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Founded in 1986
Founding Publisher/Editor:
Lito A. Gajilan
Columnists:
Atty. Michael J. Gurfinkel
Joseph G. Lariosa
Gani P. Tolentino
Ted L. Reyes
Atty. Reuben S. Seguritan
Photographers:
Butch Gata
Sheryl Garcia
The opinions expressed by columnists are their own and do not reflect the opinion of the paper nor that of the publisher
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For the past 20 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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To tell us what you think about Filipino Express Online or to comment on the stories published here, E-mail us at Filexpress@aol.com
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THERE is a need to know all sides of the story. It gives the public the freedom to size up issues and decide for themselves. News reports are not supposed to shape the public’s perception on matters, it aims to inform– no more, no less. Editorials are different. Opinions are another matter. It s true that the media has the power to mold people’s reactions on given issues, with its fiery commentaries and provocative insights, but never on news reports. Reporters must report news as it happens, not as how they see it.
The Express has received numerous reactions from several groups through letters and emails, one of which is printed in the letters to the editor section.
We are thankful to these groups for letting us know what they think of how the paper is tackling important news in our community. These reactions from our readers make us all aware of how we should improve our work and serve the public in the best way we could.
The Express has always been committed to fair and balanced news reporting ever since its founding 22 years ago. And we firmly believe that we have never let up. In fact, we are currently experiencing one of our most fruitful and competitive periods in our history. Our paper and website has become a leading source of information for millions of Filipinos all over the globe.
We believe that the respect and admiration that the Express has been acquiring for two decades now is due to our zeal in reporting as many sides as we could to any given story. Publishing one-sided reports that tend to discredit anything or anyone is not our practice. More so, to manipulate news stories and use it to voice out our subjective views on matters is likewise not in our agenda. We have our columnists to do that job.
With regards to news, the Express is committed to use all its editorial powers to curb bias reporting. If we see a news report that tends to sway the readers to just one side of the fence, we do our best to make it fair and balanced, otherwise, such unfair reporting would never ever see print.
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Alarming Trend in Labor Certification Processing
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Editor’s Note: REUBEN S. SEGURITAN has been practicing law for over 30 years. For further information, you may call him at 212 695 5281 or log on to his website at www.seguritan.com
There is an alarming trend in the processing of labor certification applications under the Program Electronic Review Management (PERM) system.
On July 8, 2008, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) initiated supervised recruitment for pending labor certification cases filed by Cohen and Grigsby, a Pittsburgh-based law firm.
A month earlier, the DOL had announced the audit of all the permanent labor certification applications filed by the nation’s largest immigration law firm Fragomen, Del Rey, Bernsen and Loewy, LLP.
In taking these actions against these big law firms, the DOL claimed that during its routine audits, they discovered indications that the employer-clients were improperly instructed to contact the lawyers first if a U.S. job applicant appeared potentially qualified for the job opening during the recruitment process.
The DOL has also debarred the LawLogix Group Inc., a California-based software company for “willfully providing false or inaccurate information” and “failing to comply” with the terms of the application. It determined that the company did not exercise good faith when it filed more than 100 applications for the sole purpose of testing the department’s PERM electronic processing system. The debarment is in effect for three years.
PERM labor certification is a complicated process. It is required as a preliminary step in filing most employment-based (EB-2 and EB-3) immigration petitions to secure green cards. During this process, the employer must show that it has tested the U.S. market in good faith and that there are no willing and qualified U.S. workers to fill the offered position.
The labor market must be tested in a manner that is open, fair and not biased.
The DOL routinely audits cases for compliance with these regulations. Normally, if the recruitment and selection process is satisfactory, the case is certified and the employer can proceed with the green card petition for the alien worker. When the DOL has concerns that the employer has not properly recruited or considered U.S. applicants for the available position, it will institute a supervised recruitment.
Supervised recruitment requires the employer to receive prior approval from the DOL before undertaking mandatory recruitment steps. The timing and draft of the advertisement have to be approved and all resumes of job applicants have to be sent directly to the DOL. The employer has to contact the applicants referred by the DOL in a timely manner and submit a recruitment report to the DOL. Lawyers are prohibited from participating in the consideration of the qualifications of the U.S. job applicants, unless they are normally involved in the employer’s routine hiring process.
According to the DOL, the tightening of the DOL oversight of the PERM labor certification process is an effort “to safeguard the integrity of the process and to protect job opportunities for American workers” so that they are fairly considered for job openings.
In a letter criticizing the DOL action and supporting the Fragomen law firm, the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) contended that employers have the right to seek legal counsel during the PERM recruitment considering that this is a highly complex process governed by detailed regulations and complicated laws. They added that immigration lawyers traditionally participated in guiding their clients during the labor certification process even prior to the implementation of the PERM. They assert that this is a permissible rendering of legal advice and not an “improper attorney participation” as declared by the DOL.
Despite the spate of audits, supervised recruitments and sanctions undertaken by the DOL, employers need not shy away from sponsoring qualified alien workers for PERM labor certification, as long as they fully comply with the DOL’s good faith recruitment requirements, file proper PERM applications and keep detailed documentation of the recruitment and reporting requirements.
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“We’re on the verge of a last great global land grab," predicts a new study: “Seeing People through the Trees”. Britain, Sweden and Switzerland will release the report Monday.
Bolting demand for food and biofuels will ratchet pressure to plow up 515 million hectares of extra land, says the Rights and Resources Initiative (RRI) report.. But only 200 million hectares are available. Thus, pressure to clear forests will intensify, BBC environment reporter Richard Black writes. “The dual crises of fuel and food are stoking significant land speculation”.
Protecting rights of people, who live in and around vulnerable forests, can prevent devastation, says a companion RRI report: “From Exclusion to Ownership.”
That theme echoes concerns of Asia’s foresters. About “350 million people of the world’s poorest people are heavily dependent on forests” they noted in the 2006 Ho Chi Minh Statement. Yet, they receive crumbs from trees they plant and harvest.
Elites dominate the timber sector. Ask Senator Juan Ponce Enrile. His San Jose Timber Corp. logs 97,770 hectares, straddling protected zones of Samar’s last old-growth forests.
Opaque transactions and shadowy activities characterize timber, notes the new book: “A Cut for the Poor”. Indigent communities are “first in the line for restrictive and punitive government measures.”
Many justify this skewed status-quo,” Food and Agriculture Organization forester Patrick Durst notes. “(We’ve) traditionally focused – many would say excessively -- on timber production. That’s where the real money from forests lie…”
“Forestry is not about trees,” Durst recalls ledgendary forester Jack Westoby caution. “It is about people. And it is about trees only insofar as they serve the needs of people.” Is that message getting to us?
In isolated patches, yes. Filipinos set striking management examples, observes the Asia-Forestry Commission in their study: “In Search of Excellence”. Among these are : efforts by University of the Phiilipines in Mount Makiling, NGOs nurturing Bawang mangrove plantations of Kalibo, farmers protecting watersheds in Ifugao muyongs.
Still, deforestation persists. Officials are trying to curb poachers from invading the 188,000-hectare Paper Industries Corp. concession in Surigao del Sur and Agusan del Sur, Inquirer reports..
Too little, too late. For months now, Catholic social action directors urged Secretary Joselito Atienza: stop, not just poachers, but Picop itself, from logging beyond areas covered by permits. Former environment secretary Herherson Alvarez added his voice to that call. Instead, they were threatened with libel suits.
We remain edgy from floods cascading down denuded areas: Quezon, Aurora, Leyte, Surigao – and lately Aklan and Iloilo. Corpses underscore what statistics tell us : In 1575, forests blanketed 27.5 million hectares. Less than a fifth is left. Even that is shrinking.
Once, “Philippine forests were among the most commercially viable in the world, ” notes “Asia-Pacific Forestry: Towards 2010”. Concessions, however, were recklessly parceled out in the ‘60s and ‘70s. They blanketed a third of the country. Loggers cut as if there was no tomorrow.
That process created timber millionaires: Antoninos, Plazas, Almendrases, etc. Few reinvested in wood-processing or in plantations, as did New Zealand, Australia and Korea. Consumption burned wealth generated from forests.
Ubos ubos biyaya / Pagkatapos ay tunganga, Pilipino farmers caution. “Use blessings wastefully, and you’ll be left with nothing.”. Log exports crested, in the late 60s, at 10 million metric tons yearly – and nosedived. Today, we shop for wood from abroad.. Timber imports cost the country 10 times what we scrape to sell.
Yesterday’s timber “prima donna” is today’s wood-pauper. And we beaome a case study in how not to handle God-given resources.
“The Philippines was effectively the first Asia-Pacific country, in the post World War II era, to extensively liquidate it’s forest wealth,” the United Nations notes. “The experience of the Philippines…offers a poignant lesson” for still-forested countries from Cambodia to Vanuatu”.
Have we learned? Think again. Better still read the just-published book: “Forest Faces: Hopes and Regrets in Philippine Forestry”. Here a driver of a 10 wheeler hauling logs, usually of hardwood ( red lauan and apitong ), explains: :.
“( We ) traveled in convoys of four or five vehicles. Each truck had a security force of five men with long barreled arms. Drivers recruited were MILF members…most of whom did not even have drivers licenses.. It took six to seven hours of travel from Lanao del Norte…to Digos, Davao del Sur or Cagayan de Oro…
“Tertiary roads were used. Log bearing trucks are allowed to pass unchecked through all security points, as these have been have all been tipped off. One of the bigger operators in Marawi City was an official of the Bureau of Customs in ARRM...”
Of the 20 recruited in his batch, 18 are dead. “They were killed in ambushes when rival groups stopped the trucks and stole the cargo…I am lucky and don’t want this job again.”
The big money is in the power to grant clearances. Before he moved over to Energy Department, Secretary Angelo Reyes vested that power in town mayors.
“I’m old and can’t wait,” wailed a town mayor who torpedoed a multi-billion Hanjin shipyard project, in Northern Mindanao, by delaying clearances. in exchange for lagay. That explains why reform here seems like “chasing after the wind.” ####
(E-mail: juanlmercado@gmail.com )
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July 10, 2008
NYC
Dear Editor,
My name is Gary Labao, a community organizer for the NY Committee for Human Rights in the Philippines (NYCHRP) and also a freelance journalist.
For many years I have admired the integrity of your publication for being one of the most objective, courageous and fearless local Filipino newspapers in the tri-state area. I remember the days when the Filipino Express was the only local Filipino newspaper that boldly dared speak the truth and challenged the conservative minds and opinions of the Filipino community during turbulent periods.
It was objective and balanced in covering news that other newspapers would simply ignore, if not blatantly report in such a prejudiced manner geared to pleasing the Philippine administration, Philippine Consulate and the elites of the community while hiding behind the mantra of neutrality.
The Filipino Express is also known for having many respectable and progressive editors, that is why it was such a great honor to have worked as an editor for your publication in the past. To this day, I continue to submit and contribute news articles to the publication.
However, when I grabbed the latest issue of the Filipino Express, dated June 30-July 6, 2008 Volume 22 Number 27, I was excited as always, especially after certain political events just occurred in town such as the Arroyo visit. But I was so disappointed about the coverage of the visit. For a moment I thought I had mistakenly bought a copy of the "other" newspaper.
I am extremely disturbed with the manner with which the Filipino Express covered the visit of Arroyo. I hate to think that your publication is losing its' journalistic integrity and excellence.
One specific news article entitled "Protests Mar Arroyo Visit" written by Jacqueline Fernandez is probably one of the most deceiving pieces of news I have read from the Express.
First and foremost, the title itself painted such a very negative picture. What did you mean by "marring" Arroyo's visit? Was Arroyo's lavish party disrupted, ruined or bothered? If so, it was never mentioned in the article how the visit was "marred" at all. In retrospect, I never realized how powerful a simple protest can be. But the news article concluded otherwise.
What intrigued me was that Fernandez, who claimed she was attending the lavish party inside the Hilton Hotel, didn't even bother to take a glimpse of the protest. Many other journalists came over and took the time to interview the protesters, took video shots and still photos (by the way the photo your publication used was not taken by her).
She conducted the interview of the protesters via e-mail instead. The interview via e-mail was very deceptive. She did not mention that she was writing an article about the "protest". The questions were posed as if the news was about Arroyo and protesting in general and NOT about the actual protest that just transpired at the Hilton Hotel. Instead I was surprised that she substituted the interview to pretend as if she actually covered the protest outside the Hilton Hotel.
While the article seemingly attempts to appear neutral, objective and balanced, I have a very strong inclination to believe that the reporter did not meet her objective with the outcome of the news. Instead, the opinions and quotes from protesters were summarily dismissed by blatantly painting an ugly picture of the protesters, hence discrediting the protesters when the article was summed up by a quote from certain pro-administration that categorically dismissed and discredit the protest.
Decent news coverage needs to be balanced and objective. If you want to cover Arroyo's lavish party, do so. If you want to cover the protest against Arroyo, do so. If you want to write a play-by-play and tit-for-tat quotes, do so. But if you want to write about two opposing sides, do not insert your subjective position by manipulating the quotes and using deceptive interview questions. Damaging and discrediting style of reporting should only be used against the ill-intentioned.
I am not demanding an apology, instead I am voicing a serious concern as a former staff of the publication and as a freelance journalist. I hate to see the Filipino Express become a rag tabloid filled with sensational journalism.
I am hoping that Mr. Gajilan and Editorial Staff of the Filipino Express seriously look into this matter to preserve the long history of journalistic integrity and excellence of the Filipino Express.
Respectfully yours,
Gary Labao
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It was Friday night (July 11) and I'm sure most FilAms had gone to Disney Hall in Downtown L.A. to watch Lea Salonga in-concert.
But those who chose to be at the Virgil Auditorium (also in L.A.) including this writer, were just as entertained if not overwhelmed by the musicality and artistry of the young members of Sining Kumintang from Bauan, Batangas, who had presented the Filipino culture in all its beauty and pageantry through dance and song. The performances were quick-paced, well-coordinated and enhanced by the colorful and attractive costumes worn by the Kumintang dancers.
I had seen the cultural group at the Alex Theatre in Glendale some years back and was quite impressed so much so that when the invitation came even at a short notice, I didn't want to miss their return engagement.
The Sining Kumintang performing artists are full of youthful exuberance and exhibit amazing discipline. Composed of exuberant high school students and alumni of Bauan High School, it is supported by the school faculty, staff and parents. It fosters cultural awareness in today's generation particularly the youth, through the language of dance and music. Founded by Engineer Vicente P. Cordero in 1980, SK was formally organized in 1992 and is currently, the Official Cultural Performing group of the province of Batangas. SK participated in the first Conseil International des Organisations de Festivals de Folklore et d'Arts Traditionnels festival (1997) in Israel and was chosedn as the Philippine Cultural Ambassador of Goodwill to the International Folklore Festival held in the USA, France and Italy along with 50 other countries in the 1998. In the year 2000, SK was the official Philippine representative to the 2nd World Folkloriada in Tokyo, Japan.
This year's cultural tour included Chula Vista, San Diego and Chicago. For those of you who missed their awesome performance, watch out for the Sining Kumintang when they return to the Southland. If there's anything that well captures and showcases Pinoy culture ever so beautifully ... it is the Sining Kumintang.
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