Fil-Am studes to visit RP as volunteers

STAR Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON — Convinced that much more can be done for the development of the Philippines than simply sending a "balikbayan" box, a group of Filipino-American students plans to visit their ancestral country next month to work on community service projects and lay the groundwork for what they hope will be the start of an annual program.

The proposed five-week visit by members of the newly created Filipino-American Corps (FAC) underscores their determination to give back to their parents’ homeland and gain an insight into their identities and their relationship to both the United States and the Philippines.

But the FAC is having a difficult time raising the $10,000 it estimates the initial group of nine students will need for the project. Sponsors have contributed only $1,800 so far. "I hope Filipino-American businesses and organizations come to our aid, but if worse comes to worse, we’ll get a loan from our parents to make our dream into a reality,"  FAC founder Gerald Baltazar said.

President Arroyo in a recent speech said Filipino-Americans were responsible for two-thirds of dollar remittances to the country "and the  Philippines must strengthen its links with them even as these Filipino-Americans assert their presence in American society."

The brainchild of a group of Fil-Am students at Georgetown and George Mason Universities in the Washington area, the FAC aims to get students interested in Philippine social and political issues and what they can do to help in the country’s development.

"We’re all motivated by a desire to discover our roots, to give back both to the land of our parents and to the United States. We think two countries with more than a 100-year relationship should know each other better and be stronger allies, and we want to help bring this about," Baltazar said.

The students, due to arrive in Manila on June 17, are scheduled to work with Habitat for Humanity Philippines in Cebu and an HIV/AIDS mission in Manila. They also plan to establish a library in Lucena City and teach English at various elementary schools. FAC members expect to collect about 400 books for shipment to the Philippines and Forex, shippers of balikbayan boxes, has pledged to ship all the books for free.

"On our return, we will publicize our experiences to other college student communities and to local and national political leaders, hopefully to strengthen advocacy for the Philippines and project a more vigorous Filipino-American voice before the US Congress," said Baltazar, 21, a Bachelor of Science graduate of Georgetown University.

When Mrs. Arroyo visited Washington late last year she said the FAC’s "goals of providing a national network of American college students of Filipino descent the opportunity to volunteer in various fields, much like the Peace Corps and immerse in Filipino culture in the country of your forebears is truly laudable."

"I hope that this will foster greater understanding between our two countries and that by this you will develop a deeper sense of your Filipino identity," she said.

Presently, there appears to be few programs that encourage Fil-Am students to live in the Philippines and advocate volunteer service as a means to educate.

Programs that do exist primarily target professionals and require long-term commitments that students cannot meet. Hence, the FAC proposal that targets FilAm students for summer projects in the Philippines. 

In its mission statement, the FAC pointed out that pressing Filipino-American concerns in recent years have spurred college organizations to focus on the education of Filipino-American young adults on social and political issues pertinent to the Filipino community.

"By spending five weeks engaged in the project, students will experience first hand what life is like for the Filipino and come to a better understanding of the socio-economic conditions that have stricken many with poverty and need," it added.

Baltazar said FAC founding members were working to develop the Corps into a national non-government organization (NGO) so that with help from donors "we will be able to send Filipino-Americans to the Philippines for years to come."

"When the idealism of youth is harnessed, no hardship is insurmountable," Ambassador to Washington Albert del Rosario has said. But the idealism of the students can only go so far without funding.