LETTER TO THE EDITOR: Dismantle all Filipino groups and put up one

LETTER TO THE EDITOR: Dismantle all Filipino groups and put up one

Dear Editor,

This is in regard to your Notebook column in the November 16-30 issue of the Philippine Reporter.
Failure to fully integrate in Toronto’s civic life may explain for the level of political apathy among us. But we should not blame the immigrant years for this malaise. All immigrants go through this funk when adjusting to their new community, whether it is for the garbage collection schedule or balancing their time for their jobs and their families. From the time we landed, we knew Toronto would be our new community, and this new place we embrace brings about new obligations or duties, to the community in particular and to the larger country as a whole. When we took our pledge as new citizens, we earned our right to choose our leaders. This new right brings the excitement of choosing our leaders, and perhaps even running for office. We never really had this kind of right in our old country. Back there, we had to be cajoled or carted along with others to the voters’ precincts. We couldn’t even run for office if we were only ordinary people. Here, you don’t have to be somebody if you wish to run for councillor or trustee, or even for mayor or as a member of Parliament.

Many years of American-style of politics and twenty years of martial rule made us all succumb to the external trappings of political extravaganzas, as if every election time is like a carnival. The issues of the day did not matter to us because our leaders have chosen to entertain us with movie stars, rather than debate the issues and give us intelligent options, or they have decided to simply dole out money or sacks of rice to buy our votes.

When we came here and embraced our new city, we continued our love for festivals. Instead of joining a poverty march or a demonstration against the war, we proudly came out with our marching bands every Santa Claus parade, or swayed our hips like Ati-atihan warriors or Ifugao dancers of the past, or paraded our lechons every Independence Day. We organized ourselves for a million reasons, the school we graduated from, the town or province we grew up in, the heroes we idolized, etcetera, etcetera. We have established more than one community organization for our fellow kababayans when one would be sufficient. We publish several community newspapers even without journalistic experience, and where one or two would be sufficient for our readers. We still choose as our leaders, even after several migrations today, those who came from the old country with their lust for power and ignore the potential leaders who were born or raised and educated here.

Is it any wonder then that someone suspiciously lacking English-speaking skills and with no understanding of the demographics of his community would have the gall to run for mayor for his first stab at politics here? Was this a serious attempt to win an election? Or simply an act of braggadocio? The real story is all our Filipino candidates seriously expected victory during the election. But all those who lost, with the exception of Rowena Santos in Parkdale, have nothing in their plates to offer their constituencies. If there was something to offer at all, it was their inability to communicate what it is that they want to do if elected. Although they may have a political agenda, they may not have the skills to express it. The more reason for us to allow our children who were either born or raised and educated here to join the political arena, and for our elders to please step aside.

I would suggest we immediately start dismantling all Filipino organizations in Toronto and GTA and establish only one common organization for all of us who are still proud of our roots. We are not Ilocanos, or Tagalogs, or Cebuanos, we are all Filipinos. Let us willingly submit ourselves under a common umbrella organization. There should only be one major activity for this organization, i.e., the celebration of Philippine Independence Day. One activity in a year, and nothing more. The rest of our time, I suggest we should devote to joining environmental groups, social causes like equal access to justice and employment opportunities, young Liberals, neo-Conservatives, NDP socialists, or whatever organization depending on one’s persuasion. In other words, we should begin thinking and acting like members of our new community, not the old one we left.

When we decide to run again in an election, we should not count on the Filipino vote. There is no such thing. Besides, there is no rationale for voting along nationality lines. We are a diverse community and we should capitalize on this character of our community to ensure winning an election. And more importantly, issues should be the ones that really matter. It is the substance of politics that we should learn to embrace, and not the trappings of a political extravaganza. For us and for our children, it may be a long and tortuous way before we reach this level of maturity – but we must begin now.

Artemio Valladolid
Toronto, Ontario