FEATURE PHILIPPINE NEWS MAINLAND NEWS inside look Of Cory and 5 Bishop Dissuades 11 Filipina Boxer 14 AUG. 29, 2009 Tech-Savvy Spiritual Leaders from to Fight for Filipino Youth Running in 2010 World Title H AWAII’ S O NLY W EEKLY F ILIPINO - A MERICAN N EWSPAPER PHILIPPINE LABOR GROUP ENDORSES BOYCOTT OF PACIFIC BEACH HOTEL By Aiza Marie YAGO hirty officers and organizers from different unions conducted a leafleting at Sun Life Financial’s headquarters in Makati City, Philippines last August 20, in unity with the protest of Filipino T workers at the Pacific Beach Hotel in Waikiki. The Trade Union Congress of the ternational financial services company, is Philippines (TUCP) had passed a resolu- the biggest investor in Pacific Beach Hotel. tion to boycott Pacific Beach Hotel. The Sun Life holds an estimated US$38 million resolution calls upon hotel management to mortgage and is in the process of putting rehire the dismissed workers and settle up its market in the Philippines. the contract between the union and the “If Sun Life wants to do business in company. the Philippines, the very least we can ex- Pacific Beach Hotel has been pect in return is that it will guarantee fair charged by the U.S. government with 15 treatment for Filipino workers in the prop- counts of federal Labor Law violations, in- erties it controls,” says Democrito Men- cluding intimidation, coercion and firing doza, TUCP president. employees for union activism. In Decem- Rhandy Villanueva, spokesperson for ber 2007, the hotel’s administration re- employees at Pacific Beach Hotel, was fused to negotiate with the workers’ one of those whose position was termi- legally-elected union and terminated 32 nated. He says talks with management employees, the majority of whom are Fil- were largely unproductive. ipinos. “We tried hard to talk to the hotel man- Filipino union members and officials rally before Sun Life headquarters in Makati City, Incidentally, Sun Life Financial, an in- (continued on page 4) Philippines on behalf of laid-off workers at Pacific Beach Hotel. Supreme Court Stops Conferment HECO Issues Safety Warning to of 2009 National Artist Awards Mango Pickers By Edu PUNAY Department of Budget and Management, By HFC Staff ANILA, Philippines - The Supreme Cultural Center of the Philippines, National Court (SC) stopped yesterday the Commission for Culture and the Arts and ummer is mango season in Hawaii, M conferment of National Artist Awards Malacañang-named National Artist which means many people will be har- on seven individuals and Malacañang has S vesting the delicious tropical fruit from awardees Cecille Guidote-Alvarez, Carlo vowed to honor the injunction. Caparas, Jose Moreno and Francisco trees all across the state. Press Secretary Cerge Remonde said Mañosa. But before doing so, officials at the the Palace always abides by the SC’s deci- SC spokesman Jose Midas Marquez Hawaiian Electric Company (HECO) and its sions. said the Court saw the urgency to stop the subsidiaries Maui Electric Company In seeking the injunction, several Na- conferment of the national artist awards (MECO) and Hawaii Electric Light Com- tional Artists and other concerned parties pending resolution of the issues raised by pany (HELCO) are reminding the public to involving people picking fruit using metal asked the SC to define the President’s dis- petitioners. use extreme caution, especially when pick- poles near power lines. cretion naming awardees to the Order of the The order also covers the other three ing fruit from trees near overhead power “We cannot emphasize this enough,” National Artist. awardees: Manuel Conde (posthumous) for lines. says Harold Kageura, HECO vice president The petitioners were National Artists film and broadcast arts; Lazaro Francisco The importance of this message has of Energy Delivery. “Overhead power lines Virgilio Almario (literature), Bienvenido Lum- (posthumous) for literature; and Federico been driven home by recent tragic deaths (continued on page 4) bera (literature), Benedicto Cabrera (visual Aguilar Alcuaz for visual arts, he added. arts-painting), Napoleon Abueva (visual arts- Malacañang, Alvarez, Caparas, HAWAII FILIPINO CHRONICLE PRESORTED 94-356 WAIPAHU DEPOT RD., 2ND FLR. STANDARD sculpture) and Arturo Luz (visual arts-paint- Moreno, Mañosa and other respondents U.S. POSTAGE WAIPAHU, HI 96797 PAID ing and sculpture). They were joined by the were ordered to comment on the petition HONOLULU, HI Concerned Artists of the Philippines, several within 10 days. PERMIT NO. 9661 university professors and private persons. On the other hand, Chief Presidential Named respondents in the petition were Legal Counsel Raul Gonzalez said he ex- Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita, the (continued on page 4) HAWAII FILIPINO CHRONICLE - NEWS EDITION 2 EDITORIAL AUGUST 29, 2009 The House Disease hen its members are not with President Arroyo in her numerous foreign junkets on taxpayers’ dime, the House of Representatives W is in session three days a week. Those session days are in be- tween the long breaks for Christmas, Holy Week, All Saints’ Day, several other holidays and the adjournment. The Senate, probably because of its considerably smaller membership, holds four session days a week. With a shorter workweek, you’d think House members would spare time for leg- islative sessions. Yet mustering a quorum has always been a problem in the bigger chamber. A report yesterday said that since Aug. 1, the House mustered a quorum only once – on Aug. 12, when the chamber approved mostly local bills. In the first week of the month, the session was suspended as the House joined the nation in mourning the death of former President Corazon Aquino. While in official mourning, a 28-member House contin- gent tagged along with President Arroyo to Washington, apparently in hopes of having a photo with US President Barack Obama. Two of the congressmen were later reported to have footed the bill for two dinners for President Arroyo and several of her companions costing a total of $35,000 in New York and Washington. Why the absenteeism at this time? A maverick congressman said this was not unusual during periods without a controversial issue for the House to tackle. “If there is a controversial issue, there is pork and there is even dessert,” Nueva Ecija Rep. Edno Joson reportedly said. It was an obvious reference to the congressional pork barrel, whose release for lawmakers’ President. Deliberations on the 2010 budget alone could last until Christ- pet projects is at the mercy of Malacañang. Other congressmen have said mas. Perhaps both Malacañang and Congress are again aiming for a re- in the past that money flowed during voting for matters such as impeach- enacted budget, which facilitates the classification of certain items as ments or resolutions on Charter change. “savings” that can be realigned for campaign purposes. The President Congressmen may argue that they are busy touching base with their should remind her rubber stamp that there’s still much to do before con- constituents. But the campaign period is still months away, and Congress gressmen can abandon legislation and switch to full campaign mode. still has several measures to tackle, including bills certified as urgent by the (www.philstar.com) roads involving speeding buses, jeepneys and trucks, drug testing became Reckless Killers mandatory for obtaining a driver’s license amid reports that drivers were tak- ccidents happen, but this is cold comfort for overseas worker Jomel ing shabu to stay awake on long-haul trips. Bayobo. The seaman arrived at the NAIA from abroad last Monday, The accidents are not confined to highways where speeding is common. A expecting to see his family. Instead he was greeted by the news that Passengers and pedestrians are also killed or maimed by reckless drivers his wife, young daughter and mother-in-law had died in an accident near even in Metro Manila. Some of the most undisciplined drivers ply the streets midnight Sunday in Lucena City on their way to Manila to meet him. of Metro Manila, and transport operators must share the blame. Apart from The three were seated on the left side of a Manila-bound Bragais Line failing to discipline their drivers, transport operators typically pay public util- bus when it was struck by a Lucena Lines bus that came barreling down ity drivers depending on the number of passengers they can get. This is why from the opposite lane as the driver tried to overtake another vehicle. The buses and jeepneys linger in crowded areas, blocking even the widest thor- impact ripped away the left portion of the chassis of the Manila-bound bus, oughfares as they wait for passengers. This has also made it impossible to killing seven passengers and an alternate bus driver. A ninth passenger maintain an orderly and regular schedule of arrivals and departures of buses died later. The Lucena Bus driver fled but surrendered hours later. and jeepneys at designated stops, as is done in many countries. If not for the high death toll, this story would have been buried in the The mass transportation industry needs discipline and a major over- daily menu of bad news in this country. Such vehicular accidents continue haul. Accidents happen, but there are ways of reducing the risks of their to occur frequently. After a series of deadly accidents in winding mountain occurrence. Recklessness and negligence, which lead to accidents, must be curbed. (www.philstar.com) HAWAII-PHILIPPINE NEWS EDITION Contributing Writers Advertising/Marketing Director Columnists Calvin Alonzo, O.D., Rowena Ballesteros, Chona A. Montesines-Sonido Charlie Y. SONIDO, M.D. Carlota Ader Clement Bautista, Linda Dela Cruz, Fiedes Doctor, Publisher and Executive Editor Carlo Cadiz, M.D. Gregory Bren Garcia, Danny de Gracia II, Amelia Account Executives Sen. Will Espero Jacang, M.D., Caroline Julian, Paul Melvin Palalay, Carlota Ader Chona A.