The Philippine Flag: Manny Pacquiao

This video was made to honor the selection of Manny Pacquiao as the flag bearer for the Philippines during the walk of nations ceremony and the 15 athletes from the Philippines are participating in the games.
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http://www . FilipinoPeople . com -- Vision
FilipinoPeople . com's vision is to unite the Filipino community from all over the world to one online destination, where we can help each other grow and succeed as Filipino People in a social networking online environment. Together, the Filipino culture will prosper and be recognized within the mainstream society. Together, our voices are louder and hopes of change are heard. Together as a Filipino Community, we can make a difference in our community and in the society that we live in.
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FILIPINA IMMIGRANT WORKER SUES FORMER UNITED NATIONS AMBASSADOR FROM THE PHILIPPINES FOR HUMAN TRAFFICKING VIOLATIONS

FILIPINA IMMIGRANT WORKER SUES FORMER UNITED NATIONS AMBASSADOR FROM THE PHILIPPINES FOR HUMAN TRAFFICKING VIOLATIONS
https://www.aaldef.org/article.php?article_id=371

New York, NY � The Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund (AALDEF) announced that it has filed a complaint in New York federal court on behalf of a Filipina immigrant worker against a former United Nations ambassador from the Philippines, his family, and his wife�s travel agency, for violating federal laws against human trafficking.

At the press conference today, Marichu Suarez Baoanan, a citizen from the Philippines, described how she paid $5,000 to the Bajas and Labaire International Travel, in return for transportation, a visa, a work permit, and job placement services in the United States. Ms. Baoanan arrived in New York in early 2006, believing that she would receive assistance to find employment as a nurse. Instead, former UN ambassador Lauro Baja, Jr., his wife Norma Baja (an owner of Labaire International Travel), and the Bajas� adult daughter, Maria Elizabeth Facundo, alleged a substantial debt against Ms. Baoanan and subjected her for three months to involuntary servitude, forced labor, peonage, debt bondage, and slavery as a domestic worker in their home on Manhattan�s Upper East Side.

�Human trafficking is far more complex than many people realize,� said AALDEF Staff Attorney Ivy Suriyopas, who leads the Anti-Trafficking Initiative. �It can involve domestic workers that cook food for, clean the house of, and take care of the children of your next-door neighbor. Trafficking involves the severe exploitation of workers regardless of the industry of the worker or the reputation of the trafficker.�

Under the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act (TVPRA), individuals can sue their former traffickers and also legalize their immigration status. "T" visas are available to sex and labor trafficking survivors who have been subjected to force, fraud, or coercion.

Ms. Baoanan sought assistance in 2006 from DAMAYAN Migrant Workers Association, a Filipino labor rights group, and lawyers at AALDEF. AALDEF helped to secure a T visa for Ms. Baoanan and Derivative T visas for her family members, with case management assistance provided by New York Association for New Americans (NYANA). Ms. Baoanan was reunited with her family in April 2008.

�It is an honor to work with AALDEF on behalf of Ms. Baoanan and other women and youth like her to meet the humanitarian needs of trafficking victims and their families, and to preserve the rule of law and the values that we cherish in our lives and our society,� said Aaron Mendelsohn, an associate at Troutman Sanders LLP in New York, the law firm which is serving as pro bono co-counsel on this case.

AALDEF�s Anti-Trafficking Initiative provides free legal representation to trafficked women and youth to apply for immigration relief, facilitate survivors� access to human services, and represent them in civil litigation. AALDEF�s anti-trafficking efforts also include community education, outreach, and advocacy.

# # #

The Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund (AALDEF), founded in 1974, is a national organization that protects and promotes the civil rights of Asian Americans. By combining litigation, advocacy, education, and organizing, AALDEF works with Asian American communities across the country to secure human rights for all.

For more information:

Ivy O. Suriyopas
Staff Attorney
212.966.5932 ext. 235
Click here to email

Margaret Fung
Executive Director
212.966.5932 ext. 201
Click here to email

Determination to Dream

Determination to Dream I. Dream As I sit here 12 o'clock Soon to be one I stair down Into this brewed cup of oil. Tugging at my intellect. Thoughts of wealth and prosperity My vision is full. Trying to focus On needs And putting wants second. Risk is a game of thinking Plotting strategies Movements forward. Do what it takes Obtain my goals And set the new. Never losing sight Of happiness or joy. It is the light at the end A realized vision. A dream fulfilled. II. Fears Apprehensive of misfortune Living in a bubble. Outside is a wonderful place I am sure. I will never know Stepping out is a risk. One I don't know if I can take Cold sweat running Down the back of my neck. Soon to reach my ankles. The timid young boy Paid the sixth grade bully. Never ate his lunch. All hopes are barred Deep in agony and pain. Bitter sickness holds me in While others play in the sun. Never take a risk Never overcome a challenge I will lose. III. Hopes Like the droplets Of breast milk The most pure and fulfilling. Creating desire When hunger is at it peak. Like infants they are seeds Growing stronger With every moment And piece of knowledge. Nurturing our minds With a honey so sweet That our vision becomes Impaired. A fine line is walked Between the real And the obscure. A question of action or passive thought A separation of possibility. It is or is not! IV. Perseverance 1000 years of living In a pit darkness. 0ne day I walked out. I found strength In the warmth of insight. One goal achieved The ability to overcome. At age 12 Wanted that shiny corm bike. The one that lived In the window of old Earl's Bike Shop. Glistening like a star among stars. It is a machine Possessing power Everything I desired. Working harder than 20 oxen I mowed lawn and painted fences Took the complaints In the end I had what all others Lusted after. My determination My hopes And my dreams.

As It is Written ©2008 Ben Greer PhotoBen750 www.bengreer.com

Why... PhotoBen750?

Why… PhotoBen750?
by: Ben Greer

This is just the beginning… For many of you my passion for photography may be new to you, but I have been in love with the camera for the longest time. Growing up I would usually prefer to be the one taking the pictures rather than having my picture taken.

From THE CAMERA

As a young child I did not have much money so I was limited to basic bottom barrel point and shoots and disposable

cameras. Not having much money this also made the process of getting my picture developed difficult. For many years I just kept the spent film in hopes that one day, before it went bad that, I would get it developed.

A major turning point in my life that sent me down this road of photo passion was the day my uncle Dennis Baunach gave me his old Pentax K1000. This was around the end of my sophomore

From FRIENDS and F...

year in high school just before we took a family trip to Europe. At that time I did not realize what importance this camera might play in the development of my talent. Even though my uncle had owned this camera for about 25 years prior to him giving it to me the Pentax K1000 is a classic camera that is still used by many photogs.

From THE CAMERA

The Pentax was my first real SLR camera. It had all the manual features a beginner could want and a few auto function that

were new back when the camera was originally purchased. It came with a black leather caring case designed to hold the camera, film, filter, lenses, flash, and a battery operated auto shooter. Back then I had little knowledge on how any of it worked or what it meant to adjust shutter and aperture settings.

To get me started my uncle showed me how to read the built in light meter, focus the camera and basic adjustment to the shutter and

From THE CAMERA

aperture. Off I went to discover the world through its glass eye interpretation.

I would go to all kinds of places taking picture of just about anything. I even got into taking black and white images with the Kodak Tmax film. At the time black and white was not easy for me to get developed. Unless you knew how to it yourself you had

From THE CAMERA

to find a shop that worked with black and white. You couldn’t just drop it off at Costco or any old photo store and it was also twice as expensive to develop. I would often just take the pictures and keep the

undeveloped film.

For years I continued taking pictures some film would get developed but most would just get added to the collection. In 1999 when I was preparing to move to California Anselmo Villinueva, a good friend of mine, discover that I had all this undeveloped film saved up. He said that I should think about getting it developed before it goes bad. I told him that I could not really afford to do it, but I really wanted to see what picture I had taken.

He offered to drop it off to Costco for me and pay for the development. I could not believe it. There were over 20 roles of film. This was a good chunk of change that I will forever be thankful

From FRIENDS and F...

for. Once they were developed I began to see all the moments from the past come to life. It was like opening a time capsule. The subject matter was so varied and spanned over many, many years. It brought back lots of great memories.

From ART

Many of the pictures were poor in quality and not as nice as I would have hoped, but the real excitement came when I would find the outstanding

shots. I did not know much about photography when I started, but I had an eye to appreciate what I saw. Many of my first images may not have been in focus or the shutter stayed open too long, but the picture would have a story.

I am not sure who coined the phrase “A picture is worth a thousand words,” but I see the art in this statement. When I take a photo it is almost like I am writing a poem. When you write a poem you are using words to

From Flowers / Sun...

express ideas that may not exist in the tangible world. To do this, you must attempt to capture as much of that idea and express it words that best represent your thought as a vision understandable in another persons mind.

From Architecture ...

Seeing still images like poetry allows me to expand the context for which an image has meaning to me. Much like the ability to express a complex story with the added ability to stretch time and partially recreate

a moment of the past. Using imagery of elements that all real tangible existence has long left the present.

Some time in early 2003 I got my first digital camera. A Nikon CoolPix 4300 with a 4.1 megapixel CCD.

From THE CAMERA

With the new found freedom of not needing to go anywhere special or wait for development I began to rediscover my photo passion. I must have taken several thousand images before I upgraded to my current camera in the spring of 2004.

From THE CAMERA

A Fuji Finepix S7000 6.2 megapixel SuperCCD with the ability to interpolate up to 12.3 megapixel. This camera has been

very reliable and has many great features. My digital image collection is now in the range of 15-20 thousand high resolution images. That would be the equivalent of about 470-625 rolls of film, 32 exposures each.

PhotoBen750 Links:

From Philippines 2008

http://www.PhotoBen750.com http://photoben750.blogspot.com/ http://groups.google.com/group/PhotoBen750 http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=PhotoBen750 http://profiles.friendster.com/photoben750 http://picasaweb.google.com/PhotoBen750 http://www.myspace.com/fotoben750 http://premium.xanga.com/PhotoBen750 http://www.gspoetry.com/member-photoben750-14814 http://www.BenGreer.com

Take Care,
Ben
(PhotoBen750)

Pacquiao stops Diaz at 9th, wins WBC belt

Pacquiao stops Diaz at 9th, wins WBC belt


Filipino boxing hero Manny Pacquiao knocked out David Diaz to win the WBC lightweight title before a jampacked crowd at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino Saturday (Sunday in Manila).

Pacquaio sent a battered Diaz down the canvas with a left hook with 26 seconds remaining in the ninth round.

ABSCBN NEWS ONLINE
http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/storypage.aspx?StoryId=123431

Filipinos are top Multiply users

Filipinos are top Multiply users

By DAVID DIZON
abs-cbnNEWS.com

A third of the traffic going to social networking site Multiply, or approximately 300 million page views, is coming from Filipino users worldwide, top Multiply executives said Wednesday.

Multiply president and founder Peter Pezaris said Multiply gets about a billion page views a month, a third of which comes from Filipinos in different parts of the globe. This makes Filipinos the number one users of Multiply, ranking higher than users in the United States where the site is based.

Pezaris said the Filipino culture's emphasis on family and relationships is the main reason why the social networking site is so popular in the Philippines.

"The reason why we are popular here, I think, relates to that notion of friends and family, the fact that our service is much more focused on connecting you with people that you know in real life rather than introducing you to people that you don’t know. It’s a site that really plays into the cultural phenomenon that’s here in the Philippines," he told abs-cbnNEWS.com.

David Hersh, Multiply vice-president for business development, also said the integration of unlimited photosharing in Multiply is very attractive to Filipino Internet users. Most Filipino Multiply users are female, in the 18-25 age bracket, and average about 160 Multiply page views a month.

"Filipinos are just rabid consumers of content. It’s amazing. Those 160 page views aren’t just fluff page views of people bouncing from profile to profile. It’s people consuming photos, videos and blogs from the people in their world. It’s meaningful activity. It reflects the deep level of engagement that we have with our user base especially here in the Philippines," Pezaris said.

Local partner

For the Philippine market, Multiply recently partnered with ABS-CBN Interactive to tap local advertisers and launch mobile services for Filipino Multiply users. (Disclosure: Abs-cbnNEWS.com is run by ABS-CBN Interactive.)

Paolo Pineda, ABS-CBN Interactive managing director, said the company is the exclusive reseller of advertising on Multiply for the Philippines. He said ABS-CBN Interactive will also be actively campaigning to build Multiply's user base in the country.

Related links

• ‘We put a lot of emphasis on connecting with people in the real world’
• (Video) The ABS-CBN-Multiply Trade Event

One of the successful Multiply communities launched by ABS-CBN Interactive centered on the Pinoy Big Brother Teen Edition Plus show. The show now has two sites - the official one where profiles and schedules are posted and a Multiply site where PBB fans can go online.

Pineda said one local call center that advertised on Multiply was able to attract recruits through its Multiply community site.

"It’s more of these community building efforts online for Filipinos worldwide. We want to really try to populate the brand and get more people to understand it and work on the advertising and get the brands to see that this is really a safe place to put your brand in," he said.

Real-world relationships

Hersh said Multiply currently has nine million registered users worldwide, of which 2.2 million are Filipinos. He said that while the growth of Multiply has been slower compared to other social networking sites such as MySpace and Facebook, it is the real-world relationships in Multiply that sets it apart and ensures its longevity.

"If your online social network is full of people that you have no real world connection to, there’s very little reason to keep you there and it’s very easy for you to switch. But on Multiply, it’s your real-world social network online and your content and it’s the discussion that goes on around that content that’s going to keep you coming back," he said.

Adds Pezaris: "It’s closer, deeper relationships which enables the sharing of personal, meaningful content to you and the continuing sharing of that is the personal documentation of your life online. Over a period of time, you build up this history like a living scrapbook of what’s happening in your life and it’s a collaborative effort because while you add to it, all your friends and family add to it also and that’s what really develops the long-term value."

http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/storypage.aspx?StoryID=122308

Kababayan Fest 2008 - California's Great America: Pimped Ad