A Filipino in the fields: Larry Itliong on his 100th birthday

 News
Oct 252013
 
A Filipino in the fields: Larry Itliong on his 100th birthday

As an American Filipino, I look at Larry Itliong and see my father, a fellow immigrant who came to America in the 20s. Coincidentally, Itliong died on my father’s birthday in 1977. But his birthday is this week, October 25. Itliong would have been 100 years old. Now it seems, more and more people are finally giving Itliong a little love and recognition. It was always there at the grassroots, to some degree.There was always some appreciation among Filipino laborers in California.  But for some reason, Itliong was always cut out of the limelight by fellow farmworker leader Cesar Chavez. As an experienced union hand, Itliong organized fellow Filipino workers in the ’30s, ’40s, and ’50s.He became the leader of the AFL-CIO’s Agricultural Workers Committee, and was no stranger to strikes. It’s the reason Chavez needed Itliong the most. As veteran California labor writer Dick Meister wrote: Chavez felt that his group, then called the National Farm Workers Association, wasn’t ready to strike itself, but would honor the picket lines of the striking Filipinos. Yet if they were to honor the picket lines of Itliong’s group, Chavez’ members asked, Why not strike themselves? Why not? And so they did. That became the grape strike of 1965 that drew worldwide attention and support and ultimately led to the unionization, at long last, of California’s farm workers. It was Larry Itliong and his Filipino members who started it all, and who played an indispensable role throughout the struggle. Without them there could Read More …

New report says immigrants fiscally burden Canada

 News
Oct 252013
 
New report says immigrants fiscally burden Canada

Academic Herbert Grubel. CONTRIBUTED PHOTO TORONTO, Canada – A recently released report by the Fraser Institute implied that immigrants are costing Canadian taxpayers Canadian $20 billion a year. It also calls for an end to sponsorships of parents and grandparents of immigrants and that Canadian immigration selection require employment by the private sector rather than the government. At the center of the controversial report is Economics Professor Emeritus at Simon Fraser University Herbert Grubel, who wrote Canada’s Immigration Selection Policies in which he noted that immigrants who arrived since 1986 earned less and paid less taxes than the benefits they received from the government. Unlike the US, Canada’s points system of selecting principal immigrants has remained largely unchanged since the 1960s. Candidates’ work experience, education, language competency and other factors give them higher points and more likely acceptance for immigration to Canada. In 2011 about 30 percent of Canada’s immigrants were selected this way. But with spouses and under-age children coming with them, their number rose to about 63 percent. Grubel recommended stopping the “fiscal drain” by abandoning the points system, replacing it with pre-arranged work contracts as the main criterion to immigrate to Canada. Early this month, Grubel was quoted by The Philippine Reporter: “Instead of relying on university certificates assessed by civil servants who are in turn instructed by politicians, I would like to see accepted as landed (the Canadian term for citizenship status) immigrants only people who have a job offer from a Canadian employer.” But the Read More …

Fil-Am Symphony Orchestra top choirs perform together first time in X’mas benefit

 News
Oct 252013
 
Fil-Am Symphony Orchestra top choirs perform together first time in X’mas benefit

The Filipino American Symphony Orchestra with Robert Shroder, musical director and conductor. CONTRIBUTED PHOTO/Benny Uy LOS ANGELES–Top Filipino-American choirs will perform together for the first time, and with the Filipino-American Symphony Orchestra (FASO), the only Filipino symphony orchestra outside the Philippines, in “Handog ng FASO sa Pasko,” a Christmas benefit concert and festival, on Saturday, December 7, at the White Memorial Church, 1720 Cesar Chavez Avenue, Los Angeles. In a history-making concert presented by ABS-CBS Foundation International and FASO, distinguished Filipino-American choirs, including Bridges, Harana Men’s Chorus, Philippine Chamber Singers-Los Angeles, University of the Philippines (UP) Concert Chorus Alumni of Los Angeles, University of Santo Tomas (UST) Singers Alumni and the Immaculate Heart of Mary Church (IHMC) Children’s Choir, will render traditional English and Filipino Christmas music. The repertoire includes “Simbang Gabi” and Handel’s “Messiah,” with the orchestra to be conducted by Robert Shroder, FASO’s musical director and conductor. Special celebrity guests will join the show that promises a special, memorable evening that will evoke the joyful ways the Christmas season is celebrated in the Philippines. These talents include Joey Albert, Louise Marie Cornillez, Gelo Francisco, Sal Malaki and Wendy Mazon (FASO’s principal clarinetist). “We are all very excited to offer ‘Handog ng FASO sa Pasko’ again this year,” said Shroder, who is one of the founders of FASO. “We would like to bring to our community the spirit of Philippine Christmas celebration we miss from back home, and hopefully introduce the younger generation to the beauty of our Filipino Read More …

UN seeks int’l aid for Bohol

 News
Oct 252013
 
UN seeks int’l aid for Bohol

Volunteers for and members of the Philippine Red Cross team carry goods that were transported through a boat after a bridge collapsed from a massive quake that hit Bohol. ALANAH TORRALBA/ IFRC The United Nations on Friday appealed for $46.8 million (P2.01 billion) in international aid for more than 380,000 people in Bohol province now living in tents after a 7.2-magnitude earthquake struck Central Visayas last week. Australia was the first to respond, announcing on Friday that it would provide up to P124 million in aid to support the Philippine government’s response to the humanitarian emergency caused by the earthquake in Bohol and Cebu province. The earthquake flattened homes, schools, clinics, centuries-old churches and other vital infrastructure, killing more than 200 persons. A further 35,000 families need emergency shelter while more than 380,000 residents of Bohol require assistance for basic needs like water, sanitation, food and health services for six months, UN resident humanitarian coordinator Luizha Carvalho said. “At this moment, the Philippines is the one [country] that really stands alone with the highest of needs and the highest requirements,” Carvalho told a news conference. Carvalho said she hoped donors would still give money despite a series of recent natural and man-made disasters that also required international assistance, such as a destructive typhoon in December last year and Moro rebel attacks that destroyed parts of the southern city of Zamboanga last month. “We have a very interesting pattern of several events that are happening almost simultaneously and we still hope Read More …

Australia to give P124-M aid to Visayas quake victims; P20M to Zambo victims

 News
Oct 252013
 
Australia to give P124-M aid to Visayas quake victims; P20M to Zambo victims

The Australian government will be giving up to P124 million in aid to the victims of last week’s earthquake in Central Visayas and around P20 million to the families affected by the crisis in Zamboanga City, its embassy in the Philippines said Friday. In a statement, the Australian Embassy said the financial assistance to the earthquake victims will include P44 million worth of supplies such as family survival kits containing sleeping mats, mosquito nets, and water containers through the Philippine Red Cross, rice through the World Food Programme, and health and dignity kits for women through the UN Population Fund. It said Australia will also provide P40 to provide “critical relief needs” identified in the UN Action Plan such as shelter, water and sanitation, and early recovery activities. Another P40 million, it said, will be given to replenish prepositioned supplies with partners. Aside from this, the embassy said the Australian Government-funded Provincial Roads Management Facility (PRMF) is also working with the Department of Public Works and Highways and the Department of the Interior and Local Government to assess the damage to roads and bridges “The devastation caused by the earthquake, particularly in Bohol, is enormous and staggering. With more than 200 lives lost, 380,000 people displaced, and ongoing aftershocks that aggravate people’s suffering, the extent of assistance required is also massive,” said Australian Ambassador to the Philippines Bill Tweddell in the statement. He added that the Australian government has had “a long-standing development partnership” with Bohol province, making the quake’s Read More …

7th petition vs DAP filed with SC

 News
Oct 252013
 
7th petition vs DAP filed with SC

(Updated 6:17 p.m.) Former Manila Councilor Greco Belgica and two others from the religious sector on Friday filed with the Supreme Court a seventh petition questioning the legality of the controversial discretionary Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP). Aside from Belgica, who filed the petition on behalf of the Yeshua Change Agents, the other petitioners were Bishop Reuben Abante (Bible Mode) and Rev. Jojo Gonzales (Capitol Christian Leaders). The three earlier filed separate petitions with the high court seeking to stop the release of the Priority Development Assistance Fund and Malampaya gas funds. These funds –  or portions of them – were said to have been misused and diverted to bogus non-government organizations run by supposed fund scam mastermind Janet Lim-Napoles, who allegedly shares the money with government officials, including lawmakers. In his petition, Belgica questionned the legality of the DAP and the Department of Budget and Management-National Budget Circular 541, particularly its portion that allows the use of the the DAP funds “to fund priority programs and projects not considered in the 2012 budget but expected to be started or implemented during the current year.”  “Such directive is clearly a usurpation of the power of the legislature to appropriate government funds. Such power did not originate from the House or Representatives nor did it pass the legislative process under the Constitution,” read the petition. Aside from Belgica, the other petitioners are Bishop Reuben Abante and Rev. Jojo Gonzales.  The petitioners said the use of the DAP violated Section 29 (1), Article VI of Read More …

Panatag Shoal won’t be another Mischief Reef, PH defense chief vows

 News
Oct 252013
 
Panatag Shoal won’t be another Mischief Reef, PH defense chief vows

By Frances MangosingINQUIRER.net 4:41 pm | Friday, October 25th, 2013 Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin MANILA, Philippines—Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin on Friday assured that Panatag Shoal (Scarborough) off Zambales will not be another Mischief Reef. The statement came after the Department of Foreign Affairs said that the Philippines will no longer protest the presence of concrete blocks in Panatag, saying that there were no “determination of facts.” The Philippines accused China in late August of putting concrete blocks in the disputed territory. “I don’t think [it would be another Mischief Reef], because we have regular air and sea patrols,” Gazmin told reporters. Gazmin said the blocks have algae, an indication that they were already old. “Well now, we have seen that they are old. But how did it get there? In other words, these were newly discovered but it doesn’t mean they were newly put,” he said. “This is new to us because we have just seen it recently. At that time it was low tide. Maybe during previous missions it was on high tide so we did not see it,” he said. He could not say, however, how old the concrete blocks were. In 1995, structures built by China were sighted in the Mischief Reef, an area near Ayungin also within the Philippine exclusive economic zone, where the Chinese put up a military garrison. These were reportedly built initially to provide shelter for fishermen, but were later transformed into a military garrison. Gazmin emphasized that the arbitration case still continued. Read More …

 Older Entries  Newer Entries