Speeches & Testimony

Mr. Speaker, since 2019, and as the Member of Congress with the most Filipino Americans of any U.S. House district nationwide, I have been honored to co-lead an annual resolution recognizing October as Filipino American History Month. I have joined many colleagues in doing so in order to recognize and celebrate the great contributions of Filipino Americans to our country— in government and law, music and entertainment, sports, business, and countless other ventures.

The first recorded arrival of Filipinos in the continental United States took place on October 18, 1587, when the Luzones Indios came ashore from the Manila-built galleon Nuestra Senora de Esperanza in Morro Bay, California. This was followed by the first permanent Filipino settlement in the United States in St. Malo, Louisiana, in 1763. Since those early beginnings, our Filipino American community has grown to approximately 4.4 million citizens and is now the third-largest Asian American and Pacific Islander group in the United States. Many of the early Filipino immigrants were young men who came to the United States, most to Hawaii, California, Washington, and Alaska, seeking a better life.

This first generation of Filipino immigrants is commonly referred to as the Manong generation (Ilocano for first-born male). They worked mostly physically demanding jobs in tough conditions for very little pay. Over the years, they fought against discrimination, found a way forward, became respected members of their communities, and made a better future for themselves and their future generations. The several generations since have thrived upon that foundation.

The history of the Filipino American community in Hawaii is particularly rich and mirrors the broader national story. In 1906, the first fifteen sakada (contract laborers) arrived in Honolulu from the Philippines aboard the SS Doric, marking the first sustained immigration of Filipinos into our country and the humble beginnings of Filipino Americans in Hawaii. These early immigrants, along with those who followed, eventually became trailblazers in politics and government, the military, business and entrepreneurship, journalism, popular culture, music and the arts, and many other fields.

Our resolution honors the tremendous and increasing contributions of Filipino Americans to our country in all areas, including music, dance, literature, education, healthcare, business, journalism, sports, fashion, politics, government, science, technology, the fine arts, and more. To name just a few examples from my home state of Hawaii:

• Domingo Los Banos was Hawaii’s first Filipino American school principal and a loyal veteran of the 1st Filipino Infantry Regiment that fought in the Philippines during World War II.
• Carolina Dizon Wong broke a glass ceiling when she obtained an M.D. degree and became the first Filipino American to start a medical practice in Hawaii in 1952.
• Peter Aduja became the first Filipino American elected to public office in the United States when he was elected to the Hawaii Territorial House of Representatives in 1954.
• Larry Ramos became the first Filipino and Asian American to win a Grammy Award, playing the banjo for the New Christy Minstrels in 1963.
• Ines Cayaban was the first Filipino American graduate of the School of Public Health, Nursing, and Social Work at the University of Hawaii. She received the prestigious Jefferson Award in 1986 for her service.
• In 1994, Ben Cayetano was elected the Governor of Hawaii, becoming the first Filipino American governor of a state in our union.
• In 2019, Roy Macaraeg became the first Filipino American to become a general officer in the history of Hawaii’s citizen-soldier ranks.

In Hawaii, we also regularly honor the over 250,000 Filipinos nationwide who answered the call to protect and defend America and the Philippines in the Pacific theater. In 2016, President Obama signed into law the Filipino Veterans of World War II Congressional Gold Medal Act to bestow Congress’s highest honor upon those veterans. Along with my colleagues in the House, I have introduced the Filipino Veterans Family Reunification Act, which seeks to reunite World War II Filipino soldiers with their children, so that we can honor those living in our community who fought to protect the free and open Indo-Pacific that we have today.

Each of these lives of achievement is but a small sampling of a broader community that has achieved so much and contributed so much to the rich fabric of our country. And the story of Filipino Americans is still in its early chapters.

It is fully appropriate that we again honor our Filipino American community, whose story is a quintessentially American story.