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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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HOME ALONE. Jacob Calero, charged with child endangerment for leaving his two sons home alone in California, while he and his new wife went on a five-day New Year vacation in Las Vegas, is escorted from a Contra Costa family court in Martinez, CA on January 5. Ten-year-old Joshua Calero and his 5-year-old brother Jason Calero in their grandmother's apartment, Wednesday, January 4, after they were found by police alone in their home. (Photos from The Mercury News)
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San Ramon, CALIFORNIA --- Police on January 4 arrested a Filipino father and stepmother suspected of leaving their two young boys home alone over New Year’s weekend while their three dogs were cared for by pet-sitters.
Investigators escorted Jacob Calero, 39, and Michelle De la Vega, 32, from their America West flight when it arrived about 11 a.m. in Oakland from Las Vegas, said San Ramon Sgt. Brian Kalinowski, as reported by the Mecury News.
They were held on suspicion of felony child endangerment in lieu of $200,000 bail each, Calero at County Jail in Martinez and Delavega at the West County Detention Facility in Richmond. Both declined reporters’ requests for interviews.
Police, alerted by the boy’s maternal grandmother, discovered Jason, 5 and Joshua, 10, home alone Saturday night with cereal and frozen meals to eat and a cell phone number to call for emergencies. Their parents were spending the New Year’s weekend in Las Vegas, Kalinowski said.
Joshua, staying with his brother at their grandmother’s home in Manteca, said January 4 he’s angry that his father and stepmother left them behind.
“I’m mad they left. I’m mad they didn’t take us with them,” the boy said.
“They should have known better than to leave us alone,” said Joshua. “They knew it was against the law.” Police said Calero and De La Vega found someone to care for the puppies -- Popo the pug and Pumpkin the Maltese mix -- that they’d given to one another on Christmas.
“It makes me feel unloved, put it that way,” Joshua told The Chronicle.
“When we asked ‘Where are the puppies?’ Joshua said they’re too small to leave home alone, so they were left with an adult,” said Erin Stoker, the boys’ godmother and former babysitter, who lives in Tracy. “That’s appalling to me. It’s absolutely ludicrous.
The 10-year-old said he knew his parents were leaving, but they didn’t say goodbye. The boys apparently awoke Friday morning to find their father and stepmother gone and no idea who, if anyone, might be by to check on them.
Police said the couple left their home about 5 a.m. Friday, December 30.
Officers found the brothers asleep in their beds about 11 p.m. Saturday after their maternal grandmother, Liberata Holden, called police when she suspected they were alone.
Earlier that night, a neighbor had taken in the 5-year-old, who Holden says is autistic, after hearing him screaming from inside his home’s garage. Joshua, who had been at a friend’s house for a few hours, later retrieved his younger brother from the neighbor’s home, Kalinowski said.
The children were taken into custody by Child Protective Services and later turned over to Holden, who took them to her Manteca apartment.
Holden, who had cared for the boys over Christmas, said the couple had asked her to again watch the boys but she declined because she had to work. “Michelle said ‘Just leave the boys at home, Joshua will watch Jason,’ but I said no, that’s against the law.”
Holden called De la Vega on Thursday, December 29, to see if they were still going to Vegas and who would be baby-sitting. “She said they tried to find someone, but they couldn’t,” Holden said.
“I said ‘Why don’t you take the kids to Vegas and be together as a family, at least for New Year’s, but she said ‘We are newlyweds, we deserve a vacation.’”
Meanwhile, Kalinowski said, pet-sitters were caring for the couple’s three dogs for the week.
Calero and De la Vega married in April. The boy’s biological mother, Maria Cristina Calero, 31, died of breast cancer in June 2003.
Holden attended a temporary custody hearing in Martinez on Wednesday, January 11. She would like to keep the boys at her house but says it would be hard.
“It’s very difficult, I’m a grandmother, we live in a one-bedroom apartment, we don’t make much money, but someone has to do this,” she said. “I pray to God that he will give me the strength of a 25-year-old mother.
“I want them to stay with me, but I’m older and I don’t have the finances.”
Joshua says he frequently watches his younger brother while “Jacob and Michelle” work, including every Saturday, or when they go places, sometimes overnight.
The two boys play Legos, go to the park across the street and like to watch television together, he said, but sometimes, Joshua said, looking after his younger brother is tiring.
“It’s stressful,” he said. “Sometimes it’s harder for me because he’s autistic and he can be stubborn at times and not listen to me.”
Police had been in contact with the boys’ father since Monday, January 2. Investigators decided to arrest the couple after they stopped returning investigators’ phone calls Tuesday, Kalinowski said.
“As a parent you would make every effort to get home as soon as possible,” Kalinowski said. “It seemed to us they were less than enthusiastic to return home as soon as possible. That gave us probable cause.”
The parents apparently refused to talk to investigators once they were in custody and asked to talk to an attorney, Kalinowski said.
Police said they don’t know if substance abuse or mental illness might have played a role in their decision to leave the boys.
The boys’ father is a plumber and De la Vega works in the dental field.
The District Attorney’s office said this was not the first time the couple left the boys alone at home.
“There were various incidents that the children were left to fend for themselves,” deputy district attorney Dara Cashman said.
On one occasion, 10-year-old Joshua Calero was in charge of his 5-year old brother Jason at a park when the younger boy fell from a play structure, Cashman said.
Adults in the park called an ambulance, which took the boy to an emergency room. Doctors treated him for injuries that Cashman would not detail, but she indicated he was released the same day.
“There were a lot of incidents when the 10-year-old was in charge of the 5-year-old,” Cashman said. “You look at a pattern of conduct that culminated in the trip to Las Vegas.”
Since Oct. 15 - a day after the couple’s nanny quit - the brothers spent many of their days alone, often not seeing their father and stepmother who arrived home after the children fell asleep, Cashman said.
Stoker said she asked the older boy how many times they’d been left alone, and he said “’too many times to count,’ and he’s very bright.”
The two boys are “absolutely the most entertaining, adorable loving children that you’d ever want to know,” Stoker said. “I have four children of my own, and these children I consider to be my own.”
Calero’s attorney Thomas McKenna did not return calls while Wright Morton, who represents de la Vega, declined to comment on the allegations.
“These are not my client’s children,” Wright said.
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Jersey City, NEW JERSEY --- A 27-year old Filipino-American woman arrested for distributing leaflets and flyers at the PATH train station in Journal Square sought the dismissal of the case against her, saying it is a violation of her right to free speech.
Arsenia Reilly, 27, through her counsel William Volante, appeared at the Jersey City Municipal Court on Tuesday, January 10, and sought the immediate dismissal of the case. She criticized as unconstitutional the provisions of a city ordinance penalizing distribution of leaflets within the Journal Square complex.
Prosecuting Lawyer Jay Yacker, however, sought for more time to study Volante’s legal brief. Both parties agreed on a March 7 court date, with Volante expressing optimism that Reilly’s motion to dismiss will be acted favorably by the judge.
Reilly, together with other Filipino companions belonging to the Network in Solidarity with the People of the Philippines (NISPOP), were distributing leaflets and flyers at the PATH station in Journal Square in Jersey City on October 30 last year when she was arrested by police.
Despite the presence of several other Filipino Americans distributing leaflets with Reilly, she was the only one arrested.
The group was distributing some 3,000 leaflets protesting the murder of Nestle (Phils.) workers union president Diosdado “Ka Fort” Fortuna.
NISPOP’s effort to distribute leaflets was part of its drive to make Filipino Americans aware of what’s happeing in the Philippines.
Reilly’s mother, Mercy, a retired nurse, said she was proud of her daughter for standing up for her rights. Expressing confidence her daughter will ultimately be vindicated by the court, the 62 year-old mother described the arrest as “discriminatory.”
In his legal brief, Volante argued Reilly was only exercising her constitutional right to free speech and free expression.
Reilly said both the prohibition against distributing leaflets in Journal Square and her arrest were unconstitutional.
She said free speech is protected by the First Amendment and as such, both the prohibition and her arrest were unlawful.
Vender said despite Reilly’s arrest, NISPOP will continue with its advocacy. She said NISPOP will hold a public forum on the Philippine situation on February 12, 3 pm, at the Mount Carmel School in Jersey City.
NISPOP is a grassroots organization supporting the Filipino people’s struggle for self-determination and social and economic justice,Vender said.
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Hoboken, NEW JERSEY --- For years, Conrado Balvedra, 50, a Filipino nurse in the Emergency Room of St. Mary’s Hospital, has looked forward to the pension that he will receive once he retires from the hospital.
But with the news that St. Mary’s would be closing down soon, everything now, including his pension, is up in the air.
Together with other Filipino workers, Balvedra, who has worked for 17 years in the century-old hospital, is worried that he won’t be able to get his pension. Other, younger Filipino health workers are edgy about losing their source of livelihood.
We are very disappointed. The union wants our pension to be protected but we are not certain about that,” said Balvedra.
The United Members of St. Mary’s Hospital Medical Staff is set to file an injunction against Bon Secours to stop it from closing the hospital.
“We must find ways to enlist the greater Hudson County community in any way we can to support the hospital in our fight,” the Union said in a statement.
The planned closure of the hospital has serious economic and health implications.
Over 1,200 workers and medical staff are bound to lose jobs once the hospital ceases operation.
Older workers are particularly vulnerable, because their pension is at stake and it would be hard for them to get another job.
“I’ve been working at the hospital for 17 years and if I lost my pension, my family will suffer,” said Flipino Jun Ramos, a union member, who works as a staff at the operating room of St. Mary’s.
Just like other long-time employees there, he has started looking for a job in other hospitals.
Filipino-American Joan Aceridano, a patient screener, said she has been taking a forensic course as a fallback in the event the hospital pulls the plug.
“Just like other workers here, I am affected by the planned closure. I need to go back to college to start a new career,” said Aceridano who has been working in the hospital for three years.
Ramos said the hospital was in a hurry to close down so it could sell the property to a real estate developer which will convert it into a condominium.
The hospital has been in the red for years and has been in deep financial turmoil, with $1 to $3 million dollars deficit each year, or total debts amounting to $26 million. Many employees here blamed mismanagement as the cause of its financial woes.
In a meeting with medical staff, the management said that closure of the hospital was inevitable because of huge losses. If the hospital would be closed and be bought by another hospital, only employees with outstanding records based on patients’ survey would be retained or absorbed by the new company.
The Board of Directors of Bon Secours voted to close the hospital.
The Jersey Journal reported that the hospital would close within six months, other employees here expressed fears it could be closed down in a month, if the state government would not intervene.
The Jersey Journal also reported that Jersey Medical Center was negotiating to acquire the emergency center of the hospital.
Many seniors living in Hoboken have come to depend on the hospital for their health needs. They are also concerned over the planned closure.
Mayor David Roberts and the City Council said that the government would not allow re-zoning of the real estate where the hospital stands.
“I’m working to make sure that health care is always available in Hoboken for our residents. We are also well aware how important it is to make certain that as many jobs as possible are retained for St. Mary’s hospital employees and that all benefits are protected,” said Mayor Roberts.
In a statement, the union urged Governor-elect Jon Corzine to allocate $26 million for a public hospital, possibly to the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey (UMDNJ).
Union’s blueprint calls for Gov. Corzine to put a squeeze to both UMDNJ and Bon Secours to reopen negotiations to push St. Mary Hospital to be incorporated in the University Hospital System.
“It is therefore imperative that the governor be persuaded by any means at our disposal to support this plan,” the union said.
State Senator Bernard Kenny, State Assemblymen and Mayor Robert Stack, and US Senator Robert Menendez and representatives of the Union met Thursday to plan actions to stop Bon Secours from closing the hospital.
Initial negotiations with UMDJ to take over the hospital fell through, but with the intervention of the state government, hopes are high that a deal could be made.
The medical staff union and doctors have raised $80,000 as of last Friday to fund legal expenses as they will continue to fight the closing of the hospital.
“We believe we have a fighting chance to succeed if the medical staff and all of the hospital employees stay united in this fight,” said the union in a statement.
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Washington, D.C. --- A former driver for the Saudi Embassy in Washington pleaded guilty on Tuesday, January 10, to smuggling aliens into the United States, including Filipinos.
Mohamed Abdel Wahab Yakoub, 61, admitted he used Saudi Embassy letterhead to obtain diplomatic visas from US embassies for several Egyptians and Filipinos.
Yakoub, an Egyptian, faces up to 10 years in prison when he is sentenced in April on a single count of smuggling aliens. He will be subject to deportation after the sentencing.
Yakoub sold visas for $5,000 to $7,000. Court documents indicate he helped at least six illegal aliens gain entry to the U.S. in 2000 and 2001. He was fired by the Saudi embassy in 2002.
The Joint Terrorism Task Force, which helped investigate, said it had no indication the scheme had any connection to terrorism.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents first arrested Yakoub at Dulles International Airport on February 14, 2005, upon his arrival on a flight from Cairo, Egypt.
Joint Terrorism Task Force agents in Washington had been investigating Yakoub and his alleged human smuggling scheme for more than a year.
According to the Indictment, Yakoub was known to individuals in Egypt and the Philippines as an employee of the Saudi Embassy who had the ability to secure fraudulent Saudi diplomatic visas to help Egyptian and Filipino aliens get into the United States.
According to the statement of facts signed by Yakoub and adopted by him in court, Yakoub prepared employment contracts and letters on Saudi Embassy letterhead falsely stating that a Saudi diplomat was requesting an A-3 visa for Egyptians and Filipinos to work for the Saudi diplomat in the United States.
These fraudulent letters, complete with Saudi government stamps, were then sent to the U.S. Embassy in Cairo, Egypt, or to the U.S. Embassy in Manila, Philippines, to help either Egyptian aliens or Filipino aliens receive U.S. visas for entry into this country.
On several occasions, the U.S. Embassies in Egypt and the Philippines approved the visa applications, believing that these aliens would be working for Saudi diplomats in the United States. The aliens eventually used the fraudulent visas to enter the United States illegally and none of them ever worked for any diplomat or any other employee of the Embassy of Saudi Arabia after arrival in this country.
“Anytime you have an individual exploiting his post at an Embassy in the United States to smuggle people into this country illegally, it raises serious homeland security concerns,” said Thomas Madigan, Acting Special Agent-in-Charge for ICE in Washington, D.C. “Thankfully, we have closed down this human smuggling pipeline.”
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