In Southern California, there must be hundreds of Filipino Associations, Clubs, Civic and Social groups. It's not just a "Filipino Association of America" which we sincerely hope we will have someday, but Associations formed by and only for individuals who belonged to the same geographic origins within the Philippines (Tagalogs, Visayans, . . . etc.), which are further subdivided into particular towns or barrios of origins, and sometimes subdivided again by (you won't believe it) the streets where certain groups were located. Therefore, it's never uncommon that you find ten or fifteen individuals calling themselves "The San Bartolomian" (they all lived in the town of San Bartolome back then) and they don't want to have anything to do with the "Anak de Kagaw" a group of ten from barrio Kagaw, the barrio adjoining San Bartolome, nor with the group who calls themselves "Kapatid ti Dinamita", you guessed it, they are from barrio Dinamita, next to barrio Kagaw. They hold their fiestas and parties separately, most of the time trying to best each other.It's nice to attend parties and fiestas and meet some acquaintances but with this very effective style of alienating ourselves from one another, the concept of forming a unified Filipino Association may take a little time - like perhaps a hundred years? This unification thing is the least of our worries. We have been a fragmented country for hundreds of years; a few more hundred years wouldn't matter anymore. What bothers a lot of us is the seemingly unavoidable lost of Filipino culture in the emerging generations of Filipino Americans.
What I saw and experienced last weekend, alleviated this fear. I found out that a big group of Filipino Americans, young and old, from all walks of life, share this fear and are doing something about it! An Association called "Search to Involve Pilipino Americans" held it's annual "Festival of Philippine Arts and Culture" at Cabrillo Beach in San Pedro California. The festival ran for two days featuring Filipino dances, songs, music, lectures on Filipino culture, and of course Filipino food. The presentations were terrific and the people managing the festival were really efficient. I thought of just checking it out but ended up staying from morning till late afternoon the first day, came back again the next day, and managed to take several photographs to share with you!