As of today, February 19, 2009, NaFFAA Region 8 has not received any updates regarding how Filipino American World War II veterans can file their claims and get their benefits. In the meantime, we have the press release from the US Embassy in Manila.
Filipino WWII Veterans to Receive Additional U.S. Benefits
President Barack Obama signed into law on February 17, 2009, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, which includes among the many provisions, an additional U.S. benefit to eligible Filipino World War II veterans. The new law recognizes the service of Filipino WWII veterans as active military service in the Armed Forces for purposes of this law. It authorizes one-time lump-sum payments to all eligible Filipino WW II veterans. Those veterans with U.S. citizenship will receive a one-time lump-sum payment of $15,000. Non-U.S. citizens will receive a one-time lump-sum payment of $9,000.
For further information on how to submit a claim [Click here] and for frequently asked questions [Click here.]
For more information on the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 [Click here.]
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This past weekend was a tribute to our community! For those who did not get a chance to make it out to the Counselor Training and Foreclosure Clinic over the weekend, I wanted to report how greatly successful the training and Clinic was.
Many thanks to our team of Volunteers whose “willing to help attitudes”, effortlessly met the needs of our affected homeowners. Everyone performed at such a high level and the clinic attendees were very appreciative and walked away much more informed of their options. Homeowners couldn’t believe that they were able to get “free” legal advice from the 3 Volunteer Attorneys, Jason Buckingham, Donna Echiverri and Rodel Rodis. I was told by Baylan Megino, who was one of many volunteers who manned the Registration area, that, initially, some of the homeowners were skeptical of the “free” clinic and were almost expecting to be charged for something or another at registration.
A special thanks to Betsy Zoebel and Maritess Lagandaon (City of Daly City), who helped provide the venues for the two events and whose tireless efforts to ensure we had what we needed was very instrumental to our success.
A shout-out to Hazel Valera whose Credit Workshop was as enlightening as it was invaluable. Her suggestions and her expert understanding of Credit helped inform homeowners just how to move forward from this catastrophic point in their lives.
Of course many, many thanks to Faith Bautista, Lynn McLaughlin, Daughlet Ordinario, Eleza Nooris and Louie Guererro of Mabuhay Alliance. Faith and Mabuhay continue to pave the way to make it easier for all us. Thanks for all your leadership on empowering our Filipino Community.
None of this would have happened had it not been for the Bayanihan Spirit of the 45+ volunteers who braved the elements and sacrificed time from their families to be with so many who needed a hand. Your desire to volunteer and help those in trouble are a testament to you. Thanks for your inspiring dedication and tremendous example to those in need.
Words cannot convey our gratitude for your contribution. We wanted to thank you with this note as our personal round of applause. The credit for our good deeds firmly rests with our dedicated volunteers. It is a pleasure and a privilege to work with all of you.
Next stop, San Jose! Date to be determined…stay tuned!
Sincerely,
Jose A. Pecho, Chair Region 8, Northern California NaFFAA
Sunday, February 22, 2009
10:00 AM - 4:00 PM
Foreclosure Prevention Clinic
Doelger Community Center
101 Lake Merced Blvd.
Daly City, CA 94015
Capitalizing on the success of our first Foreclosure Prevention Clinic held in Vallejo on December 13, 2008, NaFFAA Region 8 in cooperation with the Mabuhay Alliance, the city of Daly City and the Community Child Care Council of Santa Clara County, invites you to a “Foreclosure Prevention Clinic” to be held on Sunday, February 22, 2009 at the Doelger Community Center in Daly City.
Come to the Clinic if you are experiencing difficulties making your monthly mortgage payments. Has your interest rate changed? Has your home value decreased? Do you have questions about foreclosure or bankruptcy? Do you await foreclosure or eviction notices? Do you have questions about how non-payments can affect your credit rating? What is a short sale?
You can answer all these questions by attending this foreclosure prevention clinic. Housing counselors, mortgage counselors and volunteer attorneys can give you valuable information to assist you to make needed decisions.
Please help us spread the word by getting this invitation to as many homeowners as possible. Loss mitigation Representatives from several banks will be present including: Countrywide Home Loans, Bank of America, Citi Mortgage, Wells Fargo, JP Morgan Chase Washington Mutual, HSBC, Indymac Federal Bank, Downey Savings and EMC Mortgage.
Sincerely,
Jose A. Pecho, Chair
Region 8, Northern California
NaFFAA
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NaFFAA Region 8 (Northern CA) and The American Legion Bataan Post 600 are very honored to host the visionaries of New York’s Children’s Orchestra Society, Violinist Yeou-Cheng Ma & Guitarist Michael Dadap. Proceeds will benefit the American Coalition for the Filipino Veterans’ campaign to pass the Filipino Veterans Equity Bill and the Children’s Orchestra Society.
Since this clinic was confidential in nature, we will not be publishing any photos.
PRESS RELEASE
Pre-Christmas, JP Morgan Sponsored Foreclosure Clinic
Draws 250 Homeowners and Their Future under Obama
Vallejo, CA – Responding to the urgent cry for help of homeowners threatened with the loss of their homes, Mabuhay Alliance and the National Federation of Filipino American Associations (NaFFAA), two state and nationwide community organizations conducted the first foreclosure prevention clinic in Solano County last December 13, 2008.
The principal sponsor of the clinic was JP Morgan Chase, which after meeting with Mabuhay Alliance, NaFFAA, and other community groups, recently developed one of the nation’s most far reaching foreclosure prevention and loan modification programs. JP Morgan has just acquired Washington Mutual.
The clinic was held at the Solano Community College (Vallejo Center) and was attended by more than 250 homeowners facing foreclosure. Also attending the clinic and endorsing it were several government officials, including Vallejo Mayor Osby Davis and Suisun Mayor Pete Sanchez.
Mayor Davis, impressed with the purpose and the turnout, requested that Mabuhay Alliance and NaFFAA coordinate another clinic soon after President-elect Barack Obama takes office. Both organizations will meet with the mayor next month to plan the clinic. It is expected that all the major banks and officials of the new Obama administration will observe the next clinic.
Mabuhay Alliance and NaFFAA predicted that if President-elect Obama follows some of the suggestions developed at the clinic, the vast majority of homeowners facing foreclosure this Christmas will have a more prosperous and secure Christmas in 2009 in their own homes. Some of the suggestions, which JP Morgan Chase may follow or advocate are:
* A foreclosure moratorium until loans are fully and adequately modified in accordance with the FDIC/IndyMac proposal;
* Hedge fund investor pools that hold up to 80% of mortgages should be compelled to follow the JP Morgan/IndyMac approach of lowering interest rates, forgiving principal, and ensuring that no more than 31% of income should be allocated to mortgage related payments;
* Support the US Treasury’s proposal to create new homeownership opportunities free from predatory lenders. The Treasury suggestion which Mabuhay Alliance and NaFFAA fully support is to create government guaranteed 30 year fixed rate mortgages at 4.5%;
* Ensure that moderate-income homeowners are treated like wealthy homeowners under the tax system. The method suggested is to guarantee a $5,000 a year tax credit for every homeowner.
Mabuhay Alliance and NaFFAA, along with the Greenlining Institute, plan to meet with the new Obama administration officials and the major banks in February to ensure that the goal of seeing “every family in its own home next Christmas” is achieved.
Other corporations and agencies that attended the clinic were Wells Fargo, US Bancorp, IndyMac, Washington Mutual, United Way and the FDIC. James Buckingham a real estate attorney in Benicia, CA volunteered to provide free legal advice for distressed owners at the clinic. He noted he would further provide his services on a sliding scale for homeowners of moderate means.
DOCUMENTATION
The involvement of NaFFAA in the City of Vallejo’s Foreclosure Prevention Clinic started with an agreement among Greg Macabenta, NaFFAA National Chair, Faith Bautista, Mabuhay Alliance’s Executive Director, and Robert Gnaizda, General Counsel and Policy Director (as well as co-founder) for the Greenlining Institute to help beleaguered homeowners in Northern California. Since the City of Vallejo was the first American city to declare the “housing foreclosure crisis, supporting local, state, and federal efforts to address the crisis and urging lending institutions and loan servicers to take certain remedial actions,” Mabuhay Alliance’s first foreclosure prevention clinic in collaboration with NaFFAA Region 8 and United Way Bay Area was also held in the City of Vallejo last December 13, 2008.
Local volunteer counselors, recruited by NaFFAA, were trained by team members of Mabuhay Alliance last November 17-18, 2008. There were many lessons learned during this first collaboration which are expected to benefit the future NaFFAA-collaborated workshops in the 12 regions. The roll-out of other foreclosure prevention clinics nationwide will start in 2009.
NaFFAA Region 8 has also acquired the resolutions from Solano County and the City of Vallejo as well as the statement from local Filipino American community leaders in Solano County regarding how they took action on the housing foreclosure crisis. The Filipino American community in Solano County, led by community leaders such as Reverend Doctor Tony Ubalde, Francis Neri, Lynn Mamaril, and Eloise Escano Scott (who was instrumental in gathering over 600 signatures) were tenacious in getting their local government officials to address the crisis and declare a moratorium. Other NaFFAA regions who haven’t started working at the local legislative level regarding obtaining such resolutions will find these documents helpful.
I was reading the blog entry of my sister, Noemi Dado, about Barack Obama being elected as the 44th President of the United States. She had included a quick and easy primer for her Filipino readers about the electoral process, titled: “Electing a US President in Plain English.” During her visit last month, Philippines-based Noemi had grappled with understanding US elections since she was only familiar with the mechanics of the “popular vote.”
I have included this video tutorial from YouTube that Noemi used. Although we won’t be electing a US President soon, we can use this video to help educate future voters.
Thank you to Rodel Rodis for alerting us about the YouTube videos that TFC’s Balitang America uploaded for interested viewers who missed its featured “Presidential Debate Night” discussion among Filipino Americans about their choices for the next President of the United States.
Formed as a non-partisan program, NaFFAA’s FilVOTE not only aims to register Filipinos who are American citizens, but to make sure they go out and vote. In the 2004 presidential elections, only 594,000 Filipino Americans voted - a decline of 7 percent because 122,000 registered voters did not cast their ballots. “Potentially, there are 715,000 Filipino Americans, or 40 percent of our total number, who can be mobilized to go to the polls,” says Gloria Caoile, co-chair of FilVOTE. “But we need to register them if they haven’t done so and educate them on issues that directly affect our community so they will appreciate what’s at stake, especially for our children and families.”
Many of NaFFAA’s leadership showed up for this televised discussion sometime in mid-October, 2008.
Something to think about: When there are more Filipino Americans who take the time to speak out about what matters to them, political leaders listen. When more Filipino Americans mobilize its own communities to “rock the vote,” they allow their influence and affluence to shine brightly in the arenas of public opinion and legislative decisions.
Note: Any listed titles after people’s names are for identification purposes only.
A studio full Filipino Democrats, Republicans, and Undecideds comment on the Presidential debate, and talk about who they’ll vote for.
“How many of you think that race is a very strong factor among the Fil-Am community in making a decision in this election?” Gel Santos-Relos asked the audience.
One Filipino Republican, Rudy Asercion, and One Filipino Democrat, Rodel Rodis, duke during a special Balitang America Debate watching party shortly after the 3rd and Final Presidential Debate.
Special guest star in this segment is Ed Navarra, aka NaFFAA Region 3’s chair.
Rudy Asercion is NaFFAA Region 8’s City Chair for San Francisco (Member, American Legion War Memorial Commission) and Rodel Rodis is one of NaFFAA’s founders (Member, Board of Trustees, City College of San Francisco).
Jose Pecho is the newly-elected regional chair for NaFFAA Northern California (Region 8). The regional officers were installed into office on November 28, 2007 by Rodel Rodis, an elected official in the City and County of San Francisco.
This informative business session was first presented during the 2005 NaFFAA R8 Summit.
For more information about how you, the Filipino business owner, can help create value for Filipino businesses with NaFFAA as your empowerment vehicle, contact Jose Pecho at jp8cho@aol.com.
Click here for the REGISTRATION FORM:naffaa-r8-summit-registration-form-for-10-nov-2007.doc
On-site summit registration starts at 8:30 a.m. at the Bayanihan Community Center. You can fill up your registration forms there.
Northern California Regional NaFFAA Summit
“Expanding our Roots: Providing Access and Opportunities to Strengthen our Foundation”
Saturday, November 10, 2007
The Bayanihan Community Center
1010 Mission Street
San Francisco, CA 94103
Registration starts at 8:30 a.m.
Summit is from 9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.
Reception 5:00 PM – 7:00 PM
A Tour of San Francisco Filipino Cultural Center
Westfield Shopping Center, 865 Market Street, San Francisco, CA 94103
9:00 a.m. – 9:45 a.m.
(We will meet at Bayanihan Community Center and walk to Westfield)
NaFFAA Region 8 is pleased to invite you to its upcoming Regional Summit “Expanding our Roots: Providing Access and Opportunities to Strengthen our Foundation” on Saturday, November 10, 2007 to be held at the Bayanihan Community Center. Bayanihan is located at 1010 Mission Street in San Francisco. The Summit will feature a wide variety of activities that will allow us to expand our community network and forge new relationships.
UPDATE AS OF FEBRUARY 23, 2009: