their hearts and in the community, the Church, where they proclaim Jesus while they do him homage.

Pierre Teilhard de Chardin once told this story. A group of mountain climbers took off to scale the heights. After some hours of walking they go about halfway up and soon split up into three groups. They were all refreshing themselves at a chalet. One group was sorry it had under-taken such a strenuous trip fraught with dangers and dis-proportionate to the expected enjoyment. So disheartened and tired, this group turned back. The second group was happy it was here in the clear mountain air and with the sun tanning them. So they spread their limbs out on the moun-tain grass and heartily ate the tasty sandwiches they had brought along. Some broke out into song and breathed in the freedom of the heights. They were content and happy right here. Why move on higher? So they stayed right there. It was only the third group of real mountain climbers who took off for the summit, which they had kept before their eyes from the time they left the valley bot-tom. That was their goal and they relished tightening every muscle to attain it.

As we go through life, we belong to one of these groups. We know that our final des-tiny is the glory of heaven that Jesus has prepared for us. But some of us, burdened by failures, disappointments, and sins, easily give up. Others among us, contented with this life and taken by the pleasures of the world, forget the final destiny of all mankind. Then there are those who keep on struggling because they know that while we live on this world, there is another world that awaits those who remain faithful to Christ.

Quotation of the Week: “The road to heaven is made up of resolutions, made, bro-ken, and renewed.” Anony-mous.

came back, the effectiveness of the guerilla movement has decimated the control of Japan -limited to only 12 out of the 48 provinces. So, overextended from the wars in other arenas in the Pacific (with the main bulk annihi-lated in China), not having local support in the Philip-pines, and with no prospects of reinforcement, it would just be a matter of time before the Japanese forces could be completely annihilated by the local guerilla forces.

But then MacArthur came back as he promised in the much tooted “I shall return.” With much impunity, though, at that time, maybe no longer necessary, he engaged the Japanese in intense fighting, even leveling Manila to the ground. As it was expected and implanted in the suffering Filipinos’ minds, even when the Japanese were already at the throes of defeat, the glory of defeating the Japanese, as during the war with Spain, full victory against a foreign invader was again snatched from the Filipinos. Filipinos, once again, cooked the rice but MacArthur grabbed the glory.

Disarming the Huks After mapping out the

Japanese forces, the USAFFE forces turned against the Huks. Known to be anti-im-perialists even before the war, they were now considered dangerous to the retaking of the Philippines by the Ameri-cans. Even if they fought against the Japanese, now that the war was over, the Huks, not being recognized as regu-lar units of the US or Filipino armed forces, were consid-ered civilians with no rights to bear arms.

The Huks were confused because their leadership failed to define the enemy. They stopped short, by the mere

An Unauthorized History

of the Philippines(Continued from page 9)

name of the army – Hukbo ng Bayan Laban sa Hapon (Peo-ple’s Army against the Japa-nese), in the struggle against the Japanese invaders, forget-ting that the American return-ing forces were of imperial-ists’ themselves. Thus, while welcoming the American forces who they thought they were fighting with against the Japanese, the Huks were ordered to disarm. Those who did were made to go home without any compensation for their war efforts. Others like those of the Squadron 77 were killed.

The Constantinos write: “Huk squadrons began to be disarmed as early as January 1945…Since disarmed units were not provided with trans-portation, they had to find their way home on foot. Mak-ing its way back to Pampanga, Squadron 77 passed through Malolos. There Col. Adonais Maclang, a guerilla leader whose group had had several violent clashes with the Huks during the Japanese occupa-tion, seized the men and had them thrown in jail. On Febru-ary 7, Maclang’s men dragged all the Huks, more than one

hundred of them, to the court-yard, made them dig their own graves, then shot and clubbed them to death. The Americans arrested Maclang but soon re-leased him. Two days after his release, they made him mayor of Malolos.”

Those Huks who have not surrendered yet their arms, upon learning of what hap-pened to Squadron 77, went back to the hills and the underground unsure of what to do but comforted with the thought they should hold on to their arms for any eventual-ity. They would eventually be demonized as mere bandits, unrecognized for their gal-lantry in battles against the Japanese imperial forces.

Continuing in this seriesResubjugation of the Phil-

ippinesIndependence of the Phil-

ippines?Statistics shows that almost

90 percent of the Filipinos are literate giving us the edge in the international employment. It is as if the educational system was patterned to make Filipinos serve the needs of the world.


Community News

There’s a bit of Australia in the air at the San Diego Zoo, where lovable koalas are be-ing showcased during Koala-palooza. This four-day event, offered guests the opportunity to chat with the Zoo’s koala keepers, meet koalas up close, participate in an Aussie-themed scavenger hunt, and vote on a name for a 7-month-

old female joey just out of the pouch.

Hundreds of names were submitted online for the joey, who weighs just over a pound and has a “princess” attitude. Most were aboriginal, keep-ers say. The five most popular along with their meanings, are: Amarina (rain), Kitana (little girl), Lowanna (beauty), Miah (moon) and Miriyan (a star).

While Zoo guests ponder what to name the joey, they can enjoy didgeridoo music or the Safari Bush Band’s lively tunes. They can “enroll” at

Enjoy Koala-focused family fun at Koalapalooza!

NVIRONMENT University for great hands-on lessons in the School of Gross. Maybe they’ll allow our Zoo veteri-narians to bandage the boo-boos on their plush koalas. Theres also an online auction at www.sandiegozoo.org/ko-alapalooza/ that will benefit Australian Wildlife Conserva-tion.

The San Diego Zoo has the largest colony of koalas out-side of Australia - and this is a great time to celebrate the adorable creatures. The koala celebration will be the first of three Zoo Discovery Days in 2010. The two others will be Reptilemania in September and Festival of Flight in November.

The 100-acre San Diego Zoo is dedicat-ed to the conservation of endangered species and their habitats. The organization focuses on conserva-

tion and research work around the globe, educates millions of individuals a year about wild-life and maintains accredited horticultural, animal, library and photo collections. The Zoo also manages the 1,800-acre San Diego Zoo’s Wild Animal Park, which includes a 900-acre native species reserve, and the San Diego Zoo’s Institute for Conserva-tion Research. The important conservation and science work of these entities is sup-ported in part by The Founda-tion of the Zoological Society of San Diego.

San Diegan’s Invited to Play Same Pin Placements as Open Qualifiers From May 11-18 During U.S. Open Pins Event

SAN DIEGO, CA--(Marketwire - May 06, 2010) - Ranked as one of the top courses in California, Barona Creek Golf Club at Barona Resort & Casino has been selected as the San Diego host facility for the United States Golf Association’s (USGA) 2010 U.S. Open first stage qualifying event on May 10, 2010

The day following the U.S. Open qualifier, Barona Creek will offer local golfers an op-portunity to play the course from the exact same challeng-ing pin placements the profes-sionals faced in the qualifier. This unique golfing oppor-

Barona Creek Golf Course to Host 2010 U.S. Open Qualifier


tunity will continue through May 18.

“This will be a fun opportu-nity for local golfers to play Barona Creek and experience a U.S. Open qualifier,” said Don King, executive director of golf operations at Barona Creek Golf Club. “The entire course setup for the Open will offer a memorable and de-manding level of play for all levels.”

Green fees for the special U.S. Open pins event are $120 from Monday-Friday and $160 on Saturday and Sunday. Twilight rates after 11:00 a.m. are $80 from Monday-Friday and $100 on Saturday and Sunday.

Participation in a U.S. Open Qualifier is the first in a series of events leading to the 2010


1341 East 8th St. Suite D National City, CA 91950

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Restorative Dentistry $50

How do you fit an 11,000-pound elephant in the palm of your hand? You ask The Blimp Pilots, creators of Koi Pond, the number one downloaded paid iPhone ap-plication of 2008, to produce an animated application fea-turing the world’s largest land mammal.

“Elephant Odyssey” is an interactive app that gives people the opportunity to create food for the elephants, change their environment from jungle, desert or grass-land, and even trumpet with only a touch. The app will sell for 99 cents, but 60 cents will benefit the San Diego Zoo’s elephant conservation projects in Africa.

“We focused on the cre-ation of an entertainment app that would connect people to nature and allow them to support the San Diego Zoo’s mission of conservation in a fun way,” said Damien La-sater, San Diego Zoo design manager.

The goal of the app is to continue to engage people with the Zoo’s newest exhibit, The Harry and Grace Steele Elephant Odyssey, which de-buted in May 2009. The 7.5-acre habitat is home to more than 35 species of animals, with the cornerstone being the elephants. The pachyderms meander a 2.5-acre exhibit

World-famous zoo teams with producer of best-

selling iPhone AppCreates Fun, Interactive Application Benefitting

Elephant Conservationthat includes a 137,000-gal-lon pool, gentle rolling hills, hidden drinkers and feeders to entice foraging, and addi-tionally, the half-acre Conrad Prebys Elephant Care Center.

“Games are an important part of connecting with our family audience,” said La-sater. “Today people learn and entertain themselves through a variety of media. We wanted to connect with our audience not only through television and personal computers but also mobile devices.”

The Elephant Odyssey iPhone app can be reviewed here: http://ow.ly/TmE3

The 100-acre San Di-ego Zoo is dedicated to the conservation of endangered species and their habitats. The organization focuses on con-servation and research work around the globe, educates millions of individuals a year about wildlife and maintains accredited horticultural, ani-mal, library and photo collec-tions. The Zoo also manages the 1,800-acre San Diego Zoo’s Wild Animal Park, which includes a 900-acre native species reserve, and the San Diego Zoo’s Institute for Conservation Research. The important conservation and science work of these entities is supported in part by The Foundation of the Zoological Society of San Diego.

January 10, 2010 (San Diego, CA) – The San Di-ego Asian Film Founda-tion (SDAFF) is proud to announce its 2010 call for entries. SDAFF will celebrate its 11th annual film festival season to an estimated audi-ence of more than 18,000 dur-ing 8 days of film, panels, and exciting special events.

San Diego Asian Film Festival Launches Call for Entries for its 11th Season

The San Diego Asian Film

Festival is competitive, seek-ing entries in the following categories: narrative feature, narrative short, documentary feature, documentary short, and animation. An indepen-dent jury selects winners in each category, along with the Grand Jury award, which are

announced at the Festival’s Gala Awards Night on Satur-day, October 23, 2010. Festi-val programmers also select a first-time filmmaker to receive the George C. Lin Emerg-ing Filmmaker Award, which is accompanied by a $1,000 prize.

Films/videos submitted must be directed or principal-ly acted by an artist of Asian or Pacific Islander descent; or whose subject matter relates to Asian or Pacific Islander culture.

· Early Deadline: April 30, 2009 ($25 Submission Fee)

· Late Deadline: June 11, 2009 ($40 Submission Fee)

The 11th San Diego Asian Film Festival is schedule for October 21-28, 2010 at the Mission Valley UltraStar Cin-emas at Hazard Center. All rules, entry forms, application, and festival info can be found online at www.sdaff.org. The San Diego Asian Film Fes-tival is an event of the San Diego Asian Film Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedi-cated to connecting audiences with the Human Experience through the Pan-Asian media arts.

Tower of Power will be playing at Pechanga Resort & Casino, 45000 Pechanga Park-way, in Temecula, on May 28 at 8 PM. Brenton Wood is also on the bill. Tickets range from $30 to #50, plus service charges. The venue phone is 1-877-711-2946, and the web site is http://www.pechanga.com.

With 41 years of recording and touring experience behind them, Tower of Power has a new album, THE GREAT AMERICAN SOULBOOK which features covers of soul classics with guest singers Joss Stone, Sir Tom Jones, Huey Lewis, and Sam Moore.

The group still garners rave reviews, and leaves the audi-ences dancing in their seats in the arenas, theatres, and outdoor venues they play year ‘round. Melding soul, jazz, funk, and rock in a way no group ever has, the ten-piece outfit is, according to the HOLLYWOOD REPORTER, “tighter than a clenched fist.”

The late great James Brown was quoted in HEEB maga-zine about Tower of Power, as saying, “There’s no black group that plays my stuff as good as them.”

Well known in the ‘70s for tunes such as “What is Hip?” and “You’re Still a Young Man,” Tower of Power toured with Santana, Sly Stone and Credence Clearwater Revival, eventually creating traffic jams when they headlined

Tower of Power to Play Pechanga Resort

& Casino, May 28their own shows. They per-formed on records with Elton John, Smokey Robinson, Rod Stewart, Aerosmith, and Dionne Warwick, influenc-ing a generation of musicians (including Sting, who has told Emilio Castillo, founder of the group, that he once had a “Tower of Power clone band” before he formed The Police). In the 1980s, they backed Huey Lewis and the News, Heart, Eurythmics, and Little Feat, just to name a few.

Tower of Power, after 40 years, is experiencing more popularity than ever before as they tour year ‘round packing venues in the United States, the Pacific Rim, and all over Europe.

On June 6, 2004 The Cali-fornia Music Association hon-ored Tower of Power with a Lifetime Achievement Award and cited their 2003 Sony Legacy anthology “Havin’ Fun” as Soul/R&B album of the year, beating out releases by En Vogue and Raphael Saadiq.

As of August 19, 2009 the group’s original trumpet player Mic Gillette returns to the band reuniting with origi-nal members David Garibaldi, Emilio Castillo, Doc Kupka, and Rocco Prestia. Says Emilio, “Having Mic back in the band brings back incred-ible memories. His ability to play screaming lead trumpet and then switch effortlessly to trombone is world class. What an amazing brass player he is. It’s just incredible that after all these years the three original horn players are back together in Tower of Power.”

The band’s frontman Larry Braggs is also a powerful force. Emilio, who shares frontman duties, is in awe of his singer, “with his astound-ing range and irresistible en-ergy, he has a soulfulness that knows no bounds, finessing a ballad with the best of them, and then turning right around to make it as funky as it gets. Larry’s joyful spirit is undeni-



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Light &Shadows

Read Zena Babao’s previous articles by visiting our website at www.asianjournalusa.com

by Zena Sultana Babao

This worst economic storm in a generation has made life miser-able for a lot of people. Life and businesses and almost everything else have been adversely affected. People are experiencing crisis and a lot of stress. Or so most of us think!

But personal-achievement experts have said that the tough economic times we are experienc-ing now are not necessarily all bad. It all de-pends on how we look at it. The crisis and ex-treme stress are also not that bad, in fact, the worst brings the best in people.

According to John F. Kennedy, “The word crisis, when written in Chinese, is composed of two char-acters: one represents danger, and the other represents opportunity.”

It’s how we look at crisis that matters. That being the case, let’s look at crisis the right way – and find the opportunities it offers. With people imbued with optimism, they see opportunity in every crisis. After all, it has been said that “when one door closes, another door opens.” And “what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger!” With people who are pessimists, it’s the other way

It’s How We Look at Crisis that Matters

around. Their eyes are closed to any opportunity.

Here is what personal-achievement experts say: If you really think about it, the world has changed, but in many ways for the better. The crisis and accompany-ing stress makes us stronger, more resilient and resourceful. It makes us think of the important priori-ties in our life that we can control. And it also makes us think of

changes we need to make in our own selves.

Antho-ny Rob-bins, one of the top peak-per-formance coaches here in America, says in an article in

Success magazine, that crises and extreme stress can be useful for growth, learning, and determining what really matters to most to us.

“Sometimes your worst day can be your best day if it produces a change,” Robbins explained. “There is something called post-traumatic growth. You don’t have to have post-traumatic stress. You can have growth come out of extreme stress.”

In a Success article entitled “Wake-up Call” by Sarah Blask-ovich and K. Shelby Skrhjak, it says: “The economy has prompted many people to reappraise their lives, their goals, their priorities. Many can take pride in personal

victories and comfort in know-ing their priorities are in order. Others realize their perspectives are skewed, and they are making changes. Many say they are more aware of their ability to prosper and create their own wealth, and are actively seeking more friends and spending more time with fam-ily.”

Wayne Dyer, author of Excuses Begone!, agrees that changing your mindset is always possible. “When you change the way you look at things, the things you look at actually begin to change. Men-tal health is about flexibility.”

Dyer said that our focus upon the present is crucial during these tough economic times. “If you can have the relationship in the now,

you’ll have a great relationship with life. Most of us have trained our mind to be anything but right here, right now,” he said.

“When you’re on the dance floor, the purpose of the dance isn’t to end up in a different place on the dance floor,” he continued. “The purpose is to enjoy every note,” he says. “Find a way to be fulfilled. Life is about feeling good.”

I tend to agree with Dyer. The past is over, the future is not here yet, and we are not even sure of it. What we see is now, so what matters is now. How do we deal with the here and now is therefore crucial. We either learn to swim or sink with the tide. It’s all up to us!

Over 5,000 attend San Diego’s 1st Asian Cultural Festival at Liberty Station

The article “Wake-up Call” goes on to mention that inter-national speaker and life coach Amanda Gore says hard times show us how wonderful the “little things” in life are. “Hardship reminds us to reconnect our heads and our hearts, and our hearts with other people’s hearts,” she said.

That is so beautiful! Connect-ing our hearts with other people’s hearts!

“Families thought happiness came from buying stuff – the more we have, the happier we would be,” Gore said. “Now, we have more time together as a family because we can’t afford to have everyone running around do-ing different things, like eating out or shopping. We can focus on the

truly important things in life – like love, connections and contribut-ing.”

Gore is right! Our focus has to shift from the material things that we crave, to the non-material, but more uplifting things that we can truly enjoy. The shift in our focus will bring us more pleasure and more contentment

Another personal achievement expert mentioned in the article, David Bach, author of the best-selling book Fight for Your Mon-ey: How to Stop Getting Ripped off and Save a Fortune, said: “A recession is a great opportunity to build wealth and create your own economic prosperity plan. What the recession has taught us is that

lion strong. It also has 20% more college graduates than any other ethnicity in America.

Destiny and Duty “We are now a major minor-

ity in America, so unity is both our destiny and our duty,” said Bautista. The nation, she ex-plained, has about 18.5 million Asian Americans, including 6.1 million in California alone.

In a message to sponsors and community leaders, Bautista also relished the lead role Mabuhay Alliance has been privileged to assume in the festival, an event which celebrates the rich diver-sity of Asian American commu-nities.

“Mabuhay Alliance is pleased to be the presenter of a celebra-tion where Filipinos, Thai, In-dians, Chinese, Koreans and Cambodians, Hmong, Laotians, Taiwanese, Vietnamese, Indo-nesian, Burmese, Japanese and others, join together to showcase a world of culture, food, music and dance.”

The event also signals a new beginning according to Bautista who is eyeing the emerging clout of the community. “Let’s make this festival a beginning phase to ensure that Asian Americans are heard by all of Congress and are sitting in every Board room across America.”

Entertainment, Arts, & Workshops

The event drew young tal-ent from the community of local artists in Southern California. The performers included singer/songwriter Lindsey Young, who recently produced an album called “Opal Essence” and is noted for her vocals described as a“beautifully refined and power-ful instrument” by the San Diego Tourbadour; Kenny Eng, who came out with a debut EP “Self Centered” in 2008 and provided an enthralling performance on the guitar; Terry Matsuoka, a favorite among local music lov-ers for his musical dexterity and self-composed, heart-touching melodies; Shin Kawasaki, who is in the mastering stage of his first solo album and second full-length album by Los Denusos; Brenda Xy, who performs solo and with a band, and has been featured on KPRI 102.1. She also released her first full-length album, “A Little Illusion”. Also on stage were Four Minutes Til Midnight FMTM; the K-OTIK presenting Korean pop culture and modern hiphop; and the award-winning hiphop perform-ers After School Special.

The cultural performances of Samahan Philippine Dance Company, Kembank Sunda with the dances of West Java, Indone-sia; Naruwan Taiko that had the

crowd cheering to the traditional drumming of Japan; Ke Polani Ohana E Kai with the beautiful Polynesian dances of the South Pacific; the Fusion Group of In-dian Dance stirred up the crowd with their Bollywood moves; Pakaraguian Kulintang Ensem-ble with the captivating sights and sounds of the gong, music and dances of Mindanao, Phil-ippines; Indonesian Arts Center with “Tari Pendet”; the UCSD Chinese Music Ensemble lead by Rachel Jiang; and Don Kearns on the Chinese bamboo flute and long zither.

Martial arts and fitness disci-plines were also well represent-

ed by The San Diego Black Belt Club, San Diego Fitness Martial Arts, 4C the Power Act, Migoto Judo Dojo, Kung Foo San Soo Chula Vista, Immortal Fitness Martial Arts, and Qigong. A special number by the Brandon School of Point Loma during the opening ceremony also drew at-tention to the school’s Chinese language program.

Hands-on activities were provided at the various booths: the Confucius Institute for art of calligraphy writing exercises; GABnet self-defense workshop; Qigong with Fay McGrew; lan-tern, mask and scroll making with Families with Children from China.

Cooking demonstration in-cluded a sushi session featur-ing Jeffery Roberto from Sushi on a Roll; Thai cooking lessons with Jenny Trakolsusap; Korean cuisine with Cathlyn Choi from Cathlyn’s Korean Kitchen.

Asian Cultural Festival Committee

The Asian Cultural Festival committee consists of Brian Thai, Chris Ferraro, Cynthia Francisco, Dennis-Michael Broussard, Edward V. Shaffer, Jeanette Di Pinza, Jimmy Lee, JR Melchor, Mark Gadia, Megia Chou, Pamela Huynh, Paula Le, Richie Edquid, Ruriko Sata, and Terry Matsuoka.


City of San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders and Mabuhay Alliance’s Faith Bautista with Asian Ameri-can Heritage Proclamation


From Antique to America:Memoirs of a Filipino American Doctor

Tough times never last, but tough people do

San Diego, CA – As the Census Bureau begins to send out Census workers to go “door-to-door” to as-sist households in filling out their Census forms, Asian American and Pacific Islander leaders urge the community to work with the Census workers to ensure that everyone gets counted.

The Census Bureau stopped receiving mailed responses of Census forms at the end of April. Households that did not return their forms by the end of April can expect to re-ceive a visit from an “enumer-ator” in May. An enumerator is a Census Bureau worker who will go “door-to-door” to help households fill out the Census forms, beginning in May.

The enumerators will wear official U.S. Census Bureau badges and may visit the homes of those who did not fill out their Census forms up to six times. Although many Census Bureau workers are bilingual or multilingual, they may not speak the language of every household they visit. Instead, they will carry booklets with Language As-sistance Guides in more than 59 languages. Community members are encouraged to cooperate with enumerators at their door. The enumera-tors will ask the 10 questions on the Census forms, includ-ing age, sex, race and ethnic background, and homeowner-ship. Community members can (and should) ask to see the Census Bureau badge in order to protect themselves from possible fraudulent crimes.

“This is a very important opportunity for our communi-ties to be accurately counted so that the neighborhoods get their appropriate allocation of federal resources,” said Mar-garet Iwanaga-Penrose, Presi-dent and CEO of the Union of Pan Asian Communities (UPAC). UPAC leads the San Diego network of community organizations that are out-reaching specifically to Asian American and Pacific Islander (API) communities. “We are helping to educate and give voice to these API families to ensure that everyone gets counted in this Census.”

As of April 16th, both the City of San Diego and the County of San Diego had a mail-in participation rate of 66% -- far below the Cali-fornia state average of 70% and lower than San Diego’s 2000 Census response rate of 75%. Some key neighbor-hoods have fallen behind the national and state average in the mail-in participation rates of the Census. The zip codes that have the lowest response rate in combination with the highest concentration of residents include 92105 (City Heights), 92102 (Golden Hill), 92115 (College area), 92101 (Downtown), 92104 (North Park), 92113 (Logan Heights), 91932 (Impe-rial Beach), 92116 (Normal Heights), 92173 (San Ysidro), 92109 (Pacific Beach), 91950 (National City), 92139 (Para-dise Hills), and 92107 (Ocean Beach). For rural areas in the greater San Diego County, the response rates are also well below the state average, such as in Calexico, Camp Pend-leton, and Campo. Based on past census records, it has been shown that low par-ticipation rate is correlated with areas where there are colleges, prisons, military establishments, lower income households, multi-lingual and multi-ethnic households, and poverty, which is reflective of

Census Shifts From Collecting Forms by Mail

to Going “Door-to-Door” To Ensure An Accurate Count

the zip codes that were listed above.

There are many reasons as to why the response rates are low amongst Asian and Pacific Islander communities, such as fear of the government, lack of comprehension as to why the information is collected, and lack of knowledge about the protections provided by confidentiality laws. “Many of them [Filipinos] may have some relatives who are undocumented or have over-stayed and would not want to compromise their status,” said Aurora S. Cudal, Chair of the Filipino Complete Count Committee.

Also, language barriers remain a persistent issue for the Asian and Pacific Islander communities. “Some of the Chinese [residents] may not recognize the census mail. We showed them the form and asked them not to throw it away just because they think it is junk mail. We also ex-plained that it is important that we are all counted,” said Sally Wong-Avery, President of the Chinese Service Center of San Diego and Principal of the Chinese School of San Diego.

In addition, the unique cir-cumstances within the Asian and Pacific Islander commu-nities, such as the Japanese ancestry community, require a concerted effort to ensure an accurate count. “The 2010 Census challenge facing our Japanese ancestry community is the uninformed failure to be counted by Japanese nation-als,” said David Kawamoto, National Japanese American Citizens League (JACL) Vice President for Planning & Development and President of JACL-San Diego Chapter. “We have many Japanese Nationals working and/or attending schools in the San Diego area. Because of their extended residence here, they are utilizing our area’s resources (schools, public services, health services, etc.). There is a great deal of gov-ernment funding allocated to these resources. So, failure to count all of the recipients of these services, regardless of their nationality, leads to a diminution of the funding received. Many members of our community have worked diligently to distribute these materials and encourage cen-sus participation by all people of Japanese heritage.”

According to James T. Christy, Southern California Regional Director of the Cen-sus Bureau, the door-to-door process can be very simple if the community works with the Census Bureau workers that come to their door. “The Census Bureau identified the households that did not mail in their Census forms, and will be sending out Census Bureau enumerators who will come to those houses up to six times to assist in filling out the forms,” said Christy. “They will ask the questions that are on the Census forms, and nothing more. Because it costs the Census Bureau as much as $28 for each time that a Census worker comes to your door, we really encour-age people to work with the Census worker the first oppor-tunity they can to minimize the costs.”

San Diego residents can be assured that Census Bureau workers will not enter a resi-dence, will not ask for Social Security number or bank account information, will not ask for documentation of im-migration status, nor further question a resident’s report about the number of people in the household.

By Dr. Cesar D. Candari Third in a series of articles My first grade in Pandan

Elementary School was inter-rupted by the Second World War. During the Japanese Occupation, I vividly remem-ber the brutal atrocities of the enemies. For a period of four years, my family had to evacuate from one mountain to another, to the farthest and most remote places to escape from annihilation. For four miserable years, we suffered the sadism of the Japanese military rule. Torture, famine, and death were the order of the day for us. This furnace of war and the constant danger to our lives were probably what strengthened my mettle. Later, at the dawn of World War II, our town stood as the beachhead of freedom when the Americans landed in their submarines with all the war supplies of arms given to ev-eryone who were identified as people of Pandan.

After the liberation of the Philippines from the Japanese imperialism, I grew up and was transformed from a shy boy to a school achiever.

In my secondary schooling at the Pandan Bay Institute, I continued to be very serious in my studies and was not afraid of failures knowing that every failure nurtured the seed of equivalent success. During my third year in high school, I was selected to represent Pandan Bay Institute in an oratory contest between high schools in the province of Antique. I accepted the challenge and ap-proached Mr. Hilario Mantac, my schoolteacher in the 6th grade and an excellent writer, to draft me a speech about Lib-erty, Freedom and Democracy.

When man in the pre-

historic days was threatened with death by freezing in the cold nights, he invented fire. But when that fire was used by Magellan in burning the homes of our forefathers in Mactan, Lapu-Lapu rose up and took up arms and killed Magellan and his men along the shores of Mactan Island. But when those arms were used by the bandits of Europe in plun-dering villages and palaces of kings, the Lords invented cannons and bullets and wiped those plunderers out. But when those cannons and bullets were used by Japan in reducing the Far Eastern people into sub-jection, the United States of America invented the Atomic Bomb and reduced Japan into ashes….

I delivered this oration ex-

temporaneously and wonder how , at my age of 76 today, I still remember that speech, word for word. An adage goes: “There is only one thing age can give you and that is wis-dom.”

Serendipity of Events How I remembered the in-

troduction of my short speech- serendipity of events about freedom and liberty inherent in every human being---is hard to believe. I tried my best to deliver it with great eloquence. Words, especially great words,

Valedictorian In 1952, I graduated as

valedictorian in high school. A milestone it was indeed!

I prepared my valedictory address since I believed that I didn’t have to be the best writ-er to prepare and deliver one. I knew it must be powerful, yet simple and touching so that it would be remembered by my classmates over the ensuing years. I created my address in a manner that would em-body my class and at the same time reflect my own leanings, beliefs and dreams. I requested Manong (respectful address to an elder person) Daniel (Dr. Dioso) to review my draft for corrections. It was a speech enjoyed by my classmates. It was entitled “ A Dream Comes True”.

Henry David Thoreau said: “Dreams are the touchstones

vincing me to become a priest! No offense to such a sacred vocation, but it was not the one for me. I wanted to become a doctor!

Free Tuition Being a high school vale-

dictorian, I was awarded a one-year free tuition grant to pre-medical education at San Agustin University in Iloilo City, 200 kilometers away from home. With great financial difficulty I was able to complete my first year in college. Unfortunately, in my second year, my parents, had to make the painful decision for me to quit school. The family’s income was scarcely enough to support the family even though my oldest sister Eden was a schoolteacher and was helping with the financial expenses. The burden was ac-centuated by the schooling of my older sister Loida who was studying nursing in Bacolod City, Negros Occidental, and by my older brother Marcelo who was taking up education in the town of Kalibo, Aklan. I had to stop my own schooling. I was saddened and hurt but I abided as an obedient son.

With great discouragement and sadness, I closed my eyes to a sore truth---the reality of life--- that no matter how much my parents wanted to give the six of us a good education, they could never afford to send me to medi-cal school, a very expensive course that was totally beyond their means. However, despite the apparent adversity, I did not fail to nurture my dream. A real dreamer! Day in day out I continued to keep the torch aflame. I learned to savor the joys as well as the pains in life. In my moments of despair and disappointments, I never quit! I relied on the saying, “ Tough times never last, but tough people do.” - AJ

(Continued next issue) (About the author: Dr. Cesar

D. Candari, a native of Pandan, Antique in the Philippines was a long time resident and medi-cal practitioner of San Diego County where he was an ac-tive community leader, having been one of the three Filipino American doctors who founded Operation Samahan and its medical clinic. He had served in various capacities as officer of different professional, civic and community organizations. He is now retired and living in Henderson, Nevada. This book, “From Antique to America: Memoirs of a Filipino American Doctor” is being published by Green Mango Books, a division of Asian Journal San Diego and will be released in August 2010. To order copies of the book with a 20% pre-publication discount off the $12.95 selling price, call (619) 474-0588.)

(Read previous installments of this memoir in www.asianjour-nalusa.com)

Dr. Cesar D. Candari speaking at Pandan Bay Institute, his high school Alma Mater. He was the 1997 Golden Jubilee Awardee.

have the capacity to present to the listening audience the what- could- be, to inspire and touch their emotions in such a way that I might act to transform their dreams into reality. I had never considered myself as a gifted student, nor a studious one. Yet, if a god or goddess of speech ever ex-isted, he or she must have been present on the day I first saw light. Even as a young lad, I had displayed a flair for words in the most effective way to use them. I represented my school in oratorical contests and easily wooed the judges to my side. I might have gained an incredible talent to imitate good speakers and impressed not only my teachers who were all convinced that I was a top student, but almost everyone in town who saluted me as a gifted young speaker. I utilized this skill to full advantage and became a permanent contestant for Pandan Bay Institute in any oratorical contest. I am very thankful to the late Mr. Mantac for his desire to help me dream and establish my goal in life. His avuncular statement : “…opportunities abound. They may be created through other people’s problems and needs. If you cannot find opportuni-ties, create them and let them work for you.”

of our characters…that if one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams and en-deavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours.”

As far as I could remember, my mother was chronically sickly and yet she taught us diligently and particularly me during my elementary school days. I finally learned from her during my high school days that she was suffering from a rheumatic heart disease as diagnosed by our relative Dr. Daniel Dioso, the only practicing physician in town at that time. Due to my close attachment to my mother, in my young heart had sprung a silent desire to become a doc-tor so I could treat her of this debilitating illness. And one day, yes one day I would build a house for her, and we all live in a nice, comfortable home like well-off families in our town. My desire to become a doctor was also inspired by my relative who treated my mother generously.

My teacher once told me that my persuasive speaking ability was undeniably good. When I graduated from high school, my relatives, especially Lola (Grandmother) Pasia who was Dr. Dioso’s mother, were con-


Read Romeo Nicolas’s previous poems by vis-iting our website at www.asianjournalusa.com

Ni Romeo Nicolas

Mga Tulang Tagalog

Laughing MatterRead previous articles by visiting our website at www.asian-

journalusa.com

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Poem No. 35

Whenever I think about youMy mind is a total blankI want you badBut I don ‘t really want to begI care, and I don’tI care not to careBut I really do careWhen you send me homeWithout loveMy brains being friedBy the sizzling sunRoaming the streetsLike a stray dogBeing a boy soldierSetting rumbles,War on war inside and outsideWanting action from whoeverSeeing you from the haze of memoriesI seek your love from some one elseOther than you other than usTo war baby to hell and backI made love to someone else!

©2010 Michael R. Tagudin. All rights reserved.

About the Author: Michael R. Tagudin Educated as an engineer in the Philippines, the City of Los Angeles em-ployee hopes his legacy of poems will provoke a dialogue about the human condition. He is donating the proceeds from the book “Crushed Violets” to anti-human trafficking efforts in the City of Angels. Contact [email protected] for more information.

Street Poetry

Read about Michael’s upcoming book of poems “Crushed Violets” by visiting our website at www.asianjournalusa.com

by Michael R. Tagudin

This is why I didn’t show up for work yesterday. I was clean-ing out my wife’s grandpa’s cel-lar and found 12 bottles of his home-bottled grape wine under the steps. My wife told me to empty the contents of each and every bottle down the sink, or else. I agreed to do the unpleas-ant task.

I withdrew the cork form the first bottle and poured the con-tents down the sink, with the exception of one glass, which I drank. I extracted the cork from the second bottle, did likewise, and drank one glass, just to check the taste to see if the old fellow knew his wine making. He did.

I then opened the third bottle, and poured it, too, down the sink, but not until drinking one full glass to check the purity. It was very good. I did this, also with the fourth bottle. One glass for my-self, and the rest down the sink. I pulled the bottle from the cork of the next, and drank one sink out of it and threw the rest down the glass. I pulled the sink out of the next glass and poured the cork from the bottle, then corked the sink with the glass, bottled the drink and drank the pour.

W h e n I had ev-e r y t h i n g emptied, I steadied the house with one hand, c o u n t e d the bot-tles, corks, glasses and sinks with the other, which were 29, and as the house came by I counted them again, and finally had all the houses in one bottle, which I drank. I felt so fool-ish that I couldn’t go upstairs and congratulate my wife to tell her what a great winemaker her grandpa was. I will do that after climbing the basement steps the next time they come by.

***

Junior had just received his brand new drivers license. To cel-ebrate, the whole family trooped out to the driveway and climbed into the car for his inaugural drive. Dad immediately headed to the back seat, directly behind the newly minted driver. “I’ll bet you’re back there to get a change of scenery after all those months of sitting in the front passenger seat teaching me how to drive,” said the beaming boy to his old

Work and wineman. “Nope,” came dad’s reply, “I’m gonna sit back here and kick the back of your seat while you drive, just like you have been do-ing to me for sixteen years.”

***Two old ladies have played

bridge together for many years, and naturally they have gotten to know each other pretty well. One day, during a game of cards, one lady suddenly looks up at the other and says, “I realize we’ve known each other for many years, but for the life of me, I just can’t bring it to mind... would you please tell me your name again, dear?” There is dead silence for a couple of minutes, then the other lady responds, “How soon do you need to know?”

***

You know there are starving people in those third world coun-tries, and you’re just wasting that food. Then package it up and ship it to ‘em if you’re so concerned you dumb shit!

***A man went to apply for a job.

After fill-ing out all of his ap-plications, he waited a n x i o u s l y for the out-come. The e m p l o y e r read all his applications and said, “We have an opening for people like you.” “Oh, great,” he said, “What is it?” “It’s called the door!”

Ang Lathala Sa HalalanIka-walo nitong Mayo, gulong lahat ang partido,Pagkat huling pagtitipong apila sa mga tao.Iba’y mayrong “entertainment”, sa pagkain ay sagado,Kaya naman di ko alam kung sila ay kaalyado.

Kung sabagay ay ito na, panahon ng mga BUWANG,LIBRE KAIN at pabaon, tuloy pa rin ang BILIHAN. (vote buying)Sa halagang dalwang daan, binenta ang karapatan,Kapalit ay PAGHIHIRAP sa maikling kaisipan.

Bisperas na ng halalan, tahimik na ang paligid,Wala na ang mga ingay, hiyaw na nakatutulig.Ang kantahan tumigil na, panawaga’y nanahimik,Nagmistulang kandidato’y tulog na at naghihilik.

Sa pagsapit ng umaga at araw na ng halalan,Bukas na ang paaralang kalapit ng aming bahay.Handa ang PCOS Machine. mga taong magbabantay,Tila “tension” ay humupa’t sumerioso itong laban.

At sa takdang ala-syete, datingan ang mga tao,Una’t huling maghuhusga sa pangakong PAGBABAGO.Maingat ang mga hakbang, tahimik pa’t walang gulo,Na sya namang dalangin kong maganap sa araw na ‘to.

Unti-unting nagtatagal, dumadagsa ang BOTANTE,Humahaba ang pilahan, iritado ang marami.At ‘yon namang MATATANDA, nararapat may bentahe,Sa “Express Line” nakapila, mauna nang umabante.

Ika-sampu ng umaga, kaunti pang nakaboto,Nagdududa ang marami sa tanong na kung....paano?Sobrang bagal ang pagusad sa pila na lumolobo,Paano ang libo-libong pagsasarhan ng presinto?

Sana naman sa ginawang “automation” na halalan,Ang “Comelec” ay matutong dagdagan ang kaalaman.Tulad nitong “verifier” na ang hanap ay pangalan,Gamitan na ng Computer upang ang “search” mabilisan.

Dadagdag pa rin sa problema ang ‘disable” na boboto,Naka-wheelchair na matanda, sa “second floor” ang presinto.‘Di sya dapat na galawin o madala sa may kuwarto,Maselang ang kanyang lagay, masasabing delikado.

Tuloy pa rin sating bansa, kumakalat na problema,Ang sisi ko’y sa Comelec, PCOS Machine at iba pa.Maguindanao patuloy rin ang putukan, bakbakan na,“Manana habit” na ugali, bahala na kung umubra.

Ngayong tayo’y “computerized”, manatiling “automated”,Agahan ang mga plano and be always on alert.Ang lahat ng PCOS Machine, di dapat na mag-overheat,Lagyan ng “air conditioner” ang syang dapat sa uulit.

Sa lahat ng mahahalal, mamumuno sating bayan,Ang sa akin ay pagbati, ang BANGAYAN, kalimutan.Ibalik ang DUGUNG PINOY at tayo ay magmahalan,Ang pangako ay tuparin, bawat isa, magtulungan.

Ito ang munting paguulat ni: Romeo S. NicolasAng lahat ay base sa nagaganap na halalan dito sa BocaueBulacan at marami pang panig ng Pilipinas. Ito ay akingnasasaksihang nagaganap sa pamamagitan ng radio, TV ataktual na nagmamasid sa aking bayan. Talagang SOBRAang VOTE BUYING sa buong Pilipinas at walang magawaang mga Pulisya at COMELEC. Sarado na ang presinto ngayong ganap na ika-pito ng gabi.


The Law that Matters

Read Atty Bautista’s previous articles by visiting our website at www.asianjournalusa.com

by Atty. A. Erwin Bautista

Can you still deduct as part of your monthly ex-penses, payments for assets to be surrendered?

Question: Can I still in-clude my monthly mortgage payments in the computation of my disposable income even if I’m giving up the house later on, so I will have a lower monthly payment in my Chapter 13 plan?

Answer: In a recent decision of the Bankruptcy Appellate Panel for the 9th Circuit it held, if an expense is not reasonably necessary for the maintenance and support of debtor or debtor’s dependents, it is excluded in the calculation of disposable income.

What is disposable in-come?

Section 1325 (b)(2) of the Bankruptcy Code defines disposable income as current monthly income received by the debtor less amounts reasonably necessary to be expended and must be in ac-cordance with the means test.

In the case of In Re Timo-thy and Karrie Smith, (BAP 9th Cir. Oct. 5, 2009) the Bankruptcy Appellate Panel was faced with a question of whether to allow the monthly payments for assets that will be surrendered as basis for computing the current month-ly expenses of the spouses Smith.

Or the spouses should base their monthly expenses

Bankruptcy: Chapter 13on their plan to surrender two houses and a car later on which would be their “pro-jected disposable income” once the income and expense schedule is adjusted.

The Court found that without including the monthly payments for the 2 houses and car to be surrendered in their current monthly expenses the Smiths will be able to pay their unsecured debts in 24 months.

If they are allowed to include the monthly payments for the assets to be surren-dered then they can only pay 4% of the unsecured creditors like the objecting American Express Card.

What are the arguments for and against the basis of computing current monthly income?

Sec. 707 (b)(2) (A) (ii) of the Bankruptcy Code pro-vides that a debtor’s monthly expenses shall be the debtor’s applicable monthly expense amounts and shall be in ac-cordance with the amounts specified under the National Standards and Local Stan-dards, and the debtors actual monthly expenses for the

categories specified as other necessary expenses issued by the Internal Revenue Service.

As already stated above, Section 1325(b)(2) provides that only reasonably necessary expenses may be deducted when calculating disposable income for a Chap-ter 13 plan payment.

Section 1325(b)(3) requires the use of the means testing in the computation of the month-ly disposable income for a Chapter 13 plan. The means test allows debtors to include certain payments scheduled as contractually due to secured creditors as part of allowable expenses to reduce the dispos-able income for the Chapter 13 payment plan.

Contrary to the hold-ing of the 9th Circuit Court in the In Re Kagenveama case, 541 F.3d 873, 2008 (9th Cir. June 2008), the Bankruptcy Appellate Panel in the Smith case held that the projected

disposable income should be used as basis in com-puting their monthly in-come and not the expenses at the time of filing.

Kagenveama allow for inclusion of payments on secured debts at the time of filing and not what pay-ments will be in the future once the secured assets such as the two houses and

the car in the Smith case were surrendered in the future,

Since there was a dis-senting judge in the Smith case it was certified to the 9th Circuit for review. So In Re Kagenveama is still good law which means the expenses at the time of filing the petition should be followed which will include monthly payments for mortgage on a house to be surrendered.

Should you or anyone you know will benefit from a bankruptcy filing to stop fore-closure because their house is being foreclosed consult an at-torney before the foreclosure sale date. There are also solu-tions other than Bankruptcy to keep your home such as loan modification which our office can process in your behalf.

(We invite readers to set up their initial consultation with The Law Offices of A. Erwin Bautista. Atty. Bau-tista practices Immigration, Bankruptcy, Personal Injury, Family Law and Income Tax Preparation/Audit Representa-tion. Atty. Bautista obtained his law degree from Western State University, Fullerton, CA and his Bachelor of Arts Degree from the University of the Philippines. You can reach him in Los Angeles at (213) 365 7690 at 3435 Wilshire Blvd., Ste. 2700, LA, CA 90010 or in San Diego at (619) 474 7755 at 550 E. 8th St., Ste. 11, National City, CA 91950)

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BERKELEY, CALIFORNIA -- The Greenlining Institute an-nounced its positions on Cali-fornia’s June ballot propositions today, urging voters to approve Proposition 15, which sets up a pilot system for public financing of state elections. Greenlining urges voters to reject Propositions 14, 16 and 17, noting that 16 and 17 are special-interest proposi-tions that would benefit particular companies at the expense of the vast majority of Californians.

“Proposition 16 would reduce consumer choice, impede efforts to clean our air, and slow devel-opment of the new green jobs that will drive California’s economy,” said managing attorney Samuel S. Kang. “Both 16 and 17 use the initiative process to benefit individual private companies at the expense of most Californians, and pose a particular risk to low-income communities.”

For more information about Prop. 16, including Greenlining’s letter to PG&E President and CEO Peter Darbee, see http://www.greenlining.org/initiatives/consumer-protection/proposi-tion-. Below are details of Green-lining’s positions on all five bal-lot propositions:

Greenlining Institute Urges: Yes on Prop. 15,

No on 14, 16 and 17Prop. 13 (Property Tax &

Seismic Retrofit Exclusion) – Neutral. Will prohibit tax asses-sors from re-evaluating seismic retrofits to an existing building for purposes of triggering addi-tional property taxes. Legislative Analyst’s Office predicts a “mi-nor reduction in local property tax revenues.” This tax incentive might spur some job creation in seismic retrofit construction.

Prop. 14 (Open Primaries) – No. Prohibits political parties from nominating a candidate for congressional or state elective of-fice in the primary election. The two candidates receiving the two highest vote totals for each office at the primary election would then compete for the office in the general election. This primary system would put progressive candidates at a disadvantage and likely result in fewer progressives being elected.

Prop. 15 (Public Financing of Elections) – Yes. Creates a “test run” public financing system for Secretary of State candidates. Public financing would lessen the influence of lobbyists and increase the voices of voters and constituents. The public financ-ing system proposed by this mea-sure would be paid for by assess-ing fees on lobbyists, lobbying firms and lobbyist employers.

Prop. 16 (Imposing Two-Thirds Voter Requirement for Lo-cal Public Electricity) – No. Se-verely restricts consumers’ ability to choose their electricity provid-er by imposing a two-thirds vot-ing requirement for public power rather than a simple majority. Currently, individual consumers have the right to “opt out” of lo-cal electricity systems indepen-dent of large utility companies. Passage of this measure may vio-late existing law and thus result in costly lawsuits and/or legisla-tive challenge. This measure is largely driven by Pacific Gas & Electric, a major investor-owned utility company.

Prop. 17 (Auto Insurance Discounts and Penalties) – No. Changes law to permit insurance companies to offer discounts to drivers who have continuously maintained auto insurance cov-erage but change their insurance company. However, this change in law would not require insur-ance companies to offer this dis-count even if given the opportuni-ty. In addition, drivers who have had a lapse in coverage could be penalized with higher rates. Driv-ers who would be negatively im-pacted include drivers who gave up using a car for a period of time or could not afford insurance cov-erage due to the economic down-turn. Passage of this measure may violate existing law and thus result in costly lawsuits and/or legislative challenge. This mea-sure is largely driven by Mercury Insurance Group, a major auto insurance company operating in California.

Crime Against Humanity vs.

GMA, Ampatuan, et al?

charged for crimes commit-ted mostly in Chile and against Chileans. Cases have been filed in Belgium against Maurita-nian President Maaouya ould Sid’Ahmed Taya, then-Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, Rwandan President Paul Kag-ame, former Chadian President Hissene Habre and many others.

Like many Filipinos, I have not given up on the Philippines. We always find a way to face challenges. Cory’s People Power made history. We indicted, de-tained and convicted a president (Estrada). We tried and punished the likes of Gov. Rafael Lac-son in the Moises Padilla case, Bingbong Crisologo in the Ora Bantay burning case, and Con-gressman Jalosjos in a rape case. These occurred despite what had been described as a “culture of impunity”.

*An International / Cyber Lawyer, Benjamin G. Maynigo earned his Bachelor of Laws Degree from San Beda College; Master of Laws from American University; and Master of Arts in Education from George Wash-ington University. He was also a former President of the Philip-pine American Bar Association (PABA).



(619) 702-3051

Rooms for Rent

No Smoking, No DrugsIn a quiet residential

neighborhood of National City

Call 619.656.0409

Housing and Real Estate

License # 01113433

Barona Creek Golf Course to Host 2010 U.S. Open Qualifier

U.S. Open at Pebble Beach scheduled for June 14-20. This year, local qualifiers will be held at approximately 40 locations across the United States, with thousands of golfers expected to take part. There will be 90 players in the qualifier at Barona Creek with the top three and two

alternates advancing to the next level. Those who make it through sectional qualify-ing will join the final field of 156 golfers for the U.S. Open, along with all the golfers who were exempt from any quali-fying, including the biggest names in golf.

This tournament is one of many prestigious champion-ship events that have been held at Barona Creek includ-ing the Nationwide Tour Championship, the Southern California PGA Section Pro-fessional Championship, the Barona Collegiate Cup and LPGA Futures Tour.

Recently, Barona Creek Golf Club was named fourth in Golfweek magazine’s “Best of California Course” list behind only Pebble Beach, Spyglass Hill and Pasatiempo. The publication also named Barona Creek as the third best resort course in California; number 25 on its list of resort properties nationwide; and fifth on its casino course list.

Barona Creek is a 7,448-yard par 72 golf course with more than 114 multi-fingered bunkers and a series of lakes and ponds connected to the area’s naturally fed streams. The course offers multiple sets of tees to accommodate players of all abilities. It fea-tures more than 170 mature native oak trees transplanted from other regions of the Ba-rona Indian Reservation.

The course has also been recognized for its environ-mental efforts by the United States Environmental Protec-tion Agency (EPA) and San Diego Earthworks. Barona’s state-of-the art water reclama-

tion and wastewater treatment facilities allow the Tribe to save and reuse nearly every drop of water runoff at its Barona Resort & Casino and Barona Creek Golf Club. The property currently uses 100 percent of the reclaimed water to irrigate the golf course and surrounding landscape. The course has also won the prestigious Bronze Signature Sanctuary Certification from Audubon International for its conservation, environmental quality and land management efforts.

About Barona Resort & Casino

For the last two years in a row, Barona Resort & Casino has won the J.D. Power and Associates Award for the “Highest in Satisfaction in the Southern California Indian Casino Gaming Experience” in the J.D. Power and As-sociates Southern California Indian Gaming Casino Satis-faction Study.

Barona Resort & Casino blends the best of San Di-ego’s leading resorts with the gaming excitement of Las Vegas. Barona is San Diego’s leading destination resort featuring 400 guest rooms and suites, all with beautiful views of the Barona Valley, a variety of award-winning dining options, the AmBience Day Spa, a full-service events center and the 18-hole cham-pionship Barona Creek Golf Club, rated the 3rd best resort course in California by Golf-week magazine.

Barona Resort & Casino received the highest numerical score in the proprietary J.D. Power and Associates 2008-2009 Indian Gaming Casino Studies SM-Southern Califor-nia Region. The 2009 study, which only surveys casinos with a minimum of 1,000 slot machines, is based on 4,452 responses from gaming players who visited an Indian casino in Southern California


between December 2008 and May 2009. Proprietary study results are based on experi-ences and perceptions of con-sumers surveyed in May 2009. Your experiences may vary. Visit jdpower.com.

For Barona Resort & Casino reservations and information, visit www.barona.com, or call toll free 888-7-BARONA (722-7662).

You can also join Barona Resort & Casino on Face-book, Twitter and MySpace at: www.barona.com/facebook, www.barona.com/twitter and www.barona.com/myspace

It’s How We Look at Crisis that

Mattersnow is the time to get excited because you can use a recession to your advantage.”

Bach, the article continues, said that tough economic times help strengthen our entrepreneurial muscle. “Starting your business in a recession is like running against the wind. If you’re training for a marathon by running with the wind, what are you going to do when you have to run against the wind? You have to run against the wind to learn how to run hard, lean and mean.”

A lot of companies have proven that they can succeed even in the worst of times. Syndicated radio host and financial expert Dave Ramsey said: “Sometimes we have to get pushed out of the nest in order to fly. There are a lot of eagles out there that hadn’t spread their wings in a while.”

“During these tough economic times,” Ramsey continued, “these eagles are soaring. Their creative juices are flowing again, they are smiling again, and they are happy again. They are the right kind of people that see this recession as an opportunity to improve.”


Sapphire Tower has sold 65 percent of its luxury residential high-rise homes in its first year with an average sales price of more than $1 million per home.

Chuck Sigmon, director of sales and marketing for Sapphire Tower, said, “At first glance, Sapphire Tower may look similar to other down-town properties, but after every tour, visitors all agree that we absolutely differenti-ate ourselves from all other downtown residences.”

“We constantly hear that our floor plans are the most open and functional in down-town San Diego” Sigmon continued. “This combined with the privacy of only one to three neighbors per floor, the water views and dramatic floor-to-ceiling windows has helped our sales team set sales records as well as to earn six National Real Estate Sales Awards.”

The top nine floors of Sap-phire Tower are designed with 18 half-floor penthouses fea-turing private elevator entries and spacious floor plans near-ing 3,000 square feet. Floors 8 through 23 only have four units per floor such that each is a corner unit. This enables every owner to appreciate increased privacy, natural sun-light, views and San Diego’s world-famous climate.

The homes feature modern Euro-style cabinetry, chic Da-

Sapphire Tower reaches 65% sold

– Downtown San Diego’s Boutique High-Rise Counters Recession Slowdown--

cor or Wolf gourmet cooking appliances and Kitchen Aid or Sub Zero refrigerators. Stain-less steel Bosch Integra dish-washers, slab granite coun-tertops with backsplash (per designer package), spacious wardrobes, modern Purist Wading Basin lavatories and Kohler plumbing fixtures, add a touch of luxury and comfort to each home.

Completing these spacious, sophisticated homes are floor-to-ceiling windows, nearly 10 ½ foot ceilings and large private balconies. Sapphire Tower residences are priced from the $500,000s to $3 mil-lion.

A development of Centu-rion Partners, Sapphire Tower is a 32-story project located on the southwest corner of Kettner Boulevard and A Street in downtown San Di-ego. Sapphire Tower includes 97 luxury homes in studio, one-bedroom, two-bedroom and penthouse designs. The building’s features include a large pool, hot tub and sun-deck fully equipped with a fit-ness center and spa. Sapphire Tower was recently recog-nized with a Silver National Sales & Marketing award for the Best Model Home Over $1 Million. The Sapphire Tower sales office is located at 1262 Kettner Blvd., #1401. For more information, call (619) 325-0689 or visit www.sapphiretower.net.

Lighting does so much more than provide illumination. Designers know that it can be used to change the whole look and feel of a room.

Think about how you want each room to feel when you walk in. Active or intimate? Inspiring or dramatic? The types of lighting, their place-ment in the room – even the type of bulb used - all affect the room’s atmosphere.

These tips from Mary Beth Gotti, a lighting expert with GE Consumer & Industrial, can help you create just the right mood.

Cozy

If kicking back in fuzzy slip-pers and relaxing with a good book is appealing, create a cozy atmosphere.

Highlight the seating area with ambient lighting, and focus track lights on center-pieces. This draws the eye to the central glow.

Use lighting that emits a soft, warm glow, such as GE Energy Smart and Soft White bulbs.

Incorporate lamps for read-ing. A reading lamp should be tall enough to shine onto the pages of the book, but not into the reader’s eyes. A floor lamp positioned behind the reader is ideal.

Torchieres and wall sconces create a warm glow in living rooms and other spaces. A working fireplace adds to the feeling of comfort.

Light pictures from above using a ceiling spotlight.

Active

To create a motivating environment that maximizes productivity:

Use bright general overhead, or ambient, lighting along

Set the Mood with Lightwith focused task lighting for work areas.

Recessed downlights can effectively light countertops and other work surfaces in kitchens.

Under-the-counter lighting also provides great task il-lumination in kitchens.

Welcoming

Make guests feel right at home with a warm and wel-coming environment.

Outside, keep a well-lit walkway. This directs visi-tors to the entrance and makes them feel at ease. Using bulbs

such as GE Energy Smart Outdoor Floodlights can put welcoming light wherever it’s needed.

Inside, gentle ambient light makes people feel comfort-able. For added relaxation, illuminate the walls and the ceiling to avoid menacing shadows.

Utilize accent lighting to showcase an interesting object. This arouses guests’ anticipation of the rest of the house, urging them forward.

Intimate

To create a romantic room that will leave you starry-eyed:

Avoid overhead lighting – it can cause a harsh glare.

Add dimmer switches to give versatility to lighting fixtures.

Use a variety of lamps to create a comfortable glow; use shades with warm or dark colors.

Get more tips on designing with light at gelighting.com.

Courtesy of Family Features


WANTED IMMEDIATELY2 Caregiver/drivers for ARF/DD facility

in Escondido area. Experience not necessary but willing to learn. Some benefi ts, incentives, and bonuses.

Call Liz (858-748-8018)

SINGLES PARTIESfor the 30+ crowd

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a nightclub3567 Del Rey St., (Mission Bay)

DJ JUAN playing HIP HOP, R&B, Old School & Current hits

EVERY THURSDAYCharacters Bar & Grill – La Jolla Marriott

4240 La Jolla Village Dr. La jolla, 92037featuring DJ JOHN PHILLIPS

“His request line is always open”

SPECIAL pricing with this ad: 5 – 4 - $5 Bring 5 friends all at one time and eachadmission is only $5 – otherwise $11

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Facing Credit Card Lawsuit!We can help,

Call 619 274-2771 - Ellen

Notifi cation of Request For Proposals (RFP) #5001420 “Employee Benefi ts Broker Services”.

The San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG) is soliciting written proposals, from qualifi ed fi rms capable of providing Employee Benefi ts Broker Services on an on call, as needed basis. SANDAG anticipates awarding one or more contracts for the employee benefi t services being sought under this RFP. The successful fi rm(s) that are awarded contracts shall be required to provide the following services on behalf of SANDAG on an on call, as requested basis – conducting market research on a variety of employee benefi t services; provide consultation, recommendations, and advice regarding SANDAG’s employee benefi ts program; recommend and secure a variety of employee benefi t services/policies/products on behalf of SANDAG; provide employee benefi t program orientation and training services for SANDAG staff; provide employee benefi ts administrative services as may be requested by SANDAG; and provide other employee benefi t broker services as described in the RFP. The RFP may be viewed and downloaded at SANDAG’s web site www.sandag.org/contracts or by contacting Ralph Tharp, Contract Administrator, at SANDAG, 401 B Street, Suite 800, San Diego, CA 92101, (619) 699-6982, or by e-mail to [email protected]

A non-mandatory pre-proposal meeting is scheduled for 1pm Wednesday, May 26, 2010 at 401 B Street, Wells Fargo Bldg., Suite 800 San Diego, CA 92101-4231.

Proposals are due by 11:30 a.m. local time, Thursday, June 10, 2010 at 401 B Street, Suite 800 San Diego, CA 92101-4231.

Interested parties are advised to regularly visit the above referenced website for any possible revisions and updates to the information contained in this notice.

SANDAG is an equal opportunity employer and, as a matter of policy, encourages the participation of small businesses that are owned and controlled by minorities and women. Joint ventures are also encouraged where feasible.

Gawad Kalinga

pushes for politics of

caringunteer bill drafters who are working on the Kalinga bills that night.

Taguig City Mayor Freddy Tinga also graced the event and shared his testimony on practicing “Kalinga Politics” in his city.

“We are all in the same boat. For us, it’s less for self and more for others. GK is about building bridges not walls,” he said.

The benefi ciaries also took time out to thank GK and partners that night.

GK Kapitbahayan presi-dent Elsa Arboleda thanked partners for the “transforma-tion that GK has brought in our lives at GK Pinagsama in Taguig.”

“We assure you that we will work hard and persevere,” she told the audience.

A video of the GK All85 initiative was also played showing graduates of various high school batches ‘85 who are helping build homes for the less fortunate.

Various GK teams manned the nine booths that were all over the NBC Tent which presented different GK pro-grams and initiatives, high-lighting the different ways to help and be involved in GK through its holistic pro-grams: Green Kalinga (en-vironment), GK Kalusugan (health), GK Bayan Anihan (food suffi ciency), GK Child and Youth Development, GK CommBuild (commu-nity empowerment), and GK Community Infrastructure, GK Mabuhay (tourism and culture), GK Builders In-stitute, GKonomics (social entrepreneurship).

GK’s partner for the event, Globe Telecoms led by presi-dent Ernest Cu also gave his full support and reiterated his company’s continued support for Gawad Kalinga.

GK Builders Night Core team member led by Rose Cabrera said the Builders Night will be held in other key cities in the Philippines.

“The road to a prosperous Philippines by 2024 will be a little bit easier and much more fun and friendship-fi lled. It is indeed a very good harbinger of things to come,” she said.


Kalusugan Continues to Blaze New Trails - Part II

for service. The fi rst planning session was held April 28, 2001 at the San Diego County South Bay Health and Human Services Building in Chula Vista. Thirty individuals par-ticipated consisting of staff, board members, and com-munity leaders. Eda Crosby, Consultant with Nonprofi t Management Solutions facili-tated the workshop. This was funded by TCE.

The second one occurred in July 2004 when the Center was already in full swing. The purpose of this planning ses-sion was to assess the current operation and design goals and objectives for the Cen-ter’s continued maintenance for the years 2004-2007. Eighteen people attended. It was facilitated by Mark Berg-er, Consultant with Nonprofi t Management Solutions.

The third one occurred in March 31, 2007 and was held at the Marina Village Confer-ence Center in Quivira Way, San Diego. The purpose of the session was to review the current operation and design goals and objectives for the years 2007-2010. Melissa Pregill was the facilitator and 25-30 people attended. This session was funded by the Organizational Develop-ment Services, Center for Civic Partnerships located in Sacramento through a grant from The California Wellness Foundation.

INVITATION

You are invited to attend KCS’s 4th strategic planning

this Saturday, May 15. Let us hear your ideas on what our organization should do why we should do it and how to do it. Below is the agenda for the meeting. Continental break-fast and lunch is provided. We ask that you call the Center ( 619- 477-3392) if you are coming, so we can determine how much food to order. See you!

Agenda for the Strategic Plan Meeting- 9:00 AM to 2 PM

8:30- 9:00 Continental Breakfast

9:00- 9:30 Brief Review of 2007-2010 Business Plan

9:30-10:30 KCS Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats

10:30-11:30 Review the Mission

11:30- 1:00 Review of 2007-2010 Goals and Objec-tives; Set goals/objectives.

Working Lunch

1:00-2:00 Diversifi ed Fundraising

ANNOUNCEMENTBlood Pressure Screening:

Other than your personal doctor or nurse, you can go to Kalusugan Community Services, 1419 E. 8th St., Na-tional City, 91950; tel (619) 477-3392. Registered nurses (Emma Abutin and Leony Pamintuan) are available on Fridays, 10 AM-12 noon to take your BP and answer health-related questions. This service is provided free of charge. No appointments necessary.


Rooms for RentNo Smoking, No Drugs

In a quiet residential neighborhood of National CityCall 619.656.0409

Broadway/San Diego Offers

PerformancesFor RAIN - A Tribute

to The Beatles , Avenue Q and In the

HeightsMay 16 at 10AM.

IN THE HEIGHTS Saturday, July 31, 2010 at 2PM; Civic Theatre

Ticket on sale date tbd.To purchase tickets to these

and to most Broadway/San Diego performances, please visit the Civic Theatre Ticket Offi ce

(1100 Third Ave., downtown San Diego); tickets also available at all Ticketmaster locations.

To order by phone, call the Ticket Offi ce at (619) 570-1100 (TDD Line: (619) 615-4177) or Ticketmaster at

(619) 220-TIXS; or purchase tickets via the Internet at www.ticketmaster.com.


Classifi ed Ads

To:

From: Eugene De Leon

Herewith is proof of your classified ad for publication in the Asian Journal. Please proofread i t and fax back the correction if any or call us for your approval. The ad is tentatively scheduled to be published in the

issue of the Asian Journal if we receive your approval on time. At $4 per line

lines, it costs

$______.00 to be paid upon your receipt of the invoice and tear sheet. Thank you.

Fax #

If approved please sign and fax back to

(619) 474-0373

__________________

Asian JournalFirst Asian Weekly Newspaper in Southern California & San Diego’s Most Widely Circulated Asian-Filipino Newspaper

550 East 8th Street, Suite 6, National City CA 91950 • Tel. (619) 474-0588 • Fax (619) 474-0373

05/14/10

Bobbi Jones

3.5x4x10140

City of San DiegoNotice of Public Hearing for

Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) andEmergency Shelter Grant (ESG) Programs

FY 2011 Second Allocation Hearing

On April 6, 2010, the City Council approved the FY 2011 CDBG allocations in the amount of $15,027,728 and the ESG allocations in the amount of $595,120 as estimates based in FY 2010. At that time, the City had not yet received confirmation from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) of the federal entitlement amounts to be awarded to the City for FY 2010. The City received official notification on March 31, 2010 from HUD that the City’s CDBG award totaled $16,324,437 and the ESG award totaled $660,147 for FY 2011, representing an increase from the estimated totals approved at the First Allocation Hearing.

Notice is hereby given that the public hearing to adopt recommended funding allocations of the additional FY 2011 CDBG and ESG funds is scheduled for Monday, May 24, 2010 at 2:00 pm in the City Council Chambers, 202 C Street, 12th Floor, San Diego, CA 92101. To order information in an alternative formal, or to arrange for a sign language or oral interpreter for the meeting, please call the City Clerk’s office at least five (5) working days prior to the meeting at (619) 533-4000 (voice) or (619) 236-7012 (TDD/TTY).

Public comments will be accepted during this hearing. In addition, written comments will be accepted prior to the public hearing at the CDBG Program office (1200 Third Avenue, Suite 1400, San Diego, CA 92101) or by email ([email protected]) through May 24, 2010. All updates will be posted on the CDBG website (http://www.sandiego.gov/cdbg/general/).


Travel

Includes Five Spectacular Best of the Road(R) Trips with Editor’s Picks

SKOKIE, Ill., May 11 /PRNewswire/ -- Just in time for summer travel, Rand McNally today launched the 87th edition of America’s #1 Road Atlas, with completely updated maps and mileage data.The new 2011 edition of the Road Atlas also features the “Editor’s Picks” from this year’s 10th annual Best of the Road® program. Each year Rand McNally recognizes the best and most unique things to see and do, and places to stay and eat while on the road. This year’s Best of the Road® trips are located in Alaska; New Hampshire; Nevada and California; Mississippi; and Ohio, Michigan and the Canadian province of Ontario.“While there are multiple options for planning and on-the-road navigation, Americans continue to rely upon the Rand McNally Road Atlas each year to give them the big picture and the finer details of each road they travel,” said Dave Muscatel, CEO of Rand McNally. “We are pleased to provide our 87th edition atlas as the travel season prepares to kick off.”Updates:Among this year’s updates to the Road Atlas are:Completely revised state and province maps featuring updated mileages

Rand McNally Launches New Edition of

America’s #1 Road Atlasand increased urban area representation;Additional city center maps, bringing the total number of city and national park inset maps in the Road Atlas to 384;The addition of specialty highway shields to show historic and scenic routes including Route 66, the Lincoln Highway, the Great River Road, the Great Lakes Circle Route, and the Lewis & Clark Trail Highway;A new illustrated cover design.

Best of the Road®:A much-anticipated feature of the Road Atlas is the annual selection of the Best of the Road®. Each year five annual trips are selected, researched, and visited by Rand McNally’s editorial team. In developing the trips, editors consider locations that are lesser-known or off the beaten path, are unique or have special character, capture the region’s essence, and appeal to a broad range of people. For many travel enthusiasts, these 150-200 mile trips satisfy their search for a long weekend of adventure. Each trip features five “Editor’s Picks,” which are unique places to see, stay, visit and eat. This year’s trips are:Wild, Warm Alaska: From Anchorage to Valdez, AlaskaFollowing Old Man River: From Natchez to Tunica, MississippiAround Lake Erie: From

Cleveland, Ohio to Windsor, OntarioEarth Tones: From Reno, Nevada to Yosemite, CaliforniaSeaside to Summit: Manchester to Bretton Woods, New Hampshire

A sampling of this year’s “Editor Picks” winners are:Mill Bay Coffee and Pastries in Kodiak, AlaskaThe B.B. King Museum and Delta Interpretive Center in Indianola, MississippiOttawa National Wildlife Refuge Complex in Oak Harbor, OhioYosemite Mountain Sugar Pine Railroad in Fish Camp, CaliforniaBretton Woods Canopy Tour in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire

The 2011 Rand McNally Road Atlas is arriving in retail stores this month in advance of the heavy summer travel season. It is available nationwide and at www.randmcnally.com for a suggested retail price of $13.95.About Rand McNally – Rand McNally is the most trusted source for maps, directions, and travel content. Rand McNally’s products and services include: Interactive travel service, Tripology; America’s #1 Road Atlas; IntelliRoute® truck routing software and GPS devices; and the leading geography-based educational resources for the classroom. Consumers, businesses, truckers, and educators depend upon Rand McNally to help navigate today’s world. www.randmcnally.com

Yosemite Lodging Announces Record Increase

in Revenue and Strong Demand for Cabin Rentals

Near Yosemite National Park

858

Now Hiring Drivers

Tower of Power to Play

Pechanga Resort &

Casino, May 28ably contagious.”

When asked to describe the band’s music, the group mem-bers give a variety of respons-es. Says Emilio, “What Tower plays is Oakland soul music.” Former Tower saxophonist Lenny Pickett, current musical director for the Saturday Night Live band, says “TOP is the world’s best rhythm and blues band.” In reality, TOP’s horn-driven, in-your-face sound is all its own. Read more about Tower of Power at www.tow-erofpower.com.


GROVELAND, Calif., May 13 / -- Yosemite Pines RV Resort & Family Lodging, offering a campground, RV park, and lodging near Yosemite National Park, has reported a 24% increase in revenue from the prior year and the highest total revenue since the current ownership purchased the resort in 2004.

“The heavy rainfalls over the winter have resulted in some very spectacular spring waterfalls and the Ken Burns documentary on the national parks has really sparked interest in visiting Yosemite National Park,” noted Mary Bertram, manager of Yosemite Pines. “Our Yosemite cabin rentals were booked almost every weekend.”

For the family that is looking to vacation on a budget or just a plain old bargain hunter, the beauty of Yosemite can still be enjoyed with an inexpensive stay at Yosemite Pines RV Resort & Family Lodging. “Due to the difficult economy, families are choosing to look for more affordable vacations and stay closer to home,” stated Bertram. “Our basic cabins and yurts, offering affordable lodging near

Yosemite National Park, are as low as $89 in the current prime season. Also, admission

to Yosemite National Park is only $20 per car with unlimited entries for seven days.”

The new Premium Yosemite cabins are one-bedroom with a queen bed, living room with a full-size sofa bed and fireplace, plus a full bath and a fully furnished kitchen with full-size refrigerator, and cable television in every room. For those who need larger accommodations, the Luxury Loft Yosemite cabins sleep eight. The bedroom with a queen bed, living room with a full-size sofa bed, full kitchen and dining area, plus a full bath are on the main floor. And the large two-room loft has a full-size bed and two twin-size beds.

Yosemite Pines is a pet-friendly resort that is offering Doggy Day weekend June 4th - 6th. The fun event includes a dog snack sack at check-in and costume parade. Evening

plans include a hayride and marshmallow roast.

ABOUT YOSEMITE PINES RV RESORT & FAMILY LODGING

Yosemite Pines is an RV resort, campground, and lodge located near Yosemite National Park. Yosemite Pines offers Yosemite camping near Yosemite National Park with full hook-up RV and campsites. Yosemite Pines also offers Yosemite lodging and cabins near Yosemite National Park with cabin and yurt rentals. Amenities include a clubhouse, gold mine, gold panning, petting zoo, swimming pool, hiking trail, general store, children’s playground, horseshoe pit, and volleyball.

Asian Journal May 14-21, 2010

Documents

Transcript of Asian Journal May 14-21, 2010