Rizal's Influence on Filipino Migrants in America

A Past Revisited, Connecting the Dots, part 10

Rizal's Influence  on Filipino Migrants in America

In 2009, I authored an essay titled "Si Rizal sa Mata ng mga Migranteng Pilipino sa Amerika." This work was published in San Francisco, and I have made it available digitally on my homepage at https://www.mccanlast.com/blog/categories/tagalog-blogs.

At that time, the message I conveyed was:

As we commemorate Rizal's birthday on June 19, 2009, it is pertinent to reflect on and hopefully revitalize the enthusiastic study of Filipino history among Filipinos both within the homeland and across various countries worldwide. This initiative serves as an excellent foundation for discussions concerning the global Filipino identity.

Fast Forward, on June 19,2025, there is a Webinar I would want to share with our friends.

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Dr. Jose Rizal Legacy International Foundation Launches Educational Webinar: “Rizal in America” with Esteemed Historian MC Canlas

The Dr. Jose Rizal Legacy International Foundation proudly announces its first educational webinar entitled “Rizal in America,” to be held on June 19, 2025, at 7:00 PM Pacific Time via Zoom. This historic event marks the birthday of Philippine national hero Dr. Jose Rizal and launches the Foundation’s commitment to public education and cultural heritage programming.

Hosted by Elaine Antonio Bordeaux, President of the Dr. Jose Rizal Legacy International Foundation, the webinar will feature MC Canlas as the guest resource person. Canlas is an esteemed Filipino American historian, community strategist, and one of the foremost authorities on SoMa Pilipinas, the official Filipino Cultural Heritage District of San Francisco.

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This is my essay in 2009, and with the assistance of Co-Pilot, I have it in English version.

Rizal's Influence on Filipino Migrants in America

By MC Canlas (June 17, 2009)

It is noteworthy that before June 12th became recognized as Philippine Independence Day, Filipino workers and migrants in the United States at the beginning of the 20th century eagerly anticipated Rizal Day, celebrated on December 30th. This date marks the execution of Dr. Jose P. Rizal in Bagumbayan and was regarded as the most significant day for Filipinos.

This content is derived from the book by the late Professor Ronald Takaki, titled “Strangers from a Different Shore: A History of Asian Americans” (1989). According to Professor Takaki:

The most important celebration of Filipino plantation laborers was Rizal Day – December 30, the day the Spanish executed the famous revolutionary leader Jose Rizal in 1896. To honor Rizal, Filipino plantation bands played mandolins and guitars at outdoor concerts. As the Filipino plantation laborers remembered Rizal, they told one another tales of his heroic deeds. “The Spaniards could not kill him, because the bullets bounced off his chest,” a worker would declare. And a compatriot would “tell it up one notch” and quickly add: “He caught them (the bullets) with his bare hands!” Filipinos repeatedly told the story about how the revolutionary leader actually did not die: “After he was buried, his wife poured his love potion on his freshly filled grave, and in the night – he rose, Apo Rizal rose from the grave.” (page 165).

According to another writer, Howard A. Dewitt, (Jose Rizal: Philippine Nationalist as Political Scientist, 1997): “For two decades Rizal Day has provided the civil rights issues, the sense of Philippine history and the organizational skills to bring California Filipinos into the mainstream of the Golden State. Had it not been for the word and deeds of Dr. Jose Rizal, California Filipinos would not have been able to make their way as effectively in the Golden State.”

In summary, during the early decades among Filipino migrants in America, the heroism, life, and thoughts of Dr. Jose Rizal were highly influential. He was an exemplary Filipino and served as a model for labor leaders such as Philip Vera Cruz, who was the former vice president alongside Cesar Chavez in the United Farm Workers. Vera Cruz stated, "Dr. Jose Rizal was not only the first person to identify himself as Filipino, but he also taught us how to confront adversity."

In San Francisco, California, Dr. Jose Rizal left numerous legacies for Filipinos, including the establishment of La Liga Filipina and the promotion of Masonic traditions. He inspired the formation of Gran Oriente Filipino, Legionarios del Trabajo, and Caballero de Dimas-Alang, three Masonic fraternities that acquired real estate during a period when discrimination against Filipinos and people of color was widespread. These properties are located in South Park and Dimas-alang Square, where the streets are named Rizal, Mabini, Bonifacio, Lapu-Lapu, and Tandang Sora.

In 1888, during his first and only visit to America, Rizal arrived in San Francisco and stayed at the Palace Hotel, renowned as the most luxurious and modern hotel of that time. In 1996, a commemorative marker was installed on the side of the hotel to honor the centenary of his visit.

“Dr. Jose Rizal, Philippine National Hero and Martyr, stayed at the Palace Hotel from May 4 to May 6, 1888, in the course of his only visit to the United States. Imbued with a superior intellect and an intense love for his country, Dr. Jose Rizal sought to gain freedom for the Filipino people from centuries of Spanish domination through peaceful means. His writings, foremost of which were the novels, “Noli Me Tangere” and “El Filibusterismo”, dared to expose the cancer of colonial rule and agitated for reforms. For this he was arrested, tried, and executed by a firing squad on December 30, 1896. With his martyrdom, the man of peace fanned the flames of the Revolution of 1896, the first successful uprising in Asia against a western colonial power.”

Although Dr. José Rizal did not migrate to the United States, his sole visit to the country resulted in notable critiques of its societal and systemic attributes. For instance, one can refer to his letter to Mariano Ponce dated July 27, 1888. (cf. E. San Juan, Rizal in USA)

“I visited the largest cities of America with their big buildings, electric lights, and magnificent conceptions. Undoubtedly America is a great country, but it still has many defects. There is no real civil liberty. In some states, the Negro cannot marry a white woman, nor a Negress a white man. Because of their hatred for the Chinese, other Asiatics, like the Japanese, being confused with them, are likewise disliked by the ignorant Americans. The Customs are excessively strict. However, as they say rightly, America offers a home too for the poor who like to work. There was, moreover, much arbitrariness. For example, when we were in quarantine.

They placed us under quarantine, in spite of the clearance given by the American Consul, of not having had a single case of illness aboard, and of the telegram of the governor of Hong Kong declaring that port free from epidemic.

We were quarantined because there were on board 800 Chinese and, as elections were being held in San Francisco, the government wanted to boast that it was taking strict measures against the Chinese to win votes and the people’s sympathy. We were informed of the quarantine verbally, without specific duration. However, on the same day of our arrival, they unloaded 700 bales of silk without fumigating them; the ship’s doctor went ashore; many customs employees and an American doctor from the hospital for cholera victims came on board.

Thus, we were quarantined for about thirteen days. Afterwards, passengers of the first class were allowed to land; the Japanese and Chinese in the 2nd and 3rd classes remained in quarantine for an indefinite period. It is thus in that way, they got rid of about 200 [actually 643 coolies, according to Zaide] Chinese, letting them gradually off board.”

Reflecting on the life and writings of Rizal, along with the efforts to foster Filipino identity among Filipino migrants, proves valuable. Despite being distant from their homeland and exposed to both positive and negative aspects of American civilization, these experiences offer insightful perspectives.

In 2002, I conducted an interview with Vincent Lawsin, the former leader of Caballero de-Dimas-Alang, based in Seattle. During the discussion, he provided insights that were further supplemented by Dr. Dick Solis, a historian of Caballero and pastor in Salinas.

Dimas-Alang was an extension of the underground Katipunan movement, which sought freedom and independence for the Philippines from Spanish rule and later continued the struggle against the new colonial power, the United States of America.

Patricio Belen, a bodegero from Manila and leader of Dimas-Alang, brought the movement to the United States in 1906 to support the Filipino pursuit of Philippine independence. Like the pre-Katipunan reformist group Los Indios Bravos, the organizers utilized Masonic methods (such as initiation and rituals) and established lodges.

In the Philippines, the majority of Dimas-Alang's membership consisted of peasants and workers who were highly critical of the collaborative stance taken by the Filipino elite with American authorities, including the political dealings of Manuel Quezon with American politicians to achieve the country's independence. Many members of the Dimas-Alang Society, who admired Artemio Ricarte—a veteran Katipunero leader with strong anti-American sentiments—were restless and prepared for an uprising.

In the United States, the Caballero de Dimas-Alang emerged as a significant organization and mutual aid society largely due to the peasant and working-class backgrounds of Filipino sojourners and migrant workers, alongside workplace racial and class discrimination. At its height, the organization maintained 69 lodges outside of California, spanning regions such as Alaska, New York, New Orleans, Dallas, Chicago, and Honolulu, with each lodge comprising between ten and one hundred members. The Caballero de Dimas-Alang was officially incorporated as a California non-profit organization on January 22, 1921, and is regarded as one of the oldest Filipino organizations in the United States.

The Supremo informed me that nearly all their activities and rituals in Caballero were traditionally conducted in Tagalog. It was only within the last decade that they began incorporating English. Their members hold a profound respect for the heroes of our nation, particularly Rizal and Bonifacio. Their sense of Filipino identity and patriotic aspirations for their compatriots and homeland are both strong and clearly articulated.

As we commemorate Rizal's birthday on June 19, 2009, it is pertinent to reflect on and hopefully revitalize the enthusiastic study of Filipino history among Filipinos both within the homeland and across various countries worldwide. This initiative serves as an excellent foundation for discussions concerning the global Filipino identity.

June 7,2025 FB

Gemini Birthday Celebration

A Past Revisited, Connecting the Dots, part 10

May Gemini Birthday Celebration

Last night, we had the pleasure of celebrating the May Gemini Birthdays at Bayanihan Community Center in SoMa Pilipinas, San Francisco. The celebrants included me (May 22), Jonny Roberts (May 26), and Rachel Lucero (May 28). I have professional ties with both Jonny, who serves as the Bayanihan/FADF Community Coordinator, and Rachel, who is involved with the Taste of Filipino Christmas during the annual Parol Lantern Festival.

I am highlighting these birthday celebrations because, four years ago on May 23, 2021, I initiated a community celebration for Gemini Birthdays at Kapwa Gardens.

During the Covid-19 pandemic, the term "Shelter-in-Place" (SIP) was implemented in many towns and cities to prevent the spread of the virus. SIP affected social life by confining people to their homes, resulting in reduced face-to-face interactions. This caused feelings of isolation and loneliness, especially for those living alone or away from family and friends. To cope with the lack of physical interaction, many utilized virtual communication methods like video calls, social media, and online communities to maintain relationships and socialize. Traditional celebrations and gatherings were either canceled or moved online.

Despite these challenges, the SoMa Pilipinas communities found ways to support each other. Neighborhoods organized mutual aid groups and provided assistance to those in need, fostering a sense of solidarity and resilience. Desi Danganan, Kultivate Lab, and numerous community volunteers transformed a small parking lot along Mission Street between 5th and 6th Street into gardens for community and family events, enabling safe outdoor gatherings. I contacted my Gemini friends in the community, and their response was positive. Their families and friends expressed enthusiasm for an outdoor birthday event.

The first Gemini Birthday community event was highly successful, but it did not continue in subsequent years due to various reasons. The May Gemini Birthday event held last night occurred for several important reasons. Rachel organized this event to celebrate her fifth anniversary of the Sago show and her birthday, as well as to gather her friends and supporters for her Tanggol-Migrante project. Additionally, I marked my platinum birthday, which is a significant milestone, and Jonny celebrated his first birthday at Bayanihan.

May 31,2025 FB

San Fernando, my birth place

A Past Revisited, Connecting the Dots, part 9

To mark the May 30th Feast of San Fernando in Pampanga, Philippines, I am sharing an essay that was originally published in the Supplement Magazine for the Inaugural Parol Lantern Festival in San Francisco in 2003.

Parol Festival and a Tale of Two Cities

I work and live in South of Market, a downtown neighborhood in San Francisco. I was born and raised in San Fernando, the provincial capital of Pampanga, which is now a newly chartered city strategically located in the central part of Luzon Island in the Philippines. Both cities are my two bayan, my old and new hometowns; the deep spring of inspiration, passion and pride in my life, work and vision.

The barrio Del Pilar where I grew up was a walking distance away from the poblacion or town plaza; to go to the market I had to cross a hanging bridge, we call “tete duyan.” Living closer to the central district of the town has its advantage; even at younger age, I was so much abreast of what’s happening in our town, province and in the nation; I knew many people, or shall I say many people knows me, in the plaza. Many of my relatives and folks from our barrio work in the town proper as vendors, shoe shiners, firemen, town clerks, receptionists, teachers and restaurant staff. My family name Canlas is common.

The South of Market district in San Francisco has been a home of Filipinos since the 1920s and became a popular destination among newcomers and recent immigrants because of its proximity to downtown jobs, affordable and very cheap housing rents, (I mean then, before the dotcom boom, in the nineties.), easy access to public transportation and major terminal going to and from the Bay Area counties, central to commerce and trade, available child care center, grade school and newcomers center, and St. Patrick’s Church on Mission and 4th is the center of gravity of Roman Catholics and religious services.

In many ways, I found my old town San Fernando’s poblacion in South of Market (SoMa) in San Francisco. Although there are only 3000 Filipinos in South of Market, representing a small 6 percent of the entire Filipino population in the City and County of San Francisco, not even close to the 32,720 Filipinos in Daly City or the 24,215 in Vallejo, and yet SoMa Filipinos is indisputably the Filipinotown in the Bay Area.

The old Filipino town, which for many years has functioned as a center of gravity and a gathering place for Filipinos, and a place they’ve claimed their own home, was gone now. It was the Manilatown in Kearny Street, a five blocks neighborhood adjacent to Chinatown in San Francisco. The last building, the famous International Hotel, was demolished in 1977 and its tenants, mostly seniors and Manongs, were all evicted. The memory of the old Manilatown is very much alive even today because of its lasting legacy – the struggle that brought together a broad coalition of people for the I-hotel that continues to inspire community activists to act and fight for affordable housing, jobs, well-being and dignity.

For many years, I have searched for our Filipinotown. At first, I thought, it was Daly City where I used to live and work for many years. I organized homeowners, parish council leaders, youth and their families through the Daly City Filipino Organizing Project. I was instrumental in founding service agency (Pilipino Bayanihan Resource Center), theater group (Teatro ng Tanan), coalition of service providers (KAPAG), and cultural event (Fiesta Filipina). I was rewarded in my community work and effort of building and naming a Filipinotown in Daly City; in 1999, I was a recipient of the Koshland’s Civic Unity Award of San Francisco Foundation.

I was approached in 1999 by Dr. Hanmin Liu, the President and CEO of the Wildflowers Institute, a non-profit agency that helps communities uncover and utilize the strengths of the cultures within the community. It was only through the Wildflowers Institute Studies 2000, which gave me a new but powerful lens of seeing communities that made me aware and fully grasped and uncovered the San Fernando character – the plaza and its neighboring barrios – of South of Market in San Francisco.

Eureka, “I found it; “my rediscovery of SoMa has inspired me more to work and fully immerse in the community. I have written many essays, columns, PowerPoint presentation, and lectures. I even had a book entitled “SoMa Pilipinas Studies 2000 in Two Languages” published by a South of Market based book store Arkipelago. In my book I mentioned:

“Amidst gentrification in South of Market, there is metamorphosis going in our community - consolidation and integration of the Filipino community into a SoMa Pilipinas. SoMa Pilipinas is a community work in progress. A vertical integration is taking deeper roots, connecting our current generation Filipinos and contemporary history in the making with our past and rich heritage, both here and in the Philippines. At the same time we are horizontally linking Filipino families, organizations and communities into webs of plaza - barangay, of hometowns and new found lands, in SoMa, in the Bay Area, in America and in the Philippines.” (Epilogue, SoMa Pilipinas)

The more I immerse in the life ways of San Francisco the more I feel at home; SoMa has perhaps the largest concentration of Kapampangan; St. Patrick’s Church has reciprocity with the Archdiocese of San Fernando, Fr. Elmer Magat and Fr. Ray Reyes hail from the seminary in San Fernando; the celebration of Flores de Mayo that falls on every last Friday of May is concurrently with San Fernando town fiesta, and Santacrusan was part of growing up; and now, I am very much involved in the Parol Festival in San Francisco is a long held tradition and claim-to-fame of San Fernando. San Fernando is dubbed as the “Christmas Capital of the Philippines.” It is not remote San Francisco will earn the title “Christmas Lantern Parol Capital of America.” I strongly believe it will happen.

A year ago, I was broaching the idea of holding a Parol Festival to my friends. Many were enthused and supportive of the project but they had doubts if it would ever be feasible. Many Filipino immigrants have memories of making parols when they were in grade school in the Philippines. Every body is familiar of hanging parols in the house windows, offices, street posts and churches.

Only very few, those who have witnessed the “Ligligan Parul” in San Fernando or have participated in the UP Lantern Parade, are acquainted of lantern festival. How can one start a supposed to be an annual Parol Festival if most of the people in the community are not familiar with the tradition?

Parol is a sign of hope. The opportunity first knocked in July when Bernadette Borja-Sy, the Executive Director of the Filipino American Development Foundation, was looking for an alternative ground-breaking-type-of-event for Bayanihan Community Center since its opening has been moved farther and farther the targeted date because of the delay of the completion of the Bayanihan House. A lighting ceremony in December was considered. I suggested expanding the event into a Parol Festival in the neighborhood along Mission Street that will culminate in St. Patrick’s on the night before the fist day of the nine-day early morning mass or Misa de Gallo.

The second opportunity came about when I met my old buddy in San Fernando, Robert David, now a Provincial Board Member and successful business man, during the July visit of Archbishop Paciano Aniceto of the San Fernando at St. Patrick’s Church. We both belong to a barkada (peer group) of knights of the altar. The friendly exchanges of stories and reminiscing of our childhood days led to a negotiation for a Parol Festival.

Robert David holds the distinction of coming from a family of giant lantern makers; his grandpa innovated a safer way of placing candle in Parol made of bamboo and rice-based paper. This was in the 1920s. He also tried using oil lamps and gas-powered lights. Later on his father who used to work as electrician in the now defunct La Mallorca Pambusco, a Pampanga bus company whose depot was located near their house, concocted old busses light-bulbs, cables and wires into a complicated circuit complementing the intricate designs of giant parols that gave birth of the “Ligligan Parul” which brought prestige to San Fernando, Pampanga.

“Ligligan” in Kapampangan has two meanings; “making noise” just like the kuliglig or crickets and “shaken down” as in kinilig or trembled. The term Ligligan has captured the dynamic interplay of multitude of lights, intricate designs and colors that are ingeniously crafted to dance with the rhythm of a brass band. Seeing the parul and hearing the band in unison is brilliantly spectacular, comparable if not better to Disney’s Electrical Parade. Unlike Disney’s, whose magic is computer-created lighting that is carefully choreographed to work in sync with the soundtracks, “Ligligan Parul” predated computer, electronics, multimedia graphics.

Robert David is gracious of producing and bringing two giant lanterns in San Francisco for the Parol Festival; the first time ever done outside the Philippines. According to him, “it is not ligligan if there is only one parul, it takes two to tango, and it is not giant lantern if the parul is below ten feet in diameter.”

Parols brighten our homes and neighborhoods. The Parol Festival in San Francisco will radiate the virtue of bayanihan or people working together. Considering its humble beginning, the “Ligligan Parul”and Parol Festival in Yerba Buena Gardens, it is my hope and vision, will forever link San Francisco and San Fernando, my two cherished hometowns, culturally and spectacularly.

Kasanting, Abe. It means “Isn’t that beautiful!”

To be continued… Abangan ang susunod na kabanata…

May 29,2025 FB