Discrimination and racist laws from the US Congress Dear Editor, We write you this letter in light of some new developments in the US Senate last week. In a final act of insult, your newspaper reported the sad news that the US Senate marked up the Heller Bill, recycled it to be called Sanders’ Bill…
Joseph Estrada. Ramon Revilla. John F. Kennedy. Bill Clinton. These are powerful men in the political arena, who are also known for philandering. Additionally, San Diego Mayor Bob Filner, New York Governor Eliot Spitzer and former New York Congressman Anthony Weiner also engage in the same behavior. The question is: should this disqualify them from…
NATIONAL security is of paramount importance to any country and to everyone. One terrorist act/attack, no matter how small or localized, is enough to incite fear into the hearts and minds of an entire nation. Over the weekend, the US State Department issued a worldwide travel alert, following a recent al-Qaida threat. “Current information suggests…
“I DON’T have any formula for ousting a dictator or building democracy. All I can suggest is to forget about yourself and just think of your people. It’s always the people who make things happen.” – Corazon C. Aquino (1933-2009) On August 1, Pres. Noynoy “PNoy” Aquino commemorated the 4th death anniversary of his mother,…
WHAT is it with Filipinos and beauty pageants? I experienced firsthand the Pinoys’ love affair with beauty pageants, when I was invited to be among the esteemed panel of judges in the first ever Binibining Pilipinas-USA. The pageant was held on July 27 at the Centinela Valley Performing Arts Auditorium in Lawndale, Los Angeles. Nineteen…
CELEBRITIES, who venture into politics, are not an uncommon sight in the Philippines — and Filipino boxing icon Manny Pacquiao is one of them. In the last three years, politics has been a major part of his career. He may have lost his last two major fights in 2012, but Pacquiao won big time in…
THIS is an exciting time to be Catholic, especially for those who have had doubts and questions about the Catholic Church’s relevance in their spiritual and faithful journey. After the resignation of Pope Benedict a few months ago, the emergence of Pope Francis as the new leader of the Catholic Church has been a defining…
TROUBLE in the Philippine Bureau of Customs has been brewing for months. In April, Pres. Benigno Aquino III sent feelers at a groundbreaking ceremony in Capiz. According to a report from GMA News, the president said that “it’s only a matter of time when the administration will implement an extensive plan to weed out the…
LAST Wednesday, I wrote a bit about Senator Miriam Defensor Santiago’s statement, where she lambasted lawmakers’ “obsession to bling,” and promised to file a resolution prescribing an official uniform for members of Congress attending the State of the Nation Address (SONA). “I watched TV and could not stand it,” the fiery lady senator said, “…
HOW wonderful it is to be a Filipino, in these times. These were the words left by President Benigno Aquino III on his fourth State of the Nation Address (SONA) last Monday, at the Batasang Pambansa in Quezon City. “My bosses, let us remember: where did we begin? If you have doubts now, compare them…
THE MMDA and assorted kibitzers have come up with all kinds of solutions to the infernal Metro Manila traffic problem. The dancing traffic cops. The color coding idea. The U-turn idea. The bus ban idea. The flyovers and the underpasses. The LRT and MRT. But still the traffic mess remains. I live in the San…
PHILIPPINE President Noynoy “PNoy” Aquino delivered his 4th State of the Nation Address(SONA) on July 22, before the joint sessions of the Senate and House of Representatives and before kababayans worldwide. PNoy’s 102-minute speech heralded the achievements of his administration, focusing mainly on the economy and public service. Like his his previous SONA, Aquino slammed…
IN A recent series of investigative reports by the Inquirer.net, no less than 28 lawmakers from both houses of Congress – the Senate and the House of Representatives – were implicated in an alleged racketeering scam that purportedly defrauded the Philippine people of as much as P10 billion in ‘ghost project’ funding. According to sworn…
AFTER George Zimmerman was found “not guilty” by the jury for the death of 17-year-old African American teenager Trayvon Martin, civil rights advocates, community leaders, and the family of Trayvon Martin called on the Obama administration to file federal charges against Zimmerman. They say that Martin’s civil rights were violated by Zimmerman, stemming from racial…
AMID the intensifying maritime impasse with China, the Philippines sought the intervention of neutral experts to help resolve the tension in the disputed South China/West Philippine Sea. The arbitration process was backed by the European Union, United States and Japan, who all support peaceful resolution to any international conflict. Through an aggressive stance, China strongly…
“NOT guilty.” Many of those who have been following the Trayvon Martin-George Zimmerman case could not believe the verdict. They could not accept nor understand that a 17-year-old was killed when he was just walking back home in Florida, and that the man who shot him was acquitted. The closing argument of the prosecutors resonated…
WHILE President Benigno S. Aquino III still strongly opposes amending the Constitution, advocates of Charter change (Cha-cha) are making their move. Quezon City Rep. Feliciano Belmonte Jr. filed House Resolution No. 1 which seeks “to amend restrictive economic provisions of the 1987 Constitution through the regular legislative route in the Senate and the House of…
The news about the crash landing of Asiana Airlines Flight 214 at San Francisco International Airport on July 6 made many people re-think how safe it is to fly. This is a very serious issue for many kababayans, who have no other alternative to visit the Philippines with the motherland being almost 7,000 miles away…
THE Philippine economy is on the upswing and the numbers say it all. In the first three months, the country’s economy expanded by 7.8 percent, exceeding market expectations to become Asia’s fastest growing economy. The vibrant tourism industry and real estate market; and the Aquino administration’s pursuit of “Daang Matuwid” have all contributed to this…
THIS is a very common scenario that usually starts with good intentions from both sides. Many Pinoys from the Philippines come to America as tourists, secretly hoping to find lucrative job opportunities that seem elusive in the motherland. Some will find a kababayan who runs a business in America and will use all possible connections…
THE Komisyon ng Wikang Filipino is proposing the “rationalization” of the names used for our country, our citizens and our national language. Indeed, a lot of people – foreigners and Pinoys alike – are confused. Aside from being known as The Philippines, is our country called Pilipinas or Filipinas? Are our citizens Filipinos or Pilipinos?…
ON July 1, Pres. Benigno S. Aquino III vowed to modernize the Philippine Air Force (PAF) before he steps down in 2016. The president said that a P75-billion fund will be allocated for the PAF’s modernization, to acquire new and modern aircraft. The country has retired the last of its US-designed F-5 fighters back in…
THE Senate may have passed their version of the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Bill, but most Filipinos in America cannot fully embrace victory. The reason: This legislation effectively kills the dream of many of our kababayans to re-unite with their family members (“mabuong muli ang pamilya”) and start a new and hopefully, better life here in…
“Immigrants signed their names to our Declaration and helped win our independence.” – Pres. Barack Obama FOR many years, the “American dream” has been shared by people from all corners of the world, who have made the United States their second home. They’ve built better lives for themselves, while contributing to the development of their…
81 PERCENT of the viewers, who voted in our daily poll in The Filipino Channel’s Balitang America, said their families are not ready to accept same-sex marriage. They reiterated their belief that marriage should only be between one man and one woman. These kababayans echo the sentiment of many other religious and morally-conservative Americans, who…
AS if it were not enough that Dan Brown pointed to them as one of the reasons Manila is the “gates of hell,” squatters (well, okay, informal settlers) have been blamed for the floods in the metropolis because their shanties and trash are clogging up the esteros and waterways. For this reason, the MMDA and…
ON Thursday (June 27), the US Senate made a historic move — passing a comprehensive immigration bill through a 68-32 vote and giving hope to 11 million undocumented immigrants, who would finally be able to attain legal status and a 13-year path to citizenship. The bill also promises to fortify security in the US-Mexico border,…
AFTER reviewing the challenges (to both nationwide restrictions placed on gay couples under the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), and California’s Proposition 8 or same-sex marriage ban), the US Supreme Court ruled that DOMA is unconstitutional, and that same-sex marriages can now resume in California, after the SC dismissed the appeal of anti-gay marriage…
WHEN justice is delayed, is justice denied? This pithy aphorism seems to be fitting for relatives of some of the victims of the 2009 Maguindanao killings. On June 24, activist lawyer Harry Roque reported that families of 14 Maguinadanao massacre victims, have agreed to monetary settlement and demanded P50 million from those charged in the…
THIS week may very well be the moment that will change the way America defines marriage. The Supreme Court has been reviewing challenges to both California’s Prop 8 and the nationwide restrictions placed on gay couples under the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA). At the core of these two landmark gay marriage cases is…
