A6 (Nat’l/Norcal) Week of December 7 - 13, 2012

ERLINDA BASILIO MAYOR MOM New envoy to China named amid sea row

MANILA- Philippine President important our relations with China preference for rival claims to be Benigno Aquino named a senior dip- are and how serious we are in trying settled bilaterally. lomat as ambassador to Beijing Dec. to achieve an understanding with Diplomatic sources said Basilio 5, saying it showed was seri- them,” Aquino said of Basilio’s ap- had helped draft the ’ ous about resolving a tense standoff pointment. hardline stance against China’s con- over territory in the South China Sea. China claims most of the South troversial claims, which have irked Erlinda Basilio, 68, who as a China Sea, including waters close to Beijing. foreign department undersecretary the shores of its neighbours. These The foreign department said in helped draft national diplomatic areas include major sea lanes and are a statement that Basilio was well- policy, will take over a post that was believed to hold vast mineral and oil versed on the issues, adding: “we are effectively vacant as the two neigh- resources. relying on her to enhance the bilateral bors’ quarrel over the Scarborough China’s claim is contested by the relations between the Philippines and Shoal simmered. Philippines as well as Brunei, Malay- our very important neighbour and Colma Mayor Joanne del Rosario’s second turn as town chief is already Previous ambassador Sonia sia, Taiwan and Vietnam, which have friend, China”. extra-memorable: She swore in before Reginald Sternberg, who happens to Brady suffered a stroke in August, overlapping claims to some or all of Basilio previously served as be her only son. Photo by M.Z. MORENO four months after Chinese patrol those same areas. ambassador to Sweden and repre- vessels prevented the Philippine navy Since the April standoff, the sentative to the Philippine mission JOANNE from A1 from arresting what the Philippine Philippines has repeatedly brought to the United Nations Office at Ge- side described as Chinese poachers up the dispute with China at inter- neva. - AFP in need. She sits on the board of the Seton Medical Del Rosario, Center Community Advisory Council and co-chairs in Manila’s waters. national meetings while China has 59, first “This sends a signal of how tried to brush it aside, stressing its the Rainmaker Committee of ALLICE Alliance for Community Empowerment, of which she was became 2010 president. The mayor began her administration by reading mayor in a the Code of Ethics as entrusted public servants put tations. broken right leg. council vote TYPHOON from A1 forth by the council. Bopha, flower in Cambodian, Social Welfare Secretary Cora- Del Rosario is joined by co- council members in 2009, stroyed their house and banana and wiped out a fourth of the country’s zon Soliman said the government Diana Colvin, who also is FilAm, Helen Fisicaro, cocoa farm. banana crop, according to the local asked the Switzerland-based Inter- three years Rae Gonzales and Joe Silva, who swore in as vice “Everything we had is gone. The industry association. national Organization for Migration mayor. after she only ones left are dead people,” Can- Major-General Ariel Bernardo, to help it build bunkhouses to ease The council expressed optimism about the town tilla told AFP as she and her husband, head of the army division leading the pressure on evacuation camps. was elected. prospects in 2013, judging from the new businesses three children and a granddaughter the rescue effort, said 36 people had The United States, Japan and established this year. She was the reached the outskirts of the town, been dug out alive in two days, but Singapore said they had offered “Colma has the highest occupancy rate in San which itself had been nearly totally the prospects were looking dimmer emergency assistance, with the lat- first FilAm Mateo County,” immediate past mayor Gonzales obliterated. for the hundreds still missing. ter sending over a rescue team in declared. woman Rescuers said they were Mindanao. Del Rosario’s friend Jim Comstock, former Se- looking for 380 missing while Geneva-based Inter- elected ‘Everything we had is gone. The only ton director of Community Relations and Business seeking help for more than national Federation of Red ones left are dead people,’ Cantilla Development and a board director of the Colma- to the 250,000 others who were Cross and Red Crescent Daly City Chamber of Commerce, congratulated sheltered in schools, gyms and told AFP as she and her husband, Societies appealed for 4.5 Colma the council for sustaining economic growth through other buildings after losing million Swiss francs (3.7 three children and a granddaughter the recession. town everything. million euros, $4.9 million) The mayor’s former Maryknoll high school Shell-shocked survivors reached the outskirts of the town, for relief aid, warning the council classmates Maritess Vargas-Reyes and Marivi scrabbled through the rubble which itself had been nearly number of people needing Paloma-Go applauded of their homes to find any- help would rise in coming totally obliterated. Well wishers from the new mayor’s many thing that could be recov- days. circles of co-social advocates, political and con- ered, as relatives searched Meanwhile the insur- sulate allies packed the Colma Community Center for missing family members among “I do not think it likely,” he told gent Communist Party of the Philip- for the ceremony followed by a reception at Lucky mud-caked bodies laid out in rows AFP when asked if he thought most pines offered a truce with govern- Chances with Rene Medina personally welcoming on tarpaulins. of the missing were still alive. ment forces now leading the rescue guests to his eponymous restaurant. President Benigno Aquino has Civil defence chief Benito Ra- in Mindanao, while ordering its sent food and other supplies by ship mos refused to give up hope. guerrillas there to help out. to 150,000 people on Mindanao’s “There is no time limit -- as long The army dismissed the offer, east coast where three towns remain as it takes,” he told reporters when with a military spokesman saying the EMBASSY from A1 cut off by landslides and wrecked asked how long the search and rescue rebels should abandon their armed bridges, Interior Secretary Mar effort would take. campaign instead. Mark Goldman, Chief Investigator ral, Avelino Tajonera and the other Roxas said. A man trapped for two days Workers were struggling to of the Lafourche Parish Coroner’s injured Filipinos a great injustice if Officials said many of the 477 under rocks and debris after flash reach villages due to destroyed roads Office, after attending the necrologi- I do not speak out and express my dead victims were poor migrants floods swept away his entire family and wrecked bridges, but finding cal services for Ellroy Corporal and disappointment and dismay over who found work at landslide-prone was among those rescued Thursday. corpses was not a problem due to Avelino Tajonera held in Cut Off, unfair insinuations in media that Louisiana, on Wednesday morning. our workers are to be blamed for the sites such as New Bataan and nearby “It’s a miracle that I survived, the overpowering stench everywhere, Cuisia then personally informed Monkayo towns, either at unregu- accident,” Cuisia said in his eulogy. but I might as well be dead,” said said Francisco Macalipay, a soldier Malagapo’s wife, Joanne, his father “The nine Filipinos who were lated gold mines or at banana plan- Carlos Agang, 54, who suffered a involved in the rescue. Francisco and other members of his on that platform on November 16 family of the positive identification would not have been there if they did made based on dental records sub- not pass stringent training, safety and mitted on Tuesday night from the language requirements both here in DYNASTIES from A1 Philippines. the United States and back home in the late former president Ferdinand governor of for the third 12th, and 13th districts of . Cuisia said the Embassy was the Philippines,” he said. “These men Marcos, who began his political time in 2004. After taking part in His son, Francisco Ortega III, is a informed of the recovery of Mal- also have extensive experience in the agapo’s body as early as Monday but oil and gas industry abroad and with career in before moving Erap’s ouster from the presidency, he representative of party-list ABONO decided not to release any informa- his way up to a three-term presidency. tried running for the senate but lost. and was former councilor of San such giants as Shell, Chevron and tion until the remains were positively British Petroleum.” The lineage began with his He is the currently serving his Fernando. identified by U.S. authorities. Cuisia’s sentiments were echoed grandfather Fabian Marcos, ap- fourth term as governor of the prov- Victor Ortega, older brother of He said Malagapo’s body was by Mark Pregeant, President and pointed mayor of City during ince. Everyone expected him to run Manuel, is the representative of the spotted about 20 miles from the ill- CEO of Grand Isle Shipyard Inc., the American occupation. His son, for another term, but he unexpectedly province’s 1st district. He has served fated platform that he and eight other the contracting company that deploys Mariano Marcos served as an as- announced that he was not seeking as representative in district 8, 9, 10, Filipinos were working on at the time the workers. semblyman from 1925 to 1931. Then re-election to give way to his son, and 14 and was also governor of the of the incident. “Those gentlemen did not cut the came Mariano’s son Ferdinand, twice Rep. Ryan Luis Singson. province. Authorities were initially plan- wrong line. These gentlemen did not elected as representative of Ilocos The young Singson replaced his With 16 Ortega names and a ning to take DNA samples from his cut that piece of pipe with a torch,” Norte’s second district. brother, former Rep. Ronald Singson lot of government positions to fill, father, also an offshore oil worker said Pregeant in disputing reports that From representative he became after he was caught and incarcerated it won’t be surprising to see this here, to identify Malagapo’s body the fire was triggered by the wrong a senator, and then became the 10th for 18 months in Hong Kong for pos- political clan last another 100 years, but Philippine consular officials use of a torch by the workers. president of the Philippines. His term session of cocaine. at least. recommended that dental records be Pregeant also paid tribute to Fil- as president began in 1965 and ended Now that Ryan is running for submitted itself. ipino offshore workers by recalling after the “People Power” uprising governor, Ronald filed his certificate Former governor Victor Agbay- The recovery of Malagapo came their contribution in the restoration in 1986. of candidacy for the 2013 elections, ani came from a family of politicians. three days after Tajonera, a 49-year- of Louisiana’s oil production levels With brothers, sisters, a nephew, seeking to reclaim his former posi- His grandfather, Aguedo Agbayani, old welder from Bataan, died as a in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina wife and two children, Ilocos Norte tion as first district representative. started their political lineage as he result of complications from the seri- in 2005. “I do not have one customer has been governed by the Marcos Another son of Chavit, Randolf became governor of Pangasinan in ous burns he sustained in the incident who has something bad to say about that also claimed the life of Corporal, Filipino workers. Let there be no family long enough to form a well- Singson, served as councilor 1972. His son, Aguedo Agbayani Jr, a 42-year-old rigger from Iligan City. established political dynasty. and will also run in the 2013 elec- also served as governor from 1992 mistake about that,”Pregeant said. Two other workers remain in A coworker of the victims, , Ferdinand and tions. to 1995. critical condition at the Regional Romeo Capili, also expressed his ’ elder daughter, has Yet another member of the clan, Victor was the most recent Ag- Burn Unit of the Baton Rouge Gen- disappointment over the reports. “It been governor of Ilocos Norte since Eric Singson was a former Deputy bayani to hold the position of gov- eral Hospital while the condition of broke my heart to see something in 2010. Her brother, Ferdinand “Bong- House Speaker will also reclaim his ernor of Pangasinan for three terms another, Wilberto Ilagan, a 50-year- the Internet that we Filipinos are bong” Marcos Jr. was elected as old position as second district repre- from 1998-2007. He then served as old welder from Batangas, continues incompetent. If that were the case, senator the same year, after serving sentative now held by his son, Eric representative in the second district to improve. probably, we Filipinos would not as governor and representative of the “Owen” Singson Jr. of the province. He tried to run for Cuisia at necrological services have been asked to come back and province. The Singson dynasty established governor again in 2009, but lost to the conveyed the condolences of the work here since 2005,” he said. Ilocos Sur in Ilocos Sur comes with an estate current governor, Amado Espino Jr. President and Foreign Affairs Sec. In their response, Edna Tajonera, A relatively recent political that the Singsons call “Baluarte,” Another big name from Panga- Albert F. Del Rosario and then joined widow of Avelino, and Elmer Corpo- dynasty is the Singson family. Luis where they have their own zoo. sian is the de Venecia family. Former the employer and coworkers of the ral, elder brother of Ellroy, expressed “Chavit” Singson made his name as La Union Speaker Jose de Venecia Jr. began two in expressing their indignation their appreciation for the support a “whistle-blower” after testifying La Union has a well-established his career in Pangasinan, serving six over reports appearing in media that extended to them by the Department against his former friend and then- political clan that’s 111 years old. terms as Representative of the 4th the Filipino workers were responsible of Foreign Affairs and the Overseas president Joseph “Erap” Estrada’s Joaquin Ortega, the patriarch, began District of Pangasinan. He served as for the fire. Workers Welfare Administration and “illegal gambling activities,” which his political career in 1901 as Gov- Speaker of the House of Representa- The reports, which quoted un- their employers, D&R Resources and led to Erap’s downfall and Gloria ernor of La Union appointed by the tives throughout the Ninth, Tenth, named sources, said the accident Grand Isle. Macapagal Arroyo’s ascension to the Taft Commission. Twelfth and Thirteenth Congresses could have been caused by the According to Deputy Consul incompetence of the Filipino work- General Orontes Castro Jr., Elmer presidency. His son, Francisco Ortega, spent of the Philippines. ers and their poor English language Singson began his career as the his life as a public servant. He be- His wife, Gina or “Manay Gina” Corporal left with the remains of proficiency. his brother. chief of police of his hometown in came a representative for the 1st, to some, followed her husband’s “I will be doing Ellroy Corpo- Vigan for a year. In 1966, he ventured 3rd, 4th and 5th districts of La Union, footsteps to become the 4th district into business as a tobacco trader then after serving as councilor and mayor representative of their province. returned to public service in 1972 as of San Fernando, La Union. Their son, Jose de Venecia III, com- councilor in Vigan. He served his Now, 16 members from the third monly known as “Joey,” ran for first term as governor of Ilocos Sur and fourth generations of the Ortega senator but lost. For print & web ad from 1972 to 1986, and then became clan are currently in office or were Region 1 may be considered congressman of the same province former public servants. as typical of the country’s regions. rates: in 1987. Ending his term as repre- Fifteen of them belonging to Politically powerful clans rule, and sentative of Ilocos Sur, he returned the third and fourth generations are are challenged by other political to governorship in 1992 until 2001. now seeking reelection or vying for clans. “Outsiders” are rarities, and pls call He became the presidential other posts. while they may win some posts oc- adviser for the North Luzon Growth Manuel Ortega is the current casionally, they rarely last because 650-552-9775 ext 114 Management Area from 2003 to governor of La Union, after serving they do not have the support system 2004, and then returned to being as representative of the 1st, 11th, that dynasties provide.