Speech #1090096821

I rise today in support of H. Con. Res. 218. a resolution recognizing the centennial of sustained immigration from the Philippines to the United States and acknowledging the contributions of our FilipinoAmerican community to our country over the last century. Filipinos. as part of the Spanish galleons. first reached America as early as 1587. landing in Morro Bay. Califomia. In 1763. the first permanent Filipino settlement was established in Southern Louisiana near Baratana Bay. A mass emigration of Filipinos to the United States began in 1906. Some Filipinos known as pensionados or government scholars came for the purpose of furthering their education and training in the United States. but most were poor Filipinos who came to work for Hawaii sugarcane and pineapple plantations. California and Washington asparagus farms.