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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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MANILA -- The Philippines bowed to pressure Washington over custody of U.S. Marine Lance-Corporal Daniel Smith, who is convicted of raping a Filipina, whisking him away from a Manila jail to the American embassy in Manila.
Officials and the U.S. embassy spokesman said Smith was taken from a jail in the capital late on Friday, December 29.
His case has become a headache for the government, which agrees with Washington that under the terms of a Visiting Forces Agreement he should remain in U.S. custody while he appeals.
On December 4, a local court sent the 21-year-old to a Manila jail, jeopardizing the Philippines’ close security alliance with its former colonial master.
Last week, Washington said it was canceling military exercises with the Philippines next year because of the issue.
“Lance Corporal Smith is now in U.S. military custody and he will remain so until the completion of the judicial proceedings,” U.S. embassy spokesman Matthew Lussenhop told GMA 7 television.
“The government of the Philippines made a decision to transfer Lance Cpl. Daniel Smith back to U.S. custody, consistent with the terms of the VFA,” embassy spokesman Matthew Lussenhop told The Associated Press.
He said it was too early to speculate on the prospects of holding military exercises next year following Smith’s transfer.
Manila is reliant on U.S. military aid and advice to help fight Muslim insurgents and, in addition to the annual war games, has up to 300 U.S. military advisers working with local troops to help them capture militants in the restive south.
The yearly exercises are the center-piece of a close security alliance and usually involve up to 5,000 U.S. soldiers and around 3,000 Filipino troops over a two-week period.
Smith, who took part in the exercises last year, was found guilty of raping a 23-year-old management accounting graduate in a van in a former U.S. navy base while on shore leave. Three other U.S. Marines were acquitted of rape earlier this month.
Lawyer Evalyn Ursua, counsel of the rape victim given the name Nicole, expressed surprise at the transfer.
Ursua told dzRH radio that the victim’s legal team planned to file charges against those behind the transfer, and an impeachment suit against President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, who she said was the only official who could authorize the transfer.
“This is tantamount to rape of the law and of the Philippine Constitution,” she said.
“They spirited Smith in the dead of night, commando-style. The guard was not asleep, the guard helped in the escape, and this had the blessings of the president.”
The rape victim criticized the government for the transfer.
“This government cannot protect its own citizens. At least the U.S. government can protect its own criminals,” Nicole told local radio.
About 50 members of women’s groups burned a U.S. flag in front of the American embassy in Manila on Saturday in protest.
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MONTCLAIR, California -- A Filipino described as distraught over marital troubles stabbed his two young daughters and himself to death in the parking lot of a Montclair church Wednesday afternoon, January 3, authorities said.
Montclair police said the father made final phone calls to family members early in the afternoon — including one in which he told his estranged wife to “say goodbye” to the children — before committing the double murder and suicide, the Los Angeles Times reported.
Police were called to the scene about 1:15 p.m. by a custodian at the Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church at 10191 Central Ave. The church employee, police said, reported a “man down in a parking lot, not breathing.”
Moments later, according to Montclair Police Capt. Chris Weiske, another call came in from “a hysterical male who told our police dispatcher that his brother had just killed his children.”
Late Wednesday, authorities identified the three dead as Josemari Dogoldogol, 38, and his daughters Mary Jo, 5, and Jade, 3.
City police and fire officials found the three victims in the back seat of a dark blue Ford Taurus sedan.
The father was sitting in the middle, with one daughter on each side, the elder in a booster seat and the younger strapped into a car seat.
All three had stab wounds to the chest, and a large knife was discovered on the floor by the back seat. No other weapon was found or is believed to have been used.
Weiske said it appeared that the father had driven to the church, parked the car, left his keys and cellphone in the front seat and then climbed into the back before killing his children and himself.
Paramedics immediately pronounced the father and one of the daughters dead at the scene. The second girl was pulled from the car, and measures were taken to try to save her, but paramedics soon declared her dead as well, Weiske said.
“This kind of stuff just really tears at your heart,” he said.
Police learned that Josemari Dogoldogol and his wife, whose name was given as Mylene, had separated over the holidays and that he had been living with his parents, Danilo and Virginia Dogoldogol, in Ontario.
Weiske said Josemari Dogoldogol picked up the couple’s two young daughters last weekend for a visit with him and the rest of the family in Ontario.
At the church parking lot, authorities also found one of Josemari Dogoldogol’s brothers nearby, distraught but unhurt, and took him to the police station to be interviewed. The brother’s name was not disclosed by authorities. The estranged wife was found unharmed and living in the San Gabriel Valley; she also was brought to the police station to be interviewed.
Friends said Dogoldogol and his family had been living in Las Vegas but returned to Southern California in recent weeks to be closer to relatives.
The church had been the center of Dogoldogol’s family life when he was growing up, friends of the family said.
The Dogoldogols are Filipino American and his parents were characterized as leaders in the Filipino community at the multiethnic Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church.
“They were a super-religious family. They were always here, the whole family,” said Alex Labrador, who coached Dogoldogol on the church’s adult basketball team.
“He was a team leader — calm, quiet, but a joker in a way,” Labrador said, adding that his friend was widely known as “Joe.” Dogoldogol was said to have a background as an engineer and recently worked for a major Las Vegas hotel.
Edna Lagumbay, a family friend, visited the Dogoldogol family on Wednesday and said his parents and siblings were struck by grief and disbelief.
“They’re a very close family,” said Lagumbay. “Like glue.”
As dusk settled Wednesday, members of the Filipino community arrived and formed a prayer circle underneath ringing church bells.
Several feet away from where the three were found dead is a basketball court where friends said Dogoldogol played.
“He was very religious. He was not in his right mind,” said Nene Principe, a family friend. “It’s a sad day for the Filipino community.”
Witnesses said that early in the afternoon, they saw a man backing away from the car in the church parking lot, screaming. When he reached a patch of grass in front of the church, he threw himself on the ground.
The man, who a police official said apparently was the brother who notified authorities of the killings, “was just screaming, like he was real upset and crying like he was in disbelief,” said Nelson Rodas, who works at a carpet store across the street from the church.
A woman came from inside the church to comfort the man, Rodas said. Soon after, police arrived and detectives approached the car.
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MANILA -- Claiming that terrorists are on the “final stages of planning attacks,” the Canadian Embassy on Thursday advised its nationals against all travel to the Visayas and Mindanao.
The Canadian advisory, posted on the government website (www.geo.inter national.gc.ca), singled out the province of Cebu, which will host the 12th Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) Summit from January 11 to 15.
In an advisory posted on its website, the Canadian Embassy said there is a renewed threat of terrorism, citing “credible information.”
“You are advised against all travel to Cebu. Following the announcement that the previously postponed Asean will now be held in Cebu in January, there is a renewed threat of terrorism. Credible information suggests terrorists are in the final stages of planning attacks,” the website said.
“Canadians residing in Cebu should exercise increased awareness at all times and avoid public places such as malls, places of worship, restaurants, as much as possible,” it added, without specifying the supposed groups involved.
Australia had also reportedly issued a new travel advisory but nothing new was posted on its government website by Thursday afternoon.
Malacañang, which had confirmed on Wednesday attendance by all 16 heads of state of Asean member-countries and their East Asian dialogue partners, shrugged off the new travel advisories.
“We have faced some challenges before in the hosting of international events but for this particular summit we believe that we could hold it at its proposed site at Cebu,” Palace Spokesman Ignacio Bunye said.
He said the government was not dismissing the serious nature of the warnings issued by the two countries, adding that authorities were following up the reported threats.
“Nobody can give absolute guarantees but we can assure that all steps are being taken by the authorities in cooperation with the local governments in cooperation with the organizers to see to it that we have meaningful and fruitful summit,” he added.
Military spokesman, Lt. Col. Bartolome Bacarro, said there were no specific terror threats, unlike last month, when the US, Great Britain and Australia issued travel advisories warning that al-Qaeda-linked militants may be in the final stages of planning attacks in the Philippines.
The annual conference hosted by the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations was originally scheduled for December 11 to 13 in the central city of Cebu, but the Philippine government, citing an approaching typhoon, abruptly rescheduled even as foreign ministers started to arrive.
Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita on Wednesday announced that it’s all systems go for the summit while acknowledging that organizers were still rushing finishing touches.
“Everything is set for the summit. All states have confirmed their participation,” said Luis Cruz, assistant foreign secretary for Asean affairs.
“Everybody is saying that they are better prepared now in terms of security, traffic and other aspects of the preparation with the extra month,” said summit spokesman Victoriano Lecaros. “All systems are go.”
Among key resolutions to be adopted is a legally binding Convention on Counterterro rism. Other main topics will focus on economic integration and efforts to draft an Asean charter, in addition to a series of bilateral issues, Lecaros said.
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MANILA -- Balikatan, the largest joint military exercise between American and Filipino troops held in the Philippines each year and involving as many as 5,000 American soldiers, will push through although perhaps not in February as scheduled, US embassy spokesman Matthew Lussenhop said on Tuesday, January 2.
The announcement of the resumption comes less than two weeks after the cancellation on December 22 and four days after convicted US Marine Daniel Smith was transferred from the Makati city jail to the US Embassy.
“It might be held on February or not, but it will go forward. We leave it up to both the US and Philippine militaries to work out the details,” Lussenhop said of the decision to proceed with the war games. “[The decision] was made in the last day or two,” he told the Philippine Daily Inquirer.
Asked to comment on the charges filed in court seeking for Smith’s arrest, Lussenhop said he would leave it to Philippine authorities to talk about the legalities of the transfer. “Both [parties] are now in compliance with the Visiting Forces Agreement,” he added.
The US embassy spokesman also said that Marius Corpus, interior and local government undersecretary, visited Smith this Tuesday in his detention cell at the embassy. He refused to comment on the visit of Smith’s parents, citing privacy concerns.
Foreign affairs spokesman Eduardo Malaya confirmed the resumption of the Balikatan exercises. “The US military authorities and the [Armed Forces of the Philippines] will make a simultaneous announcement on the when and where within the week or early next week,” he said.
Asked if this meant that the US-RP diplomatic ties were restored to its previous status before Smith’s custody was transferred to the US, Malaya refused to comment.
The United States had cancelled its annual joint military exercises with the Philippines due to the continued detention of a US Marine convicted of rape.
Lussenhop, who made the announcement, had said that Smith’s commitment to the Philippine jail had put in doubt the protection of US service members who come here for these exercises.
Smith, 21, of St. Louis, Missouri was convicted on December 4 of raping a Filipino woman, identified in court as “Nicole,” and was sentenced to 40 years in prison.
A provision in the Visiting Forces Agreement says any accused American serviceman shall remain in US custody until all judicial proceedings are exhausted.
The Field Training Exercises are initially to be held at the Fort Magsaysay in Laur town, Nueva Ecija province; Crow Valley in Capas, Tarlac.
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