Pinoy perspective

(Article appeared in the December 2009 issue of the Filpino-American Bulletin in Seattle)
by JP Paredes

It’s December and the season engulfs me in its atmosphere – of the birth of Christ, of thanksgiving for friends and family and of fond longing for loved ones in the Philippines.

Christmas is an important Christian holy day as it marks the birth of Christ. We should not forget, however, that before Christ became the symbol for Christianity, he was first of all a Jew. It is for this reason that we consider Christianity, and Catholicism in particular, as having Judeo traditions.

This brings me to my next point about Jews. Jews everywhere in the world, born in Israel or elsewhere, consider Israel as their “homeland.” It may be because of religious traditions that trace back to old Palestine or what they consider the Promised Land, or some other reason. The fact remains that they consider Israel as their home, even for those who have never seen it or been born there.

This brings me, in turn, to my next point about Filipinos. I find it puzzling how some US-born Filipinos don’t consider themselves Filipinos but Americans, yet they continue to refer to themselves as Filipino-Americans. True, they could not deny the blood line or their appearance or their cultural roots. Yet it seems that in their view the only Filipinos worth mentioning should be Fil-Ams.

In my opinion, this presents a tricky dilemma for Fil-Ams. While they feel that being American-born they have tenuous connections to the Philippines, they nevertheless argue that they should be called “Filipino” Americans without wondering how they could both shun and embrace the Philippines at the same time. There certainly would be no point to calling them Fil-Ams when they seem to deny the “Fil” part.

My point is that I am sometimes criticized for writing Philippine-centric articles while Filipinos and Fil-Ams here in the United States are faced with more immediate problems. I agree for the most part but they lose sight of the fact that no problem of Filipinos in this land could compare to the problems faced by our native Philippines. Perhaps I am biased because I was born there, and the bias of Fil-Ams is a function of their birth here. This illustrates my point about the Jews who consider Israel their home irrespective of their country of birth.

Despite the unique situation of Filipinos in the USA, Fil-Ams cannot have it both ways. They cannot claim to be Americans yet insist on appending the “Fil” to their American-ness while denying the importance of the Philippines to their lives.

I agree that we should highlight issues faced by Filipinos in the US, as indeed we have from time to time. Some of these are surprisingly mainstream, that is, not unique to us as Filipinos - education, gangs, racism, drugs, equality, justice and all that good stuff. This is not to diminish the challenges Fil-Ams face. If anything, Filipino immigrants face greater challenges than US-born Filipinos because of language and accent.

First generation Filipinos are seen as different because they do not speak the mainstream “language.” By language, I mean not only fluency but also the distinctive accent colored somewhat differently by the Philippine region of origin. I don’t know if it’s a positive factor for immigrants to speak the “language” of the mainstream especially when I hear young people frequently punctuating their sentences with “like.” But I digress.

As to my writing about Philippine affairs, little do some Fil-Ams realize that, like it or not, events in the Philippines will color the way the mainstream perceives and treats Filipinos without distinguishing their origins. There are examples aplenty – human rights, corruption, murder of journalists, environmental issues, global strategic issues vis-à-vis war on terror, political (im)maturity, education, social issues created by the expatriate worker phenomenon and a host of other matters. It is therefore logical or at least justifiable for me to air Philippine problems in the hope that Fil-Ams would take the cudgels with the hope that solving them will, in some way, help resolve the issues that they themselves face. Was it not Jose Rizal who championed, together with other expatriates, Filipino issues in a foreign land?

Lest I be misunderstood, this is not to criticize American-born Filipinos but simply to provide a perspective, akin to the perspective of world Jewry, that the Philippines serves as a beacon for cultural and national memory that provides a guide for Filipinos everywhere, hyphenated or not. This beacon is our understanding of the Philippine situation or the lack of it. The quality and the strength of this beacon provide the inspiration that will determine whether Filipinos in the world can find their way or crash on the shoals of assimilation in their adopted countries.

As we celebrate Christmas, it might do Filipinos some good to meditate on who we really are as a people.