The Alex Esclamado Awards for Community Service

Posted on September 1, 2016

Ad Lib Greg B. Macabenta

All the bad news about extrajudicial killings and high profile extramarital affairs in the Philippines, as well as Donald Trump’s rants against immigrants in the United States, including Filipinos, can erode a person’s faith in people on both sides of the Pacific Ocean.

As an avid observer of the passing scene, the proliferation of negativism has left me wondering if hatred, prejudice, and cynicism are the new paradigms of this generation. Postings on social media have simply made matters worse.

It was thus a great relief to be involved recently in an activity that has revived my faith in the inherent nobility of my fellow Pinoys.

Last August 4-7, at the 12th National Empowerment Conference of the National Federation of Filipino American Associations (NaFFAA), one of the highlights was the 2nd Alex Esclamado Memorial Awards for Community Service.

The conference, held at the Valley Forge Casino Resort in King of Prussia in Greater Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, marked the 19th year of the existence of NaFFAA. Formed in August 1997 in Washington DC, NaFFAA was launched to achieve what was considered an “impossible dream” — the unification of the thousands of Filipino organizations in America, with the objective of achieving empowerment in the American mainstream.

The principal “dreamer” of the audacious undertaking was Alex Esclamado, the publisher-editor of Philippine News, the leading FilAm newspaper in the US at the time. Esclamado was considered a Don Quixote of sorts because of his tireless involvement in such causes as persuading the US Congress to increase the quota of Filipino immigrants to the US, allowing Filipino doctors, accountants, and other professionals to practice their profession in America, and granting Filipino World War II veterans, who had fought under the American flag, the right to US citizenship.

Alex’s “impossible dream” was achieved with the formation of NaFFAA, but during the federation’s growing years, he suffered a debilitating illness. However, he managed to pass on the mantle of leadership to another tireless community advocate, Loida Nicolas-Lewis. The organization continued to develop and help achieve many of Alex’s dreams, including benefits for the aging veterans.

When Alex finally succumbed to his illness, the FilAm community resolved to keep his legacy alive. In the US and, conceivably anywhere in the world where Filipino communities sprout, awards to individuals for “outstanding achievements” are common. The recognition nourishes the psyche, bolsters self-esteem and enhances one’s stature in the community. But there has hardly been an award for organizations rendering meaningful services to the community.

Having worked closely with Alex since NaFFAA’s inception, I conceived the Alex Esclamado Memorial Awards for Community Service as a way of honoring the real workhorses in community advocacy: the organizations and their volunteers. GMA Network, through its US operation, GMA International, agreed to sponsor the Alex Awards to inspire FilAm organizations to take up his cause.

I had the privilege of organizing and chairing the first Alex Awards in 2014, at the 11th NaFFAA National Empowerment Conference in San Diego, California, as well as the 2nd awards presentation in Pennsylvania.

While the nominees and awardees in the first Alex Awards were truly impressive, the 19 organizations nominated for this year’s awards, and especially the four that were eventually chosen by the panel of jurors, revealed the reassuring fact that Alex Esclamado’s legacy is alive and well in America.

Even more remarkable for us was realizing that Alex had not been a lone voice in the overseas Filipinos’ efforts to be of service to their communities, to the American mainstream and to the homeland.

One of the awardee-organizations, honored for civic involvement, was the Filipino American Association of Philadelphia, Inc., founded in 1912 by former US Navy personnel who had decided to retire in the City of Brotherly Love.

Back then, when Pinoys walking the streets of America were routinely roughed up by the police for no other violation than being persons of color, and restaurants had signs on the door reading, “Strictly no Filipinos allowed,” the Filipino association in Philadelphia was proudly representing the country in public activities and cultural events. In fact, when the US granted independence to the Philippines on July 4, 1946, the association represented the Philippines in the grand parade staged to commemorate the occasion.

Another FilAm organization given the Alex Award had been promoting and preserving Philippine culture, traditions, and history for over half a century. The Filipino Cultural School in Los Angeles County, California celebrated its 50th year of service in 2015.

A third Alex awardee was the Filipino American Community Action Group, based in Virginia Beach, Virginia. For over 25 years, FilAmCAG’s efforts in terms of voter registration and participation in the mainstream political process has made the FilAm community a potent political bloc in Virginia and nearby Washington DC.

Through the decades of struggle for fair treatment of Filipino World War II veterans, FilAmCAG was among the spearheads in lobbying efforts on Capitol Hill, as well as in providing material support for the aging and forgotten war heroes.

The fourth awardee, this time for outstanding service in terms of aid to the Philippines was Feed the Hungry, a nonprofit charitable organization based in Washington DC.

Starting as a simple act by one of its founders of feeding a hungry street urchin on a Christmas visit to the Philippines in 1992, Feed the Hungry evolved into a volunteer-driven multi-program nonprofit charitable organization. It has been among the first responders to natural disasters in the Philippines, and has been involved in relief and rehabilitation, feeding and nutrition, livelihood development and poverty alleviation. Since its inception, the organization has sent approximately P200-million worth of assistance to the Philippines, some of them coursed through the Commission on Filipinos Overseas. This does not include what the volunteers spend on their own travel and living expenses while on charitable missions in the Philippines.

The 17 other nominees have been rendering no less heroic services to the Filipino community, the American mainstream, and the Philippines, but two of them, to my mind, deserve special mention.

Every October, Filipino-American History Month is observed throughout the United States. This has been mainly through the efforts of the Filipino American National Historical Society, headed for many years by the late Fred Cordova and his wife, Dorothy. Both born and raised in the US as children of the manongs or early Pinoys in California, the Cordovas and scores of volunteers endeavored to prove that Filipinos in the US did not simply arrive as a result of American colonization of the Philippines.

Through tireless research, they established the fact that the first landfall of natives of Las Islas Filipinas on American soil was on Oct. 18, 1587. The Pinoys were crewmen of the galleon, Nuestra Señora de Buena Esperanza which weighed anchor at Morro Bay in Central California en route to Acapulco. FANHS was also among those that confirmed the presence of a settlement of Filipino sailors in the marshes of Louisiana in the 1700s.

Another FilAm organization that has literally built a monument to the Philippines in America is the Philippine American Cultural Foundation of Illinois.

In Seattle, Washington, there is a Rizal Bridge leading to a small Rizal Park where stands a bust of Rizal. In Carson, West Covina and National City, California, a bust of Rizal proudly stands as a tribute to the efforts of the Philippine Centennial Commission to honor the first hundred years of the declaration of Philippine Independence.

There may be other Rizal markers elsewhere in the US. But as far as I can tell, the only full-bodied statue of Dr. Rizal in America is the one erected on June 19, 1999 by the PACF. The imposing monument stands in a park at the Lake Shore and Marine Drives in Chicago.

The Alex Esclamado Memorial Awards for Community Service is finally casting the spotlight on genuine heroes among the Filipino communities in the United States. Doubtless, there are similar heroes among Pinoys in the Middle East, Europe, and around Asia.

In sum, if we feel depressed at all about the vulgarity and uncivilized behavior of national leaders on both sides of the Pacific Ocean, just remember that there are organizations whose inherent nobility and dedication to community service can revive our sense of pride.
Greg B. Macabenta is an advertising and communications man shuttling between San Francisco and Manila and providing unique insights on issues from both perspectives.

gregmacabenta@hotmail.com