A night to remember with LEA SALONGA

KAHULUI, Maui- A world-renowned singer and actress, Lea Salonga is not only a Tony Award-winning Broadway star but also a popular concert artist. You’ll recognize her singing voice as Princess Jasmine from Aladdin and Fa Mulan for Mulan. Her perfect vocals are at once moving and inspiring – they can bring a tear to your eyes or have you smiling with joy – as many witnessed during her breathtaking portrayal of Kim in Miss Saigon.

She began her singing career at the age of ten, when she recorded her first album, Small Voice. Aside from a Tony awardee, she is the recipient of the Olivier, Drama Desk, Outer Critics and Theatre World Awards. Get a taste of Broadway with this amazing vocalist who has been wowing audiences the world over.

Lea will perform on stage in the Maui Arts & Cultural Center’s Castle Theater on Friday, November 13 at 7:30 pm. In previous interviews, Lea has stated that her stage set is very simple, “… just me, a black background and six musicians.” She also remarked that she just wants everybody “… to have a good time and to come away with a good night of music.”

Entrees and appetizers from Tommy Bahama in Wailea will be available for purchase and served under the big tent on the Amphitheater Lawn. Tickets are on sale now for $39, $49 and $125. Call the MACC Box Office at 242-SHOW or order online at mauiarts.org.
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Parade of Filipino Talents

Capture the Moments

2009 Progress Awards: Ramil, Bueno and Chapman Leads Awardees

By Fil-Am Observer Staff
Fil-Am Observer, November 2009 Issue


Antonio V. Ramil of Maui was recognized with the "Golden Sakada" Award for Lifetime Achievement; Dwayne Bueno of Oahu was presented the Juan Dionisio Award for Distinguished Service, and Don Chapman, also of Oahu, was honored with the Ating Kaibigan (Our Friend) Award, at the Progress Awards program sponsored by the United Filipino Council of Hawaii (UFCH). The 2009 edition of the awards program was held last October 17, at the Coral Ballroom of the Hilton Hawaiian Village in Honolulu.

Ramil has been actively involved in community service for more than thirty years. His contributions include playing key roles in the organization of Binhi At Ani and the Maui Filipino Chamber of Commerce of Maui (originally known as Filipino Chamber of Commerce of Maui), two of the leading Filipino-oriented organizations on Maui. As UFCH president (1988-1990), he led in initiating the Progress Awards, and in expanding the organization's scholarship program. During his two-year term, UFCH awarded $40,000 scholarships. As president of the Maui Filipino Community Council (1982-1984), he steered MFCC to support the establishment of a State Park At Makena. As president of the Kahului School Parent Teachers Association (1984-85) and the Maui District PTSA (1987-1989), he helped in crystallizing support for a new intermediate school in central Maui which turned out to be Maui Waena Intermediate School. As officer and member of the Hawaii Committee for the Humanities (1985-1991), he participated in developing and launching History Day in the schools throughout Hawaii.

He has received numerous recognitions that include the Thomas Jefferson Award presented by The Honolulu Advertiser and the American Institute for Public Service in 1989; one of the 100 Outstanding Citizens of Maui County presented in connection with the celebration of the centennial of the establishment of the County in 2005; the Masaru "Pundy" Yokouchi Lae'ula Award given by the Maui Historical Society in connection with the celebration of the Filipino centennial in Hawaii in 2006; and the 2008 Parents of the Year Award presented to him and wife, Luz, by the Philippine Cultural Foundation of Hawaii.

He authored and published "Kalai'aina County of Maui" in 1984, the first comprehensive political and social history of the County of Maui. The book has been used as reference by government officials and serious students of Hawaii history. Copies of the book may be borrowed from all Hawaii's public libraries.

An attorney, he became the first foreign law school graduate to be admitted to the Hawaii State bar, taking and passing the Hawaii State bar examinations in 1976, and has been in active private law practice since . A graduate of the College of Law, Univ. of the Philippines, he was one of the ten topnotchers of the Philippine bar examinations in 1965.

One event that Ramil considers among his most memorable experiences is walking 30 miles from the old Paia Sugar Mill to the old Pioneer Sugar Mill (Lahaina), New Year's day 2006, in celebration of the centennial of the Filipinos in Hawaii. He completed the walk in nine hours and 30 minutes.

Dwayne Bueno is an accountant, Hawaii Western Management Group TPA administrator. He became the youngest UFCH president (2001-2003) and collaborated in carrying out various programs with such organizations Sariling Gawa Youth Council, American Cancer Society, American Heart Association, Bayanihan MOTTEP, Department of Health, Tobacco Coalition and the University of Hawaii. As president and chapter founder of Namnama ti Abagatan Carayan (Laoag) USA and president of United Laoaguenos of Hawaii, he has led in the making of substantial contributions to promote the health and general welfare of the people of his native Laoag City.

As recipient of the Ating Kaibigan Award, Don Chapman stands out as the awardee who is not of Filipino ancestry. He is recognized for many years of support for Filipino programs and projects. As MidWeek newspaper editor, he has played a substantial role in spreading the good work of the Filipino community, both in print and on-line. Notably, reports on the building of the FilCom Center and on the Filipino Centennial were featured in MidWeek contributing in rousing public support for such projects.

Cecilia Villafuerte received the award in Community Service. She has served as president of Filipino Chamber of Commerce and established the Filipino Entrepreneur of
the Year, now in its 20th year; president of the Filipino Business Women's Association for six years; and founded the FBWA Foundation. She is a mortgage loan officer with Western Union.

Julius Soria, awardee in Education, is an Ilokano instructor of the UH Manoa Ilokano Language and Literature Program for 12 years. He has been a student advisor of a university-based student organization, the Timpuyog. Soria is also credited for helping out in the sustaining of the Ilokano Program of Farrington High in Oahu and in the course delivery for Ilokano Language and Culture, a non-credit pilot program offered at the Maui Community College.

Maria A.F. Etrata, Entrepeneurship awardee, is president of Preferred Home and Community Based Services, twin home and community-based facilities providing both mental and developmental participants the opportunity to get involved in community-based programs. The facilities provide day-health and outreach programs.

Edna Alikpala, awardee in Government Service, leads the secretarial team at the Dept. of Parks and Recreation, City and County of Honolulu, and her biggest strength is her "can do" attitude as she coordinates the activities of the office and ensures that the division runs smoothly and effectivetly.

Nancy Atmospera Walch, awardee in Healthcare & Medicine, holds a bachelor of science in nursing and a masters in public health from the Univ. of Hawaii-Manoa. She is chairwoman and CEO of AIM, Inc., and Advantage Health Care Provider, Inc.

Hernando Tan, awardee in Hospitality, is president of the UNITE HERE! Local 5, one of the largest and strongest labor unions in Hawaii representing nearly 12,000 hotel and health care workers in the islands.

Helena Manzano, recipient of Humanitarian award, is program manager of the Pilipina Rural Project Services Program, Domestic Violence Action Center (DVAC).

Fred Galdones, awardee in Labor & Construction, is president of ILWU Local 142.

Byrne Munoz, awardee in Media & Communication, started his career in broadcasting as co-host of Filipino Fiesta on KHON TV-2 in 1977. In the same year he debuted as radio announcer in KISA, and then moved to KNDI. He hosted his own show on KIKU Channel 13, "Seeing Stars with Byrne", with Flor Martinez. Many consider him the most popular Filipino radio personality in Hawaii.

Meredith Hermosura, awardee in Science & Technology, is a research scientist, and holds a Ph. D. in biomedical science (UH-Manoa), M.S in pharmaceutical science (University of the Philippines (U.P.) Diliman), and B.S. Zoology (magna cum laude, U.P. Diliman).

Tyrone John Takahashi, awardee in Sports, is grandmaster and head of the Pedoy School of Escrima. He started training at the early age of five, under the tutelage of his grandfather Great Grandmaster Braulio Pedoy and his uncle Batikan Eduardo Pedoy. He is also trained in other martial arts disciplines such as Shotokan Karate, Kempo Karate, Boxing, and Kali and Arnis.

Edith Gudoy, awardee in Travel, is president of Everlasting Travel Services, Inc. A consolidator, the company has been one of the top producers of airline ticket sales. A member of the Better Business Bureau, it has been accredited with an A+ rating.

Marnelli Joy Basilio, Outstanding Youth awardee, currently serves as the State Youth Representative for the National Federation of Filipino American Associations (NaFFAA) Hawaii State Board and the lead chairperson for Filipinos Linked in Pride at UH-Manoa. She coordinated the Regional Conference in 2007, coordinated the Pamantasan Conference also in 2007, and has served as group (barangay) leader for Sariling Gawa Youth Council, helping mentor and instill pride in high school youths of their rich Filipino heritage and to develop their leadership potential.

In his remarks, UFCH president Eddie Agas noted that the Progress Awards program exemplifies not only the "commitment to the noble ideals and aspirations of UFCH as an organization" but also "a manifestation of concrete support for and active participation" in calls for unity and nation building.
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4th NAKEM CONFERENCE: The Struggle for Cultural Democracy

By Aurelio Solver Agcaoili, Ph. D.
Fil-Am Observer, Editor-In-Chief
Cover Story, Fil-Am Observer November 2009 Issue



For the fourth time since 2006 at the centennial of the coming of the first 15 Ilokano to Hawaii via SS Doric in December 1906, the Ilokano Language and Literature Program of the University of Hawaii at Manoa, in collaboration with Nakem Conferences International and Nakem Conferences Philippines, will hold a four-day gathering of scholars, academics, researchers, teachers, and advocates of cultural pluralism and cultural democracy, “Dap-ayan: Sharing and Understanding Ethnolinguistic Worlds Towards Cultural Pluralism”.

The Nakem Conference, first hosted and convened by the UHM Ilokano Program, was held at the Mariano Marcos State University in 2007 and at the St. Mary’s University in 2008. Both universities are in located in the Amianan, the northern part of the Philippines where Ilokano is either the native language or the lingua franca.

For this year, 62 conference papers had been accepted for presentation in 12 panels.

Conceived as a venue for the exchange and diffusion of ideas and knowledge on Ilokano and Amianan life, languages, and literatures, the Nakem Conferences as an organization in the Philippines and in the United States has been involved in several initiatives that pertain to the support for Mother Tongue Based Multilingual Education (MTBME) or simply Mother Language Education (MLE). MLE has since gained traction in the re-conceptualization of basic education in the Philippines. A department order by the country’s secretary of education, Jesli Lapus, now mandates the delivery of basic education to at least the first three grades in the mother tongue.

In 2008, at the 3rd Nakem Conference in St. Mary’s University, the participants of the conference passed a resolution in support of the Gunigundo Bill in the Philippines. The bill proposed the introduction of MTBME/MLE in basic education.

The Nakem Conference is one of the organizations that founded what is now called the MLE Alliance, the 170+MLE Talaytayan.

Nakem started with an idea; its inspiration came from the sacred sacrifices of the sugarcane and pineapple plantation workers who endured the backbreaking work just to wage a war against the deprivation and misery of the home country, the Philippines. With their resiliency, the lot of the many who came improved. Since 1906, the Filipinos have not stopped coming to Hawaii.

But of the estimated 5000 Filipino coming to Hawaii every year, about 90 percent of those are coming the Ilocos.

These are the people, who until today, are from the same hardy stock of those who came on ships in order to work on the vast tracks of land in the State of Hawaii, day in and day out, rain or shine.

It is this sense of the sacred and the honor we accord to memory that the Nakem Conference was first thought of in 2006.

The theme at that time, “Imagination and Critical Consciousness in Ilokano Language, Culture, and Politics”, rearticulated the contribution of the Ilokanos in the life of the Philippine nation and in the life of the diverse communities of people in the State of Hawaii.

In 2007, at MMSU Batac, the conference revolved on the theme of exile, “Panagpanaw ken Panagindeg: Exile and Settling in Ilokano and Amianan History and Culture while in 2008, at SMU in Bayombong, Nueva Vizcaya, the conference centered on “Imagining the Ilokano and Amianan Nation”.

The exchange of ideas and knowledge on Ilokano and Amianan life through the Nakem Conferences has paved the way for the publication of several books, including “Saritaan Ken Sukisok: Discourse and Research in Ilokano Language, Culture, and Politics”; “Essays on Ilokano and Amianan Life, Language, and Literature”; “Nakem: Essays on Amianan Knowledge”; and “Sukimat: Researches on Amianan Studies”.

Dr. Miriam E. Pascua, Retired Judge Artemio Baxa, and Dr. Alegria Tan Visaya will deliver separate keynote addresses that tackle the state of the art of Ilokano and Amianan Studies.

Pascua, currently president of the Mariano Marcos State University and Visaya, secretary of the MMSU Board of Regents, professor, also at the same university, and president of the Nakem Conferences Philippines, will talk on the progress of Ilokano and Amianan studies at MMSU. In particular, Pascua will share with the Nakem participants the policy directions her university has taken particularly in the creation of what is now known as the Center for Ilokano and Amianan Studies.

Visaya, on the other hand, will argue for a sustained and concerted effort to account other cultures and other languages in the Philippines. In the same vein, Artemio Baxa, currently a member of the Board of Regents of the University of Hawaii, will tackle the human rights perspective of cultural pluralism and democracy, one of the fundamental concerns of the Nakem Conferences movement.


Of those invited to welcome the participants of the 4th Nakem are the mayor of the City and County of Honolulu, Mufi Hannemann; the Philippine Consul General Leoncio Cardenas; UH Manoa Chancellor Virginia Shaw; Dr. Patricia Brown, president of the Filipino American Historical Society of Hawaii; Dr. Joseph O’Mealy, dean of the UH Manoa College of Languages, Linguistics, and Literature; Dr. Richard Schmidt, director of the UH National Foreign Language Resource Center; Dr. Barbara Andaya, director of the UH Center for Southeast Asian Studies; Dr. Belinda Aquino, director of the Center for Philippines Studies; and Dr. John Mayer, chair of the UHM Department of Indo-Pacific Languages and Literatures. Ms. Mila Medallion, president of the Filipino Coalition Solidarity, will give a plenary talk to close the third day of the conference.

The conference will also feature the video productions of students taking up 300 or 400-level Ilokano language courses with the UH Ilokano Program and Indo-Pacific courses including Modern Philippine Drama, Philippine Critical Discourses, and Philippine Popular Culture.

On the last day of the conference, the 100-200-level students enrolled in the Ilokano language will present their dramatic work before the formal closing ceremonies of the 4-day gathering. Both the opening and the closing ceremonies will be held at the Art Auditorium while the conference proper will be held at the Campus Ballroom.

Three books that bear upon the work of the UH Ilokano Language and Literature Program and the Nakem Conferences will be launched during the conference: Kallautang: Poetics of Diversity, Displacement, and Diaspora and Rekuerdo/Memento: Estrangement and Homing in Ilokano Poetics, and Sukimat. Both the first two books have been edited, translated, and critically introduced by Aurelio Agcaoili, chair of the 4th Nakem Conference. Agcaoili, along with Dr. Anabelle Felipe, and Visaya, edited Sukimat, a collaborative publication of the Nakem Conference Philippines and Nakem Conference International. Pascua wrote a foreword to the book while Agcaoili provided a critical introduction.

The next three Nakem Conferences will be held in the Philippines beginning 2010 in support of the MTBME/MLE in basic education.
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Publisher's Note:

At the outset, I would like to thank the members of the Filipino-American History Month celebration committee on Maui for their dedication, cooperation, and hardwork in making the events successful. And to all the participants, food donors, media, sponsors, and the general public: thank you for making the events a reality. Plans are underway for next year’s celebration as we proudly proclaim, “I’m proud to be a Filipino!”

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In observance of Veteran’s Day, we salute all veterans who have sacrificed and laid down their lives for this country. To our Filipino WWII Veterans, justice has come to fruition with the passage of the Filipino WWII Veterans Equity Compensation Fund (FVEC).

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Thanksgiving Day is perhaps one of the most celebrated holidays here in America probably because of its historic significance. Unfortunately, its real meaning has been washed out into a mere shopping spree. We have lost the essence of the holiday!

When was the last time we uttered those two magic words “Thank You” to our spouse for fixing a delicious dinner; to our children for helping us with the household chores; to our co-workers for doing a good job; to our teachers for imparting us their knowledge; to the doctors and nurses who took care of us when we were sick; and to a stranger who opened the door for us?

We have taken for granted the simple things in life. Aren’t we thankful for the air that we breathe, for that magnificent rainbow, the sun surf, for our freedom…?

The Word of God teaches to be thankful. The doxology “Praise God from whom all blessings flow,” is a testimony of our gratitude to our Creator.

This is what real thanksgiving is all about! Expressing your thankfulness is all that matters.

Let us then make every day, a day of thanksgiving.

Aloha and Mabuhay!
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November 2009 Issue