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For the past 17 years, The Filipino Express has provided the Filipino American community the best news, arts and entertainment coverage from around the United States and the Philippines.
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This website includes selected articles from this week's edition of the Filipino Express. Not all the stories published in the printed version appear on this site.
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NOW that the smoke of battle in the hotly contested Philippine Independence Day Committee Inc. election has cleared, it is now time for the bloodied combatants to pick up their battered bodies and weary souls and start thinking about rebuilding the divided and tension-wracked organization.
There is a time for everything, even the Bible tells us so, “there’a time to sow, a time to reap.” There’s a time to destroy, a time to build. There’s a time for campaigning and tear each other down, and there’s a time for unity and for working together.
You can announce all your virtues and qualifications all you want, even paint your opponents as the devil incarnate all you want, but as soon as the votes are cast and the voting public have spoken, it’s time to drop the fighting stance and offer your hands as a gesture of reconciliation and willingness to work together. All the animosity and enmity generated in the heat of campaigning should be left in the battlefield.
The victors should be magnanimous and humble enough to allow the losing contenders the opportunity to contribute to the tasks ahead. The losers should be brave enough to accept defeat and gracious enough to put aside their differences and agree to work with their erstwhile rivals.
Because after all that’s said and done, the bottomline is service, service to the community. You run for elective positions in organizations, or morseso for public office, the presumption is that you are doing that because you want to serve; you want to offer your time and talent (and sometimes even your own resources) to help the organization, its members, or in the case of public office, the community at large.
If the motivation in seeking an elective position is truly service, then there is no reason why election rivals cannot set aside personal diiferences and work together to achieve common goals. No ego is big enough to stand in the way of the desire to serve.
Unless of course, the motive in running is not service but personal aggrandizement. In such a case, service to the community is merely a campaign slogan, hollow to the core.
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Say it ain’t so, Noli (In English, please)
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SOME people are smarter than others. While others are luckier.
But there are much fewer good men and women than those smarty-pants and lucky ones combined. As the Bible says, “... For many are called, but few are chosen.” —Matthew 22:13, 14.
Belonging to the smarter category is President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo; among the luckier ones is Vice President Noli L. De Castro.
When she reconsidered running for presidency, it appeared that Mrs. Arroyo used the guile of a Filipino sabungero (cock fighter). Some smart sabungeros are known for fielding their injured gamecocks in cockpits only to place bets on their favored competition.
Noli Has No Capacity to Govern
So, when Mrs. Arroyo realized early on that she was facing a formidable foe, Fernando Poe, Jr., she gazed back at her cards. And it was not a hard decision for her to make. She plucked out as her running mate no other than the survey front-runner Kabayan Noli de Castro, who could wreck havoc on the majority voters -- the “C” and “D” masses of voters -- Poe depended on.
But Mrs. Arroyo chose Noli not only for his strength -- Noli’s popularity among the millions of radio and television viewers. But also for Noli’s weakness -- Noli’s lack of capability to govern!
Although, the personal bio-data of De Castro says he completed a bachelor’s degree in Commerce, Major in Banking and Finance at Manila’s University of the East, the 56-year-old former news reader has cultivated a reputation that he could not express himself in one of the Philippines’ two official languages -- English.
No English Interview, Please
Long before De Castro contemplated to run for public office in the late 1990s, I already heard rumors that when his employer, the communication giant ABS-CBN, assigned him to Australia to interview a member of Australia’s parliament, De Castro called off the interview after he realized that he could not ask questions in Australia’s official language, English.
A more recent account I learned from a witness is that in one of the official functions he attended in the Philippines, Mr. De Castro as vice president was seated in the center of the presidential table. He was sandwiched by two Caucasians, who, I suspect, speak English. Seated at one extreme end of the table was a Filipino. For two hours, the witness said, Noli did not talk to his two Caucasian seatmates. They were just staring at each other. But Noli carried a conversation in Tagalog from time to time, to the Filipino seated at the end of the table as he wiggled back his chair.
If these accounts are true, then, Noli, a fellow islander of my wife in Mindoro, should hire an English instructor, who can teach him a crash course in spoken English. I don’t see anything wrong with Noli taking up a continuing course in English as a second language. Or he should watch a lot of English movies in the privacy of his home or office.
Noli, an Anglophobe?
If not, he can break tradition by hiring a translator in his interaction with English speakers, like other heads of state do. But he has to take that first step -- an embarrassing step -- of admitting publicly that he does not speak English. He will have to summon all his courage to make this admission that it was “a lapse in judgment” in his part when he did not listen to his teacher in English or refused to attend a remedial class in English.
Of couse, this is something Arroyo would not like to see happen. As Noli could gain the confidence in speaking English, he could gain the trust of the Filipino people. By then, Mrs. Arroyo will start to have insecurity in her presidency.
Or he can say that as a Filipino nationalist, he did not like to be an Anglophone because it would not cure the ills of his nation. So, he would rather be an Anglophobe than an Anglophile.
But if Noli goes on denial, then, no amount of rallies and public outcries for her resignation will force Mrs. Arroyo’s hand to resign the presidency.
It is unfortunate that the Filipino people equate knowledge of the English language to the capability to govern a country.
But if he wants to play smart by pretending that he knows how to speak English by not publicly admitting it, then, the Filipino people will not yet be quite ready to anoint him as a replacement for Mrs. Arroyo, who is much smarter than him.
Regrettable Decision
Come to think of it, when EDSA People Power II threatened at the gates at Malacanang, people were warm to the assumption of then Vice President Arroyo to replace the embattled President Estrada because people knew that Mrs. Arroyo was capable to succeed Mr. Estrada. Among others, people knew that because Mrs. Arroyo can speak English, they thought Mrs. Arroyo would be a good president. A decision the Filipino people now seem to regret.
(lariosa_jos@sbcglobal.net)
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How to handle your visa interview
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DEAR Atty. Gurfinkel:
I am very anxious and nervous about my interview at the US Embassy, which is in a few weeks. I am truly entitled to my visa (I haven’t committed any fraud), but I have heard a lot of stories about the interview.
I really want to do well and avoid problems at my interview. How can I best increase my chances of success at the interview?
Very truly yours,
WB
Dear WB:
Of course, no one can “guarantee” that a visa will be issued to anyone, regardless of how a person feels or conducts himself or herself at an interview. Only a Consul can issue a visa after being fully satisfied that all the legal requirements have been met by the visa applicant. However, here are a few tips, which might help in proving your eligibility for a visa at the interview.
1. You should resist the temptation to tell your whole life story and family history to the Consul in response to every question he asks. Consuls are extremely busy and have a lot of interviews to conduct throughout the day. They don’t have time to listen to a long story in response to a short question. When Consuls ask questions, they are simply trying to determine your eligibility for the visa, per the requirements set forth in the US immigration laws.
2. Stick to the subject and get straight to the bottom line in your answers. Sometimes, the Consul will ask a question calling for a “yes” or “no” answer. If that is the case, then answer the question directly, and don’t go around in circles with answers that do not address the questions being asked. In other words, be brief with your answers, but make sure they address and satisfy the Consul’s concerns. Of course, if an answer requires an explanation, then you should provide that explanation, but make sure you get to the point.
3. Listen to the Consul’s question before you start answering. If you start talking before his question is finished, you may be answering a question he is not even asking, and rather than speeding along the interview, you actually will slow it down.
4. Make sure you understand the question. If you do not understand the question, courteously advise the Consul, so he can ask it again, using simpler terms or even get an interpreter for you. The Consul does not want you to answer a question you do not understand, and he won’t know you don’t understand a question unless you tell him.
5. Don’t guess. If you do not know an answer to a question, or if you can’t remember, tell the Consul. The Consul does not want you to guess, if you don=t know the answer.
6. Tell the truth. I know of many people who were lawfully entitled to visas, but lied to the Consul, thinking it would be better for their case. The Embassy quickly discovered the fraud, and the person was banned for life from going to the US. Had the person told the truth from the beginning, and satisfactorily explained the circumstances, they would have gotten the visa. If you have something suspicious about your case (i.e. date of marriage on your illegitimate child=s birth certificate), it is better to tell the truth and explain what happened than try to hide it, by filing a late registered birth certificate, showing a birth at home, etc.
7. Present only documents which are true, genuine and authentic. Presenting fake or altered documents is considered fraud, and would be grounds for denial of your visa. The Embassy, which now has one of the largest and most sophisticated Fraud Prevention Units, will check out those documents and will discover your fraud.
Again, these tips will not “guarantee” a visa, but I think they will help in increasing your chances of a successful interview.
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Political Crisis Impedes Governance in Philippines
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By Alan Sipress - Washington Post
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MANILA --- For nearly two weeks, President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo’s usually soft-spoken national security adviser has been detained under guard in a Manila hospital on contempt charges filed by the Philippine Senate. He has been confined to a cardiac unit, awaiting surgery after officials said a heart ailment flared during an angry exchange with legislators demanding details about a government lobbying contract.
Norberto Gonzales is disparaged and debilitated, and in a way, so is his boss. Arroyo beat back an impeachment attempt in Congress last month, winning dismissal of charges that she rigged the voting in the 2004 presidential election before the complaints against her could be debated. But she is still plagued by allegations of wrongdoing, which prompt small street protests on a near-daily basis.
A large-scale political challenge to Arroyo first erupted in May and has hampered her ability to govern, analysts said, particularly at a time when steps are needed to repair the economy. The unemployment rate decreased from 8.3 percent in April to 7.7 percent in July, according to the National Statistics Office, but the country has a level of public indebtedness that compels the government to spend a third of its budget on interest payments alone.
“Governance has been halted,” said Tom Green, executive director of Pacific Strategies and Assess ments, a consultant to foreign investors in the Philippines. “There are a lot of things that need to be done, but she’s not up to it. Those kind of tough decisions are on hold and probably on hold forever.”
Arroyo has long worried that adversaries in Congress and the military were scheming against her, and Green said she has now become so fearful of alienating allies that she is unable to push reforms required to spur investment.
However, Ignacio Bunye, Arroyo’s press secretary, said the impeachment effort has not distracted Arroyo or interfered with her policy agenda.
The standoff concerning Gonzales underscores how much the political atmosphere has been poisoned. He appeared last month before a Senate committee to address concerns about a contract he had signed with Venable LLP, a Washington area law firm hired to help secure U.S. support for several Arroyo initiatives, including amending the Philippine constitution. But he balked at answering questions about who had authorized the agreement and who, at a time of budget austerity, would pay for it.
Government and opposition figures agree that the dispute goes beyond the particulars of the contract. Administration officials allege that Arroyo’s critics are on a witch hunt, scavenging for any piece of dirt to topple her after their impeachment bid failed. The president’s detractors counter that the administration is desperately clinging to power.
“From the viewpoint of governance, everything has slipped back in a big way,” said Guillermo Luz , executive director of the Makati Business Club, which has called on Arroyo to resign.
Arroyo’s rivals have vowed to air new allegations of government wrongdoing on a weekly basis, every Monday, and the president’s patience appears to be wearing thin.
Last month, her administration announced that it would no longer allow people to demonstrate in the streets without a permit, provoking widespread criticism that Arroyo was flirting with martial law.
Randy David, a sociologist at the University of the Philippines who said he planned to join the protesters, lamented that this latest furor over free speech was again diverting officials from addressing basic economic problems.
“They’re busy putting out so many brush fires,” David said. “It’s unfortunate for a country like ours, which is known in the region as a country that can’t get its act together.”
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