Doubling Down on Pinoy Power

Speaking at the recently concluded 2nd Global Summit of Filipinos in the Diaspora at the Dusit Thani Hotel in Makati City, Loida Nicolas Lewis called for the registration of one million more overseas Filipino absentee voters who will vote in time for the 2016 presidential elections. Her call, according to reports, drew an immediately warm response and support from hundreds of conference participants, most of whom are overseas workers and residents, who travelled from across the globe for the 3-day conference. Though the sound of 1 million absentee overseas voters may seem too ambitious to others, to a determined leader like Lewis, chairwoman of US Pinoys for Good Governance (USP4GG), the rest of the leaders and members of the organization, and other equally dynamic and committed leaders in the audience, it is certainly doable. It will take a concerted effort and consistent campaign to make it happen but it can and it will, if those who embrace the challenge would follow through.
The objective of the registration of more overseas Filipino absentee voters is laudable. As an overseas voter, the Filipinos can participate actively in the choice of their next leaders who are expected to guide the country to progress and development. As a group and united, the overseas Filipinos could become a crucial factor in the election of leaders and officials and in charting the destiny of the nation. We support this initiative and we echo the call to our estimated 4.5 Filipinos who are in the United States and Canada who, with $10 billion remittance to the Philippines, already is a strong group to reckon with.
There’s an estimated ten million Filipinos working and residing in 217 countries in the globe. Of these, 988, 384 have so far registered as overseas absentee voters to vote for President, Vice President, Senators and Party list Representatives since former president Gloria Arroyo initiated the Filipino Citizenship Retention Law in 2004, which allowed Filipinos who have been naturalized citizens in foreign countries to become Filipinos again and enjoy the benefits of dual citizenship allowing for ownership of properties and land in the Philippines. For this year May 2013 election, there were 398, 554 overseas Filipinos who registered as absentee voters.
Empowering the Filipinos, whether as citizens in the Philippines or elsewhere has been the dream of many a Filipino American leader, who realized early on that collectively and with one strong voice, we can be a force to reckon with. And in a democratic society, where its citizens have the power to elect their leaders, number commands influence, power and persuasion. The U.S. Pinoys for Good Governance (USP4GG) as the name suggests, has been founded to help elect candidates in the Philippines, those with proven integrity and platform of government that will provide the Philippines good governance. Headed by its Chair, Atty. Loida Nicolas Lewis and its President, Atty. Rodel Rodis, USP4GG was originally named, US Pinoys for Noynoy-Mar, whose goal, as the name suggested, was to elect Benigno Simeon Aquino and Mar Roxas as Philippine resident and Vice President, respectively. Unfortunately, Mar Roxas didn’t make it.
According to the 2010 Census, there are 3.4 million Filipino Americans, approximately 1.2 million of them are concentrated in California and 900,000 are of voting age. Electing Filipino Americans into local offices here in the U.S. is still a big challenge because of our scattered living patterns but there have been a few who have already won on the national level, thereby increasing our visibility, to name a few, Ben Cayetano, former governor of Hawaii and was the first governor of Filipino American descent in the U.S. Former Senator John Ensign of Nevada was the only Filipino American to have been a member of the Senate and Representative Steve Austria, the only Asian Pacific American Republican in the 112th Congress (Wikipedia).
The National Federation of Filipino American Associations, founded by the late Alex Esclamado, a former publisher, has dedicated itself to the empowerment of Filipino Americans. The past 2 presidential elections saw the works of the different regional chapters of NaFFAA, currently headed by Ed Navarra, in getting out the vote of Filipino Americans through voter registrations, etc. Another famous Filipina who worked tirelessly to promote voter registration among Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, Gloria Caoile, mobilized her APALA (Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance) to get out the Filipino American votes. It’s the work of these Filipino American leaders which, though unrecognized and hidden from public view, that will one day see amazing results in not only electing FilAm leaders to Congress and other government positions but also give us the bargaining power with our officials.
FilAms Partnering with Pinoys in the Philippines
In my recent trip to Cabanatuan City, I had the opportunity to discuss with some of the local officials, friends and former colleagues my desire to organize a Balikbayan visit to Cabanatuan City and Nueva Ecija in 2015. My goal is to mobilize FilAms here who are from Cabanatuan City and Nueva Ecija to work together and partner with prominent people of our place in putting up a charity for either a hospital or a school or both. The idea is to demonstrate to the locals the spirit of sharing and reaching out to those in need so that those who obviously have the means to do charity work will be inspired to do so.
It isn’t uncommon for the affluent families in the Philippines not to care for people other than their close families and friends in the same social and economic ladders. The thought of sharing has not penetrated their consciousness nor has the idea of volunteerism and community service ever come up to them. It’s a pity, because I know that if people like them would start to care, and the FilAms here would be willing to invest their talent and time into a partnership like this, there is so much good we can do and contribute to our place and our people. The possibilities of making a difference in the lives of our people are endless.
If you are from Cabanatuan or any city or town in Nueva Ecija and are interested to participate in any way, please email me at filammegascene@aol.com. There is so much to do and there’s work for everyone.