As Filipino American History Month comes to a close, we would like to address the issue of the Philippine Diaspora – a historical issue that continues to be prevalent in the contemporary setting.
The word “Diaspora” means the spread of any people from their original homeland. This phenomenon shows that the population in the Philippines is significantly declining each year because workers are migrating to other countries to seek better jobs, and higher wages. Filipino migration can be traced back to the 19th century with the unique relationship between the Philippines and the United States. However, we can regard 1972 as the date for the start of the specific Philippine Diaspora. On September 21st, 1972; President Ferdinand E. Marcos proclaimed martial law that preceded the abolition of the democratic government and yielded Marcos absolute power. This act of political oppression led to severe economic depression in the Philippines. Despite the end of Marcos’ regime in 1981, there was a continued legacy of massive institutionalized corruption, crony capitalism, and weak leadership that prevented an economic takeoff. As a result, there was a lack of job opportunities in the country and citizens turned to opportunities to support their families in other countries. This notion of leaving the Philippines to pursue better opportunities to provide for their families at home has been very much romanticized, especially with regard to overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) in the United States. The United States is perceived as a land of opportunity, though its realities of OFWs in the country is very different than what is believed. Due to this developed dependency on overseas job opportunities, these OFWs are willing to accept low wages for jobs where they are mistreated and exploited. Moreover, uprooting oneself to a different country results in an absence within families that often leads to conflicts due to the disparity of experiences. The Philippine Diaspora is still an issue to this day, and it is important to think of the implications as it continues. The result of this diaspora will likely result in the “brain drain” of the Philippines, which is the consequence of highly skilled labor migrating to more favorable geographic and economic environments. This leaves the Philippines deprived of a labor pool of its greatest talents. As an ongoing concern, the country has lost an estimated 12% of its population, including many of their highly qualified professionals. In addition, remittances account for 13.5% of the country’s GDP. The country’s economy is highly dependent on migration, and will be unsustainable in the long run and in times of financial crisis. The issue of the mistreatment of OFWs began in history but is still a contemporary issue to this day as the number of OFWs continue to increase and policies regarding their rights have yet to be established. This was a topic that we had chosen to bring light to as a good illustration of how an event in history continues to unfold, and thus continues to be written. As we are approaching the end of Filipino American History month, it is important to remember ourselves as part of the fabric of history, and we have the power to raise conversations and discussions on topics that matter. Your Dream Team, Annie and Neary
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1944. Although she was admitted under the administrators’ mistake of her gender, they decided not to turn her away due to her strong records. She also attended at the University of Chicago and completed her master’s degree in bacteriology at the Boston University School of Medicine before returning to the Philippines. Mundo had many more achievements after Harvard which include being the first woman named National Scientist of the Philippines in 1980 and founding the first pediatric hospital in the Philippines. To fund her hospital, Fe sold her home and almost everything she owned. The Children’s Medical Center in Quezon City, the first pediatric hospital in the Philippines, opened in 1957. The following year, she conferred her ownership of the hospital to a board of trustees.
While Dr. del Mundo continued to practice pediatrics at The Children’s Medical Center, she also continued her research into infectious diseases. Undaunted by the lack of modern laboratory facilities in the Philippines, she often shipped samples abroad for analysis. In her lifetime she published over a hundred articles, reviews, and reports in medical journals. Her research into dengue fever especially contributed to a greater understanding of how the disease works and affects children. Fe also wrote the “Textbook of Pediatrics”, which was used in medical schools in the Philippines for many years. Throughout her career she was active in promoting public health, with an emphasis on rural mothers and their children. Her work also helped to facilitate and improve the coordination between hospitals, doctors, and midwives. Since she sold her home to fund the opening of The Children’s Medical Center in 1957, Fe took up residence on the second floor of the hospital. She lived in the hospital for the rest of her life and was still making rounds to check on patients when she was wheelchair-bound at the age of 99. She passed away from a heart attack just a few months before her 100th birthday in 2011. It is important to remember that there are Filipino-Americans like Fe Del Mundo who proved that nothing is impossible in life if you believe in your dreams. She also proved that even minorities can make a large impact in society. Saludo po kami Dr. Fe Del Mundo! Lubos na nagmamahal, Your PCs: Guin & Lenard Like many other minority groups, Filipino Americans have not been able to escape acts of discrimination throughout US history. This post will take you through some of the violent acts that arose in California in the late 1920s and early 1930s. Today it is important to reflect on moments when these acts of discrimination occurred in order to move forward in a manner that prevents more of the same. In the 1920s and 1930s, Filipino men were seen as a threat by white American men in several regions of California. Coming from an American Territory, Filipinos were excluded from the Immigration Act of 1924, which was passed in an effort to limit Asians from entering the United States. To the dismay of American men, Filipino laborers were more desirable to hire due to the fact that they accepted much lower wages by farmers, and they began to date white women. This tension grew and grew until several riots and acts of violence erupted throughout California, leaving Filipinos severely injured or dead, and discriminated against in the workplace. The following are some of the acts of discrimination that occurred.
In January of 1930, hundreds of armed white men stormed the streets of Watsonville to hunt Filipinos in what is known as the “Watsonville Riots.” Resentment towards Filipinos grew in light of the North Monterey Chamber of Commerce’s public call to businesses against hiring Filipinos because they were deemed as a “moral and sanitary threat to the white community.” Mobs targeted the taxi-dance hall that the Filipino workers had reserved and many white girls attended. On the last day of the riots, groups of whites fired shots into a bunkhouse at a San Juan Road ranch while Filipino workers were sleeping. At the age of 22, Fermin Tobera, was shot and killed. Tobera symbolized Filipinos desire for independence and Philippines honored his memory on February 2nd known as “humiliation day.” These events ultimately contributed to the passage of Tydings McDuffie Act in 1934, which granted the Philippines independence from the USA. The Philippines independence in some ways was simply granted in order to limit the influx of Filipinos into America because of the developing Anti-Filipino sentiment across the nation. Moments of Filipino American history cannot be lost in the history books-- or lack thereof. These acts of discrimination highlight the importance of raising awareness of such mistreatment to prevent it in the future. We have the opportunity to learn from the past and shape the years to come. - Your PRs,
Ray and Maya Jose Calugas was a Philippine native and a World War II hero for his efforts in the Battle of Bataan. He is recognized as the only Filipino to earn the Medal of Honor. Born in 1907, Calugas grew up and went to school in Barrio Tagsing, Leon, Iloilo, Philippines. In 1930, at the age of 23, Jose enlisted in the US Army and moved to Oklahoma for training. Calugas eventually returned to the Philippines and served positions in both the 24th Artillery Regiment as a Philippine Scout and as a mess sergeant in B Battery, 88th Field Artillery Regiment. In December of 1941, the team of Philippine Scouts was stationed in the Bataan Peninsula to defend against Japanese attacks. On January 16, 1942, the defense lines began to come under attack from Japanese fighter and artillery attacks. Calugas and a team of soldiers moved to cross 1,000 yards of uncovered space to get to the gun site. Once Calugas reached the site, he regained the Philippine defenses with the help of some of the injured gun site soldiers. His help and defenses were able to hold back the Japanese attack on the 88th Field Artillery and save some of the soldiers by giving them time to retreat. Calugas was awarded the Medal of Honor in 1945 for Heroic Action.
A quarter of a million Filipino-Americans are veterans of World War II and fought under the American flag under the promise that they would receive full American citizenship and veteran benefits for doing so. However, none of these Filipino-Americans received these benefits until 2009. Even today, Filipino-American activists are working to recognize these veterans with the Congressional Medal for their wartime service to the United States and the Philippines. It’s important to recognize these figures of Filipino-American history as a reminder of our strength and bravery, as individuals and as a Filipino-American community. Jose Calugas and the 250,000+ Filipino-American WWII veterans show us that our selfless acts, whether they are recognized or not, have the power to impact thousands of lives. From the battlefield to our workplaces and classrooms and always in our everyday lives, we hope to remind you this week to be strong and Filipino-proud, just like Jose Calugas and our Filipino-American veterans. Mabuhay! - Jaana Tabalon and James Duce Mabuhay mga kaibigan! It’s September 30th, and that means October is right around the corner -- aka Filipino American History Month! This post will be the first of many that your Barkada E-board will be posting throughout the month :) We wanted to start off by saying that FAHM is about history rather than heritage. Heritage is about traditions being passed down through generations -- things like the mano po or having a kamayan. For FAHM, the focus is on history -- events, milestones, and influential people of the past. Some people that are on this (long!) list include Cristeta Comerford (the first woman and also Asian White House Executive chef) or Astrid S. Tuminez (the first female president of Utah Valley University). Although Filipino Americans make up the second largest group of Asian Amerians in the U.S., FAHM was only officially recognized in 2009 (thanks President Obama!) after being originally proposed by the Filipino American National Historical Society in 1991. Not only do Filipino Americans make up ⅕ of Asian Americans, they also play a large role in American history, starting even before America itself. FAHM commemorates the arrival of the first Filipinos (and first Asians in general) in the US in what is now known as Morro Bay, California, in 1587. That’s 33 years before the Pilgrims landed on Plymouth Rock, yet this fact is hardly recognized. Filipino American history continues through the Philippine-American War in 1899, and the next 50 years of American occupation of the Philippines. Despite the years of American colonization and the importance of Fil-Am figures throughout American history, these stories are never told in modern day textbooks. It is rarely mentioned that a large part of WWII was fought in the Philippines, and that a quarter of a million of American veterans were Filipino American themselves. And only few have heard of Larry Itliong, a Filipino American who led the labor movement in the 1930’s, demanding minimum wage for migrant workers. With the lasting effects of Amercian colonization in the Philippines, from language, to colonial mentality, to pop culture, and the influence Filipino Americans have had in American society, we take time this month to celebrate the lasting effects of these Filipino-American stories. Throughout the month, we’ll be posting more of these types of articles going more in depth into important historical moments of Filipino American history, so be sure to keep up with us! Hopefully through this, you learn a little more about the rich history of Filipino Americans. Our presence as a culture might seem small to those around us, but Filipino Americans have had a larger impact than you might think! We’ll see you in the next post :) - calapotato and blogbykt |
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