Pacquiao gets committee as Senate split games, amusement and sports panel

 Entertainment
Aug 022016
 
Pacquiao gets committee as Senate split games, amusement and sports panel

By Jelly F. Musico Neophyte Senator Emmanuel Pacquiao (right) administers the oath of office of newly-elected Senate President Aquilino Pimentel III during the opening of the Senate session under the 17th Congress on Monday (July 25, 2016) at the Plenary Hall of the Senate Building in Pasay City. Also in photo are immediate members of the Pimentel family, including former Senate President Aquilino “Nene” Pimentel Jr. (center). (MNS photo) MANILA  (PNA) – Neophyte Senator Manny Pacquiao took a committee chairmanship after the Senate adopted Senate Resolution No. 68 that separated the Senate committee on games, amusement and sports into two new standing committees. As the result, Pacquiao has been awarded with the chairmanship of the now Senate committee on sports while Senator Panfilo Lacson got the Senate committee on games and amusement. Pacquiao has now two committees, including the committee on public works approved last week the Senate constituted the first 21 standing Senate committees. On Monday, the Senate announced the chairmanship and members of the 12 more committees. These are the committees on government owned and controlled corporations given to Senator Richard Gordon; climate change to Senator Loren Legarda; banks, financial institutions and currencies to Senator Francis ‘Chiz’ Escudero; youth to Senator Joel Villanueva; and, economic affairs to Senator Sherwin Gatchalian. Senator Leila de Lima got the committee on electoral reforms and people’s participation; Senator Paolo Benigno ‘Bam’ Aquino IV with the committee on science and technology; Senator Juan Miguel Zubiri with the cooperatives; Senator Sonny Angara with local Read More …

Partylist lawmakers: Not abolition, but reform

 Entertainment
Aug 022016
 
Partylist lawmakers: Not abolition, but reform

By Cielito M. Reganit President Rodrigo R. Duterte holds a meeting with local officials at the 104th Brigade Camp in Isabela City, Basilan on July 21. (MNS photo) MANILA  (PNA) — Two partylist lawmakers on Monday called for a review of the party-list system law instead of its abolition, as they cited the numerous accomplishments of “true” partylist groups in previous Congresses. Reacting to President Rodrigo Duterte’s call for the abolition of the partylist system under a proposed federal government, Magdalo Partylist Rep. Gary Alejano and Akbayan Partylist Rep. Tom Villarin said it would be more prudent for a review or investigation on the party-list system law in order to institute needed reforms. Although he does not support the abolition of the partlylist system, Alejano said “I agree that the party-list law should be amended to weed wealthy opportunists out of the system.” “The Supreme Court aptly stressed that the party-list system is a tool for social justice. To abolish it completely without conducting a comprehensive study of its implementation is to deprive the marginalized, the underrepresented a voice in the highest lawmaking body of the Republic,” he said. “It is a well known fact that there are many well-meaning party-list groups that have successfully and actively pursued the interests of the sector they represent in Congress,” Alejano said. A comprehensive review of the implementation of the 21-year old law may help in preserving the “true” intention of RA 7941, he said. “I propose studying the background of the different Read More …

Veterans’ rights and welfare highlighted in Embassy Talakayan

 Entertainment
Aug 022016
 
Veterans’ rights and welfare highlighted in Embassy Talakayan

Filipino-American community members asked questions to the guest panelists during the open forum of the Embassy’s Talakayan on the Filipino World War II Veterans Parole Program on 28 July 2016. WASHINGTON, DC – Filipino-American community members and veterans’ rights advocates gathered on 28 July 2016 at the Romulo Hall of the Philippine Embassy for a Talakayan on the Filipino World War II Veterans Parole Program. In July 2015, the White House released the report “Modernizing and Streamlining Our Legal Immigration System for the 21st Century” that announced the parole policy, which is intended to enhance the ability of eligible individuals to provide support and care to their aging veteran family members who are US citizens or lawful permanent residents. Since 08 June 2016, the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has started to allow certain Filipino World War II veteran family members who are beneficiaries of approved family-based immigrant visa petitions an opportunity to receive a discretionary grant of parole on a case-by-case basis, so that they may come to the United States as they wait for their immigrant visa to become available. “This is a victory for us and it matters for our veterans and for their families. It matters for Filipinos and Filipino-Americans and it matters for Americans who know that their country is trying to do right in the face of historic injustice,” said Atty. Marita Etcubañez, Director of Strategic Initiatives in the Asian Americans Advancing Justice (AAAJ), the largest legal and civil rights organization for Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Read More …

Japan warns China of unintended conflict

 News
Aug 022016
 
Japan warns China of unintended conflict

TOKYO—China risks triggering unintended conflict with its Asian rivals through its aggressive stance in maritime disputes, Japan warned on Tuesday in an annual security assessment. China’s sweeping claims in the strategic South China Sea, where Beijing has built a series of artificial islands capable of supporting military operations despite overlapping claims from other nations, have stoked international alarm. The region’s superpower “continues to act in an assertive manner,” and its actions “include dangerous acts that could cause unintended consequences,” Tokyo said in a white paper that was approved by the Cabinet. Beijing is under pressure to respect a UN-backed tribunal’s finding last month that there is no legal basis for its ambitions over the resource-rich South China Sea where the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia and others also have claims. The white paper said China was “poised to fulfill its unilateral demands without compromise” including efforts “to turn these coercive changes to the status quo into a fait accompli.” And it again called on Beijing to abide by the ruling of the tribunal, which China has denounced as a fraud. Japan also expressed concern over increased activity in the East China Sea, where the two countries have competing claims over a group of small uninhabited islets called the Senkaku in Japan and the Diaoyu in China. “Recently, China has been intensifying activities near the Senkaku Islands, such as its military aircraft flying southward closer to the islands,” it said. Live-fire drills But even as Japan made public the content of the white Read More …

Filipino artists showcase talents at San Diego Comic Con

 News
Aug 022016
 
Filipino artists showcase talents at San Diego Comic Con

Representing 3 Wishes Arts Consulting are Filipino comic book artists (left to right) Jay Anacleto, Philip Tan, Steven Segovia and Carlo Pagulayan. FLORANTE IBANEZ SAN DIEGO, California — Filipino and Filipino American artists, comic book creators, animators and authors showcased their abilities to the record 135,000 attendees of the annual San Diego Comic Con, July 21-24 at the San Diego Convention Center. There was Art Directors Guild’s Ed Natividad (Justice League, Suicide Squad), who started out passionately aiming to design cars in Detroit but fell into industrial design. General Motors gave him an internship to its advance concept studio in California. This enabled him to get into ILM (Industrial Light and Magic). “It was actually easier for me to get into ILM than to get into the union during that time,” he recalled. Now he is a sought after concept artist who was part of the team that designed the functional Batmobile seen in “Batman vs. Superman.” Filipinas can be comic book creators too like Jinky Coronado, who incorporates Philippine folk legends. FLORANTE IBANEZ From the Philippines, staffing the 3-Wishes booth, were comic book artists Philip Tan (SPAWN, DC, Marvel) who now sees many opportunities to show one’s work because of the internet, Jay Anacleto who got started with a referral by Whilce Portacio to draw for ARIA from Avalon Studios in 1999, Steven Segovia (currently drawing Dark Wolverine for Marvel and Reign in Hell for DC Comics) and Carlo Pagulayan who got this break with his contribution to the Read More …

Suit filed vs. Long Beach in cop’s killing of bipolar Fil-Am

 News
Aug 022016
 
Suit filed vs. Long Beach in cop’s killing of bipolar Fil-Am

Lawyer  Joe Sayas explains civil rights case against the City of Long Beach as Mharloun Saycon’s family  looks on. AJPRESS LOS ANGELES – The City of Long Beach, California faces a federal civil rights lawsuit filed on behalf of the family of Mharloun Saycon alleging that his death at the hands of police last December was an unjustified murder. The suit announced on Thursday, July 29 accuses the city and two of its officials of failing to train the Long Beach Police Department (LBPD) to properly approach situations involving people suffering from mental illness. Attorneys Joe Sayas, Dan Stormer and Caitlan McLoon say the patrol officer Vuong Nguyen, who shot Saycon, made no attempt to peacefully interact with the Filipino American before shooting him eight times inside Looff’s Lite-A-Line arcade on December 4 of last year. Police statement Representatives of the LBPD issued a statement saying Saycon, who had been diagnosed with bipolar disorder, was waving around a knife and frightening customers before officers arrived. “The suspect failed to comply with any of the officers’ orders. Officers then deployed less lethal options, which included an electronic control device and baton,” according to the statement. LBPD officials say the officer opened fire only after non-lethal measures failed to subdue Saycon. However, the family’s legal team said Saycon hadn’t even risen from his chair before officers attacked him. On Thursday, the Saycons’ attorneys said they have collected video evidence and witness statements corroborating their understanding of the events. “They made no effort Read More …

4 Fil-Am groups win Esclamado community service award

 News
Aug 022016
 
4 Fil-Am groups win Esclamado community service award

WASHINGTON, D.C. – A cultural school that keeps Filipino heritage alive among young Filipino Americans, a more than a century-old group that has represented the Filipino community in Philadelphia, a community action organization in Virginia Beach and a group that provides humanitarian aid to the poor in the Philippines won this year’s Alex Esclamado Memorial Award for Community Service. Following a thorough screening process, the National Federation of Filipino American Associations (NaFFAA) and its official media partner, Filipino broadcast giant GMA Network, named the following organizations as the recipients of the award: The Filipino Cultural School based in Norwalk, Los Angeles County; Filipino American Association of Philadelphia, Inc.; Filipino American Community Action Group of Hampton Roads, Va.; and the Washington DC-based Feed the Hungry. The winners will be presented at the 12th NaFFAA National Empowerment Conference to be held at the Valley Forge Casino Resort on 1160 1st Avenue, King of Prussia, PA 19406. The event will run from August 4 to 6. Inspired by the life and works of notable news publisher and editor Alex Esclamado, this honor recognizes outstanding contributions of FilipinoAmerican organizations to the community. “Alex Esclamado, founder and first national chairman of NaFFAA, was an impossible dreamer, who dreamed of something that we, overseas Filipinos, especially those of us in the United States, have always wanted for a long, long time,” says former NaFFAA Chairperson and head of the Awards Commitee, Greg Macabenta on the motivation behind the Alex Esclamado Memorial Award for Community Service. “Alex Read More …

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