To celebrate this year's Filipino American History Month, Positively Filipino pays tribute to those who paved the way and established our community's presence in the American tapestry. These Fil-Am heroes made their mark in a variety of fields, from labor organizing, public service, journalism and the arts, and in sports. Though they are no longer with us, their legacy lives on and should never be forgotten.

COMMUNITY

Patrick J. Salaver

Patrick Salaver was born in Dipolog, Zamboanga del Norte in Mindanao in 1945 to Alvin and Estrella Gubisch. His grandfather, Arthur W. Gubisch, was a German who stowed away on a ship bound for the U.S., fought in the Spanish-American War in the Philippines, and stayed behind as a teacher until the Thomasites arrived. Patrick’s family was allowed to immigrate to the U.S. as part of the Luce-Cellar Art of 1946, which provided a quota of 100 Filipinos to immigrate to the U.S. per year. Alvin was transferred to Guam in the U.S. Army as an auto mechanic. In 1953, the family moved to Vallejo, California but with family discord increasing, Estrella and the children moved to Chinatown in San Francisco in the basement of a hotel. The now single mother, with four children, were so destitute that they did not even have a bed to sleep on. She eventually got a job with the Northern California Nevada Council of Churches as a secretary and moved to Bernal Heights where she met and married Canuto Salaver, who became a musical influence to Patrick and the other children. Patrick’s mother was a versatile organist and classical pianist. Canuto gave Patrick his first trombone at age 13. Patrick would become an excellent jazz trombonist on the San Francisco Bay Area music scene; he mastered both the slide and valve trombone.

Estrella supported the striking Filipino farmworkers and brought food to them in Delano. In return, she received boxes of grapes. Patrick began learning about his Filipino roots and the abhorrent living conditions of the farmworkers. He began to organize grape boycotts and picket lines at supermarkets in support of the workers.

Patrick became a student at San Francisco State in 1967. He witnessed the strong organization structure, member engagement and political activism of the Black Student Union (BSU). The BSU sponsor advised Pat to instead create his own Filipino identity organization. Because of the racial tensions between Blacks and the Whites on the campus, Filipinos were at times put in the middle to help settle disputes. In 1967, Patrick Salaver founded and led the Philippine American Collegiate Endeavor (PACE) to help Filipino American students not only improve their knowledge of Philippine culture, but also to create the first “socially aware” Filipino group at San Francisco State. He and the other Filipino student activists wanted “to educate Filipinos to the contradictions and hypocrisies of American society, to gain control of the political, social, and economic bodies now controlling our lives and to present ourselves as a community,” Pat said in February 1969. PACE is recognized as a major contributor to Filipino identity and self-determination in the history of Asian American studies and is one of the oldest Filipino-based college student groups in the United States. Pat literally approached every Filipino student he saw on campus, whereupon he’d take the time to describe the goals and necessity of PACE. Pat also produced cultural and social events with Filipino Americans and international students from the Philippines.

Patrick Salaver is considered the first Filipino to teach Philippine history at San Francisco State when he taught Social Science 77 – The Filipino-American Experience at the Experimental College in the Spring of 1969. The FBI persecuted him for his activism and politics. In the fall of 1969, Pat quit San Francisco State due to lack of financial support. He got a job as a taxicab driver and other part-time work. He was found guilty of draft evasion and sentenced to a two-year term but was paroled after serving a year in October 1972. He received a pardon three years later as part of President Ford’s Clemency Program.

In the ‘70s, Pat worked in Information Technology as a hardware systems operator after attending a course in San Francisco. His creative pursuits included designing a San Francisco decal and creating macrame. In 1974, he visited his home province in the Philippines and fell in love with Marcy Paluca. They wed in 1984 and had two children.

Patrick Salaver passed away in August 2019, after a series of previous strokes that diminished his physical capabilities. It was nearly a year before the California State University Trustees made its July 22, 2020 announcement requiring all 430,000 undergrads to pass an Ethnic Studies or Social Justice course to graduate, by 2023-24. There are now more than 700 Ethnic Studies programs all over the country.

Alice Peña Bulos

A graduate of a BA and MA in Social and Behavioral Sciences from the University of Santo Tomas in Manila, Philippines, Alice Bulos became one of the leaders of the Asian American electoral movement. In 1984, she and her husband, Donnie, created the grassroots Filipino American Democratic Club.

She served as Commissioner for the San Mateo County Commission on the Status of Women and the Health Plan of San Mateo County. From 1993 to 2000, she served the Federal Council on Aging, as an appointee of President Bill Clinton. In 2006, she was honored as the Woman of the Year for the 19th Assembly District of California for actively pushing for the address of several issues such as domestic violence, health care and the U.S. residency application process. She was also honored as Woman Warrior of the Year by Pacific Asian American Women Bay Area Coalition and has been inducted into the San Mateo County Women’s Hall of Fame.

Alice Bulos was dubbed the “Grand Dame of Filipino American Politics” by the media. Soon after she immigrated to California, she began organizing within the Filipino American community, encouraging them to participate in politics. She was commonly known throughout the community as “Tita Alice.” She was committed to opening doors for young Filipino Americans who wanted to enter public service and politics but did not see themselves represented in places of power, according to the Filipino American Democratic Club of San Mateo County.

The Westborough Recreation Center in South San Francisco, California and a stretch of the California State Route 35 will be named in her honor in October 2021. “We see the influence of Alice Peña Bulos throughout our communities, as well as in elected local and state government leadership. That’s why she’s considered the Godmother of Filipino American politics and empowerment. It’s my honor to carry the legislation that celebrates her legacy,” Assemblyman Phil Ting said in a statement.

Alice Bulos died on October 21, 2016 from heart failure at the age of 86.

Robert “Bob” Santos

Robert “Bob” Santos, was the most publicly recognized spokesperson and leader of the movement that began in the 1970s to preserve Seattle’s Chinatown/ International District (ID). The son of Filipino immigrant Sammy Santos and an “Indipino” (Native American/ Filipino) mother, Virginia Nicol, he was born in Seattle in 1934 and grew up in the city’s Chinatown. As child during World War II, he saw scores of fellow students vanish when they and their parents were shipped to Japanese American internment camps. As a teenager, Santos worked in Alaska salmon canneries, where white workers got better food and housing than the Filipinos. His first protest march in Seattle was in support of efforts to outlaw neighborhood restrictions on homeownership by Asians and African Americans. He served in the U.S. Marines after high school in the early 1950s and returned to Seattle in 1955 to work for Boeing.

In the 1960s, Santos became involved in civil rights struggles through his involvement with the Catholic Church and the encouragement of Catholic Interracial Council co-founder Walt Hubbard. While working at the Catholic-run St. Peter Claver Center in the late 1960s, Santos was able to provide free meeting space to some of the most radical civil rights groups in the city, thereby helping facilitate a multiracial civil rights sensibility among Seattle activists by making the Center what he called “the Heart of the Struggle.” In 1969, he was elected President of Seattle’s Catholic Interracial Council.

From 1972 to 1989, Santos served as Executive Director of the International District Improvement Association (Inter*Im). In this position, he was a pivotal liaison between community activists, private businesses, and government agencies in developing and overseeing ID preservation plans. The group’s agenda included increasing the ID’s affordable housing stock; preserving its culturally distinct small businesses; and providing the neighborhood a range of culturally appropriate social services, particularly for its Asian elderly. Through Santos’s leadership in the ID, he helped mentor a generation of young Asian activists in Seattle, earning him the nickname “Uncle Bob.”

In 1982— along with other “Gang of Four” friends Bernie Whitebear, Larry Gossett, and Roberto Maestas— Bob Santos co-founded the Minority Executive Director’s Coalition. The gang included Asian, African-American, Native American and Latino activists who joined forces to push for common goals and more resources, instead of competing for scraps of funding. From 1989 to 1993, he oversaw the Seattle Chinatown/ International District Preservation Authority. He served as Regional Director of the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) from 1994 to 2001.

In 2002, Santos published an autobiography—Humbows, Not Hotdogs!: Memoirs of a Savvy Asian American Activist— which is a very important source of information about the multiracial coalitions that comprised Seattle’s civil rights movements in the late 1960s and 1970s. Soon after the book’s publication, he returned to his position as Executive Director of Inter*Im, where he worked until retiring in 2005.

“Without Uncle Bob’s voice and leadership, I think the neighborhood would probably have been gentrified out of existence,” said Ron Chew, director of the International Community Health Services Foundation. “You wouldn’t see the rich, unique character that shines through. A lot of younger folks would not have been inspired to come back and volunteer and work in the neighborhood if not for Uncle Bob.”

Though he often took on the role of negotiator, Santos also had a fiery streak. He was known for salty language and was arrested six times at demonstrations for causes including open housing and minority hiring on construction crews. “Bob was the kind of guy who was a persuader,” Gary Iwamoto said. “He was rarely angry. He was more analytical.” And when tension built, Santos had the perfect outlet: karaoke. For years, he ran the Tuesday night karaoke at Bush Garden restaurant, belting out songs made famous by Elvis and Frank Sinatra. “I used to joke that he sang nothing but dead-white-guy songs,” Iwamoto said. “He loved to do ‘My Way.’”

“By uniting not only the Asian American community in Washington, but many people of diverse ethnic and economic backgrounds, Bob proved that lasting change comes from a united front,” State Senator Bob Hasegawa said in a statement on behalf of the Washington Democrats. “There are children and families who received health care because of him, who got housing or were able to buy their first home because of him — not many people can say they had such a direct impact on the lives of their neighbors. His legacy will live on in their memories and ours. Like many of my colleagues, I am proud to have called Bob a friend. He was a mentor and moral anchor for our entire community.”

“Uncle” Bob Santos died on August 27, 2016 at the age of 82 in Seattle, Washington.

Joseph Santos Ileto

It has been more than 20 years since a gunman went on a hate-filled shooting rampage at the North Valley Jewish Community Center in Granada Hills. A white supremacist walked into the lobby and began shooting, firing 70 shots into the complex. The gunfire wounded five people, including three children, a teenager and an office worker. The gunman also killed postal carrier Joseph Ileto, simply because of the color of his skin. At the time of his death, Ileto was 39 years old. He was the eldest son of Lilian Ileto, and while working for the USPS, he was also studying engineering at Cal Poly Pomona.

Ileto’s brother, Ismael, said as the news unfolded in 1999, officials talked about the children and others at the Jewish Community Center who were shot, and then "there's a little note of a postal worker being shot." Deena, his wife said, "When it was first reported, he was just mentioned as a postal worker. No name, no identity, no race." The family wondered, "Why don't they see us?" Ismael added, "It seemed like we didn't count, because they didn't describe him or his heritage and that's mainly the reason why he was killed."

Stewart Kwoh, founder and past president of Asian Americans Advancing Justice, and a nationally recognized voice and expert in race relations, explained that police identified the shooter as Buford Furrow, and that Furrow continued his violent rampage after he left the North Valley Jewish Community Center. "Then he drove around trying to find a minority. He found Joseph Ileto, a Filipino American postal carrier," Kwoh said. It was supposed to be his day off. But Joseph said he would cover for someone who called in sick. When prosecutors charged Furrow, they said he stated that "the postal worker was a good target of opportunity to kill because he was non-white and worked for the federal government."

Ileto’s family still deeply feels the pain and hurt of his loss, but they are using their voices to speak out against hate and intolerance. Kwoh says the Ileto family didn't stay silent. "They could have suffered in silence, but they didn't. They spoke out, they marched, they protested," he said. Despite hate mail and death threats, the family continued to speak out. The story of Joseph Ileto and the shooting at the Jewish Community Center are now part of an exhibit at the Museum of Tolerance. "What happens to one group affects every group. And we need to work as brothers and sisters, and as neighbors, against hate crimes against anybody," Kwoh said.

Ismael recalls the summer his father had a heart attack and died. "My brother (Joseph) took on the father figure of the family," he said. He remembers Joseph as an easy-going guy, who liked to tell jokes and was an expert chess player. "He was always the person taking the picture, not being in it because he didn't want to be in the limelight," Deena said.

The Ileto family has spent the last two decades ensuring that the murder of their son, kuya and tito will never be forgotten, building his legacy into something greater than themselves. They’ve attended marches, spoken at schools, met with numerous advocacy groups and lobbied lawmakers all in the name of common-sense gun control and combating racism. With race and hate crimes on the rise, the Ileto family calls on Asian American inclusion in conversations.

“When my brother was killed, the description of him was just a postal worker, not of his heritage and the main reason he was killed was the color of his skin, and I just thought that was an insult to him as a Filipino American and to our family as Asian Americans and to our whole community,” Ismael told the Asian Journal.

As soon as they began speaking out, attending gun control marches and vocalizing the need to end racially-charged violence, the Iletos started receiving hate mail and death threats from white supremacists, causing the family to move homes. “You know, our families teach us, ‘don’t say anything, don’t speak because we’ll look like troublemakers and they’ll retaliate or do something against us,’ but it made us want to work harder to reach out to the communities and students to build a stronger and safer community for everyone because it’s happening more and more,” Deena said.

The family has bestowed an acronymically-named title for their cause and fight for Joseph Ileto’s legacy: Join Our Struggle, Educate and Prevent Hate, Instill Love, Equality and Tolerance for Others. On April 14, 2000 President Clinton signed legislation designating the United States Post Office in Chino Hills, California, as the "Joseph Ileto Post Office." In his bill signing statement the President said, "It is a fitting tribute to the life and memory of Mr. Ileto that we name this post office in his honor. During the last year, we have all been shaken by violent acts like the murder of Joseph Ileto, act that strike at the very values that define us as a nation. Now is the time for us to take strong and decisive action to fight hate crimes." In 2020 the Advancing Justice LA launched The Inaugural Joseph Ileto Courage Award to honor the legacy of the late Joseph Ileto.

The Manilamen

Manila Village (Source: State Library of Louisiana)

The Manilamen, named after the capital of the Philippines, were sailors who worked on Spanish, American and British merchant ships that docked in the Philippines, which had been a colony of Spain since 1521. They faced violent working conditions and, in some cases, were forced or tricked into labor. As a result, many deserted in busy ports around the world, like New Orleans, hoping to start over. The Manilamen created the first Filipino and Asian American settlement in North America in the late 1700s. Their settlement — named after Juan San Maló — was a fishing village along the shores of Louisiana's Lake Borgne.

In the bayou, the Manilamen were unbothered by American authorities. They soon established a successful fishing village, which gave them entry into the lucrative Louisiana seafood trade and access to American society. Some married white and Black women and started families in the surrounding areas, but many stayed in St. Malo. Though violent storms regularly struck the village, the Manilamen kept rebuilding their bahay kubo homes. It wasn’t until the great hurricane of 1893, which wiped out most of the houses, that they left the area for good. The historic village was destroyed in 1915 after a major hurricane caused damage to the New Orleans and the Mississippi Delta region. Hurricane Katrina in 2005 would eventually destroy all artifacts from Saint Malo and the people who lived there.

The Manila Men joined the Battle of New Orleans in 1815, which was the final battle of the War of 1812. They also brought fishing and shrimping traditions with them, including an effective method of drying shrimp. However, these Filipinos were not able to acquire citizenship until after the 1803 Louisiana Purchase. The Naturalization Act of 1790 set the country’s naturalization procedures at the time and only applied to white immigrants. By marrying people from other ethnic groups within the region, the Manilamen became a large part of Louisiana’s multicultural society, “challenging” racial stereotypes.

Since St. Malo’s founding over 170 years ago, its significance in Filipino and American history had never been acknowledged by the state or federal governments. Over the past decade, local Filipino Americans have lobbied the Louisiana legislature to formally recognize St. Malo as the birthplace of their community, which has grown to 12,000 people in the state and 4.2 million people across the U.S. For decades, Filipino American leaders have raised awareness about their long and little-known history. In recent years, they’ve grappled with an unprecedented dilemma: how to preserve and memorialize their history when their oldest physical touchstone has vanished into the sea.

Over a decade ago, the Philippine-Louisiana Historical Society (PLHS) began lobbying the state to commemorate St. Malo with a historical marker. They wanted it to serve as “a public statement of Filipino-ness and Filipino heritage,” said Randy Gonzales, the society’s co-vice president and an associate professor of English at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette.

Gonzales and the PLHS ultimately decided they would place the marker on the lawn of the Los Isleños Museum Complex, a Canary Islander heritage site in St. Bernard Parish, just five miles from New Orleans’ French Quarter. It made sense because of the close ties between local Filipinos and Canary Islanders, both immigrants from Spanish colonies who arrived in Louisiana.

It’s very likely that the marker will eventually disappear. The hope is that by then, Filipino Americans will no longer need to prove that they belong.

Nemesio Domingo, Sr.

Nemesio Domingo, Sr. was born in Santa Maria, Ilocos Sur, Philippines. He came to the United States in 1927 from Vancouver, B.C., Canada. He moved his family to Seattle in the early 1960s.

His son, Nemesio, Jr., remembers his father working as a farm laborer in Yakima, sleeping in cellars during hot nights. One night, he recounted, the cellar his father was living in, was firebombed by vigilante groups who were trying to chase Filipinos out of Yakima. This experience left his father to resolve that his family would never have to experience similar indignities. He was determined to send his children to college and get the best of whatever he could provide. All six of his children graduated.

Nemesio, Sr. served in the U.S. Army for 22 years. He was a member of Post No. 6559 of V.F.W., Post No. 40 of the American Legion, Burgos Lodge CDA. No 10, Cannery Workers Union Region No. 37, I.B.U.-I.L.W.U., the Visayan Circle, Sons and Daughters of Santa Maria, and the Bataan-Corregidor survivors.

One of Domingo’s sons, Silme, along with Gene Viernes, was gunned down outside a cannery workers’ union. The two of them, with the assistance of Nemesio, Sr., were trying to rid the union of corruption. (See separate profile of Silme Domingo and Gene Viernes.)

Nemesio Domingo, Sr. died in November 1991 at the age of 82 from a prolonged heart condition.

Celestino T. Alfafara

Celestino T. Alfafara was born Cebu, Philippines. He earned his Bachelor of Laws degree from the National University of Manila in 1925. He immigrated to the United States in 1929.

He is possibly best known for his challenge to the California Alien Land Law in the Alfafara v. Fross case. Mr. Alfafara had entered a contract to purchase a $65 parcel of land in San Mateo County but was denied the purchase based on the argument his Filipino heritage combined with the Alien Land Act prohibited him from owning property in California. The case went to the California Supreme Court where he won the right for Filipinos to own property in California.

In 1931, he established The Pen, a monthly magazine published in Stockton, California. He was also the vice president of the United Visayas of San Francisco, which was a major contributor to the construction of the Philippine Pavilion at the 1939 Golden Gate International Exposition/World Fair. At the event, security broadcasted, “Beware of Filipino Pickpockets.” Alfafara submitted a formal protest backed by the Philippine Resident Commissioner in Washington, D.C., resulting in the police ceasing to mention “Filipino” in this derogatory context.

In his personal life Mr. Alfafara was married to Juanita Cayton and they had two children. He was an active member of the Caballeros de Dimasalang Organization, a Filipino community group modeled on the Masons, and both he and Juanita were active in Filipino heritage organizations. He dedicated his life to fostering pride in the contributions of Filipino pioneers.

Celestino Alfafara died on December 12, 1990.

Julita Tamondong McLeod

Julita McLeod was born in Manila on June 5, 1922. Her mother, Emerciano, was from Bicol and her father, Francisco was from Pangasinan. She received her Elementary Teacher’s Certificate from the Philippine Normal College in Manila and graduated from the University of Santo Tomas with a B.S.E. cum laude, major in English. In 1958 she earned her master’s in Education from San Francisco College for Women, Lone Mountain and received her California Teacher’s Credential the same year.

She married Roderick S. McLeod who was also born in Manila of a Scottish father and a Spanish mother. They came to San Francisco in 1957. Her husband embarked on a career as an auditor for the large shipping lines.

Julita McLeod became the first Filipino American principal in the San Francisco Unified School District. Her first job in San Francisco was as a fourth grade teacher at Morning Star Parochial School in Chinatown. She became the Assistant Principal at McKinley School from 1966-69 and acting Principal for Washington Irving School in 1970. From 1971-74, she was Principal of Bret Harte and from 1974-77, she was principal at Spring Valley Elementary.

She was very active in the emerging Filipino American community at the time. She belonged to several Filipino American organizations such as the United Filipino American Association, Filipino American League of Voters, United Pangasinans, Filipino Catholic Federation to name a few. Considered a political powerhouse, she was an advocate for quality public education and supported the establishment of the Filipino American Studies program in the Asian American Studies Department at San Francisco State in 1969. That same year, McLeod was named by San Francisco Chronicle as one of the Ten Distinguished Women of the Year (with Senator Diane Feinstein receiving the same award). She felt she had proven herself and “had made it.”

When martial law was declared in the Philippines, McLeod, together with Alex Esclamado of Philippine News and Jess Esteva of Mabuhay Republic, put together a newspaper and demonstrated against Marcos, earning her a spot on Marcos’ black list.

Her son, Rod McLeod, Jr., a former San Francisco attorney, recalls: “My mother was short in stature, but she stood tall for women’s rights and equal treatment for Filipinos and other immigrants. She was proud of her heritage and culture, as well as becoming an American. I think many of her contemporaries would describe her as outspoken, a spark plug, unwilling to accept slights, and quick to champion those in need. She really did have a big, big heart. I often wonder what more she would have achieved had she not passed away so young.”

Julita McLeod died in late 1977 from brain aneurysm at her office in Spring Valley Elementary School in San Francisco at the age of 54.

Anita Sanchez

Anita Sanchez immigrated to San Francisco in 1960 when she was barely10 years old. Her father, Bonifacio Sanchez, was recruited into the U.S. Navy from his native Iloilo in 1924 when he was 17 years old. After serving the U.S. Navy for 23 years, he returned to Iloilo, Philippines to live with his wife and family. He returned to the U.S. in 1957 after securing a job in the U.S. Postal Service in San Francisco. Sanchez could only speak Ilonggo at that time, but she was able to overcome the language barrier and became involved in issues concerning the Filipino American and ethnic communities while being a student at San Francisco State University. She joined the student strike that was led by her friend, Ron Quidachay – then a leader of the Pilipino American Collegiate Endeavor (PACE) and now a retired Superior Court Judge – that successfully pushed for the creation of a School of Ethnic Studies that would offer classes like Philippine history and culture. She held a master’s degree in Social Work.

Her student activism led her to include community involvement as an integral part of her regular academic work. With a modest grant from the Real Alternative Program (RAP), she organized the United Filipino Youth Organization (UFYO) and set up a storefront on 14th and Valencia in the Mission District for young Filipino American high school kids to hang out after school. If any of these kids would get in trouble with the law, Anita would trudge over to Juvenile Hall and speak with them and with their probation officers to work out a probation plan to secure their release. “The hardest part was often dealing with disappointed Filipino parents who would turn their backs on their kids just when their kids needed them the most,” she recalled in an interview. “Many of the parents believed in the foolish notion that their kids should spend time in jail to teach them a lesson.” Anita explained to the parents that exposing their kids to hard-core criminals in jail would teach them lessons alright, but not the kind that would rehabilitate them.

She lobbied for California to officially recognize college degrees of Foreign Medical Graduates (FMG). Her advocacy in public service led her to a job by then San Francisco Assemblyman Art Agnos to be his aide. After working for Agnos, Sanchez then accepted an offer from then Mayor Dianne Feinstein, and she also became the Chief of Staff for Oakland Assemblywoman Barbara Lee. In 1997, she became San Francisco’s Assistant Executive Officer of the City’s Civil Service Commission, then moving to the top post Executive Officer where she served for 25 years until her retirement in 2012.

Anita Sanchez died on November 19, 2013 after a long battle with cancer. San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee at that time said, Sanchez was a friend and one of the hardest working public servants and that “She will be remembered for many things, but most of all, for her commitment to the educational and economic advancement and empowerment of the Filipino and Filipino American community.”

MEDICINE

Dr. Jorge Camara

Dr. Jorge Camara was an ophthalmology specialist in Honolulu, Hawaii. He graduated valedictorian at the University of the Philippines College of Medicine and completed his residency at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas. He then moved to Honolulu and worked with Straub Hospital for a while until he and his wife, Virginia, also a doctor, opened the Camara Eye Clinic. On a typical day, he would attend to 60-100 patients, regardless of whether they could pay or not.

He pioneered in discovering new surgical techniques, developing a new laser procedure to treat blocked tear ducts, for instance. He also discovered a unique condition found in his patients of Asian ancestry called “involutional lateral entropion” where the outer lashes turn in and rub against the eye. Camara was featured in CNN International News and on the NBC, CBS and ABC TV networks in America for having performed the first-known orbital surgery via long-distance telemedicine, restoring the sight of a 16-year-old female patient on the Big Island in Hawaii. It was an astounding accomplishment.

Two more discoveries added to his increasing fame. One was his research on the effects of volcanic pollution, known as “Vog,” on the eyesight of his patients on the Big Island where the Kilauea volcano has been erupting since 1983. The other was his discovery of the healing power of music on patients about to undergo eye surgery. His theory was that music lowered the blood pressure and heart and respiratory rates of patients, and he himself, a trained classical pianist, would play the piano in the operating room. He was the first to produce a CD titled “Live from the Operating Room,” which included classical music from Chopin to Debussy.

His groundbreaking work in his medical specialization and scores of scientific publications in peer-reviewed journals won for him numerous awards at the height of his career. He was named 2001 Physician of the Year by the Hawaii Medical Association. And from 2002 through 2012, he was consistently voted by his peers as one of the “best doctors” in Hawaii. In 2011 he received the Physician – Community Service Award from the American Academy of Ophthalmology.

Camara also organized four “sold-out” musical concerts that earned $250,000 each, raising much of the operating funds for the Aloha Medical Mission (AMM), which he helped establish in the 1980s. He would play the piano himself, performing classical pieces, in these concerts. The AMM, a nonprofit organization, undertook hundreds of medical missions to the Philippines and other countries in Asia, performing voluntary health services and operations in indigent or poorly served communities. Camara would be in most of these missions.

Dr. Jorge Camara died in 2014 at the age of 63.

Dr. Manuel Cacdac

Dr. Cacdac entered college in the Philippines at the age of 14. He had graduated from the University of Santo Tomas Medical School. He immigrated to New York City where he trained as a neurosurgeon and met his future wife, Fe.

He moved to Terre Haute, Indiana and became part of a close-knit Filipino American community, consisting of about 50 families, most of which were headed by doctors. He became chief of surgery and chief of staff at Terre Haute Regional Hospital, a member of the Indiana Neurosurgical Society and the Congress of Neurological Surgeons. He was also a fellow of the International College of Surgeons. He also took annual medical missions to the Philippines for more than twenty years.

“It was in the past couple of decades that he found his true calling: Serving the neediest people in the Philippines,” his daughter, Michele Jones said. “He realized at a certain point in his career that his calling was to give back to his home country.” In 2010 Cacdac founded the Hydrocephalus Foundation of the Philippines, which helps children born with hydrocephalus, better known as “water on the brain,” sparing so many children from this life-threatening, debilitating condition. “About one out of 1,000 poor children suffer from hydrocephalus,” he said. He trained local neurosurgeons and residents so they can put in the “shunt” that is needed to be implanted in the children to stem the effects of hydrocephalus. Cacdac wanted not only to raise awareness of hydrocephalus but also to establish a self-sustaining world-class hydrocephalus center in the Philippines. He had wanted to also build another center in the Far East.

He was awarded the Sagamore of the Wabash in 2004 by Governor Kernan and has received many other professional and humanitarian awards in the Philippines, including the Presidential Award from President Benigno Aquino III.

Dr. Manny Cacdac died on November 2, 2014 at the age of 74 in Citrus Hills, Florida where he moved to from Terre Haute, Indiana. To fellow Filipinos, Cacdac would tell them to be proud of their roots and heritage saying, “You will always be Filipino no matter where you are.”

Dr. Florentino Ibabao

Born in the barrio of Dongon East in the province of Capiz, Philippines, Dr. Ibabao was the tenth and youngest child of Basilia Tardon Tirazona and Gregorio Cuenca Ibabao. He went to high school at the Aklan Central Institute in Makato and then to Mapua Institute of Technology in Manila to study mechanical engineering.

During World War II, he joined a guerilla unit and worked primarily in the intelligence unit, learning Morse Code and relaying messages to the front. As a guerilla, he traveled Panay Island by foot. While in the jungle, a bomb was thrown in the midst of his unit; he survived. In 1946, when the war ended, he returned to Manila to resume studying engineering. One day while visiting the University of Santo Tomas, he saw people coming from a meeting who were interested in studying medicine. He began a two-year premed program, followed by four years of medical school, paid for by the GI Bill of Rights. He graduated in 1951 and started observing and assisting in surgeries at Philippine General Hospital. He was accepted at a medical residency in the U.S. and he chose to work at Homer Phillips, the only public hospital for African Americans in St. Louis, Missouri. Later he moved to Cleveland where he became a substitute doctor for the Cleveland Browns football team and for the Cleveland Boxing Commission. He also met his wife, Dr. Lilia Ferrer, an OB-GYN resident in Cleveland. While in Toronto studying plastic surgery, he was a substitute doctor for the Maple Leafs hockey team.

In California, Ibabao set up a general surgery practice that was affiliated with Brookside Hospital and Doctors Hospital of Pinole where he was Chief of Staff (1970) and Chief of Surgery (1972). He retired at the age of 70 and continued to perform pro bono surgeries until the age of 94. He was involved with the Aklan Association, Rotary Club, Serra Club, Kiwanis Club and the Philippine Medical Society of Northern California (PMSNC).

Ibabao co-founded the PMSNC Medical Missions to the Philippines in 1980 and led the missions for ten years. In his funeral, his daughter, Tala, revealed that her father gave money to Philippine News publisher Alex Esclamado when the newspaper was having financial difficulties because of its opposition of President Marcos. Friends also recalled how he was generous in helping members of his barrio improve their financial and educational status.

Dr. Florentino Ibabao died on September 22, 2021 at the age of 98 in Northern California.

ACADEME

Royal Morales

Morales was born in Bunker Hill, California but during the Depression, he and his family returned to their native Ilocos, Philippines. At 18 years old, he was sent to Hawaii so an uncle could enroll him at the University of Hawaii, but his poor English caused him to fail the entrance exams. He moved back to Los Angeles where he eventually earned a degree in social work from the University of Southern California.

He served in the Army in the 1950s and then spent most of his time helping troubled youngsters in Los Angeles. He served as program director of the Pacific Asian Alcohol Program and was director of the Asian American Community Mental Health Training Center of Los Angeles. He traveled to the Philippines annually to help a high school his parents helped establish.

He was a popular teacher at the University of California, Los Angeles where he taught the Filipino American experience. He told stories, played music, led discussions on historical analysis and conducted his own Saturday field trips to Filipinotown. The tour started at the Filipino Christian Church, which his father helped establish, went on to the Pilipino American Reading Room and Library and then downtown to Bunker Hill, where the local Filipino community flourished in the 1920s and 1930s. “Taking his class is like meeting a long-lost uncle and having him tell you where you came from,” Daniel Gumarang, a former Morales student, told The Times in 1996 when the teacher retired from UCLA. “I gained my Filipino identity in his class……I learned not to be ashamed of my Filipino heritage but to be proud of it.” In Morales’ honor, the university established the Royal Morales Prize in Pilipino American Studies, an annual award for the most outstanding undergraduate paper on the subject. “He has influenced literally thousands of Filipino American students,” Don T. Nakanishi, Morales’ boss at the UCLA Asian American Studies Center, told The Times at Morales’ retirement. "He a national living treasure.”

Morales wrote a book entitled, Makibaka (to Fight): Pilipino-Americans’ Struggle. In the 1970s, Morales founded Search to Involve Pilipino Americans (SIPA) out of concern over problems among Filipino youths. He was honored for this work by the USC Asian Pacific American Support Group in 1986.

He died of a heart attack at his home in Gardena. He was 68 years old. He and his wife, Annabelle, had three daughters.

Roman R. Cariaga

Roman Cariaga was born in 1904 in Santo Tomas, Batangas, Philippines. He attended the private St. Thomas Academy in Batangas for high school. After teaching for a year, Cariaga went to the United States via Seattle before going to Syracuse University in New York in 1927 at the age of 23. He studied economics, joining thousands of other young Filipinos who journeyed to the U.S. for their college education during this period. He received a Business degree from Syracuse University and his master’s degree in Anthropology from the University of Hawaii for his thesis on “The Filipinos in Hawaii: A Survey of Their Social and Economic Conditions.” He conducted fieldwork in rural and urban Filipino communities on Oahu for his thesis and covered topics such as Filipino standards of living, income and expenditures of Filipino plantation families, and gained knowledge on plantation life by teaching evening classes for Filipinos in Waipahu and Aiea in 1932. He belonged to a select group of Filipino students during the 1930s who wrote master’s theses on Filipinos and their communities in the United States. In addition to his research, Cariaga taught a course in Filipino culture at the University of Hawaii in 1937, becoming the first Filipino instructor at the university.

As a historian and editor who wrote about the first wave of Filipino immigrants to Hawaii and as a recognized community leader with a professional position, Cariaga served in several Filipino community organizations. He wrote numerous articles on Filipinos in Hawaii and on the Philippines as a correspondent for the Honolulu Star-Bulletin and the Honolulu Advertiser. In 1934, he wrote a “Who’s Who Among Filipinos” series on prominent Filipinos in Hawaii. After returning to the Philippines in 1946 with General Douglas MacArthur to attend the inauguration ceremony of the new Philippine republic on July 4, he continued to write features for the Honolulu Star-Bulletin and other magazines. He fell in love with Aurelia Castillo Gotanco and decided to stay in the Philippines and never returned to the U.S.

Roman Cariaga died in March 1973 from a heart attack in Manila, Philippines.

Dean Tiburcio Alegado

Dean T. Alegado (Source: Hawaii Filipino Chronicle)

Alegado was born in San Narciso, Zambales, Phiilppines. He grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area and graduated from University of California, Berkeley. He received his master’s degree from Goddard College and Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of Hawaii at Manoa. He was the chair and professor of the Department of Ethnic Studies where enrollment increased by 60% and the number of tenured faculty, graduate students and scholarships also increased. He developed summer program agreements with Michigan State University and UCLA and lobbied for a graduate program. He was also a former director of the Center for Philippine Studies at the University of Hawaii.

Alegado was a major advocate connecting the importance of the department’s work with the community, especially in the 1970s and 80s, when the economy was being transformed from agriculture to tourism and many local communities were being marginalized. Alegado served on many community organizations, including statewide chair and coordinator of the Philippine Centennial Committee of Hawaii; coordinated the visits and travel to Washington D.C. of Philippine national master artists and performers to participate in the prestigious Summer Folklife Festival; developed the summer field studies in the Philippines for the UH Study Abroad Program; chaired the 1997 and 1998 annual trade mission to the Philippines; and was a key community leader in the fight for affordable housing in Hawaii.

He was a Professor and Chair of the Ethnic Studies at the University of Hawai'i, Manoa where he expanded the academic content and increased its majors.

He was a key community leader in the anti-Marcos movement in Hawaii. His leadership in the local chapter of the Union of Democratic Filipinos (KDP) was critical in organizing dissent and he was in the forefront leading the movement to restore democratic rights in the Philippines.

Alegado curated Singgalot, an exhibition that captured the challenges and issues that confronted Filipinos following the annexation of the Philippines as a U.S. territory in 1898. It explores the Filipino experience initially as colonial subjects and nationals and further examines their struggles to acquire full citizenship status as immigrants on this country throughout the last century. It first debuted at the Smithsonian Institution’s S. Dillon Ripley Center Concourse on the National Mall from May to August 2006 to mark 100 years of Filipino migration to the United States.

Dean Alegado retired in his native Olongapo, Philippines and had been living there for several years. He returned to Hawaii for a medical check-up and died on November 6, 2020 of cancer at the age of 68.

Source: Google and Wikipedia

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