Speech #1090096816

I speak in strong support of H. Con. Res. 218 which I introduced with the cosponsorship of many likeminded colleagues to recognize the centennial of sustained immigration from the Philippines to our country and to acknowledge the incredible contributions of FilipinoAmericans to our country over the last century. And I do so with great pride and deep humility as the representative of the congressional district with the most FilipinoAmericans and the State with the largest percentage of FilipinoAmericans nationally and with sincere gratitude to my cosponsors. to Government Reform Chair DAVIS and Ranking Member WAXMAN. to the gentlemen from Utah and Illinois. and to our collective leadership for bringing this measure to this floor expeditiously. Mr. Speaker. those whose heritage lies in the great archipelago of the Philippines have journeyed to our country and lived among us for centuries. But the modern day FilipinoAmerican immigrant experience which has given rise to our current day FilipinoAmerican community traces its roots to December 1906 when 15 Filipino contract laborers. or sakadas. arrived from Luzon aboard the ship Doric and began work in the sugar cane fields of Keaau on the Island of Hawaii. In the same year. the first class of pensionados arrived from the Phil51. Pt. 21 28001 ippines to gain an education with the intent of returning home. although many stayed on. These early sakada and pensionado roots sparked a sustained emigration from the Philippines to the United States which. over the last century. has numbered upwards of 60.000 a year. marking Filipinos as our second largest immigrant group from the AsiaPacific region. Many continued to emigrate to Hawaii to work in the sugar fields. The Hawaii Sugar Planters Association records reflect over 125.000 immigrants from the Philippines up to the year 1946 alone. and they form the base of todays 275.000 FilipinoAmericans living in Hawaii. well over 20 percent of our total population. As previously noted. it is not just my State which has benefited from the growth and maturity of our FilipinoAmerican community. which now numbers 2.4 million nationwide. including 1.1 million in California alone. But it is in Hawaii where the full extent of the trials and tribulations and accomplishments and successes of FilipinoAmericans has played out over the past century.