Columns Editorial and Opinion Page A Reader’s Feedback About Second-Class Citizens, the Menorgate, the NaFFAAgate, Etc.
| A Reader’s Feedback About Second-Class Citizens, the Menorgate, the NaFFAAgate, Etc. |
A Reader’s Feedback About Second-Class Citizens, the Menorgate, the NaFFAAgate and Why Many Filipino Like to Be Invisible in the U.S.
Thanks, Mr. Editor, for the excellent article, “The NaFFAA Is Bankrupt Not Only Financially But Also Intellectually”. A lot of people, like the members of the CRABS (Citizens Rebelling Against Bogus Spending), did a lot of work in bringing the Menorgate out in the public. Please acknowledge them the next time you mention the San Jose-MenorGate Saga. I will appreciate it.
Editor’s Notes: The author, Tito Cortez, was mentioned prominently in the said article about the NaFFAA bankruptcy. Mr. Cortez and his fellow founders of the CRABS were the ones who reported the anomalies of the Menorgate and NaFFAAgate Scandals of San Jose, CA, to the authorities for investigation and prosecution. We decided to publish Mr. Cortez’s feedback as a full-length article in view of the merit of its contents.Unfortunately some of our people are still living under the illusion that as long as the public doesn't know of our problem, there is no problem. When will we learn that as long as we are not capable of discussing our problems, we will never arrive at solutions to our problems? Sweeping our problems under the rug doesn't make our problems go away. Rather they just go unsolved. And I think our self-appointed leaders would like it that way.
On the other hand, what is a community without problems? Community with no problems simply doesn't exist. Thus the Filipino Community of America has problems. We are invisible because we make it appear that we do not have any problems. We hide them instead. What bothers me as a publisher is when Filipinos ask me to endorse a candidate by virtue of being Filipinos and not by their qualifications. But by Kababayan alone. I told them that if I wanted to continually endorse Filipinos by simply being Filipinos, I should move my residence to the Philippines at which time I would be endorsing Filipinos by their nationality all the time.
Why do we want to live in this country and try to practice the old country? As long as we continue to hide from our problems, we will never mature as a community in the US. In one of your articles, you succinctly stated that we, at times, believe that we are second-class citizen. Our behaviors certainly proved that. You only need to look at our voting records. While we are here, we are happy just to be working; perhaps one or two jobs so that we could send monies back home or at a majority of the times just to meet ends meet.
Many of our people are not here as permanent pillars of the American system. Many are here temporarily. So the least people know of them, the better. The least exposure, the better. The least problems they share with others, the better.
Many Filipino Americans feel that the more invisible they are, the better. So why do they live in America if they really don't want to be part of America? Hiding someone's problems and hoping that they go away is un-American.
The case of the People of California vs. Ben Benedicto Menor's trial will go as scheduled on Dec. 3, 2007. With more-than 30,000 pages of information (evidence) about the charges against him, we are very sure that Mr. Menor will be found guilty. As you know, a person found guilty of a felony charge in California must spend at least one day in jail. When that time comes, justice would be served.
Just to remind you that Ben Menor was accused of four felonies. One of these is using other grants (public funds) to finance the NaFFAA convention here in San Jose in August 2002. Like everything else, the NaFFAA is hoping that this problem will go away by ignoring it. We still haven't figured out how or where they got all that money they used in San Jose. All we know are dates and amount of checks that paid for the convention. And the convention was NaFFAA. So much for leaders being upfront, honest with integrity.
Additionally, the City of San Jose lawsuit is postponed until January 2008 – presumably awaiting the result of the criminal trial.
That's all for now. Thanks.
Tito A. Cortez
Always a member of CRABS (Citizens Rebelling Against Bogus Spending)
San Jose, California
P.S. I will be attending the trial. I will let you know if anything dramatically happens for your readers. Take care.
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User Comments
Touché!
Unfortunately, many in our community are L.I.D. (Living In Denial). Those that are in advanced stages even go so far as to condemn the ones willing to put a stop to it.
You get a sense of their messed up priorities when they call the whistle blowers the "troublemakers". It is as if they have gone completely blind to the root cause of the trouble - the lying, the cheating, the corrupt, or the just plain wrong.
Unfortunately, many in our community are L.I.D. (Living In Denial). Those that are in advanced stages even go so far as to condemn the ones willing to put a stop to it.
You get a sense of their messed up priorities when they call the whistle blowers the "troublemakers". It is as if they have gone completely blind to the root cause of the trouble - the lying, the cheating, the corrupt, or the just plain wrong.
Comment by Allan on 2007-11-16 16:55:23 Using IP: 71.80.179.197
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