PETER’S PINOY PATTER – Dec. 2015
Bridge Generation News
October 25 was a red letter day for Filipinos in California. It was the first opportunity for the state to officially celebrate the first annual Larry Itliong Day in recognition of the trailblazing manong’s work on behalf of Filipino labor/civil rights. The celebratory day was made possible after Governor Jerry Brown signed the bill authored by Assemblyman Rob Bonta — the first and only Filipino American to serve in the California Legislature. Larry Itliong Day reminded me of when I first met him in Seattle in 1971. He was in town to promote the national table grape boycott in the northwest and just arranged for office space in executive director Bob Santos’ non-profit agency “Caritas”. Sensing Itliong’s visit would be of interest to others, Bob convened a group of local activists (the Filipino American Young Turks) to meet with him at the home of Fred and Dorothy Cordova. Larry expressed his strong support for the group’s fledgling efforts to bring the Filipino community into the Seattle sociopolitical mainstream. But the Young Turks were more interested in hearing about his union organizing experiences. As we listened intently, the charismatic labor leader talked about (1) participating in the asparagus strike in 1948 and organizing the Filipino Farm Labor Union in 1956 — both in Stockton; (2) establishing the Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee (AWOC) in its successful walk out in Coachella in 1965; and (3) merging AWOC with the National Farm Workers Association led by Cesar Chavez to form the the United Farm Workers. The merger of Filipino and Mexican unions soon led to the history-making Delano grape strike, also in 1965. On a sad note: Shortly after meeting with us, a disenchanted Larry left the UFW — complaining that the greatly outnumbered Filipinos “were getting the short end of the stick”. He died six years later of Lou Gehrig’s disease. On a lighter note: in addition to his love for cigars, we learned Larry liked Old Forester whiskey. On a personal note: Larry was acquainted with my Filipino farm labor camp operator/contractor father, Ceferino Jamero. I wondered, “Why were Filipino farm workers in Delano unhappy with their lot compared to those of Papa’s workers in Livingston?” According to Larry, the situations were very different. The farmers in Livingston with whom Papa dealt just wanted to have their crops picked; they had no qualms in paying a fair wage. These small farmers, struggling to eke out a living, empathized with Filipino farm workers who were seen as also struggling to eke out a living. In comparison, the rich owners of the giant farms in Delano characteristically operated as agricultural conglomerates, were primarily interested in maximizing their financial bottom line, and had little interest in the welfare of farm workers…………. It was great to hear from the delightful Salvatore Baldomar, born and raised in Brooklyn, New York City but most recently a SoCal resident. I still remember Sal regaling an audience of west coast Filipino Americans in Carson CA with his growing up experiences in the Big Apple………….. November 2 marked the 24th anniversary of the 1991 Grand Reunion at San Ramon CA when senior citizen singles — Ed and Beverly (Dacuioag) Ventura, George and Gilbertine (Cabreana) Campos, and Rudy and Nena (Teves) Calica — met one another and soon after entered into second marriages. The couples were all Bridge Generation Filipino Americans as were most of the 700 reunion attendees — the sons and daughters of the pioneer Manong Generation..………… I hope you did something special on Veterans Day to honor Filipino American veterans you love. Through the years, many Filipinos served in the armed forces. This was particularly true during World War II and the Korean War when, after years of discriminatory treatment, thousands of middle aged manongs and Bridge Generation young men unhesitatingly went to war to demonstrate their strong sense of patriotism and identification as Americans…….. …. Narce Caliva, born in Salinas CA but a long time resident of Winchester VA is spending his retirement years volunteering with the Korean War Veterans Association……….. Too bad the late Ronico Navarra of Livingston CA was not around to see his son Kevin serve as new head football coach at Buhach Colony High School in the neighboring town of Atwater. Kevin took over a team that enjoyed great success for years, sending many players to college football powers………… Happy December Birthdays to: Rosemary (Quitiquit) Figueroa, Sam Gonzalez, Clem Morales, Mike Nisperos, Phil Ventura.
Pinakbet — News Across the Country
President Obama announced a policy change that will enable Filipino World War II veterans, who fought for the U.S. in the Philippines and later immigrated to America, to have certain family members join them in the United States. The policy change authorized these aging veterans — now in their late 80s, 90s, and 100s — be given top priority in chronic visa backlogs that delayed reunification with their families. These veterans were promised citizenship after the war — promises that were not kept until more than 50 years later, after most had died. Originally 260,000 Filipinos fought for America in the Philippines; 26,000 immigrated but only 6,000 remain……………. Dave Bautista became the first Filipino American villain to appear in a James Bond movie when he wrestled leading man Daniel Craig in the exciting opening fight scene of the movie “Spectre”. Said the 6’6”, 240 pound movie bad man, “We beat the hell out of each other.” Born and raised in Washington D.C., his father is Filipino while his mother is of Greek descent. Dave also appeared in “Heist” starring Robert de Niro and played the role of Drax the Destroyer in “Guardians of the Galaxy”……………. Lea Salonga is currently co-starring with veteran Japanese American actor George Takei on Broadway in the musical “Allegiance”. Entertainment Weekly described the show as “Powerful….deserves to be seen.” Based on Takei’s boyhood experiences in a WWII U.S. internment camp, the show officially opened at the Longacre Theater on November 8. You may recall Salonga debuted on Broadway in 1991 in the role of Kim in the long running show “Miss Saigon”………….. Stanford University Libraries acquired the archive of prolific playwright Jeannie Barroga on September 17. I first saw a Barroga play in Seattle in 1987 in the warm and funny family comedy “Eye of the Coconut”, a Northwest Asian American Theater production. Since then Jeannie has won awards for “Buffalo’ed”, “Walls”, “Banyan”, and “Aurora”. The Barroga Archive includes all her creative works and are available to researchers in the Stanford University Department of Special Collections at Green Library……….. Filipino Australian Jason Day is the 2015 Professional Golf Association champion as a result of his victory at the Whistling Pines, Wisconsin golf course. This follows his near win in June when he collapsed with vertigo after leading in the last round. Once again, his closest rival was Jordan Spieth, the No. 1 rated golfer in the world………. Grab your remote and tune to the CW-TV network to watch the weekly romantic/musical/comedy show “Crazy Ex-Girlfriend” that debuted at 8 PM on Monday, November 16. The series is about a puti woman obsessed with a Filipino American, played by real-life pinoy hunk Vincent Rodriguez III. She follows him to West Covina CA – a real-life community of 105,000 that boasts a Filipino population of 10,000. The debut episode included several references to dinuguan — perhaps the only time the name of the Filipino delicacy was ever uttered on prime time television……….. Caterina Fake, the award-winning (Forbes, Business Week, Time Magazine, Newsweek) entrepreneur, is the co-founder of Flickr – the world’s most popular photo sharing website………….U.S. Air Force Captain Monessa Catuncan, 33, is the only Filipina jet fighter pilot to fly the famed supersonic F-16 Fighting Falcon “Viper”. The highly efficient “Viper” has been used extensively in the Middle East wars. Thanks to Dorothy (Sulamo) Samson for the info……….. According to event organizer Vince Paderes, “Bikerdahan 2015”, billed as the “Biggest Filipino American Biker Rally in America”, was a huge success — drawing bikers from as far away as Chicago. It was held at Lake McSwain, a half hour from Merced in California’s San Joaquin Valley, on October 23-25………. If Republican candidate Donald Trump is elected U.S. President, the eleven million “illegals” he promises to deport will include a a half million tago ng tago Filipinos…………. On October 24 attorney Rodel Rodis was the winning whacker in destroying a piñata of Trump’s likeness at the beautiful Woodside CA home of Mona Lisa Yuchengco and Lloyd Lacuesta……………. Meet Dr. Lori Adrian, President of the tri-campus Coastline Community College (Orange County CA) since 2010. She may be the only person of Filipino heritage heading a higher education institution in America…………. Did You Know? Composer Bobby Lopez (2013 Oscar winner for Let It Go from the Disney film “Frozen”) won an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony — one of twelve to ever do so and the only non-white male……….Answers to Filipino American History Trivia: (1) Where is/was Manila Village? Answer: All that’s left of the former settlement built on log pilings on the Gulf of Mexico is a marker in Jean Lafitte, LA, less than 30 minutes from New Orleans. The historic shrimp drying village was destroyed by a powerful hurricane in 1915. (2) Who is Eduardo San Juan? Answer: He designed the Lunar Rover (dune buggy) used by Apollo astronauts to explore the moon. (3) Who is the Filipina American married to film star Kevin Cline? Answer: Actress Phoebe Cates.
MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ONE AND ALL