PETER’S PINOY PATTER — September 2024
Bridge Generation News
BG Personality of the Month:
(Today’s Bridge Generation — now in their 70s, 80s, and 90s — are a rapidly declining population. Over the years, most members of these American born children of the first wave of Filipino immigrants have passed away. To remember their contributions to the history of Filipinos in America, a deceased BG individual is a recurring feature of this column. This month features Hildo (Sonny) Pomicpic, January 25, 1936-June 16, 2016.)
As a fellow Livingston CA “homie,” I’ve known Sonny for as long as I can remember. Our families were close. My mother was his ninang (godmother) which makes him my igsu (godbrother). My father met his father, Hildo Pomicpic, Sr., from the Visayan island of Siquijor, in Hawaii when they were both sakada contract workers during the 1920s. They migrated to California where they worked together in a Sonora CA lumber mill. When Manong Hildo moved to Livingston, he encouraged Papa to also settle there. Sonny’s Mexican American mother, Juanita Hernandez, was born and raised in El Paso TX. During a visit to Arizona she met and subsequently married Manong Hildo who was working as a lettuce field packer. She learned to cook traditional Filipino food. She also developed a remarkable talent for the language; becoming fluent in the Cebuano dialect, she was able to easily converse with her husband and his Filipino relatives and friends.
Sonny had many interesting experiences during his formative years. At Filipino family celebrations, he remembered singing for money with his pal Filimon Andam when manongs would toss coins to them — pennies were worth a lot during the Great Depression! Fishing became a favorite pastime when he was older. His father often took him and younger brother Fred, on fishing trips to the Delta area — a two hour drive. There, they would rent a boat for the day to catch striped bass. The bass were cut into small chunks called kinilaw (raw fish marinated with vinegar, soy sauce, and red peppers) and eaten with steamed rice brought from home. Sonny recalled, “The best fish I have ever tasted.” They never went without their tasty kinilaw lunch!
Sonny arguably became the best pinoy athlete in the history of Livingston High School. He was a starter on both the varsity basketball and baseball teams in just his sophomore year and went on to earn all-conference honors during his three years of high school competition. As a 5’11” guard on the basketball team, he was a masterful ball handler who often was called upon to dribble away the final minutes to win games — like Marques Haynes of the Harlem Globetrotters. On the school baseball team, he was a hard-hitting first baseman and batted cleanup for the championship team.
His basketball success in high school was undoubtedly aided by playing for the Livingston Filipino American Youth Association “Dragons” at only eleven ears of age when the team was established in 1948. At the time, Sonny was much younger and skinnier than his teammates; but at nearly six feet tall, he was a raw talent. The Dragons were not an immediate success. The team lost most of its games. During the 1950s, however, the Dragons developed as the Filipino American youth club circuit’s premier basketball team through the addition of taller, more talented players. Moreover, Sonny had physically matured. He also had quickly adjusted to the rough and tumble brand of F/A youth club tournament play and had greatly benefited from competing against older, more experienced players. Besides Sonny, the team now featured Livingston area young pinoys — high-scoring Hank Dacuyan and Flo Hipoito, David Galanida forwards; rebounding ace Patrick Alcordo and 6’2″ Fred Pomicpic centers; and ball-handling guards Apollo Bacaylan, George Jamero, and Albert Lomoljo. Out-of-area teammates were guards Joe Muca from Vallejo and Al Baguio of Salinas; forwards Don Del Pilar of the East Bay and Art Villarruz from San Jose and center Fred DeLeon also from San Jose.
When he was a teenager, Sonny developed a strong interest in the Filipino sport of sabong (cockfighting). His father always had fighting roosters of his own at home. Sonny was handy and available to help in the care and training of the roosters for weekend cockfights. He later had his own stable of four roosters that he raised from the time they were chicks. He trained them regularly through a regimen of sparring and mock fights until they reached fighting trim — similar to the way boxers are trained. At the sabong, he was the sabongero (handler) in the ring that held the rooster while it and the opposing cock alternately pecked at each other to a fighting fury. At a signal from the referee he placed the rooster on the ground with the hope it would be the only survivor in a fight that surely would be fatal for one of the contestants. Sonny’s interest in sabong was limited to the sport. “I never had enough money to place serious bets on my roosters.”
Like other BG youth in the Livingston area, Sonny spent summers picking grapes, apricots, and peaches. He took pride in his work ethic as he made up to $20 a day picking fruit, drawing praise from more experienced manongs. Most of the money he earned went to help with family expenses. Like other BG youth the only money he saw was for what he needed to buy clothing and shoes for the coming school year.
Sonny’s four-year enlistment in the Air Force in 1956 was an eye opener from the outset. It was his first time away from home and his first experience with racism. He missed Filipino food so much that on his first day of leave in Texas he only ordered a bowl of rice with soy sauce. He also recalled being refused admission to a movie and not being served in a restaurant because they “did not serve colored people.” Sonny said, “I still remember the sick feeling in the pit of my stomach.” His worst experience of racism in the Air Force was at March Field in Riverside CA. He was playing on an otherwise all-Black basketball team against an all-White team. The referees made so many questionable foul calls, his team that led for most of the game, was ultimately defeated. The next day, the base commanding officer formally dismantled Sonny’s team because “there were no Whites on the team.” This was not his only experience with racism. In high school, despite his athletic stardom, he was never invited to parties thrown by White classmates. Such was the culture of the times.
Following his honorable discharge, Sonny worked for the Foster Farm Poultry Company for forty-two years as a truck driver before retiring in 2007. He was the company’s top-rated driver with a perfect accident-free record that earned him several all-expense paid vacations. Sonny’s athletic days were not over, except this time it was as a softball pitcher. He was a perennial all-star with the Merced Softball League. His brother Fred was also a skilled softball pitcher. The duo starred on the Livingston Dragons softball team, routinely beating other teams in the Filipino softball circuit
His marriage to pre-school teacher Terry Enriquez in 1965 was the beginning of more than four decades of a happy marriage. For Terry, it was love at first sight. She knew this was the man she wanted to marry. The quiet and shy Sonny was not as sure. But after eight months, he was convinced and never looked back. Marriage to Terry also brought a greater appreciation of his Mexican side. At the same time, Sonny acknowledged, “I will never give up kinilaw and eating steamed rice with my meals!” (Acknowledgements: “Athlete and Sabongero” in Vanishing Filipino Americans: the Bridge Generation.)
Happy September Birthdays:
Mardena (Ambon) Ragsac, Peter Bacho, Pam Bulahan, Jocelyn (Mercado) Revilla, Aurelio Simon.
Pinakbet — News Across America
Filipino American Historical Tidbits:
In 1781, Antonio Miranda Rodriguez, of Filipino ancestry, was a founder of Pueblo de Nuestra Senora Reina de lo Angeles — todays’ Los Angeles.
Spotted at the Democratic National Convention:
Virginia Congressman Bobby Scott, California Attorney General Rob Bonta, Tennessee State Rep. Justin Jones, and California Delegates Mona Pasquil Rodgers and Mark and Gloria Pulido.
Paris 24 Olympics Pinoy Recap:
Filipino American Lee Kiefer successfully defended her Tokyo 2020 Olympics gold win in women’s individual foil competition and added a second gold for team competition. The Philippines national team had its most successful Olympics as Carlos Yulo won two golds in men’s gymnastic floor exercise and in vault while women’s featherweight boxers Nesthy Petecico and Aira Villegas won bronze medals.
Musings
Will American Democracy Persevere?
On July 1 the Supreme Court of the U.S. ruled that a president is immune from punishment for crimes committed while in office. The decision sets a dangerous precedent — a president can now use the SCOTUS decision to protect him/her from being punished for crimes — as long as they are official actions. This means a president is above the law — the only American with such a privilege! The ruling can make a president a dictator — not a president.
VOTE ON NOVEMBER 5!!!
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