APRIL - JUNE 2005
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Sheila S. Coronel
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Photos by Luis Liwanag
Jose Torres Jr.
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Yvonne T. Chua
Susan F. Quimpo
Jose Torres Jr.
Cecile C.A. Balgos
 SEARCH FOR ROOTS. After months of studying in Manila, Mikhail and Tristan (extreme left and second from left) and Jo (extreme right) find that their oher homeland has much to teach them. |
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"You have a unique doorbell system here," I tell Tristan and Jo when they let me in. The children disappear instantly. But later, they just as quickly scale the walls surrounding theapartment, repeatedly waving their arms and calling the names of the apartment's residents: Filipino-Americans Olivia Kardos (23), Joy quiambao (21), Tristan Ignacio Hurlburt (22), Ivy Dulay (20), and Mikhail Gaetos (20), plus tier Japanese-American friend Miwako Ohara. All are college students enrolled at UP Diliman for a year.
Media hype has painted most "'Fil-Ams" as celebrities — as MTV VJs, movie starlets, basketball players, and pretty faces on Edsa billboards. But many more are here in the Philippines, not to break into the movies or television but to nurture a longing for "home."
As Miwako prepares and serves a Sunday brunch of tocino, eggs, rice and bibingka, Tristan, Olivia and I sit on the living room floor discussing identity, language, racism, and reasons for wanting to visit their parents' homeland. Ivy and Mikhail join us later.
Tell me about yourself. Where did you grow up? What is your family like/ Did you gtow up in a predominantly Filipino community?
Jo: I grew up in Woolridge, Virginia. Most of the Filipinos I encountered were from the church. In my high school graduating class, there were only four Filipinos, myself included. Both my parents are from Tarlac City. My Dad works for the post, office, my Moms a teacher in a Catholic school. Growing up, my parents J would speak to us (children) in English, while they'd speak to each other in Kapampangan. My Mom was afraid we would fall back in school so she spoke to us in English. They never really taught us anything about the Philippines. If we asked them, my mother wouldn't say much, other than (describe) the house she grew up in, and the school she went to. My dad would say even less.
Tristan: I grew up in Palo Alto, California. There was a Filipino community center close to where I lived. I was a "weekend Filipino." During weekends I'd be with Filipinos, mostly my relatives. There were 10 Filipinos in my high school graduating class.
My father is white, he can trace his roots to the Mayflower — he's that white! (Laughs). My (maternal) grandfather is Ilokano. He went to Hawaii in the 1930s at age 17, as a contractualfarm laborer. He was supposed to stay 18 months but left to move to California. There, he was a migrant agricultural worker, he followed the crop. By chance, he met this white family that took him in, sent him through high school, in exchange for being their houseboy. The day after Pearl Harbor was bombed, he enlisted in the US army and joined the Filipino American infantry that was sent to Cotabato. At the end of World War II, he visited his family in Ilocos, where he met and married my grandmother. He returned to the States, to re-enlist in the army after his first term. He did that so he could bring his family to the States. (Prior to WWII, Filipinos, then called "nationals," were barred from acquiring US citizenship and were unable to bring their families.) So my grandma had a daughter (from a previous marriage) born iin the Philippines, a son born in the US army base in Okinawa, a daughter born in the US army base in Germany, and my Mom was born on the army base in Colorado.
My Mom is second generation (Filipino-American). Growing up, they had the "English Only" rule because grandpa wanted everyone as American as can be. When I was a kid, I never really asked my grandparents questions (about the Philippines) because I was afraid I'd disappoint them. They would be so happy when their grandchildren would speak accent-less English and eat whatever they cooked with American table manners. They really liked that. But no matter how American they tried to act — they are still Filipino. Like, we ate only Filipino food at home. I never had a babysitter, or was ever sent to daycare. When my parents were at work, I'd be with my grandparents, or cousins while all my friends would go to a babysitter or daycare.
Olivia: I grew up in New Jersey. When I was 12, we moved to Pennsylvania; then I attended college at UC Santa Cruz, then UCLA. My Dad is Hungarian Jewish. My Mom is Chinese-Filipino from Echague, Manila.
In New Jersey, my older brother and I went to a traditional Jewish school because the public school system was really bad. My Mom was very much against sending us to Catholic school. So we went to this Jewish school that was supposedly a good school. But by the time I left that school in the 7th grade, I hated it.
In my house, we really did not practice Judaism. Like, to this day, I probably know more about Judaism and Hebrew than my Dad. Because the school was very religious, we had to lie a lot. Like, you're not supposed to be driving around during the Sabbath, but we did — so we had to lie about what we did on weekends.
My Mom would drive us to school, and she'd give us bacon and sausage sandwiches in the car for breakfast. And when we got to school, my brother and I would try to pick the bacon from our teeth before morning prayer. Then I just thought it was part of life, but when I got older, I really resented the school. That's why to this day, I'm still not into organized religion.
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