My wife, Edna, and I will celebrate our 29th wedding anniversary this week. When we said “I do” to each other back in 1979, there were no guarantees our marriage would last. After all, in California, 50% of all marriages end in divorce so we had a 1 in 2 chance that our marriage would fail. But somehow we beat the odds and we are now just one year shy of a pearl anniversary. Through hard work and patience, through compromise and constant communication, we have managed to make our marriage work, so far.
But we can never take it for granted that just because it has worked so far, it will somehow coast along on automatic pilot for the rest of the way and we don't need to work as hard from now on. Wrong. To make a marriage work, you have to nurture it like a garden, providing it with constant attention and tender loving care, always.
At the recent Anchorage conference of the Filipino American National Historical Society (FANHS), my wife and I met up with our wedding sponsors, Fred and Dorothy Cordova, FANHS founders, who flew down to San Francisco from Seattle 29 years ago this week to be our ninong and ninang at our wedding. Anyone who knows them can attest to their amazing grace in exhibiting as much love, affection and respect for each other now as they did when they were married more than 53 years ago.
One of the most touching moments of the FANHS conference was the tribute to former Alaska State Rep. Thelma Garcia Bucholdt at the gala night on July 5. There were memoriams, accolades and tributes from the state's governor, speaker of the house and senate president and other notables delivered by friends and colleagues. After Thelma's husband, Jon, was introduced, he strode up to the podium, looked at everyone, nodded his thanks for their expressions of sympathy and then said "50".That’s all he said. "50". But he really didn't need to say anything else as he was conveying to everyone there that he had spent 50 wonderful years - 18,250 days – with his wife and that he was grateful for each second that they had spent together in their life adventure from California to Alaska to Washington DC and back to Alaska. Never was "50" said with such eloquence.
It is truly an amazing achievement to reach that golden anniversary. A couple who reached that milestone early this year is Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward. What made their Las Vegas wedding in 1958 stand out was the special marriage vows which they composed themselves. Even after 50 years, it is still a classic:
“Happiness in marriage is not something that just happens. A good marriage must be created. In the Art of Marriage: The little things are the big things. It is never being too old to hold hands. It is remembering to say 'I love you' at least once a day. It is never going to sleep angry. It is at no time taking the other for granted; the courtship should not end with the honeymoon, it should continue through all the years. It is having a mutual sense of values and common objectives. It is standing together facing the world. It is forming a circle of love that gathers in the whole family. It is doing things for each other, not in the attitude of duty or sacrifice, but in the spirit of joy. It is speaking words of appreciation and demonstrating gratitude in thoughtful ways. It is not expecting the husband to wear a halo or the wife to have wings of an angel. It is not looking for perfection in each other. It is cultivating flexibility, patience, understanding and a sense of humor. It is having the capacity to forgive and forget. It is giving each other an atmosphere in which each can grow. It is finding room for the things of the spirit. It is a common search for the good and the beautiful. It is establishing a relationship in which the independence is equal, dependence is mutual and the obligation is reciprocal. It is not only marrying the right partner, it is being the right partner.”
Paul Newman is 83 and fighting cancer in a New York hospital with Joanne Woodward by his side, in sickness and in health. He is a great actor and an even greater human being as his Newman’s Own Foundation has given over $200 million to thousands of charities since 1982.
Our 29th anniversary wish is for Paul Newman to have a healthy recovery and for all of us to be the right partner.
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
Monday, July 14, 2008
Baldwin, Marina and Patricia
ANCHORAGE - The tiny little state of New Hampshire is one up on mighty California. With less than a hundred Pinoys, it has elected a Pinoy state assemblyman which California, with over two million Pinoys, has never quite been able to accomplish. The state rep, Baldwin Domingo, 81 years young, is serving his third term in the New Hampshire State Assembly.
I met up with Democratic State Rep. Domingo at the national conference of the Filipino American National Historical Society (FANHS) held at the Anchorage Hilton on July 3-5, 2008. Baldwin told me that he was born and raised in Maui, Hawaii and that he moved to the state of “Live Free or Die” (the state motto) more than 45 years ago.
Because of the pivotal position of New Hampshire in the US presidential primaries (the second primary state after the Iowa caucuses), Baldwin has had the opportunity to have virtually every Democratic presidential candidate visit his home to obtain his support. He actively backed John Kerry four years ago and he now supports Barack Obama whom he says is a “homeboy from Maui just like me.”
I also hooked up at the conference with former FANHS national president Marina Espina, the University of New Orleans Librarian Emerita who wrote the landmark book, “Filipinos in Louisiana” about the “Manila men” who settled in the Louisiana bayous of Barataria Bay in the 1760s.
Before Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans in 2005, I had the opportunity to visit Marina in her home which was conveniently a few blocks from the University of New Orleans (UNO) where she worked. But it was also only a few blocks from Lake Pontchartrain which overflowed when the levees broke during Katrina.
When I visited Marina at her New Orleans home, she showed me photocopiers of documents and photos that she=2 0had taken in Mexico where she pored over old records in Mexican archives to document the early Filipinos who settled in Mexico. Marina was particularly interested in the large colony of Filipinos in Acapulco who came as crewmen on board the galleon ships that plied the Manila-Acapulco galleon trade from 1565 to 1815.
Because it would take the crew about nine months to traverse the treacherous Pacific Ocean from Manila to Acapulco, most, if not all, of the “Luzon Indio” crew would refuse to return back to Manila fearful that they may not be as lucky. In Acapulco, they retained their identities as natives of the Philippine islands even as they integrated themselves into the local communties. Marina tracked down records of a number of these Filipinos crossing over the Gulf of Mexico from Vera Cruz over to Barataria Bay in Louisiana and setting up Philippine-style fishing villages there.
Armed with a Fullbright scholarship in 1983 and support from the University of New Orleans which gave her two sabbaticals and using her own savings, Marina presented her research findings to university audiences and was profiled in metropolitan newspapers and by the BBC.
But when Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans, Marina and her family joined hundreds of thousands of residents who fled the city for their safety. When she returned to her home a week later, Marina saw her life’s work washed down the drain as water had risen up to 11 feet in Marina s home. Her worst fears were realized when she saw virtually all of her research papers and photos completely drenched
As Lydia Lum wrote: “For years, Espina went up and down the bayous and deltas of Louisiana, using word-of-mouth referrals to track down descendants of the Manilamen. She coaxed people into sharing family photos, birth certificates, documents and stories of their elders. All the while, she was making copies of whatever she could to piece together the broader history.”
After word of Katrina’s devastation of Marina’s research reached the FANHS national office in Seattle, a statement was released: “We as Filipino-Americans share h er loss. Espina's research was the foundation of Filipino-American history."
Marina and her husband have moved to higher ground, to Lafayette, some 200 miles east of New Orleans and about 100 miles past Baton Rouge, the Louisiana state capital. She is now starting from scratch to try to put the pieces of our history back together again.
At the conference, I also met Dr. Patricia Espiritu Halagao, a professor at the University of Hawaii who developed the “ijeepney.com, your online vehicle for Filipino American curriculum”. It is a phenomenal piece of work intended to guide Filipino American students and teachers to better understand and appreciate Filipino American history. The innovative curriculum includes about 25 downloadable lesson plans and a site for dialogue and offers a teacher’s kit of posters, DVDs and books.
When she was working on her PhD at the University of Washington in Seattle in 1996, Patricia and community activist Tim Cordova developed "Pinoy Teach" to provide a multicultural approach to incorporating Filipino American history and culture into the mainstream education curriculum.
If you want your kids to learn about Filipino American history, log on to www.ijeepney.com now. Learn about it first and then tell them to log on too.
I met up with Democratic State Rep. Domingo at the national conference of the Filipino American National Historical Society (FANHS) held at the Anchorage Hilton on July 3-5, 2008. Baldwin told me that he was born and raised in Maui, Hawaii and that he moved to the state of “Live Free or Die” (the state motto) more than 45 years ago.
Because of the pivotal position of New Hampshire in the US presidential primaries (the second primary state after the Iowa caucuses), Baldwin has had the opportunity to have virtually every Democratic presidential candidate visit his home to obtain his support. He actively backed John Kerry four years ago and he now supports Barack Obama whom he says is a “homeboy from Maui just like me.”
I also hooked up at the conference with former FANHS national president Marina Espina, the University of New Orleans Librarian Emerita who wrote the landmark book, “Filipinos in Louisiana” about the “Manila men” who settled in the Louisiana bayous of Barataria Bay in the 1760s.
Before Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans in 2005, I had the opportunity to visit Marina in her home which was conveniently a few blocks from the University of New Orleans (UNO) where she worked. But it was also only a few blocks from Lake Pontchartrain which overflowed when the levees broke during Katrina.
When I visited Marina at her New Orleans home, she showed me photocopiers of documents and photos that she=2 0had taken in Mexico where she pored over old records in Mexican archives to document the early Filipinos who settled in Mexico. Marina was particularly interested in the large colony of Filipinos in Acapulco who came as crewmen on board the galleon ships that plied the Manila-Acapulco galleon trade from 1565 to 1815.
Because it would take the crew about nine months to traverse the treacherous Pacific Ocean from Manila to Acapulco, most, if not all, of the “Luzon Indio” crew would refuse to return back to Manila fearful that they may not be as lucky. In Acapulco, they retained their identities as natives of the Philippine islands even as they integrated themselves into the local communties. Marina tracked down records of a number of these Filipinos crossing over the Gulf of Mexico from Vera Cruz over to Barataria Bay in Louisiana and setting up Philippine-style fishing villages there.
Armed with a Fullbright scholarship in 1983 and support from the University of New Orleans which gave her two sabbaticals and using her own savings, Marina presented her research findings to university audiences and was profiled in metropolitan newspapers and by the BBC.
But when Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans, Marina and her family joined hundreds of thousands of residents who fled the city for their safety. When she returned to her home a week later, Marina saw her life’s work washed down the drain as water had risen up to 11 feet in Marina s home. Her worst fears were realized when she saw virtually all of her research papers and photos completely drenched
As Lydia Lum wrote: “For years, Espina went up and down the bayous and deltas of Louisiana, using word-of-mouth referrals to track down descendants of the Manilamen. She coaxed people into sharing family photos, birth certificates, documents and stories of their elders. All the while, she was making copies of whatever she could to piece together the broader history.”
After word of Katrina’s devastation of Marina’s research reached the FANHS national office in Seattle, a statement was released: “We as Filipino-Americans share h er loss. Espina's research was the foundation of Filipino-American history."
Marina and her husband have moved to higher ground, to Lafayette, some 200 miles east of New Orleans and about 100 miles past Baton Rouge, the Louisiana state capital. She is now starting from scratch to try to put the pieces of our history back together again.
At the conference, I also met Dr. Patricia Espiritu Halagao, a professor at the University of Hawaii who developed the “ijeepney.com, your online vehicle for Filipino American curriculum”. It is a phenomenal piece of work intended to guide Filipino American students and teachers to better understand and appreciate Filipino American history. The innovative curriculum includes about 25 downloadable lesson plans and a site for dialogue and offers a teacher’s kit of posters, DVDs and books.
When she was working on her PhD at the University of Washington in Seattle in 1996, Patricia and community activist Tim Cordova developed "Pinoy Teach" to provide a multicultural approach to incorporating Filipino American history and culture into the mainstream education curriculum.
If you want your kids to learn about Filipino American history, log on to www.ijeepney.com now. Learn about it first and then tell them to log on too.
Tuesday, July 8, 2008
Honoring Thelma
ANCHORAGE, Alaska — The land of the midnight sun where the sun doesn’t set until past midnight was the perfect setting for the “25th anniversary” and 12th Biennial Conference of the Filipino American National Historical Society (Fanhs) held at the Anchorage Hilton Hotel from July 3-5, 2008. Only a city with that many daylight hours could accommodate more than 300 delegates from all over the United States attending 28 separate concurrent workshops and three plenary sessions.
“The Lure of the Salmon Song” was the theme of the conference referring to the tens of thousands of Filipino “Alaskeros” who worked in the Alaskan canneries since 1915. In 1930 alone, there were 4,200 Filipino cannery workers in Alaska. Their numbers swelled to 9,000 a decade later but by 1976, there were down to just 1,200. Their numbers are insignificant now.
A highlight of the conference was the Friday morning plenary session on the “Alaskero Experience” with former Alaskeros recollecting their time at the canneries. Dr. Alan Bergano, a dentist in Virginia Beach, West Virginia, was a student at the University of Washington when he and his girlfriend (now his wife), Edwina Lapa, worked several summers in Alaska to pay for their college education.
Also sharing their mostly bitter experiences were Larry Flores of Seattle, Oscar Penaranda from Union City, California, Ray Guimary from Portland, Ray Pascua from Yakima, Washington and Jesse Tabasa from Aptos, California. They spoke of working 16 to 23 hour days standing on their feet as they sorted tens of thousands of salmon, eating nothing but rice and salmon for breakfast, lunch and dinner and living in crowded segregated bunk huts.
Anthony Ogilvie, Dean of Continuing and Professional Education at Seattle Central Community College and chair of the historic 1971 Young Filipino People’s Far West Convention held in Seattle, explained how segregation at the canneries worked. Because he was mistaken for being “white”, the cannery bosses gave him the easy job of doing mail call, where he spent most of his “working” days just sleeping in more comfortable quarters and getting paid far more than his brown-skinned brothers. (Yes, he felt guilty about it).
The Fanhs Conference was dedicated to the memory of Thelma Garcia Buchholdt, the former three-term national Fanhs president who initiated the holding of the Fanhs national conference in her home state of Alaska. Unfortunately, Thelma did not live to see the fruition of her efforts as she died of pancreatic cancer on November 5, 2007.
Thelma Garcia immigrated to the U.S. in 1951 and was enrolled in graduate studies at the University of Nevada in Las Vegas in 1956 when she met fellow student Jon Buchholdt. After they married in 1957, Thelma and Jon Buchholdt, and their four kids, moved from Los Angeles to Anchorage in 1965 where Thelma immersed herself in the local community. In 1974, Thelma was elected to the Alaska State Legislature from a mostly-white assembly district, becoming the first Filipino American woman elected to public office in the United States. In 1980, Thelma was elected the first Asian American president of the National Order of Women Legislators.
When their eldest daughter, Titania, enrolled at the Georgetown University School of Law in 1991, Thelma and her husband, Jon, joined her in Washington D.C. and enrolled at the District of Columbia School of Law. Father, mother and daughter all took and passed the Alaska bar.
In 1996, Thelma published her landmark book “Filipinos in Alaska: 1788-1958” (Aboriginal Press) which provides detailed information about the first recorded Filipinos to set foot in Alaska. Her research established that a British ship, the Iphigenia Nubiana, under the command of Capt. William Douglas, left Zamboanga on February 2, 1788 and landed in the Cook Inlet in Alaska on June 17, 1788 with a “Manilla Man” as part of the crew.
In that same year, Capt. Simon Metcalfe, an American fur trader, brought his ship Eleanora to “Manilla” for repairs and hired 30 “Manilla Men” to be part of his crew. Five of his “Manilla Men” were assigned to the other Metcalfe-owned ship, Fair American, in China. Both ships then sailed to Alaska where they landed with their “Manilla Men” crew in the summer of 1789.
When Thelma died in November of 2007, the state’s governor ordered all flags in the state to be flown at half-mast to honor Thelma Buchholdt and her contributions to Alaska.
On the last day of the conference, Dr. Joan May Timtiman Cordova, a Drexel University professor in Philadelphia, with a doctorate from Harvard University, was elected Fanhs national president. Elected as national vice-president was Evangeline Canonizado Buell from Berkeley, California, author of Twenty Five Chickens and a Pig for a Bride: Growing Up in a Filipino Immigrant Family. Elected Secretary is Ron Buenaventura from San Diego, California.
While Fanhs was incorporated in Washington State in 1985, it is celebrating its 25th anniversary because it traces its beginnings to the publication of Fred Cordova’s landmark 1983 book, Filipinos, Forgotten Asian Americans (edited by Dorothy Laigo Cordova). If the U.S. can celebrate the birth of its independence in 1776, instead of 1789 when the U.S. government was first established, then why can’t Fanhs do the same?
The next Fanhs national conference will be held in Seattle in July of 2010. Be there or be square. For more information, log on to www.FANHS-national.org.
“The Lure of the Salmon Song” was the theme of the conference referring to the tens of thousands of Filipino “Alaskeros” who worked in the Alaskan canneries since 1915. In 1930 alone, there were 4,200 Filipino cannery workers in Alaska. Their numbers swelled to 9,000 a decade later but by 1976, there were down to just 1,200. Their numbers are insignificant now.
A highlight of the conference was the Friday morning plenary session on the “Alaskero Experience” with former Alaskeros recollecting their time at the canneries. Dr. Alan Bergano, a dentist in Virginia Beach, West Virginia, was a student at the University of Washington when he and his girlfriend (now his wife), Edwina Lapa, worked several summers in Alaska to pay for their college education.
Also sharing their mostly bitter experiences were Larry Flores of Seattle, Oscar Penaranda from Union City, California, Ray Guimary from Portland, Ray Pascua from Yakima, Washington and Jesse Tabasa from Aptos, California. They spoke of working 16 to 23 hour days standing on their feet as they sorted tens of thousands of salmon, eating nothing but rice and salmon for breakfast, lunch and dinner and living in crowded segregated bunk huts.
Anthony Ogilvie, Dean of Continuing and Professional Education at Seattle Central Community College and chair of the historic 1971 Young Filipino People’s Far West Convention held in Seattle, explained how segregation at the canneries worked. Because he was mistaken for being “white”, the cannery bosses gave him the easy job of doing mail call, where he spent most of his “working” days just sleeping in more comfortable quarters and getting paid far more than his brown-skinned brothers. (Yes, he felt guilty about it).
The Fanhs Conference was dedicated to the memory of Thelma Garcia Buchholdt, the former three-term national Fanhs president who initiated the holding of the Fanhs national conference in her home state of Alaska. Unfortunately, Thelma did not live to see the fruition of her efforts as she died of pancreatic cancer on November 5, 2007.
Thelma Garcia immigrated to the U.S. in 1951 and was enrolled in graduate studies at the University of Nevada in Las Vegas in 1956 when she met fellow student Jon Buchholdt. After they married in 1957, Thelma and Jon Buchholdt, and their four kids, moved from Los Angeles to Anchorage in 1965 where Thelma immersed herself in the local community. In 1974, Thelma was elected to the Alaska State Legislature from a mostly-white assembly district, becoming the first Filipino American woman elected to public office in the United States. In 1980, Thelma was elected the first Asian American president of the National Order of Women Legislators.
When their eldest daughter, Titania, enrolled at the Georgetown University School of Law in 1991, Thelma and her husband, Jon, joined her in Washington D.C. and enrolled at the District of Columbia School of Law. Father, mother and daughter all took and passed the Alaska bar.
In 1996, Thelma published her landmark book “Filipinos in Alaska: 1788-1958” (Aboriginal Press) which provides detailed information about the first recorded Filipinos to set foot in Alaska. Her research established that a British ship, the Iphigenia Nubiana, under the command of Capt. William Douglas, left Zamboanga on February 2, 1788 and landed in the Cook Inlet in Alaska on June 17, 1788 with a “Manilla Man” as part of the crew.
In that same year, Capt. Simon Metcalfe, an American fur trader, brought his ship Eleanora to “Manilla” for repairs and hired 30 “Manilla Men” to be part of his crew. Five of his “Manilla Men” were assigned to the other Metcalfe-owned ship, Fair American, in China. Both ships then sailed to Alaska where they landed with their “Manilla Men” crew in the summer of 1789.
When Thelma died in November of 2007, the state’s governor ordered all flags in the state to be flown at half-mast to honor Thelma Buchholdt and her contributions to Alaska.
On the last day of the conference, Dr. Joan May Timtiman Cordova, a Drexel University professor in Philadelphia, with a doctorate from Harvard University, was elected Fanhs national president. Elected as national vice-president was Evangeline Canonizado Buell from Berkeley, California, author of Twenty Five Chickens and a Pig for a Bride: Growing Up in a Filipino Immigrant Family. Elected Secretary is Ron Buenaventura from San Diego, California.
While Fanhs was incorporated in Washington State in 1985, it is celebrating its 25th anniversary because it traces its beginnings to the publication of Fred Cordova’s landmark 1983 book, Filipinos, Forgotten Asian Americans (edited by Dorothy Laigo Cordova). If the U.S. can celebrate the birth of its independence in 1776, instead of 1789 when the U.S. government was first established, then why can’t Fanhs do the same?
The next Fanhs national conference will be held in Seattle in July of 2010. Be there or be square. For more information, log on to www.FANHS-national.org.
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
BAD NEWS AND GOOD NEWS
About 21 years ago, I wrote a short fable about the Filipino crab which I adapted from a Latino vrsion I heard. The tale was about a man who sold live crabs from his wicker basket at a local open market. As he was answering questions from a customer one day, his crabs began to pile up, one on top of the other, until several were poised to jump off. Although the customer called his attention to what his crabs were doing, the man did not bother to look at his crabs. “I don’t worry about those crabs," he assured his customer, "because they’re Filipino crabs. As soon as one of them is about to take off, the others will pull him down.”
In an updated version of this tale, I can imagine Rep. Steve Buyer (R-Indiana) assuring his GOP colleagues that they need not worry about the passage of S.1315 (the Veterans Benefits Enhancement Bill that will provide pension benefits to Filipino WW II veterans). “It will never pass the House,” he would say, “because Filipinos will find some way to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. After all, they're Filipinos. It's their nature."
Sure enough, just when S.1315 was poised to be voted on in the House, after passing the Senate with a whopping 96-1 vote, the united front of the Filipino community cracked. A Filipino group in San Francisco sent a letter to Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other House Democrats urging them not to pass S.1315, which was denounced as being “woefully insufficient.” The letter was signed by Regalado Baldonado, a Filipino WW II veteran and a board member of the Veterans Equity Center (VEC).
When the Washington DC veterans read a copy of the letter, they immediately contacted Baldonado to ask him why he wrote it. Baldonado told them it was not written by him but by members of the VEC and the Student Action for Veterans Equity (SAVE).
Dismayed by the Baldonado letter, the DC veterans led by Patrick Ganio and Guillermo Rumingan faxed me a copy of the letter and asked me to write about it, which I did (“Filvets Equity Bill Vote Delayed” May 24, 2008).
In response to my article, members of SAVE and VEC issued a press release, purportedly in the name of 30 Filipino American student organizations throughout the US, calling on me to apologize to them (“Call for Apology and Retraction After City College Trustee Rodel Rodis Attacks Student Coalition,” June 6, 2008).
The press release concedes that the Baldonado letter was “drafted and circulated by SAVE’s organizations” but nevertheless insists that the letter was not against S.1315 but in favor of full equity. The problem is that S.1315 is a compromise measure that provides partial equity for the 12,000 Filipino veterans in the Philippines ($300 a month) and full equity for the 6,000 Filipino veterans in the US ($900 a month). You can’t be for something if you’re against it. You can’t speak from both sides of your mouth.
These organizations know that the Veterans Federation of the Philippines (VFP), which represents the veterans in the Philippines , wholeheartedly endorses the compromise which they know is the "last best chance" to get an equity bill passed by the US Congress. In fact, everyone in the Filipino community is on board S.1315 except VEC and SAVE members, who continue to insist that they “will not tolerate any deviation” from full equity.
The VEC and SAVE press release contended, however, that it was not the Baldonado letter that derailed the Filvets equity vote but rather a memo sent out by Rep. Buyer to his GOP colleagues that “blindsided” the vets. The only problem with their theory is that Rep. Buyer has always opposed Filipino veterans equity. When he was chair of the House Veterans Affairs Committee under GOP Speaker Dennis Hastert, Buyer consistently refused to even hold a committee hearing on the Filvets bill. Blindsided?
The press release was written by VEC leader Roy Recio who has been personally vilifying me in online letters to the editor over the years, often employing coarse and vulgar language, I had generally ignored his petty personal attacks until he crossed the line on S.1315. My personal frustration with Recio and his drove me to write my column (“Conflicted on the Vets”, June 9, 2008) which included a charge that Recio had ideological motives for opposing S.1315.
I wrote that Recio is a member of BayanUSA because he is a close political associate of the Secretary-General of BayanUSA. In his reply to my column, an uncharacteristically subdued Recio denied being a member of BayanUSA, and that organization wrote to confirm that Recio is not a member (I guess even BayanUSA has membership standards). Regardless of his organizational affiliation, however, my point was that Recio’s extreme left politics informs and guides his opposition to S.1315.
This controversy has provided Recio with an excuse to personally go after me. At the regular meeting of the Board of Trustees of City College last June 26, Recio and his “band of true believers” distributed leaflets denouncing me, and used the open forum portion of the public meeting to charge me with “unethical behavior” and to demand that I be “censured” by the Board.
The Board was moved by the presence of several Filipino veterans who attended the meeting to support me. It was very touching to see these 88-year old defenders of Bataan - Filemon Mordeno (President of the Filipino WW II Veterans, Spouses, Widows, Sons and Daughters, Inc.), Gomercindo Bondat, Simplicio Yoma and Nestor Palma - show up on a cold night to defend me.
In a confrontation in the parking lot outside the Board meeting that evening, Mr. Bondat asked Jaymee Sagisi of SAVE why her group wrote the Baldonado letter. Sagisi insisted the letter was personally written by Baldonado but the veterans told the students that they know Baldonado is incapable of writing such a letter in English. The confrontation of the vets with the students was caught on tape by a Balitang America cameraman and shown in The Filipino Channel.
A few days after the Board meeting, Recio sent me email copies of his emails to the San Francisco Labor Council and to the local Democratic clubs urging them not to endorse me in the November elections. He wants me to know that his group will be actively gunning for me to ensure my defeat.
That’s the bad news for me, though I don’t believe they will succeed. The good news is that Recio and his cohorts have been so preoccupied with personally attacking me, they’ve stopped drafting and sending Baldonado-signed letters to Speaker Pelosi and members of Congress urging the defeat of S.1315. Perhaps now we have a decent shot at getting it passed.
In an updated version of this tale, I can imagine Rep. Steve Buyer (R-Indiana) assuring his GOP colleagues that they need not worry about the passage of S.1315 (the Veterans Benefits Enhancement Bill that will provide pension benefits to Filipino WW II veterans). “It will never pass the House,” he would say, “because Filipinos will find some way to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. After all, they're Filipinos. It's their nature."
Sure enough, just when S.1315 was poised to be voted on in the House, after passing the Senate with a whopping 96-1 vote, the united front of the Filipino community cracked. A Filipino group in San Francisco sent a letter to Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other House Democrats urging them not to pass S.1315, which was denounced as being “woefully insufficient.” The letter was signed by Regalado Baldonado, a Filipino WW II veteran and a board member of the Veterans Equity Center (VEC).
When the Washington DC veterans read a copy of the letter, they immediately contacted Baldonado to ask him why he wrote it. Baldonado told them it was not written by him but by members of the VEC and the Student Action for Veterans Equity (SAVE).
Dismayed by the Baldonado letter, the DC veterans led by Patrick Ganio and Guillermo Rumingan faxed me a copy of the letter and asked me to write about it, which I did (“Filvets Equity Bill Vote Delayed” May 24, 2008).
In response to my article, members of SAVE and VEC issued a press release, purportedly in the name of 30 Filipino American student organizations throughout the US, calling on me to apologize to them (“Call for Apology and Retraction After City College Trustee Rodel Rodis Attacks Student Coalition,” June 6, 2008).
The press release concedes that the Baldonado letter was “drafted and circulated by SAVE’s organizations” but nevertheless insists that the letter was not against S.1315 but in favor of full equity. The problem is that S.1315 is a compromise measure that provides partial equity for the 12,000 Filipino veterans in the Philippines ($300 a month) and full equity for the 6,000 Filipino veterans in the US ($900 a month). You can’t be for something if you’re against it. You can’t speak from both sides of your mouth.
These organizations know that the Veterans Federation of the Philippines (VFP), which represents the veterans in the Philippines , wholeheartedly endorses the compromise which they know is the "last best chance" to get an equity bill passed by the US Congress. In fact, everyone in the Filipino community is on board S.1315 except VEC and SAVE members, who continue to insist that they “will not tolerate any deviation” from full equity.
The VEC and SAVE press release contended, however, that it was not the Baldonado letter that derailed the Filvets equity vote but rather a memo sent out by Rep. Buyer to his GOP colleagues that “blindsided” the vets. The only problem with their theory is that Rep. Buyer has always opposed Filipino veterans equity. When he was chair of the House Veterans Affairs Committee under GOP Speaker Dennis Hastert, Buyer consistently refused to even hold a committee hearing on the Filvets bill. Blindsided?
The press release was written by VEC leader Roy Recio who has been personally vilifying me in online letters to the editor over the years, often employing coarse and vulgar language, I had generally ignored his petty personal attacks until he crossed the line on S.1315. My personal frustration with Recio and his drove me to write my column (“Conflicted on the Vets”, June 9, 2008) which included a charge that Recio had ideological motives for opposing S.1315.
I wrote that Recio is a member of BayanUSA because he is a close political associate of the Secretary-General of BayanUSA. In his reply to my column, an uncharacteristically subdued Recio denied being a member of BayanUSA, and that organization wrote to confirm that Recio is not a member (I guess even BayanUSA has membership standards). Regardless of his organizational affiliation, however, my point was that Recio’s extreme left politics informs and guides his opposition to S.1315.
This controversy has provided Recio with an excuse to personally go after me. At the regular meeting of the Board of Trustees of City College last June 26, Recio and his “band of true believers” distributed leaflets denouncing me, and used the open forum portion of the public meeting to charge me with “unethical behavior” and to demand that I be “censured” by the Board.
The Board was moved by the presence of several Filipino veterans who attended the meeting to support me. It was very touching to see these 88-year old defenders of Bataan - Filemon Mordeno (President of the Filipino WW II Veterans, Spouses, Widows, Sons and Daughters, Inc.), Gomercindo Bondat, Simplicio Yoma and Nestor Palma - show up on a cold night to defend me.
In a confrontation in the parking lot outside the Board meeting that evening, Mr. Bondat asked Jaymee Sagisi of SAVE why her group wrote the Baldonado letter. Sagisi insisted the letter was personally written by Baldonado but the veterans told the students that they know Baldonado is incapable of writing such a letter in English. The confrontation of the vets with the students was caught on tape by a Balitang America cameraman and shown in The Filipino Channel.
A few days after the Board meeting, Recio sent me email copies of his emails to the San Francisco Labor Council and to the local Democratic clubs urging them not to endorse me in the November elections. He wants me to know that his group will be actively gunning for me to ensure my defeat.
That’s the bad news for me, though I don’t believe they will succeed. The good news is that Recio and his cohorts have been so preoccupied with personally attacking me, they’ve stopped drafting and sending Baldonado-signed letters to Speaker Pelosi and members of Congress urging the defeat of S.1315. Perhaps now we have a decent shot at getting it passed.
Monday, June 16, 2008
Breaking the Curse
“No Filipinos or Dogs Allowed” was a common sign that appeared in motels, boarding houses and night clubs in the 1930s in California. While Filipinos have made progress and are now allowed in places where dogs are still not allowed, the California Legislature is one place where dogs and Filipinos are still foreign creatures.
Unlike more recent Asian immigrant communities (Vietnamese-Americans, Indian-Americans and Korean-Americans), Filipino Americans have never been elected to the California Legislature. But that long curse was about to end on June 3 when West Sacramento Mayor Christopher Cabaldon was set to win the Democratic nomination in the heavily Democratic 8th Assembly District.
Praised by the state capital’s premier daily, Sacramento Bee , as "one of the most intelligent, talented and hard-working elected officials in the region," Christopher Cabaldon has served an unprecedented six terms as mayor of the city of West Sacramento.and previously served as Vice Chancellor of the California Community Colleges, the largest system of higher education in the United States.
Cabaldon enjoyed the endorsement of every Democratic mayor and county supervisor, every state legislator, US Representative and City Council majority in the district which encompasses Yolo and Sonoma counties. He also raised more money than any Filipino American candidate for public office in the US has ever raised - $590,000 – double what his opponent, Yolo County Supervisor Mariko Yamada was able to raise ($290,000).
If Chris Cabaldon couldn’t win, with all his experience and credentials, with all his endorsements and money, then no Filipino American could ever hope to have a shot at breaking the curse.
But alas, in what can only be described as a stunning upset, Yamada edged out Cabaldon, winning “razor thin” margins in both Yolo and Sonoma counties, garnering 18,519 votes to 17,435 for Cabaldon
As Sacramento political analyst Marcos Breton asked: “How did the brightest, most promising young political figure in Sacramento lose an election last week that he seemed certain to win?”
It was the unions, Breton charged, pointing especially to Bill Camp of the Sacramento Central Labor Council who decided that Cabaldon was "anti-union" because business interests were backing him, ignoring the fact that Cabaldon “oozed potential and is a Democrat admired in more than Democratic circles.”
“Union muscle trumped all that with a barrage of negative ads that made some of Cabaldon's molehills seem like mountains,” wrote Breton. “Many of you say you hate negative campaigns. But Cabaldon's loss to Mariko Yamada in the Democratic primary for the 8th Assembly District proves that going negative works.”
There are Fil-Ams in organized labor throughout the state but neither Cabaldon, nor his campaign consultant, Richie Ross, thought of contacting them to ask them to talk to their union leadership to dissuade them from derailing the most serious Fil-Am hope of breaking the curse.
It was also speculated that Yamada won because she is Japanese American and Cabaldon lost because he is Filipino American. While it is doubtful that voters seriously considered the ethnic backgrounds of the candidates, it may have subconsciously entered some voters’ minds that Japanese American officials, like Rep. Bob Matsui and his widow, Rep. Doris Matsui, have successfully represented the district but no Filipino American ever has. And now may likely never be.
Also running in the June 3 California Democratic primaries was Arlie Ricasa, Director of Student Development at Southwestern College in the City of Chula Vista and a Trustee of the Sweetwater Union High School District (SUHSD) Board. She ran for the Democratic nomination for the 78th Assembly District in San Diego.
Like Cabaldon, Ricasa was endorsed by numerous elected officials including members of Congress, State Senate, State Assembly, County Board of Supervisors, City Councils and local School Boards. She also earned the endorsements of the California Democratic Party as well as various labor, small business and community leaders.
But like Cabaldon, Ricasa lost placing 4th in a pool of 4, garnering just 4,499 votes (13.6%) to the winner Martin Block who obtained 12,054 votes (36.5%).
According to San Diego Fil-Am community leader Aurora Cudal, “the cause of Ricasa’s failed candidacy may be attributed to lack of financial support and lip service by those who advocate for Filipino American empowerment.”
In a message to her supporters, Ricasa said: “While we weren’t victorious in the election, we were victorious in involving so many people who have been historically underserved, underheard and underrepresented. Soon, our time will come. I have faith and so should you. It could be you or one of our supporters who will soon represent us at the State’s table of decision making.”
Cudal added: “In America, the voters have to support their candidate not only through their votes but through their financial support and physical presence at precinct walks, placing yard signs, knocking on doors, and making telephone calls on behalf of the candidate. These practices are so unlike in the Philippines where the candidates give money and feed the voters in order to win.”
The other major Fil-Am candidate to run for public office on June 3 was three-term Milpitas Mayor Joe Esteves who ran for the Santa Clara County District Three Board of Supervisors against San Jose Vice Mayor Dave Cortese and Sunnyvale City Councilman Otto Lee.
Both Cortese and Lee raised $250,000 each while Esteves was only able to come up with $70,000. Cortese garnered 12,980 votes (42.6%) to Lee's 9,075 votes (29.8%). Esteves trailed Lee by 691 votes, as he received 8,384 votes (27.5%). As no candidate won more than 50% of the vote, Cortese and Lee will face each other in the run-off elections in November.
Esteves said he was disappointed in the outcome, attributing his loss to the low voter turnout in Milpitas, Berryessa and other parts of the district where he expected to draw votes. "Of course it's not the best, but I'm just happy because, with the limited resources that we had, I did a good showing," Esteves said.
Esteves’ predecessor, Henry Manayan, ran in 2004 for the 20th Assembly District after also serving three terms as mayor of Milpitas. He failed to break the curse then as Cabaldon and Ricasa also failed to do now.
Will the curse ever be broken?
Unlike more recent Asian immigrant communities (Vietnamese-Americans, Indian-Americans and Korean-Americans), Filipino Americans have never been elected to the California Legislature. But that long curse was about to end on June 3 when West Sacramento Mayor Christopher Cabaldon was set to win the Democratic nomination in the heavily Democratic 8th Assembly District.
Praised by the state capital’s premier daily, Sacramento Bee , as "one of the most intelligent, talented and hard-working elected officials in the region," Christopher Cabaldon has served an unprecedented six terms as mayor of the city of West Sacramento.and previously served as Vice Chancellor of the California Community Colleges, the largest system of higher education in the United States.
Cabaldon enjoyed the endorsement of every Democratic mayor and county supervisor, every state legislator, US Representative and City Council majority in the district which encompasses Yolo and Sonoma counties. He also raised more money than any Filipino American candidate for public office in the US has ever raised - $590,000 – double what his opponent, Yolo County Supervisor Mariko Yamada was able to raise ($290,000).
If Chris Cabaldon couldn’t win, with all his experience and credentials, with all his endorsements and money, then no Filipino American could ever hope to have a shot at breaking the curse.
But alas, in what can only be described as a stunning upset, Yamada edged out Cabaldon, winning “razor thin” margins in both Yolo and Sonoma counties, garnering 18,519 votes to 17,435 for Cabaldon
As Sacramento political analyst Marcos Breton asked: “How did the brightest, most promising young political figure in Sacramento lose an election last week that he seemed certain to win?”
It was the unions, Breton charged, pointing especially to Bill Camp of the Sacramento Central Labor Council who decided that Cabaldon was "anti-union" because business interests were backing him, ignoring the fact that Cabaldon “oozed potential and is a Democrat admired in more than Democratic circles.”
“Union muscle trumped all that with a barrage of negative ads that made some of Cabaldon's molehills seem like mountains,” wrote Breton. “Many of you say you hate negative campaigns. But Cabaldon's loss to Mariko Yamada in the Democratic primary for the 8th Assembly District proves that going negative works.”
There are Fil-Ams in organized labor throughout the state but neither Cabaldon, nor his campaign consultant, Richie Ross, thought of contacting them to ask them to talk to their union leadership to dissuade them from derailing the most serious Fil-Am hope of breaking the curse.
It was also speculated that Yamada won because she is Japanese American and Cabaldon lost because he is Filipino American. While it is doubtful that voters seriously considered the ethnic backgrounds of the candidates, it may have subconsciously entered some voters’ minds that Japanese American officials, like Rep. Bob Matsui and his widow, Rep. Doris Matsui, have successfully represented the district but no Filipino American ever has. And now may likely never be.
Also running in the June 3 California Democratic primaries was Arlie Ricasa, Director of Student Development at Southwestern College in the City of Chula Vista and a Trustee of the Sweetwater Union High School District (SUHSD) Board. She ran for the Democratic nomination for the 78th Assembly District in San Diego.
Like Cabaldon, Ricasa was endorsed by numerous elected officials including members of Congress, State Senate, State Assembly, County Board of Supervisors, City Councils and local School Boards. She also earned the endorsements of the California Democratic Party as well as various labor, small business and community leaders.
But like Cabaldon, Ricasa lost placing 4th in a pool of 4, garnering just 4,499 votes (13.6%) to the winner Martin Block who obtained 12,054 votes (36.5%).
According to San Diego Fil-Am community leader Aurora Cudal, “the cause of Ricasa’s failed candidacy may be attributed to lack of financial support and lip service by those who advocate for Filipino American empowerment.”
In a message to her supporters, Ricasa said: “While we weren’t victorious in the election, we were victorious in involving so many people who have been historically underserved, underheard and underrepresented. Soon, our time will come. I have faith and so should you. It could be you or one of our supporters who will soon represent us at the State’s table of decision making.”
Cudal added: “In America, the voters have to support their candidate not only through their votes but through their financial support and physical presence at precinct walks, placing yard signs, knocking on doors, and making telephone calls on behalf of the candidate. These practices are so unlike in the Philippines where the candidates give money and feed the voters in order to win.”
The other major Fil-Am candidate to run for public office on June 3 was three-term Milpitas Mayor Joe Esteves who ran for the Santa Clara County District Three Board of Supervisors against San Jose Vice Mayor Dave Cortese and Sunnyvale City Councilman Otto Lee.
Both Cortese and Lee raised $250,000 each while Esteves was only able to come up with $70,000. Cortese garnered 12,980 votes (42.6%) to Lee's 9,075 votes (29.8%). Esteves trailed Lee by 691 votes, as he received 8,384 votes (27.5%). As no candidate won more than 50% of the vote, Cortese and Lee will face each other in the run-off elections in November.
Esteves said he was disappointed in the outcome, attributing his loss to the low voter turnout in Milpitas, Berryessa and other parts of the district where he expected to draw votes. "Of course it's not the best, but I'm just happy because, with the limited resources that we had, I did a good showing," Esteves said.
Esteves’ predecessor, Henry Manayan, ran in 2004 for the 20th Assembly District after also serving three terms as mayor of Milpitas. He failed to break the curse then as Cabaldon and Ricasa also failed to do now.
Will the curse ever be broken?
Monday, June 9, 2008
Conflicted on the Vets
There is an inherent conflict in writing a weekly opinion column, as I have done for the last 20 years, and in being an elected public official in San Francisco, as I have been for the last 17 years. From time to time, I have had to write about certain issues which have offended certain individuals or groups who are San Francisco voters. That goes with the territory.
Most recently I wrote two columns about the need for the Filipino community to express its unequivocal support for the Filipino veterans equity bill, S.1315, which passed the US Senate 96-1 on April 24, 2008, and which is currently pending in the US House of Representatives.
In my first column, I wrote about the expected House vote on S.1315 that was set for May 21 but which was delayed. I speculated that the delay may have come from the fact that Speaker Nancy Pelosi did not have 290 House votes needed to pass S.1315 with a Suspension of the Rules call as she may not have all 230 House Democrats and at least 60 Republicans willing to vote for it.
But I also reported that Filipino veterans in Washington DC were questioning whether “a letter from San Francisco Veterans Affairs Commissioner Regalado Baldonado to Speaker Nancy Pelosi denouncing S.1315 may have played a role in the vote delay.”
I reported that the "Baldonado" letter to Speaker Pelosi and to Philippine Ambassador Willie Gaa declared S. 1315 to be "woefully insufficient" as it would provide the 12,000 Filipino veterans in the Philippines with $300 a month pension while the 6,000 Filvets in the US would be entitled to $900 a month.
I further reported that the DC veterans personally spoke with Baldonado and that he explained that the letter was prepared for him to sign by members of the Veterans Equity Center (VEC) and the Student Action for Filipino Veterans (SAVE).
In response to my column, Roy Recio, secretary of the VEC and an active member of SAVE, issued a press release this past week entitled “Call for Apology and Retraction After City College Board Trustee Rodel Rodis Attacks Student Coalition”.
The press release stated that my “article included a diatribe of speculations disguised as facts, including a claim that a letter prepared by SAVE caused Speaker Nancy Pelosi to postpone the vote for the proposed Veterans Enhancement Bill, S. 1315. However, the fact remains, Speaker Pelosi and her offices have never confirmed the exact grounds for such postponement.”
Recio did not deny that the “Baldanado” letter was written by SAVE, a fact which he further confirmed in a subsequent paragraph; only that Speaker Pelosi “never confirmed the exact grounds for such postponement." That's what he wants me to apolgize for? Is Recio naive enough to believe that Speaker Pelosi will actually acknowledge the exact grounds for the postponement?
In her article in the Philippine Daily Inquirer published on June 3, 2008 (“No veteran left behind in final battle”), Atty. Tancinco wrote that if S.1315 is passed, it will mean that “those residing in the Philippines will get only about one-third of those benefits instead of the full benefits. This is discriminatory treatment of the veterans based on residence.”
Tancinco believes that S.1315 will not correct the “historical injustice” of the Rescission Act of 1946 and that what is needed is “for the US Congress to pass another bill to revert their status back to US veterans and afford the Filipinos the same treatment as other veterans who fought under the US flag in World War II. The economic part of the bill should be incidental to the principle behind full equity.”
This is the meat of the conflict which has divided the Filipino community on the veterans issue from the outset. Tancinco and the VEC and SAVE believe, as the Baldonado letter unequivocally enunciated, that "We cannot waiver in our position or tolerate any deviation from equal treatment for all of our Filipino WW II veterans.”
SAVE’s website, fullequitynow.org, states its fundamental principle is “Commitment and support to fight for nothing less than FULL EQUITY for Filipino WWII Veterans “
Since S.1315 only provides $300 a month for the 12,000 Filipino veterans in the Philippines, instead of $900 a month, then it is much less than full equity and Atty. Tancinco, Recio and their groups will simply not accept the compromise even if S.1315 is the “last best chance” to get a Filipino veterans equity bill to pass the US Congress.
While I respect that Atty. Tancinco and many others in VEC and SAVE believe this out of genuine principle, I question the motives of Roy Recio and his band of true believers. It is well-known in San Francisco that Recio is an outspoken and active member of Bayan USA (www.bayanusa.org), an organization that supports the New People’s Army (NPA) in the Philippines.
I believe that Recio and his group will be greatly disappointed if S.1315 passes because they will be deprived of an ideological issue with which to organize the masses. The Rescission Act has been a perfect issue for them because it shows the US as betraying its promise and causing the elderly veterans to needlessly suffer. To Recio, the veterans serve a useful political purpose.
But many older activists like Lillian Galedo, national co-chair of the National Network for Veterans Equity (NNVE), with which VEC and SAVE are affiliated, wholeheartedly believe that we must do everything we can to pass S.1315 now. In an email sent out to various egroups on June 6, 2008, Galedo attached my most recent column (“Unequivocal Support for S. 1315 needed”) and wrote:
“For the people organizing on the ground, it is absolutely clear that we have unequivocal support among the long-time advocates and those who have more recently taken up the cause to restore U.S. veterans status to Filipino WWII veterans. Our center of attention should be focused on getting the final 50 or so votes to pass the House version of S. 1315, in the House of Representatives.”
I am running for re-election to the SF Community College Board this November. I fully expect Recio and his group to actively oppose me which is why their press release highlighted the fact that I am a College Board Trustee. I would appreciate any financial contribution to my campaign ($500 max). Please send your check made out to "Reelect Rodis, College Board" to 2429 Ocean Avenue, San Francisco, CA 94127.
Most recently I wrote two columns about the need for the Filipino community to express its unequivocal support for the Filipino veterans equity bill, S.1315, which passed the US Senate 96-1 on April 24, 2008, and which is currently pending in the US House of Representatives.
In my first column, I wrote about the expected House vote on S.1315 that was set for May 21 but which was delayed. I speculated that the delay may have come from the fact that Speaker Nancy Pelosi did not have 290 House votes needed to pass S.1315 with a Suspension of the Rules call as she may not have all 230 House Democrats and at least 60 Republicans willing to vote for it.
But I also reported that Filipino veterans in Washington DC were questioning whether “a letter from San Francisco Veterans Affairs Commissioner Regalado Baldonado to Speaker Nancy Pelosi denouncing S.1315 may have played a role in the vote delay.”
I reported that the "Baldonado" letter to Speaker Pelosi and to Philippine Ambassador Willie Gaa declared S. 1315 to be "woefully insufficient" as it would provide the 12,000 Filipino veterans in the Philippines with $300 a month pension while the 6,000 Filvets in the US would be entitled to $900 a month.
I further reported that the DC veterans personally spoke with Baldonado and that he explained that the letter was prepared for him to sign by members of the Veterans Equity Center (VEC) and the Student Action for Filipino Veterans (SAVE).
In response to my column, Roy Recio, secretary of the VEC and an active member of SAVE, issued a press release this past week entitled “Call for Apology and Retraction After City College Board Trustee Rodel Rodis Attacks Student Coalition”.
The press release stated that my “article included a diatribe of speculations disguised as facts, including a claim that a letter prepared by SAVE caused Speaker Nancy Pelosi to postpone the vote for the proposed Veterans Enhancement Bill, S. 1315. However, the fact remains, Speaker Pelosi and her offices have never confirmed the exact grounds for such postponement.”
Recio did not deny that the “Baldanado” letter was written by SAVE, a fact which he further confirmed in a subsequent paragraph; only that Speaker Pelosi “never confirmed the exact grounds for such postponement." That's what he wants me to apolgize for? Is Recio naive enough to believe that Speaker Pelosi will actually acknowledge the exact grounds for the postponement?
In her article in the Philippine Daily Inquirer published on June 3, 2008 (“No veteran left behind in final battle”), Atty. Tancinco wrote that if S.1315 is passed, it will mean that “those residing in the Philippines will get only about one-third of those benefits instead of the full benefits. This is discriminatory treatment of the veterans based on residence.”
Tancinco believes that S.1315 will not correct the “historical injustice” of the Rescission Act of 1946 and that what is needed is “for the US Congress to pass another bill to revert their status back to US veterans and afford the Filipinos the same treatment as other veterans who fought under the US flag in World War II. The economic part of the bill should be incidental to the principle behind full equity.”
This is the meat of the conflict which has divided the Filipino community on the veterans issue from the outset. Tancinco and the VEC and SAVE believe, as the Baldonado letter unequivocally enunciated, that "We cannot waiver in our position or tolerate any deviation from equal treatment for all of our Filipino WW II veterans.”
SAVE’s website, fullequitynow.org, states its fundamental principle is “Commitment and support to fight for nothing less than FULL EQUITY for Filipino WWII Veterans “
Since S.1315 only provides $300 a month for the 12,000 Filipino veterans in the Philippines, instead of $900 a month, then it is much less than full equity and Atty. Tancinco, Recio and their groups will simply not accept the compromise even if S.1315 is the “last best chance” to get a Filipino veterans equity bill to pass the US Congress.
While I respect that Atty. Tancinco and many others in VEC and SAVE believe this out of genuine principle, I question the motives of Roy Recio and his band of true believers. It is well-known in San Francisco that Recio is an outspoken and active member of Bayan USA (www.bayanusa.org), an organization that supports the New People’s Army (NPA) in the Philippines.
I believe that Recio and his group will be greatly disappointed if S.1315 passes because they will be deprived of an ideological issue with which to organize the masses. The Rescission Act has been a perfect issue for them because it shows the US as betraying its promise and causing the elderly veterans to needlessly suffer. To Recio, the veterans serve a useful political purpose.
But many older activists like Lillian Galedo, national co-chair of the National Network for Veterans Equity (NNVE), with which VEC and SAVE are affiliated, wholeheartedly believe that we must do everything we can to pass S.1315 now. In an email sent out to various egroups on June 6, 2008, Galedo attached my most recent column (“Unequivocal Support for S. 1315 needed”) and wrote:
“For the people organizing on the ground, it is absolutely clear that we have unequivocal support among the long-time advocates and those who have more recently taken up the cause to restore U.S. veterans status to Filipino WWII veterans. Our center of attention should be focused on getting the final 50 or so votes to pass the House version of S. 1315, in the House of Representatives.”
I am running for re-election to the SF Community College Board this November. I fully expect Recio and his group to actively oppose me which is why their press release highlighted the fact that I am a College Board Trustee. I would appreciate any financial contribution to my campaign ($500 max). Please send your check made out to "Reelect Rodis, College Board" to 2429 Ocean Avenue, San Francisco, CA 94127.
Wednesday, June 4, 2008
Unequivocal Support for S.1315 Needed
Rep. Mike Honda (D-CA), the national vice-chair of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) and Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s "point man" on the Filipino veterans equity issue, expressed great disappointment at news of the lack of unity in the Filipino community’s support for S. 1315, which he described as the “last best chance” to get a Filipino veterans equity bill to pass the US Congress.
“I can understand the sentiments of those who support full equity,” Rep. Honda told me in a telephone conversation on May 28, “I support full equity myself. But it just won’t happen.” There are major political and fiscal reasons why a bill that would grant approximately $900 a month to 18,000 Filipino WW II veterans will have no chance whatsoever of being passed by the US Congress and signed into law by Pres. George W. Bush.
A “full equity” bill would cost about $194-M a year and almost $2-B over 10 years. Even the Filipino Veterans Equity Bill (HR 760) sponsored by Rep. Bob Filner (D-CA), stoutly supported by proponents of full equity, only provided $500 a month for Filipino veterans in the Philippines.
S.1315, the Veterans Benefits Enhancement Bill, which passed the US Senate with an overwhelming 96-1 vote on April 24, 2008, provides $250-$300-M over 10 years for the Filipino WW II veterans.
Under the bill, which would take effect on April 1, 2009 if passed, about $50-M would be allocated for Filipino veterans in the first year and would steadily diminish over a 10 year period ($46-M year 2, $42-M year 3, etc).
The Congressional Budget Office (CBO), which prepared the estimate, took into consideration the fact that many of the Filipino veterans living in California (4,000out of the total of 6,000 vets in the US) may elect to keep the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) that they are currently receiving about $650 a month plus $200 from the state of California rather than the $900 a month they would receive as US VA pension because the veteran and his spouse would receive a higher monthly total SSI benefit of $1,500. They would not be entitled to combine both.
Because House Speaker Nancy Pelosi adopted the “Pay Go” (Pay as you go) rule, no bill appropriating any amount could be passed unless the sponsors of the bill identified the source of the funds. The sponsors of S.1315 identified the source of the funds which has been fodder for Republican opponents of the bill.
According to a memo distributed by Rep. Steve Buyer (R-Indiana), the ranking Republican on the House Veterans Affairs Committee, S.1315 “would eliminate special monthly pensions for many severely disabled veterans over 65 who are also receiving pensions for wartime service. It would use $156 million of the funds saved by this unprecedented cut in veterans' benefits eligibility to provide budgetary offsets to fund oversized pensions for non-citizen, non-resident World War II Filipino veterans.”
Riding on the anti-immigrant sentiment among Republicans, Buyer alleged that the benefits that would be cut from “those elderly, poor, disabled U.S. veterans” would be awarded instead to “non-citizen, non-resident World War II Filipino veterans.. (which) will put their average annual income 1400% above of the poverty rate in the Philippines…Sending this over-generous benefit to non-American citizens is not the best use of American taxpayer dollars in this time of economic downturn.”
To get S.1315 to pass the House, Speaker Pelosi will need all 230 House Democrats to support it and at least 60 House Republicans to reach the magic number of 290 (2/3rd of the 435 total number of House members) in order to call for a Suspension of the Rules that would avoid killer amendments that would delay, if not altogether kill the bill.
While the majority of House Republicans will accept Buyer’s recommendation and vote to oppose S.1315, there is hope that Rep. Darryl Issa (R-CA) can gather enough Republicans to join the Democrats in reaching the number of 290.
But to get all 230 House Democrats to support S.1315, there must be unprecedented unity in the Filipino community behind the bill. This is the cause of the general consternation about the letter that was sent to Speaker Pelosi by Veterans Equity Center (VEC) board member Regalado Baldonado where he thrashed S.1315 as “woefully insufficient” and asserted that "we cannot waiver in our position or tolerate any deviation from equal treatment for all of our Filipino WW II veterans.”
S.1315 is admittedly a “deviation from equal treatment” (just as the Filner bill was) as it would pay $900 a month to veterans in the US and $300 a month to veterans in the Philippines. “But it’s the best that we can get,” explained Rep. Honda. The realities of US politics require us to “tolerate” a bill that would discriminate on the basis of residence.
But it is not just the realities of US politics, it is also the reality of life and the cost of living. It is simply easier to live in the Philippines with one’s family in one’s home on a monthly pension of $300 a month (12000 pesos) plus 5000 pesos veterans’ monthly pension from the Philippine government than to live in the US on $900 a month.
Rep. Honda told me that supporters of “full equity” like the VEC can focus their attention, after S.1315 is passed and signed into law, into pushing for a subsequent bill that would seek to “compress” the 10 years of the pension allocation for Philippine-based veterans into 5 years. The actuarial reality for most of the veterans who are now 88 years (if they were 21 at the outset of the war in 1941) is that they will likely live for less than 5 years. “Compressing” the bill from 10 to 5 would allow Philippine veterans the opportunity to receive $600 a month over a 5 year period rather than $300 a month over 10 years.
These are incredibly difficult times now for the 12,000 veterans in the Philippines who are all eagerly awaiting passage of S.1315 to help them cope with skyrocketing food and fuel costs. While the young activist members of the VEC and the Student Action for Veterans Equity (SAVE) should be admired for sticking to their principles, the veterans in the Philippines know that they cannot eat their principles or fill their gas tanks with them.
When Major General Antonio Taguba (ret.), one of the highest-ranking Filipinos in the U.S. military and internationally known for his scathing report on Abu Ghraib, met in San Francisco with members of the Filipino community including members of the VEC, he urged them to be united in getting S.1315 passed and not to just dwell on the issue of “full equity”.
“Don’t make it a bumper sticker. Why do we have an East Coast set of circumstances and a West Coast set of circumstances?” asked Gen. Taguba. “It makes us look like we’re divided on the issue. What is our position today? To get this legislation passed through, that’s our only position.”
Members of the Filipino community are urged to email Speaker Nancy Pelosi and their representatives in Congress to express support for S.1315 by logging on to the website: www.house.gov.
“I can understand the sentiments of those who support full equity,” Rep. Honda told me in a telephone conversation on May 28, “I support full equity myself. But it just won’t happen.” There are major political and fiscal reasons why a bill that would grant approximately $900 a month to 18,000 Filipino WW II veterans will have no chance whatsoever of being passed by the US Congress and signed into law by Pres. George W. Bush.
A “full equity” bill would cost about $194-M a year and almost $2-B over 10 years. Even the Filipino Veterans Equity Bill (HR 760) sponsored by Rep. Bob Filner (D-CA), stoutly supported by proponents of full equity, only provided $500 a month for Filipino veterans in the Philippines.
S.1315, the Veterans Benefits Enhancement Bill, which passed the US Senate with an overwhelming 96-1 vote on April 24, 2008, provides $250-$300-M over 10 years for the Filipino WW II veterans.
Under the bill, which would take effect on April 1, 2009 if passed, about $50-M would be allocated for Filipino veterans in the first year and would steadily diminish over a 10 year period ($46-M year 2, $42-M year 3, etc).
The Congressional Budget Office (CBO), which prepared the estimate, took into consideration the fact that many of the Filipino veterans living in California (4,000out of the total of 6,000 vets in the US) may elect to keep the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) that they are currently receiving about $650 a month plus $200 from the state of California rather than the $900 a month they would receive as US VA pension because the veteran and his spouse would receive a higher monthly total SSI benefit of $1,500. They would not be entitled to combine both.
Because House Speaker Nancy Pelosi adopted the “Pay Go” (Pay as you go) rule, no bill appropriating any amount could be passed unless the sponsors of the bill identified the source of the funds. The sponsors of S.1315 identified the source of the funds which has been fodder for Republican opponents of the bill.
According to a memo distributed by Rep. Steve Buyer (R-Indiana), the ranking Republican on the House Veterans Affairs Committee, S.1315 “would eliminate special monthly pensions for many severely disabled veterans over 65 who are also receiving pensions for wartime service. It would use $156 million of the funds saved by this unprecedented cut in veterans' benefits eligibility to provide budgetary offsets to fund oversized pensions for non-citizen, non-resident World War II Filipino veterans.”
Riding on the anti-immigrant sentiment among Republicans, Buyer alleged that the benefits that would be cut from “those elderly, poor, disabled U.S. veterans” would be awarded instead to “non-citizen, non-resident World War II Filipino veterans.. (which) will put their average annual income 1400% above of the poverty rate in the Philippines…Sending this over-generous benefit to non-American citizens is not the best use of American taxpayer dollars in this time of economic downturn.”
To get S.1315 to pass the House, Speaker Pelosi will need all 230 House Democrats to support it and at least 60 House Republicans to reach the magic number of 290 (2/3rd of the 435 total number of House members) in order to call for a Suspension of the Rules that would avoid killer amendments that would delay, if not altogether kill the bill.
While the majority of House Republicans will accept Buyer’s recommendation and vote to oppose S.1315, there is hope that Rep. Darryl Issa (R-CA) can gather enough Republicans to join the Democrats in reaching the number of 290.
But to get all 230 House Democrats to support S.1315, there must be unprecedented unity in the Filipino community behind the bill. This is the cause of the general consternation about the letter that was sent to Speaker Pelosi by Veterans Equity Center (VEC) board member Regalado Baldonado where he thrashed S.1315 as “woefully insufficient” and asserted that "we cannot waiver in our position or tolerate any deviation from equal treatment for all of our Filipino WW II veterans.”
S.1315 is admittedly a “deviation from equal treatment” (just as the Filner bill was) as it would pay $900 a month to veterans in the US and $300 a month to veterans in the Philippines. “But it’s the best that we can get,” explained Rep. Honda. The realities of US politics require us to “tolerate” a bill that would discriminate on the basis of residence.
But it is not just the realities of US politics, it is also the reality of life and the cost of living. It is simply easier to live in the Philippines with one’s family in one’s home on a monthly pension of $300 a month (12000 pesos) plus 5000 pesos veterans’ monthly pension from the Philippine government than to live in the US on $900 a month.
Rep. Honda told me that supporters of “full equity” like the VEC can focus their attention, after S.1315 is passed and signed into law, into pushing for a subsequent bill that would seek to “compress” the 10 years of the pension allocation for Philippine-based veterans into 5 years. The actuarial reality for most of the veterans who are now 88 years (if they were 21 at the outset of the war in 1941) is that they will likely live for less than 5 years. “Compressing” the bill from 10 to 5 would allow Philippine veterans the opportunity to receive $600 a month over a 5 year period rather than $300 a month over 10 years.
These are incredibly difficult times now for the 12,000 veterans in the Philippines who are all eagerly awaiting passage of S.1315 to help them cope with skyrocketing food and fuel costs. While the young activist members of the VEC and the Student Action for Veterans Equity (SAVE) should be admired for sticking to their principles, the veterans in the Philippines know that they cannot eat their principles or fill their gas tanks with them.
When Major General Antonio Taguba (ret.), one of the highest-ranking Filipinos in the U.S. military and internationally known for his scathing report on Abu Ghraib, met in San Francisco with members of the Filipino community including members of the VEC, he urged them to be united in getting S.1315 passed and not to just dwell on the issue of “full equity”.
“Don’t make it a bumper sticker. Why do we have an East Coast set of circumstances and a West Coast set of circumstances?” asked Gen. Taguba. “It makes us look like we’re divided on the issue. What is our position today? To get this legislation passed through, that’s our only position.”
Members of the Filipino community are urged to email Speaker Nancy Pelosi and their representatives in Congress to express support for S.1315 by logging on to the website: www.house.gov.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
