A VOICE FROM AMERICA
By Ernie D. Delfin
THE CONTINUING SAGA OF FILIPINOS IN AMERICA POST 9/11
(ARE THERE REASONS
TO BE GRATEFUL THIS THANKSGIVING DAY?)
First, the “bad” news in the continuing sojourns of Filipinos in
the land of milk and honey,
aka America.
It has been over l4 long months
since that horrific tragedy called 9/ll, and the world has changed --
from A (as in Airport’s security that is making air travel much more
difficult) to Z (as
in Zimbabwe’s continuing struggles)
and we inhabitants of this planet
are never the same again!
Americans, rightly or
wrongly, have been awakened and
realized that they are not invulnerable
after all and have become paranoid in many ways as a consequence of this national tragedy
inflicted upon her nation’s heart of
political power and commercial might.
Supported by both houses of
Congress, President George W. Bush has been waging a Texan-like Lone Star war against terrorism globally that affected
many people of the world, including the Filipinos in Mindanao as well as the
many hard-working Filipinos in the United States. Lately, we have seen some tangible gangrene of this political
vendetta’s against America’s might.
An overzealous U.S is making some people of color, who are probably
innocent, as “scapegoats”. governmental
agencies. Without the 9/ll catastrophe, the Patriot Act of 2001 would not have been
enacted. Without this Patriot Act, the firing of many non-US citizen screeners
at U.S. airports, the summary deportation of dozens of Filipinos and now the
incarceration (since June 2002) the so-called “Dallas 10” Filipinos in Dallas would possibly not be a BIG news. And there are more less-publicized “victims” of the renewed zealousness of the
American government because U.S. has
become over cautious within her borders as well as in other countries like in
Afghanistan and the Philippines.
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Last year also saw the struggling
NaFFAA (the National Federation of
Filipino Associations of America) being
embroiled with charges and countercharges of dictatorial practices and
election improprieties against its founder, Alex Exclamado and his clique, by a
full-time community activities in Los Angeles, Roberto “Bobby” Mercado
Reyes. From a distance where you can see
some smoke, Reyes’ charges seemed credible,
but they are all put under the
rug to this date, and the truth possibly will never be known although another national chairman, Loida
Nicolas Lewis who just took the helms of
power, is seemingly not interested “ to right or rectify what was
possibly wrong or dysfunctional in the
past.” Reason: there are much more pressing problems, like the ‘Dallas 10’ in the growing Filipino American community in
the United States. To the delight of
many silent supporters, Mr. Bobby Reyes, amidst his human frailties, is
succeeding in gradually raising the consciousness of many Filipinos to
subscribe to his ATIC (accountability, transparency, integrity and credibility)
principles of conduct in all Fil-Am organizations. I hope NaFFAA will eventually abide by Mr. Reyes’ demands for ATIC so that there will be
more time devoted to genuinely work for the betterment of all Filipinos in America.
Despite its own leadership flaws,
however, NaFFAA, especially the Texas
Chapter led by a certain Mr. Gus Mercado
must be commended for taking the initiative to bring out the true situation of
the ‘Dallas 10’ persecution …er prosecution by the US government. Without NaFFAA, these poor (still presumed innocent until
proven guilty) Filipinos will languish in jail for a long long time. From what we read, the Philippine government through her
ambassador or consular officials is
inutile (another word for spineless or good-for-nothing) despite the huge budgets that they are
spending in the US supposedly for the
general welfare of the more than a
million and a half Filipinos in the U.S.
who are called as modern day heroes for helping the Philippines
financially afloat. What the government has done or is doing to help
defend or alleviate the suffering of these “Dallas l0” Filipinos remains to be seen but indications are
seemingly negative. To add insult to injury, it’s been published
that other governments like Mexico or Peru have already helped their
nationals (who were also apprehended
with the Filipinos) to be out of jail. For Christ sake, the Arroyo government must
also respond with decisiveness within her legal and diplomatic rights to assist these Filipino citizens. As of this writing, these Filipinos are still
incarcerated for about six months now.
This disturbing event must unite all Filipinos in America because the next time it would happen, it
might be YOU or ME or a member of our
own family. For further details, e-mail Gus Mercado in
Texas at gusmercado@attbi.com
As one Filipino in America, I am doing what I can to help, like writing this story and sending
a check to the NaFFAA Legal Fund in Texas. In the Spirit of the forthcoming Christmas
Holidays, I challenge more Filipinos
to do the same.
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Before the Thanksgiving weekend,
Filipinos in the U.S. were again
shocked with the headline news that former Carson, CA Mayor Pete Fajardo (the
first elected Filipino elected mayor in the US) was arrested anew with serious
allegations of bribery and extortion when he was still the mayor. Another young Filipino councilman, by
the name of Manny Ontal, was also arrested with the allegation of accepting
bribes too. It was reported that he
(Ontal) has already pleaded guilty for accepting a $5,000 bribe and was
cooperating with the FBI. ($5,000 is a measly amount compared to the alleged $2,000,000 bribe and extortion
that Mark Jimenez, the infamous fugitive
from the US justice system dubbed as a
“corporate genius” during the Erap presidency who was able to buy his way to the House of Thieves… er
Representatives, gave to the Secretary
of Justice (on leave) Nani Perez). From our
vantage point, this duplicitous Mark
Jimenez seems to be really “scared” to
be tried and be jailed here in the U.S.
because he would never be able to
wield his wads of dollars to buy
even a lowly clerk of the court, a Municipal Court Judge, much less a Secretary of Justice here in America. (Filipino readers, this is what set our American system of justice light years away from the kinds of crooked justice you often experience in the Philippines!)
Back to Fajardo-Ontal short lived
political success. Both small-time
Carson Filipino politicians were part of
an ongoing investigation spearheaded by the FBI and the IRS for bribery and extortion
shenanigans that were allegedly
rampant in Carson politics. It must be pointed out, however, that in
addition to Fajardo and Ontal, the incumbent Carson Mayor Daryl Sweeney,
another councilperson Raunda Frank, former Inglewood city councilman Garland
Hardeman, Sweeney’s lawyer, Robert Pryce, two BFI executives Allyn More and
David Duan Robinson were also arrested.
******
As a Filipino who has been living in
this part of Southern California since the
mid l970s, I have seen many rising “stars” (in politics, law, medicine as well as in
business) fall from their man-made sand castles. I am both very mad and always baffled
why. Now, with Thanksgiving hiatus, I
am writing my thoughts WHY are these “tragedies” of self-destructive
shame, self-inflicted public
humiliation continue to happen in our
Filipino American community that is still seeking its own place in this adopted
country?
The common thread that I could
see is that these fallen “angels” do not have the moral fiber and fortitude to
control that “demon that is within each of us” once they are in power. They apparently did not anticipate nor have
prepared that there will be
greater temptations that come with the four P’s of
the world: power, prestige, possessions
and politics. A little background: I knew Pete
Fajardo personally since 1980,
when he was just a DPSS (Department of Public Social Services) eligibility
clerk in the County of Los Angeles, where I was also working as an
auditor-accountant for the County of LA-
Health Services Dept. He was quite
humble, modest person and a likeable
guy, then. From those humble beginnings he rose to a
commissioner (appointive and honorary) position in the city of Carson where he
resides, then elected as a
councilperson, then became an elected mayor even defeating Mike Mitoma, a Japanese-American
banker-businessman. As I decided to lead
a much quiet, simpler life, Mr. Fajardo’s
political star and popularity started to rise in the US as well as in
the Philippines, until his unfortunate
first arrest last year. I left the government service after two
years, because I didn’t like the
politics in the government service (nepotism and spoils system also exist in the US, dear kabayayans, but
not as blatantly cancerous as that in
the Philippines!) where the less
deserving often get more perks or promotions and where the Peter Principle is evident everywhere.
At the height of his political
career, Fajardo even relished the dream of becoming the first elected Filipino representative of
congress either in Sacramento or in Washington
because Carson is in a heavily Democratic district composed of working
class people of color. Now, that ephemeral possibility of a rising
politician just vanished in the air with his second serious arrest and still in
custody as of this writing ( Dec. 1) for
not being able to a $100,000 bail while
the others are now out of bail.
My dream and fervent hope is that the next set of Filipino
leaders in politics should be more morally upright, honest, intelligent
economically stable and must be first
successful in his career, business and family.
Any Filipino worth his salt who aspires to become a political leader of any city or any
political district must also be
active in the mainstream civic affairs and must know al the relevant issues of his community at large
and not just the narrow concerns of his Philippine town or parochial
associations where he might be the
proverbial big fish in a very small and shallow lake.
Are there any potential
political leaders in Carson where about a quarter of 95,000 residents are
Filipinos? Only time will tell. Meanwhile the
Filipino community is shamelessly
shaken as it grapples and prays for some miracle that someone will rise to
the occasion to redeem another tarnished reputation of the Filipinos in
America.
* * * * *
AND NOW, SOME GOOD NEWS: Amidst these human tragedies of our
times, however, are also plenty of good deeds in our communities. In our Catholic Church last Thanksgiving Day, for
instance, it was quite beautiful be a part and witness
a tri-lingual services during the entire mass: Spanish, Vietnamese and English. (Wala nga lang ang Tagalog!) The modern-day co-existence of different
people in their worship is incredibly moving to see. After church activities, one can see the headlines of
many “disturbing” news that sells and the onslaught of huge
advertisements of Thanksgiving Weekend Sales in
department stores. But there are also wonderful human-interest stories of
love, hope and charity practiced
by people silently towards their
fellowmen.
For instance, there is
this retired priest, fondly called
Father Bill, who has been going to the
Skid Row of Los Angeles where the highest concentration of homeless people,
estimated to be about 8,000 people, the
last TWENTY years to bless and touch these forsaken people while giving them
crisp dollar bills. The newspaper
profiled his experiences and recollections. He said he always comes alive in
giving as he recalled that despite the infrequent visits to this poor area, he
has gotten lots of encouragements, inspirations
and love from the people he has touched over the years. For some homeless people, it is only Father
Bill who has given them that human
touch and the dignity that they crave and long as human beings. Father Bill’s love and kindness have given
them reasons to persevere and improve their lives because they were touched and
loved without any strings attached. It
is a heartwarming story on a long Thanksgiving weekend.
On a personal and family level,
I also enjoy this weekend as it
is a brief hiatus for another hectic
month. Traditionally, my two brothers Kent and Jess and my
brother-in-law Oscar and their wives, Lily, Florie and Emer, respectively, and
their children all come to our house
for a huge sumptuous lunch and dinner.
And after all the unusual and
“sinful” eating, we all cannot help but reminisce all
our collective experiences as
well as our individual struggles many years back starting in an obscure farm
town in the Philippines. For some reasons, each story or joke always ends with laughters. That is the best and most
inexpensive medicine for an often-stressful life here in America.
So, with our loving families, true friends, our good health and
prospects for a brighter future
for careers, work and business, we definitely have MORE reasons to be grateful to That Somebody
Up There amidst all
these stupid shenanigans of a few Filipino politicians and the many
challenges, trials or tribulations that
are part and parcel of living on this Earth.
BELATED HAPPY THANKSGIVING DAY AND
MERRY CHRISTMAS, IN ADVANCE TO ALL MY
READERS!
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