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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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IN SEVERAL editorials not too long ago, this paper lamented how truth is easily disregarded, twisted and even ‘murdered’ in the Philippines. Truth is cheap in our country that whoever has the wherewithal can make their own truth to suit their own interests.
Bolstering our thesis is the continuing saga of former Commission on Election official Virgilio ‘Garci’ Garcillano. For backgrounders, Garci became popular when a tape recorded phone conversation between him and a woman who sounded like President Arroyo was brought out in public. In the tape, the two were talking about rigging the 2004 election in favor of the lady caller.
President Arroyo apologized to the public, admitting that she had called an election official and said her action was “a lapse in judgment”. It was about at this time that Garci disappeared in the public eye, never to be seen again until last week.
The general belief was that he slipped out of the country. The Department of Public Affairs insist that immigration records in Singapore show that Garci entered the Lion City on July 14 and left the following day.
But when Garci surfaced, he insists that he did not go into hiding and that he did not leave the country. Now that is really mind-boggling. For how can somebody, on whose possible testimony lies the fate of the nation, be just here without anybody seeing even his ghost? Has the entire police force or the security personnel of the Senate sent to track him down and drag him to the Senate to testify on the infamous “Hello Garci” tapes gone blind that they were unablt to locate him for five months?
And about the Singapore immigration records? Is Garci telling us now that Singapore, one of the most sanitized nations in the world and who has no interest at all in our domestic politics, is lying?
But what really insults our intelligence is Garci’s gall to declare that if the public does not believe him, “that’s not his problem”. When told that Singapore has his entry and exit records, Garci again thumbed his nose at the truth and said: “That’s not my problem”.
Not his problem? Somebody should smack some sense into this guy; as a public official, Garci is accountable to the public, whose taxes pay his salary.
In the Philippines, officialdom’s disregard for truth is so brazen that even when confronted with it, they totally shrug it off and say: “That’s not my problem.”
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As truth hurts and conquers
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NEW YORK --- Veritas vincit, wrote a former classmate in his e-mail after reading “Sowing fear and intimidation” [The Filipino Express, Nov. 7-13] and “A reprise: On writing and the parable of the pencil” [The Filipino Express, Nov. 28-Dec. 4]. In English, that Latin phrase means “truth conquers.”
His e-mail was full of references to Socratic Principles, which we learned during our early days in a Jesuit school. I find it quite difficult to remember those principles after we ventured on our own separate ways: Him proceeding back to Manila after earning a law degree from Georgetown University; and me, deciding to stay in New York. But for him to suggest a shift in my way of posing a question is not only encouraging, but also refreshing.
He writes that Socrates, the fifth-century Greek philosopher portrayed so vividly in Plato’s dialogues, is a model not only for lawyers but also for media people.
According to Socrates, the role of opinion makers or columnists as change agents in a society is important; a look at his works can further illuminate what the public is entitled to know.
He said that Socrates’ way of knowing – his way of holding up a reality before others for their examination — has a lot to teach anyone who seeks truth in dialogue, especially Filipino American community leaders who volunteer themselves in the forefront of the affairs of society.
When these leaders are themselves a subject of a commentary, he says, “As truth hurts and conquers,” they have a tendency to react thoughtlessly.”
“That is because,” he continues, “they take fair commentary and criticism as personal; they don’t understand that as public figures they can respond to their critics with counter arguments” to refute whatever they thought was inaccurate. To opt for a judicial process is stretching it too far. He cautions, however, that it’s a personal choice.
Citing Socratic principle of inquiry, which is, following “the arguments wherever, like a wind, it may lead us,” he says that “media people must lead by defining a problem to be explored.” And by keeping focused on the problem with appropriate questions, the immediate beneficiary of this probing is the community that both media and public figures are supposed to serve.
In times when our work is under siege, perhaps it might do well to revisit Socrates as my classmate suggested. Socrates, he said, sets us in search for what is worth knowing and believing, for methods of seeing and knowing.
The conflict and confusion that swirl around our community may bring us all back to the reality to that question posed by Socrates: How should one live?
What work should we take up? How much of me should be invested in that work? Can we use our work to serve others as we use it to sustain our worldly needs? How does the culture in which our own drama is enacted — the culture we inherit — limit us and what possibilities of freedom does it offer? How can we justify the way we live and the culture we embrace?
His long, drawn-out e-mail was really enlightening and I wish every community leader read it. It is not entirely philosophical as the name Socrates suggests but his insights bring us back to what we ought to understand as Filipino Americans.
The problem is that most of us fall short at acknowledging our own weaknesses and fail to understand our collective strength as a community.
People tend to focus more on what is best for themselves and their group at the expense of the common good.
That is because when truth hurts and conquers, people react in different ways, shape, and form.
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Chicago’s NBC affiliate apologizes to Filipinos
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THE Philippines is one of a few countries in the world, whose language, nationality and culture have homonymous designation – Filipino.
It is like saying that when you call somebody Greek, it could mean not only his nationality and language but also his culture. Another example, is when you refer to somebody who is French, it could mean his French citizenship, his language or his culture.
But when you call somebody an American, you only refer to him as an American citizen or nationality or culture. But unfortunately, not his language. Because Americans speak a borrowed language – English.
This was how Chicago Filipinos explained to award-winning investigative reporter Renee Ferguson of Chicago’s NBC affiliate TV Channel 5 for her inappropriate use of the word “Filipino” when she described in her report an 18-year-old nursing aide, who was accused of raping his ward.
An Outrage
After Ms. Ferguson broke the story on Nov. 2, when she led with her broadcast, “An 18-year-old Filipino was accused of ...,” it brought outrage from the normally docile Filipino American community.
If the outrage was violent, it would have the intensity of last year’s Asian tsunami and the recent Hurricane Katrina combined as the community members protested the management of the NBC affiliate for the misuse of the word, “Filipino.” What she meant by “Filipino” was that the suspect’s origin -- that is, a “foreign worker from the Philippines.”
Had she called the suspect “a Filipino non-immigrant,” she would have been more accurate in her reporting, I told her in my email to her, copy-furnished her boss, Larry Wert, President & General Manager of NBC5-Chicago.
By calling the suspect, Raynaldo Bracal, Jr., a “Filipino,” she cast a bad light not only on the entire Filipino race but also its language and culture. Not one of the three mainstream publications in Chicago, namely the Chicago Tribune, Chicago Sun-Times and the Daily Herald, ever mentioned Bracal’s “Filipino” nationality.
Unity Descended in the Community
Ms. Ferguson’s false generalization was like a thunderbolt that knocked the wits out of the Filipinos unaccustomed to adverse publicity from a mainstream media.
For the first time, the deeply divided community stood as one in condemning Ms. Ferguson and her television station. The Philippine Weekly, a critic of the administration of the Filipino American Council of Greater Chicago headed by Herminio Poblete, for the first time in so many years, agreed to FACC’s Ting Joven’s protest against Ms. Ferguson’s characterization of “Filipino.”
Some members of Filipino American Media Organization of the United States (FAMOUS), who broke away from the National Press Club of the Philippines- U.S.A., met with some members of NPC-Phil. U.S.A. to form a think tank that would draw courses of action against the a common enemy – Ms. Ferguson and her TV station.
The Chicago Filipino American community has become cynical against the same TV station when it never apologized to the community in 1994 when one of its characters, Kelsey Grammer, in one of the episodes in the sitcom “Frasier,” blurted out, “for another $5,000 you’ll be able to get a brand new Filipina bride.”
Free Lunch but No Apology
When I wrote a column about the episode in 1994 that insulted the Filipina womanhood, a Filipino American employee of NBC in Chicago congratulated me for exposing the slur but I never got a reaction from the management.
According to former FilCRA advocate now Skokie Park Commissioner Jerry Clarito, while the NBC in San Francisco apologized to the Filipinos for the insult, the Chicago NBC affiliate merely treated him and other Asian American leaders in Chicago to a free lunch but never apologized for its mistake.
Now that Mr. Wert has apologized on behalf of Ms. Ferguson whose “word choice, in my view, and the view of our news managers was inappropriate” and even went on to say that, “(c)learly, it is not our desire or intention to offend any ethnic group and we apologize for doing so in this case(,) I can assure you we have discussed this issue internally and will take every step possible to make sure our staff is sensitive to this issue in the future.
Institutionalizing the Correction
“I am very understanding of your concerns here and on behalf of everyone here at NBC 5 Chicago, I apologize to everyone who may have been offended. If you would like to further discuss this matter further, I will make myself available to you.”
I hope when that meeting with Filipino leaders takes place, Mr. Wert will agree to publicly apologize on the air since the insult was broadcast on air; he will include in NBC’s manual of style that “Filipino” is not only a nationality but also a language and a culture of a people; and he will set up a mechanism that will let us monitor that the station is observing efforts to avoid the occurrence of future racial slurs.
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HAVE you ever wondered where some phrases like “upper crust” or “dirt poor” came from? And what about sayings like “throwing the baby out with the bath”?
Wonder no more. Instead, read the note below, from the Internet, on life in the 1500s – and enjoy.
IN THOSE days, bread was divided according to status. Workers got the burnt bottom of the loaf. The middle went to the family while guests were given the top. That’s the “upper crust.”
Sometimes, families obtained pork. This was special. They’d would hang up bacon to show off when visitors came. It was a sign of wealth that a man could “bring home the bacon.” A little would be sliced off to share with guests. Then, all would sit around to “chew the fat.”
Most people chose to marry in the month of June then. Why? Because they took their yearly bath in May.
By June, they still smelled pretty good -- although traces of body odor wafted up now and then. So, brides carried a bouquet of flowers to tamp down the “aroma”. Hence, the custom today of a marriage bouquet was established.
Baths consisted of a big tub filled with hot water. The man of the house soaked first in the tub. All other sons or men in the household followed.
Gender discrimination critics will fume. The women followed with the children into the tub. And last came the babies. By then the water was so dirty, you could lose someone in it. Hence the saying : “Don’t throw the baby out with the bath.”
Houses had roofs with thick straw piled high -- something like our nipa shingles. underneath. The floor was dirt. Only the wealthy had something other than earth. That’s where the saying “dirt poor” comes from.
The wealthy, however, built slate floors. But these turned slippery as days went by. So, they spread thresh (straw) on the floor to help keep their footing. As days passed, they added more thresh spilled outside the door. A piece of wood was nailed at the entrance to cut spillovers. That’s where “thresh hold” came from.
To keep warm, cats, small animals, mice and bugs burrowed into the straw roof. Rain would sometimes flush them down. Hence, the saying : “It’s raining cats and dogs.”
Often, there were no ceilings. Falling debris and animals posed problems for bedrooms. But a bed with big posts, plus a sheet strung over the top, afforded some protection. That’s how canopy beds began.
Lead cups were used to swig ale or whisky. The combination would sometimes knock imbibers out for days on end. Some seemed dead. Prior to burial, they were laid out on the kitchen table for a couple of days. And people gathered around, eat, drink -- and wait to see if they’d wake up. Hence, they called this “holding a wake.”
Then, they started running out of space to bury people. So, they dug up coffins to reuse the grave. On reopening, 1 out of 25 coffins had scratch marks on the inside. They realized some were buried alive.
Thus, they began to tie a string on the “corpse’s” wrist. The string played out through the coffin, up the ground, and was tied to a bell at the surface. . Someone would sit in the graveyard all night waitng for the bell to toll. That’s how the phrase the “graveyard shift” started. Another phrase was :”dead ringer.”
(E-mail : juan_mercado@paci-fic.net.ph)
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Bush renews call for “temporary worker program”
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ON November 28, 2005, President Bush outlined his strategy to enhance America’s homeland security through comprehensive immigration reform. Part of his plan includes securing the border, preventing illegal crossings, strengthening enforcement of immigration laws, and speeding up the removal/deportation process.
\Also, as part of this immigration reform, the President renewed his call for the creation of a new “Temporary Worker Program”, which “would create a legal way to match willing foreign workers with willing American employers to fill jobs that Americans will not do”. Although very few details were provided on this Temporary Worker Program, the President noted that the program would include the following features:- Temporary workers would be able to register for legal status for a fixed time period (possibly 3 years).
- At the end of that fixed time period, the alien would be “required to go home”
- This program would not create an “automatic path to citizenship” or provide for “amnesty”.
- The President opposes any form of “amnesty”, because it would effectively result in “rewarding those who have broken the law”, and “would encourage others to break the law and keep pressure on our borders”.
- A Temporary Worker Program, by contrast, would promote legal immigration and decrease pressure on the border.
- The President would support increasing the annual number of green cards, which could result in a shorter waiting time for people to get their green cards, by reducing the “backlog” of immigrant visas.
I want to stress and emphasize that President Bush’s Temporary Worker Program is only a proposal. It is not yet a law! In order for it to be a law, it would first have to be passed by both the House and Senate, and finally signed by the President. Bush’ plan is merely his suggestions or proposal for immigration reform, and very few details were provided.
I know that people will immediately have questions such as, “Where do I apply?”, “Am I eligible?”, “What are the requirements?”, etc. There may even be newspaper ads going out by consultants, suggesting that people already “apply” for Bush’s Temporary Worker Program. However, as of the present time, this proposal is not yet a law, and there is nothing that you can apply for. But at least this proposal offers new hope and promise for people. Hopefully, in the very near future, there can be a new avenue by which illegal aliens in the U.S. could obtain some sort of “status” for a period of time.
Michael J. Gurfinkel has been an attorney for over 24 years, and is an active member of the State Bar of California and New York, as well as the American Immigration Lawyers Association and the Immigration Section of the Los Angeles County Bar Association. He has always excelled in school: Valedictorian in High School; Cum Laude at UCLA; and Law Degree Honors and academic scholar at Loyola Law School, which is one of the top law schools in California.
WEBSITE: www.gurfinkel.com
Four offices to serve you:
LOS ANGELES:
219 North Brand Boulevard, Glendale, California, 91203
Telephone: (818) 543-5800
SAN FRANCISCO:
601 Gateway Boulevard, Suite 460, South San Francisco, CA 94080
Telephone: (650) 827-7888
NEW YORK:
60 East 42nd Street, Suite 2101, New York, NY 10165
Telephone: (212) 808-0300
PHILIPPINES:
Heart Tower, Unit 701, 108 Valero Street, Salcedo Village, Makati, Philippines 1227
Telephone: 894-0258 or 894-0239
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