MANY victims of the alleged bullet planting scam (“laglag bala” or “tanim bala”) at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport have come forward to fight against airport personnel, including Rhed de Guzman, the Fil-Am caregiver from Los Angeles, who went to the Philippine Consulate to file her affidavit about her experience at NAIA. American missionary Lane…
“BUT the wise shall shine brightly like the splendor of the firmament, and those who lead the many to justice shall be like the stars forever.” — Daniel 12: 3 The Book of Daniel and Mark’s Gospel Reading this Sunday sound scary for many of us because they speak about “a time unsurpassed in distress” in…
A FEDERAL appeals court overturned a lower court’s ruling that California’s death penalty process was unconstitutional, on grounds that the system-wide appeals were flawed and taking too long. U.S. District Judge Cormac J. Carney ruled the system unconstitutional on July 16, 2014, saying it is “arbitrary and plagued with delay,” reported the Los Angeles Times. In…
WITH the University of California (UC) application deadline on Nov. 30, UC President Janet Napolitano met with ethnic media reporters to uncover perceptions held and barriers faced by minority communities in applying to the university. “Our goal is to make sure that California students know that this is their university and that they have a…
WEDNESDAY, Nov. 11 marked the United States’ official day to honor its war veterans, alive and deceased, for their faithful service to country. But on Hollywood Boulevard, one of the busiest streets in Los Angeles, it was a different story. Hundreds of protestors, mainly university students from all over the Southern California region, joined with…
Consuming large amounts of meat cooked at high temperatures or over open flames, as well as red and white meat, may raise the risk of kidney cancer, a new study says. Research published in the journal Cancer studied 659 patients just diagnosed with kidney cancer and 699 others without cancer, taking into account their dietary…
IT was indeed a memorable night when beauty queen Joy Conde (now Cruz) finally passed her crown and title to the new Miss Republic of the Philippines, Fermira Dianne Tumangan Ramos of Zambales last November 4 at The Theatre of Solaire Resort & Casino. Joy also stole the night as she went onstage to do…
CEREC is the unique CAD/CAM system for patient individual all-ceramic restorations in one single appointment. Using CAD/CAM (computer-aided design and computer-aided manufacturing), this process allows dentists to construct, produce, and insert individual ceramic restorations directly at the point of treatment in a single appointment, rather than over multiple appointments with labside work in between. CAD/CAM…
EACH month, the Visa Office of the State Department publishes, in the Visa Bulletin, the priority dates for that particular month, for the various family and employment based categories. A priority date is a person’s “place in line” for a visa, meaning immigrant visas (or green cards) would be available for persons whose priority date…
A STEPPARENT may file an immigrant petition for a stepchild even without the stepparent having to legally adopt the stepchild. However, before a stepparent may be able to file an immigrant petition for a stepchild, the stepparent – stepchild relationship should have been created before a stepchild turns 18 years old. This means that the…
The average annual consumption of fruit juices in the United States is about 30.3 liters per person. I suspect the ratio would be almost proportional to the amount of “fruit juices” we drink yearly in the Philippines. However, we have to qualify what we mean by fruit juices. The processed fruit juices have added sugar…
Hosting the APEC meeting in a crowded and disorganized metropolis like Manila is very likely a bad idea. The disruption will impose costs on everyone, costs far beyond the few billion pesos government is actually paying out for the event. As that meeting nears, the scale of the disruption in an urban center that contributes…
A 24-year-old Filipino-British contestant on “The X Factor UK” was sent home Sunday, Nov. 8, following a double-elimination round on the televised talent competition. “It’s been an incredible journey,” contestant Seann Miley Moore said in an interview following his elimination. “But the show must go on.” The Filipino-British sang “A Song For You” by Donny…
REMEMBER our boyhood days when a bully would place a chip on his shoulder and dare anyone to knock it off? If someone did, the bully had to fight the challenger or else lose face. By building artificial islands on sunken reefs in the Spratleys and claiming sovereignty over nearly all of the South China…
MY husband and I are visiting the Philippines this December, as many kababayans plan to do as well, but the excitement of this year’s trip is dampened by the “laglag bala” scam at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport in Manila. This issue has become an international concern, having been reported by international media, and with…
WITH the rising number of alleged victims of the notorious “tanim bala” (bullet planting) scam at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA), it is no surprise that this peculiar security threat has reached international headlines. Just this year, the Philippine National Police-Aviation Security Group (PNP-AVSeG) recorded 105 alleged “tanim bala” incidents, while the Manila International…
IT is said that choice is destiny’s soulmate. It is not pre-destined; you have a choice to accept or refuse one turn down the crossroads to the future or another. By not choosing, we allow others to decide for us. If you didn’t make the choice, you can not blame someone else if you are…
THE Legatum Institute based in London released its annual global prosperity index, a universal survey that ranks what it calls the “most prosperous countries” in the world, and the United States has made its list. The 2015 Legatum Prosperity Index ranks a nation’s prosperity based solely on macroeconomic indicators, such as a country’s income (represented…
RAIN, lightning and snow hit parts of Northern California on Monday, Nov. 9, and a cold, wet storm was expected to bring chilly temperatures and scattered showers to Southern California. More than 500 lightning strikes and strong wind gusts were reported over the Bay Area, prompting an airport weather warning due to the thunderstorms, according…
A MALAYSIAN woman held captive for nearly six months by Muslim militant group Abu Sayyaf was released by captors, authorities said Monday, Nov. 9. Militants freed Thien Nyuk Fun, 50, late Sunday, Nov. 8, from the island of Jolo in Sulu province. However, her compatriot remains in the custody of Abu Sayyaf. Two Filipino security…
Over 100 photos seized in US THE National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) identified two Filipinos responsible for providing more than 100 nude photos of children to a man arrested at San Francisco International Airport in April. During a press conference, NBI Cybercrime Division Chief Ronald Aguto said Lyan Tandeg and Shellina Atad, the sources of…
FOR 2015 INCOME TAX RETURN IT’S the last quarter of 2015 and in a few months during income tax season, you would want to minimize any income tax dues as much as possible. After all, for most individual taxpayers, paying in increments is much better than paying in lump sum. Below is a checklist of…
Senior seeks discharge of $40K credit card debt CLIENT no. 1 is 55 years old. She is now divorced and living by herself. The divorce judgment gave her the marital home six years ago. Ex-husband was not interested in owning the property. Divorces not only settle property rights between the spouses. It also settles the…
Q: I HAD to take a few weeks of medical leave from work because I had to undergo a heart procedure. I gave my employer my doctors’ notes. When I was released to go back to work, my employer told me that my position was no longer available. Since I work for a fairly large…
AN alien who seeks to be classified as a “child” or as a derivative beneficiary under the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) and who is under 21 years of age as determined under the Child Status Protection Act (CSPA) is required to seek lawful permanent residence within one (1) year of the visa becoming available…
DIVORCED parties are sometimes ordered to pay child support and spousal support in the divorce judgment. The support orders are generally based on the parties’ financial situation and custody arrangements at the time of the settlement or trial. However, what if your income decreases after the divorce or what if your spouse’s income increases after…
WHEN buying real estate, there is always that inevitable question: how do you hold title? Remember that your choice can have dramatic impact on estate taxes, liability protection, heirs, family situations and other factors. Let’s explore choices to help you determine which title is best for your next property. Joint Tenancy: • Any number of…
IF you are facing the prospect of filing bankruptcy for the first time in your life, this could be a frightening process. You probably have a thousand questions going through your mind as you contemplate your next move. Is bankruptcy the right thing to do or will it make my situation worse? Will I lose…
The Twitter account of Filipina actress Maine Mendoza, who is popularly known as Yaya Dub on afternoon variety show “Eat Bulaga!,” was hacked by a group of “hacktivists” known as Anonymous Philippines. The group has claimed responsibility for hacking a number of government and Chinese websites in 2012, according to InterAksyon, saying its hacks are…
YOU can see and feel the “paranoia” among travelers even in the terminals here in the United States. On flights coming from the Philippines, luggage is plastic wrapped and locked and have signs that say there are no bullets inside, so extorters better take their hands off. These are some of the ways kababayans are…
