Letter from Washington

jonmele@aol.com

During one of my visits to the Occupy DC encampment at McPherson Square , I saw a woman sitting alone by herself near one of the tents. Her Asian face caught my attention, provoking my interest to engage her in conversation. She was smoking a cigarette and reading a crime novel, “No More Dying Then.” When she told me she’s Filipino, I became even more curious.

As it turned out, she’s one of the homeless people in the District of Columbia who has been “residing” in McPherson Square long before the occupiers pitched camp last September. Fely Ybanez, 56, has quite a story. When she was 12, her parents moved from their barrio in Samar to Manila . “We were very poor,” she recalls. “My father wanted his eight children to go to school, but his job as a mechanic wasn’t enough to support us. I dropped out and started working as a maid. I was 17 when I met a U.S. Navy man walking down the street in Quiapo. I asked him for a cigarette. He took an interest in me and we started going out. A few months later, he took me with him to California where we got married. I went to vocational school to study computers. He was always away. We divorced four years later.”

Fely Ybanez feels welcomed at the Occupy DC camp site but she’d rather have a regular job and a permanent place to live. (Photo by Jon Melegrito)

Fely moved to the DC area with a friend but she can’t remember when and how. Not having any skills, she worked for downtown hotels as a cleaning woman, providing her with enough income to maintain an efficiency apartment. When she got laid off, she could no longer keep up with the $200/month rent. She lost her apartment. For the last three years, she has been in and out of homeless shelters, preferring to sleep in the park unless the weather is really bad.

When Occupy DC set up its encampment, she started hanging around the place, taking advantage of free food. Like the more than 6,000 homeless persons in the city, Fely has learned how to scrape together meals, keep warm at night, ward off predators and somehow manage to survive.

She says she’s welcomed by the occupiers. “They’re very nice to me,” she says. “I don’t know what they talk about but I like listening to their guitars at night. Their music makes me feel good.”

Fely would rather she was back in the workforce so she can have a decent roof above her head. She wants to resume her computer classes, learn new skills and increases her chances of getting a job. “I don’t want to be homeless for the rest of my life,” she says.

Returning to the Philippines , however, is out of the question. “There’s nothing to go back to there,” she explains. “Yes, I miss my family, but life is very hard over there. Here, I just take it one day at a time. I don’t dream anymore because it’s hard to dream if you don’t have a job. I guess it’s gotten hard here too.”

I am struck at the parallels in Fely’s life with that of an occupy protestor who ran out of college money after one semester and is just hoping Starbucks will not think she is too unkempt to be given a job. They both know they need to take a shower before going on a job interview.
The protestors also know that the homeless who are hanging around McPherson Square have run into all the injustices and inequities in life that the Occupy movement has sprung up in reaction to.

It’s true what these young protestors are saying. The American Dream is a reality only for those at the top. Many of the occupiers themselves are struggling with unemployment, student debt and unaffordable mortgage payments. They are now engaging us in an urgent conversation about social inequity. And with the growing number of homeless people at the Occupy encampments, it’s now impossible to separate homelessness from the movement’s struggle for economic justice. As author and sociologist Barbara Ehrenreich puts it, “Homelessness is not a side issue unconnected to plutocracy and greed. It’s where we’re all eventually headed … every debt-loaded college grad, out-of-work school teacher, and impoverished senior … unless the revolution succeeds.

As the American people prepare to elect their leaders, the economically depressed and distressed nation already has revealed a definitive issue of the 2012 presidential campaign: How can government best serve as the government for and by the people, considering the millions of jobless and homeless, not to mention the struggling middle class – the 99 percent.
What should happen to Fely Ybanez?

President Obama’s vision is one where those who are needy and vulnerable are entitled to government help during a time of extreme hardship, no matter the cost.

The Republican vision, on the other hand, is harsh. GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney, while expressing concern for the poor, has touted a tax plan that would continue the Bush tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans and provide extra tax breaks that would primarily help the rich. At the same time, he’s all for cutting Medicaid spending, reducing food stamps and doing away with safety-net programs that would help low-income families.

We have serious and critical choices to make come November. And it’s all about a vision of government that will ensure the interest of the 99 percent of this country. •

Letter from Washington

So, what is it that will move Filipino Americans out of their comfort zones and become actively engaged in the U.S. political process?

Will this be the year when we’ll no longer thrive in a culture of self-imposed disempowerment?

Community leaders harp on this theme every chance they get: We’re Americans now. The White House in Washington DC is where our President lives, not Malacanang Palace in Manila. And we have more at stake with our U.S. Representative than a congressman from our hometown in Pangasinan.

Even Philippine Ambassador Jose Cuisa has gone to the hustings reminding Filipino Americans to vote. Here, in the U.S., not in the Philippines.

Philippine Ambassador to the US Jose Cuisia (3rd from L) visited the Chicago Philippine Consulate General’s office on Nov. 27. From L-R is DOT director Vernie Morales, Ed Ortiz, Vicky Cuisia, Fedis Lim & Consul General Leo Lim.

Ironically, to his credit, he seems to be getting through. There’s something about a Philippine Ambassador that makes Filipinos in America listen. Maybe it’s the sentimental attachment to the homeland. Or national loyalty to the land of our birth. You have the numbers, Cuisa would say at Filipino gatherings. But what purpose do these numbers serve if you don’t vote? He’s absolutely right of course. He wants Filipinos in America to have political power so they can be more effective influencing public policies that affect them, including of course those issues related to the Philippines.

The first thing a U.S. Congressman checks when you ask him to do something, like support a bill, is to find out if you’ve voted in his district. They call it constituent services. If you’re not in their radar screen, you don’t exist. Your number doesn’t count.

That’s how Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid became a champion of Filipino issues, like the equity bill for Filipino World War II veterans. Filipino voters in Nevada have learned to leverage their numbers to their advantage. And the 2010 Census has confirmed that they can flex their political muscle and achieve desirable results.

With a 141 percent increase in ten years, Nevada is easily the state with the fastest growth rate of Filipinos. This significant development was highlighted by a recent directive to Nevada officials to include a Tagalog option in electoral ballots for the 2012 presidential election, given the area’s large Filipino population.

Just to illustrate one dramatic example: Enterprise, a suburb of Las Vegas, only had 524 Filipinos in 2000. Today there’s more than 14,000. In another suburb called Paradise, the number increased from 6,700 to nearly 14,000. In Clark County where Las Vegas is located, there are now 41,854 Filipino residents who moved there to retire. That’s quite a jump from 17,000 ten years ago. Given these numbers, Filipino voters in this state can easily swing an election and make their presence felt. Now, that’s political power. It will be recalled that Senator Reid won a close election last year because the community was mobilized to vote for him, due in large part to his consistent record of supporting the cause of Filipino World War II veterans. In return, Reid has championed our issues, such as the SAVE Act.  Reid and other politicians know who can deliver the votes the next time around.

Our total population in the U.S. increased by 38 percent within a decade, from 1.8 million to 2.5 million. The increase is even larger, up 45 percent to 3,416,840, when you add the count for “Mixed-Race Filipinos.” This means that the population of multiracial Filipinos is increasing faster than those of single-race Filipinos. In a positive sense, it also means that we are well on our way to transitioning from a racial minority to an ethnic community.

The top growth states include California and Nevada in the west, Texas and Florida in the south, New Jersey, Virginia and New York in the east and Illinois in the Midwest, which has the third largest Filipino population, at 114,724 – next only to California and Hawaii.

In Illinois, Chicago’s Filipino population increased from 32,266 to 35,188. Outside the city, Skokie has the largest concentration, with 4,896.

Not surprisingly, Filipino candidates running for local elective offices have had successes in the past few years. It’s a credit to community leaders here that a culture of civic participation has been cultivated and nourished.

Filipinos are known to be generally prompt in completing their US citizenship applications, but once they become citizens, only a few actually exercise their newly acquired right to vote. One reason cited: they don’t want to serve on jury duty. Seriously?

Hispanics know this. Once they naturalize, they vote right away. That’s why politicians court the Hispanic vote assiduously. Politicians understand that the minority vote will be the majority in the next two election cycles. And Hispanic leaders know how to leverage their numbers.

The challenge to community leaders now is to marshal these numbers and map out a get-out-the-vote plan. There are enough issues to engage our community’s interests and mobilize them to political action: health care, housing, jobs, education and immigration – just to mention a few.

To bring it down to a personal level, these issues can best be summed up in one word: family. Let’s vote to strengthen families, to make sure our loved ones have good jobs, affordable housing, a decent education for our children, and health insurance coverage that’s both accessible and within our means. Regardless of party affiliation, let’s vote on the issues that matter for our family, our community and our future.

Let’s make 2012 a truly profitable and productive year for Filipinos in America – because we made our numbers count. Simply put, that’s what it means to make a difference. •

Philippine Ambassador Jose L. Cuisa Jr. is pulling all stops to save a very important bill from dying in committee before Congress ends its business this year. He’s hoping Sen. Daniel Inouye, the bill’s principal sponsor, will come up with a quick, legislative solution. Like attaching it as a rider to an omnibus trade bill. Similar to what he did with the Filipino World War II Veterans compensation measure, which was attached to President Obama’s economic stimulus package in 2009.

There’s always next year, of course. But the Ambassador also knows how tough it is to get anything done in an election year. Which explains why he’s met with 67 US senators and representatives since arriving in the nation’s capital in April. So far, more than a third – a good mix of Democrats  and Republicans – has said yes. After all, this is a bipartisan bill, the first bilateral trade arrangement between the two countries in nearly four decades.

Always energetic and eager to move things forward, the Ambassador has been relentless and indefatigable in his efforts to get the “Save Our Industries” Act, or SAVE Act, enacted.  In all his speaking engagements before American and Filipino audiences, he tells them why this bill is a “win-win” for both countries. For the US, he says the SAVE Act “would expand US exports of fabrics to the Philippines, from $11 million to $500 million annually within three to five years, and create some 3,000 jobs in the US textile industry.”For the Philippines, it would “restore hundreds of thousands of apparel manufacturing jobs, and over $1 billion of Philippine apparel exports to the US lost since the lifting of the US apparel import quotas and the resulting dominance of China of the US market.”

In the last few months, the Ambassador has been barnstorming the country, from Georgia to Nevada, imploring anyone – seated or standing – to write or call their representatives in Congress. He has enlisted all the consular offices, including those on wheels (COW), to set up literature tables at public events and drum up support.

The response from Filipino American communities across the country has been largely positive. Hundreds of petitions are collected during gala balls and community events. It’s a good bet that many folks actually lobbied their representatives to get on board, as evidenced by the bill’s co-sponsors from California, Hawaii, Illinois, Michigan, Nevada, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Washington.

There was an opportunity for legislative action in October when Congress passed free trade agreements with South Korea, Colombia and Panama. President Obama certified the three bills as urgent. Apparently, he wasn’t as gung-ho about a trade deal with the Philippines. As a rider to one of the FTAs, SAVE Act might have had a good chance. But that didn’t happen. My sources tell me it has something to do with the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement, an Asia-Pacific regional trade agreement currently being negotiated among the US, Vietnam, Singapore and six other partners. Reportedly, Aquino hasn’t shown an openness to become a partner. I’m guessing the US administration may have good reason to drag its feet on SAVE. Or not.

Meanwhile, the bill’s in limbo, sitting in the House Subcommittee on Trade and the Senate Committee on Finance.

It hasn’t been smooth sailing for the SAVE Act. And it’s not all for lack of trying. There have been barriers from the start. And it begins with the Philippine government itself. After President Gloria Arroyo stepped down from office, President Aquino’s Secretary of Trade was apparently not into garments, but more into mining and electronics. For its part, the American Chamber of Commerce in the Philippines made their support contingent on loosening up the restrictive economic provisions of the 1987 Philippine Constitution, by removing the 60-40 percent equity limitations on foreign investors. But that would require a cha-cha, or charter change.

Still, the Aquino administration overcame its initial passivity, got its act together and gave the green light to push SAVE. It sent Manny Pacquiao to America to lobby fellow boxer, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, and instructed Ambassador Cuisa to apply all the skills he learned from the Wharton School of Business when he goes knocking in Congress. Business Tycoon Loida Nicolas Lewis pitched in with $10K to supplement the meager resources allotted to the lobby effort.

But here in the US, the Congressional Budget Office apparently doesn’t think SAVE is a win-win. After scoring the bill, the CBO figured a loss in US tax revenue of half a billion dollars over 10 years. With Congress trying to find a way to solve the nation’s economic ills, the CBO figure does not help get more SAVE sponsors on board. And US labor unions aren’t weighing in until they are assured of worker protections, especially in the Philippines.

So, it’s all about carrots and sticks. My quid for your quo and vice versa.

Sometimes, or maybe more often than not, it’s these inside deals that could make or break you.

Some may think SAVE is a lost cause this year. But for the Filipino American community, it’s a worthwhile cause to rally around, especially in the build up to next year’s national elections. It’s an excellent issue for Filipino American empowerment, for getting out the vote and making our voices heard. •

Letter from Washington

Proud grandparents Elvie & Jon Melegrito welcome Baby Delilah.

We get a call from our daughter around six o’clock Tuesday evening. The baby she’s been carrying for nine months is raring to come out, four days ahead of schedule. And come she does four hours later.

From our Kensington home, we drive to the Princeton University Medical Center in New Jersey soon as we can, stopping by Costco’s to grab a three-month supply of wipes and diapers. We know the drill now. It’s been almost five years since the first grandchild came.
This time daughter Desiree does not labor long. But still she endures the pain. “I want to experience motherhood,” she once said.

Maya, the first-born, took more than 30 hours. It was a harsh winter when she came one January morning. That day, Hillary Clinton declared she was running for President. “I’m in,” she said to her cheering supporters.

For her part, Maya simply cried “I’m out” to her cheering paternal and maternal grandparents. She hasn’t stopped running since. I can’t keep up with her anymore.

Maya kept us waiting the day she was born that cold January morning.

Kept us waiting for hours while the winds outside howled, while the wars raged on in Afghanistan and Iraq.

But the second one does not wait. By the time we get there, she’s already out, a tiny person with long fingers and black hair and chubby cheeks and pink feet and sleepy eyes. Cradled in her mother’s arms, the little one slumbers. She wakes up a few minutes later and cries.

There’s something about a newborn baby’s cry.

Meanwhile, the world she’s born into does not bode well for her future. People are hurting. The figures are grim: poverty is up while incomes are down. Nearly one in six Americans lives in poverty. Among the hardest hit are children.

Key findings released recently by the Census Bureau which compared annual data on income, poverty and health insurance coverage between 2009 and 2010, include: The number of Americans who lived below the poverty line rose from 43.6 million to 46.2 million last year, the largest on record in more than five decades. This means that nearly one in six Americans was poor.  Median household incomes, on the other hand, declined by 2.3 percent to an annual $49,445. The number of Americans with no health insurance increased from 49 million to 49.9 million, which means that nearly one of every six Americans was uninsured.

The recession and the severe deterioration in the country’s overall economic health, which are combining to drive unusually high unemployment, are among the factors cited for the surge in poverty to its highest level since 1993.

Children and women represent especially disturbing increases in the nation’s poverty rates. The number of poor children rose from 20.7 percent to 22 percent. More than 17 million women lived in poverty, including more than 7.5 million in extreme poverty.

Occupy Wall Street. People are clearly frustrated. In the biggest financial crisis since the Great Depression, people have lost homes and jobs. Meanwhile, the rich and the super-rich – the 1 percent who owns 40 percent of the country’s wealth – continue to rake in more profits while the working middle class in this country suffer. The hopes of ordinary people for a chance at a decent future are getting dimmer.

No wonder there’s sound and fury in the streets. Perhaps, as one observer puts it, the most important political happening in the United States since the uprisings in 1968. Inspired by the Arab Spring, this “American Autumn” has ignited a fire and it’s spreading like wildfire across the nation. It’s a convergence of outraged citizens, students, out-of-work laborers and so many others. Occupy Wall Street may indeed prove the opening act in an unfolding drama of renewed resistance and rebellion against “the system.”

This is the world that Delilah is born into. “Those who think the answer to poverty is an insistence on self-reliance should recognize that children are one-segment of the population that is utterly helpless when it comes to material support,” says The Washington Post. “It’s not right for a child to pay the price for parental shortfalls or societal breakdowns. It’s also not the way to build a better future.”

Delilah’s grandparents are taking note. I am grinning in a wince. But I’m also hopeful for her sake. There’s something fresh about this movement against unfettered greed and concentrated wealth. “It’s about people picking a fight with the most powerful economic and political forces on the planet,” says syndicated columnist Naomi Klein. “The task of our time is to insist that we can afford to build a decent society.”

For Maya’s and Delilah’s sake, and for all the children of the world – we couldn’t agree more. •

E-mail your comments to jonmele@aol.com

By Jon Melegrito

Letter from Washington

Perhaps it was just a coincidence. but on September 21, on the 39th anniversary of martial law in the Philippines , President Benigno Aquino was in Washington DC . It was not an official visit, let alone a state visit. He was in town to confer with business groups, World Bank executives and Washington Post editors. Two days earlier, he was in New York – upon President Obama’s invitation – for the Partnership for Open Governance Forum. Before returning to Manila, he also met with Filipino American community leaders at The Fairfax Hotel in downtown Washington.

While waiting for the President’s grand entrance, Reme Grefalda, a curator at the Library of Congress, reminded me about the martial law anniversary. Which got me ruminating in my backrow seat: Noynoy was only 11 years old when Ferdinand Marcos assumed dictatorial powers in 1972. He was 22 when the elder Aquino – who challenged Marcos – was shot dead. At 25, his mother – the much-revered Cory Aquino – became President. And now, at 50, the son of Benigno and Cory himself has ascended to the highest office of the land as the country’s 15th.

President Benigno Aquino III speaking before Washington DC's Filipino American community Sept. 21. (PINOY photo by Jon Melegrito)

The elder Aquino once said that it would take seven presidents after Marcos to repair the damage martial law inflicted on the Philippines . If he’s right, that means the Filipino people will have to wait 12 years for salvation.

There’s much speculation that after the young Aquino completes his six-year term of office, Bongbong Marcos – the son of Ferdinand and Imelda – will become President himself. At 44, he will be the same age as Aquino when that happens.

It’s said that with the youthful Aquino’s election, a new era is beginning in the Philippines. Others prefer to call it the continuation of a political dynasty.

Perhaps because he provides a contrast to the unpopular Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, whom he succeeded, people seem to take Aquino more seriously when he vows to fight corruption, improve education, promote good governance and provide the country’s teeming millions with opportunities for a better life.

I had to stop ruminating when the President finally walked on stage. The more than 200 invited guests cheerfully greeted him and listened attentively to his 30-minute speech, delivered extemporaneously. Among the highlights: the government has a budget surplus and unemployment fell from 8 percent to 7.2 percent. It’s something worth bragging about, he said.

After all, the U.S. can’t say the same given the dismaying unemployment figures.

He wants to restore power to the people, he continued, and address the needs of public service workers by giving them decent wages and better benefits. That’s one way to stop corruption, he explained, in addition to scrutinizing the budget to make sure no funds are being misused or stolen.

Finally, “to all of you in distant shores,” he acknowledged that many Filipinos are abroad to seek better job opportunities. He suggested that if life were better in the Philippines , people would go abroad only because they want to go, not because they have to.

The audience liked what they heard. His demeanor confirmed his reputation for quiet modesty.

“Don’t let me start out having an inflated sense of my own worth or my ego, not having my feet planted firmly on the ground,” he said in April, “because I might succumb to the same temptations that those who are criticizing me have done.”

For the sake of the country, we hope he doesn’t succumb. And for as long as he is standing up to the Catholic Church, remaining firm and erect on family planning, he can have his fast cars and beautiful women and all the accoutrements of a bachelor’s life.

Autumn is here. But the chill in the air we felt on the 21st day of September had less to do with the change in weather. It’s the thought that after two Aquinos, a second Marcos could very well become the next president.

But that will partly depend on how Aquino performs in the next six years. Perhaps, by achieving results that matter, the people’s hope and faith in good governance will sustain the move towards progress.•

By Jon Melegrito

Letter from Washington

jonmele@aol.com

Immigrant rights groups are applauding the Obama Administration’s sensible re-assessment of its deportation priorities. As a result, tens of thousands of undocumented immigrants – many of whom are law-abiding residents – can breathe a sigh of relief.

They include the so-called DREAMers – young people who were brought here as children, who have graduated from U.S. high schools and have earned or are pursuing college degrees. Among Asians, approximately 40 percent are Filipinos.

Millet De Vera Panga of the Pilipino Educators Network (PEN), center, exhorts her fellow teachers to keep on fighting for justice. (Photo by Jon Melegrito)

Pulitzer Prize winner Jose Antonio Vargas is one of them. When he was 12, his mother put him on a plane from the Philipines to the U.S. where he lived with his grandparents in California . Despite his success as a reporter for national newspapers like the Washington Post, one thing he didn’t have was legal status as an American citizen. After living with his secret for more than 20 years, he finally decided to “out” himself. By disclosing his secret, he hopes to start a conversation about a controversial topic that has polarized this country for years.

According to the Commission on Filipinos Overseas (CFO), there are 9 million Filipinos living and working outside the Philippines as of 2009. Of that number, 47 percent are permanent residents, 45 percent overseas Filipino workers and 8 percent undocumented migrants, or 720,000. Reportedly, 500,000 are in the U.S.

Filipino teachers in the Washington DC area also welcome this change of policy. About 200 are in immediate danger of facing deportation because of the US Department of Labor’s (DOL) decision penalizing the Prince George ’s County Public Schools (PGCPS) for violating HI-B visa rules on the hiring of foreign teachers.

In the past two months, the teachers have been demonstrating almost every week, three times in front of the DOL, once in front of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) and most recently in front of the White House. Leading the protest action was Millet De Vera Panga of the Pilipino Educators Network (PEN). “We’re here to appeal to President Obama to provide some sort of relief,” said Panga who teaches English as a Second Language at James McHenry Elementary School in Lanham , Maryland . “DOL’s action actually punishes the teachers who won’t be able to renew their visas and must leave the country or face deportation.”

As reported by the Washington Post, over the next few months, the administration will review 300,000 or so cases in the deportation pipeline. In a letter to Sen. Richard J. Durbin (D-ILL.) a longtime proponent of immigration reform, Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Janet Napolitano detailed the changes: “Together with the Department of Justice, we have initiated an interagency working group to execute a case-by-case review of all individuals currently in removal proceedings. From a law enforcement and public safety perspective, DHS enforcement resources must continue to be focused on our highest priorities. Doing otherwise hinders our public safety mission – clogging immigration court dockets and diverting DHS enforcement resources away from the individuals who pose a threat to public safety.”

In effect, the new policy will consider how long someone has been in the United States, whether that person’s spouse or children are U.S. citizens and whether that person has a criminal record; allow them to apply for a work permit, which is basically a taxpayer ID card; and give authorities the chance to keep some cases from even reaching the court system.
The message to agents in the field, according to DHS officials, is simply this: “You do not need to put everyone you come across in the system.”

Filipino teachers rally in front of the White House on August 9 to appeal to President Obama.

The decision was welcome news for people who have already been ordered out of the country but are fighting to stay.
In hailing Napolitano’s move, Sen. Durbin said that if fully implemented, “the new process should stop virtually all DREAM Act deportations.” In an e-mail to his constituents, Durbin called the students “the future doctors, lawyers, teachers and, maybe, senators, who will make America stronger. We need to be doing all we can to keep these talented, dedicated, American students here, not wasting increasingly precious resources sending them away to countries they barely remember.”

The Asian American Pacific Alliance (APALA) also praised the Obama administration for focusing deportation efforts on violent criminals and allow DREAM Act eligible youth to apply for work permits.

“Despite numerous promises in the past to deliver on comprehensive immigration reform, the Administration has been repeatedly called out for their record high number of deportations,” says APALA DC President Katrina Dizon. “Obama’s term alone has seen to the deportation of over 1 million undocumented immigrants, many of whom had no criminal records. We believe that the re-direction in the Administration’s priorities to target those that are truly dangerous, will contribute to a more efficient and effective system of enforcement.”

Unfortunately, there is still so much work to do. “Although this is a step in the right direction, it is by no means a permanent solution to the long standing broken immigration system our country has had to live with,” Dizon adds. “It may relieve deserving immigrants of their fears and burdens of deportation, but it’s still not a path to legalization.”

The Obama White House has taken a lawful and sensible step. It’s now up to Congress to set partisan differences aside and pass a comprehensive immigration reform bill. Republican leaders, in particular, cannot continue to engage in scare tactics about “border insecurity” and distract Americans from the problem of 11 million undocumented immigrants.•

By Jonathan Melegrito

Special to PINOY

It was the hottest day of the year – more than 100 degrees  – but the scorching heat did not deter about a hundred Filipino teachers and community supporters from demonstrating in front of the Department of Labor building July 22. “We vowed to be here, come hell, heat, or hotwater,” declared one of the teachers carrying a hand-made banner which read, “Hear Our Cry!” Although she did not want to be identified, she was not intimidated at all by the menacing presence of Homeland Security police cruisers lined up on Constitution Avenue near the U.S. Capitol, where the protest action took place.

That was their second in front of the DOL, followed by another in front of the White House on July 26.

Filipino teachers gather in front of the Department of Labor building in Washington DC to appeal their case to the U.S. Secretary of Labor. (Photos by Jon Melegrito, special to PINOY Newsmagazine.

During the two-hour rally, two armed agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), briefly got out of their air-conditioned SUVS to survey the scene. Another was spotted taking pictures.

It was supposed to be a “Silent Picket,” but their bright red t-shirts and messages on the placards were loud and clear: “We Want Justice for International Teachers,” “Department of Labor: Protect Our Rights,” “Compassion for the Teachers,” “Education, Not Deportation.”

Organized by the Pilipino Educators Network (PEN), the picketers are among 1,000 international teachers (mostly Filipino) recruited by Maryland’s Prince George’s County Public Schools (PGCPS) between 2004-2009. To comply with the federal “No Child Left Behind” law, the school district brought in these highly-qualified men and women to be part of the local teaching workforce.

Their presence in America’s classrooms has paid tremendous dividends.  As acknowledged by PGCPS itself, their students have made remarkable progress for five years in a row, vastly improving the school district’s compliance rate with the mandate. This positive result is due, in no small measure, to the hard work and commitment of these teachers.

Pamela Kasayan’s family includes (from L) husband Maynard, daughter Julienne and son John.

“We made extreme personal sacrifices, including selling our homes and exhausting our savings, in order to fulfill an urgent need to serve American students,” says Pamela Kasayan, a math teacher from Cebu City. She brought along husband, Maynard, and her two children, John, 13 and Julienne, 9, to the rally. “But we are being unfairly treated, that’s why we are here asking to be heard.”

On April 2011, an administrator for the Dept. of Labor issued a ruling against the school district that was devastating to the teachers. PGCPS was apparently making illegal deductions to the teachers’ wages to cover for various visa processing and placement fees that should have been shouldered by the county. As a result, DOL ordered PGCPS to pay back wages to the teachers, averaging about $4,000 each.

That was the good news. But here’s the bad news: DOL penalized PGCPS by banning the school district from hiring any more foreign teachers for the next two years. This means that more than 1,000 teachers will be terminated and possibly deported – starting July 2011.

In June, many of the teachers were informed individually that their visas would not be renewed.  PGCPS also stopped processing petitions for green cards.

“We’ve worked hard to serve the students,” Kasayan adds. “But we didn’t expect that the axe would fall on us. We are being victimized twice – first, by the Prince George’s County Public Schools for violating labor laws, and now the Department of Labor for abruptly terminating the H1-B program. This is not our fault. We came here legally at the invitation of the school district. And now we are being sent back with only a few week’s notice?”

At DOL, the teachers are appealing to the US Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis for an exception – especially for those who are beneficiaries of approved labor condition applications and permanent labor certification. They also want DOL to allow PGCPS to continue processing the immigration papers of these teachers to ensure their lawful presence.

In support of the teachers, the Philippine Embassy, labor and community organizations, like NaFFAA, are coordinating efforts to provide political, legal and humanitarian assistance.  The Filipino American Legal Defense and Education Fund (FALDEF), a NaFFAA affiliate, is providing free legal aid in pursuing a class action suit against PGCPS. NaFFAA members have been participating in rallies and educational forums to explain the issue to the community.

NaFFAA is also working with the Asian American Labor Alliance (APALA) and the National Education Association (NEA) to put public pressure on DOL to reconsider its decision.

“This is a very urgent issue for our community,” says NaFFAA Chairman Ed Navarra. “What’s happening in Prince George’s County is not an isolated cases. We have similar problems facing Filipino teachers elsewhere in the U.S., more recently in Louisiana. I’m calling on all Filipino Americans to rally behind our teachers and give them our full support.”

“We have had positive impact on the children and the communities we serve,” says Charisse Cabrera, a pre-K teacher. “Some of us have received awards, and many pursued degree advancement with the sole desire of serving the school district and the children even better. It is lamentable that we would bear the brunt of the resolution of the case between DOL and the school district. We shouldn’t be forced to live shattered lives and significant hardships because of mistakes that are not of our making.”

America has always championed what is right. Our teachers need our support now to champion their cause.•

By Jon Melegrito

Letter from Washington

After more than five years as Philippine Ambassador to the U.S., Willy Gaa bade farewell to the Filipino American community at a May 22 despedida hosted by the Philippine American Foundation for Charities (PAFC). Less than a month later, the community welcomed the new ambassador – Jose L. Cuisa Jr. – at a June 19 Gala Dinner commemorating the 150th birthday of Dr. Jose Rizal.

Already, the buzz around town is how the two diplomats differ in demeanor and style. Gaa, of course, is known for his shy, soft-spoken and self-deprecating manner.  It was during his watch (January 2009) that the U.S. Congress finally passed a bill officially recognizing Filipino World War II soldiers as American veterans and providing each of the 12,000 survivors a monetary award.  Observers recall how Amb. Gaa quietly sat in the Senate Gallery late through the night to personally witness the historic vote. He’s definitely a hard worker who made sure the embassy did its part. He also recognized the potential clout of Filipino Americans to influence U.S. government policies.

Philippine Ambassador to the United States, Jose L. Cuisa, (2nd from left) and his wife Vicky, congratulate Gloria T. Caoile (right), a national Filipino American community leader who received the "Dr. Jose Rizal" lifetime award for community service at the June 12 Gala Ball in Washington DC. Also in photo is Bing Cardenas Branigin (left), a NaFFAA national leader. (Photo by Jon Melegrito)

Amb. Cuisa also gets it, but with a more assertive style. He didn’t waste time, for instance, enlisting Filipino Americans to roll up their sleeves and call their U.S. representatives to support the SAVE Act  – a bill which would allow apparel products from the Philippines to enter the U.S. duty-free. In his first official appearance, he told leaders of the National Federation of Filipino American Associations (NaFFAA) meeting in Las Vegas last May: “The Philippine government understands how important this legislation is to our workers and our relationship with the U.S. The SAVE Act would provide tens of millions of dollars in new exports for U.S. businesses and save hundreds of thousands of jobs in the Philippines.” The main sponsor in the U.S. Senate is Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii), the same senator who championed the cause of Filipino World War II veterans.

Filipino American community leaders (standing from left to right) Maurese Owens and Vellie Detrich-Hall, and White House Executive Chef Cristeta Comerford were among the well-wishers at the Despedida for retiring Philippine Ambassador Willy C. Gaa and his wife Linda. (Photo by Jon Melegrito)

Even the ambassador’s wife, Mrs. Vicky Cuisa, is actively involved.  At a June 12 Philippine Embassy reception,  Mrs. Cuisa went around meeting leaders from the community, as well as movers and shakers in the nation’s capital. She implored them to act.  “We have until August to do this,” she said. “And we need our young people to be engaged.  Because this bill will create jobs in the Philippines and also here in the U.S. Our young people need to know this.” I like her spunky  “Yes We Can” spirit.

To underscore the significance of the FilAm vote, Amb. Cuisa said some uncomfortable truths during his keynote address at the June 19 Gala Dinner. First, he pumped up the audience with this:  “It’s ironic that those away from the Philippines seem to have a burning desire to celebrate Philippine Independence the most.” Then this  zinger: “Despite your large numbers here in the U.S., 97 percent of Filipino Americans don’t vote.” Ouch! Given this state of affairs, “Filipino concerns don’t get as much support as they should.” Imagine, he added, if “we convert that 97 percent to make a stand. And it doesn’t matter if you’re a Democrat, Republican or Independent.”

Someone asked me after the speech if the ambassador’s comments were embarrassing. Of course, I said. If we don’t vote, then we deserve to be embarrassed. So let’s go out and prove him wrong.  We have a chance in the coming national elections. Hopefully after four years, he won’t need to go around saying those things anymore.

By the way, it’s good to know that our ambassadors have a good sense of humor.  Sensing that people are probably wondering about his very light-skinned complexion, he’s found a way to pre-empt any further speculation by recalling an incident where he introduced himself before a group of foreign dignitaries. “Are you sure you’re a Filipino,” one of them asked. “You don’t look like one.” Cuisa good-naturedly answered. “Oh, yes, I am definitely a Filipino all right. I just don’t stay out under the sun that often.”  Of course that could mean many things.  Like spending too much time inside banks. Not sure if he’s an avid golfer like Amb. Gaa, who is also an accomplished karaoke singing.

Curiosity about Amb. Cuisa’s skin-color reminds me of Carlos P. Romulo whose height provoked  curious queries as well. My favorite is the one about the dimunitive diplomat, when he was President of the United Nations. At one reception, he was surrounded by towering heads of state all looking down on him. “Are all Filipinos small like you?” one of them had the temerity to ask. Not a bit flustered, Romulo proudly look them all in the eye and, without batting an eyelash, said: “I feel like a dime among nickels.”

Gaa may not have Romulo’s wit but he’d do very well in the comedy circuit, if he wants to. At his despedida, everyone knew that the ailing ambassador was battling with cancer.  Out of respect, none of the roasters or toasters brought it up. But Gaa did. In his closing remarks, he joked about his doctor assuring him that some patients actually survive chemo therapy, that he may actually get six more months to live. That brought the house down.

And he relished every moment when a Lady Gaga impersonator danced and pranced and called him “Tito Willy.”•

By Jon Melegrito

I’m writing this on Friday, May 20 – the day before the world is supposed to end. If you’re reading this, then the doomsday announcement is just another hoax.

But what if it does happen, this Apocalypse? I have less than 24 hours to mull this over, so here’s what I’ve been thinking:

Oprah may know something, that’s why she’s ending her daily show. The world as we known it ends with Oprah’s last show. It’s the climax to all those natural disasters we’ve experienced vicariously over the last few months: earthquakes, killer tornados, floods, tsunamis, you name it. Not to mention a dire economic climate that has caused foreclosures, evictions, bankruptcies, high unemployment, divorces, domestic abuse. Not to mention air controllers literally sleeping on the job and Cristina Aguillera blundering her way through the National Anthem.

And look at what anti-worker politicians are doing to destroy unions altogether? They want to put an end to collective bargaining, effectively putting an end to organized labor. To these politicians, unions created these problems that’s getting in the way of more wealth for the rich and more profits for the CEOs. The end of the world to them is a vibrant union movement and a thriving middle class.

But there are also encouraging signs that perhaps the world will not end after all. Not yet anyway.

Thanks to Obama and the Seals, bin Laden is now dead. Barack Obama was, indeed, born in the USA. Whew! Now you know why he couldn’t produce his birth certificate right away. Busy hunting Osama, so we’re told.. And now Donald Trump is out of the US presidential race.

Even here in Detroit, the Big three car manufacturers are suddenly making big profits, boosting Michigan’s economy for the first time in years. Americans may in fact be buying more Chevys and Cadillacs, more than Toyotas and Nissans.

Back in Washington, DC, about 1,500 Filipino teachers in Prince George’s County have won a reprieve. They are not going to be laid off afterall. Their world almost came to an end two months ago when the county public school system – using the budget crisis as an excuse – said it may terminate their teaching contracts, which meant their visas will not be renewed. Many of them have just bought homes.

Meanwhile in the White House, President Obama has renewed his pledge to get a comprehensive immigration reform bill passed this year. His proposal includes a path to citizenship for the thousands of undocumented immigrants and their children who came to the U.S. at an early age. Without some legal relief, it’ll be the end of the world for these children who have dreamed of building a life here in America. With their facebook skills and twitter talents, America will remain competitive in this brave new world. That’s what Obama said.

It’s deadline time. The editor is bugging me about my column. Maybe I don’t need to send it since the world is going to end tomorrow. But he persists.

I’m about to press the “send” button when I get a recorded call from U.S. Airways. The woman’s voice at the other end of the line tells me politely that my flight back to Washington at 6:40 tonight has been cancelled due to, get this, an “unavailable crew.” I am told to call a number to rebook my flight. I dial the number right away, concerned that I may not get home tonight as planned. I am also upset that I may not get out of Detroit and spend the last few hours of the End of the World at home with family and neighbors, closer to the Pentagon and my church in Kensington.

The live voice at the other end does not give me an explanation of what the term “unavailable crew” means. Did they walk out? Were they in a drinking spree early this morning and they are too drunk to fly? Did they call in sick? Are they worried that the air controller at the Reagan Airport in DC might be asleep again? Don’t they believe that bin Laden is dead? Do they think the Rapture is going to happen tomorrow and they’d rather not be flying a small plane on the eve of world destruction?

I am throwing these questions in rapid fire fashion to the airline customer service rep and all she can say is “I don’t know, I really don’t know.”

“My wife is going to kill me!” I explode.

“I can rebook your flight for tomorrow,” she reassures me softly. Not good enough. The world may end tomorrow, I persist. I want to go home now.

She puts me on hold for what seems like eternity. Could the world end while I’m on hold, I wonder. “Delta can fly you back to DC tonight, Mr. Melegrito,” the voice says. Really? Seriously? I am elated. I could do a jig like Mr. Bowjangles. The world is not going to end.

I can now press the “send” button to my Editor. If you’re reading this, the world is still here and I have Delta Airlines to thank for. And my Editor for reminding me what deadlines are for. •

By Jon Melegrito

Letter from Washington

FLINT, MICHIGAN–Driving up North on I-75 towards Flint, I see signs on the highway pointing to Lansing, Port Huron and Saginaw.

“Saginaw? I’ve heard of that place before,” I say to myself.  It’s from a Simon-Garfunkel song, about two lovers making a trip from Michigan to New York City, traveling east in a Greyhound bus through the New Jersey Turnpike. These soul mates are hopeful, I recall, filled with optimistic exuberance as they “walked off to look for America.”

The song is playing in my head as I cruise through Michigan’s fast highways at one o’clock in the morning, taking in the scenery at 60 miles per hour. I’m tired and weary, longing to lie in bed after a long day in airports, waiting to board delayed flights, taking off, making connections and praying we’ll make it through the night.

After landing in Detroit and calling my wife, Elvie, to tell her I’m safe, I get behind the wheels of a rental car and head towards Flint for an hour drive.  I’m being sent by my union, AFSCME, to help our sisters and brothers in Michigan deal with a struggle that threatens more than just their jobs.  It could shatter their dreams of a middle class life that’s under attack by right-wing politicians and greedy billionaires who support them. As in Wisconsin,  Michigan’s anti-worker governor and legislature want to weaken unions – the only institution standing between working families and unregulated corporate greed.

The author and Marlan Maralit, a union member and labor organizer, visit the Vincent Chin Memorial in Detroit. (Photo by Jon Melegrito)

Ghost Towns. Saginaw, like Flint and Detroit and other towns along Interstate 75’s automotive corridor, has been abandoned by residents and forsaken by the auto industry.  Once thriving centers of commerce, they have fallen apart after General Motors closed its factories in the area years ago, leaving hundreds of thousands unemployed and displaced.

Even in the dark of night as I drive through Flint’s  neighborhoods, one can sense the depression and feel the blight.  In a way, it feels like the City of New Orleans, battered and bruised after Katrina, its landscape altered forever.  In both places, though several years apart, the landscape of inner lives were also altered, leaving scars that may never heal for a very long time.

Having been on the road many times before, I am learning more about America each time.  I am reminded of people’s kindness and compassion as they reach out to fellow human beings in New Orleans. I am also haunted by acts of cruelty and inhumanity that led to the beating death of Vincent Chin more than 20 years ago in Detroit. Two auto workers blamed foreigners for their personal frustrations and took it out on an Asian American.

Today in Detroit and elsewhere, it’s the anti-worker, anti-union governors and legislators who are beating up on public service workers and blaming them for the country’s budget crisis.  Old wounds may have closed but new ones have opened.

“Michigan may seem like a dream to me now.” The ordinary men and women who continue to toil and struggle here still believe in that dream – despite the devastation left by shuttered plants and factories.  Yes, they are still aching.  Minorities, working people and the nation’s poor – they all feel the pain these days.  But they don’t wonder anymore what went wrong.  In their guts, they simply know why.

And they don’t need to look elsewhere for America. It’s here in the heartland. That’s why they are fighting like hell to take their country back, fighting like never before against greedy corporations and politicians who don’t care about sharing the wealth, who talk about shared sacrifice only as it applies to hard-working families struggling to survive.  Meanwhile, the riches produced by laborers have only accumulated at the top of the economic ladder.

Before he was gunned down fighting for the rights of sanitation workers in Memphis 43 years ago, Dr. Martin Luther King spoke about stars in the dark, that sometimes it takes a pervasive gloom for people to see the light:
“The nation is sick. Trouble is in the land. Confusion is all around. But I know, somehow, that only when it is dark enough, can you see the stars.”

Filipino American writer and worker Carlos Bulosan also knew about stars in the dark.  Despite feeling like a hunted dog in the land of the free, he never lost faith in this country’s capacity for fairness, compassion and justice.  America, he said, is in the heart.

One night six years ago, after driving from Baton Rouge to New Orleans  – sent by AFSCME to help look for union sisters and brothers who may have perished in the storm – I saw a full moon rise over the bayous of Louisiana.  It was comforting to see that bright, peaceful orb after dark days and long nights of strong winds and rain.

Today, among the boarded-up buildings in Saginaw, residents have scrawled the words “Gone to Look for America.” It’s a reminder, they say, that – as invoked in another Simon and Garfunkel song – they too “don’t know a soul who’s not been battered, don’t have a friend who feels at ease, don’t know a dream that’s not been shattered or driven to its knees.”

It’s a simple affirmation of hope, of determination over despair. The stars in the dark are hundreds of thousands of sparks, ignited by ordinary men and women, lighting the way for this generation and the next ones to come.