WASHINGTON D.C. - The recent presidential elections, and victory of Democratic standard-bearer Barack Obama, have changed the political vista for Filipino-Americans.

“It showed there is promise. We now have a person of color who is president of the United States. That gives us hope that who knows, someday we may have a Filipino in office, and he can be president,” said Rozita Lee, vice chairperson of the National Federation of Filipino-American Associations (NaFFAA).

Over 50 NaFFAA leaders from all over America converged in the nation’s capital over the weekend to plot the Fil-Am agenda under the Obama administration. The meeting was hosted by the Philippine Embassy here.

“We need political empowerment. We need to elect someone from within our community for all the different political entities we have, especially Congress. That’s what we’re aiming for – for representation in Congress,” Lee told ABS-CBN’s Balitang America.

Newly-elected NaFFAA chairman Greg Macabenta said Fil-Ams “have to be politically savvy and build an infrastructure that allows us to endorse candidates for political office, raise funds and contribute to political campaigns.”

There was quick consensus during the deliberations to form a Fil-Am political action committee (PAC). A PAC is a private interest group organized to elect political candidates. Under US federal law, an organization becomes a PAC when it collects or spends at least $1,000 to influence a federal election. There is a $5,000 per-candidate-per-election limit for individual contributions to PACs (excluding contributions to political parties, which has a $15,000 cap).

Macabenta stressed that the idea of a Fil-Am PAC is not new, but for various reasons it’s never gotten off the ground. That could now change, said Gloria Caoili, co-chairperson of the FilVote project that carried out voter registration drives in Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania and Florida during the last elections.

“This is putting our money where our mouth is,” she declared. “We’ve got to produce because the bottom line in any election, in any country that matters, is that Congress people will ask ‘Did this group give me money in my campaign?’ before they even listen to our issues.”

“We realize that now,” Caoili averred. “People are excited because of this past election. This is the right time.”

His youth belies Ben de Guzman’s experience working in Capitol Hill. He is the executive director of the National Alliance for Filipino Veterans Equity (NAFVE), one of the spearheads of the Fil-Am lobby for the Filipino World War II veterans’ equity bill.

“People who run PACs become political insiders. They know that when they call an office and say, ‘Hey look, I’m with this PAC and we gave so-much to your campaign’ you get to talk to them about what you want to talk about, and in DC the name of the game is getting your issue on top of the inbox because you know when you leave there will be three issues on top of it again,” De Guzman explained.

However, NAFFAA itself can not branch out to national politics because it will lose its tax privileges. NAFFAA is classified as a non-profit “501” organization that is prohibited from engaging in partisan political activities.

Lessons from Veterans lobby, presidential campaign

De Guzman said a Fil-Am PAC could have been helpful when they started lobbying for the Filipino Veterans Equity Bill. The bill, embodied in S-1315 that won overwhelming approval in the Senate, is stalled in the House of Representatives. Veterans’ supporters are trying to nudge it forward, along with S-3689 and HR-6897 (that aims to provide $198 million to veterans) in lameduck sessions this month.

Regardless of how these efforts turn out, the Fil-Am community’s intense involvement in the veterans lobby as well as this year’s presidential campaign have provided valuable experience and fresh insights on how best to promote the community’s interests on the national stage.

The veterans lobby has demonstrated the importance of coalition building. Macabenta recently led ceremonies at the Capitol Hilton here to mark NAFFAA’s resumption of ties with the Greenlining Coalition, an aggrupation of 50 mainstream organizations committed to social justice issues.

De Guzman has seen the value of coalitions while working for Filipino veterans’ equity. He cited the support given by the Asian Pacific American community. “We wouldn’t have achieved significant gains in Congress without the support of these established civil rights organizations,” he noted.

“The equity bill has never just been a one-shot deal. It was never just about the veterans although they were our primary focus. It’s also been about building the political capital of the community,” he told Balitang America.

He has been appointed as NAFFAA representative to the influential National Council of Asian Pacific Americans (NCAPA).

“When NAFFAA was formed 11 years ago,” said Macabenta, “the idea was not to create an umbrella organization but to establish links among various autonomous and local groups to harness our collective strength.”

He harped on the need to focus on the long-term and the collective interest of the Fil-Am community. This specification fits squarely with the formation of a PAC, which could expand the group’s political clout.

Dexter Ligot-Gordon, former NAFFAA National Youth Chairman, told the assembly about the experience of Filipino who worked in the Obama campaign, especially the construction of a potent data base that became the basis for record-shattering fund-raising and mobilizations.

“This past election cycle really geared up the Fil-Am community to be part of this big political infrastructure here in the US,” Caoili told Balitang America. “What I saw that I’ve never ever seen in my time in the political arena is how involved the Fil-Am community really got with their respective candidates. I’m not talking about partisanship but just how involved we’ve become,” she averred.

Macabenta, citing these lessons and his own emphasis for beyond-the-horizon thinking, Macabenta urged the NAFFAA leaders to become engaged in the 2010 Census that will be starting soon. “It is critical that we are accurately counted so that underserved sectors in our community are properly recognized,” he explained. The 2000 Census pegged the Pinoy population in America at almost 2.4 million. Some have put the actual number closer to four million.
 
Progressive, ambitious plans

Ambassador Willy Gaa immediately congratulated the NAFFAA leaders for “coming out with a progressive and ambition plan and strategy…to get more actively focused and involved in community advocacy.”

“I am confident that the direction NAFFAA is taking will enable it to effectively harness the potential influence and strength that resides in the 4-million strong Filipino-American community,” he said.

“NAFFAA is growing,” stressed Lee, saying the organization is being energized by the resurgence of interest and support, especially from its younger members.

“We’re working very hard so our kababayans throughout the country are aware of what NAFFAA is doing, we want them to support NAFFAA not just by the giving of their time but also financially because with the money behind us we can do more things as other organizations have shown us,” she explained.

“The biggest obstacle for any political exercise is partisanship,” Macabenta said, responding to a question of what could block the establishment of a Fil-Am PAC. “We have to be prepared to regard ourselves as neither as Fil-Am Democrats nor Fil-Am Republicans but as Fil-Am Fil-Ams, determined to address issues that are beneficial or threatening to the Fil-Am community.”

He is optimistic this obstacle can be surmounted because Filipinos have shown they can unite for a common cause. He cited the Filipino veterans’ equity bill that has been supported vigorously by both Democratic and Republican Fil-Ams. “There are possibilities. We just have to agree that these are the issues where we share common interest,” he averred.

Macabenta vowed to have the Fil-Am PAC up and running by next year.