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WASHINGTON D.C. – Retired Filipino American Maj. Gen. Antonio M. Taguba has finally described how he was mocked , ostracized and forced to retire from the army for making an honest and truthful report in 2004 on the abuses by US military guards at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq.

These revelations were bared in a full-length article, “The General’s Report,” written by Seymour M Hersh in the June 25 issue of the New Yorker magazine. For the first time since the scandal broke out in 2004, Taguba described how he was mocked by no less than Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, ostracized by his friends and other Pentagon officials and forced to retire. When he retired in January this year, Taguba did not receive the usual honors due a retiring general.

Among those who commiserated with Taguba on his forced retirement was another ostracized general, Army Chief of Staff Gen. Eric Sinseki who was sacked for saying more troops were needed to invade Iraq in 2003.

WASHINGTON - Visiting Sen. Richard Gordon has urged, even demanded, Filipino-Americans, estimated to number between 2.5 and three million, to bombard their legislators with letters and phone calls and press them for their support.
(Meanwhile, three Democratic presidential candidates - Sens. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama and former Sen. Jon Edwards have all expressed their support behind the veterans bill.)

WASHINGTON - The US State Department praised the Philippines for its “exemplary efforts” to prevent the trafficking of migrant workers and protect those exploited overseas and said the Arroyo administration has made some progress in arresting, prosecuting and convicting traffickers.

For the second successive year the State Department, in its annual Trafficking in Persons (TIP) report, ranked the Philippines in the “tier 2" category of countries whose governments are making significant efforts to fully comply with minimum standards to fight trafficking, though have not achieved full compliance yet.

Two Filipino American soldiers who were killed in separate incidents in Iraq have returned home in a casket.
Coming home this month to the Philippines to be buried in their hometowns are Staff Sgt. Greg Phil Gagarin, 37, of Candon city in Ilocos Sur and Sgt. Richard Correa, 25, of Lingayen, Pangasinan.

Gagarin’s body arrived in an American flag-draped casket June 17 to be buried in Candon city public cemetery June 19. Earlier, Correa’s body was interred in his hometown of Lingayen, Pangsinan with full military honors.

LONG BEACH, California – Asian Americans rely on the Internet to communicate, the annual Asian American Consumer Behavior Study, revealed.

The third annual Consumer Research Study conducted by interTrend’s Knowledge Center reveals relevant findings and insightful views into brand loyalty, lifestyle habits, purchase drivers, as well as media consumption of Asian Americans. This year’s study increased the sample size to include the Asian Indian segment as well as added questions relating to cell phone usage to gain insights into the U.S. Asian telecom market. The findings will lay a foundation that will present not only the significant potential for marketers to enter this market, but also the fact that this market can no longer be ignored in the multicultural marketing strategies of Fortune 500 companies.

His election poses big dilemma for AFP.

SAN FRANCISCO - Philippine News, the oldest weekly Filipino American newspaper here, has fired Lito Gutierrez, 55, its editor in chief, after he refused to spike a story as instructed by the paper’s management.

Gutierrez, who has been with the weekly for five years, received a call June 22 from the paper’s advertising manager who told him he had been terminated.

WASHINGTON D.C. – A senior State Department official revealed that Secretary Condoleezza Rice may visit Manila within the "next couple of weeks".
"I am very happy to bring you greetings from Secretary Rice who is very much looking forward to coming to Manila in just a few weeks’ time,” said Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian & Pacific Affairs Christopher Hill.

Secretary Hill led U.S. officials at the traditional Vin d’Honneur celebrating the 109th anniversary of Philippine Independence at J.W Marriott along Pennsylvania Avenue here.
"The Philippines is having a very good year," Hill noted, as he offered a toast to the “enduring alliance" between the U.S. and Philippines.

CEBU CITY – Voters in Bogo have overwhelmingly approved its conversion from a municipality into a city.

Commission on Elections (Comelec) Regional attorney and acting Provincial Election Supervisor Lionel Marco Castillano said 24,488, or 60.79 percent of Bogo?s registered voters cast their votes in the plebiscite. Of those who voted, 23,955, or 97.82 percent voted yes while 482, or 1.98 percent voted No. The voted capped eight years of struggle for the first class municipality to become a city which was mired in both the local and national politics.

CABATUAN, Iloilo - President Arroyo formally opened June 15 the brand new P8-billion international airport on a 188-hectare straddling Sta. Maria and Cabatuan towns. She described the new airport as a "shining example of the best that is still to come for all the Filipino people" as the country continues to break loose from its "lethargic economic legacy."

WASHINGTON - Only 18,155 Filipino World War II veterans are still alive out of 260,143 veterans listed in the US Army roster immediately after the war, Philippine Ambassador to the United States Willy Gaa said.

He said this “accurate count of surviving Filipino World War II Veterans" came from the Philippine Veterans Affairs Office (PVAO) which maintains a list of survivors, and the Department of Veterans Affairs (DVA) which has a roster of Filipino WWII veterans.

LANAO DEL SUR – Army troops were considering a military rescue of a kidnapped Italian priest after Muslim rebels helped pinpoint the man’s location, military officials said yesterday.

Moro Islamic Liberation Front guerrillas sighted Giancarlo Bossi with his abductors last week in the thickly forested boundary of Lanao del Sur and Lanao del Norte provinces in the southern Philippines, rebel spokesman Eid Kabalu said.

MANILA - The six-year trial on perjury and plunder charges against President Joseph Estrada formally ended yesterday with the conclusion of the oral summation by the prosecution and the defense.

Presiding Justice and Special Division chair Teresita Leonardo-De Castro declared the cases submitted for resolution. The decision, under the law, must be promulgated within 90 days.

DAGUPAN CITY - At 102 years old, this Dagupena has a government agency constantly checking if indeed she was still alive to receive her monthly pension. This is because Emiliana Mejia Embuido has outlived everyone who used to deliver the pension money to her home, grandson Wendell Datuin said in jest.

GUAGUA, Pampanga -- Relatives of beheaded overseas Filipino worker (OFW) Reynaldo Cortez has confirmed that the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) did not succeed in recovering his remains. Cortez was buried in Saudi Arabia after he was beheaded June 15.