DETROIT – Vowing to seize the opportunity made possible by their growing numbers in the United States – 3.4 million, according to the 2010 Census – Filipino-American community leaders reaffirmed their commitment to register their family, friends, neighbors, co-workers and newly-naturalized citizens and get them to the polls in November.
Convening in the motor city for its 10th Empowerment Conference, the National Federation of Filipino American Associations (NaFFAA) renewed its long-term goal of mobilizing Filipinos of voting age in the US to go out and vote in local and national elections. Now in it’s sixth year of operation, NaFFAA’s FilAm Vote project is undertaking aggressive voter education and voter registration, notably in states with large Filipino populations. In Nevada, for instance, the number of Filipinos grew by 146 percent in ten years. Other so-called battleground states, like Virginia and Florida, have drawn the attention of both national parties, noting the dramatic high-rate of growth of Asian Pacific American Islanders in this country.
Fil-Am community leaders leaders reaffirmed their commitment to register their family, friends, neighbors, co-workers and newly-naturalized citizens and get them to the polls in November. (AJPress Photo/Miko Santos)
“This was in the minds of our founding fathers when NaFFAA was formed 15 years ago,” said NaFFAA National Chairman Ed Navarra in his keynote address at the opening of the conference on Aug. 3. “An ethnic community that is able to translate its numbers into political muscle and influence national policies that affect our interests.” He recalled how NaFFAA’s founding chairman, Alex Esclamado, rallied the community to press Congres to pass the Filipino Veterans Equity bill. “Alex believed in harnessing our numbers to correct an historic injustice. It may have been an ‘impossible dream,’ but he knows it takes political action to make it come true.”
Congress eventually passed an equity bill that recognized Filipino World War II veterans as US veterans and provided them a one-time cash compensation. NaFFAA has fallen short of achieving its goal, however. “In the 2004 presidential elections, only 594,000 Filipino Americans voted - a decline of 7 percent because 122,000 registered voters did not cast their ballots,” said Gloria Caoile, former NaFFAA national vice chair and co-chair of FilAm Vote. “It didn’t get any better in 2008. Potentially, 40 percent of our total number can be mobilized to go to the polls. But we need to register them if they haven’t done so and educate them on issues that directly affect our community so they will appreciate what’s at stake, especially for our children and families.”
Energized by the day’s discussions, delegates caucused separately as Democrats and Republicans and mapped out strategies to mobilize their base. “But our common goal is to build political power for our community,” said Caoile. “So much is at stake that we can’t afford to simply stand by and not be politically engaged.”
Delegates to the 3-day conference also addressed immigration reform, the DREAM Act, the SAVE Act, medicare portability, medical and trade missions to the Philippines, pending issues related to Filipino World War II veterans, and the legal defense of Filipinos who need assistance. The Filipino American Legal Defense and Education Fund (FALDEF), a NAFFAA affiliate, was set up four years ago for this purpose. It is is providing legal counsel and assistance to Jose Antonio Vargas, the acclaimed Pulizer-Prize winner who recently disclosed his status as an undocumented immigrant. FALDEF is helping Vargas in his advocacy of the DREAM Act, a bill that will legalize the status of thousands of young students whose parents came to the US without legal documentation.
(NaFFAA)