CPA to talk taxes at meeting of chamber

The Maui News

KAHULUI, Maui - The Maui Filipino Chamber of Commerce will hold its quarterly membership meeting Thursday with a certified public accountant discussing tax updates.

Robert Kawahara will be the guest speaker at the event that begins at 5:30 p.m. in the Leis Family Class Act Restaurant at the University of Hawaii Maui College.

Members and nonmembers are welcome.

The cost is $20 and will include heavy pupus.

To RSVP or for more information, email brianmoto@gmail.com or call Ben Acob at 344-3035.

Binhi at Ani center lawsuit allowed to proceed- barely

By MELISSA TANJI - Staff Writer (mtanji@mauinews.com) , The Maui News 

WAILUKU, Maui- A lawsuit involving members of the Binhi at Ani Maui Filipino Community Center board will move forward, 2nd Circuit Judge Rhonda Loo ruled Thursday morning.

Loo denied a motion to dismiss the lawsuit, but she added that it "barely" met all of its criteria to stand up in court.

In the lawsuit, former Binhi at Ani board President Norma Barroga alleges that sitting President Cecille Piros and three other directors associated with the Maui Filipino Community Council were not validly seated on the Binhi at Ani board.

The dispute surfaced publicly last month when Barroga and Piros feuded over whether a Filipino Rice Festival would be held at the Binhi at Ani Maui Community Center in Kahului. Barroga wanted the event to go ahead as scheduled at the center, but Piros and sitting board members decided to postpone the event after Barroga filed a lawsuit Nov. 30 seeking to have four board members removed.

Eventually, the Rice Festival was held Dec. 18 across the street in the Maui Waena Intermediate School cafeteria. Earlier in the morning, the community center on Onehee Avenue was locked, with notices on windows that the festival had been canceled. People who went to the center were met by three private security guards, according to attorney Mary Cochran, who is representing Barroga.

Also on Thursday, Loo denied a temporary restraining order requested by Barroga against Piros and board members Emmanuel Baltazar, Romeo Guzman and Arthur Latayada.

A trial date has not been set.

Zalsos elected new president of Maui Filipino Chamber of Commerce

[from Fil-Am OBSERVER, January 2012 Issue]

KAHULUI- Energetic.  Vibrant.  Committed.  These are the three words that describe Sharon Zalsos, the newly elected president of the Maui Filipino Chamber of Commerce, according to her mentor, Teresita Bustamente Noble, a pillar in the Maui Filipino business community.

 

            Noble, who will serve as Vice President, will be joined on the Board of Directors by Melen Agcolicol (Secretary), Lydia Dela Cruz (Treasurer), Elizabeth Ayson (Immediate Past President) and Directors C.J. Ancheta, Lucio Calina, Jr., Jeana Gamboa, Brian Moto, Lawrence Pascua, William Ruidas, Alvin Santander, and Felix Santiago.

            “I’m and excited and looking forward to working with the new Board of Directors to promote business, which is the mission of the organization.  We will need the support of our members, the business community, and the people of Maui to continue to move forward,” said Zalsos.

            Zalsos is currently employed as a Departmental Personnel with the County of Maui Department of Environmental Management.  Since 2009, she has also worked as an Executive Travel Consultant  with  Noble Travel.

Sakadas to be Remembered at Rice Festival

[Fil-Am Observer December 2011 Issue]

KAHULUI, Maui- They are known as the sakadas, the Filipino pioneers, who left the native Philippines, leaving behind families and friends, to come to work in Hawaii's sugar and pineapple plantations. Recruited by the Hawaiian Planters Association, the first group to come to the islands in 1906 and the last group in 1946.

Rice was their staple food, and many of them were rice farmers before they come to Hawaii to work in the islands' plantations.

Binhi at Ani will hold its Third Annual Rice Festival on December 18, 2011, from 5 pm, at the Filipino Community Center, 780 Onehee Avenue, Kahului, to remember the sakadas, to celebrate family, community and cultural heritage.

To be recognized as "Ama at Ina," outstanding father and mother, Arsenio Jacinto and Victoria Jacinto of Lahaina.

Born December 14, 1921, in Laoag City, Ilocos Norte, Mr. Jacinto was one of the batch of sakadas who sailed from Salomague, Cabugao, Ilocos Sur, on August 30, 1946, and reached Kahului Harbor 16 days later. He worked first as grass cutter with Pioneer Mill Co., Ltd., and was paid 40 cents per hour or $3.20 per day. After one year, he became an irrigator until his retirement in 1983 when he earned $10.00 per hour.

Miss Maui Filipina search starts

KAHULUI, Maui- The Maui Filipino Community Council is seeking contestants for the 53rd Miss Maui Filipina Scholarship Pageant in June 2012. The pageant is open to single women of full or part Filipino ancestry between the ages of 18 and 27. High school seniors may apply, providing that their 18th birthday is by Dec. 31, 2012.

Deadline to enter is March 14, 2012.

Miss Maui Filipina 2012 will receive a scholarship award, round-trip airfare to the Philippines and a travel allowance. She will also have the opportunity to compete in the Miss Hawaii Filipina Scholarship Pageant in July 2012. Shelby Bantilan is the reigning Miss Maui Filipina.
For details and an application, log on to the pageant website at www.missmauifilipina.webs.com or send email to missmauifilipina@msn.com.

Plantation Days Return

First Photo: Lahaina Filipino Club members Angie Deocares (seated from left), Adela Corpuz and Remy Ramos make lumpia Friday at the start of the Lahaina Plantation Days celebration under the Pioneer Mill smokestack. 

"The secret ingredients are our hands and our love," said club President Mario Arruiza with a laugh. "Without the love there is no taste." The annual event, put on by the Lahaina Restoration Foundation, will continue tonight from 5 to 10 with food, entertainment and many historic displays, including vintage locomotives (second photo), relocated to the island last week, once used in the cane fields in Lahaina and Launiupoko. 

Two original plantation locomotives, donated by the Allen and Lenabelle Davis Foundation, were unveiled at Plantation Days. There are 20 restaurants offering food, a beer and wine garden, a farmer's market and games for the children. Admission to the event is $3.