National Federation of Filipino American Associations

After Greg Macabenta’s election last Saturday, September 27, 2008, as NaFFAA’s new national chair, which took place during the 8th NaFFAA National Empowerment Conference at the Westin Seattle, we gathered some information that will help us understand the mind-set, focus, direction, and agenda of our new NaFFAA national leadership.

Rozita Lee was re-elected as NaFFAA National Vice Chair. Ian Purganan was elected National Youth Chair. Our congratulations to them!

Joining our NaFFAA R8 team in Seattle was our new NaFFAA R8 Youth Chair, Jenab-i Pareja. We are very excited to have Jenab-i on board (more on him later). We bid “Good luck” to former youth chair, Caroline Iwamoto, who has started her college freshman classes somewhere in New York.

We found a YouTube video that features Greg B. Macabenta and his spouse, Gigi, at the 2007 Pistahan Festival, an annual gathering which is held at the prestigious Yerba Buena Gardens in the heart of downtown San Francisco, California. Listen closely to what Greg says.

Click here to go directly to creativeconceptsintl’s youtube link.

On October 1, 2008, Greg Macabenta replied to interview questions from Asian Journal. Here is a transcript of Greg’s responses.

1. What is your Vision for NaFFAA as the new national chair?

I was asked at the “debate” between me and Ernie Ramos, shortly before the election, how I would “forge a new direction” for NaFFAA. My response was that we still needed to achieve our original directions, namely, the socio-economic and political empowerment of the Filipino community in America.

When the need for NaFFAA was discussed at the planning meeting in Salinas that resulted in the first National Filipino American Empowerment Conference in Washington DC in August 1997, we all agreed that important events were happening in America that our community had no hand in shaping; that we were mere bleacher viewers rather than participants; reactors rather than pro-actors.

After 11 years, we are still struggling, but through NaFFAA, our community has gained a seat at the table in Washington DC and in many other state and city fora where once we were mere onlookers. But we still have much to do - as the Veterans Equity battle on Capitol Hill illustrates. We may lose this one again.

2. What do you think are the challenges you will face as NaFFAA’s national chair?
Why do you think it has taken long for the mainstream to recognize the significance of FilAm community/organizations?

The first challenge that we all face as community workers and volunteers is to persuade the greater number of our community to become more involved, to care more about the issues that affect all of us in the long term but only a few of us in the short term. It is the short term impact that most see, which is one reason for not being involved (”Doesn’t concern me anyway!”, they think).

If we have so much difficulty getting our own people to appreciate the importance of NaFFAA, is it surprising that the American mainstream has not recognized us enough?

3. Do you feel that the younger generation is more involved in issues affecting the FilAm community? How would NaFFAA/you encourage the youth’s participation and awareness?

The youth are the key to empowerment. We who purport to be leaders of this community are walking off into the sunset. They are the ones who will be left to carry on the mission. In fact, many of them are doing that - but in their own way, and in a manner that is largely unconnected to the efforts of the older leaders.

Our first task is to bridge the gap between ourselves and the youth - and to persuade them that they are not “the leaders of tomorrow” but that they are the leaders of today.

I believe I can understand this better than most because I was engaged, involved and battling on the frontlines of my chosen trade from an early age. I did not want wait to be invited to the table. I fought for my right to sit at it and to lead. It wasn’t easy but nothing is.

In those days, I was constantly asked why I was working so hard at so young an age (I was associate editor of a national movie magazine at 16 and an established national feature writer, screenplay writer and assistant director of LVN at 17). I said that it was a matter of survival. I was doing it for myself and my family. Similarly, the youth should be engaged and should take the lead, not simply for the sake of the rest of us but for themselves and their children.

4. What do you think are the important issues affecting the FilAm community today and what are the steps/strategies/plans of NaFFAA in resolving these issues?

The issues may be summed up under the heading of social, economic and political. Social issues involve education, health, housing, youth-senior-and-women issues. Economic issues have to do with the fact that, despite our huge numbers in America, we continue to be consumers rather than producers, workers rather than business owners. The Golden Rule states: “He who has the gold makes the rules.” We need to own the gold in order to make the rules.

Political issues are obvious but political power comes, not from the barrel of the gun but from the wallet and the vote. If we have economic power, we will have political power. And if we have voting power, the politically powerful will look to us as a source of strength.

Only by that means will be able to address our social needs more effectively, as well as our economic needs. You see, these issues are all interrelated.

The Veterans Issue is important, but it is not the only one. And the reason we have not succeeded is because we have failed to address the other issues.

Meanwhile, we will have to address them with whatever means we have on hand. I assure you, we have enough ammunition to fight a respectable battle - we just need to appreciate that fact (most of us are still praying for reinforcements instead of making do with what we have in our modest armory).

My whole life and career have been built on virtual “spit, prayer and bubble gum.” I have had to make something out of very little. Thus, the challenges we face at NaFFAA are deja vu for me.