Sections NaFFAAgate The Modern-day Makapilis in the Filipino-American Community
| The Modern-day Makapilis in the Filipino-American Community |
Editorial
Dr. Eddie AAA Calderon of Minnesota has raised a good point. He posted online this question: "I could not believe that the issue of Filipino Veterans has degenerated into non-related topics such as immigration issues."
The "immigration issues" that Dr. Calderon referred to was the online posting of Perry Diaz, to wit: "You put all your apples with Romy Marquez. Don't you know that Romy Marquez has been charged with criminal offense by the Immigration? He has a pending case which if found guilty is deportable. His next hearing is on September 17, 2007 at the sala of Judge William at 401 West A Street, Suite 100, San Diego 92101. He is out on bond."
One of the lowest forms of human conduct was exhibited by some Filipino collaborators who joined the Japanese Imperial Army during World War II. The collaborators were called the "Makapili." The Makapilis put on hoods (often times buri bags) over their heads as they identified to the Japanese soldiers the Filipino guerillas. The Filipinos guerillas were then taken away by the Japanese and were usually executed without even the benefit of their version of the Kangaroo Court. Being termed a "Makapili," therefore, is equivalent to being called a Judas or a traitor.
The exposé written by San Diego, California-based veteran journalist Romeo P. Marquez about the case of Eric Lachica and his American Coalition for Filipino Veterans (ACFV) just boiled down to one simple message: "Where is the financial statement about the contributions that Mr. Lachica and the ACFV collected from the veterans themselves and the public?" To read Mr. Marquez’s article, please go to http://www.mabuhayradio.com/content/view/324/51/
Perry Diaz, et al, immediately rose up to defend Mr. Lachica and run after the person of Mr. Marquez. What the Diaz-led group did was to make a follow-up of a Makapili-type of action they did to Mr. Marquez earlier. A few years back, several national executive officers (NEOs) and the chapter officers in San Diego, CA, of the National Federation of Filipino-American Associations (NaFFAA) reported Mr. Marquez to the immigration authorities as an alleged "illegal alien." All because Mr. Marquez reported in his newspaper the financial scandals in the Council of Philippine-American Organizations (COPAO) that the then-NaFFAA chairwoman for San Diego, Mrs. Aurora Cudal, headed. The COPAO scandal is still being reported by Mr. Marquez. To read the latest article, please go to: http://www.mabuhayradio.com/content/view/319/51/
The more the NaFFAA ruling clique went after Mr. Marquez when he wrote about the fundraising in October 2003 that Mrs. Cudal and the NaFFAA national Chief of Staff, Doy Heredia, did supposedly to benefit the brushfire victims in San Diego. Mr. Marquez asked for a financial report of the funds raised by the NaFFAA, which were supposedly to be turned over to the American Red Cross (ARC). The local chapter of the ARC denied to Mr. Marquez that it did not even know of the said NaFFAA fundraiser, as chaired by Mrs. Cudal and Mr. Heredia.
The NaFFAA NEOs went after this writer also and they reported me likewise to the immigration authorities, starting in 2002. They wanted to have this writer deported, so as to silence his demands for financial reports about the NaFFAA events in San Jose, CA, and other NaFFAA-sponsored Filipino Global Networking Conferences in Manila, Cebu, Chicago and Honolulu. The NaFFAA NEOs and yes, Mr. Diaz, thought that my immigration documents were not in order. People started to call these NaFFAA NEOs and Mr. Diaz as the "modern-day Makapilis." And to think that these NaFFAA clique members proclaim themselves as the number-one advocates of Filipino-American empowerment and of immigrants’ rights.
It is high time for the Filipino-American community leaders to put a stop to these abominable acts by some of the NaFFAA NEOs and Mr. Diaz in going after the persons of journalists who demand that they comply with the tenets of accountability, transparency, integrity and credibility (the ATIC slogan that this writer coined). The community must simply ask these NaFFAA characters and their allies like Messrs. Diaz, Lachica, et al, to produce the requested financial reports or ostracize them if they continue to refuse to make them public. # # #
Several friends told me that recently you held a meeting of the Historic Filipinotown Neighborhood Council (HFTNC) in which you discussed how to retaliate against me for reporting to the community that your organization is not recognized by the Department of Neighborhood Empowerment (DONE) of the City of Los Angeles. Without the DONE’s approval, I said that the HFTNC is a “colorum neighborhood council,” as the Historic Filipinotown is covered by the Greater Echo Park-Elysian Neighborhood Council. Then you and your fellow HFTNC officers decided to report me to the immigration authorities for supposedly being an “illegal alien.”
Well, you are too late. Some officers of the National Federation of Filipino-American Associations (NaFFAA) were way ahead of you in becoming your fellow “modern-day Makapilis.”
In fact, the www.mabuhayradio.com has publicized the attempts made by several NaFFAA national executive officers to have me deported – way back in 2002 (2-0-0-2). And these NaFFAA crooks try and try again every year to send me back to the homeland. Here is the July 2007 article about it:
QUOTE. One of the lowest forms of human conduct was exhibited by some Filipino collaborators who joined the Japanese Imperial Army during World War II. The collaborators were called the "Makapilis." The Makapilis put on hoods (often times buri bags) over their heads as they identified to the Japanese soldiers the Filipino guerillas. The Filipinos guerillas were then taken away by the Japanese and were usually executed without even the benefit of their version of the Kangaroo Court. Being termed a "Makapili," therefore, is equivalent to being called a Judas or a traitor.
The NaFFAA NEOs went after this writer also and they reported me almost every year to the immigration authorities, starting in 2002. They wanted to have this writer deported, so as to silence his demands for financial reports about the NaFFAA events in San Jose, CA, and other NaFFAA-sponsored Filipino Global Networking Conferences in Manila, Cebu, Chicago and Honolulu. The NaFFAA NEOs and yes, Mr. Diaz, thought that my immigration documents were not in order. People started to call these NaFFAA NEOs and Mr. Diaz as the "modern-day Makapilis." And to think that these NaFFAA clique members proclaim themselves as the number-one advocates of Filipino-American empowerment and of immigrants’ rights. UNQUOTE.
You can read the entire article by clicking on this link:
The Modern-day Makapilis in the Filipino-American Community
If you cannot access the hyperlink, then please copy and paste this URL to your browser,
http://www.mabuhayradio.com/content/view/340/51/
I am providing BCCs of this e-mail to many community leaders and CCs to the Filipino-American press, so that they could really know the people behind HFTNC. I hope that you are not ostracized for being a clique of “modern-day Makapilis.” Will people respect you again after learning of your being Makapilis?
For the record and you cannot deny your being Makapilis because I have witnesses who attended the said HFTNC meeting.
Bobby M. Reyes
The Modern-day Makapilis in the Filipino-American Community ,
(URL,
http://www.mabuhayradio.com/content/view/340/51/) was about how the Perry Tale Writer twisted facts, as he gloated that you were about to be deported.
The truth is that perhaps 99.999% of all Filipinos in the United States would not report any Kababayan to the immigration authorities, even if they know that some Filipinos are adjusting their immigration status. The 0.001% is composed of some of the NaFFAA national executive officers (NEOs) and now of the Historic Filipinotown Neighborhood Council officers. These modern-day Makapilis think wrongly that we will be so afraid of being "deported" that we would cease writing anomalies about them.
Hala bira, hala bira,
Mabuhay,
Bobby M. Reyes
In a message dated 9/25/2008 10:57:13 A.M. Pacific Daylight Time, DiarioV writes:
In a message dated 9/25/2008 10:29:10 A.M. Pacific Daylight Time, MEDIABCLA writes:
Well, you are too late. Some officers of the National Federation of Filipino-American Associations (NaFFAA) were way ahead of you in becoming your fellow “modern-day Makapilis.”
Hi Bobby,
Just for your info, marami din dito sa San Diego! I mean the Makapilis. They are in community organizations like COPAO (Council of Philippine American Organizations); they also pass themselves of as editors and journalists; crooks masquerading as community leaders; professional whiners; newspaper thieves, scam artists, etc.
When you run after them and expose them, they turn to Immigration and or resort to petitioning for restraining orders. I know how it feels. These people have been after me since nineteen-ninety-four (1994).
Thanks and best regards,
Romy Marquez
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