It is really disappointing to know that there are people in the world that would continue to take advantage of those less fortunate. While I would not call our veteranos desperate, I would say that the hope that they, that we, have been hanging on to has been tenuous at many instances in the recent past. I myself donated to the organization mentioned below, the American Coalition for Filipino Veterans (ACFV) hanging on to that same hope that anything was better than nothing and that we would not stop until full equity is reached. If I stifled the progress for full equity, I apologize. These horrific actions are tempered and soothed by the consistent and excellent work of a few individuals. I am unable to call myself one of them. However, I do recognize them, and they should know who they are.

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BREAKING NEWS: Filner Exposes Scams In Veterans' Ranks

It seems scammers are all over the place that even Congressman Filner complains about them. Here's the latest developments in our community.

BREAKING NEWS - The Big Scoop

Issue No. 45 NEWS WITHOUT FEAR OR FAVOR

A community service of San Diego's Philippine Village Voice PhilVoiceNews@aol.com or at (619) 265-0611 for the information and better understanding of the public.

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The News UpFront: (TOP STORY) as of Saturday, 14 July 2007

The fight for benefits for Filipino veterans took a surprising turn when Congressman Bob Filner denounced an Arlington, Virginia man for perpetrating what he called a scam. The San Diego lawmaker is finishing up the House version of a bill granting full equity benefits to all Filipino veterans, whether in the US or in the Philippines.

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CONGRESSMAN BOB FILNER SPEAKS OUT:

Scam Victimizing Filipino Veterans Exposed; Virginia-Based Lobbyist Tagged

By ROMEO P. MARQUEZ

SAN DIEGO - Congressman Bob Filner (D-51st District) assailed the practice of a Filipino American lobbyist of collecting fees from Filipino veterans for a service his office gives for free, saying it is "a scam" that bilks them of government monetary assistance.

"It's terrible, what he's doing," said the San Diego lawmaker, pointing to the highly-visible Eric Lachica, executive director of the American Coalition for Filipino Veterans (ACFV) based in Arlington, Virginia, which boasts of having 4,000 members.

In a rare display of contempt, Filner said Lachica was "the one who sold us out" in congressional deliberations by pruning down veterans' demand for full equity to the detriment of the great majority of veterans in the United States and the Philippines.

"He (Lachica) lives off these vulnerable people," Filner said on Thursday (July 5) during a meeting in his office with Col. Romy Monteyro, adviser of the Filipino World War II Veterans Foundation of San Diego, and Commander Manuel B. Braga, who heads the group.

Filner took the occasion to acknowledge Monteyro, chair of the recently-formed congressional lobby group NAFVE (National Alliance for Veterans Equity), as his "dancing partner" -- his metaphor to describe the significant role he plays in the ongoing campaign to secure full benefits for all Filipino veterans currently in the United States and those in the Philippines.

"Lachica is in some scams," Filner stressed. "He's doing what I do for free; what the Department of Veterans Affairs do for free. It's ridiculous," he added.

Contacted for comment, Lachica said he had been sick and pointed to the ACFV vice president for membership, Franco Arcebal, in Los Angeles to answer the interview questions.

This reporter has held on to the story for almost a week to afford him the chance to clarify the issues. On the deadline set for him to reply, which was Tuesday, July 10, Lachica said: "been down w/ allergies & bronchitis for a few days".

Lachica had been expected in San Diego on Saturday, July 7 for a meeting with his supporters. Those who went to the meeting said Lachica didn't show up.

Nonetheless, the attendees raised some money, as they were apparently told by Lachica, for air fare to Washington, DC supposedly for the signing of the bill approved by the Senate committee.

"Pipirmahan na daw ni President Bush (the president will sign the bill)," one of the veterans said, quoting what they had been told would happen on July 27. But the legislation is not up for signing until the Senate and House versions were reconciled into one.

Lachica's known contacts in San Diego, notably Joann Fields of the local chapter of National Federation of Filipino American Associations (NaFFAA), did not reply to queries. Fields recently led a group of Filipino veterans in a candlelight vigil apparently to seek divine help for the veterans benefits.

Monteyro said he has told Filipino veterans: "Don't pay him (Lachica). The service (he's doing) is free, absolutely free."

Information from veterans who declined to be identified said they were asked to pay $100 for membership plus the occasional costs of his travels and lobbying. They also disclosed that as executive director of ACFV, Lachica receives a salary.

Bobby Reyes, a son of a veteran who lives in Los Angeles, said he was a "victim" of what he calls the "ACFV scam". He recalled an event in San Francisco in March 2002 when he and several others gave $100 each as life-time membership fee in the ACFV.

After that, he said he never heard again from Lachica and his ACFV.

Reyes said he has “personally interviewed some Filipino-American veterans in Los Angeles and they claimed that they had been contributing $10 to $20 per month per head to Mr. Lachica to fund his so-called lobbying activities in the District of Columbia”.

“So far,” he continued, “Mr. Lachica has produced not even a single financial report about his and the ACFV fundraising activities”.

In the many years that Filner has advocated for Filipino veterans, this is the first time that he took a direct swipe at one of the most visible lobbyists for the cause. "It's a scam," he said of Lachica's work.

"The Filipino veterans don't need Eric Lachica. He lives off these vulnerable people," Filner emphasized. He asked that Lachica makes an accounting of the monies he collected from veterans.

Lachica is perhaps the most-photographed son of a veteran who has taken an active role in the fight for benefits. His success in lobbying is in getting what critics called "bread crumbs" -- paltry doleouts for the short haul and small panacea to ease temporary hardships.

Filner said Lachica's insistence on getting these sets of benefits for the veterans has given other lawmakers a "convenient cover" to diffuse the demands and lower them instead of providing full equity benefits.

"Now we have to compromise with the compromise after he sold us out," Filner stated.

At one point during the meeting, Filner referred to Lachica as "toxic" to the cause, meaning he has poisoned and undermined the efforts of groups bigger than his ACFV, whose president, Patrick Ganio Sr., is considered the nominal head.

Sometime ago, Lachica testified that veterans in the Philippines needed only $200 to survive, a statement that cheapened the veterans themselves and their cause, according to Filner.

Both Lachica and Ganio are being blamed for the failure of the US Senate Veterans Affairs Committee headed by Senator Daniel Akaka (D-Hawaii) to pass a full equity bill for all the Filipino veterans.

Filner said he is preparing the House version of a bill similar to what the US Senate Veterans Affairs committee under Senator Daniel Akaka (D-Hawaii) has reported out last week, which provides full equity benefits for US-based veterans.

San Diego veterans commander Manuel B. Braga, meanwhile, said he had apprised NaFFAA chair Alma Q. Kerns about Lachica's activities when she showed up at a veterans meeting in San Diego hosted by the Council of Philippine American Organizations (COPAO), which is itself mired in monetary scandals.

"I told her that Lachica is a fake and he's doing all these dubious things," Braga said in an interview. To which Kerns reportedly replied: "So what I'm hearing is correct," according to Braga. He said they were conversing in the presence of Col. Monteyro.

For its part, NAFVE has launched a nationwide drive to raise $100,000 to cover campaign costs, office expenses and salaries of two legislative consultants to drum up support for the equity bill, according to Jon Melegrito, co-chair of NAFVE's steering committee.

"This is a one-time fundraiser for this year’s campaign only," he explains, assuring that names of donors and an income/expense report will be posted as a guarantee of transparency.

Melegrito said NAFVE has so far collected "about one fourth" of its target.

Retired US Colonel Frank B. Quesada, a veteran and staunch advocate for full benefits, ridiculed Lachica and Melegrito, calling them “pretenders”.

“What is this clown (referring to Melegrito) talking about?” he asked.

Quesada also claimed that Lachica “has been banned by the Department of Justice from interfering with veteran’s affairs here and in the Philippines”.

“Representatives Filner, (Mike) Honda and (Darrell) Issa, and Senators (Daniel) Akaka and (Daniel) Inouye have distanced themselves from these clowns knowing the truth about them,” Quesada said.

(This Breaking News may be posted online, broadcast or reprinted, but not edited, on condition that the author and the paper be credited. By Romeo P. Marquez, Editor, Philippine Village Voice). 14 July 2007.

Congressman Bob Filner discusses the veterans equity bill with his acknowledged "dancing partner" Col. Romy Monteyro during a meeting at his congressional office in Chula Vista, California on Thursday, July 5. At the same function Filner denounced Eric Lachica of the American Coalition for Filipino Veterans.

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Wookin Pa Nub in all the wong paces. While those words was sang by Eddie Murphy a long time ago while he was playing Buckwheat from The Little Rascals, it seems to be echoing my life as of late. As I looked for love from someone that did not love me back, I have always had individuals, friends and family members who love and care about me succeeding. We often take our loved ones for granted, and fail to recognize them for the important parts in our lives that they play. Like Eddie Murphy's character, what we say to those people are imperfect combinations of sounds that only rhyme with what we mean to say. Now is a great time to begin to clearly say to our loved ones what we mean.

If we as a world communicated better, I think a lot of wounds in the world would be healed.

I finally saw Spiderman 3 and The Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, both of which contained the message that everyone has a choice. I really believe that myself. However, sometimes, all the choices are bad. That is usually when our morals and character really dictate what we choose to do. Very often, our choices consist of doing or not doing. What is simple to do, is also simple not to do. Of course life is not always polar. There are often many corollaries. Life sure is complicated.

Personally, I need to simplify my life, and focus on a few, very meaningful items. It is the classic quality vs. quantity argument. I recently heard a great speech, where the speaker talked about how the success of her marriage was founded in the fact that both of them had a commitment to social justice. It makes me think of a particular set of song lyrics from a group called Diskarte Namin, which are "Instead of a wedding band asawa, take my hand and promise to match my intensity in this fight." This is probably what the speaker found - someone that shared the same passion that she did, and would be side-by-side with her through it all.

We are born, we grow, we live, and then we die. If we are lucky, we have family and friends who know us and love us. I never knew my dad. But it does not matter, because wherever we go and whatever we do, we can know that the spirit of the mother and the spirit of the father are alive in each of us. That everything good already exists within ourselves.

We can choose to honor that with our lives, or we can choose not to.

While Transformers is a good movie, and worth a full price admission, it, in my opinion, is far from great. There are many spots of intelligent humor, typical of Michael Bay movies, and great special effects, thanks to the Industrial Light and Magic team. How can one go wrong when they have the special effects team that revolutionized special effects and Dreamworks SKG behind them? The robots are believable. In fact it is in their vehicular forms that the Transformers sometimes looked like computer-generated imagery (CGI).

My biggest problem with the movie, and with the entertainment industry in general, is the stereotypes used in the movie, both obvious and obscure. Taking so many ethnic studies classes and popular culture classes has really really taught me how to identify the pervasive stereotypes reflected in film, and the ongoing results of those stereotypes. I will refrain from pointing out each scene that I feel leans on stereotypes to get a message across so that I do not ruin it for would-be viewers.

Also, there is hardly any character development, leaning on the CGI and the collective memory of Transformers fans to keep the viewer intrigued. They were successful on me. Optimus Prime definitely comes back with a flair and has the most development among the Transformers as their leader. The almost identical voice from the cartoon was goosebump inspiring. I say almost identical because, while Peter Cullen, the voice of Optimus Prie in the cartoon, was hired to do the voice of Optimus Prime, the voice was synthesized to sound more artificial. The other Autobots barely spoke and the Decepticons, except for Megatron and one line from Starscream, did not even speak a human language, their dialogue being translated to the audience through subtitles. That is a director's liberty that I have ixed feelings about.

Overall, it was good, but far from great. I would not allow my opinion to stop people from watching it though. A lot of people are raving about it. To each their own. I probably would have thought the same way before I learned what I know now and how the entertainment industry affects the status of the underrepresented and the underserved in America.

This has been brought to you via the many who have spoken out and worked to protect free speech in the United States of America (USA).

Speaking of which, happy independence day to the Republic of the Philippines and the USA.