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Part XVII of the “ReVOTElution of H.O.P.E.” Series
On Nov. 23, 2020, this column was born with its first op-ed piece, Time to finally ‘reinvent’ the Filipino presence in New York and North America, at this link.
On Dec. 2, 2020, this writer came up with a follow-up article, Our Failure to Build Monumental Projects or Hold Great Events, in North America at this link. Yes, after 44-years since I made several proposals in the Big Apple about doing monumental projects or holding meaningful events, we, OFWs and Filipino-American community leaders have not done anything significant. But as I mentioned, we held (as exceptions) the first couple of Filipino-American Community Nights at the Dodgers Stadium in July of 2006 and 2007. The events — the first in Major League Baseball — were made possible by my chairmanship of the Kalayaan Philippine-Independence Committee of Southern California in 2006.
But our supporters and core-group members are that hard-headed since we never give up on our ideas. This writer penned more articles in The Straphanger, divided into several articles: from the initial Filipino Presence in North America to the suggested Biden Back-to-Basics (B2B) Doctrine to the “Filipino Melting Pot” and now the ReVOTElution of H.O.P.E.
My colleagues in the Filipino press in Los Angeles, Mar G. de Vera and Poet-pundit Fred Burce Bunao (now deceased), predicted in 2007 that at the rate I was writing articles and series after series of topics (now at more than 4,000 published articles, including Facebook Notes); eventually, there would be a need to compile them. And call them the “Filipino version of the Encyclopedia Britannica.” I told them in 1988 that I was only “beginning” my writing career in the United States. Eventually, we hope to accomplish the prediction of the two book authors. Perhaps we can come up with an “Encyclopedia Filipiniana.” The task is doable if our friends in the Filipino American Press Club of New York, the prime movers of the Philippine Daily Mirror (PDM), and other Filipino American publications and media associations will join the project.
In 2018, the American Community Survey estimated the population of Filipinos in the United States to be more than 4-million. But according to a 2019 report by the Washington, D.C.-based Pew Research Center, there are at least 4.2-million Filipinos that makeup 18% of the Asian population. They are the third-largest Asian origin group in the U.S. — after the Chinese and the Asian Indians.
” … according to a 2019 report by the Washington, D.C.-based Pew Research Center, there are at least 4.2-million Filipinos that makeup 18% of the Asian population. They are the third-largest Asian origin group in the U.S. — after the Chinese and the Asian Indians.”
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the current total population of Native Americans in the United States is 6.79-million, about 2.09% of the entire population. About 574 federally recognized Native American tribes in the U.S. Fifteen states have Native American populations of more than 100,000.
There are 600,000 Filipinos or more waiting in the U.S. for their approved petitions to become current. If one includes their DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) children — plus the immediate in-laws of Filipino brides married to Americans — the “Filipino Melting Pot” can be bigger than the combined population of the Native-American Indian tribes. Some of the Native Indians have Filipino DNA. There were marriages between Filipino-Indio sailors that jumped ship in the then Iberian colonies of “New Spain” in what is now California and presumably in other Western states of the U.S. and Mexico. And got “married” to Native-Indian beauties.
In Part II of the Filipino Melting Pot series, this column discussed Mexico Was Ahead In Welcoming Filipino-Indio Settlers at this link.
Americans, Canadians, and Mexicans of Filipino descent may now be more than 7-to 8-million “first citizens of the New World” (as this writer coined). Their number would be bigger than the 2019 population of Hong Kong (at 5,757-million) or Singapore (at 5.704-million). We are not sure if the tens or hundreds of thousands of OFWs in both mini-states are counted in their respective populations.
“Yes, OFWs and Overseas Filipinos, especially Americans of Filipino descent, have the numbers and the financial resources to provide counterpart (investment) funds — if only the Philippine national and local governments will stop wasting scarce resources in corrupt ways and means”
If we can push the employment of 3-million more Filipino nurses in North America (and millions more trained- and-competent OFWs), then the Philippines will have more qualified human resources to add more value to the economies of North America. And make the Philippines as progressive as Hong Kong and Singapore combined.
Yes, OFWs and Overseas Filipinos, especially Americans of Filipino descent, have the numbers and the financial resources to provide counterpart (investment) funds — if only the Philippine national and local governments will stop wasting scarce resources in corrupt ways and means. And use the pork-barrel items for the government’s investments in North America and Philippine provinces. It is public knowledge that our homeland is one of the most corrupt countries in the world (especially in the last 4-to 5 decades).
This column does not have to provide details about Philippine corruption. One of our PDM columnists, Jose Ma. Montelibano already wrote about it in his column on October 5, 2018. He penned, Poverty trumps corruption at this link.
Protecting Copyrights and “Common-law Patents and Trademarks”
When domain names (DNs) became popular in the mid-1990s, we thought that such names would be an inexpensive way to secure not only copyright but also the so-called “common-law patents and/or trademarks.” I registered several unique (DNs) such as www.yimby.com. “YIMBY” stood for “Yes, in my backyard.” In 2013, to generate more funding for our community events, we sold yimby.com to an English foundation for six figures in greenbacks.
We hold some 24 other DNs and parked them with the firm, which handled the registration process. Among the DNs are:
- Cacao0.com (“0” is for zero, which means no added sugar, no trans-fat, no bad cholesterol, no chemical additives, etc., as we push the target of becoming one of the world’s top cacao-bean producers and manufacturers of chocolate products);
- Herbalixir.com (as we will want to become the second-biggest global producer and distributor of herbal products);
- Islesofuture.com (as we want to make the Philippine archipelago the “Islands of the Future,” in the same way that Azerbaijan holds the right to “Land of the Future”);
- Sorsogonbay.com (as Sorsogon Bay can produce marine products and electricity that can top one-billion dollars per year — as explained in Facebook Groups). By the way, a firm asked to buy the “Sorsogonbay” DN for a 4-figure amount but we rejected the offer; and
- TNsea.net, which will deal with our idea of turning the Great State of Tennessee into an “island” (like the “Island of Las Vegas in Nevada”).
We also think that we can compete with the biggest online seller and distribution company. Our group registered www.abadaw.com. On an alphabetical listing, it is ahead with the top firm that copied the biggest forested area in Brazil. Then ABADAW has a special meaning: “All Buys/bought/bargains Are Distributed Around the World.” Unlike the leader now, ABADAW plans to engage in joint ventures to produce in North America and the Philippines, and in the ASEAN region, more than 90% of the items will sell online. And it will use packaging materials made of organic materials from the “BAMOS.” We are now discussing with potential stakeholders how to launch it. Please read a description of the BAMOS in this article, BAMOS A Ver for the U.S.-Mexican Border, at this link.
“Will the Filipino youth wait until they become grandparents (or even perhaps great-grandparents) to do it? And do it all?”
Finally, why is North America the biggest viable “New Frontier” for Filipinos, especially the Filipino Youth? Because the United States is still the biggest economy in the world. And Mexico will soon be the fifth-biggest global economy (or at least the biggest economic engine in the Hispanic World). And Canada can become the biggest economy in the British Commonwealth, and it has more than 250,000 citizens and immigrants of Filipino descent plus OFWs (and counting).
As stated earlier, we have been trying to persuade our Fellow Filipinos and Overseas Filipinos, especially the youth, to take the necessary steps to make operational the “New Frontier.” Filipino national policy-and-decision makers have rejected the ideas — at least for 44-years since 1977.
Will the Filipino youth wait until they become grandparents (or even perhaps great-grandparents) to do it? And do it all?
