Editor's Note

Ties That Bind

By Marisse G. Abelgas

It’s been weeks since Americans had gone to the polls to vote for a new president. Hopefully, by the time this sees print, America will have had a new president. Don’t you find it interesting that both candidates never seemed to make an effort to reach out to the Filipino-American community while they were campaigning? At the rate both camps are fighting tooth and nail for every single vote, one would think that at least one of them would have recognized our much-vaunted “two million”- strong community in this country.

Even more interesting is that no matter how much our community leaders flog statistics to prove our strength in numbers, political empowerment remains as elusive to this present-day generation of Filipino-Americans as it did to the “manongs” who began the struggle decades ago.

We can’t exactly blame American politicians for ignoring us. What candidate or politician in his right mind would spend crucial campaign hours and precious campaign funds on an ethnic group that’s more interested in Atong Ang, or juetenggate or the peso-dollar exchange rate or Nora Aunor, than in issues like social security, public education, tax cuts for the middleclass, healthcare reform or environmental conservation? It’s a lot easier to mobilize Filipino-Americans for a dinner-dance where the guest speaker is a barangay captain from back home, than to invite them to a townhall meeting with presidential candidates.

If we go by statistics, sheer numbers alone would have, should have, made us a powerful political force to contend with a long time ago. The number of Filipino-American associations in Southern California alone is mind-boggling. Multiply the average number of Filipino associations and organizations in every state by the average number of members in an association and you can count hundreds of thousands... easily. If those numbers are true and accurate, our community is a virtual mine of votes for any politician worth his salt.

Aye, and there’s the rub: how many members of the Filipino-American community are American citizens? The underlying issue is not so much how many we are, but rather, how many of us can actually vote as American citizens.

American politicians know our numbers better than we do. They know a great number of Filipinos in the U.S. don't, or can’t vote. Many Filipinos who are legal permanent residents hold off applying for naturalization because they want to have the best of both worlds: a good life in America, and the probability of eventually going back home to the Philippines where they can live out the rest of their retirement years. Namamangka sa dalawang ilog, ‘ika nga.

The problem is, we can’t use our numbers to attain political empowerment if many of us will continue to think this way. Empowerment will come only if and when the men who hold the reins of government, and those who aspire to do so, can be convinced that as an ethnic group, we are more interested in having a hand in determining our future in this country, more interested in forging our destiny as American citizens than in constantly making “miron” to Mr. Estrada and his house of cards.

I’m not suggesting that we cut our ties to the homeland. Neither am I suggesting that we shun Philippine politics and close our eyes to whatever goes on back home. Far from it. In our pursuit of political empowerment in America, we don’t have to forget where we came from. We should, in fact, pass on our culture and heritage to succeeding generations, and make sure they appreciate their roots as much as we do. And we should do everything we can to ensure that the likes of Mr. Estrada never get away with corruption and oppression.

But even as we continue to nurture the ties that bind us to our home country, we should at least take the necessary steps to empower ourselves in America with our votes. We can begin by helping other Filipinos legalize their status in this country, by referring them to employers who can petition them, or by supporting groups and individuals who actively help community members in immigration matters. Eventually, those we have helped can be counted too, once they become citizens. We can take a cue from the Hispanics who empowered themselves by launching a citizenship drive, something our community leaders can spearhead by mobilizing our numerous associations and organizations. If Filipino-Americans can do this with the same passion and conviction that they throw their feet all over the dance floor, politicians will sit up and take notice. It also wouldn’t hurt to take an interest in political issues and the political process in our adopted country, where we have already staked our lives and our future.

Unless we can translate our numbers into votes, those numbers will amount to nothing. We can scream “two million-strong” all we want, until our faces turn blue, and nobody will listen. That’s because we have no right to seek political empowerment in America unless we commit ourselves to her as her citizens.

As one of the presidential candidates succinctly puts it: our vote is our voice. Without it, we will simply languish as a silent, powerless minority.