Little Manila
San Diego's unheard Filipino community
By Calista Quejada
By Calista Quejada
At Daniel Boone Elementary in 2005, a little girl and her kindergarten class were sitting in the amphitheater waiting for the annual multicultural festival to begin. She watched as the cultures of the world were presented through singing, dancing and art. It was all entertaining to her, but nothing caught her attention more than when the Filipino segment started. A bunch of songs in Tagalog she couldn’t understand and a dance called Tinikling that she had never seen before. Being an American born Filipino, she didn’t really know much of anything when it came to her culture and what a big presence that it had in her city. Watching the dance and listening to the songs sparked something in me that day. It sparked a curiosity.
The teacher that was leading the Tinikling was named Marivic Santiaguel. A first generation Filipino herself, she has a vast knowledge about the culture and traditions. She teaches her classes about her culture through dance and art. When I was her student I learned so much about being a Filipino American. Being a Filipino American has always been such a big part of my life but it never really occurred to me that there was a whole other side of information that I had little to no information or knowledge on. The side that included Filipinos history in San Diego. I knew more about the traditional Philippine history and culture but being a Filipino American, I feel as though I am missing a whole other side to who I am. Filipinos have been apart of San Diego for more than 400 years. From 1565 to 1815, they were instrumental to the Manila-Acapulco Galleon Trade. Among some of those routes included the coast of California and port of San Diego where Filipinos would jump ship to escape their Spanish masters. According to the 2000 census there were 918,678 Filipinos in the state of California. 261,794 of them living in the county of San Diego.
The very first Filipino immigrants to come to San Diego arrived in the early 1900's. Today, 100 years later, there is still no written information on the people prior to the mid thirties, no trace in the city's history and no earlier census figures. Those first immigrants were called pensionados which roughly means pioneers. They were government funded scholars that came to study under government scholarships around 1903. Later on another group of students came over, but unlike the first pensionados they were either on partial scholarship or they were the very rich Filipinos that were self-supporting. The next wave of Filipino immigrants to San Diego were referred to as nationals, neither citizens nor aliens since the Philippines was a US territory. They came to America seeking the American dream. This wave included many laborers that worked long hours with little pay. This next wave consisted of the soldiers that fought in World War 2 and later Vietnam. After WW2 Congress passed the War Bride Act which allowed Filipino soldiers to bring their wives and kids to the US and grant them citizenship. This wave is happening right now. It occurred because of the Immigration Act of 1965. It includes professionals, separated family members and more military. In the 1900’s the immigrants lived in Southeast San Diego and the South Bay area. In those areas there are industries such as agriculture, fish-canneries, garment, service-related work and the US Navy employed many of the Filipino immigrants. Besides the Southeast and South Bay areas there are many other places where Filipinos chose to live. Places like Mira Mesa (“Manila Mesa”), Scripps Ranch, and Rancho Penasquitos (“Pinoy-quitos”). Personally I am from the National City/Paradise Hills area and there are a lot of proud Filipinos. There are so many different Filipino owned businesses in National City. Places like Titas Kitchen, Filipino Desserts Plus, Zarlitos, Seafood City and Jolibee are just a few that come to mind. My “Auntie” (Filipinos call family friends either Auntie, Uncle, Lola which means Grandma or Lolo which means Grandpa, even if they aren’t related, out of respect) owns Filipino Desserts Plus which is a bakery that makes all kinds of traditional pastries and cakes. Every time I walk in there is a distinct smell of fresh pandesal, which is a type of bread roll. When I was younger my Lola would put a slice of the special cheese straight from the Philippines in my pandesal and it was the most amazing thing in the world. My grandmother and grandfather were part of the military wave of Filipino immigrants. Him being in the Navy and her being a military wife. She gave me more insight as to what the older first generation of immigrants had to go through to actually be able to come to the states. When I asked her why she thought that a lot of Filipinos settled here in San Diego she said the military. Since the Philippines was a US territory Filipino men that enlisted in the US military would be granted citizenship for him and his family (wife and kids). She said that the culture is more rich here than anywhere else because there is a lot of first generation Filipinos, whereas in other places its a different kind of class, with mainly second or third generation. My mother was raised by first generation parents. When they first came to the US her parents were advised to speak to my mom and her siblings in English so they would fit in better. That was the turning point for my grandparents to decide to raise their kids “American”. That's when she thought they started losing their Filipino culture and started becoming more "American". Being raised in America she didn't really know much about Filipino culture. Which is funny because the way my father was raised was the opposite. In his house my grandparents spoke Tagalog and exposed them to all the traditional aspects of our culture. Maybe the fact that they had a lot of family also helped that fact. My mom's side didn’t really have any family that they could interact with that knew the traditions and the language until they moved to Paradise Hills. Back in the 80's, my mom was part of the very first Filipino language class in San Diego. She was also part of the movement to keep Tagalog as an offered language class. The school district wanted to get rid of tagalog class as a language. They didn't feel like there was enough interest and that they could use the money for something else. They spoke to the board about why they felt it was important to have Tagalog class. She was asked to speak on behalf of the class. She basically expressed how even though she was Filipino she didn't know much about Filipino history culture and language. And how through this class she was able to learn things about being Filipino that her parents didn't even teach her or expose her to. Because of my mom and her classmates many Filipinos today will have the opportunity to learn more about their culture and history. As a third generation Filipino, my family dynamic is very different from a first or second generation. In my house, we speak English all the time. It’s very rare to hear any Tagalog, the native language of the Philippines. The only place where I hear any Tagalog is when I am at my grandparents' houses. Sadly, this happens a lot of times when it comes to second or third generation Filipinos. Think of it this way: most of the time, being a second or third generation is like putting water into ice tea. What happens? It becomes diluted. That spark that started all those years ago is still alive in me now. That's why I decided to take the Filipino class. I was in the same position as my mom. Curious but with no one to teach me. When I was taking that class it opened my eyes to what it really meant to be a Filipino American. That even though I was born here deep down I know where I come from. Those Filipinos that initially started the community here in San Diego knew where they came from and even brought it with them to influence the area that they called their new home. |