YEAR 12, No. 1 JULY 2008 Home Paper of the 1999 Canadian Ethnic Journalists’ and Writers’ Club Winner for Best Editorial Toronto, Ontario

1212

Dancing To Be A Star - 33

INSIDEOoops & Bloops

Once a Once a knight?knight?

- 7- 7

Ai-Ai DeLas Alasto grace July 19PIDCMabuhay Fest - 37

PIDC ‘08 Little Miss PhilippinesPIDC ‘08 Little Miss Philippines

Philippine Independence Day Council (PIDC) Little Miss Philippines Elle Nicole Delizo (center) and her court first runner-up Arlene Joy Salazar (left), second runner-up Jessica Lynn Tamayo (right), Catherine Farley, Marja Bor-ja, Trisha Mae Agne, Danica Joy Manguera, Paula Jane Alcayde, Courtney Rose Rolloque, Christina Pico Lao, Kaycee Lyn Diaz, Michelle de Lara, Nicole Ramos, Hay-lee Marcoleta and Freddielyn Estanislao will grace PIDC’s Mabuhay Festival at the Metro Toronto Convention Cen-tre on July 19. PIDC Photo

Ailing Filipino caregiver Juana Tejada’s wish may just come true.

CAREGIVER JUANA TEJADA’S CASE

PR status a pen away?

(To page 4)

STARK REALITYSTARK REALITYTyphoon Frank’s aftermath: People should come to terms with

“Typhoon Frank’s merciless lashing of Iloilo and many parts of Luzon, the Visayas and Mindanao last June was unprecedented. Ilonggo elders spoke of it as ‘the Biblical Great Flood’, its catastrophic effects unmatched in their lifetime memories of nature’s wrath,” said Pototan, Iloilo native Consul General in Toronto Alejandro Mosquera.

Latest reports from the Philippines placed Typhoon Frank’s death toll at over 1,600, including the 700 plus who died in the ill-fated M/V Princess of the Stars that capsized on June 21 off Sibuyan Island, Romblon. More than 500 were hurt during the typhoon. (Related item on page 12)

Some 3.7 million people from 5,410 villages in 401 towns, 48 cities and 49 provinces left their homes and fled to safer grounds, most of them left with nothing to return to. Damage to private property, public infrastructure and agricultural produce was placed at roughly P7.3 billion.

A Disaster Waiting To HappenIn a July 2 disaster relief forum A Disaster Waiting to

Happen, watershed specialist Dr. Jessica Salas said a ca-lamity of this magnitude “is going to be repeated ... unless we approach development from a watershed ecosystem and local economic system framework.”

“We must, and fast, build regional community resilience in the face of climate change,” Dr. Salas challenged.

Andrew Farncombe, International Partnership Director of the Canadian Urban Institute, drawing notes from Dr. Sa-las’s lecture, said “it is time to reflect on and come to terms with the stark reality that:

(To page 4)

Weather-weatherWeather-weatherlang kaya? - lang kaya? - 1212

T’nalak: Fabric ofT’nalak: Fabric ofbravery, love - bravery, love - 2626

An informant quoting a reli-able source from Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) told the Manila Media Monitor that the CIC has in principle approved, on humanitarian and compassionate grounds, the grant of permanent residency status to Tejada.

The phoned-in report to this paper said the approval would immediately come as soon as Te-jada’s lawyer Rafael Fabregas has submitted all the documents perti-nent to Tejada’s application.

The CIC had been waiting for the documents for two months now, the informant said.

Earlier, the CIC has informed

Tejada on June 26 that it would pay for all the medical expenses the ailing caregiver incurred since her Ontario Health Insurance Plan (OHIP) expired in August 2007.

AnnouncementThe announcement of the CIC

decision would be made by Te-jada’s lawyer Rafael Fabregas in a press conference on July 18.

Temporary residenceLate in June, Jose Oliver

(Conservative Party MP, Eg-linton-Lawrence) said the CIC granted Tejada and her husband temporary resident permits to stay in Canada until December.

TEJADA

Manila Media Monitor JULY 20082

JULY 2008 Manila Media Monitor CALENDAR

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3► JULY 19: Philippine Independence Day Council Mabuhay Festival, with Dancing To Be A Star Finals, Metro To-ronto Convention Centre (MTCC).► JULY 19: Philippine Chamber of Commerce Toronto Trade Show at Mabuhay Festival, MTCC.► JULY 19: Association of Caviteños in Canada Annual Picnic, Earl Bales Park.► JULY 19: Filipino Canadian Cable-tow Service Club Annual Picnic, Thom-son Park.► JULY 20: Royal Mark Canada’s Zsa Zsa Padilla-Basil Valdez Concert, Mis-sissauga Performing Centre for the Arts.► JULY 26: Sine ... Sine Musika Con-cert, Gateway Centre for New Canadi-ans.► JULY 26: Barilinian Groups of Toron-to Santa Ana Feast Celebration, Tigley Residence, Downsview. ► AUG. 3: Bicol Canada Community Association Picnic, Earl Bales Park, 7:30 a.m. to 9:30 p.m.► AUG. 3: Cotabateños in Ontario Get Together at Thompson Park, Brimley, Scarborough, 11 a.m. ► AUG. 9: Jenifer Forever Concert 2, Meadowvale Theatre, Mississauga.► AUG. 9: Block Rosary Crusaders of Toronto 28th Annual Filipino Midland Martyrs’ Shrine Pilgrimage in Midland, Ontario.► AUG. 10: United Architects of the Philippines-Ontario (UAPO) General Membership Meeting and Offi cers’ In-duction.► AUG. 15 to 17: Filipinos Making Waves Festival, Ontario Place. ► AUG. 17: UAPO 6th Golf Tourna-ment, Remington Parkview Golf and Country Club.

Visit www.pakulo.com to view the calendar of public events in Ontar-io and the rest of North America.

Manila Media Monitor JULY 20084 NEWSNEWS

The information on Oli-ver relayed to the Manila Media Monitor added that CIC was waiting for Tejada’s counsel to complete her ap-plication for permanent resi-dence under humanitarian and compassionate grounds.

Department officials are committed to expedite pro-cessing once the completed application is submitted, Oliver said.

Advocacy groups have sought for permanent Ca-nadian residency for Tejada, her husband and family.

Unusual CIC expenseAccording to another

report relayed to the Manila Media Monitor, Tejada’s lawyer Fabregas said the CIC coverage of Tejada’s medical bills, which could add up to about $15,000, was “somewhat good news.”

Public health coverage has been extended for Te-jada’s husband too.

But Fabregas said this move was “extremely un-usual.”

Status pending In a press release, Fili-

pino caregiver rights advo-cate Migrante-Ontario said a CIC case officer had previ-ously decided that Tejada’s “health condition might reasonably be expected to cause excessive demand to health and social services,” and could be a social and economic burden to the Ca-nadian health care system.

PR status a pen away?(From page 1)

Migrante said Tejada came to Canada under the Live-in Caregiver Program in 2003.

Migrante claimed that Tejada became eligible to apply for permanent resi-dency after 24 months of caregiver work.

But she was diagnosed with cancer in 2006. Mi-grante claimed that since then, CIC had denied Tejada her right to stay in Canada and was even stripped of her OHIP coverage.

“For three years Juana has worked. Her sickness now deems her expendable as she is no longer able to fulfill these duties,” Migran-te said as it appealed to of-ficials to let Tejada stay “on humanitarian and compas-sionate grounds.”

The group also demand-

ed that authorities give all caregivers full status, not just employer-dependent work visas that could force women into vulnerable and exploitable working condi-tions.

Tejada’s case has arisen in the context of the recent passage of Bill C-50, which message to “immigrants is clear: Do not even attempt to come to Canada as a per-manent resident unless you are willing to come tempo-rarily as workers in exploit-ative and marginal jobs,” Migrante noted.

“This is a policy that seeks to make it impossible for immigrants to determine not just the conditions of their work, but also of their own lives in Canada,” it said. With reports from MOGI MOGADO

► “Land management decisions are in fact water resource decisions,

► “There is an urgent need to protect old growth forest and restore the rain-forest in the watershed, while still maintaining the viability of plantations and agriculture/food lands,

► “The region needs to come to terms with how much land can be eaten up by human settlement, how much must be protected in its natural state and how much should serve agricul-ture,

► “There is an urgent need for mass eco-educa-tion. Intensification of land uses (especially housing) is the critical focus (if Japan can do it, why not the Phil-ippines?).

► “There is a need to think not just of the water-shed as a natural boundary, but also as a social catch-ment in which sprawl con-tainment and urban manage-ment become essential.”

“Cities exist within a watershed. The Iloilo ex-perience has been repeated many times throughout the (Philippine) archipelago in the past, and will continue to be in the future if we are to believe the climate change experts,” Farncombe noted.

Depleted forestsIn her lecture, Dr. Salas

pointed out that in the Phil-ippines, only three percent of old growth forests still stood.

In Iloilo province alone, only two percent remained, down from 70 percent in 1900 and 34 percent in 1970.

While three million trees, most of them non-native, have been planted in Iloilo’s watersheds in recent years, these did not bring back the multi-canopy rainforest that supported species’ diversity.

Dr. Salas said the 2007 drought in Panay resulted in a loss of 47 percent of wa-ter in rivers/streams, a direct result of depletion of ground water.

Racing vs uncertaintiesThe impact was devas-

tating -- loss of biodiver-sity in the upper watershed, mono-cropping (gmelina, bamboo, mahogany), ac-

STARK REALITY(From page 1)

Nilda Exmundo of the University of the Philippines Alumni Association said Share-Life has started accepting donations for humanitarian relief efforts underway in the Philippines in the wake of the death and destruction wrought by Typhoon Frank.

The Catholic Church’s official relief body, Caritas Internationalis, is coordinating the initiative through its 162 national members.

Contributions would be channelled through the Canadian Catholic Organization for Development and Peace, the Caritas representative organization in Canada.

Caritas (Philippines) would turn over the donations, earmarked for priority areas hardest hit by Typhoon Frank, to the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines.

Exmundo said those wishing to help could do so: ► Online through ShareLife’s website, www.sharelife.org. ► By phone through the ShareLife office – 1-800-263-2595 or 416-934-3411. ► Through the parish, making cheques payable to: ShareLife – Name of Par-

ish – Typhoon Frank Relief. She called on Filipinos to ask their parish priest to initiate a designated special

Sunday collection for Typhoon Frank Relief or by publishing letters of appeal in the parish bulletin.

Efforts are being made to appeal to the Canadian International Development Agen-cy (CIDA) to match funds raised through ShareLife, as was done for China. CIDA matching raised some $1 million for relief efforts in China.

Exmundo asked the Filipino community “to pass on the information to friends in Canada and around the world to help rebuild the lives of thousands with their donation. ShareLife will issue receipts for tax purposes to donors in Canada.”

For more information, contact: (416) 364-8670, (905) 738-9633 or visit www.ty-phoonfrank.info.

Other venues for donationsMeanwhile, the Philippine Consulate General in Toronto said donations could also

be coursed through:► The National Disaster Coordinating Council through the Development Bank

of the Philippines, Camp Aguinaldo, Quezon City; with Account Name NDCC Do-nated Fund, Acct. No. 0-00149-435-3; Swift Code DBPHPHMM, Current Acct. No. 36002016.

► The Philippine National Red Cross through Metrobank, Port Area Branch, Anda Circle, Port Area, Manila; with Account Name PNRC, Swift Code MBTCPHMM, Acct. No. 151-2-151-00218-2.

► Circulo Ilonggo and the Committee for Disaster Relief in Iloilo, the Philip-pines through Noe Castaños, Circulo Ilonggo president, Tel. No. (905) 738-9633, e-mail ncasta9633@rogers.com or Nilda Exmundo, relief efforts coordinator, Tel. No. (416) 364-8670, e-mail milexmundo@yahoo.com.

Donations for ‘Frank’ relief efforts

celerated spread of invasive species, soil erosion, drying of rivers/creeks in summer and drought.

This spelled trouble during major storms, as the non-retention of water meant flooding.

Those who survived Ty-phoon Frank, were hurt and lost property “will have to rebuild their lives, racing against the odds of econom-ic, social and political un-certainties,” Salas added.

Replenish waterShe said rainwater catch-

ment was critical - on roof-tops, slopes, small ground surfaces, or through large catchment area structures.

She cited how Singapore did away with too many im-pervious surfaces like park-ing lots and other paved sur-faces and converted these to grass or other surfaces that allowed rainwater to perme-ate. “The key is to replenish ground water.”

There was either too much water or not enough water, and this constituted an urgent sign of lack of health in the ecosystem.

Unfortunately, there had never been any Philippine state policy on rainwater harvesting.

Political willDr. Salas said too much

emphasis had been placed on high-tech, capital intensive, conventional flood control projects in Iloilo, when in-vestments could have been made on less costly but more effective rainwater ponds and other upland wa-ter retardation schemes.

“A revolution in thinking is needed,” she said, add-ing that urban planners and management systems of-ficers have been failing the expectations of the people.

They never raised a hand against putting up commer-cial and industrial buildings and housing subdivisions on essential wetlands and on flood plains. The poor are bearing more of the burden.

“Complacency on this issue must be avoided. Can we count on a new political will?” she asked.

RecommendationsThe lecture also present-

ed a number of recommen-dations on how to meet the

problem head on.The recommendations

included:► A continuing and

well-organized eco-edu-cation of leaders and the masses,

► The creation of ac-tive and committed citizens’ watchdog groups,

► The multi-stakehold-er participation in watershed management,

► The strengthening of watershed structures and new governance arrange-ments aligned with water-shed boundaries, with strong village participation in the spirit of bayanihan,

Forum responsesOn their part, the forum

attendees:► Sought to sponsor a

design competition in ar-chitecture/planning schools and universities in Iloilo to influence the development of new housing models and new models of “sustainable community development.”

This, they said, could be supported in the framework of Gawad Kalinga.

► Pushed for more ag-gressive reforestation proj-ects,

► Urged the use of eco-guerrilla acts, like shooting metal spikes into tree trunks to discourage illegal log-ging,

► Called for communi-ty-based forest management models where communities become guardians/stewards,

► Supported efforts to promote watershed preser-vation, along with foodlands protection, by supporting non-government organiza-tions that worked in this area of advocacy and practice,

► Asked all concerned to look to the experiences of Toronto in the aftermath of Hurricane Hazel as a model of how to use disaster as a transformative event for Iloilo.

Toronto experienceFarncombe recom-

mended the websites http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hur-ricane_Hazel and http://www.hurricanehazel.ca/.

He said that in the after-math of Hurricane Hazel, the Toronto Region Conser-vation Authority has played a major role in watershed management and flood pro-tection, combining it with recreation objectives.

Farncombe said he learned a lot from Dr. Salas “that will be useful in our organization’s own work in Iloilo,” adding he was excit-ed to be part of a high level intellectual discussion on di-saster management and felt that the people present be-lieved in long term rehabili-tation efforts. With reports from MOGI MOGADO

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Ailing Filipino caregiver JUANA TEJADA (right) explains her plight before members of the Univer-sity of the Philippines Alumni Association in On-tario. Photo courtesy of MOGI MOGADO

5NEWSNEWSJULY 2008 Manila Media Monitor

Permanent residents ap-plying to replace a perma-nent resident (PR) card due to expire no longer need to send in their current valid card with the application.

Instead, they only need to exchange their old card with a new one when they pick up the new card in per-son at a local Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) office.

Further, applicants for a new or replacement PR card are no longer required to get the signature of a guarantor or sign a statutory declara-tion in lieu of a guarantor.

These were the two sig-nificant changes to the PR

card application process citizenship and immigra-tion minister Diane Finley recently announced.

“These changes demon-strate our continued com-mitment to providing more convenient services to new-comers,” Finley said.

“We recognize that people may want to hold on to a valid card for travel purposes while waiting for the replacement. We also understand that newcomers may have difficulty finding a guarantor who has known them for at least two years,” she said.

Previously, permanent residents had to send in

their PR card when they ap-plied for a replacement.

This inconvenienced permanent residents intend-ing to travel outside Canada while their application was being processed.

But permanent residents should include their PR card with the application for a replacement if it has expired.

Moreover, eliminating the need for a guarantor would simplify the perma-nent resident card applica-tion process without com-promising security.

For example, CIC could verify an applicant’s pass-port, driver’s licence, or

employment and education-al information to confirm residence and identity.

The PR card would con-firm the holder’s permanent resident status in Canada.

Permanent residents traveling outside Canada should show the card before boarding commercial trans-portation (plane, train, boat or bus) to return to Canada.

CIC has urged perma-nent residents to check the expiry date on their PR cards and apply for a new one well before they plan to travel. The PR card was introduced in 2002, and, in most cases, was valid for a five-year period. CNW

CIC introduces PR card application conveniences

The Philippine Consul-ate General in Toronto has started processing applica-tions for machine-readable Philippine passports since July 1.

All passport applicants need to appear at the con-sulate to file their applica-tions, affix their thumb-prints and signature in the computer-generated form.

Machine-readable RPpassport processing on

Passport applicants shall submit passport photos with royal blue or dark blue background. The full fron-tal facial image of the applicant shall occupy 70 to 80 percent of the photograph.

The photo size is 3.5 cm. x 4.5 cm. The photo shall be printed preferably on matte photo paper of good quality.

As much as possible, both ears of the applicant shall be visible.

The use of contact lenses for medical reasons is al-lowed, provided the contact lenses do not change the applicant’s true eye color. Use of earrings for women is likewise allowed, provided the earrings are small. But the wearing of earrings for men is not allowed.

When having their photos taken, the applicant co-may smile. The ‘Mona Lisa’ smile is recommended.

While the filing of applications will be done at the Consulate, the machine readable passports will be pro-cessed in Manila.

It will take a minimum of one month before the passports are released to the applicant.

All applicants for the machine readable passport are enjoined to file their application at least six months prior to its expiration date. PR

VIENNA - The Orga-nization of Petroleum Ex-porting Countries (OPEC) has revised its global oil de-mand forecast to 86.81 mil-lion barrels per day (bpd) for this year, or 90,000 bar-rels lower than its forecast in June.

This was the fourth time OPEC has lowered its glob-al oil demand forecast for the year.

In its latest monthly re-port published on July 15, the Vienna-based cartel also

forecast a daily demand rise of 0.9 million barrels in 2009, representing a decline of 0.1 million barrels from estimated growth in 2008.

The report said demand for OPEC crude oil in 2008 would average 32 mil-lion bpd. In 2009, average demand would be further scaled down to 31.2 million bpd.

OPEC monthly oil pric-es reached a record high of US$128 per barrel in June, 7.5 percent higher than the

previous month.This was mainly be-

cause of rising Middle East tensions, financial market speculations, supply con-cerns over a storm threat in the Gulf of Mexico and the continued fluctuation of the American greenback, OPEC said.

Iran, the second largest oil producer of OPEC, has started testing long-distance missiles, deepening global concerns about the future stability of OPEC oil output

and supply. US Federal Reserve

chairman Ben Bernanke said the devaluation of the US dollar, to a certain ex-tent, pushed up oil prices.

The price of oil hit a re-cord US$147.27 per barrel on July 11 and has doubled in a year, sparking global fuel protests and stoking in-flation.

Experts said the report showed the cartel saw no need to raise output in the short run. PNA/Xinhua

OPEC revises ‘08 global oil demand forecast

MEDIAMEDIA Manila Media Monitor JULY 20086

Newsmagazine The Ca-nadian Immigrant bagged both print media awards - two of nine major awards - during the Canadian Ethnic Media Association 30th An-niversary Gala and Awards at the Velma Rogers Gra-ham Theatre on June 27.

The Canadian Immi-grant’s editor Marg Jetelina won the News or Feature Category in Print Media Award for Cultural Com-promise, an affecting article on the work of Vancouver’s Godwin Eni, physician, educator and community leader. The newsmagazine’s publisher Naeem “Nick” Noorani won the Editorial Category plum for his criti-cal editorial Canada’s Tran-sition Penalty on under-employment of immigrant professionals.

For Radio, broadcaster Martin Silva won the Fea-ture Category for a presen-tation on the successful re-sult of liver transplant from Dina Lomoro to Jorge Ga-lego on CHIN radiothon for Toronto Western hospital.

The Radio Opinion Cat-egory award went to Er-nest Tannis, ADR program, CHIN Radio, Ottawa for a sensitive program featuring an imam, a minister and a

The CanadianImmigrant bags2 CEMA plums

rabbi and their views on the patriarch Abraham.

The Television award-ees were: (for news or fea-ture) Grace Fusillo, pro-ducer/writer and director of Fuel Productions’ moving documentary, The Great Communicator -- Johnny Lombardi, funded and broadcast by Rogers OMNI Television; (for opinion) Angie Seth, anchor/re-porter, OMNI News: South Asian Edition for the lively Democracy 101 on how students are encouraged to

(From left) The youth sector’s Mithi Esguerra and caregiver sector’s Michelle Gose assist senior sector’s Mama Ching Quejas as she presides over the installation of Philippine Press Club-Ontario’s president Tenny Soriano, vice president Ace Alvarez, sec-retary Butch Galicia, treasurer Mogi Mogado, and directors Tony Sicat, Hermie Garcia and Mon Datol at the Scarborough Village Community Centre on July 12. PHOTO: ANAGAILE SORIANO

Community reps install PPC-O officersCommunity reps install PPC-O officers

express political opinions prior to adulthood.

The Internet media awardees are: (for news or feature) Blunt Magazine editor Andrew Miller for Death, a revealing descrip-tion of life as a hospital service assistant with pride in his work; (for edito-rial) South Asian Outlook publisher Suresh Jaura for his incisive editorial Two Kinds of Canadians on sys-temic prejudices against non-whites.

The Sierhey Khmara

Ziniak Award was presented to Dat Ngyuen, publisher-editor of Vietnamese week-ly Thoi Bao, for “journalis-tic excellence in publishing his weekly newspaper and his integral initiative in res-cuing Ontario print media from punitive taxation.”

Ngyuen’s initiative against punitive taxation was supported by the Phil-ippine Press Club Ontario, Manila Media Monitor and Balita, among other media organizations. CEMA PR/Thoi Bao Photo

Madeline Ziniak (right), executive chair of the Ca-nadian Ethnic Media Association, presents the Si-erhey Khmara Ziniak Award to Dat Ngyuen, pub-lisher and editor of Vietnamese weekly Thoi Bao.

JULY 2008 Manila Media Monitor 7

KoR knighthood made easy

Ace Alvarez

VIEWSVIEWSVIEWS

The headline of the “OFW Journalism Consortium in its June 27, 2008 issue read, “Study says high school drop-outs not children of OFWs”.

Ooops! Easy … easy. The body of the story is not quite what the headline declares.

An excerpt from the story read:

“High cost of education cou-pled by lingering poverty has been cited by pundits as reasons for these increases (N.B. referring to drop-out rate).”

When I forwarded the story to Manila Media Monitor editor Butch Galicia, I warned him to be careful about reading just the headline of the newspacket. “The story’s content is different from what the headline implies. Kasin-dak-sindak, sir!”

Butch replied, “It’s a startling revelation. Pinagkakaila na ng mga OFWs na anak nila ang mga school dropouts sa Pilipinas. Mag-aling ang sumulat ng headline.”

Ace to Butch: “Kung baga si OFW, five years na sa abroad, pero iyong bunso ay three years old pa lamang!”

Butch wrote back na kung na-

tanggap ni Mrs. iyong sperm sam-ple, anak nga ni OFW si bunso.

But lo … and behold, I replied, “Hindi pa rin, dahil hiringgilya ng asawa ni Dory, na taga Malabon, ang ginamit kay Mrs. OFW.”

***The Philippine Press Club

Ontario (PPCO) will have a booth at the Mabuhay Philip-pines Toronto Summer Festival, July 19, at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre, offered through PIDC president Jun Enverga.

On behalf of the PPCO, President Tenny Soriano wrote back to Jun:

“Good idea. “In an ideal setting (but not

necessarily this year) the center has amenities like computers, monitors/video machines (where exhibitors can show their vid-eos/audio-visual presentations) pigeonholes etc. etc. In short, its a meeting /melting place among media and its sources.

“This is what we used to do in ‘Pinas (panahon ni Macoy) in every international, or local conferences, exhibits and the like.”

Hhhmmm …. So, okay read-ers, please bring lots of cash with you. I think the PPCO booth will have a blackjack table, pu-soy, mahjong table/s and a bar for those who want to drink.

Mabuhay ang pangulo ng PPCO!

***A CNW (Canada News Wire)

dispatch on June 25, states: “Mc-Guinty Government Supports Public-Private Internship Pro-gram; Leading Edge Research”

Mabuti na lang walang oral … ooops … I mean oval office dito sa Ontario.

***PPCO secretary Butch Gali-

cia sent notice of cancellation of board meeting, June 24.

Treasurer Mogi Mogado’s response: “10-4 paki-email na lang ang pag-uusapan.”

***Appointed by PPCO president

Tenny Soriano to coordinate vol-unteers to man the PPCO booth at the PIDC Mabuhay Festival, I solicited the help of all active PPCO members to man the booth throughout the day.

Of the 13-hour slots with

which we divided the duty, we noticed that the most volunteers came forward for the 1 to 3 p.m. slot. Manila Media Monitor editor Butch Galicia wondered why.

My response: “Probably the time sexy singer-entertainer Jen-ny Camacho will perform, and the PPCO guys were hoping that there will be another ‘wardrobe malfunction’ incident of two years past at the same festival.

***At first, Philippine Courier

Publisher Ramon Datol and Butch Galicia thought the 1 to 3 p.m. slot are the hours that they would see a lot of ladies wearing their favorite beach wear.

My response: “Yes, indeed. Problem is that it isn’t at the Mabuhay Fest, but in Wasaga Beach.”

***A good friend of mine phoned

the Philippine Consulate Gener-al’s office in Toronto to inquire on dual citizenship.

A staff at that office picks up the phone and … “Philippine Conshooleyt, good afternoon.”

There’s no truth that when I phoned the Philippine Embassy in Ottawa two days later to seek clarification on a press release that office sent us at Manila Me-dia Monitor, a staff picked up the phone and said… “Philippine Em-bashee, good afternoon.”

***PPCO president Tenny Sori-

ano narrated how high ranking officer of the Knights of Rizal (KoR), Sir Chito Collantes, knighted into the organization

Philippine-based entertainers German Moreno, Tirso Cruz III and Lito Calzado, when the former chanced upon them while dining at the Aristokrat Restaurant on Wilson Avenue in Toronto. Moreno, Cruz and Calzado were visiting Toronto recently.

The KoR is a prestigious or-ganization created to honor and uphold the ideals of Philippine national hero, Dr. Jose Rizal. It was established on December 30, 1911, and granted legislative charter as a civic and patriotic organization by Republic Act 646 on June 14, 1951.

For those who have been wanting to apply as members of the KoR, probably you may avail, too, of the membership route made easy, such as exem-plified above.

How? Chance upon the aforementioned Sir Chito Col-lantes when he dines at the Aris-tokrat Restaurant.

Don’t worry, the KoR will also provide you at your instant knighthood with the KoR Bar-ong Tagalog and the accessory medal.

With the foregoing, please add three more members on the membership number below.

Since the KoR’s founding in Manila, Philippines, the organi-zation has grown to over 10,000 members belonging to chapters located in countries through-out the world including Can-ada, Australia, Bahrain, Bel-gium, Germany and the United States.

Where would you livein the Philippines?

Manila Media Monitor JULY 20088 VIEWSVIEWS

(To page 9)

Managing EditorACE ALVAREZ

EditorBUTCH GALICIA

Associate EditorGIE ALVAREZ

Contributing EditorsGrace P. FreiresManny Freires

Ben ViccariMag Cruz Hatol

Pete LacabaMel Tobias

Editorial AssistantsLennart Leigh Alvarez-Mahoney

Dods Andrada

ContributorsEdwin AcunaBien Garcia

Jeannie PilapilEva Agpaoa

Mario DimainNoel PeradaLarry Torres

Chito Sarabia

Account ExecutiveMYRNA SORIANO

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416-875-2541projects@idtechsolutuionsnetwork.com

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My personal celebrations this July 2008:The Lives of Two Very Special Friends -

Isagani Pastor and Ben Viccari“Like everyone, I have many

friends: ordinary friends, acquain-tances, special friends, and … very special friends.

“This month of July, 2008, I celebrate the lives of two very special friends.

“A week ago, I learned that a very special friend back in the Philippines – whom I had worked with at one of the commercial banks in that country -- was killed in a bank robbery described in news items as the bloodiest in Philippine bank robbery history.

“I was talking to his wife early this month, and she said that no words could describe that tragic day, but stressed, “It is not how he died, but how he lived his life. Pare, thank you for your friend-ship and the warmth of your sym-pathy.”

“His widow thanked me for my friendship. But, no, I should thank him for his friendship; for having been part of his life.

“Also, I celebrate this month the life of another very special friend – that of Ben Viccari’s.

“Happy 90th, Ben!“When I came to Canada in

1990 (and up until 1999), I con-centrated on my own community;

the Filipino-Canadian commu-nity.

“It was not until I joined the Canadian Ethnic Journalists’ and Writers’ Club (now the Ca-nadian Ethnic Media Associa-tion [CEMA]) in 2000 that I was “brainwashed”, rather, “multicul-turated” (as I stood to be corrected by CEMA Ex-ecutive Di-rector and National Vice President for Te l e v i s i o n - Rogers TV, Madeline Ziniak) that Ben guided me to think of the greater major-ity -- the multicultural society of Canada; the diversity composing it.

“I thank you for this, Ben. I thank you for the opportunity for being part of your life.

“For these, I celebrate these month the lives of these two very special friends.”

The foregoing were my re-marks during the 90th birthday celebration of Ben Viccari -- Ca-nadian writer, journalist, broad-caster, blogger, accomplished (To page 24)

VICCARI PASTOR

public relations man, champion of Canadian multiculturalism, and more importantly to me, a very special friend at the Golden Lions Banquet Hall in Etobicoke, On-tario on July 4, 2008.

Oh yes, two lives of two spe-cial friends whose lives I celebrate

this month.The first,

my compa-dre Isagani Pastor, lived a a few years over half of Ben’s very colorful and continuously

societally-active 90s.Gani Pastor and I worked to-

gether during the mid 80s at the Branch Banking Department of one commercial bank in the Phil-ippines. I was assigned the public relations and market the services of the bank’s Sto. Cristo, Binon-do, Manila Branch, and he took charge of the Kalentong, Manda-luyong City Branch.

He was not only a compadre, but he and his family were very close personal friends. His old-est daughter, Lesley Anne, and my daughter were playmates and

went to Colegio San Agustin to-gether. His second child, Leeroy and my son Christian, were also playmates and went to the same school together. The third child, Francis Patrick, is my godson.

Gani and I were likewise neighbors at a village in San Pe-dro, Laguna. He was my vice president when I was the president of the neighborhood homeowners’ association -- until my and my family’s departure for this coun-try, when he took over my place.

Before we left for this country, Gani and his wife Chaloy, hosted a farewell dinner for us.

On our departure day, we were surprised to see them at the airport (among other friends and neigh-bors), even arriving ahead of us. We could see the tears building up in their eyes during breakfast at Manila’s Ninoy Aquino Interna-tional Airport prior to checking in for our flight out-of-the-country.

On the weeks leading to our departure date (and after we sold our car already), Gani offered, and in fact handed us the key to his car for our use, knowing and under-standing that we needed mobili-zation for the various last minute

If we were to believe ratings and studies; if we were to trust an-other’s parameters about a subject and if we were to be suckers for surveys, scientifically undertaken or conjured from thin air, would we anchor our decisions on some-one else’s findings?

If we did, because it was the most expeditious and easiest way to arrive at some form of intelli-gent choice, then the recent infor-mal panel study on which Philip-pine city is the most livable would either delight us or raise eyebrows. The study was tandemed with a fairly popular television survey program on QTV, a sister station of giant GMA Network.

Culling from statistical data as well as the corroboration of a panel of judicious persons, among them the editor of Mabuhay Mag-azine Jun Ventura, noted architect Jun Palafox and Travel Life editor Liza Ilarde, the top ten most ideal cities to take up residence in the country were listed.

It turns out that the most com-mon denominators in arriving at the choices have been the fulfill-

ment of the live, work and play formula. Most of the winners are situated close to a body of water, feature high infrastructure levels and business opportunities and are known to be socially dynamic.

The list consisted of a happy mixture of Visayan and Luzon cit-ies with only one from Mindanao.

Bacolod figured at number ten. The mid-sized capital of Negros Occidental is showing the world that despite the sugar debacle that reduced its shimmer as a city, it is revving up to make a comeback. In a recent study that ranked cit-ies based on quality of life driv-ers, Bacolod gave an impressive showing.

A black-horse winner is Sta. Rosa, once a quiet, unassuming sprawl of rice fields in Laguna. It is now a little silicon valley with promising investment and indus-trial possibilities. Palafox notes that the emerging city is a splen-did retirement area because it is barely an hour from the Nasugbu beach in Batangas and less than half an hour from Tagaytay.

Manila is a shock at number

eight. Despite its legendary con-gestion, traffic, crime and pollu-tion, it still boasts a dynamic local economy that hosts business and industry. The aces it offers are its proximity to Manila Bay and the glorious sunset.

The main economic hub of Western Visayas, Iloilo, landed at seven. The Princess City of the South is noted these days as the city with among the lowest inci-dence of heart diseases, a testa-ment to its trait as being nearly stress-free. This is not to say that Iloilo is a humdrum place. On the contrary, it boasts of emerg-ing industries and was also listed as one of the top five cities based on quality of life drivers. The re-cent beating it took from superty-phoon Frank may have set Iloilo back a few years but a recent visit showed its resilience and readi-ness to stand again.

Marikina, which many sus-pected as a likely top five candi-date, is not known as the shoe cap-ital anymore but a hall of famer in the clean and green city contests. It is the metro’s most competitive

city and like Singapore, booms. Many think it is the most ideal place to live in because of the city’s tidiness, order and impres-sive zoning.

The city that now smells like diesel fumes, the place noted for the barrelman, ukay-ukay and ex-otic vegetables, made it to num-ber five. Key reason for this must be Baguio’s being nestled in the mountains and the fact that there are so many educational institu-tions that have mushroomed in the place.

It is not a surprise that Makati, the most cosmopolitan place in the country, is in the top five. It is a very international city with impressive infrastructure. Like Marikina, its success is anchored on an inspired local leadership.

The largest city in the world in terms of land area, Davao is third on the list. It is consistently cited as among the best cities in Asia because of its sprawl and beauti-ful outdoors. The cost of doing business in the city is rated highly. That it is hardly visited by pow-erful typhoons and is part of the burgeoning East Asian Growth corridor make the city even more attractive. The bonus is that fruit abounds and life is generally tranquil making Davao a coveted place to live in.

Palawan is among the best provinces to visit because it has an incredible array to offer tour-ists and would-be investors. Geo-graphically, it is the largest prov-

OPINION An open letter toBarack Obama

JULY 2008 Manila Media Monitor 9VIEWSVIEWS

In defense of 59 honorableswho saw Pacquiao in Vegas

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(Editor’s note: This editorial, posted at the Partidong Pan-daigdigang Pilipino Yahoo group site, was written before Filipino boxer Manny Pacquiao fought, floored and stripped David Diaz of his World Boxing Council lightweight title. See page 28)

A good number of Filipino congressmen, officials and digni-taries and their respective entourages will be flying to Las Vegas for the nth time to see, nay, witness ring-side the coming title bout between Filipino boxing great Manny Pacquiao and David Diaz on June 28, 2008. Why do some Filipino-American pundits, wags and detractors criticize unfairly these Filipino officials and legislators in attending Mr. Pacquiao’s championship fights?

In the first place, these Filipino officials and lawmakers are spending their personal hard-earned money to witness Mr. Pac-quiao’s fights. They just don’t go to Las Vegas on a mere trip (or junket) to see the boxing bout. They go to Southern Nevada on a mission – as in a trade or investment-promotion mission.

Going to Las Vegas to be at the ring side is a good demonstration of Filipino patriotism. Why, all the Filipino-flag waving and cheer-ing amount to boosting the morale of a poverty-stricken people. Yes, impoverished Filipinos can afford only one meal a day but they save manny, oops, money to see Manny Pacquiao fight on Pay-TV in Manila and many cities in the Philippines. Mr. Pacquiao’s fight is a matter of national pride, aside from boosting the foreign reserve of the country (as Mr. Pacquiao brings home not only the bacon but also the dollars in several million versions).

Many Filipino government officials actually promote not only Philippine-made rum during their trips to Las Vegas and other American cities but also other Filipino products – without collect-ing per diems or extra compensation from the public treasury.

And the publicists of these Filipino congressmen and public of-ficials privately say that they actually earn hard currency for the Philippines, as they bet on Mr. Pacquiao’s assured victory at the legalized gambling spots in Las Vegas. Filipino casinos do not yet accept bets on boxing fights, don’t they? In short, their first mission is to take advantage of good opportunities to make money for their constituents, not necessarily at the expense of the Filipino people. Because when these Filipino dignitaries go home, they distribute their winnings to Philippine charities and their constituents.

Yes, to these Filipino legislators and officials, the Filipino box-er’s first name might as well be spelled, “Money.” As in good hard-earned money for the people, charitable causes and concerns.

Besides, Mr. Pacquiao’s fights make the starving Filipino mass-es forget their hunger and pains – even for a single night of the year. Yes, a victory over David Diaz may turn the entire Filipino homeland into a local version of Diazneyland, ooops, Disneyland. Who would object to turning the Philippines into one of the hap-piest places on earth – even just on the night (or day in Manila) of Manny Pacquiao’s victory over Mr. Diaz?

Filipino congressmen and dignitaries play a lot in protecting the interests of Mr. Pacquiao and the Filipino boxing world. For in-stance, many of them serve as interpreters, as Mr. Pacquiao cannot speak English as good as former President Erap Estrada or movie actress Melanie Marquez. Without the Filipino legislators around, how could the world understand what Mr. Pacquiao is talking about – especially since the Filipino boxer is always promoting Filipino tourist spots during the mainstream media’s interviews with him?

This writer objects strongly also to a Filipino-American joke that claims – without rhyme or reason – that these Filipino politi-cians and public officials go to Las Vegas because they always hold a reunion with Mr. Pacquiao’s trainer, the celebrated Freddie Roach. This writer does not find it funny for budding Filipino-American comedians labeling Filipino congressmen and other visiting digni-taries as relatives of Mr. Freddie for they are allegedly “utak ipis.” To those who do not get the ugly (and corny) joke, “utak” is brain in the Filipino language and “ipis” is the Filipino term for a roach.

By BOBBY M. REYESEditor, www.mabuhayradio. com

(To page 34)EDITOR’S NOTE: Ma-nila Media Monitor Col-umnist Eva Agpaoa is on leave.

ince. The panelists are unanimous in singling out its capital, Puerto Princesa, as ideal for ecotourism, retirement and cleanliness. The city ranks third highest in busi-ness opportunities. By far, Puerto Princesa seems to be the only city where you can actually see resi-dents picking up litter in the streets to properly dispose of them.

At the top of the heap with little controversy and surprise is the queen city of the south, Cebu. It enjoys the same centuries-old heritage as a colonial seat like Manila but it has been spared of tragedies of war and whims of politics. It has therefore preserved itself rather well. It now boasts an-other title: the city acknowledged as the most ideal one to live, work and play in the Philippines

Where would ...(From page 8)

Dear Senator,Please don’t consider this let-

ter, from a Canadian, as a colos-sally impertinent attempt to tell you how to run the United States of America if, as so many of us hope, you become its next Presi-dent.

It is, rather, an expression of how I personally believe two great neighbors can return to a friendship once enjoyed but gone astray these last eight years through the arrogant dictatorship that has become the Republican administration.

Like many others, I congratu-late our former Prime Minister Jean Chrétien for refusing to join a coalition based on a web of deceit and plunging American lives like Gadarene swine into the morass that is now Iraq. To say nothing of a wounded and bleeding Iraqi na-tion. Since then, our own current federal government elected two and a half years ago, proved ini-tially to be a lickspittle to George W. Bush but now finds itself in a dilemma.

All of those go to show that like the United States of America, it’s time for change here in Canada too: change in the way we look at poverty, at our regard for human rights, at the environment and at the war in Afghanistan -- a coun-try that the United States govern-ment left to its own devices after the Soviet forces had been defeat-ed. And change to so many other fossilized ideas and institutions.

If it is true that the young peo-ple of America and their desire for change will be the deciding fac-tor in bringing you to the White House, so must young Canadians break free from their dismal vot-ing record and opt for change.

We fervently hope that you will become President for eight historic years during which de-mocracy in the West is restored to its former regard in the eyes of

the world. Then, you can begin to show us the way.

***Sixty years ago, the erection

of a statue of a modern Canadian poet on the grounds of Queen’s Park would have been unthink-able, but there he is, larger than life: Al Purdy, one of Canada’s most widely quoted poets.

Just another example of the arts explosion in a country, which this citizen remembers as a virtual cultural wasteland 60 years ago. True there were token art galler-ies, museums and symphony or-chestras in many Canadian cities, even the Royal Winnipeg Ballet. And the Hart House Theatre com-pany which spawned some theat-rically famous players.

Today, there are 125 listed film festivals across Canada rang-ing from the now gigantic Toronto International to the Arctic Circle.

Our art galleries and museums are included in tours of major his-toric displays and exhibitions. To name a mere handful, names such as Christopher Plummer, Glen Gould, Mordecai Richler, Leon-ard Cohen, Atom Egoyan, Mau-reen Forrester and Anton Kuerti are known internationally.

The second edition of the groundbreaking Toronto arts festi-val, Luminato, reminds me of how far, culturally, Canada has come since I landed here in 1967, the year of the Canadian Citizenship Act which gave us all the opportu-nity to be classed as real Canadi-ans, instead of colonials.

Having just completed its sec-ond year, Luminato has once again justified the faith and initiative of its founders and government in-vestors. Events like this began as dreams, like that of Tom Patterson and his Shakespearean Festival in an Ontario railroad town.

We are where we are today be-cause of the continued courage of dreamers and their supporters like Tony Gagliano and David Pecaut.

This is a spirit we must still occasionally fight to preserve es-pecially in the protest against pro-posed government measures like Bill C10 which would in effect, stifle free expression in our still young film production industry.

Let’s cast aside crying in our beer over sports losses and sound

a rousing HURRAH for the arts in Canada.

***It was 60 years ago on October

25 that the Toronto Film Society, reformed after its wartime hia-tus, began the first of its monthly showings. I was delighted and honored to have been invited to join the Board, chaired by the CBC’s Gerald Pratley, the first serious Canadian critic to air his views on network radio.

Gerald, I’m happy to say, is still with us and we often chin wag over the phone; he now lives in Barrie. The TFS held its screen-ings at the Royal Ontario Museum Theatre and we opened with Von Sternberg’s The Blue Angel and the British documentary Song of Ceylon.

When in the spring of 1949 we applied to begin a new season in September, we found the museum authorities evasive. It didn’t take us long to discover that we had become a suspect group under in-vestigation by the RCMP.

In those days, American paranoia equated even small “l” liberals with communists - days that would culminate with the disgraceful era of McCarthyism. Apparently, because we had been showing some of the classic Rus-sian silent movies absolutely es-sential to the study of the art of cinema, we were thought of as communists.

Fortunately, one of our group was the late Roy Clifton, a former lawyer turned teacher at a presti-gious private school. He took on Museum’s board and the case was soon dropped. The Toronto Film Society remained at the Museum theater for many years and this year has much to celebrate as one of the arts pioneers of the 40s and 50s.

(Used with permission. Ben Viccari is the President of the Canadian Ethnic Media As-sociation [CEMA] and makes frequent appearances on OMNI TV Commentary. Some of his commentaries are republished in this publication and slightly ex-panded in some cases from their 70-second broadcast originals. For more of his work, please visit Ben’s website at: http://canscene.ripple.ca)

OURJOURNEY

Manila Media Monitor JULY 200810 VIEWSVIEWS

Maraming salamat po!

Our living planet

Just the other day, I heard a very familiar song. “ A Small World After All.” The song made me think. Has our planet really gotten smaller?

After watching the BBC documentary Planet Earth, I felt as though I had ex-plored the four corners of the earth within the film’s viewing time.

From that point of view, I would say yes. Our world seems to be smaller now. With the joint efforts of BBC photographers and film makers, I experienced what they saw. Through their lens, they made me see the many faces of our planet that I have not seen before.

From underwater to the sky, I gained a more in-depth understanding of how truly amazing our planet is.

Is it an understatement to say that earth is the only planet in the galaxy that evokes emotions?

Maybe so, but I person-ally feel that it does com-

municate to me during all four seasons: Spring, sum-mer, autumn and winter.

Every season has its own beauty and character and they all dictate how I adapt to my changing envi-ronment.

The tulips sprouting from the ground herald the news that spring has ar-rived. And the sight of the meadows turning green is a good sign that summer is not far behind.

Mother Nature speaks to me and also shows her good sense of humour when autumn comes.

First, she infuses my surroundings with vibrant colours then slowly trans-forms the colourful canvass into lifeless-looking brown and grey to make room for the cold months of winter. Almost like saying “Ha! I got you again!”

We all marvel at the fan-tastic re-creation of nature by Disney and Hollywood, but still, there is nothing

like the real thing. Call me old fashioned

and chances are that you are right. I would rather look at the spectacular view of the Grand Canyon than the bright lights of Las Vegas.

I am a typical “probin-siano”. I feel choked in the big city and I find great comfort in the midst of greenery under the white cotton-like clouds.

There is a place in Scar-borough where I find tran-quility whenever I needed it. It is a wonderful place.

It is situated at the end of Lawrence Ave. East where Lake Ontario and Rouge River meet.

Its sandy shore and the waves from the lake remind me a lot of a little fishing village in Zambales.

Here I can easily un-wind and detach myself from stress just by simply listening to the sounds of the water as I allow Mother Nature show off her gran-deur. This is Rouge Beach Park. My own little version of Planet Earth.

GRAND CANYON

TULIPS: SPRING IS HERE

ROUGE RIVER

WINTER’S WHITE SCENERY

Mabuhay! Manila Me-dia Monitor enters its 12 th year this month.

A celebration is indeed wanting, but I must insist that we at Manila Media Monitor instead skip the partying as we lay aside whatever laurels we have been bestowed with and si-lently assess the challenges an unsure but navigable fu-ture has in store for us.

Exemplifying the pa-per’s mission-vision when publisher Ace Alvarez and several others put up the corporation now known as Manila Media Monitor in June 1996, I can attest that reaching a decade and two will confirm that the Manila Media Monitor is strongly and solidly built on the ramparts of uncompromis-ing journalism.

As it charts its 12th and succeeding years, I know that the Manila Media Monitor will remain true to its mission of being a vigi-lant but responsible com-munity watchdog.

As editor, I vow to con-

tinue what the founders of this paper sought to do -- bring to public attention and scrutiny any community is-sue or concern supported by specifics and documents no matter from whom it came from.

The Manila Media Monitor will be the com-munity’s partner in relent-lessly exposing evil.

But over and above this, this paper will sincerely

and proudly praise the good done by the community and its individual members.

***I still believe that a

community paper owes its journalistic essence to the public its serves; for with-out readership, the power of the pen is lame.

This goes without say-ing that the Manila Media Monitor’s gratitude goes first and foremost to the tens

of thousands of people who have unfailingly read and enjoyed every issue of the paper since its first edition. Maraming salamat po sa inyong walang katapu-sang pakikipag-ugnayan.

***Important and very vital

too is the newspaper’s eco-nomic lifeblood, the adver-tisers.

Many advertisers have stuck with the Manila Me-

dia Monitor since its birth. And many more are find-ing this paper a respectable partner to keep trade and commerce within and out-side the community in ac-tive and continuing motion.

Maraming salamat po sa inyong walang sawang pagtangkilik.

*** Last but not the least,

I believe that the power of the pen belongs to anyone and everyone.

Regardless of position and status in life, anyone and everyone has the uni-versal right and privilege to be truthful, when they use the power of the pen.

The truth is what really counts in the end, not the position or status of the one who espouses and exposes the truth.

If espousing and expos-ing the truth is not good enough to do the public any good, then what is?

The men and women who have pursued the search for truth in every piece of information they have handled, is handling and will be handling for Manila Media Monitor’s editorial initiatives deserve maraming, maraming sal-amat din po.

Many of them are invis-ible to the public eye, but they always provide Ma-nila Media Monitor with interesting insights of com-munity life, as candid and complex as this may be.

***The Manila Media

Monitor is 12 years old. Will it grow to be 13 and

(To page 30)

Philippine Press Club-Ontario members, during the Installation of Offi cers on July 12. Photo: ARIEL RAMOS

JULY 2008 Manila Media Monitor 11FEATUREFEATURE

MANILA - A recently-released report by the World Bank (WB) has identified Filipinos as among the top 10 foreigners in 16 big and small countries in Asia-Pacific, Europe and North America.

The WB’s Migration and Remittances Factbook 2008 says Filipinos lead the number of foreigners in Australia, Brunei Darus-salam, Cambodia, Canada, Cyprus, Italy, Japan, Re-public of Korea, Malay-sia, the Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Oman, Palau, Saudi Arabia, the Solomon Islands, and the US.

Five of the countries are members of the bloc Organization for Economic Cooperation and Develop-ment.

The WB report bares data on the estimated num-ber of migrants – or what it calls “immigrants” – based on the 2005 United Nations Population Division report.

The tiny island of Palau, some 800 kilometers east of the Philippines, hosts the most number of Filipinos among 3,036 foreigners. This diving haven is home to some 20,000 people.

Data from the state-run

Commission on Filipinos Overseas (CFO) show there are 4,495 Filipinos in Pa-lau.

Twenty-one of them are permanent residents while 4,434 are temporary migrant workers. CFO estimates the rest are undocumented.

Manila to Koror, Palau’s capital, is 90 minutes apart. It takes half that time if fly-ing to or from the south-ern Philippine province of Davao.

Meanwhile, Filipinos are the second biggest for-eigner group in Malaysia, Brunei, and the United States, according to the WB

report and CFO estimates.The US, the Philip-

pines’s top source country of remittances, has some 38.4 million foreigners, says the WB.

Filipinos are behind US neighbor Mexico as the big-gest foreigner group, as

CFO estimates that there are 3.4 million Filipinos in that country.

The WB report shows that of Malaysia’s 1.6 mil-lion foreigners, over a hun-dred thousand are Filipinos (100,233). The CFO June 2007 data confirms this.

Brunei has 124,193 foreigners; CFO estimates some 22,939 are Filipinos.

Filipinos form the third-biggest number of foreign-ers in Korea (50,165 of a to-tal 551,193 foreigners) and the Marshall Islands.

The Marshall Islands, lo-cated in the western Pacific Ocean, have a thousand Fil-ipinos as the third biggest foreigner group out of its estimated number of 1,667 foreigners: 2.7 percent of its total 65,000 people.

Solomon Islands has some 3,279 foreigners out

Filipinos among top foreigners in 16 host countriesBy MADELAINE JOY A. GARCIA of some 489,000 people.

CFO estimates there are 758 Filipinos there.

Filipinos are also the fourth-biggest group in It-aly, which has roughly 2.5 million foreigners.

Some 119,083 Filipinos are estimated to be in Italy, says CFO.

Saudi Arabia, the workplace of an estimated 1,016,820 Filipinos accord-ing to CFO data, shows that Filipinos are the fifth big-gest immigrant group.

The Muslim nation of some 24 million has some 6.36 million immigrants.

Filipinos form also

the fifth largest immigrant group in Japan; the country having some 2.05 million foreigners, according to the World Bank report.

There are an estimated 313,291 Filipinos in Japan, CFO data reveals.

Cyprus is estimated to have some 116,137 im-migrants and Filipinos are ranked sixth.

CFO data show that there are 12,406 Filipinos in Cyprus.

Filipinos are also the sixth-biggest in Oman, which has some 627,571. CFO estimates there are some 33,000 Filipinos.

Filipinos are the sev-enth-biggest foreigner group in Canada (total of 6,105,722 foreigners) and Iceland (23,097 foreigners).

In these countries, CFO estimates there are 789,943 and 1,400 Filipinos in Can-ada and Iceland, respec-tively.

The eighth-biggest group of foreigners in Australia’s 4.1 million and Cambodia’s 303,871 immigrant popu-lation are Filipinos, which are estimated to number to 232,447 and 1,572, respec-tively. OFW Journalism Consortium

MANILA - Some 94,000 irregular or undoc-umented Filipino work-ers in Europe may be af-fected once the European Union (EU) enacts a new immigration rule against overstaying or illegal mi-grants.

Latest Department of Foreign Affairs figures culled from reports of overseas posts say there are at least 610,102 Fili-pinos in Europe as of June

2007.Of the number, 189,023

are permanent residents, 189,023 are temporary resi-dents and 94,113 are undoc-umented.

The EU comes closer to enacting the return direc-tive for undocumented or irregular migrants after its parliament earlier this week passed it on first reading.

The rule, which details the procedures for deten-tion, deportation and re-en-

try ban, is expected to be enforced 24 months after the rule’s final adoption.

The rule is enforced only after the national authorities have made a decision to de-port an immigrant, who will then be given from seven to 30 days to voluntarily leave Europe.

The adopted legislative text allows undocumented migrants, including chil-dren, to be held in custody between six months and 18

months.However, children

will be detained only as a “last resort” and will not be subject to coercive measures.

Many member-states hold irregular immigrants in custody indefinitely.

The rule will not be enforced in the United Kingdom and Ireland as they have not opted into this area of Community

New EU rules may affect 94,000 irregular OFWs in Europe

(To page 27)

Manila Media Monitor JULY 2008 12

GENERAL DENTISTRYDr. Gilbert ChanDr. Daphne ChienDr. Janet HoDr. Janet WongDr. Michael Chin

MANILA - What if no tropical cyclone disturbs the Philippines in one year – maybe two, or three?

It could be disastrous, as if a super-sized tropi-cal howler had smashed through the country, several times over.

An old hand at the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical, Astronomi-

Weather-weatherlang kaya talaga?

A farmer plants rice seedlings in a farm in Pugo, La Union after hefty rain-falls brought about by two typhoons that broke a persistent dry spell that has affected Luzon for almost four months. Photo: ANDY ZAPATA JR.

By ILUMINADO VARELA, JR.

cal Services Administration (PAGASA) once comment-ed: “A tropical cyclone, es-pecially the depression type (not really strong or just a baby typhoon), is actually a blessing in disguise as it usually does more good than harm to the country in a near-drought condition.”

“Its passage is a wel-come relief to farmers and

water resources managers,” said the official of PAGA-SA, the Philippines’ pre-mier weather tracking and forecasting agency.

Without typhoons, farmers are in for long dry months or years, unable to get their crops off the ground..

Studies show that 47 to 49 percent of the aver-age annual rainfall in the country are due to tropical depressions, 14 to 16 per-cent to monsoons, and 39 to 41 percent to other weather systems.

In the westernmost part of Luzon, about 80 percent of the total annual rainfall occurs from July to Sep-tember, the height of the typhoon season.

But excessive rainfall for a long period because of slow-moving or a series of typhoons causes inland flooding and heavy damage to crops, property and loss of lives.

Can science and tech-nology tame tropical cy-

clones (commonly called in the West as a hurricane)?

Advances in meteorol-ogy has promised an era where the moderation of ty-phoons would be a reality.

There have been studies, experiments and attempts at typhoon moderation (or taming) here and abroad.

But weather modifi-cation is a science still in an embryonic stage in the Philippines, a puzzle even in more technologically ad-vanced countries.

“Even a thorough under-standing of the physics of the atmosphere will prove to be of little benefit,” cau-tion weather scientists.

Typhoon moderation experiments are expensive ventures and must be con-ducted with the most ratio-nal approach backed up by theory.

Weather scientists say that some problems may arise from indiscriminate attempts at moderating typhoons without careful planning.

One negative effect is that the seeded typhoon may further intensify instead of being moderated. And this could be a formidable foe.

An American writer de-scribes in his book Weather Is Front Page News the force of a hurricane (storm)

as “the equivalent of 10,000 megaton atomic bombs of energy dispensed every hour.”

A theory in weaken-ing typhoons very popular among meteorologists in the 1960s is to seed the out-er cloud wall to enlarge the eye of the typhoon.

But the experiments had very little encouraging re-sults.

While the dynamics of the weather may be better understood today, knowl-edge and advanced tech-nology is of little benefit in controlling the many va-garies of the weather. PNA Features

Here is a list of the ten deadliest typhoons that has ever traversed through the Philippines since 1947 and has caused massive death and destruction:

► Tropical Storm URING (Thelma): Nov. 2 to 7, 1991; 95 kilometers per hour (kph); 5,101 to 8,000 + deaths; P1.045 billion in damages; tracked over Eastern Samar, Tacloban and Ormoc cities, Cebu, Negros Occi-dental, Bacolod and Bago cities, Guimaras, Cuyo Island and Palawan.

► Super Typhoon ROSING (Angela): Oct. 30 to Nov. 4, 1995; 260 kph; 936 deaths; P10.829 billion in damages; tracked over Catanduanes, Siruma and Quina-bucasan points, Camarines Norte and Camarines Sur, Quezon, Laguna, the National Capital Region, Cavite City and Bataan.

10 Deadliest Storms(To hit the Philippines since 1947)

(To page 13)

FEATUREFEATURE

JULY 2008 Manila Media Monitor 13NEWS & FEATURESNEWS & FEATURES

► Typhoon NITANG (Ike): Aug. 31 to Sept. 4, 1984; 220 kph; 1,363 to 3,000+ deaths; P4.1 billion in damages; tracked over Siargao and Nonoc islands, Surigao del Norte and Su-rigao City, Southern Leyte and Panaon Island, Bohol, Cebu, Negros Oriental, Negros Occi-dental and La Carlota City, Guimaras, Iloilo, Antique and Palawan.

► Super Typhoon RUPING (Mike): Nov. 10 to 14, 1990; 220 kph; 748 deaths; P10.846 billion in damages; tracked over Dinagat Is-land, Southern Leyte, Mactan Island, Cebu City, Cebu, San Carlos and Bacolod cities, Negros Occidental, Guimaras, Iloilo, Antique, Palawan.

► Super Typhoon SENING (Joan): Oct. 11 to 15, 1970; 275 kph; 768 deaths; P1.89 bil-lion in damages; tracked over Catanduanes, Ca-marines Sur, Quezon, Laguna, Cavite, National Capital Region and Bataan.

► Typhoon UNDANG (Agnes): Nov. 3 to 6, 1984; 230 kph; 895 deaths; P1.9 billion in damages; tracked over Eastern Samar, Leyte, Biliran Island, Masbate, Iloilo, Roxas City, Capiz, Aklan, Antique, Palawan.

► Super Typhoon LOLENG (Babs): Oct. 15 to 24, 1998; 250 kph; 303 deaths; P6.787 billion in damages; tracked over Catanduanes, Camarines Sur and Camarines Norte, Polillio Islands, Aurora, Palayan City, Nueva Ecija, Da-gupan City and Pangasinan.

► Super Typhoon SISANG (Nina): Nov. 23 to 27, 1987; 240 kph; 979 deaths; P1.119 bil-lion in damages; tracked over Sorsogon, Albay, Legazpi City, Camarines Sur and Iriga City, Burias Island, Quezon, Marinduque, Oriental Mindoro, Batangas.

► Typhoon KADIANG (Flo): Sept. 30 to Oct. 7, 1993; 130 kph; 576 deaths; P8.752 bil-lion in damages; tracked over Isabela, Aurora, Quirino, Nueva Vizcaya, Baguio City, Benguet, La Union, Lingayen Gulf, Pangasinan, Ilocos Sur, Mountain Province, Kalinga-Apayao, Ca-gayan Valley, Gonzaga and Palaui islands and the Babuyan Islands.

► Typhoon AMY: Dec. 6 to 19, 1951; 240 kph; 991 deaths; P0.7 billion in damages; tracked over Eastern Samar, Leyte, Cebu and and Toledo cities, Cebu, San Carlos and Bago cities, Negros Occidental, Guimaras, Iloilo, An-tique, Cuyo Islands and Palawan. PAGASA

10 deadliest ...(From page 12)

The Ontario legislature passed on June 16 a new law protecting children under 16 years old from second-hand tobacco smoke in motor vehicles.

Under the law, any person, driver or passen-ger in a motor vehicle, who is smoking while someone under 16 is present, is committing an offence, CNW reported.

The person holding a lighted tobacco is fined $250.

The law applies to all vehicles, moving and stationary, regardless of whether any window, sunroof, rooftop, door, or other vehicle feature is open.

Second-hand smoke in motor vehicles can be up to 27 times more concentrated than in a smoker’s home.

Children exposed to second-hand smoke are more likely to suffer Sudden Infant Death Syn-drome, acute respiratory infections, ear prob-lems, and more severe asthma.

Second-hand smoke exposure among chil-dren has been linked to lower cognitive test scores compared with unexposed children.

Ontario has one of the toughest anti-smok-ing laws in North America.

Since 2003, tobacco use in Ontario has fall-en by more than 30 percent.

“This is about the safety and well-being of our children,” said Health Promotion Minister Margarett Best.

Law shields kids fromsecond-hand smoke

WiIlie Rapanan (right), Pangasinan Association of Canadapresident, swears into office the executive officers and members of the board of directors of the Ivatan Association of Ontario led by president Roger Caballero. DINDO ORBESO

Ivatan Association of Ontario induction

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Manila Media Monitor JULY 200814 PEOPLE & EVENTSPEOPLE & EVENTS

A festive mood highlights the Filipino Centre Toronto’s celebration of the 110th Philippine Independence Day in Pista sa Toronto at the Nathan Phil-ips Square on June 14 and 15. Below, the Inflasian Dancers led by Berlane Gavino (middle) perform before a big crowd that attended the celebration. Photos: LARRY TORRES

Fun at FCT’s Pistahan sa Toronto“It’s truly a great honour to be up

here representing you all. We came to this school as strangers, but now we are leaving as friends and family. We are suc-cessful the moment we started moving to-ward worthwhile good. We usually want the future to come because the present isn’t good enough for us, but once we’re older we’d be like our parents and wish we were young again. While we still have a chance, let’s plan for the future, learn from our mistakes in the past and enjoy the present because life flies by and be-fore we know it, we’re graduating in high school. A wise man (that’s not Mr. Nar-do) told me to ‘Look at this as the start of a new beginning instead of the end of one thing’. A start of a new school, new teachers, new challenges and new friends is ahead of us. We will make new friends but keep the old. We maybe nervous and it maybe hard but we’ll always have people and God that will help us along the way. This is our last night as a class and I plan to enjoy every second of it, so you should too.”

Thus spoke valedictorian Marck Mer-cado, as he addressed the graduating class of Markham-St. Julia Billiart Catholic El-ementary School on June 23.

Besides being valedictorian, Mercado received the Overall Academic Award and the Excellence in the Arts-Visual Award.

Mercado is the son of Manny and Vir-gie Mercado.

“I am proud of this kababayan boy’s accomplishment. It is a good thing to share with the community,” said Markham school board trustee Marlene Mogado.

MARCK with parents and brother

Learning from Marck Mercado

A simultaneous Gawad Kalinga (GK) walk starts at 8 a.m. on Sept. 6 in key cit-ies in Canada and the US.

Ancop Int’l, Inc. Cana-da/US chair Ricky Cuenca said the Toronto leg would pass through major city streets to provide maximum exposure to the GK cause of building homes for the poor in the Philippines.

Cuenca said GK similar

walks would occur in Van-couver, Calgary, Edmonton, Winnipeg, Montreal and Ot-tawa; and so too in 40 cities all over the US.

Cuenca said no other charity event has held si-multaneous participation across North America on the same day.

GK partners who have pooled resources to make the event successful in-

cluded the Philippine In-dependence Day Council, Bukas Loob sa Diyos, Light of Jesus, Philippine Cham-ber of Commerce-Toronto, Saladmaster, Fiesta Filipina Services, Leyteño Associa-tion of Ontario, Dr. Shirley Salazar and Dr. Ruby For-mozo.

Registration could be made online through www.gkwalk.ca, he added. PR

US, Canada GK Walk on Sept. 6

The Board of Directors of the Kalayaan Cultural Community Centre (KCCC) is invit-ing golf aficionados to join in a fund raising golf tournament at the Royal Ontario Golf Club at Hornby (Milton), Ontario on Sept. 6.

The Royal Ontario Golf Club is a championship public course that provides a private club atmosphere.

The rolling terrain and beautiful mature trees that line the course provide perfect ambi-ance for players to a challenging and enjoyable golf experience.

This will be the first fund raising golf tournament under the auspices of the present administration of KCCC and proceeds will go to the organization’s mortgage reduction fund.

Tee off time is at 1:30 pm. Dinner will follow at the end of the game at the elegant clubhouse overlooking the 9th and 18th holes. Gifts and prizes will be awarded and there will be surprise entertainment during dinner.

Information and booking inquiries may be made at the KCCC office. The golf committee is headed by KCCC volunteer Mars Cebrero, and Board Members

Belle Tumbokon (fund raising committee co-chair) and Edgar Frondozo. PR

AFTER 25 YEARS. Former staffers of the National Media Production Center public relations department reconnect after 25 years in Los Angeles, Cali-fornia on the occasion of the 50th wedding anniversary of Lulu and Jovy Gutierrez (standing, 5th and 6th from left). Among those at the barbeque-re-union were (standing, from left) host Sally Clark, Tenny Soriano, Philip Pua, New York-based Roger Gomez, (seated, from left) Myrna Soriano, Fatima Balmaceda and Nayds Pua. Photo: CELIA ENRIQUEZ

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15JULY 2008 Manila Media Monitor

Manila Media Monitor JULY 200816 PEOPLE & EVENTSPEOPLE & EVENTS

Chuchi Punsalan’s birth anniversary

Chuchi Punsalan (left) marks her birthday anniversary with a party with folk-singer Chito Sarabia (right) and friends at the Soriano residence. Photo: MYRNA SORIANO

May 31 marked the 3rd Annual Filipino Interna-tional Language Assembly at St. Maria Goretti Catho-lic School.

Filipino students from six schools - St. Barnabas, St. Barbara, Blessed John XXIII, St. Maria Goretti, Canadian Martyrs and St. Ignatius of Loyola - under the Toronto Catholic Dis-trict School Board (TCDSB) participated in the quiz and spelling bee contests in Fili-

(To page 17)PARTICIPANTS IN TCDSB SPELLING-QUIZ BEE

TCDSB cites Spelling-Quiz Bee winners

Jazmyn Calnek graduated from Grade 8 at Bishop Scalabrini. The commence-ment exercises were conducted at the Christ the King Catholic Church in Mississauga on June 24. Jazmyn re-ceived an Arts Award. She will continue her secondary level at the Etobicoke School of Arts, majoring in Musical Theatre. PR

Jazmyn Calnek, G8 grad arts awardee

Forex ‘Kuarta o Kahon’ winner

Edna Oria (2nd from left), winner of a free trip to the Philippines, is congratu-lated by Joseph Alilio and Perly Alilio of Forex, sponsor of the trip given away in a lucky ‘Kuarta o Kahon’ draw during the recent FCT Pistahan at the Nathan Philips Square. Host Philip Beloso (left) tried to entice Oria with a $400 final cash offer, but Oria declined and opted for the envelope that even-tually contained the Philippine trip top prize. Photo: JOEY BAKING

17PEOPLE & EVENTSPEOPLE & EVENTSJULY 2008 Manila Media Monitor

pino.Over 600 people at-

tended and supported the event, giving Filipino youth between 6 and 13 years old the chance to engage in a positive, non-competitive exchange to improve their Filipino language vocabu-lary, spelling capabilities, comprehension, public speaking, communication skills, self-esteem and self-confidence.

The group winners of the divisional spelling com-petition were: St. Barnabas (Primary), St. Ignatius of Loyola (Junior), and Cana-dian Martyr (Intermediate).

The group champions in the divisional quiz bee competitions were: St. Bar-bara (Primary), St. Igna-tius of Loyola (Junior) and Blessed John XXIII (Inter-mediate). JODY HUANG

TCDSB cites Spelling-Quiz Bee winners(From page 16)

School group Filipino Spelling and Quiz Bee win-ners and their coaches (photos above and below) show off their prized trophies, after they were proclaimed champions during the recent Toronto Catholic District School Board event at the St. Ma. Goretti Catholic School in Scarborough .

Melanya Liwanag Agu-ila is the 2008 GoodLife Group Exercise Fitness In-structor of the Year Toronto co-nominee.

“I am honoured and humbled to be chosen, alongside one of my great-est mentors, 21-year fitness veteran and 2006 Fitness Instructor of the Year recip-ient Nathalie Plamondon-Thomas,” says Melanya.

Filipinos are the fourth largest visibly-diverse de-mographic group in Toron-to and are concerned about their health and well being. The number of Filipino fit-ness instructors and gym members are increasing.

“At GoodLife, one third of the Bodycombat (energetic cardio program inspired by a wide variety of martial arts) Toronto in-structor team are Filipino,” she notes. Melanya became a member of GoodLife Fit-ness Clubs in Nov. 2002.

“I was living in St. Jamestown organizing in the Filipino community while living on the 21st floor of an apartment building. The elevator kept on breaking down. I was smoking, sit-ting in day-long meetings and eating high cholester-ol food. I started jogging around the block until win-ter came along. I joined the gym so that I could continue

running,” she explains.Melanya ventured into

group exercise classes and got hooked on the magic of the Les Mills programs.

“I woke up every morn-ing for interval training indoor cycling RPM at 6:30 a.m. After work I fre-quented all the clubs to do Bodycombat. I was work-ing out around the clock and awe-struck by the fit-ness instructors. They were honest. They were fit. They were funny. And they made me sweat,” she reminisces.

In 2006, Melanya got her Bodycombat certifica-tion. In the past year she got her certifications as a Can-Fit-Pro fitness instruc-tor specialist and in a blend of yoga, Pilates, and tai chi Bodyflows, weight training Bodypump, incline resis-tance training GravityPer-sonalTraining, and Good-Life’s cardio conditioning and functional training Newbody.

She teaches 12 classes and is the GoodLife Toronto demo team captain.

In 2007, she made top ten female in the Scotia-bank Rat Race for United Way. Full time graphic de-signer and fitness instructor in between, Melanya finds balances in fitness and de-sign. PR

Aguila chosen 2008 Goodlife fitness instructor

AGUILA (Photo: ALEX FELIPE)

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Manila Media Monitor JULY 200818 PEOPLE & EVENTSPEOPLE & EVENTS

“Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works and glorify your father who is in heaven.”

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Arianna Victoria Turla, daughter of Pocholo and Corie Anna Turla, was bap-tized at St. Thomas More Roman Catholic Church in Scarborough recently. Arianna was given a party by her parents and grandparents Augusto and Linda del Carmen, Romy, Patri and Mercy Turla. TONY SICAT

Linda Lejarde (2nd from right) prepares to cut her birthday cake during the celebration of her 70th birth anniversary recently. Shown with her are her balae Rosie Gozon (right) and her children (from left) Wimpy, Weena and Parsely. TONY SICAT

Arianna Victoria Turla’s baptism Linda Lejarde’s birth anniversary

JULY 2008 Manila Media Monitor 19

Manila Media Monitor JULY 2008Manila Media Monitor JULY 200820

FILIPINOS

Festival EVENTS:

youth wavesfeaturing: Melissa R

cultural wave fashion showmarketplacefluvial regatta

First "Filipinos Making Waves" Awards Night

vip reception

outdoor showcasefeaturing: Retro Manila

Filipino Talents Making Waves

singing competition

Show Philippines Festivals of the Arts and Ontario Place

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JULY 2008 Manila Media MonitorJULY 2008 Manila Media Monitor 21

Manila Media Monitor JULY 200822

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23JULY 2008 Manila Media Monitor PEOPLE & EVENTSPEOPLE & EVENTS

AN INSPIRATION TO THE YOUTH TO AIM FOR EXCELLENCE: Alyssa Tug-adi Saulo graduated valedictorian from Grade 6 French Immersion at Brimwood Boulevard Junior School in Scarborough, Ontario. Alyssa is a grandaughter of Albee Enter-prises’ and Philippine Chamber of Commerce Toronto Vice President for Membership Oswald Tugadi and wife Isa.

Alyssa Tugadi Saulo tops the class

Get-together on Canada Day

Andy and Lyn Gabriel (3rd and 5th from left, respectively), proprietor of An-gel Kiss diner at Flemingdon Plaza, celebrate Canada Day on July 1 with friends (from left) Elsa Angeles, Nelly Sicat, Baby Patricia Gabriel Angeles, Hazel Angeles, Elsa Angeles and Arnold Angeles at the Gabriels’ new home at Old Kingston Road in Scarborough. TONY SICAT

Elsa Angeles and children Arnold, Angelo and Esperanza mark the first death anniversary of the late Severo Angeles. With close friends, they re-membered the memory of Severo in a gathering the Angeles family hosted recently. TONY SICAT

Kin, friends mark Angeles death anniversary

Natasha Magdalena Palacio, daughter of Atty. Roger M. Palacio and Daisy W. Palacio of Toronto and Manila, Philippines, was among those called to the Ontario Bar as Barrister-at-Law and admitted as solicit-tors in a convocation at the Thompson Hall on June 19.

In a Special Session of the Court of Appeal of On-tario and the Superior Court of Justice, Justice Susan Himel administered the oath of new lawyer Palacio.

Palacio graduated in 2007 from the University of Ottawa, Common Law Section, with the degree of Bachelor of Laws and in 2004 from the University of Toronto with the degree of Bachelor of Arts (Hons.) in Philosophy and Sociology, with distinction.

With varied business and professional back-ground, Ms. Palacio joins the Law Firm of Oatley & Vigmond, LLP (Specialist in Personal Injury Law) as Associate Lawyer. She will specialize in Civil Litiga-tion and Personal Injury. PR, TONY SICAT

Chairman Aguido de la Cruz (middle) of the Kababayan Community Centre discusses stron-ger community and police ties with Police Con-stable Philip Mendoza (right) and Auxiliary Sgt. Willie Isip of the Toronto Police Service. JOJO TADURAN

Kababayan CC & the police

Philippine Consul in Toronto Imelda Panolong (right) adminsiters the oath of Philippine citi-zenship to dual citizens (from left) Edgardo So-riano, Thelma Soriano and Precy Addeb. ROMY ZETAZATE

Philippine citizens again

New lawyer NatashaMagdalena Palacio

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Husband and wife (in sashes) Jun Lopez, Knights of Columbus Grand Knight-San Lorenzo Ruiz Council, and Dora Lopez, past Daughters of Isa-bela Regent, were honored as The Pillars’ Father and Mother of the year on June 28 at the Lynch Hall, Our Lady of Lourdes Parish.They are surrounded by their children and grandchildren. ROMY ZETAZATE

The Pillars’ Dad, Mom of the Year

Manila Media Monitor JULY 200824

things we had to attend to. While we declined, he in-sisted.

Recollecting very good memories of this special friend, I took another read-ing of my diary in 1990, which showed that in three, or four weeks before our departure, he, and his fami-ly saw to it that he visited us at least three, or four times a week.

How can one forget a friend and his family like them?

At the time of his death, Gani was vice president for marketing and public rela-tions of the Rizal Commer-cial Banking Corporation (RCBC) and was among the eight employees shot in the head by bank robbers at the bank’s Cabuyao, Laguna Branch, May 16.

Tragic as his death was, and depressed me for a cou-ple of days, it was not un-til his widow, my comadre Chaloy Pastor, told me, “It is not how he died, but how he lived his life,” that brought me back to my usu-al self and … to the party circuit.

My first party after the first event was the awards gala of the Canadian Ethnic Media Association (CEMA) – which, aside from person-alities in media, was attend-

ed by those in both Cana-dian and Ontario provincial politics.

Also joining us were my wife, Gie, fellow directors and members at the Phil-ippine Chamber of Com-merce-Toronto, namely, president Rafael Nebres; vice president Oswald Tugadi and his wife, Isa; Cora dela Cruz; Elizabeth Leggett; Evelyn and David Pagkalinawan, and Bobby Barroquillo.

CEMA is the organiza-tion where I was “multi-culturated” (Thanks, Mad-eline), starting back in 2000 when Mr. Multicultural-ism himself, Ben Viccari, brought me to his slate to win the officer’s rank of a secretary in the election of the board and officers that year. Thus, my “multicul-turation” started.

What must have been a supposedly one-term, or two-term corporate officer’s position as CEMA’s secre-tary turned out to last eight years, and, at one point, holding concurrently the positions of vice president to Ben and secretary, even becoming one confidante to Ben on issues affecting CEMA.

While enjoying work-ing with Ben (who is also my neighbor yonder on

page 9) and the entire group composing CEMA, I feel that my involvement with the organization likewise brought me so many oppor-tunities meeting people on the decision level of various public and private organi-zations, which, in several ways influenced the media business that I am in.

For example, CEMA’s great work to turn-around the recent decision of the Ontario provincial govern-ment in slapping communi-ty papers with the Provincial Sales Tax (PST) retroactive to five years. Had the PST pushed through, Manila Media Monitor – and all community papers would have been history by this time.

Thoi Bao, a Vietnamese weekly newspaper alone, was assessed the amount of some $700,000 in back tax-es for the five-year period.

On a more personal lev-el, and while a close friend-ship develops between us, Ben saw to it, too, that he guided me in handling the affairs of an organiza-tion with the magnitude of membership and the scope of work that CEMA has.

As my wife Gie and I leave the venue where close friends of Ben celebrate Mr. Multiculturalism’s 90th, she

said, “You are so blessed with very special friends.”

I did not say a word, but thought, “Gani saw me off at the airport, and, in Canada, Ben influenced and guided me in ‘the pro-motion and preservation of the value to this country of the ethnic media in creating an understanding of Canada and Canadian Citizenship, and the retention of our cul-tural links with our country of origin’ (hmmm, nicely said, but this was quoted from one of the various documents I compiled and put together, writing into one single and formal docu-ment what is now the Con-stitution and By-Laws of CEMA) .”

My personal celebrations this July ...(From page 8)

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ANOTHER MILESTONE FOR MR. MULTICULTURALISM. Journalist, writer and TV commentator Ben Viccari blows the can-dle on his 90th birth anniversary cake, as wife, Anne (standing immediately to his right), family and close friends join the celebration. MANILA MEDIA MONITOR Photo

25JULY 2008 Manila Media Monitor PEOPLE & EVENTSPEOPLE & EVENTS

It’s a double celebration for sister and brother, Danielle and Paul Pi-gon of Scarborough. Danielle has completed her masteral in School and Clinical Phsycol-ogy and will soon take up her PHD (doctorate) in the same field. On the other hand, Paul observed his birth an-niversary on July 12 and is on his 4th year as a Biology student at Ryerson University. Danielle and Paul are children of Danny and Suzanne Pigon. T. SO-RIANO

Double celebration for the Pigons

Cassandra at ConGen’s Freedom Day rites

Fast-rising singer Cassandra Malabanan (left) belts a song before has been busy performing before an awed audience during the celebration of Philip-pine Independence Day on June 12 at the Consulate General’s Office in to-ronto. Ramon Torralba, of Hotdog fame, accompanies her. JOJO TADURAN

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Tahanan Homes is well on its way to self-manage-ment and to better serve its 43 low income, senior, im-migrant and other tenants.

Tahanan chairman Dr. Francisco Portugal said the board has taken over build-ing management from DMS Property Management.

Portugal vowed admin-istrative and fiscal transpar-ency in running the affairs of the property.

Management would be in strict compliance with guidelines provided by the Toronto Housing Corp. (THC), he said.

Tahanan, Portugal add-ed, has been incurring a sur-plus of some $50,000 year-ly that could be better spent to improve tenant services, instead of being returned to city coffers as was done in the past.

The Tahanan board has appointed Cesar Ramirez

The Association of Caviteños in Canada marks its 25th year in community service, with its annual picnic at the Earl Bales Park on July 19 from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. highlighting the celebra-tions.

The Caviteños is invit-ing kababayans to bring their families and friends

and Gabby Galuego as property manager and building superintendent, re-spectively.

Deo Moreno and Frank Aquino have provided busi-ness advice, as part of the building management tran-sition team.

Initial Tahanan board members included Portugal, president; Delfin Palileo, past president; Willie Na-bus, Adoracion Nabor, Cora Primicias and Fr. Ariel Du-maran. Others would soon be appointed.

Silayan Community Centre president Willie Na-bus said building manage-ment plans and programs have been laid-out.

Nabus announced that a city-funded Housing Op-portunity Toronto consul-tation meeting would be conducted at the Wellesley Community Centre on July 26, as he invited the public

Caviteños mark 25th year with picnicand share in the potluck salu-salo.

Bernadette Zaragoza, on behalf of the association, says the picnic will also fea-ture a Pasarapan ng Luto Contest, entertainment, and games for all ages.

A gala night is set in

September.Zaragoza adds that the

picnic is an opportunity for everyone to meet the found-ers, the officers and mem-bers of the Caviteños.

The Caviteños received from Philippine president Corazon Aquino the first

Banaag Award, a presi-dential award for overseas Filipino organizations, in Malacañang Palace, in Dec. 1991.

Through the years, the Caviteños have adhered to their motto “grow by helping others grow.” PR

TAHANAN HOMES Board of Directors

TH improves services

to attend the meeting.Tahanan Homes is a

not-for-profit community housing program the THC is subsidizing.

Tahanan was built 12 years ago, through efforts of Tessie Jew, then presi-dent of the Ontario Council of Filipino-Canadians.

The construction of the building and management was later transferred to the Silayan Community Center. PR/MON DATOL

Leia Dimain Buan baptizedLEIA DIMAIN BUAN, granddaughter of Manila Media Monitor columnist Mario Dimain, received the Holy Sacrament of Baptism at the St. Martin de Porres Church on June 21. Her parents and her family later celebrated her baptismal day with a reception at the Genesis Buffet Restaurant.

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26 TRAVEL & TOURISMTRAVEL & TOURISM Manila Media Monitor JULY 2008

KORONADAL CITY, South Cotabato - As most artists be-lieve, people usually find identity in the clothes they wear.

Amusingly, many people wear designer clothes and accessories as a fashion statement.

They will not even care to know where it came from or how it came into being.

Ukay-ukay may ring a bell, but, that would be another story.

Take the case of that fabric distinct with ethnic patterns that has reached even the international fashion landscape, but only a few would know its name and how it was woven from abaca fibers to produce a cloth fit for a royalty.

Many celebrities are seen don-ning it either as a vest or just an accent in clothing or bag, imply-ing that the one wearing it has

gone to far Mindanao. T’boli and t’nalak

But, where in Mindanao? Would they know the fabric is called T’nalak and that it was wo-ven from abaca fibers?

T’nalak, a unique yet colorful way of weaving the abaca cloth by the T’boli tribal communities in South Cotabato, has gone beyond mere cloth weaving or art itself.

Hand-made, a t’nalak cloth takes months to accomplish.

Colorful geometric patterns are typical in T’nalak designs.

Residents of this resource-rich province have taken pride of the t’nalak as being reflective of South Cotabato’s varying regional and ethnic cultures, belief, dialects and art woven together to form a wonderful tapestry.

T’nalak celebration

Lola Mundi weaves her t’nalak, a cloth that has become one of the T’boli tribe’s traditional properties usually exchanged during marriages and used as coverings to a newly born. It is made of fine abaca strands and usually takes weeks to months to weave a whole yard, after which the cloth would be dyed with designs. High grade t’nalak are usually sold from P400 to P800 pesos (Can$10 to $20). Photo and edited text from www.ironwolf.net

South Cotabato in July

T’nalak Festival

Nimfa Estabillo, South Cota-bato information chief, said it is with such appreciation that resi-dents of the province go out of their way each year to celebrate a weeklong T’nalak Festival in ob-servance of the founding anniver-sary of South Cotabato.

South Cotabato turns 43 on July 18.

The T’nalak Festival, on its 10th year, started in 1998 when then President Ramos declared abaca weaver Bey Lang Dulay, a T’boli native from Lake Sebu, as a “Living Treasure on T’nalak Weaving.”

People’s clothSouth Cotabato governor Dai-

sy Avance Fuentes explains how the t’nalak cloth best typifies the people of South Cotabato, adding that the strong white abaca fibers

may represent the people’s honest intentions.

Fuentes notes that the t’nalak’s rich black and deep reddish-brown strands are dyed with herb extracts of permanent colors -- red for bravery, commitment and love.

The black strands represent the struggles and hard beaten-era of pioneers who developed among them a strong character and perse-verance, she points out.

Like the people of South Co-tabato, the t’nalak has been sub-jected to heat and beating process to achieve flexibility and better quality cloth, Fuentes says.

“Next time you wear the t’nalak, don it with pride. With t’nalak, it is not only clothes you are wearing. You are imbibing the spirit of a people,” Fuentes con-cludes. PNA

T’nalak festival participants show off their native t’nalak wear and adornments. Photo: League of Provinces of the Philippines website

T’nalak: Fabric of bravery, loveBy ROMMEL G. REBOLLIDO

The Tinalak Festival, named after a woven cloth popularized by South Cotabato’s T’boli tribe, is slated on July 10 to 18.

The festival is celebrated dur-ing the foundation anniversary of South Cotabato.

This year, the festival is high-lighted by an agri-trade and fruit show, agri-industrial, technology and trade expo, the usual Dayana, The Girl Power T’nalak Show-down featuring the Kitty Girls and Mocha, Pista sang mga Kabata-aan, Big Stars basketball exhibi-tion game, a torch parade, Grand Farmers’ field day, and Disco sa Kalye.

The government has also set competitions for costume in a thematic parade, drum and lyre, cheer-dance, the Fiesta sa Bay-an (Adusay), plants, Mindanao choirs, street dancing, and fire-works display.

Most of the activities are done in Koronadal City, the provincial center of administration.

Koronadal is a city of warm people. It has a high literacy rate of 96% making the city an awardee of academic excellence in South-

eastern paradise of Philippines. It takes about an hour to reach

General Santos City, which boasts of seaports and an airport having international capabilities.

Koronadal is some 59 kilome-ters from Gen. Santos City, and travel time is about one hour by bus or public utility vehicle.

Travel time from the other two entry points, Kidapawan and Co-tabato City, varies from 1.5 to 2.5 hours.

Some of Koronadal’s tour-ist sites are the Mambukal Hot Springs, Sarabia Falls and El Gawel Resort & Wildlife Sanctu-ary.

CEBU CITY - The Cebu Health and Wellness Council (CHWC), buoyed by a “steady flow” of inquiries and walk-in pa-tients, has come out with big plans to position Cebu Province as a “world-class destination for medi-cal destination for medical and wellness tourism in Asia 2010.”

But Cebu would have to com-pete with long-established medi-cal tourism areas in Asia, such as India, Thailand, Malaysia, Singa-pore and Hong Kong.

Medical tourism involve peo-ple traveling to other places to obtain medical, dental and surgi-cal care while enjoying the areas’ other attractions.

CHWC chairman Oscar Tua-son said Asian medical tourism netted some $120 billion in 2006.

Cebu groomed asAsia’s top medicaltourism destination

(To page 27)

JULY 2008 Manila Media Monitor 27The PHILIPPINESThe PHILIPPINESwww.FinancialProblem.ca

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Tuason said foreign patients preferred medi-cal treatment outside their home country because of lower costs and the chance to travel in leisure.

CHWC members said Cebu had the potential to be a major medical tourism player.

Besides lower costs, Cebu’s hospitals are well-equipped and have com-petent doctors and medical staff, especially caregivers. PNA

Cebu ...(From page 26)

law. The UK allows for indefinite detention and Ireland for a maximum of eight weeks.

The overall EU migra-tion policy, of which this return directive for irregular migrants is just one part, is still being discussed at various levels and organs of government.

In general, the EU seeks to encourage regular migra-tion and is planning to is-sue a Blue Card for regular migrant workers, allowing them and their family to work and live in Europe for long periods of time.

New EU ...(From page 11)

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo meets with US Senator and Republican presidential contend-er John McCain at the Willard Hotel Round Robin Nest Suite in Washington, DC on June 28. Arroyo pursued talks on strengthening diplomatic re-lations between the Philippines and America’s present and future leaders. Photo: Rolando Mailo, OPS/NIB

Deputy Spokesperson Lorelei Fajardo has defend-ed the 10-day working visit of President Gloria Maca-pagal-Arroyo to the United States, saying the trip pro-duced “results” and was far from the “useless junket” yarn critics have hurled against the Chief Execu-tive’s latest trip abroad.

Fajardo said the amount of investment pledges made by American businessmen proved that the President’s working visit was “very productive.”

She said that “in New York alone, (the President) had seven business calls from big companies. In fact, there is a potential of 15,700 additional jobs that were committed by these companies – two of which are world renowned fruit grower Libby’s and elec-tronics firm Texas Instru-ments.”

“And then there is this additional investment poten-tial where the country may earn up to US$560-million aside from the pledges from Filipinos overseas of aid for the victims of typhoon Frank,” she added.

Fajardo pointed out that

talks the President had with US officials, specifically US President George W. Bush, further strengthened ties between the Philip-pines and the US, as well as hastened the passage of the long-awaited Filipino Vet-erans Bill to law.

In a speech in Baler, Quezon on June 30, Maca-pagal-Arroyo said the US Senate has passed the Phil-

ippine Veterans Equity Bill, after 62 years of waiting by Filipino veterans.

She expressed confi-dence the US House would similarly pass the bill after some congressional leaders informed her delegation of majority support for Philip-pine veterans.

“But it is not a sure thing,” the President said. OPS

GMA’s 10-day US statevisit not a useless junket

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Manila Media Monitor JULY 200828 The PHILIPPINESThe PHILIPPINES

MANILA - Boxing afi-cionados worldwide will be seeing more fights of Filipi-no boxing sensation Manny Pacquiao, perhaps even an attempt to climb the 140-pound division.

Newly-crowned World Boxing Council lightweight champion Pacquiao is not entertaining any retirement plans yet, despite an appeal from his mother Dionisia to quit boxing. (See related photo on page 34)

”My mother told me ‘tama na, dong’ (stop box-ing, son) but I told her it is not yet time to retire. I can still fight more,” the 29-year old Pacquiao said in a

Not yet time to retire: Pacquiaolive phone patch interview with GMA 7’s 24-Oras.

While Pacquiao kept mum on his next oppo-nent, wife Jinkee reportedly claimed her husband want-ed to fight Ricky Hatton, the International Boxing Organization light welter-weight (140-lb) champion from England.

“He wants to fight Hat-ton or another good fighter. Perhaps after Hatton, he can quit boxing. But the final decision would still come from him. I will just give him moral support,” Jinkee told gmanews.tv.

Aside from Hatton, the Pacquiao camp is report-

edly entertaining the idea of accepting the challenge of undefeated knockout artist Edwin Valero of Venezuela.

Like she used to, Pac-quiao’s mother stayed in-side the prayer room instead of watching his son fight.

This time, Aling (Mrs.) Dionisia collapsed after learning that Pacquiao (47-3-2, 35 KOs) knocked out David Diaz (36-2-1, 17 KOs) in the ninth round to become the first Asian box-er to win four world titles in different weight divisions.

Pacquiao returned home on July 4, amid the resound-ing cheers of his country-men. PNA

MANILA - Supreme Court Chief Justice Rey-nato Puno is pushing for the use of the national language in Tagalog-speaking prov-inces for court hearings.

The use of Tagalog would favor litigants who find it hard understanding English, the court’s lingo.

“We are piloting the use

Tagalog for court hearings pushedof Tagalog in Bulacan and the result is very positive. Many are trying to push the idea not only in Bulacan but also in Cavite, Batangas, Nueva Ecija and others. We are refining this thrust. We are calling on other experts to see how viable this would be,” Puno said.

“In pilot cases, litigants

COURTESY CALL. Philippine President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo poses with delegates of the 4th Ambassadors/Consuls General and Tourism Directors Tour (ACDTDT) led by Ambassador to the US Willy Gaa and Ambassador to Ottawa Jose Brillantes (right) at Malacañang’s Rizal Hall on July 14. With the group are Trade and Industry Secretary Peter Favila, Foreign Affairs Secre-tary Alberto Romulo, Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita, Tourism Secre-tary Joseph Ace Durano and Consul General in Toronto Alejandro Mosquera (2nd from right). Photo: Marcelino Pascua/OPS-NIB

Brillantes, Mosquera in RP tourism meet

better understood what was happening in the courtroom, and what issues were being litigated by the lawyers and were being resolved by the judges. The communication was much more effective.”

The High Court will be training stenographers in taking down court state-ments in Tagalog. PNA

JULY 2008 Manila Media Monitor

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Manila Media Monitor JULY 2008Manila Media Monitor JULY 200830SEOUL DRIVING SCHOOLYELLOWBIRD

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And Manila Media Monitor’s devoted news and image contributors, writers and editors will definitely be there to do the work they expect.

***The Philippine Press

Club-Ontario (PPC-O) is in solidarity with the com-munity and all the organiza-tions representing it “in the task of community building and strengthening the role of Filipino-Canadians in the Canadian mileu.”

This was the assurance PPC-O president Tenny So-riano stressed in his speech during the installation of club officers at the Scarbor-ough Village Community Centre on July 12.

Soriano added that while the PPC-O was initially en-visioned as a social group-ing, “we can no longer ig-nore the fact that we have a responsibility, as media persons, to get involved, but objectively, in confronting issues and challenges that affect the Filipino commu-nity in Toronto.”

Well said. The pres-ident’s words clearly re-

Omerta: Maraming salamat po (From page 10)

sponded to need for greater and more active media-com-munity partnerships sought by installation officers Mama Ching Quejas who represented the seniors’ sec-tor; Mithi Esguerra, youth sector; and Michelle Gose, caregivers’ sector.

However, it is also a critical fact that any partner-ship can only succeed when parties engage in a two-way avenue.

From an observer’s point of view, I can surmise that president Tenny has called for mutual respect and pro-fessionalism in making the partnership work to its full advantage.

I agree. Using and abus-ing community print and broadcast entities to earn brownie points, praise to high heavens, raise hell, and make a free bulletin board out of them for ticketed so-cial events never do help the community solidify and raise itself another rung in the ladder of immersion in the Canadian milieu.

“We are now one of the fast growing communities in the whole of Canada and yet, we have not exploited this strength or advantage,” Soriano said.

*** On behalf of president

Soriano, vice president Ace Alvarez, treasurer Mogi Mogado, directors Mon Datol, Hermie Garcia and Tony Sicat, maraming, maraming salamat po to Mama Ching, Mithi and Michelle.

Gratitude also goes to those who made the PPC-O April 19 polls successful -- Consul Imelda Panolong, Vice Consul Edna Mae Laz-aro, Henry Sia, Dom Calix-terio and Arnold Angeles;

Entertainers Darius Ciria, Mike Hanopol, Chito Sarabia, Inah Canlapan, Cassandra Malabanan, Jenifer Camacho, Ashley Quizon and Zena Zagala;

Sponsors in the likes of Jun Miranda of PNB Remit, the Philippine In-dependence Day Council through president Jun and Rosemer Evnerga, Arazona of Araconcepts and Casa Manila;

All the guests who hon-ored the PPC-O with their presence; PPC-O members who helped make the occa-sion memorable, And fam-ily and friends who never let down.

Maraming salamat po.

JULY 2008 Manila Media Monitor 31

Manila Media Monitor JULY 200832 MONEYMONEY

According to a new study examining workplace fit and stereotyping in cor-porate Canada, many visi-ble minority managers, pro-fessionals and executives believe that they need to “Canadianize” themselves in order to get ahead.

For some, that means downplaying ethnicity and speaking English or French without an identifiable ac-cent in order to succeed in the Canadian workplace, the study reveals.

In the fourth report of its groundbreaking research series on visible minorities in corporate Canada, Ca-reer Advancement in Cor-porate Canada: A Focus on Visible Minorities ~ Work-place Fit and Stereotyping, Catalyst identifies issues that impact career advance-ment for visible minorities, focusing specifically on crucial aspects of how these groups fit into the work en-vironment, what they expe-rience as stereotyping, and how they are perceived as leaders.

The Catalyst study un-derscores that visible mi-norities are critical to the performance of Canadian

companies and firms in an increasing global and com-petitive marketplace, now and in the future.

With this in mind, the report provides recommen-dations on how Canada’s largest businesses can cre-ate inclusive environments in which visible minorities and the organizations which employ them can succeed in better utilizing their talents and reap the full benefits of diversity.

“As Canadians, we celebrate all that diversity brings to our country and communities,” said Debo-rah Gillis, Vice President, North America, Catalyst.

“But when the message delivered to visible minori-ties working in our larg-est businesses is that they must blend in to get ahead, the potential to fully lever-age diversity as a source of competitive advantage is being compromised.”

FindingsKey findings from the

study include:► Advancement for

visible minorities may ne-cessitate their downplay-ing aspects of their cultural background, such as having

an identifiable accent that does not “fit” the prevailing image of leaders in their or-ganizations.

► Some East Asians and South Asians who felt they understood Canadian idioms and were familiar with Canadian culture, par-ticularly those whose fami-lies had been in Canada for

generations, expressed comfort with how they fit within Canadian business organizations.

However, other visible minorities stated that their chances of acceptance and promotion at work are tied to how “Canadianized” they are.

► East Asians reported being stereotyped as “hard working but not sociable” while South Asians report-ed being considered “out-siders” and “foreigners” in spite of the length of time they had spent in Canada.

► Blacks faced a dra-

matic difference in work-place challenges as com-pared to their South and East Asian colleagues. More negative stereotyp-ing and an extremely lim-ited number of similar role models combined to create a sense of isolation and lim-ited opportunities for black managers, professionals

and executives.► In multicultural

workplaces, “political cor-rectness” can impede ad-vancement of visible mi-norities to the extent that it makes it difficult for orga-nizational members to ad-dress arising tensions.

► While many orga-nizations are committed to building inclusive work environments, imperfect execution of diversity pro-grams can hinder career advancement for visible minority managers, profes-sionals and executives.

An added barrier is that

Visible minorities in the corporate arena

‘Canadianize’ or else ...

“ ... when the message delivered to visible minorities work-ing in our largest businesses is that they must blend in to get ahead, the potential to fully leverage diversity as a source of competitive advantage is being compromised.”

white/Caucasians are more likely to believe that diver-sity efforts are successful than are Blacks or Asians.

“The market has diver-sified extensively in the last five years,” said Zabeen Hirji, Chief Human Re-sources Officer at RBC, the lead sponsor of the study.

“And we’ve understood that to serve the market, we need to hire the mar-ket. Companies with talent management systems that capture the full value of diversity are more likely to attract and retain the best.

Achieving full diversity is a journey that requires on-going dialogue and focus inside organizations and across our communities. As the Catalyst study shows there is still a great deal of work to be done,” Hirji added.

RecommendationsTo help Canadian orga-

nizations fully leverage the diversity and talent of their visible minority employees, Catalyst recommends:

► Organizations cre-ate inclusive environments where visible minorities can spend less time focused

on overcoming stereotypes and more time on contribut-ing to organizational perfor-mance.

Senior leaders can develop inclusive work-places by building a strong business case, addressing the concerns of majority groups, and ensuring that leadership competencies are clear and allow for a variety of styles.

► Recognize that nega-tive stereotyping exists in the workplace and address it.

Avoid political cor-rectness or politeness as a barrier to dealing with this problem.

► Visible minorities should aim to familiarize themselves with their orga-nizations and be prepared to navigate less-than-perfect workplace environments.

Changing an organiza-tion is a long-term activ-ity, and realistically many visible minority managers, professionals and execu-tives will find themselves employed in business orga-nizations that are less than fully inclusive.

RBC is the study’s lead sponsor. Deloitte and Tou-che LLP and IBM Canada are the participating spon-sors.

The Ontario Ministry of Citizenship and Immigra-tion is the supporting spon-sor. CNW

JULY 2008 Manila Media Monitor 33MONEYMONEY

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MANILA - The higher deployment of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) in the first five months of 2008 has enabled dollar remit-tances to grow 15.6 percent to US$1.43 billion in May from year-ago’s US$1.24 billion.

Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Governor Amando Tetangco Jr. said the May 2008 figure was the third month in a row this year that remittances reached US$1.4 billion.

Tetangco said the cumu-lative figure for the first five months this year was also higher by 14.74 percent at US$6.8 billion, compared with US$5.92 in May 2007.

The BSP chief said bulk of the remittances came from the United States, Saudi Arabia, Canada, Unit-ed Kingdom, Italy, United Arab Emirates, Singapore, Japan and Hong Kong.

Citing data from the Philippine Overseas Em-ployment Administration, Tetangco said the deploy-ment of Filipino workers from January to May this year totaled 533,945, or a 39.5 percent jump from the 382,777 in the same period last year.

“This reflected the dis-tinct preference for the skills quality and compe-tence of Filipino workers,” he said.

He also noted that with the expansion of a giant oil processing site in the Mid-dle East, OFW deployment was seen to further grow.

Tetangco also attributed the higher volume of remit-tances to improved finan-cial services being offered by local banks and their counterparts abroad.

He also credited this to the higher number of tie-ups among Philippine and

foreign remittance institu-tions.

“The establishment of more remittance centers, correspondent banks, and branches/representative of-fices abroad, together with the existing tie-ups with foreign financial counter-parts, is expected to further facilitate the flow of remit-tances,” Tetangco added. PNA

End-May ’08 remittances grow 15.6%

SINGAPORE - Asian currencies might remain weak in the near term but should moderately appreci-ate in the fourth quarter as some regional central banks have started to address soar-ing inflation through a series of interest rates hikes, strat-egists at Bank of America (BofA) said.

“This is probably the most crucial time for central banks because inflation ex-pectations have been desta-bilized and that has resulted in rapid pass-through of costs into retail prices,” Yeo Han Sia, currency strate-gist at BofA, was quoted by Thomson Financial as telling a media briefing on July 11.

The sharp spike in food and fuel costs pushed infla-tion in most countries in

Asia to multi-year highs but central banks in the region had been reluctant to hike interest rates on concerns that the move would aggra-vate economic weakness at a time when exports, a pillar of the region’s strength, was under threat due to slowing global demand in the after-math of the U.S. subprime crisis.

BofA expected emerg-ing markets to grow at a slower pace of five percent this year from six percent in 2007.

“Monetary policy is probably too late to arrest inflation,” said Yeo, who expected inflation to peak in the third quarter, citing Indonesia and Thailand as “danger zones” that were likely to see double-digit numbers.

The pre-emptive mon-etary tightening in coun-tries such as Taiwan, China and Singapore, along with strong current account posi-tions, and robust macroeco-nomic fundamentals helped their respective currencies to hold their ground against the U.S. dollar in the first half of the year, said BofA currency strategist Christy Tan.

The Taiwanese dollar, Chinese yuan and the Sin-gapore dollar have appreci-ated between between six and seven percent in the first half of 2008.

The Thai baht, South Korea won, the Indian rupee and the Philippine peso, on the other hand, shed eight to 11 percent of their value in the same period given their strong vulnerability to the

Rising inflation to keep Asian monies weak: BofAsurge in crude oil prices.

“With monetary policy response forthcoming, we are expecting some moder-ate appreciation of Asian currencies against the U.S. dollar before a more pro-nounced appreciation in 2009,” said Yeo.

Asian currencies re-mained undervalued as they have not appreciated signif-icantly versus other dollar majors over the past decade since the financial crisis, Yeo said.

“We still see ample room for Asian currencies to appreciate,” he noted. PNA/Antara

The Philippine Cham-ber of Commerce-To-ronto (PCCT) reaches out to the diverse me-dia composing the Ca-nadian Ethnic Media Association (CEMA) at the latter’s 30th Awards Gala and Reception on June 27. Standing (from left) are PCCT Presi-dent Rafael Nebres with officers and members David Pagkalinawan, Oswald and Isa Tugadi, Evelyn Pagkalinawan, Elizabeth Leggett and Gie Alvarez. Seated are (from left) PCCT directors Cora dela Cruz and Ace Alvarez, who also serves in the CEMA Board of Directors, with Toronto Star columnist Joe Fiorito. PCCT Photo

PCCT-CEMAcooperation

Manila Media Monitor JULY 200834Mr. Freddie is certainly one of the most-dignified and intelligent trainers in the history of Ameri-can boxing and his family name should not be taken in jest – even if detractors assume unfairly and unkindly for the sake of argument that some Filipino congressmen have the brains of a roach.

There are many Filipino con-gressmen who have brilliant minds. I can attest to the fact that the Honorable Prospero Nograles, the speaker of the House of Repre-sentatives, is brilliant, he being this writer’s classmate at the Ateneo de Manila College of Law. Although this author and Mr. Nograles be-longed then to separate fraterni-ties, it is a fact that the Ateneo admits (ahem) only above-average and nationalistic students.

Even another acquaintance of mine at the Ateneo law school, now First Gentleman Mike Ar-royo, makes the supreme sacrifice of going to Las Vegas to support these Filipino legislators and pro-vincial officials in cheering for Mr. Pacquiao. It is quite a bother to bear the heat in the sands of Ne-vada and be away from the com-forts of the presidential palace and his loving First Family. And the political opposition castigates him and his friends unfairly in the Filipino press for going to Las Ve-gas to promote patriotism and the patrimony of the people? Oh, the hazards of being the First Gentle-man . . . there being no fairness on the part of critics whether he is in Vegas or in the homeland.

Las Vegas attracts more-than one-million Filipino tourists every year. Where in America can Fili-

pino congressmen and provincial governors spend short but quality time in meeting many constituents who are former residents of their districts or province?

And what about the jokes about Mr. Pacquiao’s boxing pro-moter, Bob Arum? Mr. Bob’s fam-ily name does not rhyme with Tan-duay Rhum, which is one of the Filipino congressmen’s favorite hard drinks. His surname rhymes more with rumba, which many of the Filipino congressmen and pub-lic officials dance with ease at the ballroom – as one of their exercise routines. Legislators and even pro-vincial governors need to exercise, too. (Of course the First Couple’s favorite dance is the Lambada, which Her Excellency demonstrat-ed ably at the presidential palace during a visit by publicity-seeking Hollywood actors.)

It is also a fact that many Fili-pino government officials actually promote not only Philippine-made rum during their trips to Las Vegas and other American cities but also other Filipino products. They wear the Barong Filipino and bring ab-aca slippers with them so that they could show to the hotel buyers the good quality of the said Filipino cottage-industry products. So, in short, these Filipino legislators, lo-cal-government officials and other public servants go to Las Vegas not only to serve as ambassadors of goodwill but also as trade rep-resentatives.

Even the rumors that some Filipino dignitaries bring with them starlets and aging stars to Las Vegas are all the product of political intrigues. The truth is that

the visiting Filipino dignitaries are merely helping pave the way for these budding Filipino entertain-ers to make a name in the world’s entertainment capital in the likes of the Society of Seven and other Filipinos who made their name in the Strip.

There is also the fact that Las Vegas attracts more-than one-mil-lion Filipino-American tourists every year. Where in the United States can Filipino congressmen and provincial governors spend short but quality time in meeting the constituents who are former residents of their districts or prov-ince? Even if they meet their prov-incemates at the Blackjack table, they can still do the job. Many Fil-ipino congressmen and governors are experts also in multi-tasking. They can place bets on the table while they explain to their long-lost constituents the peace-and-order situation at their common hometowns. They can operate a slot machine while discussing the investment opportunities in the old hometown. And their detractors see only Las Vegas as a “Sin City” and not the reality that it is actu-ally the “Scene City” – the scenic venue of reunions, business con-ferences, trade promotions, etcet-eras, etc., ad infinitum.

And finally it makes sense to tell the Filipino world that even Mr. Pacquiao has been conditioned by the visiting Filipino legislators and public servants to do multi-task-ing. Even when he makes the final sparring sessions, Mr. Pacquiao is able to listen to the Filipino con-gressman and learn from them the tenets of parliamentary proce-

In defense of honorables who saw ...(From page 9)

dure, the intricacies of a privilege speech and decorum at the august hall of Congress. Mr. Pacquiao ran for Congress the last election but unfortunately he lost. He may run again in May 2010 and by that time, he would be a seasoned “parliamentarian of the streets” to

use an oft-quoted cliché. Yes, Sir, the detractors and critics of our Filipino congressmen and public servants do not tell the truth to the public.

Maybe the reason after all, as they say, is “What happens in Las Vegas, stays in Las Vegas.”

Manny Pacquiao embraces his new WBC lightweight title belt after knocking out David Diaz in the 9th round of their title bout in Las Vegas on June 28. Pacquiao has become the first Asian boxer to win titles in four weight classes.

JULY 2008 Manila Media Monitor 35ENTERTAINMENTENTERTAINMENT

Sine…Sine Musika, a concert featuring Filipino-Canadian artists, is sure to give Original Pilipino Music and moviegoers the chance to relax, enjoy and remem-ber an evening of Philippine reel music, all at once.

Rei Ching, show direc-tor, brings the concert at the Gateway Centre for New Canadians in Mississauga on July 26, at 8 pm.

“This may be the first of its kind concert here in Can-ada. The concert features theme songs from select popular Filipino movies,” Ching notes.

Rodney Ronquillo, mu-sical director, incorporates his distinct embellishments to the songs to be performed by local artists Chyrell Sam-son, Michael Masangkay, Ross De Leon, Alvin Alba and Josie de Leon.

Back up vocalists are Mavic Ignacio-Palanca, Jai-me Caballero, Marivic Ca-ballero and Gena Baldivia.

Musicians are Mannix Esteras, guitarist; Allan Pal-entinos, keyboardist; and Nathaniel Tiangson, drum-mer.

The repertoire includes Sana’y Maghintay ang

Fil-Can artists at PIDC’s Mabuhay Festival, July 19Fil-Can artists at PIDC’s Mabuhay Festival, July 19

Remember Filipino movie themesongs in Sine ... Sine Musika

Walang Hanggan from the classic Bituing Walang Ningning, Tell Me from A Love Story, and a lot more from fave Filipino flicks.

“It will be a night of reminiscences, of being re-minded of pleasant memo-ries, which will be triggered by the love songs included in the line up,” director Ch-ing assures.

Sine…Sine Musika is a production of RC Mul-timedia + Entertainment Services in association with Axcess Media Canada for the Gateway Centre for the Performing Arts. PR

Hair and Makeup Artist Tonnie Furto applies the final touches on Cana-dian Idol Finalist Martha Joy Lim for her appearance at a farewell party tendered in her honor before departing in fulfillment of a recording con-tract in the Philippines.

Manila Media Monitor JULY 200836

JULY 2008 Manila Media Monitor 37ENTERTAINMENTENTERTAINMENTA look into Filipino-Canadian folksingers, bands, musicians and other performers in Canada.The GIG

Philippine Queen of Bossa Nova SITTI NA-VARRO visited family in Toronto from June 22 to July 5, a two-week vaca-tion before she embarks on a string of concerts in the Philippines, the Americas and Europe.

In an after-dinner im-promptu jam with family and a few guests who hat in-cluded writer Ricky Caluen and myself, Sitti sang and performed for us.

Sitti was surprised to know that I could accom-pany her with my classical guitar, having studied Sitti’s songs from her CD album Cafe Bossa her aunt Maris-sa lent me two weeks before Sitti came.

Café’ Bossa is Sitti’s Gold Award album that in-cluded her super hits Para Sa Akin, Samba Song, Kung Di’ Rin Lang Ikaw and One Note Samba.

According to her Mom, Sitti started nurturing and

honing her vocals since she was six years old.

At 16, Sitti made her way to bar gigs around Metro Manila, wowing au-diences with her smooth style and soothing voice.

A rising star, she started tour concerts, and the rest is history.

Besides her talent, Sitti is brains, having topped her high school class as vale-dictorian.

She graduated from the University of the Philip-pines with a Bachelor of Economics degree.

Today, Sitti has estab-lished herself as an icon in

Philippine entertainment, passionately expressing herself within the bossa nova genre.

Sitti’s upcoming tour concerts are in Las Vegas, Los Angeles and New York. She has had tours in Malay-sia, Thailand and Australia, to name a few.

RP BossaNova Queen

visits TO

SITTI NAVARRO (right), dubbed the Philippine Queen of Bossa Nova, enjoys an impromptu gig with Manila Media Monitor entertainment columnist and folksinger Chito Sarabia. Navarro was in Toronto with her mom for a vaca-tion with kin, a respite from her string of international concerts.

By CHITO SARABIA

AI-AI DELAS ALAS, the Philippines’ undisputed Queen of Comedy Concerts and the Box Office, will be flying direct from the Phil-ippines to grace and per-form at the Philippine In-dependence Day Council’s (PIDC) Mabuhay Festival at the Metro Toronto Con-vention Centre, Hall D on July 19.

PIDC president Tobias Enverga, Jr. said Filipino actress Delas Alas would topbill a host of Filipino-Canadian talents invited to entertain an expected big audience during the festi-val, which would conclude the PIDC’s celebration of the 110th anniversary of Philippine Independence.

Enverga said sultry singer Zsa Zsa Padilla has confirmed festival atten-dance and would show up at about 4 p.m.

Earlier, world-famous healing priest Fr. Fernan-do Suarez would give his blessings to the Filipino-Canadian community.

Enverga enjoined the community to come and enjoy an all-day entertain-ment fete, “with continuous performances from the best of our community-based cultural groups and well-known entertainers.”

Besides the entertain-ment galore that would feature the full-lenth con-cert Musika ng Ating Bu-hay (Music of Our Life), festival guests would also be treated to a Grand Santa Cruzan, fashion show and a ballet performance from world-renowned Canadian National Ballet ballerina Je-an Salas.

The finals of PIDC’s Dancing To Be A Star would also go onstage.

Children would like-wise find enjoyment in the festival’s Kidz Zone where there are clowns, magicians, bouncing castles, obstacle courses and other childplay, Enverga said.

“We will also have the Sports Zone, where table tennis players from all over North America will compete for the Mabuhay Table Ten-nis Championship Cup; fol-lowed by exhibitions when ping pong enthusiasts could play with the champions.”

At the festival site of over 110,000 square feet, the Philippine Chamber of Commerce Toronto would

mount its Annual Trade Show, with over 100 PIDC vendors and exhibitors coming from Chicago, New York, Washington DC and as far as Manila on hand for easy instant shopping.

“The trade show is a mecca for deals and bar-gains,” Enverga said.

“In this festival, PIDC has added charity as our mandate. PIDC pledged to build an ANCOP GK vil-lage of over 30 houses for our poor kababayan in the Philippines,” he noted.

PIDC -- a non-profit or-ganization which main aim is to promote unity among Filipinos through arts, cul-ture, heritage and sports -- has been putting up the Mabuhay Festival for the last eight consecutive years.

Early on, PIDC has suc-cessfully crowned its Miss PIDC Philippines, Mrs. PIDC Philippines and Miss PIDC Little Philippines who, together with their fellow candidate-winners, would grace the festival.

PIDC has also con-ducted its annual Mabuhay Basketball Tournament and its annual Salo-Salo sa Earl Bales that gave essence to Philippine Freedom Day.

“The Mabuhay Festival this year promises to be the biggest and the best festival ever. It is an event that you should not miss!” Enverga said in a public invitation. PR

Ai-Ai delas Alastopbills Mabuhay

Festival artists

AI-AI DELAS ALAS

JUN ENVERGA

Singer-composer DA-VID POMERANZ, Pussy-cat Doll Search runner-up MELISSA REYES, Filipi-no jazz master BOY KAT-INDIG, Kundiman Queen LIRIO VITAL, balladeer MARCO SISON and Ma-nila’s Soul Queen TILLIE MORENO and folk-rock icon MIKE HANOPOL.

They are the world-re-nowned international and Filipino artists expected to perform in separate dates at the 2nd Filipinos Making Waves Festival (FMWF) at Ontario Place from Aug. 15 to 17.

Show Philippines Fes-tival and Arts (SPFAP) executive producer Teresa Mendoza-Torralba says Pomeranz will sing his pop-ular original compositions in a concert Trying to Get the Feeling Again during the FMWF VIP Night on Aug. 15.

Jazz artist Katindig will go onstage with Jazz Waves on Aug. 16, in back-to-back performances with former Circus Band mainstay and soul singer Moreno, folk-singer Hanopol, Original Pilipino Music balladeer Si-son, guitar virtuoso Angelo Pizarro and Canadian Idol finalist Mikey Bustos.

Reyes, the funky all-around song-dance artist

and Pussycat Doll run-ner-up, is set to fit into the groove when she performs at the FMWF Youth Waves segment on Aug. 17.

Torralba says Youth Waves is organized by Ronn Ligaya and Carlos de Leon.

On the same say, Kundi-man (a genre of traditional Filipino love songs) Queen Vital, with her Maalaala Mo Kaya (Will You Re-member), will perform.

Before Vital’s perfor-mance, FMWF will conduct the Cultural Wave Fashion Show featuring Bb. Pili-pinas of the World queens Samantha East and Angela Fermani, Miss Philippines Hamilton crown holders Pavielyn Carandang and Tiffany Alejandro, and other reigning beauty title holders in Toronto and Canada.

Project director Rubi Talavera said the fashion show is choreographed by Samantha East, with fash-ion designer Diwata.

Likewise performing is the University of the Philip-pines Alumni and Friends Rondalla (UPA&FR) of New Jersey, that dates back to the old days of the UP Choral Group.

The UPA&FR is the first Filipino cultural group to perform in the world-

POMERANZ REYES

KATINDIG VITAL

SISON MORENO

Pomeranz, Melissa R. etal in FMWF

(To page 38)

Manila Media Monitor JULY 20083838R

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class New Jersey Perform-ing Arts Centre.

This year’s festival also offers visitors a wide array of cultural activities innate to the Filipino way of life.

Among these are the Pa-milihan ng Bayan (People’s Market), Palabas (Outdoor Showcase), Likas na Ka-gandahan (Truly Beautiful) fashion show, the fluvial Regatta, and the Boardwalk Parade that may feature an authentic Ati-Atihan.

Musical director, com-poser and arranger Ramon ‘Mon’ Torralba is again at the helm of the festival and promises to showcase an-other masterpiece that will equal, if not surpass, the highly successful three-day First FMWF conducted last year at the Harbourfront Centre and watched by over 100,000 people. PR

(From page 37)Pomeranz ...

Avid viewers of popular Filipino television comedy sitcom That’s My Doc will have a chance to see and exchange plesant-ries with the show’s artists, when the latter meet their fans at the Metro Toronto Conven-tion Centre, Hall C on July 26 from noon to 6 p.m.

Among those who will fly in for the free Kapamilya

Aga Muhlach leads That’s My Docmainstays in free Kapamilya Fiesta!

Fiesta! entertainment show direct from the Philippines are Aga Muhlach, Roderick Paulate, Bayani Agbayani and Lara Quigaman.

The ABS-CBN Regional Network Group, a division of ABS-CBN Broadcasting Corp, is presenting Kapamilya Fiesta! in Toronto, as part of the network’s offering for Filipino communities around the world.

In booths, one can play excit-ing games like Bingo, Pachinko, Lucky Dice, Spin-A-Wheel and mini golf. But to play games and win prizes, one needs to get a free passport from any of the follow-ing: The Filipino Channel (416) 601-1886, AV Communications (416) 866-8882, Cine Suerte (905) 566-8953, JLB Food (416) 658-0018, LDV Computers (416) 736-0969, Coco Banana (905) 370-1856, Coffee In (416) 285-0988, Keelson Food & Discount Centre (416) 398-2379, Bicol Ex-press (416) 446-0001, Halo Halo World Café (905) 606-2339, Ma-nila Hair Studio (416) 636-6046 and Manila Bakery (905) 276-0013.

There will also be great food, singing, dancing and raffles with prizes like a free round-trip ticket to the Philippines, Ipod, Magic Sing, cellphones and many more. Kapamilya was a huge success in Dubai and Barcelona last year. This is the first time Kapamilya Fiesta! is brought to Canada. PR

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JULY 2008 Manila Media Monitor 39

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