Another Sad Story Adds to the Political Turmoil in the Philippines

| Photo by Dez Hester on Unsplash

Part I of a series on “Filipino Baseball Renaissance”

Richie Rillera, the publisher of this online newsmagazine, has written about the legal process that Tony Meloto now faces. Mr. Meloto is the founder of Gawad Kalinga (GK). It is the Philippine equivalent of Habitat for Humanity of the late President Jimmy Carter.

Here is Mr. Rillera’s article titled Gawad Kalinga Founder Tony Meloto Arrested in Bulacan Over 2017 Trafficking‑Related Case. Readers can browse at this link.

This column will not include any information about the alleged criminal charges Mr. Meloto reportedly faces. He is entitled to the presumption of innocence pursuant to the Criminal Code of the Philippines. Mr. Rillera may update readers on continuing developments about the Meloto case.

This column article is about a sadder story about Gawad Kalinga and our group of Filipino-American activists in 2006. It may be of interest — for purposes of Filipino-American history — to mention that this journalist was introduced to Mr. Meloto in 2006 by Rotarian Ernie Delfin, at a Rotary Club reception for the visiting GK prime mover. Mr. Delfin, a writer himself and a CPA, founded the Rotary Club that sponsored the reception. He informed Mr. Meloto of the upcoming First Filipino-American Community Night at Dodger Stadium, scheduled for July 24, 2006.

This Fil-Am event at a Major League Baseball (MLB) stadium was a pioneering activity. It was intended to become an annual mainstream baseball event for Americans of Filipino descent. Mr. Delfin said it could be a good opportunity for GK to tap U.S. corporate and community support for its housing projects in the Philippines.

An offer was made by this journalist, who initiated the Fil-Am Nights at Dodger Stadium, to invite GK to send a representative (if Mr. Meloto could not make it) that would join community leaders and Filipino diplomats to be presented to baseball fans at the end of a 30-minute cultural show by the KALAMI GROUP -Kambayoka Living Arts Movement, Inc. at the baseball diamond.

The show would feature Muslim dances and the ceremonial first pitch, tossed by then-Acting Philippine Ambassador to the United States, Willie Gaa (now deceased), who was also the concurrent Consul General for Los Angeles. Then, the Philippine national anthem in Tagalog was to be performed before the Star-Spangled Banner, the American national anthem. Here is the link to one of the photos of the Filipino-American Kambayoka folk dancers at Dodger Stadium in July 2006.

The participation of GK was all gratis et amore, and 30 baseball tickets priced at $25 each were to be provided to it. The baseball tickets were paid for by individual Fil-Am families that issued checks directly to the Dodgers. GK could sell unused tickets and keep the proceeds. It was simply a dry run for a second Fil-Am baseball night that the Dodgers were already scheduling for the summer of 2007.

The 2006 Fil-Am baseball night at Dodger Stadium went well. It was historic, as the Filipino national anthem in Tagalog was sung by Ms. Chelsea Emata (now deceased). The MBL game for that night was between the Dodgers and the visiting San Diego Padres. And true to their promise, the Dodgers held a Second Fil-Am Community Night at their stadium in July 2007.

But the sad part is that GK never returned our phone calls to join the organizational meetings about the 2007 game. The 2006 game was the first and only time that GK cooperated with our group of Filipino-American associations in Southern California.

Consul General Mary Jo Bernardo Aragon threw the ceremonial first pitch in the 2007 game. It was the first time in the history of Dodgers baseball that a lady consul general did the honor of opening an MLB game by tossing the first pitch.

This journalist could not understand why the GK chose to end the budding ties between it and our group of media and community activists. Readers’ educated guesses are probably as good as ours.