A century of American life

DOWNTOWN GLENDALE ? Filipino Americans have made loads of contributions to American society, but not enough people know about them, according to Deputy Consul General Maria Hellen Barber, of the Philippine Consulate General.

But more than 100 people looked to change all that Friday at the 2006 Filipino American centennial celebration Friday evening at the Glendale Public Library.

The event, titled "History of Filipino Americans in the United States," commemorated the first significant wave of Filipino migration to America, and attempted to spark awareness about the history of Filipino Americans, said Francine Redada, secretary of the Los Angeles chapter of the Filipino American National Historical Society, which put on the event.

In 1906, a group of 15 Filipino immigrants ? men known as sakadas ? arrived in Hawaii to work on sugar plantations, Redada said.

Since then, the number of Filipino Americans has significantly grown, said Glendale Arts and Culture Commissioner Zen Lopez.

There are 2.5 million Filipino Americans in the United States, and about 12,000 in Glendale, Lopez said.

Filipino Americans are the second largest group of Asian/Pacific Islanders in Southern California behind Chinese Americans, she said.

"We have to recognize the struggles and contributions they have made," she said, adding that Filipino Americans have made significant contributions in the healthcare industry, among other fields.

At Friday's event, organizers screened the nearly one-hour documentary "Filipino Americans: Discovering Their Past For the Future," which was produced by the Filipino American National Historical Society in 1994.

The film documents Filipino migration as far back as the late 1500s.

The event also included a speaker's panel where the son of one of the original sakadas, a Hoover High School student, local businesswoman and university librarian discussed the film and their own accounts of migration to the U.S. from the Philippines.

"I think everyone should value their heritage," said Caryl Anongos, the Hoover High School senior who spoke on the panel. "It's what makes everyone special and unique. It's what defines us."

Anongos, who was born in Cebu, Philippines, and immigrated with her family to the United States in 2002, said that when she was attending John Burroughs High School in Burbank, many students didn't even know what a Filipino was, let alone what their history is about.