THE FILIPINO CENTURY BEYOND HAWAII

International Conference On The Hawaii Filipino Centennial

Ala Moana Hotel, 410 Atkinson Drive,

Honolulu, Hawaii, 96814; Phone: (808) 955-4811

December 13-17, 2006

 

ABSTRACTS

 

ABENOJA,  Macrina. “Lucky Come Hawaii! Life Satisfaction among Cebuano-Speaking Elderly Filipinos on Oahu,” Research Statistician, State of Hawaii Department of Human Services, Honolulu, Hawaii. Email: mackiabenoja@hotmail.com.

 

This story is about the complex causation of life satisfaction among elderly Filipinos in Hawaii, of Visayan origins. Because of their sakada experience, this group had modest socio-economic status--little education and low income. Western standards that focus upon personal attributes would put them at low levels of life satisfaction. However, their actual life experience demonstrates otherwise because of collective attributes that have far greater influence upon life satisfaction than strictly personal ones among Filipinos. An examination of the historical and socio-cultural contexts of this group’s immigration experience discloses their unique locale orientation to Hawaii and the Philippines. This orientation makes them “people of two lands” and bears significant implications upon their life satisfaction.

 

AGARAN, Gilbert Coloma and Fred EVANGELISTA. “Oral History, Myths and Legends in the Sakada Narrative.” Practicing Attorneys in Maui, Hawaii.

 

The Filipino farm laborers imported to Hawaii in the 20th Century were relatively uneducated and did not document their plantation experiences. Except for limited participation by Filipino-American leaders in oral history projects and relatively recent scholarship, much of the journey to Hawaii and the plantation experience have been described by third parties through the prism of myth and legends about the role of Labor in the development of modern Hawaii and the rise of the Democratic Party. What has been disclosed to spouses, children, grandchildren and other relatives reveals some general acceptance of an accepted story, collective myth or group history. The myth and legends that have been passed on to the children, grandchildren and relatives of the sakadas from Maui raise issues about community memory, group values and collective lessons.

 

AGCAOILI, Aurelio S. “Tropes of Tensions in the Land of Exile: Filipino Labor and Race Relations in Philippine-American Literature.” Coordinator, Ilokano Program, Hawaii-Indo Pacific Languages & Lit., University of Hawaii at Manoa. Email: aurelioagcaoili@yahoo.com.

 

The demographic of labor in the sectors that Filipino labor has been welcomed in the last one hundred years has always been of mixed races. In Hawaii, there was a mixture of Portuguese, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, and the native Hawaiian population even prior to the arrival of the Filipino sakada. In the health sector where Filipino medical and paramedical professionals have had an edge, the races dominated by Caucasian get to be more mixed. Tensions in race relations in the workplace are common. These tensions have not escaped the perceptive documenting, discursive projecting, and artistic understanding of Filipino writers as they have become active witnesses and participant observers in the dynamics of the labor front in the United States, where ‘Filipino presence’ is noted. The mode of rendering their ‘testimonial’ follows the route of various aesthetic expressions, but nonetheless utilizes the the epistemological lens in the (im)migrant experience that, in turn, transforms and elaborates it into tropes. The paper intends to critique such articulations and elaborations to map out the terrain of struggle Filipino (im)migrant labor has undergone in the last one hundred years.

 

ALBURO, Erlinda K. “Plantation Life in Hawaii and the Politics of Representation.” Director, Cebuano Studies Center and Professor, Department of Languages & Literature, University of San Carlos, Cebu City, Philippines. Email: csc@usc.edu.ph.

 

This paper contrasts two competing discourses in representing plantation life of the Visayans of Hawaii during the first half of the 20th century. The positive view is represented by a 1930 laborer's manual commissioned by the HSPA while the negative view is derived from the fiction and articles in the popular pre-war Cebuano periodical Bag-ong Kusog.  Against these printed texts, interviews conducted in 1988 by the researcher will show how gender, ethnicity and class have informed the realities of plantation life as recounted in the narratives of the surviving laborers or their children in the islands of Oahu and Kauai in Hawaii. 

 

ALCANTARA, Adelamar N.  “Filipinos in the United States: In Pursuit of the American Dream—Where are they and how far have they come?” Senior Demographer, University of New Mexico, USA. Email: dalcant@unm.edu.

 

The profile of the Filipino immigrant changed with US immigration policies. In 1906, the first sakadas were recruited by the Hawaiian Sugar Planters' Association.  In 1963, US Immigration Laws were amended to give priority to skilled and professional labor and facilitate the reunification of immigrant family members.  Between these years and since 1963, waves of Filipinos have immigrated to this country.  By 2000, over 2 million Filipinos claimed US residence.  Using Census 2000 data this paper will examine the factors associated with educational attainment and income among Filipinos in the US.  Statistical analysis and models will be used to determine the effect of age, gender, immigration and citizenship status, timing of arrival in the US, marital status, and other demographic factors on educational attainment and income of Filipinos.

 

ALCAZAREN, Mila A.  “Teaching the Filipino Language to Heritage Students on Guam.” Visiting Professor, University of Guam. Email: ginang_alca@yahoo.com.

 

Teaching Filipino language to Fil-Am students on Guam is a challenge.  The student population is so diverse.  While there are some who are already proficient in the language, others are confused with the languages spoken by their parents.  Students take the course either for reasons of personal need or just to satisfy the language requirements. The University of Guam’s (UOG) Tagalog Language program has shown tremendous increase in enrolment as well as student interest during the past years.  This presentation will describe the Tagalog Language Program, its faculty and students based on data during the past five years.  The presentor will also share experiences, challenges and activities that the program offers each semester that contribute to its success, together with recommendations for improvement gathered from students and peer evaluations.

 

ALEGADO, Dean T.  “People Power II and the Transnational Filipino Community: The Role of Transnational Community Network.” Associate Professor and Chair, Department of Ethnic Studies, University of Hawaii at Manoa. Email: alegado@hawaii.edu.

 

"People Power II" - the movement that resulted in the ouster of the Estrada Administration in the Philippines in January 2001 - stands out among a number of landmarks in the history of recent popular mobilization in the Philippines and the overseas Filipino communities.  Rivera (2001) describes it as a "collective resistance transcending national sovereign border" in which the "imagined (global) Filipino community" becomes a reality and is enriched in the process of struggle by both communities of immigrant families and contract workers abroad.  Linked interactively with each other and various Philippine political networks through internet websites, electronic discussion groups and relay instruments of modern satellite communications, the Filipino diaspora had an immediate continuing presence, intervening in and interrogating even the most local struggles in the "home" and "host" countries, including the United States.  This paper explores the role and growing significance of transnational communication networks in the contemporary Filipino diaspora.

 

ALEGADO, Dean T.  “Singgalot: Ties that Bind.” Associate Professor and Chair, Department of Ethnic Studies, University of Hawaii at Manoa. Email: alegado@hawaii.edu..

 

Part of a traveling exhibit supported by the Smithsonian Institution, this presentation is a narrative of the Filipino American experience - from the Galleon Trade that brought Filipinos to North America, to the struggles for justice and civil rights during pre-World War II period, to the present day. Singgalot premiered at the S. Dillon Ripley International Gallery at the Smithsonian Institution in May 2006, and will be on display at Hamilton Librry, University of Hawaii at Manoa, from Dec. 1, 2006 to Jan. 30, 2007. It will then travel to the Philippines, where it will be shown in various cities from March to July 2007. The Smithsonian Institution will sponsor Singgalot as a traveling exhibit from 2007 to 2009.

 

ALIDIO, Kimberly.  "The Temperate and the Torrid: Early 20th Century American Comparisons of Hawaii and the Philippines." Assistant Professor, History and Asian American Studies, University of Texas-Austin. Email: kalidio@mail.utexas.edu.

 

Within the framework of 20th-century American colonialism, what comparisons and connections exist between Hawaii and the Philippines? This paper looks at travel writing, school geography primers, and political debate to consider the ways that early 20th century Americans claimed the two territories as part of their national identity. The literal and figurative maps were early forms of American pluralism. Yet critical differences were unresolved: pre-World War II Hawaii and the Philippines were unincorporated territories in different ways, a settler colony and an indirect colony, respectively. I conclude with some thoughts about the theoretical implications for comparative and transnational study.

 

ANGUAY, Cornelia. “Roots: The Sakada Connection.” (Roundtable). University of Hawaii at Hilo. Email: cocoanguay@hawaii.rr.com.

 

This panel consists of second generation descendants of sakadas who were recruited during the forty-year period of plantation assisted migration (1906 to 1946).  The panelists will present their unique plantation upbringing and discuss the social, economic and political forces that have impacted their lives.  A question and answer period will follow the presentations.  The discussants and their topics include: Romel Dela Cruz, “Under the bough of a salamagi tree: The Legacy of the 1946 sakadas,” Jay Sasan,  “Final Harvest: Cut 'caneniro' to Plantation Manager,” and Fred Soriano, “Tata Gorio: Unveiling a Sakada Statue.”

 

ANNEB, Bernadette B., BANUA, Dedicacion B. & Samuel Rey Robert D. DULDULAO.  "The Role of Gumil in preserving Philippine regional literature." Authors are active members of GUMIL Ilocos Sur, Philippines. Email: dette_31.banua@yahoo.com.

 

GUMIL(Gunglo dagiti mannurat nga Ilokano),is an association of Ilokano Writers with chapter members nationwide. Its role is to promote the development of Philippine Regional Ilokano Literature,artistic and cultural heritage as well as the enhancement of the intellectual creativity and writing craft of Ilokanos. Through conventions, international conferences, seminars and meetings by different chapters, GUMIL attempts to preserve Philippine Regional Literature and strengthen more the inter-regional relationships among members of the organization, where Ilokano writers can undertake common and cooperative efforts to improve their craft of writing literary, historical, research and other works. It also publishes books wherein writings on poetry, essays, novels, historical accounts, research and critical studies can be preserved. GUMIL also enriches Ilokano literature and cultural heritage as phases of the national identity by encouraging the members to concentrate on writing about the social, economic, cultural and other aspects of growth and development among Ilokanos in the different regions of the Philippines.

 

APOSTOL, Virgil J. Mayor. “Revival and reintroduction of Filipino traditional healing practices into Filipino-American society.” Traditional healing practitioner in Southern California. Email: rumsua@mail.com.

 

Traditional Filipino healing practices are suffering from neglect. The decline of competent healers and lingering effects of colonization have imposed a notion that foreign health practices are superior. Thus, the need to bring traditional healing practices back into the hands of the people. The more popular form, ablon (also termed hilot), is used to help heal various health problems, especially treatment of neurovascular and musculoskeletal imbalances. Injuries and chronic pain are relieved in one or more sessions, thus reducing the need to make several trips to a facility that offers standard therapies that are sometimes ineffective. Another aspect rarely addressed by mainstream medicine is a holistic approach involving the mind and body through cultural and sociological perspectives. The author has observed, at least in southern California, that by reviving traditional Filipino healing practices via formal education and written works, Filipinos can gain control of their health and proudly continue a rich cultural tradition.

 

AQUINO, Belinda A. “Understanding the ‘Hanapepe Massacre.’" Director of Center for Philippine Studies & Professor, Political Science and Asian Studies, University of Hawaii at Manoa. Email: lyndy@hawaii.edu.

 

 Some 82 years after it happened, the so-called "Hanapepe Massacre" on the island of Kauai in Hawaii continues to confound and confuse. It was the bloodiest incident in Hawaii's labor history. What really happened that day when 16 Filipino sakadas, all known to be Visayans, and four  policemen of varying ethnicities lay dead after a melee involving striking plantation workers will probably never be known.  We only get sketches from "official" reports like police records, whose authenticity can be questioned. The authenticity of the Visayan-Ilokano ethnic tension that has been written or talked about can likewise be questioned. Was that a real issue, or did plantation management tolerate that ethnic division for its own interests? This paper will not attempt to provide an exhaustive explanation of this particular violent episode. It hopes to provide a better understanding of the larger issues dating back to the 19th century in the development of the plantation system to which the sakadas were recruited in large numbers. The 1924 Hanapepe Strike was not an isolated incident. It was an explosion waiting to happen after decades of plantation strife brought about by a succession of strikes, mainly by Japanese workers,  to which the newcomer Filipinos were increasingly drawn. As early as 1909, 7,000 plantation laborers had already waged a strike demanding better wages and working conditions. Tensions between management and workers, and among workers and their leaders as well, were high.  Understanding this broader picture can help explain the "inevitability" of the Hanapepe "massacre."

 

AQUINO, Romulo. “The Philippine Studies Mission: Preserving the Filipino Immigrant Legacy.” Environmental Consultant and Co-organizer, Philippine Studies Group at University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan.  Email: aquino_romulo@yahoo.com

 

This paper focuses on organizational, political, budgetary, demographic and educational factors that the Philippine Studies group in Michigan must deal with in order to remain a viable unit within a university setting.

 

ARANDA, Ben. “The Role of a Fil-Am Professional in Uplifting the Status of the Fil-Am immigrants in America.”  President, National Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors (NAIFA), Los Angeles. Email: baranda@lutcf.com.

 

The plight of the Fil-Am immigrants in getting their rightful recognition in mainstream USA has always been a challenge.  Although they are one of the fastest growing Asian populations on the U.S., they have yet to put a representative in Congress. Some say it's because of the Filipino's ability to assimilate and get lost in the process, others blame it on a lack of unity.  Whatever the case may be, one thing is certain. With intelligence, the Filipino-American can have a significant place in mainstream America, and coupled with integrity and initiative, this newfound status can be sustained. The author will show how this can be done with success. With over 20 years of experience in the field of financial consultancy, he will also show how he has helped his kababayans through proper financial planning to secure not only the future of their families but also that of the Filipino American community.

 

ARANZA, Sonia. “Hawaii on My Mind:  Reflections on an Immigrant Childhood.” President, Aranza Communications, Virginia, USA. Email: soniaspeak@aol.com.

 

This presentation will explore the immigrant experience from the perspective of  someone whose childhood in Hawaii introduced a whole new different culture, a different way of thinking. This will not be a nostalgic "trip" but a profound exploration of that experience, an examination of the insights gained from growing up in Hawaii.  Reflecting on my Hawaii childhood from a distance now enables me to come full circle in a continuing search for the meaning(s) of the immigration experience.

 

ARBOLEDA, Pia. “Gaikokujin Kyoushi ga Manabu (The Foreign Teacher Learns): Reflections on Teaching Filipino as a Foreign Language in Japan.” Visiting Professor, Osaka University of Foreign Studies, Japan. Email: pia.c.andrada@gmail.com.

 

The most rewarding thing about teaching is that it grants countless opportunities to learn from students and fellow teachers. I believe a teacher must strive to stimulate students’ intellectual and emotional growth, respect their diverse talents and learning styles, provide a non-threatening atmosphere for learning, and promote learning beyond the classroom. This will begin with a description of general education principles that have guided me in all the years that I have been teaching. Then I will discuss some background information about the differences between the classroom setting in Japan and the Philippines. Next, I will provide descriptions of the approaches and teaching strategies that I employ, and the responses received from students. Finally, I will share my reflections on being a foreign teacher in Japan.

 

ARCELO, Adriano A. “Filipinos in the U.S. Bay Area.”  Research Director, John B. Lacson Colleges Foundation, Iloilo City, Philippines. Email: arcelo@echo-services.com.

 

This paper will highlight the profile of the Filipinos in the Bay Area and their contributions to the community.  It begins with a background analysis of the flow of Filipinos to America, citing the dominance of the Filipinos in Hawaii that later was eclipsed in 1960 when the Filipinos on the U.S. mainland reached 107,669 compared to only 68,641 in Hawaii. The 1965 Immigration Act further accelerated the dominance of those on the mainland. Thus, in 1970, the Filipinos in the U.S. mainland reached 247,308 compared to 95,680 in Hawaii. In 1970, Filipinos in California with 135,248 likewise outnumbered those in Hawaii with 95,680.  The paper, however, emphasizes the dominance of Filipinos in the Bay Area, their success in terms of income, education, politics, and spirituality.

 

ASIS, Maruja M. B. “Organizing Filipinos: Migrants’ Associations and their Changing Milieus.” Director, Scalabrini Migration Center, Manila, Philippines. Email: marla@smc.org.ph.

 

One of the features of the Filipino diaspora is the proliferation of associations formed by Filipinos wherever they have pitched tent. In keeping with the theme of finding continuities and disjunctures in the migration experience of Filipinos, this essay examines selected examples of associations established by Filipinos in different historical, geographic and global contexts.The comparison and analysis will be guided by the following questions: What do these associations reveal about the issues/concerns of Filipino migrants? What do they indicate about migrant empowerment? What do they suggest about the relationship between Filipino migrants and the homeland? These questions are examined in three broad historical periods: before the 1970s, which corresponded with US-oriented migrations; 1970s-1990s, which coincided with the more global migration of Filipinos; and the 1990s-present, which is characterized by extensive transnational possibilities. 

 

ATIENZA, Josephine. “Issues and Challenges Faced by U.S. Filipino Immigrants: How they are Interpreted and Portrayed in Movies.”Film archivist and filmmaker in the production of Sana Maulit Muli (1995), Batang Westside (2002), and Care Home (2006).  Email: joat1113@yahoo.com.

 

The panelist will examine how movies, or full-length narrative commercial films, portray and interpret the Filipino immigrants’ experiences in the U.S..  Due to the Philippines’ historical, cultural, and economic connection to the United States, many Filipinos have made America a second home. They come to America, legitimately or otherwise, to live, to work, and sometimes to raise a family.  In the process, they encounter challenges that are bound to arise with their being uprooted, leaving their comfort zone, and adjusting to a new environment with a different cultural lifestyle. These struggles often result in alienation, depression, and generation gaps among immigrants, to name a few. The experiences of Filipinos living in America have been frequently depicted in the movies. Highly-revered actress Nora Aunor portrayed three archetypal Filipina immigrant roles: the demure UCLA exchange student in Lollipops and Roses (1971), the lonely New Jersey nurse in ‘Merika (1984), and the overworked caregiver in Care Home (2006). Similar movies are: Sana Maulit Muli (1995), dealing with issues of long distance relationships and romantic sacrifice; Batang Westside (2002), on the Filipino youth gangs; The Debut (2000), on generation gaps and their effects; and American Adobo (2001), on issues confronted by the Filipino-American professionals.

 

AVILA, Geline. “The Legacy and Contributions of the Katipunan ng mga Demokratikong Pilipino (KDP or the Union of Democratic Filipinos) to Filipino Transnational Activism, 1971 – 1986.” PhD candidate, UC Berkeley. Email: 

(Abstract not available at presstime)

 

BALMES, Christine. “The Philippine Collections of the Frank Murphy Museum.”(Poster). Student, Asian Studies, University of Michigan.  Email: balmes@umich.edu.

 

A team of University of Michiganundergraduate students under faculty Adelwisa Weller worked for three months to formally identify and catalogue the collections of the Frank Murphy Museum (FMM) in Harbor Beach, Michigan.  FMM contains some of the best artifacts of Philippine art from the early to mid 1900s received as presents by American governor-general of the Philippines, Frank Murphy.  The purposes of this project are to increase public and academic awareness of the collections, and to preserve Filipino and Filipino American culture. The team was able to collect 221 digital photographs and describe 128 unique artifacts including 78 cloths and dresses, 41 portraits, and photos, 2 documents, and 20 woodcarvings and weapons.  It also generated reports on two subjects: Philippine national costumes and Philippine weapons.  This project opens a starting point by researchers interested in the Philippine-American colonial hegemony; Filipino self-representations in art during the 1930s; and Filipino-American relationships in general. In the future, the team hopes to work together with the Jorge B. Vargas Museum at the University of the Philippines to produce an art book containing the collections from the two museums.  Implications of this project are discussed.

 

BANAS, Neneth. “Capacity Building among Filipino Youths in Canada.” Outreach Worker, Mount Carmel Clinic, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. Email: neneth_banas@yahoo.ca.

 

Mount Carmel Clinic’s Multicultural Wellness Program strives to provide culturally appropriate health and social services for newcomers to Canada.  In Winnipeg, Manitoba (Canada), the Filipino community is one of the largest immigrant communities in the city.  Several community forums and discussions with community members presented concern about the issues faced by Filipino- Canadian youths ranging from cultural identity, teen pregnancy, drug use, education and inter-generational conflict. As a project to organize, mobilize and empower the youths, a pro-active community network was proposed to youth groups in the city by the clinic.  The Kapisanan ng mga Kabataang Filipino (Filipino Youth Network) is a collaborative group of Filipino youths which will provide advocacy, support to service providers, community education and promote new leadership in the community.  The paper will be about the growth, challenges and practical efforts of the network.  

 

BARROS, Maria Eufrecina P. “Ilocanos PlusHawaii Dot Com: Identities and Images on Cyberspace.” Assistant Professor of Communication, University of the Philippines at Baguio, Baguio City, Philippines. Email: neibs92@yahoo.com.

 

This paper determines how media technology, the internet, provides a source of cultural knowledge and identity of the Ilocano migrants to Hawaii.  It explores the position of local culture in the face of global media and discourses of identity.  Drawing on critical discourse analysis and cultural studies, this paper examines the construction of the Ilocano-Hawaiian ethnicity on randomly chosen websites. The internet is the most prominent among the so called “new media.” Because of this, the internet is able to add a global dimension to questions of ethnic and cultural identity and differentiation. This paper is an examination of how the online representations position Ilocanos and their identity. It will provide a view of the dynamics of shaping perceptions and images of Ilocanos living in Hawaii.

 

BAUTISTA, Darlyne. “The Philippine Labor Export Policy: Development or Underdevelopment?”  Graduate Student, University of Wisconsin – Madison, and Founding Executive Member of ANAK (Aksyon ng ating Kabataan).Winnipeg, Canada. Email: darlynebautista@yahoo.ca.

 

Panelist will examine the Philippine Labor Export Policy as a response to the growing globalization of labor. As the international economy expands into a vast interconnected and interdependent entity, the global movement of labor increasingly becomes significant. Filipino migrant labor has gained prominence as a solution to the economic and social problems in the country. The panelist, however, argues that said labor policy does not lead to sustainable development in the Philippines. Rather, it is an alternative to problems posed by neo-liberal economic policies. This presentation is derived from the panelist’s undergraduate thesis at the University of Winnipeg, using data gathered from first-hand experiences with Migrante International, a migrants’ rights NGO in Quezon City, from 2002 to 2003. In this paper, she will investigate the Philippine Labor Export Policy through a political-economic framework that emphasizes neo-Marxism and dependency theories. She will also provide a structuralist critique of neo-liberal economic policies of the Philippines with an analysis of the “push” and “pull” factors and cost-benefit analysis of labor emigration.

 

BAGOYO, Jr. Vince G. “Contributions of Filipinos to Maui Labor History” (Roundtable). President, V. Bagoyo Development Consulting Group, LLC. and Chair, Maui Filipino Centennial Celebration Coordinating Council. Email: vbagoyo-devgroup@hawaii.rr.com.

 

This panel seeks to explore the contribution of Filipinos to Maui labor history.  Maui was crucial in reviving the Filipino labor union, which was instrumental in organizing Filipino workers to seek better wages and working conditions. The labor union took on the new name of Vibora Luviminda with Pablo Manlapit working with Maui Filipino leader Epifanio Taok and Antonio Fagel. The strike in Puunene involved thousands of Filipinos and was re-enacted during the kick-off opening of the Filipino Centennial Celebration on Maui.

 

BERNALES, Teresita G. ”The International Visitor Leadership Program.” IVLP Consultant, Pacific and Asian Affairs Program for the State of Hawaii. Email: iv@paachawaii.org.

 

Sixty years ago the U.S. government embarked on a grand experiment, one that has brought more than 140,000 influential leaders from around the world to U.S. shores, one that introduced these visitors, however briefly, to the array of institutions and people that comprise the United States. Through a government program, the U.S. Department of State's Office of International Visitors is unique in its reliance on nonprofit, community-based organizations to implement its program for international understanding. This private-public partnership formally places average Americans on the front lines of diplomacy. It is described by U.S. ambassadors as one of the most effective foreign policy tools of American diplomacy.

 

BERNARDO, Bernardo.“Defining the True Spirit among Fil-Am Immigrants: Role of a Fil-Am Performer."  Mr. Bernardo is not only a performing artist, but also a prolific writer and a creative director in California. Email: bernardo_bernardo@msn.com.

 

Multi-awarded performance artist Bernardo Bernardo will share with his audience the importance of using his artistry in depicting the Filipino Spirit that is present (whether latent or active) in the Fil-Am immigrant. Through the various roles he plays, he is able to portray the plight of the Fil-Am immigrant in select periods of time.  It may be the story of the Alaskan cannery Fil-Am worker in the 1930's as in the musical "The Long Season," or that of Prudencio in the award winning play entitled "The Romance of Magno Rubio.” Ultimately, it is the panelist's hope that through this forum, he is able to elicit from the audience the essence of keeping the Filipino pride and spirit alive while assimilating with mainstream America.

 

BURIAN, Rosalina “Lyna.”The Sakada Recognition Activities of FAUW.” . Project Manager and Architect, University of Hawaii Facilities Planning Office for Community Colleges.  Email: burian@hawaii.edu.

This discussant will present some activities of the Sakada Legacy Recognition Project of the Filipino Association of University Women (FAUW) involving Lanai, Kauai, and Waialua in Hawaii. In particular, she will recall the processes involved in the awarding of the sakada legacy medals. She will also describe the activities of the different communities in these areas to determine who the sakadas were. Finally, she will analyze these materials and information from the standpoint of someone interested in preservation of history and cultural heritage. In this way, there will be a body of knowledge that will be useful for future Filipino generations in Hawaii to connect with their sakada past.

CACES, Maria Fe. “Revisiting Filipino immigration to Hawaii (1960s-1980s): Social Networks and Lessons for the Contemporary Policy Debate.” Statistician/ Demographer, Office of National Drug Control Policy, Executive Office of the President, Washington, DC 20503. Email: Maria_Fe_Caces@ondcp.eop.gov.

 

The policy debate preceding the enactment of new US immigration reform legislation in 2006 is often contentious and evokes arguments similar to those raised prior to major immigration laws passed in the 1920s, 1960s, and 1980s.  The policy context shapes the nature and dynamics of immigrant networks that are essential in the process of integration into the receiving society.  By revisiting findings from a diverse migration stream largely fueled by the family reunification provisions of immigration law, we identify themes that can inform the ongoing debate.  We review findings from a study of Ilocano immigrants to Honolulu between 1965 and 1981 focusing on how interpersonal networks influence the process of obtaining a source of income and of establishing adequate housing arrangements.  The study relies on multiple methods, using survey data, case interviews, participant observation, and statistics to develop a hypothesis of the double-edged role of social networks in immigrant adaptation.  

 

CALINAWAGAN, Elizabeth A.  “English and Ilocano: After 100 Years of Language Contact,” Professor of Filipino, Humanities & Linguistics, University of the Philippines at Baguio, Baguio City, Philippines. Email: elizabeth_calinawagan@yahoo.com.

 

This paper attempts to describe linguistic hegemony of both English and Ilocano in areas where these two languages have been in contact for the last one hundred years. For example, what is the status of the Ilocano language brought by immigrants to their place of employment like Hawaii and other parts of the United States? Since English is the language of communication Ilocano has to be set aside and used only with co-native speakers or family members living in the same household or community. Back home in the Philippines, particularly in Northern Luzon, Ilocano is the regional lingua franca and it continues to be a symbol of regional ethnicity despite a political and economic pressure to master the English language which has been a medium of communication in formal social functions and institutions. With this language situation where both languages are still in close contact with each other this paper will further present whatever changes both languages have undergone, for example is there code switching, and code mixing.

 

CARLIN, Jackie Pias.  “Conditions on the Sugar Plantations on Maui.” Teacher, autobiographical writing workshops at Kaunoa Senior Center, West Maui Senior Center on Maui and classes at PACE/Maui Community College. URL: http://jackiepiascarlin.com/, or http://writeonmaui.com/, Email: jcarlin@hawaii.rr.com.

 

This presentation deals with the conditions on the Maui sugar plantations, specifically Orpheum Camp in Paia during the 1950s and 1960s prior to the demolition of the camp. It is based on the author’s newly published book, Spirit of the Village: A Maui Memoir, which deals with family conditions and neighborhood relationships in an area on Maui island, populated with Filipino families, as well as Filipinos married to Japanese, Hawaiians, and Puerto Ricans. The presentation will cover excerpts about family, neighbors, and community.  Examples of the author’s first person narrative include housing conditions in the camp – families and single men, childhood relationships, extended families and cockfight observations.

 

CARLOS, Clarita R. “Challenges of the Filipino Elderly in Hawaii: Retirement, Pensions, Welfare Services and Family Relations.” Professor of English and Philippine Studies, University of the Philippines, Diliman, Quezon City, Philippines. Email: cenapsis@yahoo.com.

 

The world is rapidly ageing. The Filipino elderly in Hawaii, coming in different waves of migration from the 1920s to the present, are now part of this burgeoning population group.  What are the challenges of the Filipino elderly in Hawaii? How are they coping with their retirement in terms of their pensions, welfare services and family relations?  The challenges of the elderly in Hawaii will be compared with their age cohorts in the Philippines on the same issues of pensions, welfare services and family relations. 

 

CARONAN, Faye Christine. “Community Pedagogy and the Representation of History in Filipino in Los Angeles.” Ph.D. Candidate, Department of Ethnic Studies, University of California, San Diego. Email: fcaronan@ucsd.edu.

 

This paper discusses the role that Filipino American spoken word artists play as community educators in Los Angeles. Many of these spoken word artists are educators by profession, working in the university, teaching ESL classes, teaching in after school programs, and in public schools. However, they take their roles as educators beyond the classroom in their performances, by educating the local community about issues affecting Filipinos in the present and about the histories of Filipinos both locally and globally. The lessons imparted in their classrooms and in their performances teach the histories and experiences of Filipinos and other people of color that are often erased or ignored in mainstream versions of U.S. history.

 

CASTILLO, Stephanie J.  “Glimpsing personal histories through documentary films.” Independent Filmmaker & Producer, Honolulu, Hawaii. Email: castillosj@aol.com).

 

Ms. Castillo, an Emmy Award-winning independent filmmaker based in Honolulu, contributes two short documentary films to this year's Filipino Immigration Centennial Celebration. Remember the Boys (30 mins.) captures the inspiring, true story of a chaplain to his war buddies. Born in Hawaii, Domingo Los Baños was a U.S. WWII soldier who went to war in the Philippines as a teenager with some 50 other “Hawaii boys”, teenagers of Filipino ancestry who were drafted.   The other film, Strange Land (40 mins.), is about Stephanie's mother Norma Vega Castillo, who came here as a WWII war bride from the Philippines after marrying a Hawaii Filipino "soldier boy." In both portraits, Castillo offers a glimpse into the personal lives of two Filipino Americans and their poignant journeys in Hawaii.  Stephanie will discuss her films and show excerpts from the two documentaries. 

 

CHATTERGY, Virgie. “Education of Filipinos - The Colonial Years: Comparative Description of Spanish and American Educational Orientation.” Professor Emeritus, College of Education, University of Hawaii at Manoa. Email: virgie@hawaii.edu.

 

This paper will compare and contrast the educational orientation of two major colonial powers - Spain (1521-1898), which first introduced and implemented western education that was largely religion-based and the United States (1898 - 1946), whose educational agenda emphasized the development of self-governance.  Christianize, Civilize, and Democratize are the three themes that characterize the establishment and development of the education of Filipinos during those years.  The overriding goal of Spain was to educate the few in order to rule the many, reflecting an orientation of feudal times and monarchal rule, whereas the U. S. promoted the idea of educating the many in order to prepare the Filipinos, eventually, to govern themselves. From this distinctly opposite orientation flowed differences affecting fundamental aspects of an educational program related to school administration, language use, education level/target population, curriculum and teachers/teacher preparation. Each of these elements was a challenge then; today, each remains an issue waiting to be resolved.

 

CIPRIANO, April Joy & Olivia ANG. “Bilingualism in Pangasinan: A Good Thing or a Bad Thing?” Cipriano BA Linguistics students, University of the Philippines, Diliman, Quezon City. Email: trinity_488@yahoo.com.

 

The increasing dominance of the Ilocano language in Pangasinan, a province which has its own language called Pangasinense, proves that Ilocano is one of the most migratory ethnolinguistic groups in the Philippines.  During the 18th and 19th centuries, the Ilocanos started migrating to neighboring areas in search of fertile agricultural lands.   As a result of their growing number and influence, Ilocano has been perceived by many as a “killer language” of the native language of Pangasinan.  This paper examines the spread of  Ilocano in Pangasinan and the development of bilingualism among the Pangasinenses,  but not among the Ilocanos.  We wish to delve into the historico-sociolinguistic reasons why it is the Pangasinense who has largely adopted Ilocano as a second language and not the other way around.  This study, therefore, debunks the myth of Ilocano as a language threat.  What happens is that monolingual Pangasinan speakers have become increasingly bilingual, which, in our view is a good thing.  We also present statistical data on the present density of Ilocano speakers in the said province as a result of the migration as they correlate with specific topographical characteristics of the province. 

 

CLARIZA, Elena. "Human Trafficking in Mindanao." M.A. Candidate in Asian Studies, and Library and Information Science Program, University of Hawaii at Manoa. Email: meclariza@yahoo.com.

 

Human trafficking is a major concern for the Philippine government. The Philippines acts as a source, transit, and destination country for trafficked women and children. It ranks fourth among nine nations with the most number of children trafficked for prostitution in 2005. While human trafficking is prevalent in all parts of the archipelago, Mindanao, in recent years, has emerged as the largest source of trafficked women and children in the country. Seventy five percent of the sex workers rescued by the Visayan Forum, a non-profit organization dealing with human trafficking in Cebu, came from Mindanao. However, studies on human trafficking on this region are scarce, and information and statistics, still lacking. This presentation will discuss the issue of human trafficking in Mindanao, its underlying causes and programs to address this problem.

 

CLAUSEN, Josie P. “Ilokano Ideophones.” Assistant Professor, Hawaiian & Indo-Pacific Languages and Literatures, University of Hawaii at Manoa. Email: clausen@hawaii.edu.

 

Samarin (1978) makes the distinction between the purely referential function of language and its expressive function.  One of the examples he gives to illustrate these two functions is the word ‘pig’ which can be used to refer to a certain kind of animal but at certain times, it can be used to refer to people.  In the latter case, a speaker can express his disdain better by calling the person spoken to a ‘pig.’ Samarin calls these words ‘ideophonic,’ an adjectival form of the noun ‘ideophone’, a term coined by C.M. Doke to refer to a class of words in the Zulu language.  Doke defines an ideophone as a ‘word, often onomatopoeic, which describes a predicate, qualitative or adverb in respect to manner, color, sound, smell, action, state or intensity” (1935:119). This paper presents a collection of words identified in Ilokano that exhibit this phenomenon including an analysis of such words or terms.

 

COFFMAN, Tom.  “Hawaii and the Philippines In 1898: America’s leap into Imperialism.”  (Video). Independent researcher, writer and filmmaker, Honolulu, Hawaii. Email: tomcoffman@hawaii.rr.com.

 

His documentary Nation Within will be presented and discussed in the conference. Unknown to most people, the Spanish-American War of 1898 and the ensuing Philippine-American War reconfigured the U.S.A. into a far-flung empire in the Pacific. These events assured the annexation of the then Kingdom of Hawaii as a U.S. territory and the Philippines as an American colony for 48 years. Eventually, World War II broke out in the Pacific between two imperial powers, Japan and the U.S.

CONACO, Ma. Cecilia G. “Filipino Social Identity Metamorphosis in the Context of Migration.” Professor, Department of Psychology, University of the Philippines, Diliman, Quezon City. Email: cescon19@gmail.com. One perspective into Filipino social identity is to view it as relatively amorphous, malleable, and of minor significance in our core view of ourselves. This seeming inchoateness of our social identity has been pinpointed as a factor in the lack of patriotism resulting in individual behaviors inimical to the nation as a whole. In this age of globalization, the question of who the global Filipino, or what that identity means, is at the core of many social cognitions and behaviors. This paper will review various documents that look into the dynamic processes and factors involved in social identity formation/change among Filipino migrants and their families today. This will be compared to that of Filipino migrants to Hawaii and their families a century ago.

 

CUARESMA, Charlene. “The Sakada Legacy Recognition Project.” . Community Director, National Cancer Institute’s Asian American Network for Cancer Awareness, Research and Training, Honolulu, Hawaii. Email: ccuaresma@hawaiiantel.net.

The discussant will reflect back on the Sakada Legacy Recognition Project of the Filipino Association of University Women. (FAUW).  She will present the decision dynamics leading to the December 10, 2005 recognition of the sakadas and distribution of medals. She will also offer some pragmatic answers to the question of recognition and offer her thoughts and feelings as a descendant of a sakada  

DE LA CRUZ, Enrique. “The Anti-Marcos Movement in the U.S. .” Professor, Asian American Studies, California State University, Northridge, California. enrique.delacruz@csun.edu.

 

The Filipino community in the U.S. was among the first, internationally, to respond to the Marcos declaration of Martial Law on September 21, 1972.  This response came within a day of the declaration of Martial Law in the Philippines via the launching of the National Committee for the Restoration of Civil Liberties in the Philippines (NCRCLP), an organization that, within a few weeks, was able to establish chapters in major cities in the U.S., and was thus able to spearhead the opposition movement to what would become the Marcos dictatorship.  This paper explores this early period of the opposition movement to the Marcos dictatorship; how it came about as an almost overnight response to the declaration of Martial Law, and the subsequent founding of the KDP, FFP, and the MFP, and the AMLC, which would eventually supersede the NCRCLP.

 

DELA CRUZ, Romel. “Under the Bough of a Salamagi Tree: The Legacy of the 1946 Sakadas.” Hospital Administrator, Hale Ho'ola Hamakua, Hawaii.Email: RDelaCruz@hhsc.org.

 

My sakada roots began with the arrival of my maternal grandfather in Hawaii in 1918, followed by his two sons, four uncles on my paternal side, and finally my father who came in 1946 sailing from Salomague (salamagui), Cabugao, Ilocos Sur. Together with my mother, my family was united in 1954 when my father became a US citizen. We lived in Paauilo, Hawaii, a sugar plantation community where my personal, cultural, and professional values were formed. When I arrived in Hawaii, the so called "1954 revolution” in Hawaii took place, unaware of its implications in my life until later.  Growing up as a Filipino in Hawaii in the 1950's and  1960’s was unique. There were no or very few role models, and discrimination existed. The sakadas and certain enlightened community leaders kept reminding me that only "education" would make our lives better and that I had an obligation to go on. Looking back, sometimes I felt it was a "burden" for me and my generation. Without this "push," I doubt if I would make it. Today, I am fortunate to work and live in my hometown in my own chosen profession, taking care of my tatas and nanas of all racial groups. Not too many have been as lucky as I am. Thanks to my sakada roots and to others, who helped me along the way.

 

DELIMA, Purificacion G. “Ilocano (Filipino) Identity in the English Language: Tracing Generations of Acculturation.” Professor of Communication, College of Arts, University of the Philippines at Baguio, Baguio City, Philippines. Email: pgdelima@yahoo.com.

 

Sociolinguists affirm that there is undoubtedly a strong relation between language and ethnic identity. Likewise, ethnic groups assert that their language is the best medium for preserving and expressing their cultural traditions. However, the reality is that there is hardly a culture that exists by itself. Culture contact and language contact are inevitable consequences of population movement. In this paper I ask, over a period of 100 years of migration to the United States of America, has the Ilocano (Filipino) cultural group kept its ethnic identity in its use of English, the language of the host community? What are the linguistic features of the English variety spoken by Ilocanos (Filipinos) in the U.S.? Is English use by Ilocanos (Filipinos) toward nativization or denativization? What acculturation experiences contributed to a successful immigrant-host relationship? In addition to answering these problems, this paper will describe the Ilocano (Filipino) ethnolinguistic vitality that has sustained the group's strong identity in the host community. Further, it will show evidence from generations of Ilocanos  in the U.S., that while overt, subjective markers of ethnic identity, e.g., language, food, clothing etc., may be lost in the acculturation process, subjective, psychological bond outlasts.

 

DEQUINA, Carlos. “Buddy, Can You Spare A Billion? How to Achieve Tax-Exempt Status for Fil-Am Organization.”Attorney, San Diego, California. Email: dequinct@georgetown.edu or carloslaw@yahoo.com.

 

The panelist, a Georgetown University law graduate ow practicing corporate law, will discuss how organizations like the American Red Cross and United Way raise billions of dollars from individuals and corporate donors. These organizations are successful fundraisers, in large part, due to their tax-exempt status. Donors have a strong incentive to donate to these organizations, because individuals and corporations can deduct their donations from their tax returns. This presentation discusses the tools  that one will need to achieve tax-exempt status for a Filipino-American organization.  The target participants of this hands-on presentation are: (1) officers and members of Fil-Am non-profit organizations; (2) Fil-Am community organizers who are responsible for fundraising; and (3) individuals who wish to establish their own non-profit organizations in the future.

 

DIOSO, Marconi M. “The U.S. Army's use of Military Commissions in the Philippines during the Filipino-American War.” Writer from Kihei, Maui. Email: marcdi30@msn.com.

 

This paper describes the genesis and structure of the military commissions in the Philippines, and enumerates the crimes under which prosecution is sought. There will be representations of some brief examples of the proceedings.  Speculations on the effects of these military commissions on the Philippine judiciary system will conclude the presentation.

 

EMMANUEL, Jorge. “FACES (Filipino American Coalition for Environmental Solidarity) and New Perspectives on Environmental Advocacy.” President, E & E Research Group (Pinole, California) and Chief Consultant, Global Environmental Facility Project, United Nations Development Program and Adjunct Professor of Chemical Engineering, University of the Philippines-Diliman. Email: jemmanuel@mindspring.com.

 

FACES (Filipino American Coalition for Environmental Solidarity; http://www.facessolidarity.org/) was the result of a convergence between human rights activists of the anti-martial law generation and a network of second and third generation Filipino Americans engaged in socio-cultural immersion and Tagalog instruction in the Philippines. From this amalgam of diverse political and intergenerational experiences arose new perspectives on solidarity and organizing. Past campaigns were conceived as support networks for specific causes in the Philippines. In contrast, FACES is an environmental justice and solidarity movement fostering mutually beneficial partnerships. While some programs- e.g., demanding US accountability for toxic contamination at former US military bases, or supporting fenceline communities fighting pollution from oil depots-look similar to past campaigns, the FACES orientation is transnational, reciprocal and collaborative. "FACE2FACE" exposure programs are geared towards benefiting both participants and partner communities. FACES seeks to link activists and communities in the Philippines and elsewhere with activists, fenceline and base-affected communities in the U.S. These approaches are consistent with ecological concepts of interconnectedness and interdependence. 

 

FININ, Gerard A. “Filipinos in the Pacific Islands.” Deputy Director, Pacific Islands Development Program, East-West Center, Honolulu, Hawaii. Email: FininJ@EastWestCenter.org. 

 
This paper will explore the history and growing presence of Filipino residents and workers in the Pacific Islands, particularly Micronesia.  

FORMAN, David. “More than English spoken here.” Enforcement Attorney, Hawaii Civil Rights Commission, Honolulu, Hawaii. Email: david@hicrc.org.

 

I propose to talk about selected cases involving Filipinos who have advanced the cause of civil rights in Hawai'i. For example, both the Mangrobang and Fragante decisions that contributed to the groundswell of support for establishing the Hawai'i Civil Rights Commission.  I would then like to explore the evolution of these issues as reflected in a recent settlement of discrimination claims based on an “English Only” policy applied to Filipina nurses.

 

GARNIER, Karie. "The Silent Natives of Fuga - The Island that has a Soul and the Plight of a People with 50% Infant Mortality." (Video Presentation). Award-winning filmmaker, Vancouver, Canada, Email: karie@sfu.ca.

 

In 1990, Chinese billionaire Mr. Tan Yu purchased Fuga Island in the northern tip of the Philippines. His $50 billion development would transform the pristine island into "a model city of the 21st Century . . . without squatters." Architects were ready to install 12,000 five-star hotel rooms, 17 golf courses, spas for the elite, an international airport, and the world's biggest gambling casino. Yet at the same time the 2000 native Ilocanos, the only inhabitants, who had lived on that remote island since time immemorial, were dying from a perpetual health crisis. They had no medical clinic, there were no schools, and the infant mortality rate was a staggering 50 percent - the highest on the planet! If a Filipino, living on Fuga, had an infection, the result could be death as there were no antibiotics on the island. If they were caught fishing in the wrong area they could be shot. UNESCO-endorsed author and photographer Karie Garnier, along with his wife Violeta Bagaoisan-Garnier (from Fuga), have worked over the last 15 years with doctors, scholars, lawyers, and politicians to raise the standard of living on the island. In this presentation, Garnier will recount the incredible struggle to get the first supplies on the island, and the work to improve the lives of the people. The culmination has been documented in his award-winning documentary “The Silent Natives of Fuga” which received five award nominations at the 2006 Moonrise Film Festival in Manila.

 

GO, Stella P. “The international movement of Filipinos: To the United States and beyond.” Associate Professor of Psychology, Behavioral Sciences Department, De La Salle University, Manila, Philippines. Email: gos@dlsu.edu.ph.

 

The international diaspora experience of the Philippines documents the peripatetic nature of its people. Over the years, the Philippines has developed a culture of emigration born out of a long history of out-migration that promotes and sustains working and living abroad. From the beginning of the twentieth century to the sixties, the primary country of destination of Filipinos was the United States. Since then, Filipinos have found their way to about 200 countries in the world. This paper will compare and contrast the migration experience of the Philippines to the United States from the 1900s to 1960s with its migration experience from the 1970s to the present. It will examine the context of migration, patterns and trends, and migration issues.

 

GONZALEZ, Joaquin L. III “From Prayers to Pera: Trends from a Remittance Survey of Filipino-American Catholics in the San Francisco Bay Area.”  Director, Maria Elena Yuchengco Philippine Studies Program, University of San Francisco, and Human Rights Fellow, School of Law, University of San Francisco.Email- gonzalez@usfca.edu.

 

Do Filipino migrants just offer prayers and light candles then wait for miracles to happen in their homelands? In responding to this question, Gonzalez will share patterns and trends from a large-scale survey of 1500 Filipino-American Catholics funded by the Pew Charitable Trusts’ The Religion and Immigration Project, Jesuit Foundation, the Asian Development Bank’s Technical Assistance No. 4185 – Enhancing the Efficiency of Overseas Workers’ Remittances. It covers important demographics of the Filipino-American community and their organizations in the San Francisco Bay Area as well as the growth of Filipino churches and congregations. The study encompasses the vast Archdiocese of San Francisco and Dioceses of Oakland and San Jose.

 

HOF, Karina T. “Thinking Outside the Balikbayan Box: How Hospitality and Sacrifice Figure in the Philippine Diaspora.” MA student in Cultural Analysis, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Email: K.Hof@student.uva.nl, or karinathof@yahoo.com.

The balikbayan box is part of an imported hospitality that perpetuates self-estrangement among its recipients and heroicizes self-sacrifice among its senders. This presentation will read the balikbayan box as an object for cultural analysis, showing how it is a figure of hospitality and sacrifice, two concepts crucial to the postcolonial Philippine habitus, both nationally and, within the greater diaspora, today so markedly affected by pursuit of migrant labor. It is suggested that thinking “outside” the balikbayan box may open up opportunities for Filipinos to—as the box’s name suggests— “return home,” feel more at home wherever in the world they are, or not leave home in the first place. The study is based on Philippine scholarship, popular cultural ephemera and first-hand research, including interviews conducted with migrant domestic workers in the Netherlands and the co-founder of one of the first American balikbayan box shipping companies.

 

ISAAC, Allan Punzalan. “Gold Star Mothers and the Filipino American Politics of Mourning.” Assistant Professor of English, Wesleyan University, Connecticutt, USA. Email: aisaac@wesleyan.edu.

 

In October 2003, George W. Bush flew to Manila to justify U.S. occupation of Iraq, by claiming the American role in Iraq as a liberatory project similar to that undertaken in the Philippines more than a century ago. In May 2005, the American Gold Star Mothers, Inc., an organization for mothers who have lost a son or daughter in military service, denied membership to a Filipina mother, Ligaya Lagman, who lost her American son, Anthony, 26, in the war in Afghanistan because she was not a U.S. citizen. The meaning of “American” differs when talking about political citizenship and when nationalism is tied to death and mourning. The spurious denial of membership to Lagman together with Bush's equally spurious misreadings of the Philippine-American war signals the serviceability of Filipino bodies and Filipino history to a closed narrative of the “ideals of Americanism” which disavows the very violence that founds it.

 

JOHNSON, Eric D.  “The Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) and Maritime Terrorism.”  Ph.D. candidate, Walden University & Adjunct Faculty, Charleston Southern University. Email: fishcop@bellsouth.net.

 

The Abu Sayyaf Group operates in a maritime environment in a struggle to obtain an independent Islamic state for the Moro population of the Philippines. This paper examines the group, their motivations, their capabilities and propensity to engage in more maritime activity. Further, how these activities may be deterred and prevented by the Philippines with cooperation by the U.S. is explored. The paper also touches on the dilemma caused by separating piracy and maritime terrorism, and whether this semantic debate hinders effective strategic planning.

 

JONGCO, Bienvenido R. “Promoting Health for All Filipinos: The UPMASA Legacy.” UPMASA President. Email: jongco1nc@aol.com.

 

The University of the Philippines Medical Alumni Society in America (UPMASA) was organized in 1980 for charitable, educational, and scientific purposes by a handful of U.S.-based Filipino physicians who are alumni of the University of the Philippines (U.P.). The ultimate goal is to promote the health of Filipinos in the U.S. and in the Philippines. Currently, it has 2,436 members and 14 chapters. All the national and chapter officers serve on a non-compensated voluntary basis. It has an endowment fund of over $2 million. Through its national office, chapters and various class organizations, it conducts fundraising activities, continuing medical education symposia, health fairs, and free health clinics in the United States. It provides funding supports for scholarships for medical students, research and professorial chairs, books, journals, computers, renovation of classroom, library and laboratory facilities at the U. P. College of Medicine and its teaching hospital, the Philippine General Hospital in Manila. It also organizes annual medical missions to treat indigent patients in various rural areas of the Philippines.

 

JUSTINIANO, Maureen Cristin S. “Filipinos in Winnipeg: The Impacts of Filipino Migration on the Transformation of Canada’s National Landscape.” Graduate student, University of Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. Email: m.justiniano@publichistory.ca.

 

The gradual decline of the political and economic conditions in the Philippines has forced many Filipinos to migrate to foreign lands such as the U.S. and Canada.  While most Filipino migration studies focus on issues affecting Filipino communities in North America, only a few have examined the impacts of Filipino settlements on North American society and national development.  Innovative works, such as Dorothy Fujita-Rony’s study on early Filipinos’ North American experiences, have inspired me to conduct a similar study on Filipinos in Canada. This study is an analysis of how recent Filipino settlement in Canada has greatly affected Canada’s political, economic and social landscape.  For this study, I have focused on the city of Winnipeg because of strong political and economic presence of its growing Filipino community.  By examining the impacts of Filipino settlement in Winnipeg, I hope to establish the role Filipinos have played in reshaping Canada’s national identity as a multicultural society.

 

KELLEY, Karen. “IVLP Philippines: How IVs are Selected, What visitors learn, IVLP Alumni in the Philippines, How alumni Give Back.” Public Diplomacy Advisor, U.S. Pacific Command, Camp Smith, Hawaii.  Email: Karen.kelley@pacom.mil

 

As the former Press Attache’ and official spokesperson for the US Embassy in Manila, this panelist will speak on the selection process, criteria, themes and topics the IVLP, the Alumni Association, Philippines and why it is the model for all the IVLPs around the world.

 

KESTER, Matthew. “Reconstructing the Sakada through the Hawaiian Sugar Planters’ Association’s Archives,” University Archivist & Adjunct Professor, Department of History, Brigham Young University Hawai'i. Email: KesterM@byuh.edu.

 

The Hawaii Sugar Planters Association Filipino Laborers Records comprises one of the best records of information on Filipino immigration to Hawaii between 1909 and 1946.  The collection consists of individual files on contract laborers with detailed information for academic and family history researchers, as well as shipping manifests and HSPA correspondence regarding the contract program for Filipino plantation workers in Hawaii.  The presentation will provide an overview of the collection, its contents, and current efforts to make the information more easily accessible to researchers in Hawaii and elsewhere.

 

KRAMER, Paul. "Empire and Exclusion: Race, Migration and State-Building in Philippine-American History." Faculty, History Department, Johns Hopkins University. Email: pakramer@jhu.edu.

 

This paper will look at the politics of Philippine-American colonial migration in the 1920s and 1930s in an effort to integrate histories of empire and migration. First, it will examine the emergence of migration as a site of state intervention in both the U.S. and the Philippines. Second, it will discuss migration as the engine of new, competitive processes of identification, as Filipino migrants’ own senses of self were transformed by their encounters and as U. S. racial nativists “Orientalized” Filipinos in an effort to subject them—both because of and despite their politico-legal status as U. S. nationals—to racial exclusion legislation. Third, it will argue for the centrality of migration, and the racial nativist mobilizations it triggered, for understanding the politics of Philippine independence. Having failed politically to end the “Philippine invasion” of the U. S. within a context of colonialism, racial nativists joined liberals, anti-imperialists and Philippine nationalists in a call for independence as racial insulation.

 

LEGASPI, Erwin . “Restoring and Preserving the Philippine Cultural Heritage Sites.” Graduate Student, Asian Studies Program, University of Hawaii at Manoa. Email: elegaspi@hawaii.edu.

 

This panel will discuss the issues involved in three Philippine cultural heritage sites supported by UNESCO – the Ifugao rice terraces, and the baroque Catholic churches, including one in Paoay, Ilocos Sur.  Each of the projects is a distinctive landmark in the Philippine landscape, which has deteriorated over centuries and needs restoration and/or reconstruction.  The UNESCO cultural heritage program continues to support the restoration of five cultural sites, including the Tubbataha Reef and the “underground river,” both in Palawan, in cooperation with the host government and non-profit organizations.

 

LUCAS, Ernesto C. “The Structure, Conduct and Performance of the Care Home Industry in Hawaii.” Associate Professor of Economics, Hawaii Pacific University, Honolulu, Hawaii. Email: elucas@hpu.edu.

 

The care home industry in Hawaii is largely operated by Filipinos, hence a study on this sector is timely and relevant to assess what has become of this immigrant community over the past 100 years. The objectives of this paper are to determine: (1) the minimum economic scale of care home businesses in Hawaii, (2) the profitability and rate of returns on investment of the care home businesses, and (3) the operational and financial performance of these care home businesses.

 

LYONS, Patti.  “Who was Consuelo Zobel Alger? Portrait of a Humanitarian.” Former CEO, Consuelo Foundation, Hawaii. Email: plyons@consuelo.org.

 

As one enters the recently inaugurated Filipino Community Center in Waipahu, outside Honolulu, the larger-than-life-image of a charming and benign-looking woman is etched on one of the wall panels.  This is the portrait of Filipina philantrophist Consuelo Ayala Alger after whom the Consuelo Foundation is named. This presentation offers an insight into the persona and humanitarian activities of Consuelo , who spent much of her life in Hawaii.  It will discuss the evolution of the Consuelo Foundation, the beginnings of its infrastructure as a philantrophic organization, and the legacy of Consuelo to humanity and to the Hawaii and Filipino communities in particular.

 

MABANGLO, Ruth Elynia S. “Turumba Revisited.” Professor and Coordinator, Filipino and Philippine Literature Program, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, Hawaii. Email: mabanglo@hawaii.edu.

 

This is a 1983 film by Kidlat Tahimik based on the papier-mache industry in Laguna. The film focuses on a family making papier-mache animals for the Turumba religious festival, and the disruptions caused by profit-fueled economy when a German appears and turns the village into a jungle of assembly line.

 

MAGDALENA, Fred.  “Global Pinoy, Global Village: Disenchanting the Enchanted.” Faculty Specialist and Lecturer (Sociology), University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, Hawaii. Email: fm@hawaii.edu, URL: http://www.hawaii.edu/cps.

 

Filipino identity arises from a conflation of historical, sociocultural and psychological factors. At the same time, it has taken on a new dimension as “Global Pinoy” due to globalization, further shaped by conditions of a weak state that the Philippines is known to be. Global Pinoy identity is represented as beautiful in the media and government propaganda, usually magnified out of proportion to the lived experiences of heroism, success and achievements of Filipinos abroad, but oblivious to their sufferings and miseries. It is personified by Overseas Filipino Workers (valorized as Philippine “modern heroes”), “Filipino” achievers abroad (notably boxing champions, beauty queens, Mt. Everest climbers, etc.), and other icons who reinforce the positive image of Filipinos. Consequently, Global Pinoys are reproduced, as they join the diaspora to more than 100 countries and become residents of the “Global Village.” Filipino exodus is mediated by state policies, and bewitched by the “Enchanted Kingdom” through the pronouncements of leaders. The Philippine State has seduced Filipinos to go global in search for jobs, as if that is the route to escape poverty and lack of opportunities. As the national leadership continues to glorify the Global Pinoy, however, it fails to recognize the price of its actions, the damage it inflicts to the homeland, and confuses solutions for problems.

 

MAMIIT, Rusyan Jill. “Anecdotal Experience on How IVLP Impacted My Life”  IVLP volunteer since 2003, and graduate student, University of Hawaii at Manoa. Email: rusyan@hawaii.edu

 

In the last three years, this panelist has been actively involved in the International Visitors Program as a volunteer. Through the IVLP, she has been able to facilitate information exchange with professionals across the Asia-Pacific Region. She will briefly share her intercultural experience with the international visitors program and how it shaped her perspective on politics, economics and environmental issues.

 

MANIS, Potri Ranka and Nonilon V. QUEANO. “Looking Back, Moving Forward to an Empowered Filipino Community in the United States.”  Potri is a nurse and founder of Kinding Sindaw (“Dance of Light”), a New York-based indigenous dance, music, and martial arts ensemble she founded in 1992, while Dr. Queano is Professor of English and Comp. Literature at University of the Philippines, Diliman. Email: KINDSINDAW@aol.com. URL: http://www.kindingsindaw.org/.

 

After 15 years, a Muslim nurse-artist-activist looks back and reflects on the gains and challenges of the group she founded and nurtured. The underlying assumption here is to examine how far this immigrant-nurse-artist has achieved the purposes of the organization: To what extent does the organization facilitate cultural empowerment of Filipinos and Filipino Americans in the United States?  On a personal note, the presentation will examine if it was worthwhile spending 15 years of her life, money and energy reaching out to the rest of the Filipino and Filipino American population of New York and New Jersey and other neighboring areas using indigenous Mindanao art forms that she learned through oral tradition.

 

MALLARE, Marie Lorraine and Aethel CRUZ.  "Voices of the Past: The Plight and Struggle of Filipino WWII Veterans in the United States.” Adjunct professor, Philippine and Asian American Studies, Maria Elena Yuchengco Philippine Studies Program, University of San Francisco, also Adjunct Professor, Public Service and the Law, Golden Gate University’s Ageno School of Business. Email: mfmallare@usfca.edu. Ms. Cruz is Knowledge Activism Fellow, Yuchengco Philippine Studies Program, University of San Francisco. Email: akcruz@usfca.edu.

 

In 1941, Filipinos were called to serve for the U.S. Armed Forces and promised citizenship and veteran’s benefits by President Roosevelt and General MacArthur. During World War II, they fought alongside and as one with their United States Armed Forces of the Far East (USAFFE) counterparts. But shortly after the war these cherished promises were stripped away from them by two Rescission Acts passed by the United States Congress. For 60 years, the veterans have had to live in poverty as they fight for full equity. More and more are dying each day, not in the Philippine battlefields, but in the cosmopolitan cities of the richest economy in the world—the United States of America. This presentation and the mini-documentary it will show is about the injustice brought upon these veterans, how they've struggled, and why congress is reluctant to pass a full equity bill.

 

MARAMBA, Gloria Juliana. “The Intersection of Personal Immigrant Experience and Professional Endeavors: Perspective of a Filipino American Clinical Psychologist.” Program Director of Mental Health Clinic, VA Palo Alto Health Care Systems. Email: gloria.maramba@va.gov.

 

 The panelist will discuss her personal experiences in immigrating to the United States, pursuing graduate studies, and developing a professional identity. In order to stand out in a competitive market, preparations for advanced studies need to include pragmatic considerations and familiarity with the professional expectations. Advanced studies allow for the challenging and rewarding endeavors that can have larger impacts. She will discuss her work that highlights the interdependence of ethnic minority studies and the standard practice of psychological treatment. The personal and professional rewards of becoming a professional will also be discussed. In sum, ethnic minority mental health providers often face distinct challenges and can make unique professional contributions.

 

MARULLO, Geri. "Charting the Future and Strengthening Links Between Hawaii and the Philippines." President and Chief Executive Officer, Consuelo Foundation, Hawaii. Email: gmarullo@consuelo.org.

 

One of Consuelo Foundation’s long term mission goals is to strengthen the ties between Hawaii and the Philippines. What would the future look like for families and children if the brightest and the best minds in both places collaborated in a creative and progressive way to implement effective human service delivery between two continents? What if these services emulated the purity of intention emulated by the love and spirit of Consuelo? What will we learn from the NGOs of the Philippines, which are the most challenged but progressive in the world? What will we learn from Hawaii and its cultural adaptation of traditions, practices and values in service delivery? These are just two areas of collaboration. The possibilities are limitless.

 

MEDRANO, Anthony. “The Philippines in Hawaii: Education in Colonial Times.” Graduate student in Asian Studies, University of Hawaii at Manoa. Email: amedrano@hawaii.edu.

 

Unknown to most Filipinos, the public school system established in the Philippines by the U.S. colonial administration following the arrival of the Thomasites (the first American public school teachers) was borrowed from the system set up earlier by American colonial authorities in Hawaii in the 1890s.  This paper will explore that connection and will attempt to draw a comparison regarding U.S. practices in public policy areas like education in the territories they annexed (e.g., Hawaii and the Philippines) in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. 

 

McElrath, Ah Quon. "Implications of the Hawaii 1946 Sugar Strike to the 21st Century." First ILWU's Social Worker, and former UH Regent (1995-2003). Honolulu, Hawaii.

 

[Editor's Note:The speaker is best known for helping shape the labor movement in Hawaii as a labor leader, social worker, activist and humanist. Her early work with the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) spanned nearly 20 years and included such diverse jobs as signing up dock-workers to editing the union's newsletter, Voice of Labor. During the sugar strike of 1946 and the longshoremen's strike of 1949, McElrath took on the enormous task of organizing support for families in times of incredible financial and emotional hardship. She worked with soup kitchens, made arrangements with creditors, and solidified their resolve in the face of great uncertainty. She will be remembered as one of the most articulate and activist labor leaders Hawaii has produced.]

 

MEDRANO, Anthony. “Children, War and the ‘Bare’ Space of Mindanao.” Graduate student in Asian Studies, University of Hawaii at Manoa. Email: amedrano@hawaii.edu.

 

At a recent ASEAN meeting in Kuala Lumpur, it was suggested that priority be given to securing the Sulawesi Sea region for investment. In light of the regional impetus to secure a porous, contested space like the Sulawesi Sea region, it is important to consider the costs attributed to realist-inspired security practices. A history of terror and conflict in the region reveals that the impact on (human and economic) development has been insurmountable. In Mindanao, the implications of war and security are clearly visible in the lack of children’s access to basic services such as education. This essay, therefore, speaks to the ‘bareness’ of Mindanao and the perpetual state of emergency that many children (and their communities) live in. It concludes, however, by exploring the recent emergence of peace sanctuaries as signs of a promising ethical turn in security policy and thought. In doing so, this essay draws on the words and hopes of children as articulate stakeholders in their own future.

 

MORTEL, Darlene Marie E.  “45 Kaliber Proof: Reading Resistance to Create Change.” PhD Candidate, American Studies Department, University of Hawai'i-Manoa, Honolulu, Hawaii.Email: dayamortel@yahoo.com.

 

For this research project, the .45 Kaliber Proof, a zine produced by a youth and student group Anakbayan-Seattle, was examined to determine its effectiveness as a tool for organizing. Using previous scholarship examining the intersections and importance of art and culture and social movements, a primary analysis of the zine will show how the visual images in this alternative form of media aided the efforts in educating its readers in the mission, goals, and purpose of Anakbayan-Seattle and the national democratic movement. In this study I will argue that the .45 Kaliber Proof serves as a counter-hegemonic form of media to call attention to the importance of Filipino American involvement in the national democratic movement by showing how the conditions in the Philippines directly affect the Filipino diaspora in the United States.

 

MUSICO, Nic G. “The Filipino Radio as Forum for Issues of the Day.” Region Superintendent for the Department of Environmental Services, City and County of Honolulu. Email: nicmusico@aol.com

 

This talk will reflect on panelist’s experience as rights advocate and frequent guest commentator on KNDI radio talk show Buhay Hawaii, having been president of the Filipino Coalition for Solidarity, Inc., a Hawaii-based rights group. He will share his views on the use of radio as a medium in reaching out to the Filipino community to effect change, generate support, solicit opinion, inform, recognize achievements or accomplishments, advance cause of issues, foster goodwill between the Philippines and Hawaii, discuss Philippine current developments, announce community events, conduct fundraising activities, and discuss election events and results. This talk reviews the speaker’s experience working with the Filipino Veterans of WWII, Filipino longline fishers, OFW abused victims in CNMI, immigration issues, human trafficking victims, government, and other sectors of the Hawaii Filipino community.

 

MOTUS, Cecile L.  “Is There Life After Living Aloha in Hawaii?”Director, Office for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Refugees, United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, Washington, D.C.  Email: cmotus@usccb.org.

 

This presentation will reflect on the speaker’s experience of working with faith-based and community-based Filipino immigrant groups while living in Hawaii.  It will examine the influence of her Hawaii experience on her current work with a national organization based in Washington D.C., which seeks to promote human and spiritual values, especially respect for rights and dignity of new immigrants to this country.  The paper will also describe the special role Filipino immigrants play as bridge-builders in multicultural environments.

 

NOLASCO, Ricardo M. “What an Ergative Grammar of Ilokano would Look Like.” Chair,  Komisyon ng Wikang Filipino, and Associate Professor,  University of the Philippines, Diliman, Quezon City. Email: rnolasco_upmin@yahoo.com.

 

This paper provides first a summary of earlier proposals for an ergative analysis of  Ilokano and evaluates the strengths and weaknesses of such an analysis from a functional and typological perspective.  It agrees with the finding that the evidence is compelling enough to warrant the overhaul of past Ilokano grammars.  It then explores the implications of such an analysis in the writing of an Ilokano grammar and proposes how to go about this task. The goal is how to explain Ilokano (and Philippine) ergativity in a language which is intelligible not only for the linguistic community but most importantly for the language teacher and student.

 

OKAMURA,  Jonathan Y.  “A Century of Misrepresenting Filipino Americans in Hawai‘i.” Associate Professor, Department of Ethnic Studies, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, Hawaii.  Email: okamura@hawaii.edu.

 

This paper will review and discuss nearly a 100-year period of misrepresenting Filipino Americans through racist stereotypes and other denigrating images applied to them.  The paper demonstrates how some of the earliest stereotypes disseminated by the newspapers that depicted Filipinos as highly emotional, prone to violence, and criminally inclined have persisted for most of the past century.  Certainly, newer and seemingly more positive images have emerged during the past century, such as Filipino Americans being a model minority that is especially evident during this year’s centennial observances.  At the same time, new sources of degrading stereotypes have developed, such as local humor and local literature, that have resurrected old stereotypes of Filipino Americans and created new ones.  The cumulative result of these historical and contemporary processes is that the ethnic identity of Filipino Americans is being ascribed to them by non-Filipinos due to their power and malicious desire to misrepresent others.        

 

PEREZ, Ma. Socorro Q. “Ilocano Immigrants’ Renegotiation of Space.” Faculty, English Department, Ateneo de Manila University. Email: maqperez@ateneo.edu.

In Hawaii, the colonial history of the Philippines and the neo-colonial realities often come to configure in the Filipinos’ relegation to the periphery and their essentialization as unskilled, uneducated, untrustworthy immigrants. Thus Filipino contract laborers during the plantation era in Hawaii occupied the lowest positions. Until recently, Filipino migrants end up doing menial jobs despite their professional training, hence are likewise marginalized. How then do our Filipino compatriots negotiate this peripheral status or marginality? This paper focuses on the experience of Ilocano immigrants through the signification of Ilocano fiction writers, under the Gunglo Dagiti Mannurat iti Hawaii. (GUMIL), an association based in Hawaii. Thus, it will analyze how the Ilocano immigrants, writing during the 1980s, attempt to negotiate this experience of diaspora, marginality, and even disempoweredness. However, in the process of negotiating the exilic life and sensibility, they create and recuperate a new, hybridized space instead. 

 

POBLETE-CROSS, JoAnna. “Colonial challenges: Puerto Rican and Filipino labor complaints in Hawai’i, 1900 to 1940.” Postdoctoral Fellow, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Email: jupoblete@yahoo.com.

 

Puerto Rican and Filipino U.S. colonials in the Territory of Hawai’i relied on lengthy communication processes to deal with their petitions and grievances. They had to write leaders in their home region who contacted U.S. federal agencies, who in turn communicated with the Territory of Hawai’i government. Finally, the latter had to contact the Hawaiian Sugar Planters' Association (HSPA). This complex complaint process turned local Puerto Rican and Filipino work issues into extensive intra-colonial issues. Puerto Ricans and Filipinos in Hawai’i also experienced different complaint processes from each other. As indefinite dependents, Puerto Ricans were managed by federal bureaucrats in Washington D.C. Filipinos, who would eventually become independent, dealt directly with the Philippine Bureau of Labor after 1915. This variation reflected their home region’s specific colonial relationship with the United States. Distant from centers of power, these colonials also had a degree of influence over their living and working conditions. Their complaints could reach high levels of government and impact both colonial and plantation policies.

 

POLLARD, Vincent K. ”Redefining Security: Lessons for Future Generations from the Anti-Bases Movement. “ Assistant Professor, Undergraduate Honors Program and Lecturer (Asian Studies), University of Hawaii System. Email: pollard@hawaii.edu.

 

In 1906, the U.S. continued a war of conquest and occupation in the Philippines. The etiology of a subsequent, post-World War II Anti-Bases Movement’s success is a policy-relevant account of shifting ideologies, multiple organizations and developing leadership in a vibrant domestic and transnational social movement. Hawai‘i Filipinos also participated. This social and political history is a resource for future generations in the Philippines and elsewhere who share similar sentiments, aspirations and goals.  Personal commitment and courage, organizational continuity and growth, tactical skills and flexibility, and kapalaran or “serendipity” were necessary but not sufficient to terminate the U.S.-Philippines Military Bases Agreement on 16 September 1991. Instead, a pro-woman, anti-nuclear weapons redefinition of “security” became a political asset. It made a difference in tipping the balance at key junctures in the 1980s and early 1990s. In turn, this understanding facilitates discovery of policy-relevant similarities and differences between the Anti-Bases Movement and the Movement to Demilitarize Okinawa.

 

RAMIL, Antonio V. "Filipinos in the News: The First 10 Years, 1906-1916." Practicing Attorney, Maui, Hawaii. 

 

This presentation tells of episodes in the saga of the Filipinos in Hawaii that have become buried through the years. Commemorating 100 years of Filipino presence in the Aloha State is never complete without looking into the news reports and editorial comments on the Filipinos during their first ten years in the islands.

 

RINGOR, Kristy. “The War at Hanapepe.” Ph.D. Candidate, Department of American Studies, University of Hawaii at Manoa. Email: kringor@hawaii.edu..

 

History has always been told by the victors of war, as spoils for their “valor,” but recent movements to revisit history reveal untold stories and invisible heroes. History remembers the events that took place in Hanapepe on September 9, 1924 as a "massacre;" the people who remember that day recall a "war." But what did happen? Most can only guess that many lives were lost, but few understand why. The "War at Hanapepe" or the Hanapepe Massacre, as it is more popularly known, is the single most violent event in Hawai`i's labor history, which happened during the course of the 1924 strike of the Higher Wages Movement. Composed primarily of Visayan workers, the strike involved several thousand workers on all major Hawaiian islands and was led by labor leader Pablo Manlapit. My paper focuses primarily on the events of the Hanapepe Massacre and the violent clash of the politics of race, class and colonialism on Sept. 9, 1924. Many differing accounts exist of this day; some contend the strikers were the first to incite violence, while others say the blame lay with the sheriff and special deputies. Regardless of these accounts, no one can deny the death toll of the day. At the end of the conflict, 16 strikers and 4 police lay dead or dying. These figures stand as witness to the violence strikers encountered in their struggle for basic rights as workers.

 

RODRIGUEZ, Evelyn I.   “Primerang Bituin: Philippines-Mexico Relations at the Dawn of the Pacific Rim Century.” Assistant Professor,University of San Francisco (Sociology, Asian American Studies, Yuchengco Philippine Studies Program). Email : erodriguez4@usfca.edu.

 

Since the end of WWII, the region of countries bordering, and various island nations within, the Pacific Ocean, has drawn much attention, and been subject to a variety of institutional arrangements intended to promote certain political, economic, and environmental interests.  Because of this, the mid-20th century is widely held as the starting point for Pacific Rim relations, and studies of Pan-Pacific interactions almost strictly concentrate on examining or trying to forecast their political, economic, and environmental outcomes.  This paper, however, proposes that the earliest and longest Pacific Rim relationship was actually that between Manila, Philippines and Acapulco, Mexico, and was sustained by the Manila Galleon Trade, between 1565 and 1815.  Furthermore, it argues that the most significant result of this 250-year relationship was the profound cultural exchange which occurred between the Mexico and the Philippines. This presentation will sketch the prevalent discourse regarding the origins and effects of Pacific Rim dealings, and then it will describe the history of the Manila Galleon Trade.  Finally, it will highlight the deep ways Mexican and Filipino pre-20th century societies were influenced by their trade with each other, and argue that this calls for more scholarly consideration to how contemporary Pacific Rim relations have a significant bearing on culture, as well as socioeconomic and environmental matters.

 

RONQUILLO, Theresa M. “Deconstructing Colonialism in the Borderlands:Identity Negotiation among Filipino Americans,” Ph.D. student, School of Social Work, University of Washington, Email: tmr51@u.washington.edu.

 

Filipino Americans are often homogenized and subsumed under the general “Asian American” category, or lumped together as a static, “imagined” community, presumably bound by a common experience, language, value system, and culture.  Such essentializing reproduces colonialist domination by discounting the vast diversity of subjectivities and experiences that exist within this and all other groups.  This paper uses critical theories and methodologies to explore the complexity of colonized identity, characterized by the discursive relationship between the reproduction of colonial structures, i.e., normalized ideologies that sustain Western hegemony and the inferiority of being “Other,” and identity negotiation among Filipino Americans in various contexts throughout their lives. Current models of identity rarely consider the influence of historical and contemporary legacies such as colonialism, movements across cultural and physical borders, and internalized colonization.  This paper argues for critical thinking about identities as multi-faceted, fluid, subjective processes that are situated and negotiated in (post)colonial, borderlands contexts.   

 

SAGAYADORO, Tony L. “Communicating with the Filipino Community: The Radio as Medium.” Radio Host of Talk Show, KNDI Honolulu, Email: buhayhawaii@aol.com.

 

This discussion will revolve around the development of radio as a major means of communication with the Filipino community since the plantation era before World War II and shortly after. The so-called "heyday of Filipino radio" in Hawaii spanned the early 1930s to the 1950s, but was subsequently overshadowed by the emergence of mass communication forms like television, print media and now the Internet.  It is instructive to revisit the role of radio in the development of the Filipino community in Hawaii. The panel will also cover the history of radio programming dating back to plantation days when radio personalities woke up sakadas as early as  4 am. in preparation for a full day's  work.  Pioneer radio programs and their hosts like Bert Villanueva, Moses Claveria, Tommy Tomimbang, and others will be discussed.  Later programs like the ones aired over KISA in the 1970s will be examined as a new period in radio programming.  The discussion will extend to the present period with KNDI at the helm of ethnic Filipino radio programming in Hawaii.

 

SALVOSA, Ray Dean. “Together We Achieve the Ordinary: The Consuelo Partnership Model. “ Managing Director, Consuelo Foundation, Philippine Branch, Makati City. Email: rsalvosa@consuelo.org.

 

This presentation will highlight the program implementation strategy of Consuelo Foundation in the Philippines.  It focuses on a unique collaborative effort that enables the Foundation to reach more marginalized children, women and families in a way that best impacts their lives.

 

SAMONTE, Quirico S. "The Biography as Vehicle for Preserving the Legacy and Identity of Filipino Immigrants.” Professor Emeritus, Eastern Michigan University, USA. Email: qsamonte@emich.edu

 

This paper focuses on the writing of a book, At the Table with the Family. The author arrived in Michigan in the 1950s as a student, and has remained in Michigan as an immigrant. Sharing materials with students as well as with interested members of the community has been encouraged and sponsored partly by the Philippine Studies Group in Michigan. It is illustrative of a university unit reaching out into the community to encourage individuals to record their recollections, and to share primary sources with students who are interested in the story of Filipino immigrants. 

 

SARANILLIO, Dean Itsuji. “Kewaikaliko’s Benocide: Using Hawaiian Art to Envision New Possibilities for Filipino ‘American’ Politics within the U.S. Colony of Hawai‘i .” Ph.D. Candidate, Program in American Culture, University of Michigan. Email: dsaranil@umich.edu.

 

A Hawaiian artist who goes by the pseudonym Kewaikaliko critiques the legal challenges emerging out of the 2000 Rice v. Cayetano Supreme Court decision in his artwork titled Benocide. Central to the artwork is a Native Hawaiian man being lynched by then Governor Benjamin Cayetano, Hawai‘i’s first governor of Filipino descent (1994-2002). Kewaikaliko offers a vision of Hawai‘i that often goes unseen and is a clarion call for residents to re-envision and re-imagine Hawai‘i’s contemporary situation. My purpose in using this text is not to claim an ability to reveal Hawaiian epistemologies and cultural knowledge. Instead, my interests lie in its rich observations of the intricate power relations within a settler colony, and this artwork has helped me to ask difficult questions of the type of politics that is required of me as a Filipino living on Native lands. Within an analytical framework that addresses American racism but not a structure of colonialism, the U.S. possession of Native lands is often taken as fixed and a civil rights discourse, one with major limitations in addressing international human rights violations such as colonization, takes precedence. As represented by the remains of Dole left at Cayetano’s feet, marginalized groups’ desires for equality or empowerment within an American political system are all crucial components of a complex hegemonic colonial structure that must be carefully questioned. Through an analysis of sight, art as pedagogy, and colonialism, this essay seeks to take up postcolonial literary critic Moustafa Bayoumi’s question: “Is there something peculiarly American about seeing race but being blind to sovereignty rights?”

 

SASAN, Jay. “Final Harvest:  From ‘Cut Caneniro’ to Plantation Manager.” Vice-President and Manager (retired), Mauna Kea Agribusiness & Safety Director, C. Brewer & Co. Ltd, Col. U.S. Army (reserved). Mr. Jay lives on the Big Island. Email:

 

My grandfather arrived with his wife and children, Juan, Francisca and Margarita in 1918.  Their ages were 7, 5 and 3, respectively.  They came from Cebu and were given 3-year contracts at Makaha and Grove Farm Plantations.  As a laborer, my grandfather did field chores such as weeding, fertilizing and cutting sugar cane. My grandparents returned to Cebu in 1932 with their children remaining in Hawaii. My father arrived from Cebu in 1922 and was first assigned to Ewa plantation, where he excelled as a contra seed cutter. In 1924, he was fired as a “striker,” and moved to Kauai at the Lihue plantation. Prior to retirement, all six of their children completed high school and gained higher education with two eventually earning college degrees.  As a youngster, I worked hard despite having almost no peer. My uneducated father always prodded me with this advice “No shame- try your best.”  As I look back at my career, I can only pay homage to my grandfather and father for their courage in improving their families by migrating to Hawaii.  Their skills as “cut caneniros”(sugar cane cutters) helped to produce the first and probably the last Filipino Hawaiian Sugar Plantation Manager.

SIBOLBORO, Lorie B., Estephanie G. CELI & Alicia  CORPUZ-NAGUE. “Voice Affixes in Ilocano.”  BA Linguistics Students at the University of the Philippines, Diliman, Sr. Language Researcher at the Commission on the Filipino Language, Manila. Email: loriesibolboro@yahoo.com, niequane_spyke@yahoo.com, alicenague@yahoo.com.

 

That a Philippine verb can host only one voice affix at a time is totally belied by the Ilokano data.  The Ilocano evidence shows that a single verb may display two or three voice affixes as shown below.

(1)  Nang=i=lugan kami ti  naluto a taraon idiay dua a Tamaraw FX.

Loaded we DET cooked LKR  food in two LKR Tamaraw FX.

‘We loaded the cooked food onto two Tamaraw FXs.’

(2) ‘Dua a Tamaraw FX ti   nang=i=lugan=an mi ti  naluto a taraon’

 Two LKR  Tamaraw FX DET where loaded we DET cooked LKR food. 

 ‘We loaded the cooked food onto two Tamaraw FXs.’

In (1), the verb nangilugan contains two voice forms namely [nang- or n-] and [i-] with the root lugan `load’.  This verb is analyzed here as the detransitivized counterpart of the transitive verb ilugan `to load something onto somewhere’. In (2), however, the verb nangiluganan contains three voice forms namely [nang-], [i-] and [-an]. Morphologically, this verbal form is obtained through another layer of affixation (the affixation of –an to nangilugan).  Syntactically however,  the same verbal form has not been found to exist without the determiner or marker  (ti,)  which nominalizes or turns the entire verb into a referential expression.  The two morphosyntactic processes, detransitivization and nominalization, figure prominently in the formation of these   aberrant forms, and this paper is an attempt to functionally explain these aberrations.

 

SONSRI, Sida. “Filipino Community in Thailand.”Associate Professor, Department of Political Science, Thamassat University, Thailand. Email: sidapols@alpha.tu.ac.th.

 

The objective of this paper is to explore the Filipino community in Thailand from the 1960s to the present.  The number of Filipinos in Thailand has been increasing since World War II, and accelerated even more after 1960. In 1976, they established the Filipino Community of Thailand, with chapters in Bangkok and Pattaya in 1976, in order to get together, help each other and establish connections in various business fields. Among the reasons why they migrate to Thailand are: 1)  they came through the leadership of the U.S. after World War II to become advisers of Thai academic institutions in agriculture, management, education, medicine, tropical medicine and community development, 2) as most of them are well-educated, good English speakers, and well-trained, they have more opportunities to land jobs in Thailand, especially during this globalized era, 3)  most of them intermarried in the Philippines and settled in Thailand since 1960, and 4)  due to economic difficulties in the Philippines, more Filipinos seek jobs in Thailand.

 

SORIANO, Fred. “Tata Gorio: The Unveiling of a Sakada Statue.”  Lecturer in Sociology/Anthropology, University of Hawaii-Hilo. Email: freds@hawaii.edu.

 

Two years ago, I was commissioned to sculpt a sakada statue to commemorate the arrival in Hawaii of the first 15 sakadas 100 years ago.  There was a series of unveiling before the final unveiling of Tata Gorio, which took place on Dec. 17, 2005 in Keaau (formerly Ola’a), only a short distance from the Ola’a sugar plantation where the first 15 sakadas were sent.  It took me a whole year to transform a two-ton slab of blue rock into a sakada image, depicting 100 years of immigration to Hawaii.  The true identity of Marciano Bello (the only one who remained in Hawaii of the original 15 sakadas) was unveiled.  The true identities of my father and other sakadas were also unveiled.  All of these sakadas had one thing in common – they were underage. Subsequently they borrowed the cedulas of older persons in the Philippines in order to come to Hawaii.  They were the fortunate few who were able to get married and start families.  The image of Tata Gorio represents a confident sakada determined to sink roots in Hawaii.

 

SUGAY, Thelma Aranda. “Media Marketing:  A Look into the Psyche of the Fil-Am as Advertiser and Consumer.” Marketing Consultant and Events Specialist on the Filipino American community, Los Angeles, California.  Email: tmtsugay@aol.com.

 

A much sought-after marketing consultant, this panelist will discuss how she successfully reengineered herself from an on-air talent to a media marketing specialist using what she learned about the industry and applying her journalistic (verbal) skills to come up with effective creative marketing packages.  Part of the discussion will uncover the secrets of finding that balance between her Filipino heritage and the American upbringing, which made her into the genuinely Filipino American that she is.  Here she will show how one can utilize her knowledge of her kababayans (example:  what motivates them to buy as well as sell products/services).  She will also demonstrate the importance of "inclusion" as opposed to "exclusion" of mainstream America in her target marketing.  Keeping in mind the Filipino's "colonial mentality," it is theorized that there is the underlying need and desire for the Filipino to blend into mainstream.  Sometimes, it is this assimilation that makes it difficult for the Filipino-American to become a force to reckon with in the political society as there is the tendency to become "invisible."  Actual experiences and anecdotes will prove not only entertaining but instructive, and will enhance the panelist's presentation.

 

TERADA, Takefumi. “Filipino Catholic Communities in Japan.” Professor, Institute of Asian Cultures, Sophia University, Tokyo, Japan. Email: t-terada@sophia.ac.jp, or tterada@tka.att.ne.jp.

 

The lives of Filipino migrants in Japan recently attracted scholarly concerns, and attention has been paid to various aspects of their lives in Japan – their working conditions, their relations with the Japanese, immigration policy and legal affairs, Filipino-Japanese marriages and problems that their children face, sexual and human rights abuse, children’s language acquisition, adaptation and psychological problems and so on. One aspect which has been rather neglected so far and paid little attention to is the issue of their religious practice and their relations with and participation in the Roman Catholic Church in Japan. This is in spite of the fact that the Catholic Church would not be able to continue without the participation of these Filipino migrant Catholics and Brazilians living in Japan. This paper is an attempt to look into the historical background of Filipino Catholic communities in Japan from 1980s on and discuss various problems: social, religious, institutional, and cross-cultural problems currently found in their religious life.

 

TOMIMBANG, Emme. “Documenting the 1924 Hanapepe Massacre.” Producer and President, Emme Inc. Email:  emmeinc@hawaii.rr.com.

My interest in the Hanapepe Massacre on Kauai was sparked by professional and personal reasons. With the proclamation designating 2006 as the Filipino Centennial Year in Hawaii, I started to do some research for a documentary on the Filipino immigrant experience in Hawaii. One of the topics that I thought should be part of this documentary was the "Hanapepe Massacre," because so little had been known by the public about this violent confrontation. I read more and more material about it, thanks to Chad Taniguchi, who had been involved in an oral history project at the University of Hawaii on the topic in the late 70s and early 80s. My personal interest in the topic stems from my being a Filipina of Visayan ancestry. In the course of my research, I learned that the16 Filipino victims in the "massacre" were Visayans, who had been recruited to work on the Hawaii sugar plantations in the early 1920s. My father, who came to Hawaii in 1931 as a "sakada," never talked about it probably because he himself did not know the details of this bloody incident. Or was it because Filipinos then, were trying to be accepted, taken seriously and respected for their work? This incident, if discussed too often, might have "set them back." So this day was shrouded in mystery and cloaked in secrecy, for protection, for shame? From a personal standpoint therefore, the "Hanapepe Massacre" for me was a rude awakening, a really dark day in Filipino history in Hawaii.

TOMIMBANG, Emme. “Growing Up Filipino-American: My Media Roots in Radio.” Producer and President, Emme Inc. Email:  emmeinc@hawaii.rr.com.

 

This participant will reflect on her initial exposure to radio by learning from her father Tommy Tomimbang, who was a trilingual announcer on early Filipino radio in Hawaii. As a young girl, she would tag along with her father in his place of work. Her media career had an early start with radio in a program called "Morning Girl." In this way, she also got exposed to different Philippine languages like Tagalog, Ilokano, and Cebuano, thus enhancing her Filipino, particularly Visayan, identity. Eventually, she would gravitate to television, where she would work as an anchor and reporter for the next two decades.

 

TRIMILLOS, Ricardo D. “Music and ritual: Marking Filipino identity.” Professor and Chair, Asian Studies Program, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, Hawaii. Email: rtrimil@hawaii.edu.

 

Helan Page, Black anthropologist, has coined the term "embraceable imagery" to characterize the ways in which mainstream media select features of Black male athletes to construct a media identity for them. The concept of embraceable imagery is also useful in considering Filipino identity and the ways in which ritual contributes to this construction. We will consider lowland, Muslim and lumad examples of ritual with particular attention to the performance aspects, e.g., music, dance and oratory. For example, the sinakulo (Tagalog) or tanggal (Bikol) are both theatre forms. However, they are contextualized differently in a Tagalog-centric hegemon and in a Bikolano-specific liminal space. For national projects, identity is often a process of essentializing regional or idiosyncratic cultural practices. We will consider what is gained and what is lost in the essentialized identity.

 

TRINIDAD, Alma M.O. “Places of Empowerment for Filipino American Young Adults:  Extra Curricular Activities and Mental Health Promotion.” Ph.D. Student, School of Social Work, University of Washington, USA. Email: almat@u.washington.edu.

 

Not much is written about the transition to young adulthood of Filipino American young adults.  Additionally, the literature on mental health promotion is limited in describing the “places” that promote empowerment for minority young adults.  This qualitative study aims to uncover these issues and begin to answer the following:  What are the “places” and “spaces” that provide opportunities and exposure to building positive youth development and empowerment?  How is participating in extra curricular activities serve as such “places” and “spaces” for empowerment?  In-depth interviews were conducted with Filipino American young adults from Hawai‘i.  Utilizing techniques and procedures from grounded theory, findings reveal the “places” and “spaces” that serve as sources for empowerment.  The skills learned and competences obtained through these “spaces” are then carried out in other parts of their lives.  Findings have for community building and social capital relevant to the Filipino community in Hawai‘i.

 

VALIENTE, Jimiliz Maramba. “Colonial Legacies: Filipino and American Presents/Presence in the Balikbayan Box.” Ethnic Studies and Literature/Writing, University of California-San Diego. Email: jimiliz.mv@gmail.com.

 

This study connects Philippine-U.S. relations from the Philippine American War and World War II to the relatively modern transnational practice of sending or bringing balikbayan boxes to the Philippines.  The balikbayan box is a remittance in the form of gifts such as canned goods, clothes, and assorted candies prepared by both citizens and transmigrants.  Focusing on respondents’ stories of post-war Filipino colonial education and quotidian exchanges with the American military, the author dissects and deconstructs the notion of “colonial mentality” associated with the practice, by framing this gift-giving in the context of global structural inequalities.  The balikbayan box practice, which oftentimes appears to be a mere residue of colonial legacies, does not simply consist of exchanging American goods and American culture; it also demonstrates a form of Filipino-American agency and resistance in their identity formation as transnationals.

 

VALLEDOR, Sid. “Globalization and the Migrant Labor Movement in the United States: Focus on the Forgotten Philip Vera Cruz.”  Visiting Fellow,Yuchengco Philippine Studies Program. Email: rojsv138@earthlink.net.

 

As Filipino-Americans celebrate the centennial (1906-2006) of the “contractual” labor relations between the Philippines and the U.S., this panelist puts into critical perspective the life of one of its eminent products—Filipino-American political leader, Philip Vera Cruz. Not known to many, Vera Cruz stands alongside well-known California farm worker activists Larry Itliong and Cesar Chavez. He argues that just like Vera Cruz and his contemporaries, the millions of Filipino migrants in more than 120 countries are the modern-day heroes/heroines of the world without borders, but still very much a world with limited protection and social justice for them. He will discuss the ethnographic research he conducted with Filipino-American agricultural labor leader Philip Vera Cruz’, including his speaking engagements in the Pacific Northwest in the spring of 1971. For over thirty years the tape recordings and Vera Cruz’ writings remained dormant. With mixed emotions the panelist, a retired labor leader, wanted to let the world know what Philip Vera Cruz had to say outside the Great Delano Grape Strike. His interviews elaborate on the international farm worker and civil society movement as seen from unique historical and globalization perspectives.

 

WELLER, Adelwisa L.Agas. “Preserving Filipino Immigrant Legacy from a University Perspective: The Role of the Philippine Studies Group at the University of Michigan.”Lecturer, Filipino Language and Culture, Dept. of Asian Languages and Cultures, and Faculty Associate, Center for Southeast Asian Studies, International Institute, LSA, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, USA. Email: alagawel@umich.edu.

 

Educational institutions are effective change agents and keepers of memories only with the assistance of concerned communities. The Philippine Studies program at the University of Michigan is one good example of harnessing community and academic resources to promote continued awareness of the Philippines and Filipinos in the diaspora. This paper intends to describe briefly the academic programs and resources which enabled the students and the community to be exposed to the historical and current events of the Philippines and its people in the last twenty years. This will be highlighted with a video documentary of an oral history project where the University of Michigan students interviewed eighteen sakadas, sometimes, in the sakadas'’ first language, and in English. The global Filipino community might have started with the sakadas coming to Hawaii in 1906 but this historical fact acquires significance only when documented and shared with a community wider than the Filipino community. Academic institutions and their activities provide such opportunity for validation.

 

WEYGAN-HILDEBRAND, Carolyn. “Who is a Sakada?” (Roundtable). Employment Analyst, Hawaii Workforce Development Council, Honolulu, Hawaii. Email: Carolyn.W.Hildebrand@hawaii.gov or childebrand@hawaii.rr.com.

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This panel honors the legacy of Hawaii sakadas, bringing to the fore the question, "Who is a Sakada?" It will offer pragmatic responses consistent with past and evolving history.  Two panelists (Lyna Burian and Charlene Cuaresma,) who were involved in different sakada legacy recognition ceremonies during the 2006 Filipino centennial year, will present their experiences in organizing these ceremonies and what answers and criteria they came up with on who a sakada is.  They will also reflect on the results, their feelings, and the future. Literature, materials, and artifacts from primary sources of information about the Hawaii‘s plantation era are examined further to reconcile the exclusive and inclusive definitions of the term "sakada " in pre-2006 period.  A sampling of 2006 media and online materials are also examined to gauge grassroots responses to the 2006 honoring of sakada legacy/ centennial year celebration and resulting definition of who is and is not a sakada.

 

WOODS, Damon L. “Vigan: Center of Hispanization and Commerce in the Ilocos .” Visiting faculty, University of California at Los Angeles. Email: dlwoods@ucla.edu.

 

In 1572, Juan de Salcedo, in his travels and exploration of Luzon came upon a trading center known as Bigan- the name being a contraction of Kabigbigaan, from biga, a plant that grew on the banks of the two rivers where Bigan was located.  Two years later, Salcedo established a military presence and named the Spanish settlement Villa Fernandina, after Fernando, the first-born of King Philip, and Bigan became known as Vigan. The parish of St. Paul was founded the next year by the Augustinians, who were replaced three years later by the Franciscans. Unlike other parts of the archipelago, Vigan would not remain under the authority of one religious order, but was transferred back and forth among the orders. In spite of Vigan’s location and economic strength, another town (Nueva Segovia, Cagayan) was chosen to be the seat of the Diocese of  Nueva Segovia. But in 1758, the See of Nueva Segovia was transferred to Vigan at the request of Bishop Juan de la Fuente Yepes.  This transfer was a recognition of the importance of Vigan in Northern Luzon.  In 1951, the diocese was elevated to the status of Archdiocese. Although the transfer might be seen in terms of convenience, due to Vigan’s location, it was also a recognition of the growing importance of Vigan as a cultural, political, and economic center.

 

 

“Filipinos in Hawaii: The First 100 Years.” (A Library Exhibit Sponsored by the Hamilton Library, University of Hawaii at Manoa). Curated by Alice MAK. Philippine Studies Librarian. Email: alicem@hawaii.edu.


Drawing mostly on documents from the files of the Hawaiian  Sugar Planters' Association Plantation (HSPA) Archives, this  library exhibit offers glimpses into the early experiences of Filipino plantation workers called sakadas  in Hawaii.  It is curated by Alice Mak, Philippine Studies librarian at the Asia Collection of the University of Hawaii at Manoa's Hamilton Library. The exhibit begins with a  letter by a labor recruiter sent in 1902 from Manila to the Olaa Plantation Manager on the island of Hawaii.  This letter describes the "first class labor"  found in the Philippine Islands. Other documents in the display reveal the working and living conditions of the early Filipino workers on the sugar plantations. The exhibit will open on Nov. 1 in the Hamilton Library lobby on the first floor and ends on Jan. 31, 2007.  It is free and open to the public. "Filipinos in Hawaii" complements the 30-panel Smithsonian Institution's traveling exhibit curated by Prof. Dean Alegado titled, "Singgalot: The Ties That Bind  -  Filipinos in America, From Colonial Subjects to Citizens," which is also on display at Hamilton Library.