PIONEERS OF FILIPINO MIGRANT MOVEMENT

PIONEERS OF FILIPINO MIGRANT MOVEMENT

1. Carlos Bulosan - Born to a peasant family in Binalonan, Pangasinan, Bulosan grew up in poverty. To augment the family’s income, he decided to work in the United States. He arrived in Seattle in July 1930 at the age of 17, without money and at that time, could not speak English.Bulosan worked on the farm, in hotels and factories and experienced discrimination and difficulties. He joined unions, eventually becoming a union leader. When he got sick, he wrote his famous book, exposing the hardships and struggles of Filipinos and other migrant workers in the US. He died of bronchopneumonia on Sept. 11, 1956

2. Leaders of the 1965 Delano grape strike Larry Itliong and Philip Vera Cruz Itliong and Vera Cruz mobilized thousands of Filipino farm workers in Delano, California, then the lowest-paid workers. Eventually, Mexican-Americans joined, resulting in the formation of the United Farm Workers of America in August 1966. The strike lasted until 1970 and paved the way for a collective bargaining agreement with the table-grape growers, representing more than 10,000 farm workers.Itliong served as assistant director of Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee, precursor of the UFW. Later, he became its national boycott coordinator. After the strike, Itliong served as president of the Filipino American Political Alliance, the first national political organization of Filipino-Americans in the US.Itliong died in 1977 at the age of 63. In Carlson, California, Larry Itliong Day is celebrated every 25th of October, his birthday.

3. Another union leader, Pedro Calosa, led strikes of Filipinos in the plantations in Hawaii in 1924. After the strike, he was deported back to the Philippines. By 1929, he started organizing the Ilocano Colorum of peasants. He led the Tayug Uprising on January 11, 1931 against feudal exploitation. He was killed by state forces in 1967.

Precursors of Migrante International Before the establishment of Migrante International in 1996, these organizations led the campaigns of OFWs for decent wages, better working conditions, freedom from discrimination and abuse, among others.In 1984, eleven migrant organizations in Hong Kong stood up against former President Ferdinand Marcos’s Executive Order 857 mandating all OFWs to remit through the Philippine banking system 50 to 70 percent of their basic salary. They formed United Filipinos Against Forced Remittance (Unfare), a tactical alliance against Marcos’s directive. The alliance led internationally-coordinated actions that compelled Marcos to revoke EO 857.Dolores Balladeres), chairwoman of the United Filipinos in Hong Kong and Jun Delles of the Mission for Migrant Workers vow to continue their service to the overseas Filipino workers. On Mayo 12, 1985, the United Filipinos in Hong Kong (Unifil- HK), one of the prime movers behind the alliance, was formally launched with a more strategic perspective of mobilizing migrant workers for their rights and welfare.Mission for Migrant Workers (MFMW), also in Hong Kong. Founded in March 1981 by Protestant and Catholic churches, the ecumenical institution provides services to distressed OFWs.Meanwhile, in the Middle East, in 1985, the Kapatiran sa Gitnang Silangan (KGS) began as a small group promoting camaraderie among OFWs. Later, the KGS transformed into being a political organization advocating for the rights of OFWs in Riyadh and nearby cities.John Leonard Monterona of the Migrante-Middle East said in Filipino: “Amid the difficult situation of migrants in the Middle East, our organizing efforts will go on.”

Exemplary migrants and refugeesJuana Tejada whose death paved the way for the significant improvements of caregiver program in Canada.Tejada arrived in Canada in March 2003. In 2006, she was found eligible for permanent residence. The following year, she was diagnosed with colon cancer stage 4 and was declared medically inadmissible for the residence. Tejada, with the support of migrant groups in Canada, fought for her rights until her very last breath. On July 17, 2008, the Citizenship and Immigration Canada granted Tejada’s dying wish, that she be granted permanent residence on humanitarian and compassionate grounds.


Antonio Zumel and Jose Maria Sison.Zumel, a journalist who fought the Marcos dictatorship, founded the International Office of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) in the Utrecht, the Netherlands.Sison, a political refugee since 1987 in Utrecht, the Netherlands, has not only been denied political asylum but was imprisoned in a foreign land and labeled as a terrorist.Sison challenged Migrante International to win greater victories in promoting the rights and welfare of migrant workers. He urged the group to continue fighting for a new Philippines, where Filipinos would not be forced to work abroad and would have a decent life in the Philippines


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