1. Actually, basically, honestly, as a matter of fact. Favorite opening lines, no matter what follows.
Millions working abroad help their nation get by, but not prosper. It’s a life of lonely, risky sacrifice.
Filipinos are certainly getting into mainstream America and into the world. We ‘made it’ to the David Letterman Show!
This is for every Filipino who embrace who they are and strive to maintain their Filipino identity…
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Everything Philippine related. Various news. Showbiz talks. Entertainment. Politics. Philippines. Around the world. Filipinos. Filipinas.
Events, happenings, promotions going on at Tatay Pepe’s Restobar in particular and General Santos City in general. Check out the buzz!
MANILA — Nine young changemakers in the Philippines have the chance to contribute to improving the world on a wider platform, and on a global scale, when they were chosen by the World Economic Forum as the Young Global Shapers of the Philippines.
The World Economic Forum is an independent, international organization whose mission is to improve the state of the world by engaging leaders from the business, political and academic arenas to shape global, regional and industry agendas. Now, through this new community, they are joined by philanthropists, doctors, and social entrepreneurs from the Philippines, who have the idealistic mindset and the active initiative to make an impact on the lives of others.
Attorney Lorna Schofield
Washington DC – On Monday, Senator Charles Schumer (D-NY) recommended Attorney Lorna Schofield to the White House as a candidate for federal district court judge in the Southern District of New York. If nominated by the President and confirmed by the Senate, she would be the first Filipino American to serve as an Article III federal judge.
“When I select judges, I always look for three things – excellence, diversity, and moderation – and Schofield exemplifies all of these qualities. I’m pleased to recommend her to President Obama for the Southern District Bench,” said Schumer.
A litigation partner at Debevoise & Plimpton LLP for almost 20 years, Schofield has extensive trial experience in both the private and public sectors. She became the firm’s first minority partner in 1991 and now serves as Of Council. Prior to joining Debevoise, she served as an assistant U.S. attorney in the criminal division of the Southern District of New York. She was the first Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) to chair the Litigation Section of the American Bar Association, and the National Law Journal named her one of the nation’s 50 most influential minority lawyers.
Currently, AAPIs are underrepresented on the federal bench. In New York alone, where AAPIs represent 10% of the population, there is only one AAPI judge serving among the 90 active and senior Article III judges in the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York. Article III judges are nominated by the President, confirmed by the Senate, and appointed lifetime tenure. However, of the 875 federal judges, there are now 14 active AAPI Article III judges in the nation, seven of whom were nominated by President Obama. Moreover, the number of AAPI women on the bench has tripled from two to six. Although much progress has been made under the Obama Administration, the number of AAPI federal judges still do not meet parity.
KAYA applauds Senator Schumer’s efforts to bring talent and diversity to the federal court. “Attorney Lorna G. Schofield represents many Filipino Americans in this country that grew up with independence and self sufficiency as essential values. Her life is an example of creating a future that is achievable for Filipino Americans in the United States,” said KAYA National Co-Chair, Genevieve V. Jopanda.
Ner De Leon on sax, Dexter on base, Tateng Katindig on keyboards and Paul Aguas on drums playing "Bakit Ngayon Ka Lang", an Ogie Alcasid original, at Sining Para sa Bayan concert on January 21, 2012 at Noypitz Bar and Restaurant in Glendale, California. Photo: Phillip Ner
’Twas an SRO Sining Para sa Bayan concert at Noypitz
Nimfa U. Rueda
LOS ANGELES – Filipino American journalists here have raised $9,000 for media colleagues who were among those who died and lost their homes when typhoon Sendong struck Northern Mindanao last month.
The media practitioners spearheaded a benefit concert and art auction, dubbed Sining Para sa Bayan, in Glendale, California last Jan. 21. The two-part event featured top-notch performers, musicians and artists, including Pinoy folk rock pioneer Florante and Emmy-award winner Jess Española, a visual animator for the cartoon series “The Simpsons”.
Proceeds will go to the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) fund for media workers who were among the victims of the deadly typhoon that left more than 1,000 people dead and displaced around 330,000 residents in Cagayan de Oro and Iligan.
“Fil-Am media professionals in the Los Angeles area have come together to show support for and solidarity with colleagues in the Philippines who need help,” said Myrna Aquitania, president of the Filipino American Press Club of Los Angeles (FAPCLA), which organized the event in collaboration with NUJP-US, Frontliners Media Group, F7 Media and Philippine Press Photographers-USA.
Other performers included the Fil-Am back-up singers of Justin Bieber, Legaci, singer and songwriter Becca Godinez, internationally acclaimed tenor Jonathan Badon, Louie Reyes, Paco Arespacochaga, and jazz musicians Tateng Katindig and Ner de Leon and Philippine folk legend Florante.
“This event is our way of reaching out to colleagues who need our help,” said Jannelle So, host and producer of KSCI 18’s Kababayan LA, the first and only Filipino talk show on a mainstream broadcast station. She co-hosted the three-hour concert with well-known thespian Bernardo Bernardo.
Among those who participated in the art auction was Texas-based artist Glenn Bautista, who created the Jorge Bocobo mural at UP Diliman, and painters Vics Magsaysay, Rafael Maniago, Mat Relox, Boi Sibug and Magoo Valencia. Participants also included top-notch photographers Phillip Ner, Benny Uy, Joe Cobilla and Noli Yu.
“We have come together to offer our talents for kababayans who need our support,” said Española, who won an Emmy for his work in the cartoon series “TheSimpsons” as assistant director for animation.
The organizers initially targeted to raise $5,000, but the “overwhelming support the event received from the community” raised the amount to $9,000, said FAPCLA treasurer Lydia Solis.
Both Solis and Aquitania thanked all the sponsors who donated handsomely and to all those who purchased their tickets for the show that lasted more than four hours.
Highlights of the show included Jo Awayan getting the crowd to sing with her with 80s hit “Always Something There To Remind Me” while April Velasco rocked Noypitz with her songs backed up by the foursome of Katindig, De Leon, drummer Paul Aguas and bassist Dexter, so did Malou Toler and the Friends of Mine Band that got the crowd dancing on their feet late into the night.
Guitarist and songwriter Mon Concepcion rendered original songs while another guitarist Alan Del Rosario jazzed up the night with bossa nosa hits from Jobim.
Other artists who wowed the crowd included the youngest performer in Sam Santiago, Alex Arrieta who sang movie hits, while Annie Nepomuceno, Lianna Gutierrez and Janine Bernardo and Joni Villamil sang familiar pop hits.
Bob Schroeder played the flute, while Filipino American Symphony Orchestra (FASO) co-founder Andy Tecson brought back memories with his traditional Filipino folk music. Paco Arrespacochaga of the former Introvoys sang original hits of the band.
Not only did Vicoy BagongSigaw rap his way on stage, he wrote his own music about the typhoon and the calamities it brought as his way of paying his respects to the victims. Balita editor Rhony Laigo also played the guitar and sang Joey Ayala’s “Bathala” and Agila” that spoke of the destruction of forests by illegal loggers fueled by greed.
Last month’s typhoon killed at least 1,200 people in Cagayan de Oro and Iligan City, who were either buried by mudslides or swept away by flashfloods into the sea.
At least 35 journalists from Cagayan de Oro and Iligan were affected by the storm. Two Iligan-based journalists died while others lost their homes and belongings.
Among the journalists displaced by Sendong were newspaper correspondents Leonardo Vicente “Cong” Corrales, Jigger Jerusalem, Bonita Ermac and television correspondent Merlyn Manos. Iligan City radio reporter and news anchor Michael Kundiman was swept away at the height of the storm. His body is yet to be found.
Fil-Am journalists, artists raise $9,000 for Sendong victims
MANILA (AP) — Call center operators in the Philippines who serve mostly U.S. clients on Wednesday shrugged off President Barack Obama’s initiative to bring outsourced jobs back home.
The Business Processing Association of the Philippines that groups 250 companies said that outsourcing has allowed U.S. companies to survive the global financial crunch by lowering costs and to expand – thereby creating more jobs for Americans.
THE SIGHT of the luxury cruise ship Costa Concordia, listing on its starboard side after running aground in the tiny island of Isola del Giglio, Italy, sent shivers down my spine. It was the very ship our clan boarded in March 2008 for a Mediterranean cruise after the Lenten season. There were twelve of us in all, six from my own family (Galang-Pereña, who came from Manila) and also six from my in-law’s family (Pereña-Abad, who came from California) who met up in Rome and boarded the 13-storey ship in Civitavechia. If this were the voyage we took, then our entire side of a rather small clan might have perished in a watery grave, as all the children with ages ranging from four to twenty-four from both sides were with us. 
Ours was typical of the passenger list of any cruise– families and friends on a holiday– to savor a leisurely paced trip to the ancient ports of call in the picturesque countries of Europe. For us, these were Italy, Greece, Cyprus, Turkey and Egypt. We have gone on a previous cruise in Asia, and everything went smoothly and we expected this one to go likewise. With the state of the art technology and expertly trained crew, it did. So who would have thought that with all these standards of safety and attention to details, those who survived the Concordia would conjure a similar mishap caused by human error, that of the Titanic?
The Costa Concordia cruise ship slammed into a reef off the west coast of Italy, sending water pouring in through a 160-foot (50-meter) gash in the hull and forcing the evacuation of some 4,200 people from the listing vessel . The ship wreck occurred while the more than 3,000 passengers were having their first dinner on board that Friday the 13th a date dreaded by the superstitious among us, prompting Italian media to point out that the behemoth was destined for bad luck. At her launch in 2006, attended by the model Eva Herzigova, the bottle slung against the hull failed to smash.
The disaster regurgitated conflicting reports, especially from the blog sites. Some hurled invectives, calling Francesco Schettino captain coward, while an eyewitness Moldovan lady who stayed with him in the bridge to evacuate passengers called him captain courageous. The beleaguered ship commander, who was then under house arrest, initially gave media interviews, his curly locks tumbling askew and blue eyes clouding with despair as he recalled the evacuation proceedings, looking disconsolate and grief stricken. A taxi driver, who reported to Ansa news agency that he took the captain to a hotel the morning after the grim chaos, said:”He looked like a beaten dog, cold and scared.”
And he should be. The ship under his helm was one of the largest owned by Costa Crociere, Europe’s largest cruise operator. Carnival Corp, its parent company, put the initial cost of the disaster at $85-95 million. But more than the material damage, the human cost is greater, with the trauma that will haunt those who survived and the irretrievable loss for those devastated by the death of their loved ones.
Mainstream and alternate media rose to the occasion to alleviate the grip of fear and uncertainty among those whose lives were entwined by the fatal voyage. USA Today.com uploaded the translation of the transcript of the heated communication between Capt. Schettino, and Capt. Gregorio De Falco of the Italian coast guard in Livorno. The latter was fuming at the former for abandoning his ship. Their encounter enthralled the world in the tale of two captains.
BBC News, quoting Nautilus International, a maritime union, points out that the capsizing of the Costa Concordia has raised many questions about the safety of modern cruise ships:
“We should seriously consider the lessons to be learnt and, if necessary, re-examine the regulations on the safety of large passenger ships in the light of the findings of the casualty investigation. In the centenary year of the Titanic, we have once again been reminded of the risks involved in maritime activities.”
Jessica Soho, in her television program,“State of the Nation,” covered the arrival of the first batch of Filipino sea farers repatriated by Magsaysay Lines, the Philippines’ manning agency of Costa. It is notable that these workers were able to bring home video footages of the last hours of the sinking ship, chronicling their dedication to the welfare of their passengers, as they boarded the life boats only after the last passengers assigned to them have been secured.
Filipinos comprise the majority of Europe’s luxury liners’ crew. At the Costa Concordia, we got to know so many of them, and heard their heroic stories of enduring 10 months at sea, with homesickness badgering their resolve but not deterring their desire to bring home much needed dollars. Those who cleaned our cabins, cooked and served our meals, ran the myriad clubs, spas and sports facilities and performed for our entertainment at the Athena theatre and other discos and restaurants, endured the loneliness of exile for that good life we all desire for our family. This time, they had to put their lives literally on the line to ensure that the passengers they were sworn to serve came out of the keeling vessel alive. I just hope Costa Crociere chairman and CEO Pier Luigi Foschi will not forget these men and women, whose dreams were dashed along their Tuscan shore.
(Associate Professor Galang-Pereña teaches Literature and Creative Writing at the Faculty of Arts and Letters, University of Santo Tomas. For com
BY DAVID CASUCO
Mangyan maestro Relox at work
MAT RELOX saw firsthand how the Mangyan natives in Mindoro disintegrated from genuine tribespeople with exotic and distinct lifestyle into just another group of poor and underserved villagers. He knew them. He grew up in their midst. He was, and is always one of them.
Unfortunately, the charming Mangyan life will soon be just an item in Philippine history books; and it will not even be a guarantee that historians can capture the essence of what a true Mangyan life was. It looks like the job belongs to the multi-awarded Mangyan maestro Mat Relox, one of the most celebrated global Filipino contemporary artists. Relox, an exceptionally gifted painter, muralist, and sculptor loads his canvas with a generous strokes of the Mangyan life as he knows it firsthand. Relox remembers, recreates, paints and immortalizes the images of the Mangyan people, their temperament, their lifestyle and original habitat with cunning accuracy.
“Napabayaan man ang mga Mangyan, di pinansin ng lipunan ngunit sa trono at pinakamataas na antas ng sining ay aking iwawagayway ang tagumpay ng mga Mangyan na walang kamatayan (The Manyans, as a people, may have been ignored, but I will immortalize them thru the highest form of the art),” he said.
And immortalize he did, and continues to do so; in most of his works (over 300 pieces of objet d’arts), the strain of the Relox’s subject matter waves in and about the milieu of the Manyan life. He is a master of all mediums – pastel, pen and ink, watercolor, and charcoal.
Relox continues with his artistic vision of elevating the Mangyan life through the power of his works, even as he regularly reaps honors in art competitions here and there; the most recent of which was an honorable mention at the Winter Juried Art show in Pittsburgh, California. Relox winning work, “Sa Piling Ni Inay,” is a rendering of a bucolic Mangyan Madonna and Child (14”x 20 pen and ink on paper). It portrays an amazingly powerful impression of the unbreakable cycle of life. It was chosen along with three others from among the 170 entries. A total of 58 artists participated in the said art show.
Relox is such an enormous talent. He’s one artist that cannot be ignored; even without trying, his works lay bare to people that the man is a consummate artist. As a testimony to Relox celebrated stature as a painter, the prestigious Phil-Am Expo honored Relox as one of the Most Outstanding Fil-Am Professionals. In that event, Expo-goers had the chance to see first hand the works and shook hands with the maestro.
Humbled by the recognition, Relox was self-effacing in his acceptance speech, saying: “Sa aming mga artists kapahingahan naming ang maparangalan ng ganito (To artists like me, recognitions like this are greatly-appreciated consolations).
Relox acknowledges that he gets motivated and becomes more passionate about his craft whenever he wins art competitions, gets recognitions, and when big time patrons and patroness of the arts take a second look and buy his paintings. He still can feel the thrill that he had when Imelda Marcos, then the powerful first lady and known for her collections of expensive and beautiful things, took home one of his paintings on display at the Cultural Center of the Philippines gallery.
“That was big deal for me. I felt like I made one little step up the ladder of eminence leading to the exalted pedestal of Juan Luna, Fernando Amorsolo, and Felix Resurreccion Hidalgo ,” he said.
Relox, essentially a realist-impressionist, does not have illusions to even get near around the area where the legends dwell. For him, it is enough that he can do whatever he want to do with his God-given artistic talent. He is glad that every now and then he can put up solo art exhibits in Southern California . He is, right now, deep at work on some art pieces that he wanted included in his next one-man art show in Los Angeles .
On Saturday, January 21, Mat, along with top Filipino painter-artists will participate in “Sining Para Sa Bayan,” a fundraiser for the members of the media who were killed or greatly affected by the floods in Northern Mindanao. The artists will display their works in a silent auction at the front facility of the NoyPitz Bar and Restaurant on Brand and Glenoaks in Glendale. A concert featuring marquee names in the Philippine entertainment industry will cap the day-long fundraising activity.
Sinigang For The Soul
| We might say yes!