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02/13/2025

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02/13/2025

Editorial for the week.

Suspending foreign aid is not as bad as it seems

One of President Donald Trump’s very first acts as chief executive, and one that had multiple quarters raising a howl, was his suspension of all foreign aid.
This would ruin the US’s global reputation as the leader when donations were needed to face a crisis, they said.
It would disrupt the global fight against modern-day slavery, others said.
At worst, lives would be lost when humanitarian aid was needed and none would be available.
For many, it was simply a case of overreacting. For one, the 47th POTUS only called for a pause, not an end, to foreign aid. There is, of course, a big difference between the two.
Based on his executive order which would reevaluate and possibly realign US foreign aid, a review will be made of all programs which receive funding from the US.
These are, after all, funds that come from the people’s taxes. It is therefore in the best interest of the government to make sure that the funds go where they are supposed to go.
The US Agency for International Development or USAID is one of the best known of sources of foreign aid, especially for allied countries, like the Philippines.
Yes, our very own motherland, the Republic of the Philippines, has been the recipient of millions of dollars in foreign aid, US aid to be specific, year in and year out.
For this, we cannot be anything but grateful.
In a perfect world, all that aid would have gone in helping countless downtrodden Filipinos.
The question we have to ask is this: Did all that aid really go to the intended recipients?
Sad to say, our country – specifically its political leaders – have never been known as paragons of honesty. If there’s a way for them to divert funds to their personal pockets, they will find a way.
The examples are too numerous to count. As far back as the post-World War ll years, when Japan paid the country reparations for the damage they had caused as a result of the war, there were cases of fake Filipino guerillas getting a piece of the pie that they most certainly did not deserve.
More recently, the rebuilding of Marawi after it had been turned into a warzone by Islamic rebels was another multi-billion peso project where funds seemingly disappeared.
Ditto with Typhoon Yolanda which caused so much devastation and death that many of the world’s donors quickly offered their assistance.
Throughout the decades, more than $5 billion in assistance has been provided to the Philippines by USAID since 1961, with $2.81 billion released between 2001 and 2023.
Since 2010, the US has provided $390 million (P21.85 billion) in disaster relief, preparedness, and early recovery to our homeland.
Mr. Trump is right in calling for a pause and determining if the money sent as aid all these many years was well spent.
Perhaps the US president wants to realign the aid, not just to the Philippines, but to all friendly countries.
There’s nothing wrong with that now, is there?

01/12/2025

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Ang Paghaharap With Atty. Vic Rodriguez

01/02/2025

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Bagong Taong Pasavogue Sa PhilPost, Kasabwat Si Bersa, Masukat, Liza, Vangag? | Ghost Employees

12/24/2024

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12/19/2024

Sasai of Pinole and Daus-Magbual of Daly City Sworn in as Mayors of their cities

The younger Filipino members of the two Bay Area cities Pinole City’s Cameron Sasai and Daly City’s Rod Daus-Magbual have been elected by their peers to lead their cities for the coming year 2025.

On December 17, 2024, Cameron Sasai was sworn in as Mayor representing the City of Pinole, one of the most diverse municipalities in the Bay Area. Sasai accepted the nomination by his colleagues, with the Pinole City Council unanimously supporting the shift in leadership. His older brother, Kyle Sasai, administered his Oath of Office during the council meeting at City Hall. At 26, Sasai makes history not only as the youngest Mayor in the City’s over 120-year history, but also as the first Filipino American to ever hold the office.

"I am deeply honored and humbled to have the trust of my colleagues and the people of Pinole as I step into representing them through this important role,” stated Sasai. “This is a historic moment for our entire community, and I recognize the importance of it. But I am committed to being more than a symbol of progress and am laser-focused on advancing substantive progress on the issues that matter. I’m here to deliver or our community and to work alongside them every step of the way.”

This moment has drawn attention from leadership nationwide as a powerful step forward for representation and progress. "Mayor Cameron Sasai's historic achievement as the youngest Filipino-American mayor in the United States is a shining example of progress in leadership, inspiring all Filipino-Americans to believe that our voices matter, our dreams are valid, and our contributions are shaping the future of this nation,” beamed Mariela Fletcher, President of the National Federation of Filipino American Associations (NaFFAA).

During his remarks at the December 17th Council meeting, Mayor Sasai highlighted downtown revitalization, road safety & rehabilitation, and racial & economic justice as his top priorities. “I have the benefit of being born and raised in Pinole and having the experience of growing up in this city. I’ve seen the way that our community has evolved and changed, and where we’ve stayed stagnant. We need to keep planning for our long term growth but also act with a sense of urgency on the issues that have needed attention,” said Sasai.

Elected in 2022 as the first Filipino-American and youngest member of the Pinole City Council, Sasai currently serves on multiple regional boards, including the WestCAT Board of Directors. He also represents Pinole on the West Contra Costa Transportation Commission (WCCTC)

Daly City’s Rod Daus-Magbual was also elected Mayor in 2022 and proudly comes from an immigrant family who came from Canada via the Philippines to the United States in the early 1980s.

“My mother was a nurse and my father worked in various blue collared jobs. I understand the struggle of survival and resilience. Growing up, I watched my mother work the graveyard shift, come home to make breakfast for her two kids, and take us to school. My father came home in the evening and I would greet him with a deep embrace as I grasped his callous, burnt, and cracked hands from his job as a welder. Their long commutes, sleepless nights, and the hope to see both their sons succeed is what kept them going,” Daus Magbual narrated.

He also claimed that “through my family's experiences, I understood what resiliency meant and how I can apply it to my own life. Heavily influenced by Ethnic Studies, I realized how history shapes identity and how understanding the stories of the oppressed has informed my motivation to serve the community.”

As for the future, Daus-Magbual intends to impart what he learned from his students and their families having shared similar experiences.

“They expressed narratives of holding down multiple jobs, going to school, and supporting their family. For many, the struggle has become unbearable. I have listened to stories of students who couch-surfed between friends and family homes to attend college, families moving to other cities or states because they could not sustain themselves in communities where they have lived for decades, and undocumented families fearing that parents will be deported. All of these experiences inform and drive my work as a Daly City Council member,” Daus-Magbual shared.

Councilmember Glenn Sylvester will also be the next Vice Mayor of Daly City.

Captions:

Pinole City Cameron Sasai

Daly City Mayor Rod Daus-Magbual

12/19/2024

Inconsequential headline hoggers

It must be one of those lame news days that newsmen face every now and then, or so I thought.
An actress/singer had started to receive attention for what should have been a private matter. But it was not to be. For about a week now, that semi-popular celebrity had become embroiled in a controversy involving her former boyfriend and an actor she had been paired with as one of those sickening “love teams” that have been a staple of Philippine show business for decades.
The guy was not as popular as her, and may well be facing the end of what has been a lackluster career thus far.
Not the actress/singer though. Although I do not really follow local showbiz, I was vaguely aware of her existence as one of the many young women out to make a name for herself.
Since their sordid tale had spread throughout social media, with all news organizations picking up the story to the delight of their followers who should know better, everyone and his next door neighbor had become aware of the non-newsworthy events surrounding the young entertainers.
It seemed that the reel love team had become a real thing.
To put it bluntly, they had begun to have s*x with each other, starting their steamy affair when they both had respective partners.
Since she cheated on her then boyfriend, and he with his own then girlfriend, interest grew especially after the scorned girlfriend of the guy managed to take shots of their messages, then posted those self-same shots over social media.
Actress/singer, in particular, was pretty graphic in her descriptions of what they were doing.
It certainly made her ex-boyfriend – himself an active showbiz personality – look like a poor victim.
That’s what it seemed at first glance. Later details emerged when he supposedly had a number of shortcomings in their relationship. Being the older of the two, he did not give her the treatment she had been wanting.
To romanticize it, she wanted to be treated like a princess. To be more brutal about it, she was not getting the physical satisfaction that she had been seeking.
That’s where her loveteam partner came in. He supposedly paid her the attention she craved. Never mind that he had a non-showbiz girlfriend who seemed to be aware of his indiscretions.
To make a long story short, the actress/singer in her mid-20s was suddenly getting the physical pleasures she had been after for the longest time.
She made no bones about her getting what she wanted, and he was more than willing to give it to her.
So what was wrong with the picture?
She had been crafting an image of herself as a sweet young thing, not a l***y v***n.
As such, she had won sponsorship contracts with large consumer organizations, including the country’s top food and beverage company.
As a result of her mistakes, she was dropped like a proverbial hot potato.
Some are saying that she may as well have kissed her young career goodbye. But her handlers would have none of it. A carefully crafted public statement was prepared for her, and she delivered it well enough.
She even shed a tear or two, and owned up to the error of her ways.
Shortly thereafter, her new partner in crime did pretty much the same thing. He, too, apologized, but sadly for him his came out as half-hearted. It was devoid of feeling, but worse was to come.
A “friend” of his came out on social media saying that the guy with a western-sounding name was actually bragging of his s*xual conquest of a young celebrity.
The word used for him is cad, isn’t it? Except maybe no one uses that word anymore.
So now the jury is out on whether either or both of the guilty parties can call it a day as far as their showbiz career is concerned.
Much will depend on what happens in the next few weeks and months.
The actress/singer may have a better chance of salvaging her career. She may never be a superstar, but it is not improbable to think that she can still be around if she and her management team play their cards right.
But they should be reminded that there is no shortage of younger ladies who have the potential to be actress/singers like her.
There’s always new blood waiting to be discovered.
To be honest, actress/singer is quite attractive physically, but her singing skills have substantial room for improvement. Samples of her work can be seen on YouTube.
As for her acting chops, same thing. She still has a ways to go before hitting the stratospheric heights of the country’s best actresses.
Under a worst-case scenario, she will slowly fade to the background, perhaps land secondary roles in the movies. She can play the lead actress’s best friend or older sister.
As for her singing career, there are many small clubs that will always welcome entertainers with name recall.
But it is highly doubtful that the country’s biggest consumer goods manufacturers will want her to serve as their spokesperson ever again. At the back of their minds, they will recall all the nasty details that were revealed by the messages she shared with her new love or lust partner.
Quite incidentally, it was illegal for the ex-girlfriend of her current partner to reveal those messages. A lawsuit has been discussed, but this will only serve to remind the public of all the details that most parties in the drama would rather forget.
This, by the way, is not the first time that social media as well as mass media played a role in exposing details of the s*xual lives of showbiz figures.
Some women who have been involved in similar situations in the past have managed to survive, and return to the entertainment circuit.
The public can be pretty fickle where such things are concerned. A good many will say that adults are free to do what they want as long as they do no harm to others.
As long as actress/singer genuinely learns her lesson, she will be back in some form somewhere down the road.
As for the cad who is at the center of all this nonsense, maybe he can go to the provinces and serve as emcee during fiestas in third class towns and municipalities.
For now, his days as an inconsequential headline hogger are over.

12/19/2024

Marcos biggest spender of confidential, intel funds

By Beting Laygo Dolor, Editor

MANILA – His allies may be attacking Vice President Sara Duterte non-stop over her use of confidential and intelligence funds, but it turns out that the Office of the President (OP) has been the biggest spender of the same funds.
The Commission on Audit said earlier this week that President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. had spent P4.56 billion in intelligence and confidential funds last year.
At the start of this week, COA said, “The Office of the President remained to post the highest amount of confidential expenses, maintaining the same level as last year.”
The OP spent P2.25 billion and P2.31 billion on confidential and intelligence funds, respectively, last year, according to the COA annual financial report.
The OP’s spending on confidential and intelligence funds is close to half of the total P10 billion that the entire government bureaucracy spent for the purpose, based on COA records.
Confidential expenses are used in relation to confidential activities in civilian government agencies meant to support the mandate or operations of the agency, while intelligence expenses are related to intelligence information gathering activities of the military, police, and intelligence practitioners that directly affect national security.
It is worth noting that the OP’s P2.25 billion intelligence fund is around nine times more than the Office of the Vice President’s P375 million fund last year.
Congress removed the confidential funds of both the OVP and the Education department, both held by Sara Duterte last year.
This led to Duterte breaking away from the Marcos administration, and saying she was now part of the opposition.
Aside from depriving her of the confidential funds, allies of Marcos also held House hearings that Duterte said were meant to be the start of impeachment proceedings against her.
Marcos, however, recently told his House allies to back off, and drop their plans to launch impeachment proceedings against the vice president.
Minority congressmen and other parties, however, filed two impeachment charges against Duterte last week, which the House leadership is duty-bound to process to determine their validity.
After the OP, it is the Justice department which spent the most in confidential funds last year, at P683,853,000, followed by the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency at P500 million.
As for intelligence fund spending, the OP’s P2,31 billion was followed by the Department of National Defense at P2.25 billion followed by the Philippine National Police at P936,597,000.
The Marcos government’s confidential fund spending rose from P3.85 billion in 2022 to P4.42 billion in 2023.
COA said the government’s P10 billion spent in confidential and intelligence funds last year was the first in history.
For next year’s budget, the confidential and intelligence fund was slashed by 16% by the Budget department.
Economist Emmanuel Layco said civilian executive offices do not need confidential funds. If any civilian agency needs intelligence services, they should refer their concerns to the intelligence network, he said.
Meanwhile, former Commission on Population undersecretary Juan Antonio Perez said confidential funds were better used for housing, medical services, and additional classrooms.

12/19/2024

Warriors Filipino Heritage Night punctuated with a comeback win

After failing to win against Minnesota Timberwolves two nights ago, Golden State Warriors bounced back beating their opponents 114-106 Sunday night at Chase Center in San Francisco.
The home team outscored the visitors by 17 points in the second half when they came out piping hot making their first 10 fields goals of the third quarter, including three 3-pointers and, and made 12 of their first 13 field goal attempts. The quarter was punctuated a 39-foot buzzer be**er from Stephen Curry.
Curry led all scorers with 30 points with Buddy Hield adding 27 points and Jonathan Kuminga recording 20 points and seven rebounds. Draymond Green also had his own 'Night, Night' celebration after his fourth quarter slam to put the game out of reach.

The Warriors are now ranking 5 in the Western Conference with 14-9 win loss slate after the win before 18,064 fans a clear majority of which were Filipino fans who trooped to Chase Center to celebrate the holiday season with family and friends on Warrior grounds for the first of two Filipino Heritage Night (FHN).
Among those featured for the December FHN were bell ringing by Executive Director of Filipino Advocates for Justice Geraldine Alcid, singing of Bytes and Notes Chorale, and the halftime native Filipino dance performance by Kalikasan Dance Company. There was also a special in-game performance with Bay Area native hip-hop artist P. Lo and the Warriors Dance Team’s Gold Squad.

Mountain View California-born Jalen Cordero Young and San Francisco-born Danielle Jessica ‘DJ’ Pecho were among the very talented members of the Filipina American dance director Sabrina Ellison-mentored Gold Squad that performed during the game timeout breaks.

Impact Warrior of the night who was honored at halftime was Gayle Romasanta, the Executive Director of Filipino American Development Foundation, national trustee for the Filipino American National Historical Society, and serves on the Board of Directors at Yerba Buena Gardens Conservatory she also co-authored Journey For Justice: The Life of Larry Itliong and wrote Larry the Musical: An American Journey that premiered to a sold-out crowd in San Francisco.

She came with her mother Carmen Rivera of Tubao La Union and father Pat Romasanta of Marinduque who were both proud and very happy for the additional achievement that daughter Gayle gained this FHN.

“Being an Impact Warrior means a lot to me. You work within a community doing a lot of community-building doing it for ten, twenty or thirty years not for personal recognition and you do it because you love your Filipino American self, your FilAm people and you love your Filipino community so much. Being recognized by the Warriors in itself also means that my work and the work of our Filipino community has reached the mainstream and has reached the wider audience that we would not have necessarily gotten before,” Romasanta explained.

Bytes and Sounds were led by Music Studio Director Anne Marie Tecson from San Jose California and son Lucas Director of Alumni Choir. They are glad that they have been invited for at least ten years now.

“We were chosen for the last many years maybe because we love to do this, the kids enjoy it. We were very lucky to be given that chance to have this experience,” Anne Marie believes.

Lucas agreed saying, “I see the passion in the students and their ability to settle down and really work.”

Bytes and Sound members Malaya Mosqueda and Alessandra Mine confirmed that “it is always super fan and exhilarating being on the court to share our talents in singing the national anthem is so incredible.”

The members of Milpitas-based St. John the Baptist students and choir members were the ones ages 10-13 chosen to stand before the players. Shared that they were invited through the coaches

“We were invited to es**rt the players through the coaches of the school who knew people connected with the Warriors team,” shared Francis Capili of Bulacan, a parent teacher leader of the group.

Also at hand to join the FHN were GS Warriors Hypeman Franco Finn and DJ Umami » Baybayin script demo by Kristian Kabuay and outreach tables by Filipino American Arts and Exposition (FAAE) led by its President and concurrent San Francisco Entertainment Commissioner Al Perez and Philippines Baseball Group.

Again it was FHN tradition of celebration of Filipino culture and be recognized by the Warriors as a community who adores, admires and are appreciative of them.


Captions:

Part of the Filipino crowd at ringside level patiently waiting for the Start of the Filipino Heritage Night (photo by Martin Aurelio)

Young Filipinos of Bytes and Notes Chorale sing the national anthem

Kalikasan Dance Company performed at the halftime break.

St. John the Baptist Milpitas school students and choir members es**rted the players in pre-game opening ceremonies. (photo by Martin Aurelio)

Impact Warrior Gayle Romasanta (extreme left) posed for picture with mother Carmen and father Pat.

Filipina members of the Gold Squad Danielle Jessica ‘DJ’ Pecho and Jalen Cordero Young and who exemplify the beauty and artistic talents of Filipinas.

12/19/2024

A Filipino mother’s tragedy

She left the country as a young mother of 24, in search of a job in a foreign land in order to give her two children hope for a brighter future.
Instead, she landed in prison for nearly 15 years, coming close to being executed for being a drug courier.
She is Mary Jane Fiesta Veloso, at 39 now just one year short of middle age. She looks much older than her chronological age, and this is not surprising considering all that she has gone through, and facing an uncertain future.
Mary Jane arrives home this week after serving time in an Indonesian prison.
While the Philippines’ agreement with Indonesia states that she should continue to serve the remainder of her life term in her homeland, there is also the unspoken possibility that Mary Jane can receive executive clemency.
The latter option, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. must take immediately, for no other reason than because it is the right thing to do.
It has already been established that Mary Jane was the victim of her recruiters, who admitted placing illegal drugs in her luggage without her knowledge.
It is hard to argue with Indonesia’s ultra strict policy against illegal drugs. Theirs is a policy that works. Were the Philippines to adopt the same hardline policy, we daresay that illegal drugs would not be the problem it is now. For all his justifications for his regime’s brutal war on drugs, former president Rodrigo Duterte failed to minimize, if not end, the drug menace.
All he did was to allow the killing of thousands of mostly young men who were drug users, with some pushers thrown in.
Indonesia has a more effective way of punishing drug pushers by all but guaranteeing that they will eventually face the firing squad.
Unknowing drug mules may be technically, legally, and morally innocent of being part of the global drug trade, but Indonesia has shown a willingness to execute foreigners as well as their own citizens who become part of that drug trade, even without their knowledge or consent.
Theirs is an all or nothing approach, and for better or worse it works for them.
By most accounts, Mary Jane Veloso should have been executed were it not for a last minute, desperate plea by the late President Benigno Aquino lll. The country’s various Foreign affairs secretaries also did their part.
It was only because of the exceptionally close ties the Philippines has with Indonesia that her life was spared. It can be noted that other nationals from friendly countries who committed a similar offense as Mary Jane were not spared by Indonesian authorities.
Her family and friends consider it a miracle that Mary Jane will soon be united with her family.
But the Philippine government must do more. It must guarantee that the parties that victimized her be punished to the fullest extent of the law.
Beyond this, any and all assistance must be extended to Mary Jane and her kids. Provide them jobs, education, and financial assistance. Be as generous as possible.
Let the hard life that she and her family has experienced in the past decade and a half come to an end.
Most of all, let there be no more Mary Jane Velosos in the future who need to take desperate measures just to survive.

12/19/2024

Former usec turning into Marcos regime’s worst nightmare

By Beting Laygo Dolor, Editor

MANILA – Because she knows what she is talking about, former Finance undersecretary Cielo Magno is fast turning into the Marcos administration’s worst nightmare.
Known as a fiscal policy expert who resigned from the Marcos regime because she could not accept its decisions based on politics rather than sound economics, Magno has recently gone on the offensive, questioning the aid program of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) followed by the mishandling of Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (Philhealth) funds, among others.
She earlier stated that “there is no economic case” for liquified natural gas in the Philippine energy sector, as proposed by some lawmakers.
Magno said the Ayuda para sa Kapos ang Kita Program (Akap) would only be used by lawmakers for political gain, mostly for vote-buying and corruption.
Magno said: “The primary question really is: Do legislators have a significant role in distributing aid?”
The associate professor at the University of the Philippines’ School of Economics said “they do not.”
Akap was launched by President Marcos earlier this year alongside his cousin, Speaker Martin Romualdez. The assistance program is similar to past programs of previous administrations, which doled out funds to the poorest of the poor under certain conditions such as keeping their children in school.
Economists, however, say the charity doleout programs do more harm than good in the long run, as the recipients become overly dependent on the government to the point of refusing to look for employment even if they are physically able.
“It is clear that the House of Representatives is using the Akap for political gain, and the Senate is in cahoots with them,” said Magno.
The program has an approved budget of P26 billion next year, which is incidentally an election year.
She also had something to say about Philhealth, which “donated” hundreds of millions to Marcos’s pet project, the Maharlike Fund, even without the expressed approval of its members.
Worse, the Marcos-controlled Congress removed subsidies for Philhealth in next year’s budget, which Magno said was “unconstitutional.”
Magno said she would join several in contesting Congress’s action before the Supreme Court.
“It’s unconstitutional, it’s against our rights, it’s against the right to health, and it’s against the rules of Congress,” she said.
In effect, the lawmakers were again amending the law that allocates funds for Philhealth, according to Magno.
The Marcos regime has been accused of using Philhealth “savings” for non-health related programs. Moreover, Philhealth is owned by its members, who have not been consulted in the diversion of their funds.
Magno is part of the group that succeeded in blocking further transfers of Philhealth funds to the Maharlika Fund when they convinced the Supreme Court to issue a temporary restraining order.
Government officials said there was no need to set aside funds as a subsidy for Philhealth since it had reserve funds in excess of P600 billion.
Philhealth members say that the excess funds should be returned to the members in the form of higher subsidies for hospitalization, doctors’ fees, and medical bills.
For major operations, Philhealth only subsidizes less than 20 percent of the total cost.
Also last month, Magno wrote that there was no economic sense for the use of liquified petroleum gas (LPG) in the country’s energy sector.
Some of Marcos’s allies in the Senate have been pushing for a bill to develop the country’s natural gas industry.
“But fossil gas and its imported liquified form, LNG, are anything but clean, affordable, or reliable,” said Magno.
She pointed to countries that build a reliance on LPG, which proved to be more bane than boon, she added.
Clearly, Magno has risen as one of the watchdogs over the government’s spending, a good portion of which is lost to corruption.
She is no outsider looking in, but is instead speaking as a former insider. She resigned because of what she said was the Marcos administration’s pro-mining policy as well as the president’s policy on rice prices.
Magno is expected to be a thorn on the side of the Marcos regime in the foreseeable future.