National Federation of Filipino American Associations

Since this clinic was confidential in nature, we will not be publishing any photos.

PRESS RELEASE

Pre-Christmas, JP Morgan Sponsored Foreclosure Clinic
Draws 250 Homeowners and Their Future under Obama

Vallejo, CA – Responding to the urgent cry for help of homeowners threatened with the loss of their homes, Mabuhay Alliance and the National Federation of Filipino American Associations (NaFFAA), two state and nationwide community organizations conducted the first foreclosure prevention clinic in Solano County last December 13, 2008. 

The principal sponsor of the clinic was JP Morgan Chase, which after meeting with Mabuhay Alliance, NaFFAA, and other community groups, recently developed one of the nation’s most far reaching foreclosure prevention and loan modification programs. JP Morgan has just acquired Washington Mutual.

The clinic was held at the Solano Community College (Vallejo Center) and was attended by more than 250 homeowners facing foreclosure. Also attending the clinic and endorsing it were several government officials, including Vallejo Mayor Osby Davis and Suisun Mayor Pete Sanchez.

Mayor Davis, impressed with the purpose and the turnout, requested that Mabuhay Alliance and NaFFAA coordinate another clinic soon after President-elect Barack Obama takes office. Both organizations will meet with the mayor next month to plan the clinic. It is expected that all the major banks and officials of the new Obama administration will observe the next clinic.

Mabuhay Alliance and NaFFAA predicted that if President-elect Obama follows some of the suggestions developed at the clinic, the vast majority of homeowners facing foreclosure this Christmas will have a more prosperous and secure Christmas in 2009 in their own homes. Some of the suggestions,  which JP Morgan Chase may follow or advocate are:

* A foreclosure moratorium until loans are fully and adequately modified in accordance with the FDIC/IndyMac proposal;

* Hedge fund investor pools that hold up to 80% of mortgages should be compelled to follow the JP Morgan/IndyMac approach of lowering interest rates, forgiving principal, and ensuring that no more than 31% of income should be allocated to mortgage related payments;

* Support the US Treasury’s proposal to create new homeownership opportunities free from predatory lenders. The Treasury suggestion which Mabuhay Alliance and NaFFAA fully support is to create government guaranteed 30 year fixed rate mortgages at 4.5%;

* Ensure that moderate-income homeowners are treated like  wealthy homeowners under the tax system. The method suggested is to guarantee a $5,000 a year tax credit for every homeowner.

Mabuhay Alliance and NaFFAA, along with the Greenlining Institute, plan to meet with the new Obama administration officials and the major banks in February to ensure that the goal of seeing “every family in its own home next Christmas” is achieved.

Other corporations and agencies that attended the clinic were Wells Fargo, US Bancorp, IndyMac, Washington Mutual, United Way and the FDIC. James Buckingham a real estate attorney in Benicia, CA volunteered to provide free legal advice for distressed owners at the clinic. He noted he would further provide his services on a sliding scale for homeowners of moderate means. 

DOCUMENTATION

The involvement of NaFFAA in the City of Vallejo’s Foreclosure Prevention Clinic started with an agreement among Greg Macabenta, NaFFAA National Chair, Faith Bautista, Mabuhay Alliance’s Executive Director, and Robert Gnaizda, General Counsel and Policy Director (as well as co-founder) for the Greenlining Institute to help beleaguered homeowners in Northern California. Since the City of Vallejo was the first American city to declare the “housing foreclosure crisis, supporting local, state, and federal efforts to address the crisis and urging lending institutions and loan servicers to take certain remedial actions,” Mabuhay Alliance’s first foreclosure prevention clinic in collaboration with NaFFAA Region 8 and United Way Bay Area was also held in the City of Vallejo last December 13, 2008.

Local volunteer counselors, recruited by NaFFAA, were trained by team members of Mabuhay Alliance last November 17-18, 2008. There were many lessons learned during this first collaboration which are expected to benefit the future NaFFAA-collaborated workshops in the 12 regions. The roll-out of other foreclosure prevention clinics nationwide will start in 2009.

NaFFAA Region 8 has also acquired the resolutions from Solano County and the City of Vallejo as well as the statement from local Filipino American community leaders in Solano County regarding how they took action on the housing foreclosure crisis. The Filipino American community in Solano County, led by community leaders such as Reverend Doctor Tony Ubalde, Francis Neri, Lynn Mamaril, and Eloise Escano Scott (who was instrumental in gathering over 600 signatures) were tenacious in getting their local government officials to address the crisis and declare a moratorium. Other NaFFAA regions who haven’t started working at the local legislative level regarding obtaining such resolutions will find these documents helpful.

FLIER

12132008 Flier for Today’s Foreclosure Clinic

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Please read the following exchange:

Question from Rudy Asercion, NaFFAA City/County Chair for San Francisco: Edison is a Southern California gas and electricity provider. Can you tell us where to find the information that PG&E, the San Francisco-based energy provider is or will be seeking a similar rate increase?

Answer from Sam Kang, community organizer and attorney for the Greenlining Institute: Approximately every three years the major utilities, including PG&E, ask for what is called a general rate increase on their services. PG&E last initiated a request for a general rate increase in 2006. Hence, PG&E will be gearing up soon for their next general rate increase. So in the case of PG&E, this protest will serve as a preemptive message that indiscriminate rate increases during a recession, even in the intermediate future, will be met with resistance.

Dear Santa: We, Californians, have been good even though it’s been a very difficult year.

Please tell the Governor to:

* Stop the CPUC from allowing $5,000,000,000 utility rate increases
* Help us save our homes
* Block further increases on our energy bills during a recession with record high unemployment

Come join a Community and Taxpayer Protest
before the Governor’s five California Public Utility Commissioners!

* Date: Thursday, December 18, 2008
* Location: 505 Van Ness Ave. (near Golden Gate St., near City Hall) San Francisco, CA

SCHEDULE:

* 8:30 am - Assembly outside the building
* 9:00am - Meeting with Mike Peevey, President of the California Public Utilities Commission
* 9:20am – Go to Auditorium for the hearing with the five CPUC Commissioners
* 9:30am – Testimonies begin; ½ hour only
* 10:00am, approximately – Press Conference outside the building

Contacts: Faith Bautista, Mabuhay Alliance - (858) 586-7382; bautistafaith@yahoo.com
Samuel Kang, Greelining Institute – (510) 926.4004; samuelk@greenlining.org
Jose Pecho, NaFFAA – (415) 240-4906; jp8cho@aol.com

12182008 - Community Protest at CA PUC, San Francisco, CA

This video was recorded by Lorna Dietz on November 11, 2008 in Salinas, CA during the formal chapter creation of NaFFAA Region 8 Monterey Bay Chapter. Elmer Dolera-Chapter chair, Orly Jimenez-Chapter ViceChair, & Susan Aremas-Chapter Treasurer.

The National Filipino American Council’s most active chapter was located in Monterey Bay. In its early years, NFAC had recognized the need for having a national organization that would somehow bring Filipino Americans on the same table in their shared advocacies. NFAC, during a historic meeting in Salinas, CA in January 1997, agreed to be a major force in convening like-minded Filipino Americans and community-based organizations in Washington DC on August 1997, and paved the way for the formation of NaFFAA in that same event that brought together more than 1,500 Filipino Americans nationwide.

Dennis Normandy was the first National President when NFAC was formed in 1987 at a convention in Anaheim, CA. Rodel Rodis was the first National Vice-President.

In 1997, Rodel Rodis, Alex Esclamado, Michael Dadap, Loida Nicolas-Lewis, and many other Filipino Americans, founded the National Federation of Filipino American Associations.

On November 11, 2008, NaFFAA Co-Founder Rodel Rodis, NaFFAA Region 8 (Northern CA) Chair Jose Pecho, NaFFAA R8 San Franciso City & County Chair Rudy Asercion, and NaFFAA R8 Vice-Chair Lorna Dietz went to Monterey County, CA to formalize the chapter formation of the Monterey Bay chapter of NaFFAA Region 8.

From NFAC to NaFFAA… We went back to the place where these historic milestones took place.

Full circle.

Congratulations to NaFFAA R8 Monterey Bay!

Benedicto G. Menor may have passed away early this week yet his legacy lives on. He was the oldest NaFFAA member (in absentia) in the Northern California region. Although the last NaFFAA R8 Summit he attended was in 2003 at the Northside Community Center in San Jose, CA, he stayed in touch with our members. Some of us were there during his 100th Birthday Celebration in 2007, travelling from all over the US — and beyond. We also have our own stories about Benedicto G. Menor’s acts of kindness and generosity. We will miss him!

The Memorial and Funeral Services schedule is at the bottom of this entry.

Joanie Cordova said: “Benedicto Menor Sr voted for Barack Obama … before he died 28 October 2008. His life inspires many of us.”

Thank you to Emil Siapno for putting this video on Vimeo.com.

TFI’s Balitang America reporter, Henni Espinosa, wrote this video story about Benedicto G. Menor.

Oldest Obama Voter from Emil Siapno on Vimeo.

BENEDICTO GALINDO MENOR
March 15, 1907 – October 28, 2008
  
Benedicto Galindo Menor was born on March 15, 1907 in Paoay, Ilocos Norte, He was one of the 100,000 sakadas and manongs (early 1906-1933 overseas Filipino workers) who arrived in the United States to work in the fields of Hawaii and California, armed with an optimistic mindset in fulfilling his American Dream.
 
During World War II, Benedicto proudly served as a member of the Leyte Landing’s Filipino First and Second Regiments of the US Army that arrived with General Douglas MacArthur. During the “mop-up operation,” Benedicto was introduced to his future wife in Villaba, Leyte, a strikingly beautiful Visayan named Espectacion Menor (no relation), who was 20 years his junior.
 
After Benedicto became a citizen of the United States in 1946, he went back to the Philippines and brought his family to Santa Clara Valley in California. The three oldest children who had been born in the Philippines were Rose Mary, Betty, and Benny Benedicto (a.k.a. Ben Menor). Benedicto and Espec were blessed with six children: five girls and one boy. Like most fathers, he wanted another boy after Ben was born. The couple tried three more times — and three more daughters arrived: Rita (deceased), Anna, and Darlene. He was 52 years old when Darlene was born.
 
A family friend recently wrote, “Mr. Benedicto Menor was an exemplary centenarian who left a rich legacy for his family.”
 
Rose Mary Miguel, the oldest sibling, acknowledged that their father had indeed raised his family to honor inclusivity in their social, political, cultural, and spiritual values and principles.

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Thank you to Rodel Rodis for alerting us about the YouTube videos that TFC’s Balitang America uploaded for interested viewers who missed its featured “Presidential Debate Night” discussion among Filipino Americans about their choices for the next President of the United States.

NaFFAA has a very strong FilVOTE program.

Formed as a non-partisan program, NaFFAA’s FilVOTE not only aims to register Filipinos who are American citizens, but to make sure they go out and vote. In the 2004 presidential elections, only 594,000 Filipino Americans voted - a decline of 7 percent because 122,000 registered voters did not cast their ballots. “Potentially, there are 715,000 Filipino Americans, or 40 percent of our total number, who can be mobilized to go to the polls,” says Gloria Caoile, co-chair of FilVOTE. “But we need to register them if they haven’t done so and educate them on issues that directly affect our community so they will appreciate what’s at stake, especially for our children and families.”

Many of NaFFAA’s leadership showed up for this televised discussion sometime in mid-October, 2008.

Something to think about: When there are more Filipino Americans who take the time to speak out about what matters to them, political leaders listen. When more Filipino Americans mobilize its own communities to “rock the vote,” they allow their influence and affluence to shine brightly in the arenas of public opinion and legislative decisions.

Note: Any listed titles after people’s names are for identification purposes only.

Balitang America: Debate Night Part 1

Balitang America’s studio audience talk about the election after watching the 3rd and Final Presidential Debate between Barack Obama and John McCain.

Balitang America: Debate Night Part 2

A studio full Filipino Democrats, Republicans, and Undecideds comment on the Presidential debate, and talk about who they’ll vote for.

“How many of you think that race is a very strong factor among the Fil-Am community in making a decision in this election?” Gel Santos-Relos asked the audience.

Balitang America: Debate Night Part 3

One Filipino Republican, Rudy Asercion, and One Filipino Democrat, Rodel Rodis, duke during a special Balitang America Debate watching party shortly after the 3rd and Final Presidential Debate.

Special guest star in this segment is Ed Navarra, aka NaFFAA Region 3’s chair.

Rudy Asercion is NaFFAA Region 8’s City Chair for San Francisco (Member, American Legion War Memorial Commission) and Rodel Rodis is one of NaFFAA’s founders (Member, Board of Trustees, City College of San Francisco).

Telltale Signs/ THE NOT SO IMPOSSIBLE DREAM OF ALEX ESCLAMADO

Rodel E. Rodis

November 19, 2007

ALEX ESCLAMADO was looking forward to blissful retirement and to writing his memoirs when I invited him to travel with me to New York in April of 1997. I had been invited to speak at the regional conference of the Filipino Intercollegiate Networking for Dialogue (FIND) to be held at the State University of New York in Long Island when I unexpectedly received a round-trip ticket from the Filipino student group after I had already purchased my plane fare.

So, with an extra round-trip plane ticket in hand, I asked Alex if he would like to join me. By then, Alex had lotS of free time then as he had just sold Philippine News to his good friend, Ed Espiritu. For the first time probably since 1961 when he and his wife, Luly, started publishing the weekly newspaper from the garage of their home in San Francisco, Alex did not have a weekly editorial to write, a newspaper to edit.

Alex said yes and off we flew to New York. On the flight, we recalled how, after People Power ousted the Marcos Dictatorship, we had set about to unite the Filipino American community which had been bitterly divided between the proponents and opponents of martial rule. It was Alex’s “impossible dream” (his favorite song) to have a united, empowered community. In1987, Alex traveled the country inviting Filipino community leaders to meet in Anaheim, California in August of 1987 to form an organization that would work to empower the community.

About 1500 delegates from around the US heeded his call and gsthered to form the National Filipino American Council (NFAC). We all agreed that martial law was a thing of the past and that we should now look forward to being Americans and to fighting for our place at the table. It was exactly the political frame of mind that Alex had hoped for.

But perhaps Alex was too successful. When the time came to electing a chair who would guide the organization forward, an influential group of Filipino Republicans threatened to walk out of the convention if Alex was elected chair because they believed he was too partisan a Democrat to lead a bipartisan organization. In the interest of forging unity, Alex gave way to a Republican from San Francisco, Dennis Normandy, a corporate executive who did not share Alex’s vision of chartered chapters in Filipino communities throughout the US. His “spokes in a wheel” model envisioned a more modest growth.

On the flight to New York, I told Alex that NFAC had not become the vehicle for community empowerment that we had envisioned and that it was time to form another organization that would be true to his vision at Anaheim. I told him that with what remained of the NFAC, a decision was made in Salinas in January of 1997 to call for a summit of Filipino community organizations to meet in August in Washington DC. I was going to the FIND conference (1,000 students attended) to invite the members to join us in DC.

When we arrived in New York, Alex and I were met by a FIND member who took us to his home in Brooklyn where he put us up for the night. It was not a hotel but Alex did not mind. I remember thinking that Alex would have been a very rich man, flying first class and sleeping at the Plaza, if he had sold his newspaper in 1977 when the Dictator Ferdinand Marcos offered to purchase it for $10 million to silence the paper that had become the leading anti-Marcos newspaper in the US, if not in the world.

But though Alex needed the money as he had borrowed heavily to keep his newspaper afloat in the face of iron-fisted pressure on advertisers applied by the Marcos government, he rejected the tempting offer, declaring that his principles were not for sale.

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The Netherlands Report by Lorna Dietz

[Photos and accompanying links will be added later.]

Last October 27 to November 2, 2007, a week-long set of activities celebrating Overseas Filipinos in Europe took place in the Netherlands — from Rotterdam, to Utrecht, and then to Amsterdam.

This wasn’t a luxury week. Oxfam Novib, through its programme officer, Leila Rispens-Noel, had some funding to bring our group of 20 people to The Netherlands. We are eternally grateful for the organizers who formed a logistics team as a virtual organization. Within a short timeframe, each partnering community-based organization took ownership of bringing in a specific number of conference participants for November 2.

Here are snippets from my presentation about my experience in The Netherlands.

Last October 27 to November 2, I participated in a historic gathering of 20 Filipinos based in Europe, the Philippines, Middle East, and the United States except that I was late and missed out on one of the events because I had to be in Washington DC for the Filipina Women’s Network Summit.

I was excited to find out that Victor Barrios and I were the only participants coming from the United States — although I was aware that members of The core-Overseas Filipinos Worldwide (Core-OFW), a think tank of concerned individuals, migrant organizations, NGOs and other members of social-cause oriented groups based in Philippines, USA and Europe had been invited but unfortunately could not make it. We didn’t know what to expect. Both of us knew some of the organizers on a personal basis but had never worked with them before. All I knew is that I had to bring some clear examples of the work that showed the evolution of many Filipino American community-based organizations. After all, as migrants, Filipino Americans had come a long way since the first contract workers were first hired in the pineapple fields of Hawaii in 1906.

Vic, on the other hand, had his Aide Memoire for The Global Filipino Nation with him, especially since the May conference in the Philippines is just a corner away. This was clearly an opportunity for both of us to listen to the other participants, share our experiences, and find out where the intersecting points came in. Simply stated, our goal was to find our “common ground” so we could collaborate on shared initiatives after our historic meeting.

THE FILIPINO EXPERTS MEETING

Theme: Towards an OFW-Driven Strategic Action Plan to advance the Democratic Governance Culture in the Philippines

Let me share with you that coming into the picture with an agenda “to find common ground” was the spark that created the synergistic relationships among the 20 participants.

THE WEEK’S SCHEDULE

Here’s an idea what our schedule looked like. We were dealing with very serious issues, but like many Filipinos, we knew how to be “grim and determined” and retain an optimistic outlook. 16-hour days were the norm in our semi-boot camp, strategic planning retreat, and dorm lifestyle!

We started off in Rotterdam with a Filipiniana celebration to honor the Filipinos and Filipinas who serve as seafarers. Did you know that there are a quarter of a million Filipino seafarers worldwide and another 250,000 waiting to be hired?

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We don’t know how long this controversial YouTube video clip will stay online so be forewarned that this might not be here forever. We will write the updates in the comments section of this posting:

Kevin Nadal, a Filipino Performance Artist and Activist based in the United States — after doing his due diligence about the latest “Desperate Housewives” episode that had Teri Hatcher replying to the OB-GYN, “Can I just check those diplomas because I just want to make sure that they are not from some med school in the Philippines?” — started an online petition.

Within a couple of days, ABC.com issued an apology and promised to take off the offending segment off its DVD releases and re-broadcasts. We lost count of the number of e-mails that came into our IN BOXES with opinions galore about how the Filipinos need to rise to the occasion, together with other ethnic communities, and make a solid stand (aside from an apology).

Kevin, in his October 3, 2007 e-mail, said:

Some people may think that this apology is NOT enough, and if you don’t, I encourage you to take action, in whatever way you feel passionate and/or reasonable.

Some people may think that this apology IS enough, and if you do, then I encourage you to remember this each time you think that your voice cannot be heard.

In about 55 hours, 43,500+ Filipinos and Filipino supporters across the globe took part in this petition (at time of writing this email), which shows that we as a people can come together and advocate for something in which we believe. But maybe now, we need to advocate for bigger and more prominent issues, like poverty in our homeland, oppression of our own people, immigrant rights of Filipinos across the Diaspora, or corruption in the government.

We must not be complacent; we must always advocate for positive change.

What’s been happening since then?

Our NaFFAA national offices in Washington DC had issued a statement and opened communication lines to ABC.

NaFFAA Region 8 (Northern California), like many Fil-Am communities in the US, is meeting with as many community-based organizations (and concerned persons; everyone is welcome!) that can fit into the Philippine Consulate of San Francisco’s 5th Floor Social Hall, 447 Sutter Street on Tuesday, 9 October 2007, at 6:00 p.m. The purpose of the community meeting is “to undertake local mass actions against ABC and the Disney Corporation because of the attack on our community,” according to Rodel Rodis, one of NaFFAA’s founders based in San Francisco.”

Rodis continued: “In San Francisco, we are forming a Philippine Anti-Defamation Coalition of NaFFAA working with members of the Philippine Medical Society, the Philippine Nurses Association, the Integrated Bar of the Philippines (California Chapter), and other groups and individuals who were educated in the Philippines and who feel that the ABC episode will have a profound negative on the public perception of them. We are planning on engaging in creative actions that will impress on ABC the gravity of the slight inflicted on our community.”

Rodel Rodis also noted: “Many of the Philippine-trained doctors are conservative Republicans who are not involved with our community because their high income lifestyles insulate them from the concerns of the rest of our community. This issue is bringing them out — and is making activists out of many of them (at last!) — and is making them get a glimpse of the kind of racial profiling that the disadvantaged members of our community suffer on a regular basis. NaFFAA Region 8’s call to action is to encourage these doctors’ involvement NOW!

As of today, 5 October 2007, there is a planned demonstration/picket at 6:00 p.m. at the ABC Studio located at 77 West 66th Street, between Columbus and Central Park West in New York City.

An e-mail announcement was sent out just after midnight today from Rodel Rodis on behalf of NaFFAA Region 8:

Join us for a “Desperate” Community Meeting

“DESPERATE COMMUNITY” MEETING
Tuesday, October 9, 2007 at 6:00 p.m.
Philippine Consulate Social Hall (5th Floor)
447 Sutter Street, San Francisco, CA

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