Celebration of Filipino History Month kicks off at White House

Filipino History Month kicked off at the White House early October with traditional and modern musical acts performing, and speakers talking about the challenges facing the Filipino community in the US.
 
Administration officials including Surgeon General Vivek Murthy, Director of US Citizenship and Immigration Services Leon Rodriguez and several prominent Filipino-Americans spoke to attendees at the event.
 
Acts like popular Los Angeles based Filipino-American A capella group, The Philharmonic, gave the audience a taste of modern Filipino music.
 
More traditional fare was provided by the Filipino American Cultural Arts Society.
 
The Filipino-American community is one of the largest foreign born groups in the US, according to the Migration Policy Institute, which estimated in 2013 that it made up 4.5 percent of the 41 million US immigrant population.
 
Speaking at the October 2 event, Chicago based entertainment mogul Billy Dec, who has been appointed to the White House Commission on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, said the delays faced by Filipino immigrants was unacceptable.
 
"I tell you it was about immigration and I used all my time talking about how Filipino-Americans have the longest wait times, how, you know, families have been separated for decades. I have cousins who are separated, and how things need to change. Especially since it's the longest of almost all ethnicities, it's really outrageous," he said.
 
Filipino American History Month was first recognized by the US Congress in 2009. According to Filipino American National Historical Society (FAHNS) October was chosen in recognition of the first recorded presence of Filipinos in the Americas, when Filipino sailors are said to have come over on the Spanish galleon the Nuestra Senora de Esparanza in 1587 in California.  — Reuters

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

PCG: China’s bullying in West Philippine Sea undermines international law --- Ghio Ong - The Philippine Star

MANILA, Philippines — Letting China sustain its aggression in the West Philippine Sea would make other countries doubt the strength of international law currently being asserted by the Philippines, Commodore Jay Tarriela of the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) said. “Allowing China to blatantly disregard the established rules-based order threatens the very foundation that we all depend on,” he wrote in a post on X last Tuesday. He added, “If we permit this, countries worldwide may forget why this order was created in the first place. Nations could begin to doubt the significance of adhering to international law if powerful bullies can easily violate it.” Tarriela also said defiance of other countries to a rules-based order would result in the prevalence of cruelty. He wrote, “This could lead us back to a time when might makes right, undermining the global structures that keep human greed, savagery and barbarism in check. Such a scenario would not only invite challenges from aggressive ...
Read more

China ships maintain presence in key West Philippine Sea areas --- Michael Punongbayan - The Philippine Star

STAR / Michael Varcas MANILA, Philippines — While Chinese vessels in the West Philippine Sea (WPS) have decreased in number, they have maintained a presence in three key land features where naval and coast guard ships have intensified operations in the past seven days, according to the Philippine Navy. Latest monitoring by the Philippine Navy showed armed ships of the People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) maintaining a menacing presence around the grounded BRP Sierra Madre in Ayungin Shoal, Panatag Shoal and Escoda Shoal. According to the Philippine Navy, there are 17 Chinese military vessels and 28 China Coast Guard (CCG) boats spotted inside the country’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ) between Sept. 23 and 30, or one vessel more than in the previous week Sept.17-23. Five of the warships were seen roaming around the vicinity of Escoda Shoal, along with 10 CCG vessels and 12 maritime militia vessels (MMVs). There are also two PLAN ships in Ayungin Shoal as well as 10 CCG boats and 12...
Read more

Social media seen as cause of rising intermarriages --- Helen Flores - The Philippine Star

MANILA, Philippines — The Commission on Filipinos Overseas (CFO) sees social media as the main reason for the rising number of Filipinos marrying or becoming partners of foreign nationals. In 2022, the CFO recorded 6,854 marriages or partnerships with foreign nationals, a 40.1 percent increase from the 4,891 “intermarriages” recorded in 2021. “First of all, what we see in the increase in the marriage rate of Filipinos or Filipinos with foreign partners is because of social media, (that) is number one; matchings; letters, introduction of their friends,” CFO chairperson Romulo Arugay said at the Bagong Pilipinas Ngayon public briefing yesterday. Arugay said the agency has been registering a high number of intermarriages since 2007, but the figures went down during the COVID-19 pandemic. From over 6,500 Filipinos who married foreign nationals, only 600 are men, he said. Most of them are married to Americans, Japanese, Germans, Canadians and Australians, Arugay said. Arugay warned Fi...
Read more