Family ties buoy Hawaiians’ visit

Ask Gov. Linda Lingle about her visit to the Philippines and she recalls fond memories of when she first came to Hawaii and rented a room from a Filipino family on Molokai.

During graduation season, the whole community would come together to throw a party, she said.

"They start bringing in all the woks. They’re bringing all the utensils. They bring in the different ingredients. They start the pancit cooking and you can smell the adobo is going," Lingle said.

Families couldn’t afford to cater or do it all by themselves, Lingle said, so they worked together as a community.

The governor arrived Tuesday night in Manila for an eight-day visit that she said will celebrate that community spirit and hospitality and the contributions Filipinos have made to Hawaii over the last 100 years.

"They have so much pride to take me to the Philippines," Lingle said. "It’s not like I’m taking them, it’s like they’re taking me. Yeah, I’m the leader of the delegation because I happen to be the governor, but they want this opportunity to show me the country that so many of them came from."

During the visit, Lingle and state and county officials will visit with President Arroyo and with governors and mayors of sister provinces and cities. She will also help with the unveiling of a stamp commemorating the centennial of Filipino immigration to Hawaii, witness the signing of agreements between the University of Hawaii and universities in the Philippines and promote business, tourism and cultural ties.

The visit is also an emotional one for Filipinos in the group, some of whom have never been to the Philippines since they or their parents immigrated.

State Sen. Lorraine Inouye said her great grand-uncle Marciano Bello was one of the original 15 sakadas who came to the Big Island in 1906.

She’s hoping to make connections with long-lost relatives.

Among those on the trip are Lingle’s former landlords Felix and Cresencia Befitel, parents of state Department of Labor and Industrial Relations Director Nelson Befitel, who is also traveling with the governor.

The 178 members of the delegation include 12 officials from the administration, two representatives from the University of Hawaii, nine legislators, three Hawaii County Council members and Kauai Mayor Bryan Baptiste and an aide, plus 18 Hawaii entertainers, including "American Idol" star Jasmine Trias and dancers from Tihati’s Polynesian Reveu.

The state and counties are spending an estimated $75,000 on airfare, ground transportation and hotel accommodations for elected and other government officials.

An additional $149,000 was raised from 15 corporate sponsors and from a $200 delegation fee, which will pay for Trias and the dancers, and help defray the costs of a state-sponsored dinner in Ilocos Norte and other expenses.

Also participating are members of the Filipino Chamber of Commerce, who are putting on a trade exposition and symposium in Manila.

Lingle said she is excited about an agreement between Kapiolani Community College and universities in Ilocos Sur and Pangasinan to help improve the curriculum at their nursing schools and for faculty exchanges.

The agreement may ease the nursing shortage in Hawaii by making it easier for nurses from the Philippines to pass their licensing exams should they decide to immigrate here, Lingle said.

Another agreement between the College of Tropical Agriculture at the University of Hawaii at Manoa and the University of the Philippines at Los Baños will formalize research ties between the two schools. UH-Manoa graduates are among the faculty at Los Baños and have been working jointly with the college on corn breeding and fruit fly eradication projects, said Andrew Hashimoto, dean of the UH-Manoa College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources.

Lingle also wants to highlight the contributions Hawaii Filipinos have made to improving life in the Philippines and in Hawaii, citing the Aloha Medical Mission as one example.

Doctors and nurses with the mission volunteer to spend their vacations helping people in the Philippines and other countries with medical care.

The governor will visit a hospital in Ilocos Sur, which has benefited through donations of equipment, medicine and volunteers from Hawaii.

She will also visit a children’s shelter in Pangasinan, which is supported by Hawaii donations and volunteers.

Another highlight of the visit will be the unveiling of a marker at Port Salumague in Ilocos Sur, where the first 15 sakadas, or contract plantation workers, boarded a boat for Hawaii in 1906.

The tour is also aimed at strengthening sister state and sister city ties between Hawaii and the Philippines.

The governor acknowledged that those relationships may not lead to immediate benefits for Hawaii, but that’s not the main reason for those ties, she said.

"They take them very seriously. It’s a relation. It’s family. We’re united, and you don’t unite and have family just because of what you can get from each other, but what you can give to each other," she said.

Hawaii is uniquely suited to a kind of personal diplomacy in Asia and the Pacific, Lingle said.

"No other state can even come close to the role we can play in this part of the world because we’re trusted. We’re understood. We understand this part of the world and we have respect for each other," she said.

"People from Hawaii just have a lot of relationships that are important for the entire country."