Pinoy WatchDog | Apple Co-Founder Steve Jobs Dies at 56

www.pinoywatchdog.com

CUPERTINO, California – Apple founder and former CEO Steve Jobs who invented and masterfully marketed ever-sleeker gadgets that transformed everyday technology – from personal computers to the iPod and iPhone – has died. He was 56. Apple announced his death on Wednesday afternoon, October 5, without giving a specific cause.

“We are deeply saddened to announce that Steve Jobs passed away today,” the company said in a brief statement. “Steve’s brilliance, passion and energy were the source of countless innovations that enrich and improve all of our lives. The world is immeasurably better because of Steve.”

Jobs had battled cancer in 2004 and underwent a liver transplant in 2009 after taking a leave of absence for unspecified health problems. He took another leave of absence in January – his third since his health problems began – before resigning as CEO six weeks ago. Jobs became Apple’s chairman and handed the CEO job over to his hand-picked successor, Tim Cook.

Pinoy WatchDog | Iconic Image of Volcano’s Eruption by Bulletin Photographer Alberto Garcia is Centerpiece in “Mt. Pinatubo @ 20” Exhibit

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Albert Garcia, Manila Bulletin photographer (7th from right) presents a framed copy of his award-winning Mt. Pinatubo eruption photo to Carson Mayor Jim Dear ((6th from left) during a courtesy call at the Carson City Hall on Sunday, October 2. Other in photo are Manila-based photographers participating in the exhibit and members of the city council of Carson.

CARSON – The eruption of Mt. Pinatubo, a long-dominant volcano in the Luzon province of Zambales 20 years ago, was captured in the camera of Albert Garcia, a photographer of Bulletin Today, a Manila daily broadsheet newspaper. That photograph shows the fury of Mt. Pinatubo a few short minutes after it erupted. The photograph acknowledged as one of the greatest images of the 20th century by Time Magazine, and one of the 100 best pictures of the 20th century by the National Geographic Magazine.

This year, the 20th anniversary of the eruption of Mt. Pinatubo’s eruption, organizers of the Tambayayong (Bayanihan in Visayan) Festival put together a photo exhibit, which consists of photographs of the eruption and its aftermath taken by other Manila-based newspaper and magazine photographers. Garcia, who is now based in Canada, did not make in time to grace the ribbon-cutting ceremony at the Carson Mall on Avalon Blvd. On Sunday, October 2, however, Garcia personally presented a framed photo of the award winning volcano eruption to Carson Mayor JIm Dear and members of the Carson City Council.

Consul General Mary Jo Bernardo Aragon, Mayor Dear, and Carson City Coucilmember Elito Santarina were among the government dignitaries that graced the opening of the Tambayayong Festival and the “Mt.Pinatubo @ 20” Photo Exhibit at the Carson Mall last Saturday, October 1. The photo exhibit next will travel to Bay Area for a two-day show on October 11-12 at the Philippine Consulate, located at 447 Sutter St., San Francisco, CA 94108.

Pinoy WatchDog | PAE Live Presents “The Romance of Magno Rubio”at Ford Theatre

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LOS ANGELES – October 4, 2011 –  The Winter Play Season at [Inside] the Fordkicks off with Lonnie Carter’s OBIE award-winning The Romance of Magno Rubio in English – plus the world premiere of Ang Romansa ni Magno Rubio, a new translation into Tagalog. PAE Live! in association withGood Shepherd Ambulance Company presents five performances each week, three in English and two in Tagalog, with both versions directed by the translator, acclaimed Filipino actor, director, performer, writer and producer Bernardo Bernardo. The Romance of Magno Rubio opens onNovember 4, and Ang Romansa ni Magno Rubio follows on November 5.

A high-energy stage adaptation of Carlos Bulosan’s seminal short story about a love struck Filipino migrant worker in 1930s California, The Romance of Magno Rubio uses clever word play, rhymes, rhythms and Philippine love songs (“kundimans”) to reveal the lives of migrant workers, their struggles and dreams, and their longings for home and a better life.

Pinoy WatchDog | THE SNAKE (A)MUSING

By Sarah Lei Spagnolo

www.pinoywatchdog.com

One of the things I loved most about having a room of my own as a teenager was the privacy it gave me. I considered it a luxury in our little two-story house in a crummy part of the the city.  It’s where I would write. It’s where I would think. It’s where I would dream.  Tonight I was doing neither of the three. I was simply starring off into space.

It was getting late but I didn’t feel the least bit sleepy. The silence of the night engulfed me, drenching my spirit with a bucket of inner peace and causing goose bumps to travel up my arm towards the base of my neck. It was so quiet I began to hear the silence – a high, but not high-pitched frequency in my ears ringing louder and louder until it became almost deafening. In that moment I was reminded that absolute silence didn’t exist, particularly not where I lived. In my neighborhood, silence was but a momentary pause between random jumbled noises constantly traveling through the paper-thin walls of houses. I could hear when a neighbor was washing dishes, arguing with a family member or  flushing the toilet.

Pinoy WatchDog | Veteran Writer-Newsman Al Aquino Joins PinoyWatchdog as Executive Editor & Columnist

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Alfonso Gaerlan Aquino, a product of Far Eastern University’s Institute of Arts and who cut his teeth in campus writing as a regular contributor to the university’s weekly student newspaper, Advocate, has joined Pinoy Watchdog as executive editor. He will work with managing editor Rene Villaroman — who also had apprenticed with Advocate as an editor — in charting the editorial outlook and direction of the fortnightly Pinoy Watchdog.

“My forte at the time was literary writing, so I contributed short stories and poems to the Advocate, the official campus paper of the university, later in 1958 to 1959,” Aquino said. “ I wrote a column called “Of Arts and Literature,” collaborating with a fellow student named Marcelo Mercado, who went on to become a national artist,” Aquino recalled.

Pinoy WatchDog | Strange Bedfellows Emerging for 2016 elections

By Art Cariaga Correspondent

www.pinoywatchdog.com

Politics is the chief Philippine pastime – from the corridors of power in Makati and Binondo to the beer and karaoke sessions in barangay or village sari-sari stores — so it would be unthinkable to have a newspaper without a political piece.

Strange bedfellows will be the rule in the presidential campaign of 2016 where early horsetrading is already being waged but vehemently denied. Old elites and family dynasties have learned to team up with nouveau riche showbiz celebrities, to clamp together their captive votes from the poor but prolific classes to win another pivotal election in the country’s modern history. In a country up to now drifting in the sea of an identity crisis, having not yet fully learned to love and care for its own, every election is a pivotal exercise that either moves the national psyche forward or, as more often, backward.

Pinoy WatchDog | OMG LOL IS IN OED

By Winston A. Marbella

www.pinoywatchdog.com

It’s official: the OED (Oxford English Dictionary), the venerable gatekeeper of the English language, has accepted OMG (oh my gosh) and LOL (laughing out loud).   Now it is perfectly all right to say, OMG, my BFF and I are LOL over this latest decision of OED, IMHO (in my humble opinion).  BTW, BRB (be right back).

Language reflects the subtle changes that happen in our lives—eventually.  When it finally does we can be fairly sure the subtle changes have in fact become sea changes.

When word of mouth was the main way we transmitted news, we asked ourselves, “Have you heard the news today?”  And this was reflected in the idiomatic expression that news passed from mouth to mouth, much like gossip.

Pinoy WatchDog | When did becoming a nurse get so difficult?

By Jenilene Francisco

Staff Writer

 www.pinoywatchdog.com

Photo Credit by NUHW (National Union of Heath Workers)

Go into any hospital and probability is very high that you would meet a Filipino nurse. Almost inherently, the word nurse has become synonymous with Filipinos. The ad nauseam stereotype pertaining to Filipino-American culture has become the punch line for many jokes.

With the current economic conditions and dire futureprospects for the youth, the high paying salary of nurses does appear to be the glimmer of light for secure and steady income. Putting aside any Florence Nightingale-like initiatives for entering the field, the thought of a two-story home with a swimming pool and an SUV to take the kids to soccer practice are appealing. And soon comes streaming in are the voices of aunts and family friends. In the all too familiar Filipino accent made for comedy, the salary, pension, and benefits lauded by your Aunties become ingrained in the mind.

Pinoy WatchDog | How President Pacquiao Created a New Economic Future for Filipinos and Brought Peace on Earth

By Joel Bander

www.pinoywatchdog.com

August 22, 2016, Manila, Philippines

This summer of 2016 has been wilder than any of us could imagine. No one thought that when President Pacquiao made his campaign pledge earlier this ye ar to finally retire from boxing if elected to the top spot, the events of the last two months could

occur in anything but fairy tales.

The pundits’ reality was Pacquiao would never be able to gather the necessary number of signatures for a constitutional petition to lower the presidential and vice presidential voting age, making his candidacy possible.  But after the amendment process was stalled in Congress by opposition supporters and the entrenched national power brokers refused to call a constitutional convention so that their usual roles do not get diminished, Pacquio strategist Attorney Jeng Gacal masterminded an unprecedented national petition drive to amend the constitution while galvanizing Pacquiao supporters into a frenzy never before seen in Philippine politics, giving ‘President Manny’ his greatest championship belt: a national victory and residency in Malacanang.

Pinoy WatchDog | The Unsinkable Joseph Estrada: He may run for mayor of Manila

By Winston A. Marbella

 www.pinoywatchdog.com

Joseph Estrada in action as a moview star

M ANILA – It is not easy to separate the real Joseph Ejercito from the reel Joseph Estrada.

Like the movie heroes he portrayed, deposed former President Joseph Ejercito Estrada is invincible:  He keeps bouncing back from the jaws of defeat, bloody but unbowed, his full head of hair seemingly glued in place by a secret concoction of hair spray, gelatin and pomade made hip by Elvis Presley in the style of the matinee idols of the Fifties, and later by John Travolta in “Grease.”

Manila’s coffee shops are abuzz with stories that Estrada is planning to run for mayor of Manila in 2013.  As the stories go, he has purchased a house to establish legal residency.

Pinoy WatchDog | Husbands Who Shop Fall Prey To Promo Girls

By Winston A.  Marbella

www.pinoywatchdog.com

More husbands are now shopping to help busy wives with their grocery chores, but she does not always welcome him with a hug.  It all depends on whether or not he follows her instructions to the letter.

But the wife is not exactly blameless on impulse purchases.  Three out of four brands she buys are decided in the store, although she generally keeps within her grocery shopping list.  She lets her husband shop for groceries when she is too tired to do it after work.

A tracking study of consumer buying habits in supermarkets and grocery stores finds husbands are more prone to impulse buys, especially when prodded by promotional sales ladies.  So he buys these things on top of the grocery list he got from the wife, ending up with a bigger bill.

Pinoy WatchDog |Senior Pass: Your Ticket to Ride

Text and Photo:  Vics Magsaysay, Ph.D.

(Vics Magsaysay, Ph.D., is a fine art nature photographer, artist, alternative healer and holds a doctorate degree in clinical hypnotherapy.  

Website:  yessy.com/vicsmagsaysay)

“All of my knowledge is learned by

standing on the shoulders of geniuses.”

                                    -Dr. Albert Schweitzer

IF you love to visit national parks and are 62 or more, National Park Service can issue you a Senior Pass for just ten bucks. This is certainly a small price to pay for a lifetime ticket to commune with and imbibe Mother Nature’s magnificence. Wow! That’s an awesome deal from Uncle Sam! Thank You! Recently it was called “Golden Age (how apropos for seniors) Passport.”

Yup, being a senior, despite the aches and pains, has its own reward. Actually, this “freebie,” is the least of the “passes” that the “young once” can have in the autumn of life. Hold your horses guys; you need to know more of the whole enchiladas.

In hindsight, being a senior offers so many more freebies, that is, if we have learned some of life’s lessons—well. `Sounds like a tall order?

“Up Against the Wall” Theater Reading

“Up Against the Wall” Theater Reading

Writers to Read Works at Echo Park Library and at Unidad Park in Filipinotown

Rene Villaroman 

Managing Editor

www.pinoywatchdog.com

Painter and muralist Eliseo Art Silva (www.eliseoart.com) and writer, novelist (www.seekingthirst.com) and teacher Carlene Bonnivier are meeting for the first time today. Although they had been communicating with each other for weeks through e-mails, the two had not met in person. So on this summer afternoon, Carlene arrives at Salakot Grill and Restaurant on Beverly Blvd., ahead of Eliseo, giddy at the prospect that she will finally meet the young, multi-awarded painter in person. Eliseo and Carlene are collaborating on a project dubbed “Up Against the Wall,” a theater reading event where Carlene’s writing students – present and former residents of Historic Filipinotown – will share their experiences while residing in the district in prose. The readings will be held at the Echo Park Library and in front of the Gintong Kasaysayan, Gintong Pamana mural that Eliseo painted on a wall at Unidad Park on Beverly Blvd. at Union Street, in Historic Filipinotown.

Pinoy WatchDog |The Tumultuous Conception and Birth of Historic Filipinotown

 By Rene Villaroman, Managing Editor

www.pinoywatchdog.com

The creation of Historic Filipinotown by a resolution penned by

Los Angeles City Councilman Eric Garcetti in August 2002 bestowed upon this former Filipino enclave the gift of reclaiming its historic birthright as the traditional home of Filipino immigrants during the early 1920s until the 1940s. Typically, the events that led to the creation of Historic Filipinotown had the imprints of acrimony, divisiveness and squabbling that sometimes accompanied the birth of an organization—whether it is a chamber of commerce, a non-profit association of Filipino-American

citizens, or in this case, a symbolic Filipino enclave in Los Angeles.

Pinoy WatchDog | Has buko juice’s time come?

www.pinoywatchdog.com 

In 2004, I wrote an article titled, “Hey, do you want to buy buko juice?” (PerryScope, December 10, 2004).  At that time, although buko juice – or Coco juice — was then being sold in markets in the United States, it was mostly distributed in Asian markets.   You couldn’t find them in mainstream markets then.

The following is an excerpt of what I wrote in 2004:

“Hey, do you want to buy buko juice?”

“When I was attending high school at the San Sebastian College on Azcarraga Blvd. in Manila, I always treated myself to a glass of ice-cold buko juice — peddled by street vendors — while waiting for my JD bus to Quezon City.  It was a good refreshing drink especially during the hot and humid months.  This was in the late 50’s.

“Today, buko juice is still being peddled in Manila in the same way they did 50 years ago.  However, in the past five years, buko juice is now being peddled in Asian markets in the United States.  Recently, I went to my favorite Filipino supermarket and looked for the canned buko juice.  Eureka!  I found it in several brand names.  But none of which were processed in the Philippines.   They were processed in Thailand or Vietnam.

Pinoy WatchDog | Undocumented Workers Entitled to Decent Pay After Visa Denial and Termination

By Attorney Joel Bander

www.pinoywatchdog.com

So, you have been working for about a year for an employer who has sponsored you for a H1-B or Labor Certification. You have been paid a flat weekly fee less than the minimum wage. You are working more than 40 hours a week and are not getting time and one-half. They have promised that once your visa application has been approved that then they will pay you at least a minimum wage, but that you should be grateful that they are hiring you illegally and sponsoring you.

‘Don’t complain,’ they say, because we could cancel your employment visa application and terminate you.

So, you wait.

Then, after all that waiting, and working for next to nothing your employment visa gets denied and your employer terminates you. Often, they will just start the same cycle over again, victimizing another hopeful alien.

The reality is that they never intended for the application to be successful.

Pinoy WatchDog | FOREWORD

www.pinoywatchdog.com

Why are we here?  Isn’t it too late for us to join the bandwagon of newspaper publication and print media in our midst?  Do we have something new to give impact to our existence, or is it simply a desire to do some grandstanding, which ultimately may brand all our staff stupid and a bunch of misdirected fools from the Fourth Estate?

Where are the breeds of younger journalists who can be the guardians of the truth and expose the anomalies victimizing our people?  Do we have a shortage of media practitioners who will give priority to exposing the crooks in the society before their safety if only to help in the reduction of the glorified criminals in our midst?

How can we stop the practice by some alleged journalists or pseudo-columnists who twist and reverse the truth for a few dollars to the detriment of their honest-to-goodness peers?

We are here to accept the challenges from the community who kept on asking, if there no more or other newspapers that will answer what we want?

The Pinoywatchdog.com was born out of these challenges.

We are committed to give you the facts as they happened. There will be no sacred cows that will block our way.  We will give you the exact scenario.  Oh yes, we will name names if needed.

Pinoy WatchDog | The Asian Journal that I Used to Know

www.pinoywatchdog.com

AS I stare at a blank computer monitor this Sunday afternoon, about to write an inaugural column for Pinoy Watchdog (Pinoywatchdog.com), my memory goes back some twenty years to a modest office where my Los Angeles community journalism career had a humble start. That small office belonged to Asian Journal (AJ). AJ was barely a few weeks old when Roger Oriel, its publisher, invited me for lunch at a Filipino restaurant right across from the A J office. Roger offered me the position of managing editor to take the place of erstwhile managing editor Larry Zabala, who was balancing two jobs, a night job and the managing editor position at AJ. The offer to put a fledgling Fil-Am newspaper to bed once a week was too good to pass up. I accepted Roger’s offer and thanked him for considering me.

We had one computer, a few desks and a couple of telephones. Our receptionist was Lisa Penaranda (as in Lisa Minelli) whose husband, Ver, an avid outdoorsman, owned a modest printing business. My first couple of issues was hit-and-miss, and one weekend night, we failed to finish production work and missed our printing schedule. But Cora Macabagdal, a principal in AJ, who was dating Roger Oriel at the time, did not raise her voice even an octave when she came in the office that morning. Bleary-eyed for having worked overnight, I acknowledged our shortcomings and took responsibility for the missed opportunity. After a couple of weeks, everyone sort of grew into their jobs; we settled into a cadence, and there was no more missed printing schedules.

Pinoy WatchDog | Isang Malaking Kalokohan Yan! (That’s a big load of bull crap)

By Francis Johann Verdote

www.pinoywatchdog.com

A gallery visitor looks at one of the art pieces in the Mideo-Cruz exhibit at CCP.

Many Filipinos take discussions about religion seriously.  Filipinos could laugh at and understand political satire.  Some Filipinos could tolerate other Filipinos laughing at their thick accents and grammatically incorrect sentences.  Some can ignore Filipinos criticizing Manny Pacquiao’s over the top activities.  But when it comes to religion, many Filipinos cannot take a joke and criticism.  It does not matter which sect or denomination one belongs in.  Religion is religion, and it must keep it’s sanctity pure from criticism.  But where does the agitation to stand up for one’s faith originate?

Spain’s colonization of the Philippines replaced the practice of Animism and other traditions with Roman Catholicism and Western mores.  A handful of Filipinos defended their land and freedom against Spanish colonizers.  Many Filipino freedom fighters did not want Spain’s presence in the Philippines.  For a long time, Filipinos could not do anything and Spain’s influence grew.  Aside from Catholicism, they brought to the 7,100-plus islands forced labor, exploitation of natural resources, the mestizo breed, and surnames for island inhabitants. Through three centuries of Spanish domination, religion in the Philippines has instilled fear, false hope, and prayers full of empty words.

Pinoy WatchDog | We All Are The Keepers of The Metaphorical Dog

by pinoywatchdog

www.pinoywatchdog.com

PinoyWatchDog.Com is committed to the highest level of factual, well written journalism that some Filipino media around the world routinely censor, denying you, readers, the whole truth, because of business, governmental and religious relations between news organizations and these institutional Goliaths.

We will carry the banner, “Uncensored,” addressing issues of concern in our worldwide community, like corruption, injustice, freedom of the press, extra-judicial murders, divorce, family planning, abortion, women’s rights, and environmental issues. We will be reporting on dishonesty in all levels of our government, locally and in the old country, and we will stay determined not to be influenced by forces that would seek to divert us from our core mission of reporting the truth.

Pinoy WatchDog | Our Reason for Being

Our Reason for Being

www.pinoywatchdog.com

At the outset, we would like to make the claim that we are committed to report information as news at its most factual state, with the expectation that it will aid us to arrive at the truth. In the light of this stance, we shall endeavor to hold every item appearing in this publication strictly in the spirit of fair and balance reporting. We shall welcome rejoinders and dissents, which are also designed to speak out the truth, but we reserve the right to reject any articles that will seek to use this paper as a venue for fomenting trouble. In short, we shall hold that truth is our reason for being.

As the paper’s name indicates, we shall serve as the community sentinel determined at an instance to expose and denounce any form of wrongdoing. Rest assured, we shall seek to get to the bottom of controversies, so that the truth will prevail. Issues of corruption, fraud and deceit shall have the front seat. Nothing unites the Filipinos to activism than an expose of scandal and corruption. This is not to say, however, that our pages shall be occupied solely by the heavy and serious stuffs. We shall balance our reporting with informative and light, entertaining features.

Pinoy WatchDog | Balita’s Letter to Put Bander on Watch List an Attempt at Harassment and Retaliation

Editor Rhony Laigo sought Bander’s placement in Immigration Watch List, but was reportedly unaware that complaint was filed by fictitious accuser

By Francis Johann Verdote, Larry Pelayo  and Rene Villaroman

PinoyWatchDog. Com Investigative Team

www.pinoywatchdog.com

LOS ANGELES -- In September 2009, Balita Media Editor Rhony Laigo traveled to the Philippines with a mission, to obtain an Immigration Hold Departure Order based on trumped-up criminal charges against Attorney Joel Bander. The ploy was part of his newspaper’s sustained campaign against Bander as the latter had so badly exposed Balita Media’s lies regarding its circulation figures in a Los Angeles Superior Court litigation while representing Asian Journal Publications owned by Roger and Cora Oriel. (PinoyWatchDog.Com will be writing about this false circulation saga in future editions.)

Finally, in late October 2009, Laigo finally achieved his goal by approaching a close friend of the highly discredited former Immigration Commissioner Marcelino Libanan during the administration of President Gloria M. Arroyo.

Pinoy WatchDog | Pinoys Sue Atty Beirne For Fraud, Malpractice

By Rene Villaroman 
Managing Editor
www.pinoywatchdog.com

GLENDALE -- A Filipino couple has filed a lawsuit against bankruptcy attorney James Beirne, alleging that his law office was retained to file a Chapter 13 bankruptcy petition to protect the couple’s house from being foreclosed, but Beirne allegedly never filed the bankruptcy petition, and the couple lost their home in Eagle Rock even though they reportedly paid Beirne the amount close to $8,000, Pinoy Watchdog learned after an investigation.

The suit filed at the Superior Court, County of Los Angeles, Central District, on June 29 this year was assigned to the Honorable Soussan Bruguera. It specified six counts of professional negligence, breach of fiduciary duty, fraud, negligent misrepresentation, business code section 17200-fraudulent business practices; unlawful business practices; misleading advertising, and business and professions code, section 17500-false advertising.