Rocking the (Fil-Am) Vote

Saturday, 01 November 2008 13:12 Malou Liwanag-Aguilar/AJPress

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Although a number of Filipinos in the United States have remained to be passive about American politics and fail to see the importance of practicing their right to vote, many others have gathered their efforts to make sure that the community understands the significance of casting their choice.

As the second largest Asian ethnic group in the US, Filipino-Americans are part of the broader Asian American group. They are a significant demographic, and among the most important consumer targets for ethnic and mainstream marketers. On the political mainstream however, Fil-Ams have been less than appealing. In an article in AsianWeek, the National Federation of Filipino American Associations’ (NaFFAA) National Chair Greg Macabenta concluded that, “We can gain political empowerment—but we must use Voting Power and we must be willing to accept trade-offs among ourselves.” He also stated the facts on how Fil-Ams fared in the political mainstream and the need for political victories to inspire activism.

Pushing the FilVote

To muster the Fil-Am voting power, Asian and Filipino organizations and groups have formed programs and campaigns to push for FilVote—a non-partisan voter engagement project aimed to unite Fil-Ams across ideological, religious and class differences toward gaining genuine political power in the US.

The Filipino American Service Group Inc.’s (FASGI) created the FilVote campaign in 1996, after an LA Times article wrote about the happy life of the Fil-Ams in the US but criticized their lack of united voice and political empowerment.

“Almost three-quarters of those [Filipinos] surveyed said they do not belong to a Filipino political organization,” according to the LA Times story, Filipinos Happy With Life in the US but Lack United Voice.

However, that story has changed. Since its creation in 1996, FilVote has registered over 25,000 Filipino-American voters in LA County, held multiple candidate fora and conducted voter behavior research. In 2000, FASGI partnered with AFL-CIO to implement a national FilVote project. This year, FASGI joined forces with ABS-CBN’s Balitang America to get push for the Filipinos’ participation and vote in the upcoming US Presidential election.

In the 2004 presidential elections, only 594,000 Filipino-Americans voted—a decline of 7 percent because 122,000 registered voters did not cast their ballots. “Potentially, there are 715,000 Filipino-Americans, or 40 percent of our total number, who can be mobilized to go to the polls,” says Gloria Caoile, co-chair of FilVote. “But we need to register them if they haven’t done so and educate them on issues that directly affect our community so they will appreciate what’s at stake, especially for our children and families.”

NaFFAA also has a very strong FilVote program, which not only aims to register Filipinos who are American citizens, but to make sure that they go out and vote.

APIA Vote, a national nonpartisan, nonprofit organization that encourages the Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) community to be involved in the elections, have organized with different Asian American groups nationwide to register as many members and inform them about the significance of their vote.

There are nearly 15 million AAPIs nationwide. During the 2004 presidential elections, seven million AAPIs were eligible to vote, half of that number registered and three million or 85 percent voted, according to statistics compiled by APIA Vote.

Obama or McCain?

The upcoming US Presidential elections, however, had slowly gotten more Filipinos and Asian Americans out of their shells. Also, candidates have taken the issues of AAPIs into consideration, and have accepted that their votes can make an impact on their possible future in the White House.

Democrat Senator Barack Obama released his Blueprint for the Change We Need for Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, a comprehensive planning document that identifies the issues affecting the AAPI community and describes Sen. Obama’s plans to address these issues.

In the Blueprint, Senator Obama said “By reaching out directly to the AAPI communities, we can ensure that AAPIs are well represented in this national conversation about our future and the movement to write our destiny. The story of the AAPI communities is quintessential the American story about drawing strength from our diversity to achieve extraordinary things. I will be a president who remembers that our separate struggles are really one. I will never walk away from the tough battles or the difficult work of bringing people together.”

The Blueprint addresses a wide range of issues, including economic opportunity, education, immigration, health care, home ownership, seniors, women, civil rights, foreign policy, veterans and faith.

Although a national survey showed that Asian American voters prefer Sen. Obama, 41 percent to 24 percent nationally, over Republican Sen. John McCain, that’s not the entire story.

According to the study, a high portion, or 34% of those surveyed, remains undecided. For the researchers, this is a key finding and a development that could set the stage for Asian Americans to play a pivotal role in the outcome of the November election.

The numbers could make a difference especially in battleground states where there is a growing Asian American population. Among the general population, national polls conducted since the major party conventions show that undecided voters are approximately 8 percent of the electorate. The study also shows that Filipino American voters support Obama, 35 percent over McCain, 29 percent. Thirty-four percent remains undecided.

Still, whether decided or not, there is one major factor in achieving political empowerment for the Filipino-Am community —and that is, to have political awareness. Knowing that being involved and exercising our right to vote will accomplish the objectives the community has set. Having that power to vote can influence policy-makers, and put into positions of power elected officials who represent the interest of Fil-Ams. (With reports from Joseph Pimentel and Momar Visaya) (www.asianjouranal.com)

(Published November 1, 2008 p.A1 LAWKND)

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