In October of 2015, Filipino American Labor leader, Larry Itliong will be recognized for his action and leadership during the farm labor movement by having his own National Day, October 25. This bill had been signed by the governor of California, Jerry Brown. It has been nearly 40 years since he passed away from Lou Gehrig’s Disease and in honor of the legacy that he left, the Larry Itliong Day Parade and the LA Filipino Mural 20 year celebration happened on October 24th, 2015.

Many issues were brought back and rose from the parade, such as the Delano Grape Strike. The Delano Grape strike began because of the unfair wages that was going on between the farm workers and the grape owners. This was seen as act of unpaid labor. Another issue that is seen as an act of unpaid labor is the growing issues of human sex trafficking. Human sex trafficking has gained global attention and is an act of slavery.

For More Info:

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/asian-america/larry-itliong-day-celebrated-honor-filipino-american-laborer-leader-n450046

https://umapilipinas.wordpress.com/tag/larry-itliong/

Event:

"AF3IRM." AF3IRM. N.p., n.d. Web. 07 Dec. 2015.We must certainly recognize that Filipino communities have been organizing against issues that have been oppressing our people throughout history. To name a few we have Filipino labor organization in the 1920′s, the Delano Grape Strike, JFAV - and more. 

What about the ones that affect our women presently?

The organization called AF3IRM (Association of Filipinas, Feminists Fighting Imperialism, Re-feudalization, and Marginalization) is a feminist organization that supports anti-capitalist activism. 

They focus on issues that affect women of color like human trafficking and exploited labor. Human trafficking is still a huge yet invisible problem which victimizes women AND children. 

AF3IRM is currently in it’s 16th year of hosting the Purple Rose Campaign which rallies against human trafficking and sexual violence. They host educational discussions that surround these issues in the United States. If you would like to know more, please visit - 

http://www.af3irm.org/af3irm/

Sources:

"AF3IRM." AF3IRM. N.p., n.d. Web. 07 Dec. 2015.

In general, art has been a tool to communicate to a larger audience. After the Philippines gained its independence, the country was considered underdeveloped with high amounts of poverty, even though cities such as Manila seemed to strive, from the perspective of an outsider. Street art was used to promote critical thinking among its viewers and question the system in which they were living.

Spoken word poetry has gained ground over the years as a popular form of performance art, and this is especially true when it comes to the Philippines. For example, Words Anonymous, a group of Filipino performance poets, regularly holds open mic nights in a place called Sev’s Cafe in Manila, the capital city of the Philippines. Their performances at these open mic nights and elsewhere capture expressions of “love, loss, inequality, and the struggles of finding one’s place in the world.” Below are examples of some of these members’ performances:

Abby Orbeta - "Struggle"

Louise Meets - "Sinners speak to God"

Juan Miguel Severo - "Naniniwala Ako"

(Source: Fritzie Rodriguez, “Young poets and the art of spoken word” http://www.rappler.com/move-ph/85315-spoken-word-poetry-ph) Spoken word poetry is also alive and well within the U.S., as evidenced by the spoken word YouTube channel Button Poetry. One of the performers featured on this channel, Gretchen Carvajal, is Filipin@-American and has performed pieces relating to her ethnic and national identity. Here are her two pieces featured on the Button Poetry channel:

"On Opening Body Bags After Haiyan"

"Asian Girls and Hip Hop"

Today, Filipino music is just as diverse as American music. Unfortunately, one post cannot do justice to the rich history of music in the Philippines. This post is just an introduction to the sounds of Filipino music. 

Original Pinoy Music Original Pinoy Music, often called OPM, refers to Filipino pop songs that are usually in Tagalog. The genre began in the 1970s and continues today. Below is a list of some of the most popular OPM songs throughout the years. 

Freddie Aguilar - “Anak” (1979) 

Fun Fact:“Anak” was wildly successful worldwide and was translated to at least 20 other languages. 

Rivermaya - “Kisapmata” (1996)

Regine Velasquez - “Dadalhin” (2001)

Sarah Geronimo - “Forever’s Not Enough” (2005)

Yeng Constantino - “Ikaw” (2014)

Would you like to give the GIFT of education? Project Pearls is committed to assisting Filipino children dream big for their children and give them a poverty-free future. What is extraordinary is that children from Pre-K until college have the chance to receive an education scholarship! This year, 8 college graduates from the Ulingan in Tondo, Manila completed their college studies and will now use their education to dream outside their previous future charcoal factory worker. These college graduates are also using their education to give back and will be tutoring/mentoring the smaller children in the program.

Please consider this holiday season the gift of education and become a sponsor of a student in need. Below is a table of how much USD it takes for each student and what those precious dollars will provide. 

Pre-School (Nursery scholars at Project PEARLS Learning Center in  Bulacan) $130 USD or PHP 5500

Elementary School (Kindergarten to Grade 6)  $225 USD or PHP 10,000 

Middle School & High School (Grade 7 to 4th Year High School)  $280 USD or PHP 12,000

SCHOLARS WILL GET: 

PRE-SCHOOL • School supplies: 1 set of school uniform, pair of shoes, 2 pairs of socks, backpack, notebook, pencils, crayons • Scholarship certificate • School ID • Daily Breakfast (Early Childhood Education and Nourishment Program)* • Food for Learning Program ** 

ELEMENTARY • School supplies: 1 set of uniform, pair of shoes, 2 pair of  socks, backpack, school supplies as required by their class advisor • Scholarship certificate • Food for Learning Program ** • Vouchers for additional school supplies needed for school projects • Opportunity for special field trips for top scholars 

MIDDLE SCHOOL & HIGH SCHOOL: • School supplies: 1 set of uniform, pair of shoes, 2 pair of  socks, backpack, school supplies as required by their class advisor • Scholarship certificate • Food for Learning Program ** • Vouchers for additional school supplies needed for school projects • Opportunity for special field trips for top scholars 

SPONSORS WILL GET: • Donation receipt • Certificate of gratitude for sponsorship to include scholar’s name and photo • Quarterly updates of scholar’s school standing; letter and photos from scholars • Opportunity to write/email and build mentoring relationship with their scholars -

 See more at: http://www.projectpearls.org/scholarship/#sthash.3gy2aLDS.dpuf - See more at: http://www.projectpearls.org/scholarship/#sthash.XLGdmIir.dpuf

The form of theatre known as zarzuela (or sarswela) truly boomed following the American colonization and occupation of the Philippines beginning at the start of the 20th century. Last week, we briefly described zarzuela and mentioned one example of such a type of play: Walang Sugat by Severino Reyes. This week (Thanksgiving week), we’ll briefly talk about another example of zarzuela: the three-act play, Paglipas ng Dilim. Paglipas ng Dilim, first written by Precioso Palma and with original music by Leon Ignacio, was staged for audiences in standing-only Manila theater houses several times and has gone on to be made into more contemporary performances in the 2000s. The play essentially revolves around a a man named Ricardo (a new graduate of medicine) and his attraction to a woman named Estrella. As the play unfolds, plots of envy and greed caused by a woman named Caridad and her mother.

 On the surface, this play seems to be portray an ordinary love triangle of sorts. However, it is also likely that Palma had tried to incorporate the everyday struggles of Filipino nationalism against Western ideals (i.e.Spain and U.S.). Here’s a picture of a scene from an early performance of this zarzuela play:

 This and Walang Sugat are definitely worth the read, if anyone would care to read these works or see them performed. Sources:

Castro, Frederick R. "The Past is Present, The Present is Past, The University of the East Drama Company's Production of the Classic Sarsuwela 'Paglipas ng Dilim'".

UE Drama Company

, University of the East. Retrieved from 

https://www.ue.edu.ph/manila/uetoday/index.php?nav=15.htm&archive=200902

The Filipino as an ethnicity is a recent idea. Las islas Filipinas that Ruy Lopez de Villalobos claimed for the Spanish throne in the 16th century were a conceptual category. The various peoples and cultures of the Philippine archipelago were subsumed by the Spanish colony. While today the Philippines celebrates its multitude of cultures, the concept of a Filipino historically has not been as diverse. Stereotypes made and perpetuated by the Louisiana Purchase Exposition–a zoo of American “protectorates”–and racial segregation throughout the first half of the 20th century has created a pan-ethnicity which proves to be both a boon and burden socio-economically and politically. Filipino Organizing in the U.S. often relies on the culture of Filipino immigrants more than the cultures in the motherland.

People of Mindanao

People of Ifugao (Banaue Rice Terraces)

People from Ilocos

Situated in Asian American Studies, Filipino identity and other south and south east Asian identities are subsumed by a Pan-Asian identity dominated by immigrants from the northeast. The Pan-Asian identity in much of Asian American studies is not unrelated to the stereotypical notion that all Asians in America are the same. Like Filipino Organizing in the U.S. Asian American organization often focuses of the shared experience of immigration. Differences in culture and history are connected by the Pan-Asian perspective America has of Asian immigrants. Similarities are identified and recognized, their categories made in the process, to replace the dissonance between people--something equally as made up.

Further Reading:

Vicente Rafael, “Episodic Histories” in White Love and Other Events in Filipino History