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Year 38, No. 16 / April 18 - 24, 2008
2 homeless live off NYC's mean streets
DAILY GRIND: Teddy Sison sets up shelter in the streets of New York City's Chinatown. (Howie Severino photo
By Edmund Silvestre
Filipinos are often stereotyped as among the most successful immigrants in the United States. So it came as a bit of a shock when GMA-7's award-winning documentary show "I-Witness" discovered at least two homeless Filipinos in the streets of Manhattan, who are forced to sleep in subzero level either beneath cardboard boxes on the sidewalk or on board moving subway trains.
Howie Severino, one of the Philippines' foremost TV documentarists, was in New York City in February to do a story on rats in the Big Apple to welcome the Chinese Year of the Rat.
While interviewing a homeless Puerto Rican on rat behavior in the Chinatown area, the man mentioned to Severino about a fellow homeless - a Filipino - who happens to be his "neighbor" at night on the sidewalk of Mulberry Street.
"He is the first Filipino homeless I've ever seen" was how the Puerto Rican homeless described Teddy Sison, a Philippine-born U.S. Army veteran of the Vietnam War.
Thus the GMA-7 documentary titled "NPA: No Permanent Address."
"Magandang gabi po," Severino called out. The box moved, then an unmistakably Pinoy mestizo head popped out. "Ah, Pilipino pala!" Sison blurted out, happily surprised.
Severino and his cameraman Egay Navarro invited Sison into their hotel room to spend the night and talk about his life on the streets, where he owns his time and he has no boss to report to everyday.
Sison said he eats regularly in the church that provides meals for those who are down on their luck.
He earns a living collecting cans in the trash. And his constant companion: a bottle of brandy that keeps him warm.
"There's really not much of a difference whether you live in a penthouse, in a castle or in a box, you know," Sison, sporting a disheveled beard, said. "It's just where you are that makes a difference."
Born in Manila and grew up in Leyte, Sison said his father - whom he identified as Rudolf Froitzhein - was an American ex-serviceman at the former Subic Naval Base, who abandoned him and his Filipino mother when he was still an infant.
"Can you help me find my father?" Sison asked Severino. The two Googled Sison's father on the Internet, but to no avail.
Severino's report did not include how Sison ended up penniless in New York, but the Vietnam vet turned emotional when he told Severino he wanted to go back to the Philippines.
Asked by Severino why, Sison paused, then remarked, "Doon ako galing (that's where I came from)."
A couple of days later, the two met again, with Sison all cleaned up and shaven. He told Severino he'll try to find a job to earn money so he can go back to the Philippines for good.
Another homeless
Severino also met in the streets of New York Filipino painter Felix Quris "Lex" Cachapero, a widower.
Known in Manila's artist colony as the "Angel Painter," having held seven solo exhibits of angel paintings from 1994 to 1999, he brought the exhibit "Angels in the Ozone" to the Philippine Center in New York in March 1999.
The following year, Cachapero returned to the Big Apple and decided to stay for good.
But without legal documents in the U.S., Cachapero said he couldn't land a decent job, and couldn't even get into a homeless shelter.
"They ask for my social security number, tax account number, passport, alien citizenship number...wala ako lahat nu'n," he told Severino.
Like Sison, Cachapero gets his free meal from the church.
During daytime, he struggles to sell paintings on the sidewalk of Prince Street in the dead of winter, with much of his arts supplies or materials coming from the garbage of art galleries.
Although passersby heap praises on Cachapaero's artwork, there are days when he can't even sell one.
Blue Gallardo, a friend and fellow Filipino painter who works as a caretaker at La Mama Theater in the East Village, said Cachapero is a "survivor," who knows how the survive the harsh life on the streets.
"I salute him for that," Gallardo said. "I was thinking if I were in his shoes, can I also survive?"
But unlike Sison who sleeps in cardboard boxes, Cachapero spends the night at a place that Severino said he least expected - on a subway train that goes back and forth to Coney Island in Brooklyn.
His favorite is the F train, which he calls "my hotel."
As if spending the night alone and cold on a subway train with strangers is not enough, Cachapero told Severino he has to sleep sitting upright.
"You cannot lie down because the police will ask you to leave," he said. "But I'm always alert because there are also hassles. One time somebody hit my head with something while I was asleep."
Cachapero said while sleeping on the train, he always dreams about the Philippines, where he gets to talk to friends he left behind.
"The train brings me to the Philippines every night," he said. "Kahit man lang sa panaginip, nakikita ko ang Pilipinas."
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Priest 'heals' deaf & blind
MAGIC TOUCH: Father Fernando Suarez during his service in New Jersey last week. (Filipino Reporter photo by Manny L. Caballero)
By MANNY L. CABALLERO
Exclusive to the Filipino Reporter
NEWARK - Some 7,000 people came to three separate healing services of Filipino-Canadian healing priest Father Fernando Suarez in New Jersey last week.
The services were held in Howell on April 11, Newark on April 12 and Rahway on April 15.
In all three places, the boyish-looking priest, who was born and raised in Batangas, but studied priesthood in Canada, prayed over and touched each and everyone of those who came for the healing services.
In his homily that preceded one of his healing sessions, Suarez kept repeating that his ability to heal was not his own. That it was a "gift from Jesus Christ," not for him but for the people.
At one point during the sermon, the priest healer jokingly said that at first, he could not believe he could heal sick people because he could not even cure his own migraine.
According to him, he has ministered to around one million people in various countries to date.
"Father Fernando does not leave the place unless he has prayed over and touched the last person who comes to his mass and healing service," says Father Jeff, a close associate of the Filipino priest in the Companions of the Cross Healing Ministry and Mary Mother of the Poor Foundation.
At St. Antoninus Roman Catholic Church in this city last Saturday, where a Eucharistic mass was held before Suarez performed healing service for some 2,000 people in two sessions, the 41-year-old healer was interviewed briefly by the Filipino Reporter during a break.
He gave a short message for Filipino-Americans.
Speaking in Tagalog, Suarez said, "Sana ay makatanggap sila (Filipino-Americans) ng biyaya ng Panginoong Diyos." (May they (Filipino-Americans) receive the blessings of God).
This writer, a member of the Couples for Christ (CFC) service team that supported the five-hour healing sessions, was the only journalist accredited to cover the event at St. Antoninus Church.
People started to arrive as early as 8 a.m. on April 12 for the mass and healing which were scheduled at 2:30 p.m. This was learned from Dante Nagayo, leader of the CFC service team.
It was observed that around 90 percent of those who came were Filipino-Americans. There were also African-Americans, Hispanics and Caucasians. Some came from as far as Florida, Texas and California.
Individuals with concern, physical or otherwise, from all walks of life attended the healing prayers.
I saw a Filipino-American physician, a former Fil-Am politician, community leaders and hundreds of ordinary citizens from different states.
A separate line was intended only for the disabled, mostly in wheel chairs. Some of those who came were unable to walk by themselves, but went home without their walking aids because they were able to walk on the spot, right after they were touched and prayed over by Suarez!
At least, two deaf women claimed they were able to hear.
A woman who was blind in both eyes due to retinal detachment was able to see! Many lame persons were able to walk.
The rest went home gratified by the feeling that they were touched by the love of Jesus Christ through Suarez.
The crowd in the church roared to a thunderous applause each time a person got well on the spot.
A Filipino senior, who was in a wheelchair, was able to walk before the eyes of this reporter and some 800 people inside the church, with 200 more seated in the church's basement (a giant monitor was installed in the basement so the people there could see what was happening inside the church).
Before coming to New Jersey, Suarez conducted healing services in Connecticut. He goes to California from New Jersey.
A complete schedule of Suarez's healing services is at the Companions of the Cross Healing Ministry website at www.fatherfernando.com
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Sentosa RNs get a break
A New York State appeals court has ordered the Suffolk County District Attorney's Office to temporarily stop the prosecution of 10 Filipino nurses charged with endangering Smithtown nursing home patients until it decides whether the DA's office prosecution violates the Constitution and federal labor law.
The Appellate Division's temporary stay means the nurses will not face trial as scheduled on April 28 in Suffolk County Supreme Court, attorneys told Newsday.
The court's four-judge panel will decide whether the prosecution breaches federal labor law and free speech and anti-slavery amendments to the Constitution.
If the panel decides to issue a "writ of prohibition" - a rare move that would strip the local court of jurisdiction - the indictment would be dismissed, lawyers said.
"They are taking this thing seriously," said the nurses' Garden City attorney James Druker of the appeals court.
It was Druker who asked the state Appellate Division on March 20 to issue "writ of prohibition" to remove the case from the Suffolk DA.
"I think we're going to win," Druker said.
District attorney's office spokesman Robert Clifford downplayed the order.
"We believe that because the trial is scheduled to begin in two weeks, the court has determined there is insufficient time to issue a ruling," Clifford told Newsday.
But legal experts said the temporary stay was highly unusual and a clear victory for the nurses and their labor attorney Felix Vinluan who was also named as a defendant.
"It is virtually unique," said John Ray, a Miller Place defense attorney and former Suffolk prosecutor.
"For the Appellate Division to have been convinced to grant [a stay], it suggests the defendants have an extremely strong position."
The nurses and Vinluan were indicted in March 2007 on misdemeanor charges of conspiracy and endangering the welfare of children on ventilation machines in the pediatric wing of Avalon Gardens Rehabilitation and Health Care Center.
The nurses resigned on April 7, 2006 over complaints about pay, hours and benefits, among other things.
Vinluan, who advised the nurses of their right to resign, is also charged with criminal solicitation.
The charges are the first of their kind in New York.
Prosecutors say the resignations caused a staffing crisis that could have harmed critically ill patients.
But the nurses, Filipino immigrants recruited by nursing home company SentosaCare, say they resigned to escape intolerable working conditions.
Two state agencies - the State Education Department and the State Health Department - have found no patients were placed in jeopardy, and cleared the nurses of wrongdoing.
The stay drew cheers from nursing advocates. "I am so proud of them for standing up for what they believe and for potentially being vindicated," said Barbara Crane, president of the union arm of the New York State Nurses Association, which supports the nurses.
George Gresham, president of 1199 SEIU United Healthcare Workers East, called on the appeals court to issue the writ of prohibition. "These unfortunate charges and this outrageous prosecution must be dismissed," he said.
That rarely happens. In the past 30 years, the court has, in effect, stopped prosecutions about a dozen times, said Mineola attorney Oscar Michelen, who represents Vinluan and has led efforts for the writ.
The nurses' attorneys, along with labor unions and legal advocacy groups, argue in court papers that the case is essentially a labor dispute over which the National Labor Relations Board has exclusive jurisdiction.
They also say Vinluan's advice was protected free speech and that prosecuting the nurses for resigning was tantamount to endorsing involuntary servitude in violation of the Thirteenth Amendment.
In court papers, Suffolk prosecutors argued that the nurses were free to exercise their constitutional rights, but only if their actions "fall within the bounds of the law."
The stay issued by the Appellate Division on April 11 did not state the court's reasoning.
Until the decision, no hearings on the case can be held in local courts.
Attorneys said they expect the court to schedule oral arguments in the next month and to make a ruling in June.
If the court denies the appeal, the trial would take place in the fall.
Elmer Jacinto, one of the 10 indicted nurses, told Newsday he was dismayed at further delays but believed the stay was a good sign. "The wheels of justice are turning," Jacinto said. "We are not yet vindicated, but we feel that justice will prevail."
The nurses are backed by several Filipino organizations in the U.S., including the Philippine Consulate General in New York, as well as both the New York and California state nurses associations, who fear prosecuting nurses who quit their jobs could set a bad precedent.
Earlier this week, Local 1199 of the Service Employees International Union - the largest health care workers' local in the nation - said it was supporting the nurses.
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Pinay to conduct Pope's N.Y. choir
Dr. Jennifer Pascual
When Pope Benedict XVI arrives today (April 18) in New York City for a whirlwind three-day tour that will feature several public Masses and visits to the United Nations and Ground Zero, the Filipino-American community will take extra pride in one of its own.
Dr. Jennifer Pascual, the first woman to serve as the director of music at St. Patrick's Cathedral on Fifth Avenue - the seat of the Archdiocese of New York - will conduct most of the music just about everywhere the Holy Father goes in the city.
Among the huge masses include one for over 57,000 people at Yankee Stadium on Sunday, where numerous Filipino Catholics from various states are attending; and another for over 5,000 at St. Patrick's on Saturday.
At Yankee Stadium, Pascual will conduct three major church choirs.
"To direct this and put it all together is definitely the highlight of my career and my faith," Pascual told the New York Daily News. "It's also been a lot of work."
At a rehearsal last Sunday, the Daily News described Pascual as "animated, enthusiastic and exacting."
"At one point," Ari Goldman wrote," she gently chided the members, 'You sound like amateur nuns at the convent!' At another, she said, 'You've got to do something with these long notes or your listeners will get bored. I'll get bored.'"
"When she got what she wanted, she smiled and clasped her hands together and was full of praise," Goldman stated.
The St. Patrick's Choir is composed of 55 men and women, a third of them professional musicians.
The members range in age from 22 to 83 and also include a number of Protestants.
New York Archbishop Edward Cardinal Egan, who is a classical pianist like the Pope, continues to encourage Pascual and the choir, according to Goldman.
That Sunday, the Cardinal sent a gift-wrapped box of chocolates with a note that said, "The enclosed is for the choir as you rehearse for next week. Thank you for everything!"
This will not be the first time Pascual performs for a Pope.
In 1995, she sang soprano in one of the assembles choirs when Pope John Paul II celebrated a Mass at Central Park.
Pascual, a New Jersey resident and daughter of Filipino immigrant parents, earned her doctorate in organ performance from Eastman School of Music in Rochester, N.Y. in 1991.
She also holds a master of music degree in piano performance from the Mannes College of Music in New York City and bachelor of music degrees in piano and organ performance and music education (magna cum laude) from Jacksonville University in Florida.
Pascual has served as organist and choir director in the Dioceses of St. Augustine, Florida and Rochester, N.Y., and has also been on the artistic staff of the Boys Choir of Harlem, Inc. since 1994.
Five years ago, when Cardinal Egan heard her conduct a church choir in upstate New York, he asked her to head the music program at St. Patrick's.
In September 2003, Pascual officially became the director of music at St. Patrick's, which is one of the most prestigious sacred music appointments in the United States.
As the cathedral's director of music, she is supervising the music for the five archdiocesan events celebrating the papal visit.
These include an ecumenical service at St. Joseph's of Yorkville on April 18 and two April 19 programs at St. Joseph's Seminary, Dunwoodie, in Yonkers - an indoor prayer meeting with disabled youth and an outdoor youth rally at which "American Idol" winner Kelly Clarkson will sing Franz Schubert's "Ave Maria."
Pascual will be conducting a mix of classical and contemporary favorites, as well as lesser-known German works.
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