Monday, April 9, 2007

Nigers Are Bullshit: Why Are They In America? - Look, What They Did to a Young Filipina

(The Filipino Express) - NEW YORK CITY -- Spurred by the recent assault against a Filipina high school student in Queens, a petition-signing campaign was launched demanding an investigation into the incident and to demand punishment for authorities who failed to stop the attack.

The letter of petition is addressed to New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, NY Police Department Hate Crimes Task Force Commanding Officer Inspector Michael Osgood and MTA Bus President Tom Savage.

The New York Post reported on March 16 that 17 year old Filipina high school student, Marie Stefanie Martinez was assaulted in New York by a group of teenagers on a MTA B82 bus due to their perception that she looked “Chinese” even though she is of Filipino descent.

Ms. Martinez was punched, kicked, and subjected to slurs in what can be categorized as a hate crime based on her attackers animosity towards her perceived ethnicity.

Reportedly, the MTA bus operator who witnessed the assault did nothing to intervene during the course of the assault on Ms. Martinez.

The petition accused the bus driver of “neglecting his moral and ethical duty to ensure the safety of MTA riders and punctuated his negligent conduct by allegedly advising Ms. Martinez, who was still wearing her Catholic school uniform, to ‘go talk to a priest’ after the assault.”

The petition is asking the MTA and NYPD to “conduct a vigorous full and complete investigation into the incident ensuring that any violations found of any applicable hate crimes statutes are fully applied.”

It also called for the bus operator to “be subjected to discipline commensurate to the action of permitting riders to commit a hate crime on a MTA rider.”

“If the bus operator is found to have permitted the assault to have taken place and informed Ms. Martinez to ‘go talk to a priest’, MTA should subject the bus operator to termination from his position,” the letter said.

The petition letter could be accessed via the internet at http://www.petitiononline.com/mtahate1/petition.html.

As of Thursday afternoon, March 29, close of 2,200 persons have signed the petition.

Martinez, 17 told the New York Post that she was attacked by a group of 10 black teenagers shortly after step ping on to the B82 bus at 3:30 p.m. Friday.

“I’m just so glad the kids didn’t have a weapon. If they did, I could have died if they stabbed me with a pen or something,” said Martinez, from the Philippines.

The brazen beating began as the bus pulled away from Ocean Avenue and Kings Highway, where Martinez boarded with her pal, Sherell.

“When we got on they were al ready whis pering and mak ing noises and everything,” Martinez said. “They were like ‘I’m not letting you past’ and everything. They were laughing.”

The scared schoolgirl said she was laughed at when she tried to defend herself, with the bullies mocking her accent.

“They were pulling my hair, pulling my hair, opening my book bag!” she said. “I said, ‘Leave me alone. I’m not doing anything to you.’

“That’s when they started to crowd around me. The boy punched me twice in my face and my mouth.”

Martinez said she was ultimately saved by a man in his 30s, who pulled her from the group.

The honors student then told the driver what happened, and he shockingly said to go to talk to a priest.

She instead opted to file a report at the 63rd Precinct.

40 Years In Jail For Rural Bank Exec

(ABS-CBN News) - A former rural banker was convicted of four counts of estafa and sentenced to over 40 years in jail for the misuse of bank funds including a P12.6-million emergency loan from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP).

Hilario P. Soriano, former president of the defunct Rural Bank of San Miguel (RBSM), was found guilty of siphoning bank funds off to his personal company, Soriano Holdings Corp.

Court records showed that Soriano had misappropriated RBSM funds amounting to P21 million, making unauthorized transfers to his holding company, supposedly for investment purposes.

Soriano apparently ordered his employees to terminate RBSM deposits and take all the cash from various RBSM branches, which were then used to purchase manager's cheques payable to his holding company.

When depositors started withdrawing their money from the bank, RBSM suffered heavy withdrawals and went to the BSP for an emergency loan to fund the withdrawals.

However, the proceeds of the loan were delivered to Soriano's house instead of being utilized to fund heavy withdrawals from the bank.

3,000 Filipinos Stranded In Saudi Arabia

(The Philippine Star) - Over 3,000 overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) cannot leave for Saudi Arabia because a new government hiring policy requires them to get a "visa attestation" from accredited agencies in that country, the local recruitment industry said Sunday.

Vic Fernandez, Philippine Association of Service Exporters Inc. (PASEI) president, said recruitment agencies in Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Bahrain are now discussing the possibility of requesting their governments to adopt the same rule to make foreign workers get the services of accredited agencies in securing visas.

"Many OFWs supposed to be deployed to Saudi Arabia are now cooling their heels in Manila, while their employers seek agreements with Saudi-based recruitment agencies for compliance with this new rule delaying the processing procedure," he said.

Fernandez said the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), and the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) must act immediately to prevent massive loss of employment opportunities for Filipinos workers.

"This new rule should be further clarified and if possible ‘a status quo’ should be adopted by the embassy of Saudi Arabia in Manila until the matter is taken to the highest diplomatic channels by our Department of Foreign Affairs and the DOLE," he said. (as reported by Mayen Jaymalin)

Searching the Cure for the Incurable

(Yahoo News) SIQUIJOR, Philippines (AFP) - Filipinos know Siquijor as the mystic island.

The Spaniards who colonised the archipelago more than 300 years ago called it Isla del Fuego (Island of Fire) because of the eerie glow cast by millions of fireflies that swarmed around the molave trees at night.

Feared by many Filipinos for its sorcerers, known locally as "mambabarangs," the island has also earned a reputation for the apparently incredible powers of its local healers, or "mananambals".

A 30-minute ferry ride from Dumaguete City on central Negros Island, the tiny, pristine island skirted by white beaches and surrounded by clear blue water has become a major draw card for believers and the curious alike.

Among Siquijors better known clients is said to be Imelda Marcos, the former first lady and widow of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos.

Locals tell of how a curse was put on her in the 1970s during the building of the San Juanico bridge that connects the central islands of Samar and Leyte and which was a pet project of the late dictator... full story here

Bigamy: Indian In Trouble After Marrying A Filipina

(Yahoo News) - An NRI hailing from Philippines has been booked for bigamy and allegedly demanding dowry. Reportedly, Sanjiv Bathla, an NRI from Philippines, who hails from Baghawala Mohalla in Shahkot, came to India 2006 and married one Rajni Arora of Sultanpur Lodhi on September 30, 2006. However, he concealed the fact that he was already married in Philippines.

Rajni, in her complaint, mentioned that Sanjiv had taken her to a fair on the occasion of Gurpurb in November last year and from there he took her to her mother's place and left her there on the pretext that he will come the next day to take her to Shahkot. She also alleged that before going to the fair, Sanjiv took all her jewellery, saying that it would be unsafe to wear it at the fair.

But Sanjiv never turned up after that and when enquires were made from his family and relatives, it came to light that he had already left for the Philippines and that he was already married there.

Rajni approached SSP Rakesh Aggarwal, after which the police lodged a complaint against Sanjiv and seven others, including his mother Prakashwati. Two arrests have been made in the case.

China To Finance Dam in Pampanga

Candaba, Pampanga -The Chinese government is funding a $200- million, 1,000-hectare dam project at the Candaba Swamp that is expected to ease the critical water shortage that looms in Central Luzon.

Candaba Mayor Jerry Pelayo said the People's Republic of China and the Philippines forged recently an agreement for the so-called Candaba Water Resource Project.

He said the project is "in response to the scarcity of potable water and irrigation water in Bulacan, Pampanga and the northern part of Metro Manila."

The project, according to Pelayo, will be built under the build- operate-transfer scheme and is expected to benefit thousands of people in Central Luzon and Metro Manila.

"Aside from supplying potable water, the project will also irrigate thousands of hectares of farmlands in Central Luzon," he said.

Pelayo said the dam's 1,000-hectare reservoir would serve as a year-round fishing ground for Candaba fishermen.

Earlier, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) warned that fresh water shortage would hit Central Luzon in the next five years and would reach critical stage by 2025 unless adequate conservation measures are put in place... full story here

Filipino Sailors Jailed

(New Haven Independent) - A crew of Filipino laborers pulled up to this New Haven dock to make a delivery... and ended up detained in a local motel as witnesses after crying foul aboard their oil tanker. Authorities are holding the tanker on a $1 million bond on suspicion of illegal dumping into U.S. waters.

The crew of M/T Kriton glided up to the Magellan T-Dock in New Haven's port one chilly evening in March. The vessel, a 606-foot oil tanker rusting from its 16 years at sea, had been making stops along the U.S. coast.

Like many of the commercial barges that steam into New Haven's harbor, the ship and its crew brought a host of international ties -- a crew from the Philippines, ship officers from Greece, owned by a company from Liberia, Africa, operating under the Bahamian flag.

Local harbor historian and Yale professor and kayaker Gaddis Smith said he sees the "rust bucket" pull up to the dock fairly often. Years ago, such a vessel (smaller, made of wood) would've been greeted by an envoy of ladies from the Woman's Seafarer Friends Society, given a bible and a place to stay. Or sailors would've hopped off, free to roam the shores and local bars, reckoned Smith. Not so for the Kriton crew... full story here