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For the past 17 years, The Filipino Express has provided the Filipino American community the best news, arts and entertainment coverage from around the United States and the Philippines.
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This website includes selected articles from this week's edition of the Filipino Express. Not all the stories published in the printed version appear on this site.
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To tell us what you think about Filipino Express Online or to comment on the stories published here, E-mail us at Filexpress@aol.com
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MANILA --- AT least 25 Filipinos have filed a federal suit in California against the State Department and the US Embassy in Manila for allegedly using medical examinations to extract evidence of drug use, a ground for the denial of visas.
The plaintiffs said only the Embassy in Manila is engaged in the practice.
The plaintiffs are Filipino-Americans and their spouses, fiancées or children whom they are petitioning to enter the US.
The plaintiffs, represented by the US immigration law firm Reeves and Associates (R&A), said the embassy’s policies are “unfair, heavy-handed and discriminatory.”
The case before district court of the Central District of California was filed on Aug. 29, 2005 but was made public by the plaintiffs only recently.
Named respondents were Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, US Embassy in Manila immigrant visa chief Charles Cockburn and former Embassy charge d’affaires Joseph Mussomeli.
They said the purpose of medical examinations as defined by the US Centers for Disease Control is only to identify medical conditions.
“This is not a case about admitting drug addicts or drug dealers into the United States. This case concerns the permanent denial of visas to persons who have admitted one time experimental use of drugs such as marijuana, or who admit drug use that is remote in time,” said Robert DuPont of R&A.
“We have studies from the National Institute on Drug Abuse that over one-half of American high schoolers have experimented with drugs. Even US presidents have admitted to experimenting with drugs. Congress never intended youthful experimentation to be a reason to exclude qualified visa holders,” he said.
The law firm believes that officials at the Embassy are instructing physicians to obtain admissions of past drug use, even experimentation, and then use that information to permanently bar visa applicants from entry.
“Physicians are reportedly using deceit and misrepresentation, by misleading individuals as to the consequences of answering repeated questions regarding drug use. These actions undermine the whole medical exam process which depends on trust in a doctor-patient relationship,” DuPont said.
R&A’s founder Robert Reeves said they intend to strengthen the case by adding at least 10 more plaintiffs, bringing the total to 35.
“This is a major challenge to the US. This is a major piece of litigation, very significant, historical,” Reeves said. Filipinos have filed a federal suit in California against the State Department and the US Embassy in Manila for allegedly using medical examinations to extract evidence of drug use, a ground for the denial of visas.
The plaintiffs said only the Embassy in Manila is engaged in the practice.
The plaintiffs are Filipino-Americans and their spouses, fiancées or children whom they are petitioning to enter the US.
The plaintiffs, represented by the US immigration law firm Reeves and Associates (R&A), said the embassy’s policies are “unfair, heavy-handed and discriminatory.”
The case before district court of the Central District of California was filed on Aug. 29, 2005 but was made public by the plaintiffs only recently.
Named respondents were Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, US Embassy in Manila immigrant visa chief Charles Cockburn and former Embassy charge d’affaires Joseph Mussomeli.
They said the purpose of medical examinations as defined by the US Centers for Disease Control is only to identify medical conditions.
“This is not a case about admitting drug addicts or drug dealers into the United States. This case concerns the permanent denial of visas to persons who have admitted one time experimental use of drugs such as marijuana, or who admit drug use that is remote in time,” said Robert DuPont of R&A.
“We have studies from the National Institute on Drug Abuse that over one-half of American high schoolers have experimented with drugs. Even US presidents have admitted to experimenting with drugs. Congress never intended youthful experimentation to be a reason to exclude qualified visa holders,” he said.
The law firm believes that officials at the Embassy are instructing physicians to obtain admissions of past drug use, even experimentation, and then use that information to permanently bar visa applicants from entry.
“Physicians are reportedly using deceit and misrepresentation, by misleading individuals as to the consequences of answering repeated questions regarding drug use. These actions undermine the whole medical exam process which depends on trust in a doctor-patient relationship,” DuPont said.
R&A’s founder Robert Reeves said they intend to strengthen the case by adding at least 10 more plaintiffs, bringing the total to 35.
“This is a major challenge to the US. This is a major piece of litigation, very significant, historical,” Reeves said.
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NEW YORK --- United Staffing Registry. Inc. d/b/a United Home Care President Ben H. Santos, RN was received by a capacity crowd of jubilant and proud officers, staff, employees, family members and friends that attended the ceremonies held at the Kalayaan Hall of the Philippine Consulate to witness the ‘MAN OF THE YEAR -2005” award given Lito Gajilan, Publisher of Filipino Express celebrating its 19th anniversary.
Linda Amodia, Executive Officer of United Home Care, in her welcome address, thanked all those present to witness the awarding of the “Man of the Year-2005” to Ben H. Santos, RN, dearly beloved by the officers, staff and employees. According to Filipino Express publisher Lito Gajilan, throughout the nineteen (19) years of Newspaper publication, the Filipino Express has reported Many Filipino-Americans who are outstanding in the field ofmedicine, health care, education, academics, literature, science, history and other specialized fields of endeavor.
Ben H. Santos, RN, the beloved President of United Staffing Registry, Inc., d/b/a United Home Care and United Travel World Agency, Inc. excelled in his fields of endeavor, that is, as an officer and a gentleman, as a Registered Nurse, a health care specialist, a businessman, a philanthropist and as a Vietnam war veteran. Ben Santos is a Filipino by birth and an American by design. It is on the sum total of those accomplishments that Mr. Santos was honored by the Filipino Express as the “MAN OF THE YEAR-2005.”
The cast that made the awarding ceremonies both joyous and memorable was made up of pretty Susan Valdez as the Master of Ceremonies; Goldwyn Salazar of United Travel World leading the invocation; Andrew Casino, Esq., as the festive “toastmaster;” Tiffany Islam and Grace Hernandez with their sensational singing voices; the introduction of the guest speaker by the very regal Dory Jacinto so hypnotized the audience culminating in the message of the guest speaker, the Hon. Consul Ed Badajos.
After the publisher of the Filipino Express, Lito Gajilan presented the “Man of the Year-2005” trophy to Ben H. Santos, RN., the officers, staff, employees and their families came up with a “Plaque of Appreciation” which was presented by Zenaida E. Santos, MD to the publisher, Lito Gajilan.
The icing on the “MAN OF THE YEAR-2005” cake was the letter from President George Bush who was all praises for Ben H. Santos. The letter was so eloquently read by Vic Raclaw, the Finance Officer of United Staffing registry, Inc., d/b/a United Home Care to the delight of the audience and especially the employees, who at that point felt very proud of their president.
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Chicago, ILLINOIS --- Eighteen-year-old Filipino immigrant Reynaldo B. Brucal, Jr. pleaded not guilty Monday, November 28, to the three charges filed against him for allegedly raping a severely and mentally handicapped resident of a health care facility at suburban Bloomingdale, Illinois.
Brucal, a native of Lucena City in the Philippines, did not look at the members of his family, including his father and his mother, who were in the court room, as he was ushered before 18th Judicial Felony Circuit Court Judge George J. Bakalis.
Judge bakalis informed him of the charges against him during the arraignment. Brucal was assisted by Frank T. Scarpino, the private defense lawyer, retained by his family.
His father, Reynaldo Brucal, Sr., shrieked and cried softly when he saw his son for the first time in the court room while his mother, Evelyn, watched.
Brucal is due back in court for a status hearing of the case on Dec. 19, 2005 at 8:30 a.m.
Brucal, a resident of 1066 N. Knollwood, Schaumburg, Illinois, was originally charged with two counts of aggravated criminal sexual assault of physically handicapped person and another two counts of aggravated criminal sexual assault of person profoundly mentally retarded.
Attorney Scarpino said these four charges will be whittled down to three as there is duplication of the charges. Each count carries a six to 30 years imprisonment.
In a briefing after the arraignment, Scarpino said, “I was just handed a one-and-half inches thick of documentations supporting the charges and I am going to go over them. Brucal can only be released if a one million dollar bond is posted.”
The attention of the Filipino American community was riveted to the case when Chicago area NBC-Channel 5 TV broke the story on the air with a first sentence, “An 18-year-old Filipino was accused of raping ...” The station was swamped with hundreds of email protests, phone calls and faxes, calling the generic use of “Filipino” word “insensitive,” “unnecessary,” “false generalization,” and “encompassing” since the “Filipino” word not only applies to the nationality and ethnicity but also to the name of the language and culture of the Philippines.
The general manager of the mainstream TV station Larry Wert immediately apologized after getting threat of boycott and mass action by area Filipinos. Wert also met with leaders of the ad-hoc, incipient “Coalition of Concerned Citizens for Fair and Unbiased Reporting” that was formed following the broadcast of Brucal’s case.
Wert also paid a visit at the Rizal Center, home of the Filipino Americans of Greater Chicago, an umbrella organization, and met with FACC officers and its board.
Brucal was arrested Nov. 2, 2005 by Bloomington police after DNA taken from the baby girl born from the rape victim matched that of Brucal. It was on Oct. 31, 2005 when police, using oral swabs, obtained saliva samples from male employes of the facility for the DNA test. The rape victim gave birth to a baby girl on July 20, 2005.
Brucal has been a nurse aide since September 2004, shortly after he arrived from the Philippines.
The assault on the victim went undetected for nearly seven months. In June, the victim went to the hospital with concerns about her feeding tube. It was at this time that it was discovered that she was 28 weeks pregnant.
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