Chapter One Issue No. 36 n January 2013 24 Years of Service to the Oregon Community

FROM THE PRESIDENT’S DESK Dearest FANHS Oregon Members and Friends,

As we are approaching beautiful spring weather here in Oregon, I hope that everyone has had a most wonderful holiday celebra-tion over the last couple of months. There are so many things FANHS members have expressed they would like to see in the next couple of months and hope that you can join us one of these days to spruce up our events. We

are always looking for fresh ideas and great energy in our group and hope to see you in one of our FANHS Oregon happenings soon! We have a few things lined up this year and hope to see you in our meeting on April 6 10am at the Beaverton Community Center Vose Room to learn more about our plans and ideas. We are planning to have a pizza fundraiser on May 8, 2013 at the Bea-verton Papa's Pizza. We hope that you can come and support our organization in our efforts to create more projects for the Fil-AM community in Oregon and SW Washington. Our annual FANHS Oregon Sym-posium will be held during the Filipino-American History month of October and we will be sharing more information about that over time. What an exciting year 2013 will be for FANHS Oregon. Do share with us your thoughts and com-ments at fanhsoregon@gmail.com and we hope to see you soon! Sincerely, Welo

Next FANHS Oregon Chapter

regular members’ meeting:

Saturday, April 6, 2013 10:00 am

BEAVERTON COMMUNITY CENTER Vose Room

12350 SW 5th Street, Suite 100, Beaverton OR

FANHS October symposium tackles social justice By Concordia Borja-Mamaril

The Chapter’s annual Symposium to celebrate October as the Filipino American History Month was held on October 14, 2012 at the Fil-Am Center in Portland. It featured four well-chosen community lead-ers in their own fields of specialization. The theme, “Filipino Americans in Ac-tion,” remarkably fit the selected speakers who spoke mainly on social justice. The first speaker, Anselmo Villanueva, PhD, defined social justice as “equity and equality in all walks of life.” He said that his background as a Filipino American was a source of encouragement for him to work for social justice especially among immi-grants through education and his involve-ment in various organizations that are en-gaged in social, economic and political issues. The second speaker was Enrico Tadeo, a practicing attorney and media-tor. He talked about social justice especially for the poor and vulnerable. He mentioned certain principles on this issue such as transparency, accountabil-ity, equitableness, rule of law, awareness and rule of the majority among others. As a member of the “Filipinos for Good Governance” group, he em-phasized that something has to be done to prevent corruption that leads to bad government. With her business background at Portland State University (PSU), Car-men Madrid has committed herself to work on social and racial justice, pref-erably in health care endeavors especially among immigrants and refugees. She emphasized the importance of knowing “individual rights and what is happening in the community,” as well as getting involved in school systems and children’s lives. Patrick Villaflores has been a relatively young and outstanding commu-nity and student organizers, the stepping stone for the position he now holds at PSU as Office Specialist at the Office of the Vice President for Academic Affairs and a member of the President’s Diversity Action Council. He is a voice of the Filipino American community especially among the youth advo-cating for social justice through the organization “Kaibigan,” he organized students at PSU for educational, cultural and social development – a solid foundation of his goal to be an administrator someday.

October 2012 Symposium speakers, clockwise from top left: Anselmo Villanueva, En-rico Tadeo, Patrick Villaflores, and Carmen Madrid.

Page 2 CHAPTER ONE q January 2013

A Summer Interlude

NM Conference highlights By Concordia Borja-Mamaril

The 14th biennial Conference of the Filipino American National Historical Society (FANHS) with the theme “Resilience: A Fili-pino Legacy in a Global Community” was held on June 28-30 in Albuquerque, New Mexico, hosted by the Rio Grande Chapter to coincide with the centennial anniversary of New Mexico’s state-hood with events galore. The conference in Albuquerque pulled me (along with Simeon and my sister Teresa) out of our Portland routine to a journey as a very pleasant early summer interlude, where I met old friends and acquaintances and acquired new ones. Pre-conference event was a tour that visited the Museum of International Folk Art in Santa Fe, the largest collection of folk in the world. Countries of the continents – North America, South America, Europe, Africa, Asia and Australia – have contributions of their own peculiar folk art. The Philippines has one showing St. Vincent Ferrer dressed in Dominican order habit with wings to indicate his role as a preacher. As our bus raced toward Santa Fe, the capital of New Mexico, three guides related to us the history, culture and art of ancient NM as foundations of modern NM. We were showed an ingen-ious Indian symbol, as shown in NM’s state flag, representing the sun (light) at the center with four thick lines radiating on each quadrant of the circle. The upper four lines on the top quadrant represent West, East, South and North, the next four lines on the right represent dark, dusk, daylight and dawn. The bottom four lines indicate winter, spring, summer and autumn and the four lines on the left indicate infancy, youth, adulthood and old age. Thus the cycle of the seasons and span of human life are inter-related to the sense of direction and change of night into day. Our next stop was at the Cathedral of St. Assissi, Romanesque style and at the Cathedral Park we had lunch provided in boxes. Then to Loreto chapter, French Gothic style, to see the miracu-lous stairway which appears to be hanging precariously without support and no nails. A short stop at Santo Domingo pueblo to see the Catholic church decorated with Indian art and wooden sculpture of saitns. The pueblo has an irrigation system where children cool themselves in the shallow running water. Roads are not paved and we had to endure walking under intense heat from the sun, on dirt roads that covered our shoes with dust. The pueblo appeared to me not at par with other small American towns. The next destination was Bataan Memorial Park honoring the 200th and 515th Coastal Artillery of New Mexico casualties of World War II. The most memorable part of our tour was an early evening affair in the Old Town to welcome the participants of the conference. Free dinner was served followed by a long program of entertainment presenting the Philippines in the form of dances from the pre-historic, pre-colonial eras to the coming of the Span-iards, followed by American colonization. The last part was “Pista sa Nayon” featuring tinikling and line dancing. The opening program on Thursday, June 28, featured FANHS president Evangeline Canonizado Buell whose speech in entitled “Journey Through FANHS” with emphasis on achievements of

Filipinos in California and the Buffalo soldiers in the Philippines during the Spanish American War. She quoted Marcus Garvey, “a people without knowledge of their history, origin and culture is like a tree without roots.” Founding FANHS president Fred Cordova had a roll call of the chapters starting with the Oregon Chapter, the first chapter to be formed. The four of us (Lourdes, Simeon , Teresa and Concordia) stood up and waves hello to the audience. Of the 28 chapters, 22 made a report Friday afternoon, June 29, during the membership meeting and election of trus-tees. I read the report of our chapter president Consuelo Rivera. Most of the presentations were in the form of panel discus-sions with a moderator. Our own chapter member Lourdes Markley moderated “First Impressions of America.” One of the speakers was our past president Simeon Mamaril. Other interest-ing panel discussions among the many are” Hawaii’s Plantation Era First Generation Filipinos; As American As Jack Rabbit Adobo: Feasts, Harvests, Resistance, Empire and the History of Filipino Families Surviving the Great Depression; Growing Up Brown; Resilient Filipinos in the Military; Filipinos, the angel Island Immigration Station Connection. There were also round table discussions and among the many such as “Bataan Legacy”; “Let’s Dramatize Your Legacy”; “Story of a Palompon, Leyte World War II Brides”; “Talk Story – anthology of Stories by Filipinos Americans of Central Valley of California.” Aside from the panels and round table discussions there were also interesting workshops. The one I attended, “Costumes and Dance of the Cordillera Tribes of Northern Luzon” was very informative. Some of those who attended even joined to learn some tribal dance steps. A few noteworthy workshops among others are: “The Story Begins With Us: Bridging the Commu-nity Through Music and Oral Histories,” “Filipinos in the US – 100 Year Timeline,” “From Slide Shows to Power Point: Twenty-One Years of Community Story-Telling Through Pho-tographs,” “How to Gather Stories Through Journal Writing,” and “How to Make Parol.” There were also films that were presented such as “The Gift of Barong – A Journey From Within,” a story of two Filipino American surfers who traveled to the Philippines to connect themselves with other surfers in the country. “Forgotten Sol-diers,” about US Army’s Philippine Scouts in World War II. “Remembering Our Manongs,” a history of Filipino immigrants most farm works in Sonoma, California, during the early 1900s. The highlight of the conference was a plenary session on “The Delano Grape Strike & Larry Itliong” moderated by Ronald Buenaventura, FANHS secretary. Johnny Itliong related to us first-hand information about his father as a hard-working persevering labor leader who fought for better living conditions and higher wages of the laborers, in cooperation with Mexican labor leader Cesar Chavez whose unions coalesce to form the “United Farm Workers” that was famous for the “Great Grape Strike of 1965.” As usual there was the authors’ reception on the first evening of the conference. I bought a book by Evangeline Canonizado Buell, “Twenty-Five Chickens and a Pig for a Bride.” It is about her life story growing up in the US with immigrant parents en-riched with humorous scenes and themes in the midst of racial discrimination.

(Continued on next page)

CHAPTER ONE q January 2013 Page 3

News/News/News Makati Little Leaguers play On September 30, 2012 at the Pioneer Courthouse Square in Portland, Le Grand Continental, a traditional festive line dancing mixed with contemporary dance was presented by White Bird, choreographed by Sylvain Ernard, a Montreal choreographer. There were about 160 dancers of assorted sizes, ages 9-72, and backgrounds, one of whom is no other than our vivacious past president Lourdes Cereno Markley. She wore a pink and white crocheted hat, white short-sleeved blouse with colored stitch em-broidery and black tight pants. On both her wrists were tied many ribbons (about a foot long) of white and pink in various shades, that made her dancing more visible to make up for her short stat-ure around the other tall performers.

oOo The Little League Softball World Series was held on August 8-15, 2012 at Alpenrose Dairy playgrounds in Portland. Team Asia Pacific was represented by Illam Central Little League, Makati City. The team’s first game on August 10 was against Team Southwest (Eastdale Little League, Albuquerque, NM). The little Filipina girls were no match to the taller, faster Ameri-cans. The game was one-sided, score of 5-0 in favor of Team Southwest. On August 11, Team Asia Pacific played against Team Can-ada (Turtle Club Little League, Windsor, ON). The diminutive Filipinas were better batters and terribly squashed the taller girls of Team Canada. This victory energized them for the next game held on august 12 against Team West (Makakilo Kapolei Hono-kai Hale Little League, Kapolei, HI). This time the young Fili-pino girls ages 11-12 braved a fight, scored 9-9 in the 4th inning. In the 5th inning, the Hawaiian girls scored 1 raising their score to 10. Team Asia Pacific was the first batter and in the 6th inning the determined girls failed to score. At least, they tried their very best but eventually lost. Their last game was on August 16 against Team EMEA (Europe) represented by Midden-Nederland Little League, Utrecht, Netherlands). The scores were 6-5 in favor of the Philip-pine girls putting them in 7th place out of 10 teams. The champion this year is Team Southwest, followed by Team Southeast (Windermere Little League, Windermere, FL).

SENIOR QUEEN. Elizabeth Asa prepared to place the sash with working “Fil-Am Mrs. Philippines Senior Queen 2012” on Concordia Borja-Mamaril as her escort and hubby Simeon Mamaril looks on with a contagious smile. Senior Queen 2011 Ruth Olandria crowned the new Senior queen. Elizabeth New-man was the runner-up.

A Summer Interlude... On Friday afternoon, June 29, the general membership elected the following trustees: Christine Marasigan (Pacific Northwest), Ron Mureira (California), Bob Luna (Mid-California), Nena Calica (Southern Cali-fornia), P. Emraida Kiram (Midwest), Kevin Nadal (East Coast), Patricia Brown (Rest of the country), Dawn Mabalon (national scholar), Edward Brotonel (Midwest). Banquet night was on Saturday, June 30 which included also a silent auction. The

night featured induction of the newly elected trustees and national offices for 2012-14: Mel Orpilla, president; Judy Patacsil, vice president; Patricia Halagao, secretary; Christine Marasigan, treasurer. This was followed by an award presenta-tion and speech by the guest Raymond Townsend, the first Filipino NBA player. Executive Director Dorothy Cordova pre-sented awards to past FANHS presidents Fred Cordova, Joan May Cordova and Evangeline Canonizado Buell, for their outstanding contributions towards the mis-sion of FANHS. Pearl King, president of the Rio Grande Chapter, presented the

Pamana Lifetime Achievement Award to Juanita Pascual, who dedicated her life to education for more than 30 years. The 29th chapter, Greater Chicago, was announced by Fred Cordova. There was also a tribal ceremonial presentation of folk dances by the American Indians of New Mexico. After the conference, on July 1st, a Catholic Mass was held at Sandia Room of the Marriott Hotel where the conference was held with archbishop of Santa Fe Mi-chael J. Sheehan as celebrant, assisted by deacon Fred Cordova.

Team Asia Pacific: Front row: Mariana Solitaria, Anna Ozaeta, Sabina Bitong. Second row: Cheska Nepomuceno, Therese Ma-casaet, Claire Stevens, Mayu Nishijima, Nicole Barandiaran, Grace Stevens. Third row: Panjie Legaspi, coach Randy Dizer, Manager Karen Solitaria, coach Apol Rosales, Mia Laurel

CHAPTER ONE q January 2013 Page 4

By C. R. Borja-Mamaril

The 4th annual Dambana festival at the Grotto was held on July 29, 2012 emceed by our FANHS-OR chapter president Con-suelo Rivera. The mass was preceded by a rosary and was officiated by Fr. Rodel de Mesa and assisted by Fr. Alvin Cabacan and Fr. Jack Topper, executive director of The Grotto. The Dambana (Tagalog translation for altar) was dedicated on September 28, 2008. It is the third ethnic shrine at the up-per level gardens of the Grotto. It is a Fili-pino shrine representing the Filipino faith and culture. It was a collaborative work of the Filipino community of Oregon and southwest Washington in partnership with The Grotto (the National Sanctuary of Our Sorrowful Mother), a religious legacy to future generations emphasizing the com-munity’s unity and dedication. The Dambana was designed by Hermes Mallari and it is like a pergola, but shaped like a traditional Filipino woman’s head-gear called salakot. The columns which serve as walls are made of capiz, a Philip-pine seashell used in windows in Philippine houses. In the center of the circular structure are three stands made up of natural bamboo on which are enshrined San Lorenzo Ruiz, the first Filipino saint, Blessed Virgin Mary and the Santo Nino of Cebu. All the figures were sculpted by Fernando Sacdalan (first

FANHS Oregon chapter president) made of clay, low-fired and unglazed. What is unique in the sculptures are the three angels at the base around the blessed Virgin Mary’s feet, representing Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao. The angels are dressed in traditional Filipino costumes. One boy is playing a nose flute, another is playing an agong, a hollow rounded brass instrument. The first angel is playing a home-made tambourine made of tansan, flattened metal soda pop caps strung on a round wire hanger. She is holding a garland of flowers, the sampaguita, the Philippine national flower, on her right hand and is wearing a Filipina dress with butterfly sleeves. The Blessed Virgin was modeled after the statue of the Immaculate Conception of the Manila Cathedral. There are 12 stars around her head representing the 12 tribes of Israel and a snake symbol at her feet to represent evil. San Lorenzo Ruiz is dressed in Filipino Chinese shirt called camisa de chino and loose pants, standing in front of a well to symbolize the way he died. He is looking up to heaven in prayer giving praise to his faith and in God. A history of the Grotto is worth men-tioning. Father Ambrose Mayer was a young boy when his mother was near death after giving birth to a daughter. The young boy hurried to the parish church in Kitchenin, Ontario where he prayed fervent for his mother’s life, promising that if his

mother would live, he would one day do a great work for the church. His Servite (Servants of Mary) superiors sent him to Portland, Oregon. He wanted a place to build a suitable tribute to Mary, mother of Jesus. In 1923, he came across some acreage owned by the Pacific Rail-way Company and it was for sale as resi-dential property. He realized that the place was ideal for the fulfillment of his dream. The price for the property was $48,000, but Father Mayer had only $3,000. He made a big anyhow and it was accepted to his big surprise perhaps the work of God. On May 29, 1924, the Sanctuary of Our Sorrowful Mother was dedicated by Portland Archbishop Alexander Christie. A grotto was hewn at the base of the 110-foot basalt cliff where an alter was constructed, above which was placed a full-size replica of Michelangelo’s Pieta. This became the sanctuary for an outdoor church where Sunday mass is celebrated during the sum-mer months. In 1933, the first Marian Con-gress was held at the Sanctuary and a bronze statue of Mary, Our Mother, was dedicated. Over the years the shrine be-came known as The Grotto. It was designed a National Sanctuary in 1983. The religious order of the Servites (Servants of Mary) was founded by seven laymen dedicated to the Virgin Mary in Florence, Italy. The seven men was canon-ized on January 15, 1888 by Pope Leo XIII under the simple heading “The Seven Holy Founders of the Servants of Mary.”

The Dambana & The Grotto

By Concordia Borja-Mamaril FANHS National Trustee

My trip, along with Simeon and my sister Teresa, to attend the 14th biennial conference of the FANHS landed us in New Mexico

(NM) to Marriott Hotel in the new section of Albuquerque, the venue of the conference. Why NM is dubbed the Land of Enchantment is still a mystery to me. It to enchant means to attract (Webster’s Dictionary), then I think NM falls short of its designation. For the hot air and swel-tering heat permeating the environment are strong drawbacks. But the low humidity in spite of the heat has one merit for those with respiratory problems like those with asthma and emphy-sema. For this reason NM is a delight to attract. The pre-historic inhabitants of NM were nomadic hunters but left camp with stone weapons that may have laid down the foun-dation for a pueblo (village). And I guess that must have been the pioneers of the idea of NM as a land of enchantment. Pueblo In-dian culture and art (a well-known attraction to tourists) are well preserved in the many museums and monuments that dot the cit-ies especially in Santa Fe, the capital. In fact during the opening program of the conference, the American Indians of NM pre-sented their ritual ceremonial dances in their brightly colored, intricate and artistic costumes with feathered hats, necklaces of beads in multicolors and native shoes, all custom-made by them-selves. The trustees resolved on June 28 to nominate another trustee from Hawaii to represent “the rest of the country” and to allow trustees who have served for more than three consecutive terms to continue their terms and also be available for future re-elections. There was some kind of heated discussion regarding the financial status of FANHS National in relation to the chap-ters. An agenda was suggested by Enrique dela Cruz for the next meeting scheduled for June 30. So we have an agenda for June 30 prepared by president Evangeline Canonizado Buell. Report on the conference was pre-sented by Emilie Underwood (conference chairperson). Reports on the Pinoy Archives and plans for the future National Filipino American Museum were presented by Fred Cordova and Dawn Mabalon, respectively. Executive Director Dorothy Cordova re-ported the FANHS income for 2011 as $23,174.15 and expenses as $24,826.57, a deficit of $1,651.72. Since no bank reconcilia-tion was presented for income and expenses, some trustees specu-lated on what is really transpiring regarding the financial status of FANHS National. I mentioned during the meeting what the Secretary reported in the St. Louis (MO) meeting of 2011, that the trustees recom-mended and agreed on the criteria of becoming a trustee as fol-lows: 1) active member for at least two years, 2) agree to support FANHS by $100 per years, 3) agree to attend meetings once a

year unless circumstances occur, 4) agree to support the mission of FANHS. I inquired the Executive Director why out of the 27 trustees only 15 so far had given $100 or more in 2011 and from January to June 2012, only 10 had supported the FANHS. Also I asked why few chapters give money to FANHS. Dorothy replied that it is the job of the treasurer to remind trustees and chapters of their financial obligations. Chapters are supposed to send one-third of the total amount collected from membership fees, to the FANHS National. The Trustees also accepted “Greater Chicago Chapter” as the 29th chapter, introduced by Estrella Alamar of Chicago. National officers for 2012-2014 were also elected by the trustees. Since there was not enough time, the trustees meeting was adjourned without discussing the clarification of trustees duties and possibly amendments to the by-laws, much to the dismay of some. I do hope these will be taken up in order in next year’s trustees meeting. Kudos to the Rio Grande Chapter for a successful 2012 Con-ference in Albuquerque. It was first in this conference that paid participants received a cotton handbag containing conference program and other related papers, unlike previous conferences wherein folders were used. On the bag was printed “FANHS Fil-Am National Historical Society, 14th Biennial Conference, June 28-30, 2012, Albuquerque, NM.” There was also a grand reception and welcome for the confer-ence participants held at the Old Town, sponsored by Rio Grande Chapter and the Fil-Am Foundation of NM. There was a free dinner and entertainment consisting of regional dances of the Philippines. And all these the Rio Grande Chapter was able to offer because of the many benevolent sponsors who donated large sums of money topped by Bernalillo County and victory Limary, Talin Market, plus the advertisers through the dedicated efforts of chair conference person and former Rio Grande Chap-ter president Emilie Underwood and by Dely Alcantara, Chapter organizer and first president. Volunteer workers, chapter mem-bers and non-members, and the youth of Albuquerque as well, greatly contributed to the overall commendable success of the conference. The warm hospitality of Dely Alcantara was revealed when she invited us (Emraida Kiram, Enrique de la Cruz and his wife, Teresa Asprec, Simeon Mamaril and Corcordia) to a delicious luncheon at her home, after visiting the memorial for her son Manoa who died in a car accident. The memorial in unique con-sisting of four solid standing slabs of stone, each located at the periphery of a circle’s quadrant. The natural rocks are of different colors, representing the directions and principles of life for which Manoa lived for. San Diego Chapter invites you, both Oregon Chapter members and non-members, for the 15th biennial Conference in 2014. Do plan to attend.

Page 5 CHAPTER ONE q January 2013

THOUGHTS of a FANHS Trustee

Page 6 CHAPTER ONE q January 2013

The purpose of Chapter One is to inform, update, and

disseminate information relevant to, and in support of the mission of FANHS, both locally and nationally, and to the Filipino American experience. Please submit your ideas,

comments and/or suggestions to ronnielim1999@gmail.com

FILIPINO AMERICAN NATIONAL HISTORICAL SOCIETY

OREGON CHAPTER

Consuelo C. Rivera, President welo.rivera@gmail.com

Ligaya Humbert, Vice President

ligaya.humbert@gmail.com

Celia Ferrer Dunne, Secretary celiaferrerdunne@gmail.com

Robert Bayot, Treasurer bobbayot@peoplepc.com

Dr. Concordia Borja-Mamaril, National Trustee

sidama@juno.com

FANHS-Oregon is a nonprofit tax-exempt organization operating under the bylaws of the

Filipino American National Historical Society Incorporated

FANHS-OR Board of Advisors

(past presidents) Fernando F. Sacdalan (1988-1991); Wilfredo L.

Olandria (1991-1993); Albert H. Newnam (1993-1994); Simeon D. Mamaril (1994-2000, 2002); Danilo E. del Rosario (2001);

Ligaya S. Humbert (2003-2004); Adoracion O. Lim (2005-2007); Lourdes Cereno Markley (2008-2009); Dolly Pangan-Specht

(2010); Ruth L. Olandria (2011)

Email us at fanhsoregon@gmail.com Like us at www.facebook.com/fanhsoregon

Visit us at http://fanhsoregon.wordpress.com

“Our Mission is to Promote Understanding, Education, Enlightenment, Appreciation and Enrichment through the Identification, Gathering, Preservation and Dissemination

of the History and Culture of Filipino Americans in the United States.”

Mailing Address here