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SEPTEMBER 2026
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How to make sure you’re giving to a genuine charity
BE proactive. Instead of waiting until a charity asks you, think about the causes you care about, and do your research when you have time to devote to it, Styron suggests. That way “when somebody calls, you can say, ‘Thank you, I appreciate what you do. But I have a group of charities that I already give to,’ ” she adds.
Examine its website. Look for specifics about its programs, finances, governance oversight and impact. This should be clearly laid out. “You shouldn’t have to be Sherlock Holmes to figure out what the organization is actually funding,” Weiner says.
Consider who runs the charity. “I look at the board and the staff and look at their LinkedIn profiles to make sure they have expertise in the area,” MacDonald says.
Check watchdog sites. Sites such as Charity Navigator, CharityWatch and the Better Business Bureau’s Wise Giving Alliance monitor and evaluate organizations. (See Resources below.)
Check state licensing. Contact your state’s charity regulator to verify that an organization is registered to raise money in your state.
Avoid giving through third parties. A third party can be legitimate but will take a cut. The best way to make sure that a charity gets your gift is to go to its website and donate there.
Use a credit card. Not only can you check your statement to ensure the payment went to the charity but you can challenge a charge if you later find that you were scammed, Styron says.
Don’t share personal and financial information such as your Social Security number, date of birth or bank account number to anyone soliciting a donation. Scammers use that data to steal money and identities. “If you’re making a gift over the phone, a credit card number is all they need,” Weiner says. “If you want a receipt for your taxes, all they need is your email.”
Keep records and watch your accounts. Keep a record of your donations and regularly review your credit card account to make sure you weren’t charged more than you agreed to give or unknowingly signed up for a recurring donation.
ConGen. Melanie Diano joins Emil Sabado & GK advocates at the VIP Winter Escapades in Chicago.
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Notice of Class Action Settlement
EDITORIAL - SEPTEMBER '26
A constituency of resentment
By Randy David
Inquirer News Services
WE often hear educated Filipinos blame the kind of government we have on the kind of public officials that the “bobotantes” choose during elections. The derisive term is a clever blending of two words: “bobo,” meaning stupid, and “botante,” meaning voter. It is applied to voters whose electoral choices are presumably uninformed by any understanding of the functions of public office, or of the qualifications of the candidates they vote for. The clear implication is that such voters are irrational.
To the extent that the term points to the existence of a sizable premodern voter formation that decides political outcomes, I believe it is quite accurate. That was the point I made in last week’s column, where I tried to interpret the latest Pulse Asia findings on presidential preferences for 2028. But its use as a pejorative also betrays an elitist and simplistic understanding of Philippine society and politics.
The “bobotante” way of voting has its own rationality. It is rooted in a worldview that sees government as a predatory institution that exists mainly to serve the interests of the rich and powerful. Conventional politicians, according to this view, are uniformly corrupt. They operate mainly to raid the public coffers and plunder the nation’s resources, the better to enrich themselves and their patrons. Their notion of public service is to deliver the occasional “ayuda” during disasters and emergencies. But what they hand out as assistance they recover in taxes and the high price of necessities. Instead of building an economy that provides stable jobs and secure incomes, they let people fend for themselves in the informal sector or in the overseas employment market.
There is nothing ignorant about this view of government. It thrives in highly unequal societies like ours, where the levers of government are captured by the oligarchy. But instead of giving rise to a constituency of reform, what it breeds is a constituency of resentment, which particular kinds of politicians, like the Dutertes, are able to tap.
In July 2011, Sara Duterte, then mayor of Davao, walked into the middle of an ongoing demolition of squatter shanties, and punched a court sheriff in the face. I watched the footage several times, and wrote here that for all the criminal liability to which she exposed herself, “from hereon, it will be difficult to defeat her in any election for any public position in Davao,” that “her feistiness and readiness to stake her personal authority on behalf of the poor will become part of political legend,” and that “this is how folk heroes in a pre-modern society are made.” (Public Lives, 7/3/11)
Where society is deeply unequal, I wrote then, “the rule of law cannot be impartial. Its blind implementation will always appear harsh. Thus, instead of serving the ends of justice, law is perceived as one more tool of oppression. This uneven landscape creates ample room for the intervention of heroic equalizers.” The mauling of a sheriff by a lady mayor, in that landscape, is perceived not as an assault on a person of authority, but as the credential of a folk hero.
That legend traveled swiftly from the remote city of Davao to the national stage. Eleven years later, Sara Duterte was elected vice president in the 2022 elections as the running mate of Bongbong Marcos in the short-lived “UniTeam” alliance, drawing one of the largest vote totals in our electoral history. Her father, Rodrigo, later claimed that she could have won the presidency itself had she not agreed to step down and give way to Marcos.
More recently, Pulse Asia measured her chances should she run in 2028. They stand at 49 percent of the country, the bulk of it from Mindanao, then the Visayas, and the lower-income communities of Metro Manila. It gives me little comfort to say that my diagnosis in 2011 has held. What has not held is a piece of wishful sociology I allowed myself in that same column.
Leaders like Sara, I wrote then, can be “the rearguard of a dying feudal system or the harbingers of a new less personal form of rule.” On the contrary, as we have seen, her appeal to the masa voter has endured not because she has become a modern leader, but because she has kept replicating the outsider leadership her father made famous: the decisive, foul-mouthed, personal equalizer who stands between the elites and the uneducated masses.
The demand for the leader as equalizer, it turns out, is not a stage a society passes through. It is a durable formation of voters that a society keeps reproducing, for as long as government goes on arriving in the lives of the poor as a predator rather than a benefactor.
Mailbag
Choosing ‘lechon kawali’ over sushi
Dear Editor,
Do you refuse to try something new? Are you afraid to eat unfamiliar food? These were the questions my co-worker asked me when we had dinner at a restaurant known for ramen and sushi. He asked because I ordered lechon kawali, not realizing that it was also “new” to me because I only eat pork occasionally.
His comments, disguised as questions, almost embarrassed me. In truth, they stung enough that I found myself writing about the experience.
My response was simple: “No. I was just here the other day and ate sushi.” My companions even took photos of their food and posted them online.
By the way, everyone at the table ate sushi that evening, except me, who remained loyal to Filipino food. But what’s wrong with Pinoy dishes anyway? Our adobo is famous abroad. Ube, our beloved purple yam, has become the new matcha. Starbucks now serves ube lattes and desserts across the US and Europe, and more and more foreigners are hooked on it. Add sinigang to the list, which has won major global food awards. And lumpia, which happens to be a favorite of actress Cameron Diaz.
This is not to offend those who love ramen or sushi, but it saddens me that some Filipinos don’t support our own dishes. Let us love our local cuisine. Let us not be strangers to our own food.
Leonard Mesa Gelacio,
COMMUNITY NEWS - SEPTEMBER 2026
Archdiocese of Chicago Feast of San Lorenzo Ruiz, Sept. 26, 27
ALL Filipino ministries of the Archdiocese of Chicago will celebrate the feast day of San Lorenzo Ruiz de Manila on Saturday, Sept. 26 at 8:30 a.m. at St. John Brebeuf Parish, 8305 N. Harlem Ave., Niles, IL.
Chicago area Catholic churches with Filipino ministry are invited to join the solemn mass in honor of the first Filipino saint and are encouraging parishioners to bring their decorated image of San Lorenzo Ruiz to be part of the entrance procession.
A potluck brunch will follow at the ministry center. To help in the preparation a RSVP is required, email Filipinoministrychi@gmail.com, on or before Sept. 12, 2026, stating number of attendees, food and drinks you are sharing for the potluck.
Meanwhile, Filipino Families of Skokie will also celebrate the feast of San Lorenzo Ruiz on Sunday, Sept. 27, 12 noon Mass at St. Lambert Parish, corner Karlov and Cleveland Avenues in Skokie. A reception to follow the mass. St Lambert and St. Peter Parishes in Skokie are now merged into one parish congregation.
For information call Lou Alog (224) 622-3184
COLP to celebrate 40th Year of Devotion to Our Lady of Peñafrancia, Sept 11-19
THE Confraternity of Our Lady of Peñafrancia (COLP) celebrates its 40th anniversary with a nine-day novena, Sept. 11-19 and feast day Mass on Saturday, Sept. 19 with Fr. Efren V. Esmilla, Auxiliary Bishop of Philadelphia as main celebrant at St Matthias Church, 2301 W. Ainslie, Chicago. Our Lady of Peñafrancia is the patroness of the Bicol region of the Philippines.
COLP was founded by Bicolanos in the Chicago area in 1986. “For forty years we have continued this tradition — good times and a lot of trials — but we are still intact because of Ina,” said Roger R. Odiamar, COLP president
Bishop Esmilla, born in Nagcarlan, Laguna, is the first bishop of Filipino descent in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia and on the Midwest. He was ordained to the episcopate in March 2024.
The devotion began in 1710, when a young priest, Miguel Robles de Covarrubias, built a shrine on the banks of the Bicol River in Nueva Cáceres (now Naga City) in thanksgiving for his recovery from illness.
Since then, the September feast has grown into one of the largest Marian celebrations in Asia, drawing millions to Naga for the Traslación procession and the fluvial parade down the Bicol River, where devotees known as voyadores shouting “Viva la Virgen!”
All events are free and open to the public. For more info, call Roger, (773) 406-1117 or Email: rogerodiamar@yahoo.com
Special Supplement: Global Financial Impact (GFI) Team Legacy Business Expansion
Pasko Is Coming: When to Book
Your Christmas Flight Home
FOR Filipinos living in the U.S., September changes the mood. The “Ber months” begin, Christmas songs return, and conversations with family back home start sounding a little different: “Uuwi ka ba this year?” If the answer might be yes, September is a good time to turn that thought into a plan. You still have more choice before the busiest Christmas travel weeks arrive.
Planning a Christmas trip to the Philippines is different from booking an ordinary vacation. The dates matter. You may want to be home before Simbang Gabi begins, make it in time for Noche Buena, or stay through Media Noche. Booking earlier gives you a better chance of finding the flight times, connections, and seats that fit those plans. Popular December dates can start tightening in September and October.
ASAP Tickets can help you compare flights before availability becomes more limited. Call +1 888-535-5979 to check current Christmas fares, routes, and airline choices. Pinoy Newsmagazine readers can also get an extra $50 off by mentioning promo code ASAP50 when booking.
It also pays to look beyond the first fare you see online. Flying a few days earlier, choosing a different U.S. departure airport, or taking a well-timed one-stop route can sometimes open up better options. And if home is outside Manila, planning the domestic connection at the same time can save you from scrambling for a separate flight during the holiday rush.
For more than two decades, ASAP Tickets has helped Filipino travelers plan journeys home. Their travel agents can compare airlines, baggage allowances, connection times, and routes to destinations beyond Manila. With 24/7 support and agents who speak Tagalog and Cebuano, there’s also a real person to call if plans change.
Christmas may still feel a few months away, but the best part of Pasko is knowing you’ll be there. Call +1 888-535-5979 and mention ASAP50 for your exclusive $50 Pinoy Newsmagazine discount. Then the countdown to Noche Buena back home can begin.
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