Speeches & Testimony

Mr. Speaker, as the Member of Congress with the most Filipino Americans of any Congressional district nationwide (nearly 200,000), I have been honored since 2019 to co-lead an annual resolution recognizing October as Filipino American History Month. I have joined many colleagues in doing so once again 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 nearly 5 million people and is 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 are 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. Several generations have thrived upon that foundation.

The history of the Fil-Am community in Hawaii is particularly rich and echoes the 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 into our country and the humble beginnings of Fil-Ams in Hawaii. By 1919, more than 29,000 Filipinos had traveled to Hawaii to take labor contracts. These first immigrants, those that followed and the subsequent generations eventually became trailblazers in politics and government, the military, business and entrepreneurship, journalism, popular culture, music and the arts and more.

Our resolution honors the tremendous and increasing contribution of Filipino Americans to our country in all areas including music, dance, literature, education, health care, business, literature, journalism, sports, fashion, politics, government, science, technology, the fine arts and other fields. I include in the Record the names and accomplishments of Filipino Americans, again from my 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 to first Filipino and Asian-American to win a Grammy Award playing the banjo for the New Christy Minstrels in 1963.

Benjamin Menor became the first Filipino American to serve in a state's highest judiciary office as a Justice of the Hawaii State Supreme Court in 1974.

In 1978 Alfred Laureta became the first Filipino American to serve as a federal judge, serving in the federal court of the Northern Mariana Islands.

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. With my colleagues in the House, I have introduced our 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 and all these lives of achievement are 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.