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MANILA – The United States Commission on Graduates of Foreign Nursing Schools (CGFNS)has declined to issue visas to nurses who took the controversial examinations last year and instead asked them to retake the licensure examinations.

President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo has vowed to help pay for the cost of retaking the controversial portions of the examinations answers of which were leaked to some of the nurses in advance. She also asked officials to seek a reconsideration of the ruling that will deprive that batch of nurses the opportunity to work in the US.

MANILA – Extra-judicial killings of activists and journalists in the Philippines are distressingly high and the military appears to be responsible for a "significant number" of them.

Philip Alston, UN special rapporteur on extrajudicial killings, told a press conference Feb. 21 that while he could not determine the exact number of victims because of conflicting figures provided by the government and leftwing groups, "I am certain the number is high enough to be distressing."
While the Armed Forces of the Philippines immediately issued a denial of Alston's charges, the UN human rights prober said the military "is in a state of almost total denial of its need to respond effectively and authentically to the significant number of killings, which have been convincingly attributed to them."

HERNDON, Virginia – Filipino American Vellie Sandalo Dietrich Hall who is running for a seat in the Board of Supervisors of Fairfax County in the coming election has vowed to work hard to unite the diverse community in the county and to underscore education as the best vehicle for everybody to succeed in life.

Vellie made the pledge during an exclusive telephone interview with the Manila Mail Feb. 20 at a time when she was busy with appointments in Alabama. She is seeking the Republican party nomination for the Fairfax County Board representing the Mason district which has one of the most ethnically diverse population in the county.

She cited herself as an example of a person who struggled hard against almost insurmountable odds to reach where she is now today. a model for all in the community.

WASHINGTON -The equity pension bill for Filipino World War II veterans living in the US and in the Philippines will have a floor vote before April 9 in the House of Representatives, said Rep. Bob Filner, chairman of the committee on veterans affairs.

"We're gonna try to take this up in committee within a few weeks, and I would like to take it on the floor before Bataan Day," he said in an interview after his two-hour committee hearing on the bill February 15. Filner guaranteed the bill's passage in the 435-member House, where Democrats enjoy a 28-seat majority after the November 2006 midterm elections.

WASHINGTON D.C. – U.S. Senator Daniel K. Akaka (D-Hawaii) with several senators as co-sponsors, including Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, has reintroduced the Filipino Veterans Family Reunification bill to exempt children of Filipino World War II veterans who have already become US citizens from the numerical limitation on immigrant visas.

The other co-sponsors of the bill which was referred to the Senate judiciary committee are Sens. Daniel K. Inouye, Barbara Boxer, Maria Cantwell and Edward Kennedy.

In reintroducing the bill, Akaka said this “will award special immigrant status to the children of naturalized Filipino veterans who fought in World War II thereby allowing these veterans to become reunited with their families."

CHICAGO, Illinois - Filipino domestic helper Miss Irma Martinez is entitled to restitution worth $934,420 for working 15 hours a day during the last 19 years in the home of Dr. Jefferson N. Calimlim and his wife Elnora in Milwaukee's suburban Brookfield, Wisconsin, Judge Rudolph T. Randa of the United States District Court of Eastern Wisconsin in Milwaukee ruled in three-page order.

At the same time, United States Attorney Stephen M. Biskupic of the Eastern District of Wisconsin has objected to "any additional extensions' of self-surrender after Judge Randa extended anew their self-surrender from Feb. 16, 2007 to March 12, 2007.

In a two-page letter to Judge Randa, Biskupic, through Assistant US Attorney Tracy M. Johnson, said that the 'defendants have requested two extensions to avoid reporting to prison, that will be nearly four months since sentencing."

MATI – officials are now preparing to celebrate the elevation of this town into a component city of Davao. Michelle Rabat, executive assistant of Mayor Francisco Rabat, said they will hold their celebration once President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo signs House Bill 6023 converting Mati into a component city.

CHICAGO, Illinois - Filipino American Certified Public Accountant Pepito O. Guinto pleaded guilty Feb. 9 to three of the eight counts of allegedly preparing fraudulent income tax records. He faces from 46 months (three years and eight months) to 57 months (4 years and seven months) of prison time when he is sentenced on April 27, 2007 by US District Court Judge Milton I. Shadur of the Northern District of Illinois in Chicago.

The plea agreement signed by Mr. Guinto and his lawyer, Patrick Cotter, and US Attorney Patrick J. Fitzgerald and Assistant US Attorney Michelle Nasser Weiss stipulates that 'each count' carries a 'maximum penalty of three years imprisonment, a maximum fine of $250,000, assessment for the costs of prosecution, estimated to be $500, as well as a term of supervised release of at least two years and not more than three years, which the Court may specify. Therefore, the maximum potential penalties are nine years imprisonment, a $750,000 fine, and a term of supervised release.

NAIA – If you are bringing in or bringing out money amounting to $10,000 or more, be sure to declare it as provided for in the customs law. Customs officials at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport have started using K-9 cash sniffing dogs to detect money being brought in or out of the country.

Early this month, customs officials detained a Balikbayan couple from the Unitted States for brining in $10,000 without declaring it. from a Balikbayan couple who arrived from the United States for not declaring the money as required by law.

GENERAL SANTOS CITY - United States Ambassador Kristie A. Kenney denied reports that the United States government is planning to establish a naval base in General Santos City.

"Absolutely and categorically not. We are not building military bases, but we are visiting countries," Kenney said in an interview aboard the USS Blue Ridge, the command ship of the US Naval 7th Fleet, Saturday night.

Ambassador Kenney's answer has doused cold water on persisting reports that the US plans to build a naval base either here in the city or in Sarangani Province.

She also reaffirms her government's position not to put up military bases in the Philippines and elsewhere, but rather cut off existing military facilities outside the US mainland.

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines — The parents of the victim in the Subic rape case and a youth allegedly shot by another soldier after supposedly being mistaken for a cow on Feb.18 called on other parents to keep their children away from American soldiers now in the country for the annual Balikatan military exercises.

BORACAY ISLAND — A non-government organization, which aims to generate public awareness on the commercial sexual exploitation of children (CSEC) phenomena, shared recently the results of a study it conducted on the effects of tourism on children in this world-renowned island.

BAGUIO CITY — A local court has sentenced to 172 years in prison the former barangay leader of Sto. Rosario Valley for 11 counts of malversation of public funds totaling P120,540.

CHICAGO, Illinois - Larry Wert, president and general manager of NBC 5 in Chicago, Illinois, will be the keynote speaker and inducting officer while Allen Rafalson, president of the Chicago Journalists Association, and visiting Filipino American lawyer and journalist Alma Luna-Reyes of the Los Angeles, California-based Forum Asia Magazine will be among the featured speakers during the Inaugural of the new set of officers of the National Press Club of the Philippines in the United Stares (NPC-Phil. U.S.A.) 2007-2008 to be held from 12 noon to 4 p.m. on March 3, 2007 at Drury Lane Oakbrook Terrace, 100 Drury Lane, Oakbrook Terrace, Illinois.