NAFVE SALUTES VETERANS ON MEMORIAL DAY

NAFVE SALUTES VETERANS ON MEMORIAL DAY

Posted by ramiele-malubay on May 27, 2008, 12:15 am

NAFVE SALUTES VETERANS ON MEMORIAL DAY; CONTINUES CAMPAIGN TO SECURE PASSAGE OF FILIPINO WWII VETERANS LEGISLATION National Coalition Affirms Commitment to Filipino Veterans Legislation, Issues Action Alert during Congressional Memorial Day Recess Washington, DC- The National Alliance for Filipino Veterans Equity (NAFVE) marks Memorial Day this weekend by recognizing the sacrifices made by the brave men and women who have served and are serving our country in our military. NAFVE's support for all soldiers past and present who put on the uniform comes as it continues its push to pass legislation for Filipino WWII veterans this year. "NAFVE and its members stand in solidarity with the chorus of voices around the country calling for passage of this important legislation, " said NAFVE Co-Chair Jon Melegrito. "In partnership with the Filipino community nationwide, and our allies who are joining our campaign, we are working in unison to pass Filipino WWII veterans in this Congress." During the week of Memorial Day, members of the House of Representatives will be in their local districts. NAFVE is encouraging its members and allies to approach their members directly in their localities and talk to them about the importance of this bill. In Washington, DC, NAFVE continues to talk to members of Congress and their staff on both sides of the aisle. "NAFVE is committed to working with our champions and supporters in the House of Representatives to convey the urgency of our communities on this issue," said Lillian Galedo, NAFVE Co-Chair. "House Veterans Affairs Committee Chairman Bob Filner (D-CA), House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), Assistant to the Speaker Xavier Becerra (D-CA), Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus Chair Mike Honda (D-CA) and Republican champion Representative Darrell Issa (R-C) and their staffs have been working with us to make sure that this bill is able to move forward with a solid strategy for success. With Memorial Day upon us and June 12 as Philippine Independence Day nearing, we urge Congress to pass this bill without delay." "We have always known that the key to this bill's passage is securing a bipartisan majority," said Ben de Guzman, NAFVE Co-Chair. "During this Memorial Day recess, our strategy includes mobilizing our partners in the field while we push from Washington, DC. There is opposition to this bill, so it will be important that we all continue our efforts until our job on behalf of our veterans is done." NAFVE's Action Alert to its members is included below. The National Alliance represents over 20 local, national and international organizations committed to securing full equity for Filipino World War II Veterans. All the groups have been part of a 60-year campaign to restore to Filipino WWII veterans their rightful claim to U.S. veterans' status and recognition for their bravery in defending the United States during WWII. More information is available online at www.nafve.org or via e-mail at nafve2007@gmail. com. PRESS RELEASE FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE May 26, 2008 Contact: Ben de Guzman 202.422.4909 Perry Diaz 916.691.6642 Jon Melegrito 202.361.0296 www.nafve.org (Web site) nafve2007@gmail. com

Statement of the NaFFAA National Chair on the Death of Col. Frank Quesada

Statement of the NaFFAA National Chair on the Death of Col. Frank Quesada

A resolute fighter for justice and a long-time advocate for the
Filipino veterans' cause has departed us, joining his brave comrades
who had lost their lives in a war that has left the few remaining
survivors still waiting for the day when America restores their
dignity and honor. All his life, this is what Col. Quesada valiantly
fought for.

Col. Quesada fought in WWII as a key officer of the well known Hunters
ROTC Guerilla. He later served in and retired as a Colonel in the
U.S. Army. Through his mighty pen and passionate discourses,
Col.Quesada's unstinting devotion to the plight of Filipino World War
II veterans has inspired all of us over the years to continue their
struggle, from the grassroots to the halls of Congress. While we
grieve over his passing, we stand proud of what Col. Quesada has done
to keep their message of hope alive. It's as much a struggle for them
as it is for our community, and for generations to come.

The surviving veterans don't have many years left. With one less voice
advocating for them, our community needs to step up the pressure on
Congress and urge passage of the equity bill this year. For the sake
of our veterans and the just cause they lived and died for, we must
keep on fighting.

Alma Quintans Kern
National Chair

National Federation of Filipino American Associations (NaFFAA)
email: press@naffaa.org
phone: 202.986.1153
web: http://www.naffaa.org

NaFFAA | 2607 24th St. NW, Ste. 4 | Washington | DC | 20008-2600

PHILIPPINE ECONOMY SOARS TO 7.4% GDP GROWTH

4th Quarter 2007
PHILIPPINE ECONOMY SOARS TO 7.4% GDP GROWTH
Posted 31 January 2008

In an environment of benign inflation, low interest rates and a strong peso, the Philippine economy sustained its impressive streak of lofty growths that started in the first quarter of the year. Fourth quarter growth of GDP stood at 7.4 percent from 5.5 percent last year, propelled by the robust performances of Trade, Agriculture and Fishery, Private Services, Construction and TCS, with the rest of the sectors posting positive growths. On the demand side, increased household spending and investment in construction were the main drivers aided by the accelerated growths in government consumption, export of non-factor services and investment in durable equipment. The 3.0 percent contraction in the level of NFIA pulled down GNP to a lower growth of 6.5 percent compared to the GDP growth.

The seasonally adjusted GDP, now on its 27th quarter of positive growths, accelerated to 1.8 percent from 1.0 percent in the previous quarter. Likewise, the seasonally adjusted GNP, which has also been on positive territory since the second quarter of 2003, sped up to 1.4 percent from 0.9 percent in the third quarter.

On the production side, the sustained GDP growth in the fourth quarter was bolstered by the fast expanding Services sector whose growth of 9.0 percent from 8.4 percent in the same quarter last year is the highest since 1982. Likewise, Industry went up too at a higher pace of 5.8 percent from 3.6 percent the previous year, albeit slower than during the first three quarters, mainly because of the deceleration of Manufacturing. With favorable weather conditions during the quarter, Agriculture, Fishery and Forestry (AFF) also accelerated to 5.8 percent from its year ago rate of 1.7 percent.

The following were the contribution of the three major economic sectors to the GDP growth in the quarter: Services, with 4.4 percentage points; Industry, 1.8 percentage points and AFF contributing the least with 1.2 percentage points.

On a seasonally adjusted basis, AFF contracted by 0.1 percent in the fourth quarter after three quarters of robust growths while Industry rebounded to a 0.5 percent expansion after suffering a 0.4 percent contraction last quarter. The positive growth was attributed to the strong growths of Construction, Mining and Quarrying, and Electricity, Gas and Water. Services sector came in strongest as it posted an all time record growth of 3.3 percent. The phenomenal growth was brought about by the brisk retail trading during the fourth quarter combined with the strong performances of Private Services and Finance.

The economy continued to keep pace with the population growth in the fourth quarter of 2007 as per capita GDP grew by 5.3 percent from 3.4 percent, per capita GNP by 4.4 percent from 4.0 percent, and per capita PCE by 4.2 percent from 3.8 percent.

NFIA in the fourth quarter declined however, by 3.0 percent from a 12.4 percent gain in the same quarter last year as compensation inflow declined anew by an even higher rate of 3.3 percent from only 0.2 percent in the third quarter. This was aggravated by the deceleration in Property Income from 32.0 percent last year to 18.9 percent, and the growth in Property Expense by 4.4 percent. The fourth quarter recorded the first quarter of negative growth of NFIA since the fourth quarter of 2002.

On the expenditure side, consumer spending grew by 6.3 percent from 5.8 percent a year ago. Food expenditure, which accounted for 56.1 percent of the Personal Consumption Expenditure (PCE), grew by 6.6 percent from 6.8 percent in the previous year while Miscellaneous expenditures accelerated to 7.8 percent from 5.7 percent last year. Meanwhile, Transportation/Communication and Clothing & Footwear both turned in lower growths as they decelerated to 8.2 percent from 8.3 percent and 2.4 percent from 6.5 percent, respectively. The other sub-sectors that contributed to the growth of PCE were the following: Household Operations, up by 2.7 percent from 1.9 percent; Beverages grew by 4.7 percent from 6.6 percent; Fuel, Light & Water, up by 4.3 percent from 1.4 percent; and Household Furnishings, which recovered from a negative 2.5 percent growth last year to positive 5.0 percent this year.

Government Consumption Expenditure (GCE) accelerated to 10.8 percent from a growth of 9.9 percent last year with the disbursement of government funds for infrastructure project.

Investments in Fixed Capital Formation expanded by 10.3 percent from last year’s growth of 2.2 percent on account of vigorous investments in construction. Construction grew by 17.6 percent from 5.7 percent with the hike in national government’s capital expenditures and capital transfer to LGU’s resulting in the 33.4 percent growth in public construction from 39.6 percent in the previous year. On the other hand, investments in private construction rebounded to 7.4 percent from negative 8.7 percent in 2006. Meanwhile, Durable Equipment sustained a positive growth of 4.9 percent from negative 0.5 percent in the same period last year.

Reeling from the crisis faced by the US economy, total Merchandise Exports skidded to negative 3.7 percent from a growth of 2.2 percent in the same quarter last year.

The top five Merchandise Exports were: Finished Electrical Machinery, which bounced back to a 19.5 percent gain from a 14.0 percent decline; Crude Coconut Oil, which recovered from negative 39.7 percent to positive 9.6 percent; Semiconductors and Electric Microcircuits, which expanded to 1.7 percent from negative 4.3 percent; Canned Pineapple, which rebounded to 29.3 percent from negative 7.3 percent; and Prepared Tuna, which grew by 69.1 percent from 48.9 percent. Exports of Non-Factor Services, on the other hand, accelerated to 6.4 percent from 2.9 percent in the previous year.

Total Merchandise Imports, which has been on a downhill since the first quarter of the year, continued to shrink by 3.2 percent in the fourth quarter from last year’s 0.3 percent growth.

Only three subsectors contributed positively to the growth of Merchandise Imports: Cereals and Cereals Products, with a hefty growth of 96.4 percent from a measly 0.8 percent last year; Mineral Fuels, Lubricants and Related Materials, up anew by 7.6 percent from 11.1 percent; and Dairy Products, which accelerated to 10.8 percent from 9.9 percent. On the other hand, imports of non-factor services slowed down to 11.1 percent from 17.6 percent due to the lackluster performance of Miscellaneous Services, which contracted by 0.4 percent from a 17.4 percent gain last year.

The terms of trade during the quarter resulted in a Trade Index of 104.2 percent from 109.2 percent in the same period last year. Trading Gains for the quarter amounted to P6.1 billion.

GNP Implicit Price Index (IPIN) stood at 497.1 from 478.6 in the previous year or a 3.79 percent inflation from 2006.

ROMULO A. VIROLA
Secretary-General, NSCB

http://www.nscb.gov.ph/sna/2007/4thQ2007/2007qpr4.asp

The National Federation of Filipino American Associations (NaFFAA)

The Voice of Filipino Americans For Unity and Empowerment

8th NaFFAA National Empowerment Conference

8th NaFFAA National Empowerment Conference September 26-28, 2008 Seattle, WA

September 26-28, 2008 Westin Hotel Seattle, WA

http://www.naffaar7.org/

http://www.naffaa.org/2005naffaa/descript.html

The National Federation of Filipino American Associations (NaFFAA) is recognized by Washington policy-makers, private industry and national advocacy groups as the Voice of Filipinos and Filipino Americans throughout the United States. It is a non-partisan, non-profit national affiliation of more than five hundred Filipino-American institutions and umbrella organizations. Its twelve regions cover the continental United States, Alaska, Hawaii, Guam and the Marianas.