Revolting Traditions
November 25, 2008
At a recent house party I attended, the hostess remarked that it was a curse to be a Filipino. “My white friends, when they host parties, they only serve one or two main dishes and a lot of crackers and cheese,” she said. “But for Filipinos, we are always expected to serve six, eight or more main dishes.”
“It takes so much more time and so much more money to be a Pinoy,” she said with a sigh.
Thanksgiving always presents the cultural contrast between a typical American family feasting on just turkey and pumpkin pie and a Filipino family which has to serve the traditional turkey along with a whole lechon (roast pig) and several more main dishes.
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The ‘F’ Word
November 18, 2008
What do the cities of Vallejo, Daly City, Stockton and Las Vegas have in common?
Aside from each being home to a Jollibee Filipino fast-food restaurant, all have large Filipino populations and the highest foreclosure rates in the United States.
The dirtiest word in the Filipino community now, the new “F” word, is foreclosure. While it affects all races and all communities throughout the United States, it is disproportionately crushing Filipino homeowners.
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Give the Devil His Due
November 12, 2008
Although I received more votes in San Francisco than all the U.S. presidential candidates except Barack Obama combined, they were not nearly enough to win. The biggest difference between this year’s contest and the previous four elections where I won handily was that this year I did not receive the endorsements of the San Francisco Democratic County Central Committee (DCCC) and the San Francisco Labor Council.
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E Pluribus Unum
October 28, 2008
If I had drawn up a list four years ago of who would likely be the next president of the United States, the name Barack Obama would not have been on it. Up until July 27, 2004, I had never even heard of him. But on that day, Barack Obama introduced himself to the consciousness of America when he gave the keynote speech at the Democratic National Convention and electrified the nation. Read more
Boss Daly’s Revenge
October 21, 2008
When I first ran for a seat on the San Francisco Community College Board in 1992, I obtained a list of the names and telephone numbers of Filipino voters in The City, a process of extrapolation that included those who listed their place of birth as the Philippines and those with “Filipino sounding” names.
After we gathered a list of 14,000 names, we started a phone bank with my supporters calling everyone on that list and introducing me to them, telling them of my experience as president of the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission (SFPUC), where I initiated the transfer of 15 acres of SFPUC reservoir land to City College. The callers also emphasized the need for our Filipino community to be empowered by having representatives from our community like me elected to policy-making positions.
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Standing Up To A Bully
October 14, 2008
The most contentious issue facing San Francisco voters on the November ballot is Proposition H, which has been called the “Clean Energy Act” by its supporters and the “Blank Check Initiative” by its opponents. It seeks to amend San Francisco’s charter “to require The City to transition from fossil fuels to clean, non-nuclear, sustainable energy production at affordable rates” by purchasing Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E), a local private supplier of electric power. Read more
Unempowered, Disempowered
October 8, 2008
This has been a terrible year for Filipino Americans running for public office.
On September 22, Hawai‘i state Senator Ron Menor lost his re-election bid by just 123 votes to little-known challenger Michelle Kidani, ending his distinguished 22-year career in state politics. In another contested primary race in Hawai‘i, House Rep. Alex Sonson lost his bid to unseat state Sen. Clarence Nishihara in a heavily Filipino district, in the process forfeiting his state house seat. Read more
Vets’ High Stakes Gamble
October 5, 2008
For the Filipino World War II veterans who were anxiously awaiting a vote on S.1315, September 22 was a roller coaster day on Capitol Hill. The word had gone out to the veterans the Friday before that the Filipino Veterans Equity Bill, which had been incorporated in S.1315, the Veterans Benefits’ Enhancement Bill, would finally go for a vote on Monday, on the last week before Congress adjourned for the year. All the years of painstaking lobbying by these hardy octogenarian veterans would now culminate in the much-anticipated vote.
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Sub-Par Performance of Filipino Students
October 1, 2008
The statistics were shocking for a culture that prizes education. The California Standardized Test scores for San Francisco public school students showed that Filipinos in 6th, 7th and 8th grades have “the highest percentage of students below ‘Basic’ among other Asian groups and whites in both English-language Arts and Math, ranging from 19% to 37%.” It doesn’t get any better. “In the 9th-11th grades, 42% of Filipino students fall in the ‘Basic’ and ‘Below Basic’ levels on the Star Math Test.”
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Maharlika
September 2, 2008
Reader response to my column about a name change for the Philippines was phenomenal. From Mindanao, Kauban M. wrote that Moros prefer Maharlika, as it is the name suited to our culture and character. A local reader, Joseph Vizcarra, also liked Maharlika because it pays honor to the advanced indigenous civilization we had before the coming of the Spaniards. It also betrays our Hindu roots as well as blood links with the rest of the Austronesian family. On top of this we would all be called Maharlikans! Read more
Name Change for the Philippines
August 26, 2008
When I visited Manila in January 2006, a city councilor I knew excitedly informed me that his council had just voted to change the name of the Philippines. What? The country would no longer be named after a ruthless Spanish despot? We would finally be rid of this last vestige of colonialism? Hallelujah!
Breathlessly, I asked my friend, Councilor Cassie Sison, to tell me the name that the City Council of Manila had proposed. Read more
Ninoy’s Faith
August 19, 2008
Was it his fate or faith that led Ninoy Aquino to return to the Philippines on August 23, 1983, knowing what awaited him upon arrival?
Even as he wore a bullet-proof vest, Ninoy Aquino told the journalists accompanying him on China Airlines Flight 811 from Taipei that “you have to be ready with your camera because this action can become very fast…in a matter of 3 or 4 minutes it could be all over…and I may not be able to talk to you again after this.” He was precisely right. Read more