KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia - The

missing Boeing 777 jet-liner changed course over the sea, crossed Malaysia and reached the Strait of Malacca - hundreds of miles from its last posi-tion recorded by civilian authorities, Malaysian military officials said Tuesday, citing military radar data. The development added confusion and mystery into what is emerging as one of most puzzling avi-ation incidents of recent time, and it has raised questions about why the Malaysia Airlines flight apparently was not trans-mitting signals detectable

by civilian radar or sending distress calls after it turned back. Many experts have been working on the assumption there was a catastrophic event on the flight - such as an ex-plosion, engine failure, terror-

ist attack, extreme turbulence, pilot error or even suicide. The director of the CIA said in Washington that he still would not rule out terror-ism.

MANILA — A trade delegation comprising of 70 businessmen

and government officials from San Francisco, California, has expressed interest in tapping prospective in-vestment opportunities and possibly setting up manufacturing facilities in the Philippines. The Philippine Chamber of Com-merce and Industry (PCCI) said the US delegation was led by San Fran-cisco Mayor Edwin M. Lee, who has been eyeing “many economic pos-sibilities that could be implemented with Philippine companies, particu-larly in business processing manage-ment and IT-enabled services.”PCCI presidentAlfredo M. Yao

MANILA -- The Philippines said

on Tuesday it had lodged a formal pro-test after two Filipino vessels were prevented from bringing supplies to marines by the Chi-nese coastguard on a disputed shoal in the South China Sea. The foreign ministry said the Chinese charge d’affaires was sum-moned over the March 9 incident on Second

Thomas Shoal, which sits around 200 kilome-ters (125 miles) from the western Philippine island of Palawan and is part of the contested Spratly island group. “China’s actions constitute a clear and urgent threat to the rights and interests of the Philippines,” the Department of Foreign Affairs said in a state-ment. It said the two Phil-

ippine-flagged civilian ships had been con-tracted by the Philip-pine navy to deliver supplies and equipment as well as replacement troops to the isolated outcrop. China’s foreign min-istry spokesman Qin Gang said the two ves-sels “infringed China’s territorial sovereignty”

VOL. 2 ISSUE 20 MAR 13, 2014- MAR 19, 2014WWW.SF-POST.COM

China blocks two PH ships; protest lodged

A bullet-riddled military truck is parked outside a po-lice station in Matanao town, Davao del Sur province on March 10,2014, after communist rebels attacked a police station and a military post.

Mystery deepens as search for missing MAS plane continues

SF traders,execs eye

firms in PH

(Cont. on Page 5)

Cristine Reyes has no time for romance just now-page 13

Pacquiao laughs off Bradley’s ‘no-shower’ pre-bout ritual- page 12

WE PROVIDE PRESS COVERAGE FOR ANY EVENTS OR

PROMOTIONS.See page 12 for details.

Pinoy held for 3 murders in Ohio bar Story on page 3

SPORTS

(Cont. on Page 12)

TRENDING

Vessels bringing supplies to Marines

(Cont. on Page 6)

FREE

USD TO PHP: $1=P44.49 as of Mar. 12, 2014

MANILA -- The death toll from New People’s Army at-

tacks in Davao del Sur province on Friday that began with the foiled attempt to overrun a town police station rose to 12 after the rebels ambushed pursuing soldiers. Seven soldiers, including an of-ficer, died and seven others were wounded when a rebel block-ing force detonated a landmine in Barangay Asbang that struck a KM250 truck ferrying troops of the 39th Infantry Battalion to Barangay Dunganpekong in Matanao town to take part in the pursuit of the rebel band that had tried to storm the municipal police station around 4:30 a.m. However, the military only iden-t i f i e d six

NPAs attack Davao police post;

12 dead

(Cont. on Page 5)

PAGE 2Mar. 13, 2014 - Mar. 19, 2014 The San Francisco Post

PAGE 3Mar. 13, 2014 - Mar. 19, 2014The San Francisco Post NATIONAL

Your employment will not be affected if you file bankruptcy

Your employment will not be affected if you file bankrupt-

cy. One of the factors that keep professionals and employees from seriously considering bankruptcy is the fear of how it may impact their employ-ment. It is very important to know that the Bankruptcy laws and the Employment laws prohibit employers from discriminating or terminating employees because they filed bankruptcy. Question: Should I disclose my past bankruptcy when ap-plying for a job?Answer: You do not necessarily have to disclose your past bankruptcy when applying for a job unless it is re-quired by the prospective employer. However, companies often check credit when a job involves finance, account-ing, cash or valuable merchandise and only when a job candidate will be working in a position of trust like cashier or custodian. If you’ve filed bankruptcy in the past and you have decided to disclose this information, be prepared to defend that decision to a potential employer. It’s illegal for an employer not to hire you because you filed bank-ruptcy. Question: Will I be qualified for a job even though I have bad credit?Answer: Yes! The fact that a potential employer pulls credit and that yours is poor doesn’t mean you won’t be qualified for a job. Some companies do a credit check when they’re doing background checks, but they do it as a supplement to their background check. Companies might use it, but never as the primary reason for a decision to hire or not hire.Question: How can I explain my bankruptcy to the inter-viewer if I am asked during my job interview?Answer: If you have filed bankruptcy, be ready to pro-vide your interviewer with a short, straightforward expla-nation and to redirect the conversation to your strengths and what you can do for the company. You can also ex-plain that the reasons for filing bankruptcy or poor credit are divorce, medical problems while uninsured, etc. I hope you’ll see what is relevant is my ability to this company. If you call my former employer, you’ll hear that I was an

excellent....”Question: What shall I do if the com-pany I am applying for used my bank-

ruptcy as a reason to disqualify me for the job? Answer: If you believe a company is using your bank-ruptcy case as the reason not to hire you, call the company and inquire if your credit was a problem and which area of your credit was the issue, so you’ll know what to dis-close next time. If the answer is bankruptcy, you can file a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Com-mission (EEOC) and call the U.S. Federal Trade Commis-sion’s Consumer Response Center. You can also contact the local consumer protection agency or your state attor-ney general. At the very least, make one more attempt to change the interviewer’s mind. After all, if you made it through to the credit screen, there must be something about you that appealed to the interviewer.Bankruptcy Basics1.Bankruptcy will actually improve your credit within one year because your unsecured debts are discharged. Although the bankruptcy will be in your records for 10 years, not filing bankruptcy will make your credit even worse until most of your debts are paid in full.2.If you are being sued by your creditors, most money judgment can be eliminated in bankruptcy.3.Collection actions continue and you can be sued if you are in debt settlement.4.Chapter 7 will eliminate all unsecured debts. If you are near retirement age, you must eliminate most of your debts.5.Bankruptcy will stop foreclosure actions. If your trustee sale date is 10 days before, you can still file for bankrupt-cy.6.If your salary is being garnished, you have a court case about debts or you are being harassed by creditors, bank-ruptcy can stop garnishment, court cases, harassing credi-tors and eliminate the debt.Crispin Caday Lozano is an active member of the State Bar of California, the American Immigration Lawyers Association and the National Association of Consumers Bankruptcy Attorneys. He specializes in immigration law and bankruptcy law. crispinlozano@gmail.com.

By Atty. Crispin C. Lozano

BUSINESS

WASHINGTON -- - Eight months before the November 4 elections, Republicans have expanded the number of competi-tive races for U.S. Senate seats and have a growing chance of gaining control of that chamber and stalling Democratic President Barack Obama’s sec-ond-term agenda. Public dissatisfac-tion with the presi-dent, concerns about his healthcare over-haul and a sluggish economy, and a series of retirements by key Democratic senators in conservative states have made a rugged year for Democrats even more so, analysts and strategists in both parties say. Republicans, who are widely expected to retain control of the U.S. House of Repre-sentatives, need a net gain of six seats to take back the 100-member Senate. Recent polling indicates they have big leads in three states - Montana, South Dakota and West Virginia - where longtime Democratic senators have retired or will retire in Janu-ary. Although the primary season is just start-ing and the candidates in many races are not set, polls suggest Republicans have boosted their odds of gaining additional Senate seats by becoming competitive in politically di-vided states such as Michigan and Colora-do, where a year ago they were given little

chance of winning. Senate races in those states and five oth-ers now represented by Democrats - Alaska, Arkansas, Iowa, Louisiana and North Caro-lina - have been close in early voter surveys. Democrats have a chance to pick up

Republican-held seats in two states: Kentucky, where Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell is expected to dispatch a Tea Party-backed chal-lenger in the primary but would face a tough fight against Democrat Alison Grimes in November; and Georgia, where Michelle Nunn, daughter of former Democratic senator Sam Nunn, will face the win-ner of a crowded Repub-

lican primary in a race to replace retiring Republican Saxby Chambliss. That leaves Republicans needing to win at least three of the seven closely contested races for seats now held by Democrats, while holding off Grimes and Nunn in Ken-tucky and Georgia. If either of them wins in November, the task for Republicans will be more difficult. “It’s moving a little in the Republican di-rection,” said Larry Sabato of the Univer-sity of Virginia. His Crystal Ball website rates the Senate as a toss-up. “Republicans will pick up Senate seats, probably three or four. The question is, will they get that wave in October that carries them to the six they need?”

Republicans gain momentum in Senate

Building explosion leaves 2 dead, 18 injured in New York City

An explosion followed by a fire at a pair of apartment buildings in upper Manhattan on Wednesday has left two people dead and at least 18 injured, officials say. According to ABC’s New York affiliate, at least one of those injured experienced “heavy trauma.” The conditions of the oth-ers were not immediately known. The FDNY said it received a call shortly after 9:30 a.m. reporting a large explosion in the five-story apartment building on Park Avenue near 116th Street in East Harlem. “This is a tragedy of the worst kind,” Mayor Bill de Blasio said at a news confer-ence. “There was no indication in time to save people.” Based on preliminary information, the

mayor said “the only indication of danger came about 15 minutes earlier when a gas leak was reported to Con Edison. Con Ed dispatched a team to respond. The explosion occurred before that team could arrive.” “There are a number of people missing,” de Blasio added. “I emphasize that those who are missing could well be safe in an-other location and just not contacted yet or reachable yet.” The fire department confirmed that the explosion involved multiple buildings, and escalated the response to five alarms, with 44 units and more than 200 firefighters re-sponding. According to public records, the address that firefighters initially responded to — 1646 Park Ave. — was built in 1910.

A FILIPINO was arrested for allegedly go-ing into a shooting spree after hitting on a woman in an Ohio nightclub early Sunday morning, news reports said. The gunman was identified as Igmidio Mista, who was charged with the murder of three people when he alleg-edly opened fire at the Last Call bar in Fremont, Ohio, News Net 5 in Cleveland reported. Mista was ar-rested at a home in Fremont Monday morning. Among those killed is an off-duty police officer Jose Andy Chavez, 26; bartender Ramiro Sanchez, 28; and customer Dan-iel Ramirez, 25, the Associated Press re-ported. “It is sad that an altercation in a bar went so terribly out of control. I am sad for all of the victims and their tragic deaths,” Police Chief Tim Wiersma said in the report. “All of the victims were from our community and, yes, one being a fellow police officer makes it even harder.” Sergeant Jeffrey Harrison of Elmore po-

lice said in a statement that Chavez left behind a wife and two young children and had been an “exemplary” officer on the

force for more than two years. A fourth man who was shot at the bar, 2 5 - y e a r -old Ramiro A r r e o l a , was flown to a Toledo hospital in critical con-dition. In a sepa-rate news

report by the Port Clinton News Herald, Arreola said that he, his sis-ter and friends were in the bar when the Filipino gunman supposedly ap-proached his sister. “One of the guys was hitting on my sister,” Arreola said in the report. “Just be-ing creepy. My brother-in-law said, ‘Hey man, that’s my wife. Back off. Just relax.’” The gunman then pulled out his gun and started shooting, Arreola claimed. “I don’t think he had a target. He was just shooting at whoever,” he said.

Filipino arrested over Ohio bar shooting

WASHINGTON - Former security contrac-tor Edward Snowden, addressing a sympa-thetic crowd at a tech-heavy Austin event on Monday from a secret location in Russia, said proposed reforms at the National Secu-rity Agency show that he was vindicated in leaking classified material. Snowden, facing arrest if he steps foot on U.S. soil, spoke via a video link to a packed house at the annual South by Southwest (SXSW) gathering of tech industry experts, filmmakers and musicians. He said the U.S. government still has no idea what material he has provided to journalists. “I saw that the Constitution was violated on a massive scale,” Snowden said to ap-plause, adding that his revelations of gov-ernment spying on private communications have resulted in protections that have ben-efited the public and global society. Last year, Snowden, who had been work-ing at a National Security Agency (NSA) facility as an employee of Booz Allen Ham-ilton, leaked a raft of secret documents that revealed a vast U.S. government system for monitoring phone and Internet data. The leaks deeply embarrassed the Obama administration, which in January banned U.S. eavesdropping on the leaders of friend-ly countries and allies and began reining in the sweeping collection of Americans’ phone data in a series of limited reforms triggered by Snowden’s revelations. Major companies also tightened up safeguards, but Snowden said that is still not enough to protect privacy properly, calling for stepped-up encryption that would make mass government surveillance too costly to conduct. “The government has gone and changed their talk-ing points. They have changed their verbiage away from public interest to national interest,” he said, adding that this poses the risk of losing control of representative democracy. He said the government’s priority has been an ex-pansive and ill-executed system of massive informa-tion collection instead of protecting the vast amounts of intellectual property that supports the U.S. econ-omy. ”We’ve got the most to lose from being hacked,” Snowden said. U.S. Representative Mike Pompeo, a Republican from Kansas, wrote to SXSW organizers, calling on them to withdraw the invitation to Snowden, a man he said deceived his em-ployer and his country.

Snowden: Reforms vindicate my classified

data leaks

The Bureau of Internal Rev-enue started on the wrong foot

when it launched its shame ads in chosen newspapers last week. Instead of pouncing on big corporations, wealthy businessmen and corrupt politi-cians in its effort to raise revenues for the government, the agency opted to target middle class professionals in its shame ads. The very first ad raised a furor when it portrayed doctors as not paying the correct taxes unlike teachers. The ad showed a teacher carrying a doctor on her shoulder. The ad wishes to show the injustice of high-earning profes-sionals like doctors getting away with the payment of less taxes than other professions such as teachers. While it is true that some professionals like doctors are able to under-declare income and pad allowed deduc-tions and some wage earners are unable to do so because a third of their income are automatically withheld from their pay, the agency should have launched its shame ad campaign by portraying the bigger tax cheats – the big

corporations, wealthy businessmen and corrupt politicians – who are able to go around the country’s tax

laws with the help of unscrupulous accountants and BIR examiners. It has been said many times in previous studies that billions of pesos in government revenues are lost year-ly because of under-declared or mis-declared income and padded expenses and other deductions. Have you wondered why the country’s wealthiest billionaires and multi-millionaires are not in the list of top taxpayers in the country? It is unfair that fixed income earners are the ones paying the right taxes while the big earners are able to evade pay-ing the correct taxes year in and year out. And the BIR is not doing anything about it. For example, a newspaper editorial pointed out the case of a luxury car company that has reprtedly evaded bil-lions in taxes due. The editorial reported that as early as January last year, the BIR investigation division sent Revenue Commissioner Kim Henares a memo detailing the systematic under-valuation of vehicles sold by the company. The memo, signed by the head of the BIR National In-vestigation Division and endorsed by Deputy Commis-sioner Estela Sales, called for an exhaustive investigation of all the accounting records of the company. Until now, Henares has not signed the memo reactivating the inves-tigation. It seems Henares, a shooting partner of President Aqui-no, is aiming her gun at the wrong target. She should be going after the big tax evaders, but has instead aimed her drive at middle class professionals. We do not argue the fact that some doctors are “doctor-ing” their income tax returns, and the BIR should go after these cheating doctors. But the ad tended to lump them all into one cheating group. How about those who unself-ishly serve in the rural areas? The ad says: “When you don’t pay your taxes, you’re a burden to those who do.” Everybody knows that state-ment is true, and we hope that Henares is referring to the cheating businessmen and politicians, and not just the hardworking professionals. I strongly doubt if the ad would have any effect on the big tax evaders. Perhaps, Henares should also go after examiners in her agency who knowingly connive with these tax evaders and turn a blind eye on their “doctored” income tax returns.

With the 2016 p r e s i d e n -

tial elections still two years away, presidential and vice-presidential wannabes have al-ready started jock-eying for positions to succeed Presi-dent Benigno “P-Noy” Aquino III and Vice President Jejomar “Jojo” Bi-nay. Among the presidential hope-

fuls, Binay has been promoting himself for the presiden-tial job since his election as Vice President in 2010. For someone who had expressed a desire to be become President long before the 2010 elections, Binay had a chance of winning the 2010 presidential elections until September 2009 when Aquino decided to run after the death of his mother, the late President Cory Aquino. But his chances were further diminished when his good friend, former President Joseph “Erap” Estrada, joined the presidential race. Their entry hit Jojo with a dou-ble whammy. Noynoy (P-Noy) and Erap were close to Jojo, particularly Noynoy whom he considered a family friend. “Binay got Noynoy’s back,” an Aquino family member once said. Debt of gratitude It was most likely that Binay’s close relationship with the Aquino and Estrada families made him defer his pres-idential ambitions in 2010. If that was the case, it was a way of repaying his debt of gratitude – utang na loob – to Cory and Erap. However, it can also be argued that he would have lost had he ran against Noynoy and Erap in May 2010. That election resulted in Noynoy’s election and Erap placing second. But Jojo didn’t completely opt out of the race. He ran as Erap’s vice presidential running mate against Noynoy’s running mate, Mar Roxas. Indeed, Jojo played his hand with two aces in the hole: If Noynoy and himself had won, he’d be one step closer to the presidency and like-wise if Erap and himself had won. P-Noy’s dilemma Now, with Roxas expected to run for President in 2016 – although he claimed he was not going to – it would pit him against Jojo, again… just like in 2010. Since P-Noy (Noynoy) and his good friend Mar belong to the Liberal Party – just like they were in 2010 – and since P-Noy is the titular head of the Liberal Party, supporting Mar’s presidential bid would be the right thing to do. But then again, P-Noy – just like in 2010 – would have the same dilemma; that is, who would he support – Jojo or Mar? However, he can avoid the agony of making a choice between Jojo and Mar by declaring his neutrality, and

just let the Aquino-Binay (Noy-Bi) and Aquino-Roxas (Noy-Mar) groups do the dirty work for their respective candidates. Meanwhile, speculation is abound about who would be Roxas’s running mate should he decide to run? Among them are Sen. Chiz Escudero and P-Noy’s sister, enter-tainment star Kris Aquino. While both of them deny the rumors floating around, the possibility of a Mar-Kris ticket is gaining traction. If a Mar-Kris ticket becomes a reality, P-Noy would most likely support and campaign for the ticket. Mar-Kris, Binay-Kris However, like what happened in 2010 where two groups – Noy-Bi and Noy-Mar – commonly supported Aquino but differed on his running mate, what would preclude a similar scenario from happening? If Kris would indeed run for Vice President as Mar’s running mate, could it be possible that two new groups – Mar-Kris and Binay-Kris – would commonly support Kris for Vice President and divided between Mar and Bi-nay for President? If so, history could be – somewhat -- repeating itself with a Binay-Kris victory. Poor Mar! Is he going to be thrown under the bus… again? Binggoy ticket Last March 7, Binay confirmed that Sen. Jose “Jinggoy” Estrada (Erap’s son) and Batangas Gov. Vilma Santos-Recto were among those who are being considered to become his vice presidential running mate. Jinggoy was elated, saying, “I’m just happy to be one of those being considered.” But Vilma said she was too busy governing the province of Batangas and has no plans of running for any office. Although a Binay-Jinggoy – or “Binggoy” for short -- ticket had been anticipated since the formation of the United Nationalist Alliance (UNA) coalition in 2012, Jinggoy’s alleged involvement in Janet Lim-Napoles’ P10-billion pork barrel scam would be a distraction to the Binggoy ticket. And with plunder charges filed against Jinggoy -- together with Senators Juan Ponce Enrile and Ramon “Bong” Revilla III – it could damage the cred-ibility of Binay whose popularity had been consistently rated “very good.” Simply put, Jinggoy doesn’t have anything to contribute to a Binggoy victory, which makes one wonder why Binay would choose Jinggoy to be his running mate? For one thing, corruption scandals are things that Binay should stay away from; they could sink his ship.

While Binay could still win the presidency regardless of how Jinggoy performs in the elections, there is no guarantee that he could pull it; he is taking a big risk of being pulled down by Jinggoy. But the reverse could also be true; that is, Jinggoy could ride the coattails of Binay, which begs the question: Is it Binggoy in 2016? Perhaps… unless Kris joins the race and that would certainly be a game changer. (PerryDiaz@gmail.com )

PERRY SCOPEBy

Perry Diaz

Is it ‘Binggoy’ in 2016?

PAGE 4Mar. 13, 2014 - Mar. 19, 2014 The San Francisco PostOPINION

When Russia sent its troops

to Ukraine’s Crimea province purportedly to protect the Russian-speaking population in the region, the action reignited the second Cold War between Russia and the United States that actually began more than five years ago but eased in the last couple of years with the seeming cooperation between the two countries in negotiations with Iran

and Syria over the use of nuclear and chemical weapons. Whether the feud between the two superpowers would trigger a full-blown Cold War reminiscent of the 45-year battle of wits and guts would depend on how the US and the West would respond to an almost certain victory for Russia in the March 16 referendum in Crimea. The refer-endum, ordered by the pro-Russian Crimean parliament, would decide whether the Crimeans want their province to continue to be a part of Ukraine or become an indepen-dent state under the influence of Russia. Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has long ex-pressed his desire to revive the Soviet empire with the formation of a Eurasian Union similar to the European Union, made known his intentions in that region by send-ing Russian troops to Crimea last week and insisting Rus-sia has the right to intervene in Crimea, where at least 60% of the population identify themselves as Russians. On Sunday, Russian troops repulsed international moni-tors sent by the United Nations by firing warning shots in the air, clearly indicating that Russia will do anything to get back Crimea, which was given to Ukraine by the

government of Soviet Premier Nikita Kruschev in 1954. Ukraine, particularly Crimea, is an important link to Pu-tin’s dream of reviving the Soviet empire. Crimea hosts the Russian naval fleet in Sevastapol and is an important access to the Black Sea and the Mediterranean Sea. Just as importantly, large oil and natural gas deposits have recently been discovered in the region, including Ruma-nia and Ukraine. In fact, Ukraine was about to sign an exploration agreement with Exxon when the Ukrainian crisis broke out. The crisis began when Ukraine President Victor Yanu-kovych pulled out of a proposed agreement for closer ties with the European Union. Immediately, massive anti-Russian demonstrations were held in the country’s Inde-pendence Square that escalated into bloody clashes and forced Yanukovych to flee. On February 25, the Ukraine Parliament named Olexander Turchynov as interim presi-dent and ordered the arrest of Yanucovych, who surfaced in Russia on February 27. On March 1, the Russian Parliament authorized Putin to send troops to Crimea ostensibly to protect the Russians living there. US President Barack Obama denounced the Russian intervention, saying Putin’s action was a viola-tion of international laws. He also threatened Russia with sanctions and isolation. Thus began a new round of confrontation between the two superpowers, reviving the 45-year Cold War. But the second Cold War took its roots in 2008 during the Vene-zuelan crisis. In an article on September 22, 2008 entitled “The Second Cold War,” I wrote: “The dispatch by Moscow of the nuclear-powered mis-sile cruiser Peter the Great and three other ships to Ven-ezuela on Monday has made the resurgence of the Cold War between the United States and Russia imminent, if it has not actually began. As in the original Cold War, which began with the fall and split of Germany in World War II in 1945 and ended with the break-up of the Soviet Union and the reunification of Germany in 1990, Latin America is turning out to be an important battleground for the two superpowers. “Russia has recently intensified its contacts with Ven-ezuela -- an oil-rich nation that has been a pain in the neck for the US -- Cuba and other South American na-tions following the heightening of tensions between the two superpowers in the dispute over Georgia. The inci-dent brings to mind the Cuban Missile Crisis in October 1962 when the world came closest to a nuclear war, and which ended when American President John F. Kennedy and United Nations Secretary General U Thant reached an agreement with Soviet Premier Nikita Kruschev to dismantle Soviet missiles in Cuba in exchange for a no-invasion agreement and the removal of US missiles in Turkey. “The emerging new Cold War is starting in almost the same manner as the old one. In 1945, shortly after Ger-many surrendered to the Allies and was split into West and East Germany, Russia, fearing another invasion from Western Europe after Germany had tried to invade it three times in the last 150 years, formed a buffer zone from Western Europe by exerting its might over what later be-came known as the Iron Curtain – Bulgaria, Czechoslo-vakia, Hungary, Poland and Romania. These countries, along with the Soviet Union, formed the Warsaw Pact, the formation of which was in response to the formation of the United States-led North Atlantic Treaty Organiza-tion (NATO). (Cont. on page 13)

Beware of Russian-Chinese alliance

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THE NUCLEUS OF THE MATTER

By Val Abelgas

Shame the BIR examiners, tooBy Atty. Crispin Lozano

PAGE 5Mar. 13, 2014 - Mar. 19, 2014The San Francisco Post WORLD BRIEF

Suicide bomber kills 50, injures 166 in BaghdadHILLA, Iraq—A suicide bomber killed 50 peo-ple, including two state television employees, at a checkpoint near Baghdad Sunday, after Iraq’s premier accused Riyadh and Doha of fuelling bloodshed in the country. Iraq has been hit by a year-long surge in vio-lence that has reached levels not seen since 2008, driven principally by widespread discontent among its Sunni Arab minority and by the civil war in neighbouring Syria. Analysts and diplomats have urged the Shiite-led authorities to reach out to disaffected Sunnis, but with elections due next month, political lead-ers have not wanted to be seen to compromise and have instead pursued a hard line against militants. The suicide bomber detonated an explosives-rigged minibus during morning rush hour at a checkpoint at the northern entrance to Hilla, the confessionally mixed but mostly Shiite capital of Babil province south of Baghdad. The attack killed 37 people and wounded 166, a police lieutenant and a doctor at Hilla hospi-tal said, speaking on condition of anonymity. Among the fatalities were five policemen, two women and five children, they said.

“I saw a huge fire that covered the entire check-point and many cars nearby,” Salam Ali, who suf-

fered wounds to his chest and a hand, said from his Hilla hospital bed. “Many victims could not get out of their cars because the pressure of the explosion fused the

doors shut.” Another witness, 18-year-old Kadhim Abdul-

hussein, said he saw pieces of metal from the check-point scattered dozens of metres (yards) from the scene of the attack. Iraqiya state television said two of its employees, Muthanna Abdulhussein and Khaled Abed Thamer, were among the dead. Militants carry out frequent attacks on security forces, and also target areas where crowds gather. The check-point combined the two. Just north of Hilla, a gun at-tack on a police checkpoint left two policemen dead and four others wounded. In Abu Ghraib, west of

Baghdad, gunmen shot dead at least two soldiers and wounded one at an army checkpoint, while six attacks north of the capital killed three po-licemen and two soldiers and wounded nearly 40.

Russia weighs Ukraine talks but won’t budge on Crimea

KIEV -- Diplomatic efforts to calm the Ukraine crisis inched forward Monday, with Moscow saying it would consider Western proposals for talks on the standoff but insisting Crimea had the right to secede. Britain said Russian President Vladimir Putin had promised to meet with his foreign minister Monday to discuss the possibility of creating an “international contact group” — his first indication he may be willing to take part in the talks being pushed by the US and Germany to ease the worst East-West crisis since the Cold War. But that embryonic sign of dip-lomatic progress came against the backdrop of Putin’s recognition Sun-day of Crimea’s self-declared leaders as the breakaway peninsula’s “legiti-mate” authorities. German Chancellor Angela Merkel rebuked the Russian strongman for his comments, telling him Crimea’s planned March 16 referendum on

joining Russia was illegal. In phone calls with Merkel and Brit-ish Prime Minister David Cameron, Putin in turn accused Ukraine’s new government of failing to rein in “ul-tra-nationalist and radical forces” in the movement that swept it to power after toppling pro-Russian president Viktor Yanukovych in three months of protests. Defying Western condemnation of the referendum in Crimea, where Russia has seized de facto control, Putin said the Black Sea peninsula’s pro-Russian authorities were acting “based on international law”. But Ukraine’s new leadership got crucial backing as US President Barack Obama invited interim prime minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk to the White House on Wednesday, a meet-ing that will boost the credibility of the new government — still not recognised by Russia — and give the country a chance to iron out the details of crucial Western economic aid.

US deploys fighter jets to Poland, LithuaniaWARSAW – The United States is send-ing a dozen F-16 fighter jets to Poland as a part of a training exercise, amid con-tinuing tensions between Ukraine and Russia, the Polish defense ministry said on Sunday. Three hundred US service personnel will also be sent to Poland as part of the exercise. The deployment will be com-pleted by Thursday. Chuck Hagel, the US Secretary of State for Defense, and his Polish counterpart

Tomasz Siemoniak agreed the deploy-ment during a phone call, according to a statement from the Polish ministry. ‘‘The unit will be composed of 12 F-16 planes and will transport 300 soldiers,’’ defense ministry spokesman Jacek Sonta told AFP. The fighters had been sent following a request from Poland. The exercise was originally planned to be smaller but was increased and pushed forward because of the ‘‘tense political

situation’’ in Ukraine, added Sonta. The deployment in Poland comes af-ter Washington announced it was also sending four F-15 planes to Lithuania to strengthen surveillance in the airspace around the Baltic. According to Lithuania’s defense min-istry, the deployment was in response to ‘‘Russian aggression in Ukraine and increased military activity in Kalinin-grad,’’ the Russian exclave which bor-ders Poland and Lithuania.

TAX CORNER

Everyone has important deci-sions to make concerning

health care coverage in 2014. Starting in 2014, you must choose to either have basic health in-surance coverage (known as minimum essential coverage) for yourself and everyone in your family for each month or go with-out health care coverage for some or all of the year. If you don’t maintain health in-surance coverage, you will need to either seek an exemption or make an individual shared responsibility payment for the period that you are not covered with the 2014 in-come tax return you file in 2015. If you choose to have health care coverage, qualifying coverage in-cludes: health insurance coverage pro-vided by your employer (includ-ing COBRA and retiree coverage), health insurance coverage you purchase through a Marketplace, Medicare, Medicaid or other gov-ernment-sponsored health cover-age including programs for veter-

ans, or coverage you buy directly from an insurance company. If you purchase health insurance coverage through the Marketplace, you may be eligible for financial assistance including the premium tax credit, which will help lower the out-of-pocket cost of your monthly insurance premiums. Qualifying coverage does not include certain coverage that may provide limited benefits, such as coverage only for vision care or dental care, workers’ compensa-tion, or coverage only for a spe-cific disease or condition. If you choose to go without cov-erage or experience a gap in cov-erage, you may qualify for an ex-emption if you do not have access to affordable coverage, you have a gap of less than three consecutive months without coverage, or you qualify for one of several other exemptions. A special hardship exemption applies to individu-als who purchase their insurance through the Marketplace during the initial enrollment period but due to the enrollment process have a coverage gap at the beginning of 2014. If you (or any of your depen-dents) do not maintain coverage and do not qualify for an exemp-tion, you will need to make an individual shared responsibility

payment with your return. In gen-eral, the payment amount is either a percentage of your household income or a flat dollar amount, whichever is greater. You will owe 1/12th of the annual payment for each month you (or your de-pendents) do not have coverage and are not exempt. The annual payment amount for 2014 is the greater of: 1 percent of your household in-come that is above the tax return filing threshold for your filing sta-tus, such as Married Filing Jointly or single, or Your family’s flat dollar amount, which is $95 per adult and $47.50 per child, limited to a maximum of $285. The individual shared responsibil-ity payment is capped at the cost of the national average premium for the bronze level health plan available through the Marketplace in 2014. You will make the pay-ment when you file your 2014 federal income tax return in 2015. This article was provided by the IRS to help consumers on making tax preparation choices. Al Maglan is a CPA licensed in California and Nevada. You can contact him @ 510 432 7438. You may e-mail tax questions at amaglan@aol.com or taxsaverspro@gmail.com.

IRS Reminds Individuals of Health Care Choices for 2014

by: Alvin C. Maglan, CPA

Iraqi security forces and onlookers gather on March 9, 2014 at the site of a suicide bombing that killed at least 50 people at a checkpoint near Baghdad.

of the dead troops, all enlisted per-sonnel: Sergeant Porras; Coporals Pacionela and Jihani; Privates First Class Palma and Tanjilul; and Private Dayaday. Captain William Alfredo Rodriguez, spokesman of the 10th In-fantry Division, declined to identify the slain officer pending notification of his next of kin but said he died under-going treatment at the Digos Doctors Hospital.Wounded were Cpl. Snayatin; PFCs Lingco, Abellana, Alilaya, Pacquiao, Paranal, and Cancan; and Pvt. Samano.Troops of the 39th IB manning a checkpoint by in Barangay Savoy, also in Matanao, had earlier captured nine suspected guerrillas, who were report-edly retreating after the failed storming of the town police station.The rebels who attacked the police station left two policemen dead -- Po-lice Officer 1 Manolo Booc and PO3 Danny Moalong -- and three others -- Inspector Renato Uy, PO1 Gilbert Legaspi, and PO1 Sherwin Cadungog -- wounded.One of the three wounded policemen later died in hospital, a military state-ment later said in an updated official toll.Troops who responded killed two reb-

els, one of who was identified as Eleazar de Asis Romero.Rodriguez said the rebels

stole 10 firearms from the police ar-mory in Matanao, a hilly farming town of about 52,000 people.Earlier, Captain Alberto Caber, spokes-man of the Eastern Mindanao Com-mand, said the rebels who attacked the police station belonged to NPA Front 72.The rebels, who were clad in camou-flage uniforms, arrived on an Elf truck, a jeep and motorcycles.The Tactical Operations Group 11 of the Philippine Air Force sent two MG520 attack helicopters to provide air support for pursuing ground troops.Two UH-IH helicopters were also sent to provide support.The rebels are believed to belong to the NPA’s Front 72 Mt. Alip Command led by Felix Armodia, alias Ka Jing, who in December vowed to launch more rebel offensives.Monday’s raid came several days after another NPA unit from the Southern Mindanao Party Command exploded a landmine in the nearby town of Bansa-lan, wounding 11 soldiers of the 39th IB and five civilian members of the Davao del Sur provincial rescue and disaster management coordinating council.

(Cont. from page 1..NPAs ATTACK)

Flight MH370, carrying 239 people, took off from Kuala Lumpur at 12:41 a.m. Saturday, bound for Beijing. Authorities initially said its last contact with ground controllers was less than an hour into the flight at a height of 35,000 feet, when the plane was somewhere between the east coast of Malaysia and Vietnam. But local newspaper Berita Harian quoted Ma-laysia’s air force chief, Gen. Rodzali Daud, as saying that radar at a military base had tracked the jet as it changed its course, with the final signal at 2:40 a.m. showing the plane to be near Pulau Perak at the northern approach to the Strait of Malacca, a busy waterway that separates the western coast of Malaysia and Indonesia’s Suma-tra island. It was flying slightly lower, at around 29,528 feet, he said. “After that, the signal from the plane was lost,” he was quoted as saying. A high-ranking military official involved in the investigation confirmed the report. The official

spoke on condition of anonymity be-cause he was not authorized to disclose

sensitive information. Authorities had said earlier the plane may have tried to turn back to Kuala Lumpur, but they expressed surprise it would do so without informing ground control. The search was initially focused hun-dreds of miles (kilometers) to the east, in waters off Vietnam, with more than 40 planes and ships from at least 10 nations searching the area without finding a trace of the missing aircraft. Earlier Tuesday, Malaysia Airlines said in a statement that search-and-rescue teams had ex-panded their scope to the Strait of Malacca. An earlier statement said the western coast of Ma-laysia was “now the focus,” but the airline sub-sequently said that phrase was an oversight. It didn’t elaborate. Civil aviation chief Azharuddin Abdul Rahman said the search remained “on both sides” of Ma-

laysia.Attention will now likely focus on the condi-tion of the Boeing 777’s electronic systems as it charted its new course back toward and then across Malaysia. The United States has sent two Navy ships, at least one of which is equipped with helicopters, and a Navy P-3C Orion plane that can detect small debris in the water. It said the Malaysian government had done a “tremendous job” orga-nizing the land and sea effort. Vietnamese planes and ships also are a major component of the effort. Lt. Gen. Vo Van Tuan, deputy chief of staff of Vietnamese People’s Army, said authorities on land had also been ordered to search for the plane, which could have crashed into mountains or jungle. He said military units near the border with Laos and Cambodia had been instructed to search their regions. “So far we have found no signs ... so we must widen our search on land,” he said.

(Cont. from page 1..MYSTERY DEEPENS)

The San Francisco PostPAGE 6Mar. 13, 2014 - Mar. 19, 2014

TACLOBAN CITY—Truckloads of food aid that had gone bad was buried in an open dump in Barangay San Jose on Feb. 5 and March 6, a municipal officer of Palo, Leyte, ad-mitted Monday. Municipal Social Welfare and De-velopment Officer Nina Balderas said biscuits, cupcakes, canned goods and rice were declared un-fit for human consumption and were buried after they began to smell. Even used clothing was dumped, she said. Residents said the food aid was buried in haste in a remote village that could be reached only through an unpaved road. “It was raining almost ev-ery day here in Leyte, and when these goods were de-livered to us, the entire shipment was drenched in rainwater, so that even the canned goods were spoiled,” Balderas said. Balderas also said some of the goods were already about to expire when they were delivered. But the residents near the dump said that they suspected some irregularity because of the haste with which the

goods were buried. Barangay San Jose Councilman Eubejeldo Amolo, who lives near the dumpsite, said that last Thursday, March 6, he saw two garbage trucks of the municipality of Palo dumping sacks of rice and assorted goods in

a pit. A bulldozer immediately filled in the pit. This was the second time food aid was buried by the municipality of Palo, he said. The first was some time in Feb-ruary. After the garbage trucks left, resi-dents near the dumpsite dug up the discarded goods and brought them

home. Some said that they will feed it to their dogs, hogs and chick-ens while others said that there are items they salvaged that could still be eaten. Baldersas said relief good remained stacked in their office because

those allocated to spe-cific barangays had not yet been claimed by their barangay chair-men. Palo, Leyte, 18 ki-lometers north of Tacloban, was one of the hardest hit by super typhoon Yolanda with more than 1,000 report-ed dead and more than 200 still miss-ing. Meanwhile, residents of Tacloban who re-

ceived a 25k-kilo pack rice from the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) complained that it was 5kg lighter. Mark Simbajon, secretary general of Alyansa han mga Biktima han Bagyo Yolanda ha Tacloban (AB-BAT), said upon hearing the com-plaint, his group launched an investi-gation to find the truth.

DSWD under fire for relief ‘irregularities’

HOMELAND

Palace won’t certify FOI billMANILA -- Malacañang wants Congress to expedite the passage of the Freedom of Information bill, but President Aquino is not in a hurry to certify it as urgent.“We are one with our people in our desire to have the FOI passed, and we hope this will happen at the soonest possible time. The government is not doing anything to prevent its early passage,” Presidential Communications Operations Office Sec-retary Sonny Coloma said.But Coloma said the President is “very careful and selective” in using his power to certify bills as urgent. “He’s very cir-cumspect in the use of presidential pow-er,” the Palace official said.

House Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. is unfazed and has renewed his commit-ment for the approval of the FOI bill un-der his term.Belmonte could not give a definite date as to when the measure would be passed in the House despite the Senate’s approval of the bill on third and final reading with 22 affirmative votes on Monday night.The House chairman of the committee on public information, Rep. Jorge Almonte of Misamis Occidental, said lawmakers are under pressure to approve a “well-crafted version” that would promote transparency in all public transactions.

PH-China joint venture inEEZ ‘illegal’

MANILA, Philippines—Supreme Court Senior As-sociate Justice Antonio Carpio warns that any move by Manila to enter into joint-development ventures with Beijing over the Philippines’ 370-k i lome-ter exclusive economic zone (EEZ) will be a culpable vio-lation of the Constitution. Carpio said the basic law of the land mandated that the use and enjoyment of the country’s EEZ was exclusive only to Filipinos. “Any joint venture with China under its terms will constitute a culpable viola-

tion of the Constitution, a sellout of our national pat-rimony,” he said. Carpio spoke before the

Philippine Women’s Judges Association on March 6 about protecting the coun-try’s marine wealth in the West Philippine Sea (South China Sea), which he hoped

would be “the advocacy of every Filipino.” China’s offer to the Phil-ippines and other claimant states for joint development of disputed areas, which China has been pitching in, setting aside sovereignty is-sues, posed three problems, he said. First, China wanted to jointly develop only the EEZ of the Philippines but not that of China. “In effect, China is say-ing to the Philippines, what is exclusively China’s economic zone is China’s alone but what is exclu-sively the Philippines’ eco-nomic zone belongs both to China and the Philippines. And if the Philippines does not agree, China’s warships will be there to prevent the Philippines from exploit-ing its exclusive economic zone,” Carpio said.

People’s initiative vs pork pushedMANILA, Philippines—Bayan Muna is pursuing a people’s initia-tive to forever ban the pork barrel in all its mutations—from the Pri-ority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) to the Disbursement Accel-eration Program (DAP). Bayan Muna Rep. Carlos Isagani Zarate said the group had decided to take this route proposed by former Supreme Court Chief Justice Rey-nato Puno because the government and its congressional allies had tak-en steps to go around the Supreme Court’s ruling last November that declared the PDAF unconstitutional. Under a “people’s initiative,” pro-ponents of a constitutional amend-ment need to gather the signatures of at least three percent of the qualified

voters in each congressional district and at least 10 percent of the total voters nationwide. “The purpose of the people’s initia-tive is to forever ban the pork barrel system because it’s the main source of corruption and political patron-age,” said Zarate. Special purpose fund “The SC decision pertains to the PDAF only as part of the President’s Special Purpose Fund. But if you examine the budget, it is still full of lump sums, especially under the Of-fice of the President,” said Zarate in a text message. In December, various antipork groups and personalities held the first national assembly for the abo-lition of the pork barrel system

through a people’s initiative led by the broad alliance, #Abolish-pork Movement. Based on initial discussions, Bayan Muna Rep. Neri Col-menares said the proposed law would seek the removal of lump-sum discretionary spending and off-budget items and the return of all unobligated and unreleased funds to the General Fund to avoid a repeat of the DAP. Both Colmenares and Zarate point-ed out that the Supreme Court has yet to decide on the legality of the DAP, which was concocted by the Aquino administration as a means to transfer funds to other agencies and pet projects of lawmakers.

A nun joins the women’s advocacy group GABRIELA and victims of Typhoon Haiyan, during a International Women’s Day protest rally outside the residence of President Benigno Aquino in Quezon city, metro Manila March 8, 2014.

Social media has again created a new terminology in Selfie. Selfie

is a type of self portrait photograph typically taken with a hand held camera phone. For right now, I think even the caveman have themselves smart camera phone on their hands. In fact, last week during the Oscars, a record breaking selfie was taken by host Ellen Degeneres with the high and the mighty of Hollywood. In fact it even caused Tweeter to crash for a little bit as the picture was retweeted several million times. This week while selfie is one such hot topic, the eternal Time magazine has commissioned a study on self portrait photographs that was taken with a camera phone and posted on instagram. Lo and behold, Makati City made it on top of the list. Time’s database of over 400,000 instagram photos taken from about 459 Cities showed that the City of Makati has 258 selfie-takers per 100,000 people. Makati was able to beat Manhattan, New York; Mi-ami, Florida and even Manchester, England. Cebu City, also made it to the top 10 list at 99 selfie-takers per 100,000. This will just prove that Pi-noys have a penchant for all sorts of Photo Ops as well as Photo Bombs. …..Going back to the true state of the Philippines and talk about the Pork Barrel Scam. Let me say that on my

own opinion, there really is a scam in terms of pork barrel. The down-side though is that if you mix poli-tics into reality, everything else will crumble. Look what is happening now on the witnesses of InJustice Secretary Leila De Lima. Benhur Luy has swear that TRC Director General Dennis Cunanan took mon-ey from his Boss Janet Lim Napoles. But Cunanan has denied this which in simple terms made him a liar in the eyes of the Senate committee hearing the case which is tantamount to perjury. There are other irregular testimonies both have provided and their conflicting testimony mak-ing them both fail miserably in the credibility test. In the case of Ruby Tuason, she was declaring that all of her statements are based on personal knowledge but then again, most of her testimonies were taken from the affidavit of Benhur Luy making her testimony to crumble. If only they can eliminate the politics in this hearing and spill out all the beans and all the crooks in government. Only then can we see the real culprit of the pork barrel scam. …..MANNY PACQUIAO FOR SENA-TOR. This was announced by no less than the Vice President of our beloved Philippines Jojo Binay. With all surveys indicating that if the Presidential election is held to-day, VP Binay will be a run away winner. But since it is still a good two years anything can still happen. Meanwhile, VP Binay have already announced that he is picking Manny Pacquiao as one of his senatoriable. Is that right? Well, you may agree or you may not agree. But that is how politics is played in the Philippines. It is name recall and Manny is such a household name. Even here in the United States, people have heard of

the name Pacquiao as a boxing icon. So, as they say it strike while the iron is hot. …..LUXURY CARS. Owning a fleet of luxury cars can put you into deep trouble. That was the predicament of Delfin Lee, the fugitive real es-tate magnate and the owner of the anomalous Globe Asiatique Realty Holdings Corporation. He has sev-eral luxury vehicles whom opera-tives believe was owned by him but titled in the name of Lee’s girlfriend. His girlfriend has a Dodge Durango, a Porsche Cayenne, a Ford Expedi-tion, a Toyota Land Cruiser and a Mitsubishi Adventure. The discov-ery led to the arrest of Delfin Lee by agents of Task Force Tugis and upon verification led them to the where-abouts and eventual arrest of Delfin Lee. Hopefully, no politics this time around. …..ANDRAY BLATCHE. By approv-ing on the third and final reading for House Bill 4084, Andray Blatche is now a naturalized Filipino and will qualify to play for the Philippine Basketball team. Blatche is a 28 year old player for the NBA’s Brooklyn Nets and has averaged 11.7 points, 5.6 rebounds and 1.4 assists per game. Blatche stands at 6’11” and everyone is hoping he can deliver the way Chip Engelland, Dennis Still and Jeff Moore gave pride to the na-tional colors during the 80’s. ….. SHORTS. GMA is asking the gov-ernment for a 3 day birthday leave. Only in the Philippines! But then again why not! Nothing has been proven yet on all the accusations hurled against her…Senate Major-ity Leader Alan Peter Cayetano says that the Liberal party and his Nacio-nalista Party may join forces for the 2016 elections. Really! Maybe he re-ally is eyeing a higher position. For comments please email me at don.orozco@sf-post.com

Sel�e & Self Destruction

LET’S HAVE COFFEEBy

Don Augusto Orozco

and “violated” the code of conduct for the South China Sea. Philippines Foreign Department spokes-man Raul Hernandez later told reporters that two Chinese coastguard boats blocked the Philippine vessels and used “signboard, sirens and megaphones” to order them to leave the area. A tiny unit of marines living on a decrepit, beached Philippine naval vessel and only connected to the outside world by satellite phones has been guarding the shoal since the late 1990s amid an increasingly tense territorial dispute. Hernandez said the Philippines had been supplying its forces to the shoal for 15 years without any interference from China. Referred to by China as Ren’ai Reef and by the Philippines as the Ayungin Shoal, the Second Thomas Shoal is claimed by the Philippines, China and Taiwan. Malaysia, Brunei and Vietnam also claim other parts of the Spratlys, which lie near vital sea lanes, rich fishing grounds and are also believed to sit on vast mineral re-sources. Gang told reporters: “According to the Chinese coast guard, yesterday (its) fleets

on regular patrol found two Philippine-flagged vessels carrying construction ma-terials approaching the Ren’ai Reef. He added “The Chinese coastguard’s ves-sels spoke to the two vessels, and the two vessels left the waters around the Ren’ai Reef that afternoon.” He insisted that the Philippines had re-peatedly been asked to remove the ground-ed vessel on the reef, but had failed to do so. The incident comes amid heightened tensions between the two neighbors over their conflicting claims to territory in the South China Sea. On February 25, the Philippines for-mally protested China’s alleged use of water cannon to drive away Filipino fishermen who were approaching Scar-borough Shoal, another South China Sea outcrop about 22 kilometers from the main Philippine island of Luzon. China is embroiled in several territo-rial disputes with its neighbors includ-ing the Philippines and Japan, with tensions centered on rival claims in the South China Sea and East China Sea. The Philippine government has sought United Nations arbitration to settle the dispute, but China has rejected the move.

(Cont. from page 1..CHINA BLOCKS)

PAGE 7Mar. 13, 2014 - Mar. 19, 2014The San Francisco Post

PAGE 8Mar. 13, 2014 - Mar. 19, 2014 The San Francisco Post

PAGE 9Mar. 13, 2014 - Mar. 19, 2014

The San Francisco Post

Apple announced, this week at the Geneva International

Motor Show, that leading auto manufacturers are rolling out CarPlay, the smarter, safer and more fun way to use iPhone in the car. CarPlay gives iPhone us-ers an incredibly intuitive way to make calls, use Maps, listen to music and access messages with just a word or a touch. Users can easily control CarPlay from the car’s native interface or just push-and-hold the voice control

button on the steering wheel to activate Siri without distraction. Apple’s new Carplay will be available this week in V Fer-rari, Mercedes-Benz and Volvo. Other manufactures will bring CarPlay to their drivers down the road include BMW Group, Ford, General Motors, Honda, Hyun-dai Motor Company, Jaguar Land Rover, Kia Motors, Mit-subishi Motors, Nissan Motor Company, PSA Peugeot Citroën, Subaru, Suzuki and Toyota Mo-

tor Corp. Once iPhone is connected to a vehicle with CarPlay integration, Siri helps you easily access your con-tacts, make calls, return missed calls or listen to voicemails . When incom-ing messages or notifica-tions arrive, Siri provides

an eyes-free experience by re-sponding to requests through voice commands, by reading drivers’ messages and letting them dictate responses or simply make a call. Apple CarPlay is available as an update to iOS 7 and works with Lightning-enabled iPhones, including iPhone 5s, iPhone 5c and iPhone 5. CarPlay will be available in select cars shipping in 2014.

Apple bares CarPlay at Geneva auto show Audi offers turbocharged clean diesel in its Q5 TDI

Americans have been slow to warm to the idea of economi-

cal diesel power for everyday passenger vehicles. Memories of failed diesels in the past, the spec-ter of smelly truck stops, and the premium price of both the pow-ertrain and fuel, have pretty much stopped widespread diesel adop-tion. That’s despite the fact that a straightforward turbo-diesel pow-ertrain can improve fuel economy as much as a complex gasoline-electric hybrid. Now, however, prompted by new fuel economy mandates, diesels are finding their place in more passenger cars, pick-up trucks, and utilities.While some diesel adoption prog-ress is being made at domestic brands, the Europeans continue to lead the way in marketing modern, clean running diesels. That’s not surprising as the majority of pri-vate vehicles sold in western Eu-rope are diesel powered. Volkswagen and their Audi lux-ury brand have been especially passionate about bringing diesels to America. Now, Audi offers a

turbocharged clean diesel option in most of its family car and utility lines sold in America. Audi’s new-est clean diesel entrant is a 3.0-liter turbocharged V6, available in their flagship A8 sedan, medium weight A6, and coupe-roofed A7, along with seven-passenger Q7 and the five-passenger Q5 crossover utili-ties. While we have instantly taken to Audi’s new boosted diesel V6 in everything we’ve tried it in, it is the Q5 that seems to be the per-fect fit for the TDI. The Q5, Audi’s smallest crossover sold here for now, got a styling refresh just last year. So, the addition of the TDI this year is nothing short of icing on the cake. In the Q5, the 3.0-liter turbo-charged clean diesel V6 delivers the same 240-horsepower engine as in the A8, but with 22 lb-ft. of additional torque for a robust to-tal of 428. Helping the high mile-age cause is an 8-speed automatic transmission, and the combination is good for a towing capacity of 4,400-pounds.

IMMIGRATIONPAGE 10Mar. 13, 2014 - Mar. 19, 2014 The San Francisco Post

Many seamen came to the United States and married a U.S. citizen spouse but they

could not adjust their status to that of permanent resident. The first question to answer is: Do they have Sec. 245(i) eligibility? If they are the direct or derivative beneficiary of a peti-tion or labor certification dated April 30, 2001 or earlier and they have been in the U.S. since December 21, 2000, then they can adjust status. However, if they have no Sec. 245(i) eligibility, then the other avenue is the latest immigration procedure of PROVISIONAL WAIVER. This provisional waiver will allow the following

aliens who are married to U.S. citizens to seek waiver of unlawful presence and be able to go to their home country to apply for green card. To qualify, they must prove extreme hardship to the U.S. citizen spouse or parents if their application for perma-nent residence is denied. The beneficiaries of this provisional waiver will include:1. Seamen who entered the U.S. on a C or D visa and overstayed their visa and are not ben-eficiaries of Sec. 245(i).2. Those who entered without inspection and

are not ben-eficiaries of Sec. 245(i)3. Those who entered as Fiancée and did not marry the visa peti-tioner.4. T h o s e aliens who have lost their pass-ports and have no proof of le-gal entry to the U.S.

E l i g i b i l -ity Require-ments To be eli-gible for a provisional u n l a w f u l p r e s e n c e waiver you must fulfill ALL of the f o l l o w i n g conditions:1. Be 17 years of age or older.2. Be an immedia te relative of a U.S. citi-zen (not a preference category im-migrant who has a visa

available). An immediate relative is an individual who is the spouse, child or parent of a U.S. citi-

zen.3. Have an approved Form I-130, Petition for Alien Relative, or Form I-360, Petition for Am-erasian, Widow(er), or Special Immigrant.4. Have a pending immigrant visa case with DOS for the approved immediate relative pe-tition and have paid the DOS immigrant visa processing fee.5. Be able to demonstrate that refusal of your admission to the United States will cause ex-treme hardship to your U.S. citizen spouse or parent.6. Be physically present in the United States to file your application for a provisional unlawful presence waiver and provide biometrics.7. Not have been scheduled for an immigrant visa interview by DOS before January 3, 2013.8. Meet all other requirements for the provi-sional unlawful presence waiver, as detailed in 8 CFR 212.7(e) and the Form I-601A and its instructions.

You are not eligible for a provisional unlawful presence waiver if any of the following conditions apply to you:1. You are subject to one or more grounds of inadmis-sibility other than unlawful presence.2. DOS initially acted before January 3, 2013, to sched-ule your Immigrant Visa (IV) interview for the ap-proved immediate relative petition upon which your provisional unlawful presence waiver ap-plication is based, even if your immigrant visa interview has been canceled, you failed to ap-pear for the interview, or your interview was rescheduled on or after Jan. 3, 2013. Note: The date and time that you are scheduled to appear for your immigrant visa interview at the designated U.S. Embassy or Consulate is not the date USCIS will use to determine if you are eligible to file a Form I-601A. If DOS ini-tially acted before January 3, 2013, to schedule your immigrant visa interview, you are not eli-gible to file a Form I-601A, even if you failed to appear for your interview or if you or DOS cancelled or rescheduled your interview for a date on or after January 3, 2013. Instead, you may file a Form I-601, Applica-tion for Waiver of Grounds of Inadmissibility, from outside the United States after you have been interviewed for your immigrant visa, and the consular officer has found that you are inad-missible for a ground that may be waived.3. You are in removal proceedings that have not been administratively closed.4. At the time of filing, you are in removal pro-

ceedings that have been administratively closed but have been placed back on the EOIR calen-dar to continue your removal proceedings.5. You do not meet one or more of the require-ments, as outlined in the Form I-601A and its instructions. For more information about PROVISIONAL WAIVER please call 1-877-456-9266 for more information. He are currently processing many PROVISIONAL WAIVER applications.

SUCCESS STORIES1. On January 24, 2014, we received another approval for waiver of misrepresentation from the Immigration Court for an alien who entered as single but actually married.2. On January 14, 2014, we received an approval from USCIS of a green card under law on Registry for a person who has been in the U.S. since be-fore 1972. 3. On January 6, 2014, we received an approval of waiver of misrepresentation from Immigration Judge for a client who entered as single but actually married.4. On November 21, 2013, we received an ap-proval from USCIS for adjustment of status un-der SAME SEX MARRIAGE.5. On November 14, 2013, we received an ap-proval of adjustment of status from Immigra-tion Judge for a client who was originally de-nied adjustment by USCIS.6. On November 4, 2013, we received an ap-proval of waiver of misrepresentation from the Immigration Judge for a client who entered the U.S. as single but actually married.7. On October 24, 2013, we received an ap-proval by an Immigration Judge on the review of I-751 Application to Remove Condition on Residence that was previously denied by US-CIS.8. On October 2, 2013, we received an approval of adjustment of status based on SAME SEX MARRIAGE.9. On June 3, 2013, we received an approval from USCIS of a petition that continued despite the death of the petitioner under Public law 111-83. Crispin Caday Lozano is an active member of the State Bar of California, the American Immigration Lawyers Association and the National Association of Consumers Bankruptcy Attorneys. He specializes in immigration law and bankruptcy law. He earned his Juris Doctor at Western State University College of Law in Fullerton, California. He is also a Certified Public Accountant, a Real Estate Broker and a Bach-elor of Business Administration Cum Laude graduate. He has offices in San Francisco, Hayward, San Jose, and Cerritos, California. You can contact him at 1-877-456-9266. Email questions to crispinlozano@gmail.com/. Visit our website at www.crispinlozano-law.com.

May a seaman adjust status?By Atty. Crispin C. Lozano

PAGE 11Mar. 13, 2014 - Mar. 19, 2014The San Francisco Post AROUND TOWN

The Vallejo Ballet School , is the official school of the Vallejo Association and home

of the Vallejo Ballet Company, was founded in 1985 and is recognized as one of the area’s best.

Diane Shaver heads a distinguished faculty of experienced Professionals who gently guide students in a carefully structured Sequences of training with the understanding that every child is Unique. Ms. Shaver began training at the age of 8 with well known local Dance instructor Lodena Edgcumbe and by the age of 19 was Invited to tour with San Francisco’s Ballet Celeste, under the Direction of Marian Lanova, Ms. Shaver has been dancing and Teaching professionally for over 30 years. Vallejo Ballet School offers a variety of pro-grams / services, some are the following:Curriculum The program takes the student from his or her introduction to The art of dance to the profes-

sional levels required for performance.Particular consideration is given to the age and physical development Of each student.Joy of Dance (ages 2 ½ -5)

An introduction to simple movements of dance , tumbling and singing. Utilizes role play-ing and use of props to encourage natural imagination, creativity and individual talents. Technique is not a part of early dance Train-ing.V a l l e j o J u n i o r Ballet Prepares the six to seven year old to make the transit ion into classi-cal Levels

of dance by introducing basic dance techniques and more advanced ver-sion of familiar material. Training Method Ballet classes are based on the detailed scientific training of the Russian Method of Vaganova. Recognized as the most comprehensive of all Teaching methods designed to develop techni-cal skill as well as artistic and musical expres-siveness. Classical Ballet When the child has reached the age of eight , the bones are sufficiently ossified and muscles strong enough for the sustained physical work

of Classical ballet . It is between the ages of eight and twelve that basic Physical and mental patterns of dance are set.Demi pointe A long time standard requirement in the teach-ing methods of European Schools such as the Royal Ballet and Paris Opera Ballet , the Demi Pointe Class prepares students for pointe work. The recommended level Is one or two years prior to the first pointe class. Demi Pointe is a class For the serious dancer in the preparation

for pointe work and is a vital Part of the train-ing and technical development.Pointe The average age of eleven to thirteen with two to four years of training (ideally twice to four times per week) is required before a student should Be allowed to begin pointe . damage to bones structure and bad technical Habits can

be result of wear-ing pointe shoes too soon.E v a l u a -tion Every s t u d e n t s ‘progress is evaluat-

ed at the end of each se-m e s t e r ( J a n u -ary And june ) , and ad-v a n c e -ment are m a d e at those times.Vallejo B a l l e t c o m -pany To provide for the more serious student be-tween the ages of 12 and 17, the school has established a small, non- profit performing company Who curriculum closely parallels

that of major ballet schools in the Country. The Vallejo Ballet Company presents serveral minor performances each year with one major repertory production in the fall. If you are interested in their services, you can visit them at 411 Tuolmne Street Vallejo, CA 94590 or call them at 707-557-5979.

Vallejo Ballet School- Making it Come True!

Diane Shaver and her cute students from The Vallejo Ballet School

UDMC BAY AREA. A handful of Nurses celebrated the birthday of their UDMC (Unit-ed Doctors Medical Center) schoolmate Wendell Cuenco (seated 5th from left) at a classy Isla Restaurant. He was joined in by alumnus (from left) Maricar Pasion, Nenita Miller, Edith Ringpis, Mayla Capili, Wendell and couple Mercy and Leo De Ocampo. All of them refused to to divulge the school year they graduated.

MARIANO FAMILY. This is what the picture tell us all. One happy family celebrating the recent holiday season. From left is Father Rene, April Joy, Ian, Mother Gigi, Regina and her fiance Mark Baldo.

One of the beautiful studentof Vallejo Ballet School

PAGE 12Mar. 13, 2014 - Mar. 19, 2014 SPORTS The San Francisco Post

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MANNY Pacquiao just laughed off Timothy Bradley’s ritual of not taking a shower one week before a fight. The two boxers are set to clash for the second time with Bradley’s World Boxing Organi-zation welter-weight belt on the line on April 12 at the MGM Grand in Las Ve-gas Nevada. Pac-quiao, 35, aims to avenge his contro-versial split deci-sion loss to Bradley in June 2012. Pacquiao’s long time adviser Mike Koncz said that the Filipino boxing legend is not both-ered by the unbeat-en American’s unusual practice. “It’s just like Manny’s Mexican archrival Juan Manuel Marquez’s ritual of drinking his own urine be-fore he fights,” Koncz told The Ma-nila Times in a phone interview from General Santos on Friday. “It’s all superstitious and nothing.”Bradley (31-0 win-loss record with 12 knockouts) revealed in a recent interview his unique pre-fight prac-tice, “I don’t know why, that’s one

thing I don’t do [taking a shower],” Bradley told ABS CBN News North America. “The week, Monday,

Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, I don’t take a shower. Saturday, that’s when I take a shower for the first time.” When interviewed by ABS CBN news on the matter, Pacquiao (55-5-2 slate with 38 knockouts) just re-plied: “I have no any comment on that, but you need to take a bath to avoid a stinky smell.” Koncz also said that team Pacquiao is set to fly to the United States today for the next phase of PacMan’s training at the Wild Card gym of coach Freddie Roach

who celebrated his 54th birthday on March 5. “We’re hoping to see a different outcome in the fight since we’re see-ing the aggressive Pacquiao,” Koncz said. “He is also set to meet new dif-ferent sparring partners there.” Pacquiao has so far sparred with unbeaten Lydell Rhodes and looks forward to working with additional spar mates Steve Forbes, Kendall Holt and Mexican Speedy Gonzales.

Pacquiao laughs off Bradley’s ‘no-shower’ pre-bout ritual

s a i d t h e

delegation has been looking specifically at certain industries such as agriculture and agribusiness, shipbuilding, green projects, creative services, tourism, energy, infra-structure, franchising, design/architecture, technology, disaster management, business process outsourcing and IT-enabled servic-es, furniture, food processing and service sectors.There are also talks of setting up regional offices in the Philippines.Yao said he cited the policy direction of PCCI to attract investments in projects that would see the establishment of world-class manufacturing facilities in the Philippines.For instance, investors would benefit from a strategic, competitive location to serve both the Philippine and Asean integrated economy and be assured of a steady stream of talents, Yao explained.On the other hand, investments in manu-

facturing would create more jobs, generate higher salaries for Filipinos, and support economic growth of neighborhood sup-pliers of products and services, he further said.The PCCI, along with the Department of Trade and Industry, has already committed to help prospective investors to identify Philippine companies who could be their potential business partners, as well as to assist them in starting and operating their businesses in the country.Mark Chaler, director for international trade and commerce of San Francisco, meanwhile said that the biotechnology, clean technology and high technology in-dustries of his city would like to do busi-ness in the Philippines, given its huge availability of skilled talents.Manila and San Francisco, he added, could also avail themselves of the sister-city agreement signed recently between Lee and Manila Mayor Joseph Estrada.

(Cont. from page 1..SF TRADERS)

MANILA — Should Barangay Ginebra’s prized rookie center Greg Slaughter and San Miguel Beer athletic wingman Marcio Lassiter be stripped of their licenses to play in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) for turning down an invi-tation to join the Gi-las Pilipinas national team for the FIBA (International Basket-ball Federation) World Cup in Spain and the Asian Games in Ko-rea? The head of the House committee on games and amuse-ment, Cavite Rep. El-pidio Barzaga, thinks so. “The Games and Amusement Board (GAB) should not issue license to play to those PBA players who were selected to play for the Philippine team but re-fused to join and play invoking flimsy reasons. On ac-count of their popularity and glamorous standing, there are some PBA players who conveniently forget service to country like carrying the Philippine colors in the forthcoming FIBA championship in Spain scheduled in August this year,” said Barzaga in a text message. “They should be reminded that professional basketball is subject to regulation by the state and disservice to the country would be a valid ground for the govern-ment not to issue a license to them to play in the PBA.” Both Slaughter and Lassiter, who have played for the

Gilas team under former coah Raiko Toroman even be-fore they entered the PBA, claimed that they did not want to ease out the core players of the team, which

finished sec-ond to Iran in the FIBA Asia C h a m p i o n -ship held in the country last year. “I’m just here to say that I’m not joining Gi-las. I’m very honored to be selected for that, but for the past four years of experience there, I know the feeling of

new people coming in on something you have started, and having that pressure of not knowing the roster spots,” said the 6-foot-11 center from Cebu. “To me personally, it was so hard for me to take away from the players who deserve it, to the guys who actually played there. They’ve been through the battles and the wars and a lot of them deserve it, and I feel like they have some unfinished busi-ness in Spain. If I’m in the same position as them and someone will take away my spot, it’ll be hard to give up something that is rightfully theirs, so that’s the reason why I’m withdrawing my name from the pool,” said Lassiter, a Filipino-Ameri-can.

GAB urged to scrap licenses of cagers who refused to join Gilas

Greg Slaughter and Marcio Lassiter

WASHINGTON – E-cigarettes, promoted as a way to quit regular cigarettes, are actually associated with higher odds of cigarette smok-ing among US teens, US researchers said Thursday. Researchers from the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) examined survey data from middle and high school students who com-pleted a US youth tobacco survey in 2011 and 2012. The study of nearly 40,000 youth found that e-cigarette use among the adolescents doubled between 2011 and 2012, from 3.1 percent to 6.5 percent. The study, published in the U.S. journal JAMA Pediatrics, showed that adolescents who used the devic-es were more likely to smoke ciga-rettes and less likely to quit smoking.The study’s cross-sectional nature didn’t allow the researchers to iden-tify whether most youths initiated with conventional cigarettes or e-cigarettes. “Despite claims that e-cigarettes are helping people quit smoking, we found that e-cigarettes were associ-ated with more, not less, cigarette smoking among adolescents,” said lead author Lauren Dutra, a post-doctoral fellow at the UCSF Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education. “E-cigarettes are likely to be gate-way devices for nicotine addiction

among youth, opening up a whole new market for tobacco,” she said.E-cigarettes are battery-powered devices that look like cigarettes and deliver an aerosol of nicotine and other chemicals. Promoted as safer alternatives to cigarettes and smoking cessation aids, the devices are rapidly gaining popularity among adults and youth in the U.S. and around the world. Unregulated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, e- cigarettes have been widely promoted by their manufacturers as a way for people to

quit smoking convention-al cigarettes. They

are sold in flavors such as choc-

o l a t e and straw-berry that are banned in con-ventional ciga-rettes because of their appeal to youth. “It looks to me like the wild west marketing of e-cig-arettes is not only encour-a g i n g

youth to smoke them, but also it is promoting regular cigarette smoking among youth,” said senior author Stanton Glantz, UCSF professor of medicine and director of the Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education. The new results are consistent with a similar study of 75,000 Ko-rean adolescents published last year by UCSF researchers, which also found that adolescents who used e-cigarettes were less likely to have stopped smoking conventional ciga-rettes. In combination, the two studies suggest that “e-cigarettes may con-tribute to nicotine addiction and are unlikely to discourage conventional cigarette smoking among youths,” the researchers wrote in their paper. In a related editorial, Frank Cha-

loupka of the University of Illi-nois at Chicago, said the rapid rise in the use of e-cigarettes

has stimulated a vigorous debate in the tobacco

control community over the devic-

es’ potential p u b l i c

h e a l t h impact a n d

a b o u t how best to reg-ulate them.

HEALTHE-cigarettes liked to high odds of

smoking among US teens

quit smoking convention-al cigarettes. They

are sold in flavors such as choc-

o l a t e and straw-berry that are banned in con-ventional ciga-rettes because of their appeal to youth. “It looks to me like the wild west marketing of e-cig-arettes is not only encour-a g i n g

In combination, the two studies suggest that “e-cigarettes may contribute to nicotine addiction and are unlikely to discourage conventional cigarette smoking among youths,” the researchers wrote in their paper. In a related editorial, Frank Cha

loupka of the University of Illinois at Chicago, said the rapid rise in the use of e-cigarettes

has stimulated a vigorous debate in the tobacco

control community over the devic

es’ potential p u b l i c

h e a l t h impact a n d

a b o u t how best to regulate them.

PAGE 13Mar. 13, 2014 - Mar. 19, 2014The San Francisco Post SHOWBIZ

James Yap has message for Kris’ new loveBasketball superstar James Yap would like to thank the person who is responsible for the positive “aura” of his ex-wife Kris Aquino. In an interview with “Buzz ng Bayan” aired on Sunday, Yap said the actress-host looks at peace now and he just wants to tell her special someone to continue making her happy. “Ipagpatuloy mo. Mahalin mo si Kris. Ipagpatuloy mo na masaya siya lagi and ipagpe-pray ko kayo,” he said. Noting that it’s hard not to notice Aquino’s positive aura, Yap quipped: “Blooming na blooming kaya sabi ko ‘In love ka ah.’ Iba ‘yung aura. Masayahin siya, ibang iba sa dati. Dati talagang aso’t pusa (kami) eh. Ngayon iba na.” Aquino revealed last week that she is in love, but re-quested that the man, who she did not identify, be given privacy. Last Wednesday, the former couple settled the visita-

tion and custody of their son, James “Bimby” Yap Jr., at the Makati Regional Trial Court with presiding judge Cristina Sulit. According to Sulit, both parties agreed that Bimby will visit Yap regularly, once a week, start-ing March 7. While admitting that he was surprised by how fast they reached the agreement, Yap said: “Thank you sa kanya na kumbaga okay na lahat. Hindi na kami magkagalit. Sana tuloy-tuloy na. Good luck sa ‘yo. Stay healthy, stay lovely, stay in love.” Now that he can see his son regularly, Yap reported that he is enjoying his currently relationship with his son. “Ito ‘yung pinakamasaya na pagsasama namin [ni Bimby] dahil ibang iba rin. Nakikipagkuwentuhan na, nakikipaglaro. Tuwang tuwa ako nung hinawakan niya ‘yung phone ko tapos may hinanap siyang game. Tuwang tuwa ako [nung sumakay siya sa akin sa likod]. Sabi ko ang sarap [ng pakiramdam],” he said.

Cristine Reyes has no time for romance just now

“It’s my choice to be single for two years,” said actress Cristine Reyes. But she admitted that she has a new admirer in Gilas Pilipinas basket-ball player Kevin Alas. The “Honesto” star said work was a big fac-tor in that decision. “Saan ko pa isisingit ang love? ” Aside from “Honesto,” Reyes is a regular on the Sunday variety show “ASAP.” She is also working on a movie titled “The Gifted,” with costars Anne Curtis and Sam Milby. She is “interested” in the cager, Reyes con-fessed. “He’s nice to me,” she told the Phil-ippine Daily Inquirer. “However, I can’t tell if he’s courting me or not.” Alas always posts comments on her Insta-gram account, she revealed. “He likes up-loading photos with his little brother. Weak-ness ko ’yon; I’m fond of kids. He has also invited me to watch him play. ”But, Reyes reiterated, “If Kevin can wait for two years, that would be better.” The Kapamilya star denied the rumor that she has reconciled with actor Rayver Cruz, a former boyfriend. “We hang out a lot be-cause we live in the same neighborhood,” she said. “Some people just can’t accept the idea that one can be friends with an ex.” She insisted that she has likewise maintained friendships with two other exes, actors Derek Ramsay and Dennis Trillo. “I can discuss any-thing with Derek… and I’m still close to Den-nis’ family.” Reyes recently treated her mom, Frances Klenk, and siblings to a trip to Hong Kong to celebrate her 25th birthday. All is well between her and her older sister, actress Ara Mina, she clarified. The two had a huge squabble last year that resulted in Mina filing a libel case against her. Reyes claimed she has become more mature. “I rebelled,” she confessed. “I was angry because I felt

my whole family lied to me. I didn’t know who my real par- ents were until I was in grade school.” She would rather n o t discuss the i s - sue further,

so as not to hurt her b i o l o g i -cal mom and foster p a r e n t s , she said.

“What’s important is that everything has been settled. I support both families.”Reyes added: “I feel bad that Ate Ara and I fought. I

FilAm actor Reggie Lee and an ‘aswang’ on NBCLOS ANGELES – Don’t look now but the Filipino “aswang” or “tiktik” made a special appearance on NBC’s “Grimm” episode titled “Mommy Dearest” on Friday, March 7. In an exclusive inter-view, Filipino-American actor Reggie Lee, who portrays Sgt. Wu in the top-rated show, revealed how the Filipino ”as-wang” made it on the show. He disclosed, “The creators asked me if I knew any Filipino folk-lore and I said yes! A lot! I gave them the top three that I knew of and they chose the ‘aswang,’ spe-cifically the ‘tiktik.’” The “aswang,” a ghoulish figure, is a shape-shifter that is half-vampire, half-animal. “I also gave them the Duwende (dwarf) and the Manananggal (the man-eating, blood-sucking monster or witch),” Reggie said. Reggie (who has also appeared in “Pris-

on Break,” “Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End,” “The Dark Knight Rises,”

“Safe,” “Here Comes the Boom” and “Life As We Know It”), noted how show writer Brenna Kouf “did a fantastic job with this story.” He said, “Brenna did all the research. I was anxious to see how close to the story they remained and they were quite accurate. I think she has done Filipinos proud with this one. I believe this is her first script and I cannot say enough how amazing the story is. It was a perfect emotional showcase for my character.” Sgt. Wu, in fact, seems to be affected emotionally and

mentally by his experience with the “as-wang.” Reggie said, “I will definitely have a lot of questions following this experience. It will linger in subsequent episodes. It’s still to be answered though whether he believes or doesn’t believe at the end of it all.” – Janet Nepales/Manila Bulletin

‘Terrified’ Vhong makes tearful return on‘It’s Showtime’

A TEARFUL Vhong Navarro admitted he was terrified to return to the noontime program ‘It’s Showtime,’ after a mauling incident last Janu-ary 22 left him seriously injured. Speaking on Saturday, the 37-year-old come-dian explained to the ‘madlang people’ (com-mon people) that he doesn’t know if can revert back to his former cheerful self. “Ang sarap pong pumasok kasi parang bahay po ito kasi pantay-pantay tayong lahat. Wala pong mayaman, wala pong mahirap, wala pong si-kat, wala pong hindi,” he said. “Pero ngayon po at sa mga susunod pang araw, hindi ko po nararamdaman ‘yun. Hindi ko po alam kung paano ako nakakatayo ngayon dito sa ha-rapan ninyo. Natatakot po ako eh. Natatakot po ako sa lahat ng mga pinagdadaanan ko sa buhay ko. Hindi ko alam kung kaya kong mag-ing ‘yun dating makulit, dating masayahin pero susubukan ko po.” Navarro was mauled by a group led by busi-nessman Cedric Lee and model Deniece Corne-jo inside a condominium unit in Taguig after he allegedly raped Cornejo. He denied raping her and has since filed criminal complaints against those involved in the mauling.

The comedian then proceeded to thank his fans for their prayers and well-wishes, adding that their support played a huge part in his decision to return to the noontime program. “Namiss ko po kayo lahat madalang people. Gustong gusto ko magpasalamat sa inyo ng

personal dahil patuloy kayong sumusuporta sa akin, pinag-tatanggol niyo ako, pinanini-walaan niyo ako at pinagdada-sal niyo ako,” he said. “Yun po ang dahilan kaya ako nanatiling matatag, ‘yun din po ang dahilan kung bakit ako nakatayo sa harap ninyo ngayon at ‘yun din po ang da-hilan kaya gustong gusto ko na magtrabaho dahil yun po ako eh. Gustong gusto ko magpa-saya ng tao.” He also thanked the heads of ABS-CBN, the National Bu-reau of Investigation, his legal

counsel, and his friends in other networks. He also thanked his doctor, saying in jest: “Hanggang ngayon, pango pa rin ako. Hindi daw po bagay sa akin ang matangos ang ilong. Salamat doc, walang pagbabago, balik sa dati.”Navarro is expected to make his full return to the noontime program on Monday. He only ap-peared for a few minutes towards the end of the show on Saturday.

Vhong Navarro

Fil-Am Actor Reggie Lee

-tor in that decision. “Saan ko pa isisingit ang

Aside from “Honesto,” Reyes is a regular on the Sunday variety show “ASAP.” She is also working on a movie titled “The Gifted,” with

ippine Daily Inquirer. “However, I can’t tell if

-

Reyes recently treated her mom, Frances lings to a trip to Hong Kong to celebrate

her 25th birthday. All is well between her and her older

in grade school.” She would rather n o t discuss the i s - sue further,

so as not to hurt her b i o l o g i -cal mom and foster p a r e n t s , she said.

“With the Soviets ready to extend its sphere of influence to Greece and Turkey in 1947 – with the Greeks in the midst of a civil war and the Turks needing help to modernize its society -- then US Undersecretary of State Dean Acheson called on Con-gress to come to the assistance of the two countries, arguing that if these countries fall into the hands of the communists, the neighboring nations would also subsequently fall. This later became known as the Domino Theory. “Thus, the Cold War intensified as the two major victors of the Second World War raced to claim the spoils of war. The Cold War was character-ized by satellite wars, foremost of which were the Korean War and the Vietnam War. The score was tied in the Korean War, with Korea being divided into North and South Korea, but the communists prevailed in the Vietnam War, with Hanoi overpow-ering Saigon after the US abandoned its ally. “The Cold War also saw the emer-gence of the Nuclear Arms Race, with both the Soviets and the Ameri-cans battling to have more and supe-rior nuclear bombs; the Space Race, which was dominated by the Soviets early on until the Americans beat them to the moon; the close calls to disaster during the Bay of Pigs Inva-sion and the Cuban Missile Crisis; and the calming policy that came to be known as détente.

“The Cold War put the world constantly on the edge of fear

and devastation for 45 years while the two superpowers expanded their spheres of influence to wide parts of the globe and threatened to annihi-late each other. “…A couple of years later, the arms race came to an end and Gorbachev abandoned the Brezhnev Doctrine, which declared that no satellite country in Eastern Europe would be allowed to defect. Within months, democratic movements emerged in these Iron Curtain countries and their authoritarian governments fell one by one, ironically like dominoes. The Cold War ended where it started, with the tearing down of the Berlin Wall in November 1989 and the re-unification of the two Germanys. “With Russia now trying to cre-ate another buffer zone around its southern borders, and the United States racing to exert influence over these former Soviet republics around the Caspian Sea, which incidentally hold a huge reserve of oil and natural gas and host major oil pipelines to the East and to Central Asia, it was inevitable that history would repeat itself. “… Unlike the first Cold War, the Second Cold War is not a race for political influence but is a battle for the world’s dwindling oil and gas reserves. It is not coincidental that it started in an area where vast oil and gas reserves sit – the Caspian Sea region. And it’s not merely symbolic

that Russia has decided to intensify it by sending a part of its naval fleet to oil-rich Venezuela. “The Second Cold War’s satellite wars will not be fought in Korea or Vietnam, but is now being fought in Iraq and soon in Iran, both oil-producing countries. Don’t expect rebellions and skirmishes in Cuba. They will occur in oil-producing countries, such as Venezuela, Geor-gia, Azerbaijan, Iran, and possibly the oil-rich region of Brunei, Indo-nesia, the Spratlys in the China Sea, and Mindanao.” Add Ukraine, which is rich on loil and gas deposits, to that list now. This new version of the Cold War would be more troubling for the world because Xi Jin-ping, the new leader of China - Russia’s resurgent ally - shares the same dream of Putin – to revive the glory of ancient Chi-na. Because of this, the world should beware of the emerging Russian-Chinese alliance, which could be the modern counterpart of the German-Japan alliance of World War II. It is even more troubling for the Philippines, which is now locked in dispute over the oil-rich Spratlys archipelago in the South China Sea. With the focus and forces of its big-gest ally and defender, the United States, divided between containing Russia and China, the Philippines has so much at stake in the current crisis unfolding in the Ukraine. We can expect China to intensify its bullying in the coming weeks. (valabelgas@aol.com)

(Cont. from page 4..THE NUCLEUS)

PAGE 14Mar. 13, 2014 - Mar. 19, 2014 CLASSIFIED The San Francisco Post

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Aries March 20 - April 18Your mind isn’t likely to be on the job today. That could cause a number of problems. You might be feeling especially romantic. At lunch, buy some clothes you feel are espe-cially flattering and then enjoy your evening!Taurus April 19 - May 19A renewed sense of physical vigor could have you plunging with determination into whatever projects you need to do today. However, your mind won’t really be on them, Taurus, as you could be feeling especially passionate now.Gemini May 20 - June 19You’re in a romantic mood today, Gemini. You’re more likely to notice attractive strang-ers you pass on the street, and attract ad-miring glances from them! Racy novels and movies could seem more appealing than usual, and you might do some window-shopping for sensual products.Cancer June 20 - July 21An evening at home with your sweetheart could seem very appealing today, Can-cer. Sex and romance are very much on your mind, and you might surprise your-self with how Earthy you feel. Leo July 22 - August 21Communication with a significant other might hit a brick wall, and you may not be able to get through. Money could be coming in the mail, Leo, but probably won’t arrive today. Virgo August 22 - September 21You are passionate by nature, Virgo, but the strength of your desires might surprise even you today. You’re feeling especially romantic and even sexier than usual.Libra September 22 - October 21

Communications with family members and others should be clear, honest, and loving. Although your physical passions may be surging beneath the surface today, Libra, they’re still very much present.Scorpio October 22 - November 20A phone call from your sweetheart might bring out your passionate, romantic side today, Scorpio. You’ll probably have a lot to do, and therefore not be able to meet with him or her until late.Sagittarius November 21 - December 20As someone who tends to operate through your intellect, Sagittarius, you might be surprised by the surge of ro-mantic passion that comes your way at this time.Capricorn December 21 - January 18You’re a born romantic by nature, Capricorn, but today you’re likely to think more in terms of physical passion than idealized romance. You’re likely to be especially concerned with your appearance, and might want to go for a professional makeover or buy some new clothes. Aquarius January 19 - February 17Even if you aren’t romantically involved, Aquarius, you’re likely to feel especially pas-sionate today and anxious to schedule an intimate evening with someone who’s caught your eye.Pisces February 18 - March 19While you are Earthy by nature and enjoy physical passion, Pisces, this might seem even more pronounced today. Racy novels and movies could be especially appealing. You may want to plan a romantic evening with a lover. If you don’t have one, don’t be surprised if an old friend suddenly looks very sexy!

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CROSSWORD PUZZLETo solve a Sudoku puzzle, place a num-ber into each box so that each row across, each column down, and each small 3x3 square within the larger dia-gram (there are 9 of these) will contain every number from 1 through 9. In oth-er words, no number will appear more than once in any row, column, or small-er 3x3 square. Working with the num-bers already given as a guide, complete each diagram with the missing numbers that will lead to the correct solution.

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PAGE 15Mar. 13, 2014 - Mar. 19, 2014The San Francisco Post

PAGE 16Mar. 13, 2014 - Mar. 19, 2014 The San Francisco Post