The Filipino working class on the West Coast Stromberg

Stromberg, Hayward, Bay Area, San Francisco, USA -- We are here in the West Coast, having a quick vacation, after spending eight days in Tacloban, Ormoc, Basey and Bantayan in northern Cebu. And I am visiting the Filipinos here in San Francisco, particularly in Daly City, the Bay Area, then to Sacramento, Stockton, the Silicon Valley and to the South Lake Tahoe. Life here is all work, work, work, then church on Sundays and endless family gatherings. My mission is to look into the life and lifestyles of the Filipino working class. My findings are both a revelation and a confirmation of my thesis all along.

My relatives and friends in the Bay Area are working mostly in hospitals and home cares. Most of them have double jobs. They maximize their earning capacity and working time and their only purpose, aside from bringing up their growing children and ageing parents, is to send money to relatives here in the Philippines, especially those who were affected by the typhoons and earthquakes. The children are going to schools and the senior citizens are enjoying medical and health benefits from the Obama health care system.

Our relatives and friends in Stockton are into agriculture, this area being largely a farming community. They grow a lot of crops and vegetables and the government is subsidizing their fertilizers and pesticides and they do not have fertilizer scam here. My cousins have a lot of fruit-bearing apple and orange trees. And we enjoy apple-picking and orange-picking, then strawberries and a lot of other fruits that we get only from the supermarkets in our country. I have also spent last weekend near the Silicon Valley. There are hundreds of Filipino engineers working there and earning a lot of money.

But we enjoyed a lot in South Lake Tahoe, that beautiful oasis in the boundaries of California and Nevada. The California side has a lot of trees and forests and golf courses (Tiger Woods has a secret hideaway here). The Nevada side is all casinos and bars and small offices that advertise openly: Marriage in 24 Hours, Divorce in 3 hours. The Filipinos are making good money in the casinos as dealers, waiters and even janitors and utility workers. Former teachers from Bohol, accountants from Davao and engineers from Leyte, they are here having two or three houses, renting out some of them.

The Filipinos from LA and San Diego just to relax on weekends, drive a long way to Reno or Las Vegas, not really to gamble in the casinos but to meet their cousins and loved ones. On Sundays, Filipino families gather in church, mostly Catholic and Iglesia ni Kristo. They cook and eat together and watch TFC and keep themselves updated with the latest happenings in our dear Philippines. That is what keeps the Pinoys going here - working to the bones, eating a lot and keeping their faith and fellowship. They young ones here still kiss the hands of relatives who are visiting, like us, and drive us around to see a lot of places.

The Filipino working class in the western front are keeping the spirit up. They never forget our country and people and they are committed as always to support us, in good times and in bad. I do come here to visit my parents in Seattle. They used to live in Hawaii for more than twenty years, but my youngest brother, who is in the US Air Force, transferred to another assignment and my old folks had to follow them in Federal Way in the State of Washington. Next week, I shall share with you my insights into the lives and careers of Pinoys in Seattle, Vancouver, Alaska and then we shall be flying to New York, in its coldest time of the year. See you in Christmas.