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The Filipino American (Fil-Am for short) community is the second-largest Asian American group in the United States * Fil-Ams are Americans who trace their ancestry back to the Philippines, an archipelagic nation found in Southeast Asia south of Taiwan and east of the South China Sea, and have attained United States residency and/or citizenship.

In the year 2000, the United States Census counted over 2.4 million Americans who identified their ancestry as Filipino, and 22% of the Asian-American population but is speculated to be at 4 million by many Filipino-American and Asian-American organizations. More than half of the Filipino-American community is of American citizenship and the rest are Filipino nationals and/or dual citizens of the United States and the Philippines.

Most Filipino Americans reside in California, Washington, New York City Metropolitan Area and Hawai'i. In addition to California and Washington, Filipinos form the largest group of Asians in Alaska, Maine, Montana, Nevada, North Dakota, Oregon, South Dakota, Virginia, and Wyoming. And in addition to Hawaii, they are the second largest group of Asians in Arizona, Florida, Idaho, Indiana, Illinois, Maine, Mississippi, New Jersey, New Mexico, South Carolina, Texas, Virginia and West Virginia.

Congress has established two months in celebration of Filipino American culture in the United States. Asian Pacific American Heritage Month is celebrated in May. Upon becoming the largest Asian American group, Filipino American History Month was established, celebrated in October, commemorating the first landing of Filipinos on October 18, 1587 in Morro Bay, California.

Cultural profile

Despite race relations problems of the late 19th and early 20th centuries in the American Northwest, some Filipino Americans today tend to integrate with American society without serious hardships. Filipino nationals have been living in an American-molded society since the early 1900s. Culturally, the Philippines is the most Westernized country in Asia, a legacy of over three centuries of Spanish and American colonial rule. From the Spanish, Filipino culture has taken a small but distinct Latin/Catholic flavor, and most Filipinos are distinguishable from other Asians by having a Hispanic-sounding name and/or surname.

Since the early 1900s the country has been heavily influenced by American culture. After the Spanish American War and during the course of the Philippine-American War, the Philippines was made into a United States territory and later a commonwealth from 12 December 1898 to 4 July 1946. Even after the Republic of the Philippines was established, the flow of popular American culture into the country continued unabated - from major league baseball and professional basketball to Coca-Cola, from MTV to Big Macs. English language instruction is required in most schools beginning at the elementary level, and the Philippines has one of the highest rates of English-speakers in the world *. Philippines sports pages headline MLB and NBA sports scores from the mainland United States everyday. While elements of Americana have been embraced (or imposed) in Filipino society, there have been periods of anti-American sentiment in the Philippines. Nevertheless, there is minimal culture shock when Filipino nationals migrate to the United States.

Language
Recent immigrants to the United States from the Philippines have much of a language barrier to overcome. A language barrier exists in that old and new generations often have trouble communicating effectively. In the Philippines, English is the official language of instruction in the higher education and government. In fact, the Philippines is the world's third largest anglophone country, surpassing other countries (like Australia) where English is the sole official language. While Tagalog predominates in elementary education, media, aspects of Filipino history, culture, and arts in the higher education, conversational use, governmental use in speaking to many locals, and the preservation of Filipino identity and bilingualism.

While an overwhelming majority of Filipino nationals and Filipino Americans do speak English fluently, most also speak Tagalog, Visayan, Taglish, and Ilokano at home. Tagalog is the sixth most-spoken language in the United States, with more than 2 million speakers.

Filipino is the official and national language of the Philippines and is heavily based on Tagalog but includes Ilokano, Visayan, Bikolano and other major languages of the Philippines and the world. Like most immigrant groups in the United States, fluency in Tagalog and various Filipino languages tend to be lost among second- and third-generation Filipino Americans as they become further acculturated into mainstream American society.

Various Filipino American civic organizations and Philippine consulates offer Tagalog courses to the new generation of Filipinos born in the United States. California's educational system offers Tagalog as a foreign language course in some of its public schools, while many colleges and universities in the Golden State have been teaching it to coincide with the growing Filipino community.

The arts
The recent inclusion of Jasmine Trias and Camile Velasco in the 3rd season of American Idol gave Filipino talent a worldwide recognition. Apl.de.ap of the Black Eyed Peas is another well-known Filipino American musician. From Broadway musicals to the Disney Channel (Lalaine in Lizzie McGuire), Filipinos can be seen all over the arts and entertainment world.

Other famous Filipino-Americans in the entertainment industry include pop singer Enrique Iglesias, his half-Filipina mother and Spanish-mestiza socialite Isabel Preysler, actress and occasional singer Tia Carrere, dance recording artist Jocelyn Enriquez; Vanessa Anne Hudgens of Disney's recent made-for-television movie High School Musical; and comedian SNL alumnus Rob Schneider, who has appeared in such films as The Hot Chick and The Benchwarmers. Nicole Scherzinger, lead-vocalist of the Pussycat Dolls and also an actress, is said to be a proud Filipino-American. Cassie, half Filipina, is the singer of the hit single "Me & U".

Education
Filipino Americans tend to be highly educated. For example, the American Medical Association has deemed medical and healthcare education in the Philippines to equal that of training in the United States. Only Japan shares that distinction among the Asian nations. It is relatively easy for Filipino nationals to enter the American healthcare workforce, inspiring them to settle and seek United States citizenship upon arrival. With the shortage of American nurses beginning in the 1980s, clinics and hospitals in the United States have been hiring directly from the Philippines offering substantial salaries. According to the United States Census Bureau, 60,000 Filipino nationals migrated to the United States every year in the 1990s to take advantage of such professional opportunities.

40% of adult Filipino Americans are college and university graduates holding advanced degrees in the arts and sciences. Some Filipino nationals come to the United States for a college or university education, return to the Philippines and end up migrating to the United States to settle.

Filipino-American high school students have one of the highest graduation rates. They are known to perform well on state-given exams, as well as the SAT and Advanced Placement Examinations.

Many of the newer generations of Filipino Americans born in the United States gravitate towards business and the professions, such as architecture, business administration, economics, education, engineering, medicine and nursing. Filipino-American students end up in professional careers, yielding higher incomes and better well-being, and are regarded as very successful in their respective fields. Most attend well-known universities and colleges, while a small number prefer community colleges and vocational schools.

Economics
As a result of their level of education, many Filipino Americans are now in the upper middle class, and the community enjoys substantial economic well-being. This is especially true for those working in nursing, where the United States suffers shortages. Filipino-Americans are also considered to have one of the highest average income per household in the nation.

Filipino-Americans are also the highest remitters of US dollars to the Philippines. In 2005, the Filipino-American collective dollar remittances reached a record-high of $5.6 billion dollars.

The buying power of the Filipino-American community is at $57 billion dollars. Many are urged to invest back to their ancestral home, the Philippines, in helping the local economy. This way, more jobs are given to many unemployed Filipinos and increases the competitiveness of the Philippines in the international market.

Many Filipino-Americans are home-owners. At the point of retirement, many Filipino-Americans tend to head back to the Philippines, since the value of the dollar remains significant in the Philippine economy.

Religion
Filipino Americans largely share mainstream American religious beliefs and values, often to a greater extent than currently popular in American culture. This is in part due to the Philippines being one of only two Catholic-majority countries in Asia (the other being East Timor). The Philippine Archipelago is the world's third largest Catholic Country both in geography and population, surpassed only by Brazil and Mexico, respectively. The introduction, and subsequent adoption, of Roman Catholicism and Christian values in the Philippines were the direct result of over 300 years of Spanish colonial rule in the archipelago. Filipino Americans tend to be devout in their faith traditions: Attending church services every Sunday, reading the Bible and reciting the rosary, sending their children to parochial schools, and donating to Catholic charities. There are other religious faiths with smaller numbers of Filipino American adherents, with the various Protestant denominations having the most members.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints reports that Tagalog is the fourth-most-spoken language among members worldwide, and other Filipino languages are among the ten most-spoken in the Church, with so many of those members in American congregations that they hold their services in Tagalog.

New York now hosts to the first-ever Church for Filipinos named after the national saint of the Philippines, San Lorenzo Ruiz. The San Lorenzo Ruiz Church was officially designated as the Church for Filipinos in July 2005, first in the United States, and second in the world, the first being in Rome.

Settlement and Little Manilas
First- and second-generation Americans originating from Asian countries have a tendency to form close-knit communities of their own in the United States, similar to those groups which preceded them. This has been historically true for the Chinese American and Vietnamese American communities. Filipino Americans, however, have a tendency to settle in a more dispersed fashion, living in communities across the country without a need for establishing close ties with other Filipino Americans in the area. Based on several sociological field studies and surveys, there are more instances of Filipino American families finding themselves in areas without other Filipino Americans than experienced by other Asian group, many of them find themselves in communities with a high-diversity.

In areas with low Filipino populations, Filipinos often form loosely-knit social organizations aimed at maintaining the sense of "family" which is a key feature of Filipino culture. Such organizations generally arrange social events, especially of a charitable nature, and will keep members up-to-date on local events of interest to Filipinos. While events are well-attended, the associations are othewise a small part of the Filipino-American's life.

However, there are instances where Filipino Americans form close-knit neighborhoods of their own, especially in California and Hawaii. A few townships in these parts of the country have established "Little Manilas", civic and business districts tailored for the Filipino American community. The City of Los Angeles has even posted signs identifying the otherwise-unofficial Little Manila part of town.

Similarly, more Filipino-oriented neighborhoods have been forming in parts of New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. A conglomeration of businesses that are Filipino-owned of various types have opened up in service to the growing Filipino constituency.

New York City's bustling environment carries a proud collection of many different ethnicities, each with their own festivals and parades. It is known for the St. Patrick's Day Parade, National Puerto Rican Day Parade, Columbus Day Parade, and many others that are celebrated annually, that bring hundreds of thousands of parade participants and spectators. The Filipino equivalent, the Philippine Independence Day Parade, is traditionally held on the first Sunday of June at Madison Avenue, turning it into the focal point of Filipino pride on that day. The celebration occupies nearly 27 city blocks which includes a 3.5-hour parade and an all-day long street fair and cultural performances. It gathers as many as 200,000 marchers, participants, and spectators and is filled with a variety of organization banners, bands, dances, and an abundance of Philippine flags. There are also talks of moving the parade into Fifth Avenue, which would make it the first and only Asian-American parade that would be held on that strip of the Manhattan island.

21st Century Challenges

Diversity
When people speak of Asian Americans, they tend to identify that label with Chinese American, Korean American or Japanese American, but seldom Filipino Americans. This is partly due to the lack, or invisibility in representation, of Filipino American role models in the wider community and media, despite actually being the second-largest Asian American group in the United States. Due to the extreme ethnic diversity that exists in the Philippines, with both native Filipino, Spanish, and Chinese influences, having iconic role models is particularly difficult - one might just as well try to label all Americans who move to China as "American Chinese", even though ethnically they may be completely different from one another.

Sociologists have used the label of "Invisible Minority" to indicate the diversity of the Filipino American community. Many Filipino American groups campaign to increase Filipino American consciousness by promoting unique accomplishments and talents.

Many Filipinos are ethnically closer to other Austronesian-speaking Pacific groups than to "mainland" Asians, although there is also significant mainland Asian influence, particularly Chinese, in the Philippines. Although the Philippines are far away from Latin America, they share a common history of Spanish influence. They are also sometimes grouped with Pacific Islanders, based solely on geography.

In June of 2002, Philippine President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and representatives of U.S. President George W. Bush presided over the grand opening and dedication of the Filipino Community Center in Waipahu, Hawai'i. It is the largest Filipino American institution in the United States, with the goal of preserving Filipino American history and culture.

"The Invisible Minority"
Ease of integration and assimilation has gained the Filipino American the label of "Invisible Minority." Recent Filipino immigrants tend to assimilate rapidly, as most are fluent in English, the majority are Christians, are usually highly educated and economically well-off. Assimilation of Filipinos is the result of needing to excel in American society. Filipinos compensate their language, history and voices for a better life in the United States and attainment of the American Dream. The label of "Invisible Minority" also extends to the lack of political power and representation of, by and for Filipino Americans. In the mid-1990s, only 100 Filipino Americans held elected office, with all but one serving at the municipal or state level.

Dual citizenship
As a result of the passage of Philippines Republic Act No. 9225, also known as the Citizenship Retention and Re-Acquisition Act of 2003, Filipino Americans are eligible for dual citizenship in both the United States and the Philippines. However, dual citizens are barred from participating in homeland elections through the recently-passed absentee voting bill. Overseas suffrage was first employed in the May 2004 elections in which Philippine President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo was reelected to a second term.

In addition, the Philippine government actively encourages Filipino Americans to visit or return permanently to the Philippines via the "Balikbayan" program. To facilitate this process, and to encourage American business investment in the country, the Philippine government has established consulates in various areas of the United States. These are located in Chicago; Guam; Honolulu; Los Angeles; New York; Saipan; and San Francisco while honorary consulates are also available in Atlanta, Fort Lauderdale, Houston, Majuro, Miami and New Orleans.

In 2004, about 6,000 people became dual citizens of the Philippines and the United States. This act encourages many Filipino Americans to invest in the Philippines, buy land (only Filipino citizens are allowed to purchase land in the Philippines), vote in Philippine elections, retire in the Philippines, and participate in representing the Philippine flag, especially in the field of sports.

Due to this act, many Filipino Americans have been recruited to participate in international sports events such as the Olympic Games in Athens 2004, the recent 23rd Southeast Asian Games in Manila, the upcoming 15th Asian Games in 2006 and Olympic Games in Beijing 2008. These will bring hopes of reviving the spirit of Philippine sports and garnering the Philippines' first ever Olympic gold medal as well as a spot in other future events such as the FIFA World Cup and the World Baseball Classic, all which remain elusive.

Post 9/11 immigration and issues
After the attacks on the United States on 11 September 2001, the United States government felt compelled to crackdown on foreign visitors and workers residing in the United States who failed to meet the requirements of their original visas, citing a threat to national security. Many Filipinos have entered the United States on temporary education and work visas but often choose to stay well past their visa expiration dates. The United States Bureau of Immigration and Naturalization Service was dissolved and replaced with the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services in hopes of more aggressive prevention of visa fraud. However, university study abroad programs to the Philippines have been cut, cancelled, or postponed due to terrorism even though terrorism clearly exists around the world.

Until this day, Filipinos still remain the second-largest migrant population to the United States, only after Mexicans, with an average of 70,000 people migrating annually. About 75% consists of family-based sponsorship while the remainder is employment-oriented. A majority of this number prefer on living in California, followed by Hawaii, Illinois, New York, New Jersey, Washington, Florida, Louisiana, Texas, Nevada and Alaska.

However, many visa petitions by Filipino Americans for their loved-ones back in the Philippines are on hold and backlogged. This issue is being contested by many active Filipino American and Asian American community leaders, as 1.4 million petitions are affected and results in the delay of the reunification of many Filipino families. Filipinos also suffer the longest waiting period among immigrant groups, including people from Mexico and Arab countries. Some find this particularly egregious since the Philippines was a former U.S. colony.

=Filipinos on holiday
=

About 370,000 Filipinos travel to the United States every year for business and pleasure. They are fifth only from their Asian counterparts, beginning with the Japanese (estimated at 4 million annually), Chinese (750,000), Korean (700,000), and Indian (430,000).

Discrimination
Filipino Americans are working against racial discrimination in the work force. Despite the level of education Filipino Americans have attained, the community continues to see discrepancies in the way salaries are proportioned among the different ethnicities represented at many firms.

Recent race-based hate crimes against Filipino Americans have occurred, including the 1999 murder of Joseph Ileto by white supremacist Aryan Nations member Buford Furrow. There have also been cases of unreasonable deportation and visa rejection against Filipino Americans, and greater scrutiny when re-entering the United States from Mexico and Canada, even for native-born US citizens. Filipino Americans today are continuing to be active in the fight against racial discrimination against any race.

A more recent form of discrimination is due to Philippine Islamist group Abu Sayyaf recently being linked to Al-Qaeda - which was responsible for the September 11, 2001 attacks. As a result of this link, some Filipino Americans have been under suspicion, and have allegedly been mistreated based on the assumption that they are collaborators to Filipino Muslim extremism.

World War II veteran benefits
During World War II, over 200,000 Filipinos fought in defense of the United States against the Japanese in the Pacific theater of military operations, where more than half died. As a commonwealth of the United States before and during the war, Filipinos were legally American nationals. With American nationality, Filipinos were promised all the benefits afforded to those serving in the armed forces of the United States. In 1946, Congress passed the Rescission Act which stripped Filipinos of the benefits they were promised. Of the 66 countries allied with the United States during the war, only Filipinos were denied military benefits.

Since the passage of the Rescission Act, many Filipino veterans have traveled to the United States to lobby Congress for the benefits promised to them for their service and sacrifice. Over 30,000 of such veterans live in the United States today, with most being United States citizens. Sociologists introduced the phrase "Second Class Veterans" to describe the plight of these Filipino Americans. Since 1993, numerous bills were introduced in Congress to return the benefits taken away from these veterans. However, the bills died in committee. but the struggle continues today. The current "full equity" bills are S. 146 in the Senate, and H.R. 4574 in the House of Representatives.

Holidays and Celebrations

Extremely hospitable in nature, Filipino Americans are fond of celebrating with familes, extended families and friends. It is not unusual for a family to host as many as a dozen occasions each year (i.e., baptisms, birthdays, funerals, holidays, showers, weddings). Celebrations are highlighted by large buffets of traditional Filipino food including but not limited to adobo (savory soy sauce and vinegar stewed beef, pork or chicken), lumpia (egg rolls), pansit (fried noodles), litson (pronounced leh-chon, whole roasted pig), and fresh grilled fish. Ilocano food tends to be bitter in flavor including pinapaitan (beef stewed in bile broth) and bittermelon casseroles and omelets. Often such affairs can grow to become major neighborhood block parties as families haul out folding chairs and bales of paper plates.

Filipino American fondness for celebrating has most recently led to the establishment of larger community wide festivals celebrating the Filipino culture. Most festivals occur in May during Asian Pacific American Heritage Month and Flores de Mayo, a Roman Catholic harvest feast in honor of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Several celebrations around the United States in commemoration of the Philippine Independence occcur mostly in the month of June. This is also considered the most important event of the community as it gives many Filipino-Americans a chance to rekindle their Filipino roots. Certain parts of the country celebrate in the form of festivals, street fairs, and parades. An example of this is the Philippine Independence Day Parade in New York City, the largest Filipino celebration of any kind in the United States.

Major Celebrations in the United States
Date Name Region
April Easter Salubong Nationwide, USA
April PhilFest Tampa, FL
May Asian Pacific American Heritage Month Nationwide, USA
May Filipino Festival New Orleans, LA
May Filipino Fiesta and Parade Honolulu, HI
May Flores de Mayo Nationwide, USA
June (First Sunday) Philippine Independence Day Parade New York, NY
June (Second Sunday) Philippine Day Parade Passaic, NJ
June Pista Sa Nayon Vallejo, CA
June New York Filipino Film Festival at The ImaginAsian Theatre New York, NY
June Empire State Building commemorates Philippine Independence * New York, NY
June (Last Sunday) Philippine-American Friendship Day Parade Jersey City, NJ
June 12 Fiesta Filipina San Francisco, CA
June 12 Philippine Independence Day Nationwide, USA
June Pagdiriwang Seattle, WA
July Pista sa Nayon Seattle, WA
July Philippine Weekend * Delano, CA
August Annual Philippine Fiesta Seacaucus, NJ
September 27 Festival of San Lorenzo Luis New Orleans, LA
September Festival of Philippine Arts and Culture (FPAC) Los Angeles, CA
October Filipino American History Month Nationwide, USA
December 16 to 24 Simbang Gabi Christmas Dawn Masses Nationwide, USA
December 25 Pasko Christmas Feast Nationwide, USA
December 30 Jose Rizal Day Nationwide, USA

History

  • 1763, first permanent Filipino settlements established in North America near Barataria Bay in southern Louisiana

  • 1781, Antonio Miranda Rodriguez chosen a member of the first group of settlers to establish the City of Los Angeles, California

  • 1898, United States annexes the Philippines

  • 1903, first Pensionados, Filipinos invited to attend college in the United States on American government scholarships, arrive

  • 1906, first Filipino laborers migrate to the United States to work on the Hawaiian sugarcane and pineapple plantations, California and Washington asparagus farms, Washington lumber, Alaska salmon canneries

  • 1920s, Filipino labor leaders organize unions and strategic strikes to improve working and living conditions

  • 1930s, first Filipino women and children migrate to the United States

  • 1936, Philippines becomes self-governing. Commonwealth of the Philippines inaugurated

  • 1939, Washington Supreme Court rules unconstitutional the Anti-Alien Land Law of 1937 which banned Filipino Americans from owning land

  • 1955, Peter Aduja becomes first Filipino American elected to office becoming a member of the Hawai'i State House of Representatives

  • 1981. Silme Domingo and Gene Viernes were both assassinated on June 1, 1981 inside a Seattle downtown union hall. The late Philippine Dictator Ferdinand Marcos hired gunmen to murder both ILWU Local 37 officers to silence the growing movement in the United States opposing the dictatorship in the Philippines.

  • 1987, Benjamin J. Cayetano becomes the first Filipino American and second Asian American elected Lt. Governor of a state of the Union

  • 1993, Mario R. Ramil appointed Associate Justice to the Hawai'i Supreme Court, the second Filipino American to reach the court

  • 1994, Benjamin J. Cayetano becomes the first Filipino American and second Asian American elected Governor of a state of the Union

  • 2003, Philippine Republic Act No. 9225, also known as the Citizenship Retention and Re-Acquisition Act of 2003 enacted, allowing natural-born Filipinos naturalized in the United States and their unmarried minor children to reclaim Filipino nationality and hold dual citizenship

  • 2006, Congress passes legislation that commemorates the 100 Years of Filipino Migration to the United States

Notable Filipino Americans

Further reading

Nonfiction
  • The Filipino Americans from 1763 to the Present: Their History, Culture, and Traditions by Veltisezar Bautista, ISBN 0931613175
  • Filipino Achievers in the U.S.A. & Canada: Profiles in Excellence]by Isabelo T. Crisostomo, ISBN 0931613116
  • Filipino American Lives by Yen Le Espiritu, ISBN 1566393175
  • Filipinos in Chicago (Images of America)] by Estrella Ravelo Alamar, Willi Red Buhay ISBN 0738518808
  • "Filipino Americans," by Carl L. Bankston III, in Pyong Gap Min (ed.), Asian Americans: Contemporary Trends and Issues ISBN 1412905567

Fiction

See also

External links

Civic

Culture

Diplomatic

History

Filipino Newspapers

Filipino Magazines

Ethnic groups in the United States | Filipino Americans | Filipino American history | Overseas Filipinos

Filipino-Amerikaner | Filipino American | Filipino-Amerikano

 

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the "Filipino American".

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