Maniolas

Ambassador Mario de Leon giving opening remarks at the New York forum on the US presidential election. CONTRIBUTED NEW YORK CITY – Noted Filipino Americans representing the Democratic and Republican parties shared their personal views and insights on their candidates’ advocacies and political platforms at a forum on the US presidential election. “US Presidential Elections Forum: What’s in it for me?” was hosted by the Fil-Am Press Club New York led by Ricky Rillera co-organized in cooperation with the program informs candidates on issues affecting the Filipino community while promoting Filipino American participation in US and Philippine elections. Jason Tengco, representing Hillary Clinton, answers a question about Clinton’s email problem. CONTRIBUTED Loida Nicolas-Lewis and Jason Tengco represented the Democratic Party, pushing for Hillary Clinton, while former Rep. Jeffrey Coleman (GOP-PA) and Matthew Alonsozana represented the Republican candidate, Donald Trump. Attorney Carol Tanjutco of the Fil-Am Press Club moderated. Consul General Mario De Leon remarked: “There are 5.9 million Asian Americans who are registered voters in the US. In the 2012 presidential elections, Filipino Americans emerged as the sixth largest voting population by ethnicity and in 2008 and 2012, Filipino Americans helped President Obama get elected.” Members of the Fil-Am Press Club New York with Ambassador de Leon and speakers. CONTRIBUTED De Leon added: “Filipino Americans should be educated on the elections as an informed community is an empowered community.” A sizeable crowd, which included Councilman Jonathan Wong of Mahwah, New Jersey, members of the Filipino American Lawyers Association of New Read More …

Rally participants listen to speakers while they wait in front of the Philippine Embassy for the embassy officials to come out, welcome them and receive their statement for President Rodrigo Duterte. CONTRIBUTED WASHINGTON, DC — Filipino American community leaders and supporters of President Rodrigo Duterte held a prayer rally in front of the Philippine Embassy in Washington, D.C. last Sunday, Sept. 11 to declare their support for the president’s programs and the all-out campaign against drugs. While Freddie Aguilar’s campaign song for Duterte played in the background, the rallyists calling themselves U.S. Pinoys for Real Change in the Philippines (USPRCP) wore white tops, carried placards and marched in front of the Embassy, singing and chanting that they wanted change in the Philippines. The 60 or so participants’ placards carried messages expressing support for war against drugs “to save youth, tomorrow’s leaders,” a strong and healthy US –RP relations, due process and respect for human rights, the construction of more rehabilitation centers nationwide, an end to corruption, the disclosures of all killings in the drug war, the war or terrorism and peace talks and end to internal conflicts in the Philippines. They also condemned the bombing in Davao. U.S. Pinoys for Real Change in the Philippines (USPRCP) Chair Atty. Arnedo Valera (center in barong) leads rally participants in prayers in support of the Philippines’ all-out campaign “to prevent it from becoming a narcotics state,” as well as in support for the rule of law and due process. CONTRIBUTED USPRCP Chair Atty. Read More …

A discussion group at the Pilipino Workers Center on the importance of voting the during the coming US elelctions. AJ PRESS LOS ANGELES — Lolit Lledo and many other activists boycotted the 1986 snap elections that led to Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos’s ouster. They refused to campaign, vote or otherwise take part in what they viewed as a rigged system. In retrospect, she said the decision not to participate was detrimental to the Philippines in the long run. Many of the people representing interests from the past regime that she had fought against eventually re-entered positions of prominence. “Because we did not participate we [activists] were left out when Cory was the president,” said Lledo, who now serves as the associate director for Pilipino Workers Center (PWC). “If you have a chance, you have to be a part of the political process.” Resentment has characterized the 2016 U.S. presidential race. However, individuals–especially Filipinos, who are dissatisfied with this year’s candidates and are thinking of skipping November’s election–forget what is at stake. That’s the belief of panelists representing a spectrum of liberal views at a forum held at the PWC in Los Angeles on Saturday, Sept. 10. Challenge Speakers challenged citizens and residents to make an impact in this year’s election cycle, and the future of American politics. They noted that a vacant seat on the Supreme Court, vastly contrasting immigration plans proposed by this year’s major party candidates and other emerging topics place too much at risk for Filipinos and Read More …

September 7 protest in Los Angeles against Marcos’ hero’s burial; some demonstrators recounted experiences under the dictator’s rule. CECILE C. OCHOA LOS ANGELES – Former anti-Marcos activists came out at lunchbreak from their day jobs or retirements Sept. 7 to join the international protest rally against the planned burial of Ferdinand Marcos at Libingan ng mga Bayani (Heroes’ Cemetery) in Manila. A crowd of old and young protesters held picket signs in front of the Philippine Consulate General on Wilshire Blvd. Among the organizations represented in the protest were MAKIBAKA, FASGI, Knights of Rizal,  KmB Pro People Youth,  Pilipino Workers’ Center, and former members of the Coalitiona Against the Marcos Dictatorship, National Committee for the Restoration of Civil Liberties in the Philippines and Katipunan ng Demokratikong Pilipino. Carol Ojeda Kimbrough, whose first husband, Rolando Federis, was arrested and murdered by the Philippine military; seen with her at the LA protest is Florante Ibanez, a former anti-martial law activist. CECILE C. OCHOA Tess Mercado, 60, joined the global “Kontra Libing” protests to let the world know that Marcos’ repressive regime was a fact of Philippine history. “My family and I were apprehended and jailed in Daur, Nueva Ecija because we were accused of being subversives–my husband, myself two months pregnant and my little son who was one and a half.” Lillian Tamoria came to the rally because she fears repression returning to the Philippines. “I grew up in the U.S. and in the ‘70s I demonstrated against curtailment of civil rights in Read More …

Members of Justice for Filipino American Veterans (JFAV) in Los Angeles speaking to news media. CONTRIBUTED LOS ANGELES – An organization of Filipino WWII veterans here added its voice to the opposition to the burial of former Philippine President Marcos in the country’s national heroes’ cemetery. In a press statement, the group Justice for Filipino American Veterans (JFAV) said that Marcos was a fake hero and that “he does not deserve to be honored as a hero and buried in the heroes’ cemetery.” The US Veterans Administration had concluded that Marcos had manufactured his own military medals. The JFAV, headed by Arturo Garcia, issued the statement as various social groups in the Philippines have created a Citizen’s Assembly on Sunday, August 14, to protest the burial of Marcos at the Libingan ng mga Bayani on September 18. Garcia criticized newly elected Pres. Rodrigo Duterte for having allowed his burial at the heroes’ cemetery. “Duterte insults the 250,000 Filipino American veterans who fought for democracy during World War II and the 73,000 victims of human rights violations during martial law, which includes his own mother,” he said. Duterte, a close friend of the Marcoses, appears bent on making true his promises to the late president’s family as a way for the country to heal. He called those who opposed his plan “yellow oppositionists” who are identified with his predecessor, Pres. Benigno Aquino Jr. “Duterte is a Marcos loyalist. He is not healing the nation, he is dividing the nation by siding Read More …