First and foremost, I wish to congratulate the DAILY TRIBUNE and its president and publisher, Mr. Willie Fernandez, on the publication’s 25th anniversary. What began as a modest endeavor with a handful of dedicated journalists has, over the past 25 years, evolved into an influential institution in Philippine media — an achievement that stands as a proud testament to its commitment to journalistic excellence.

I am also grateful to the DAILY TRIBUNE for the opportunity to share the stories and experiences of the Filipino-American diaspora through my voice as a columnist.

A lot has happened in 25 years. According to the latest US census data, the Filipino-American population has doubled from 2.3 million in 2000 to an estimated 4.7 million in 2025. It is now the third largest immigrant group of Asian origin after Chinese-Americans and Indian-Americans.

Large-scale Filipino migration began during the American colonial period when Filipinos were classified as US nationals and, thus, were able to migrate freely to the United States.

They came to be laborers and farm workers manning the canneries in Alaska, the sugar plantations in Hawaii, and the farmlands in California. Many came as US Navy recruits and as pensionados — students provided scholarships to study and train in American universities, though many of them returned home and served in the Philippine civil service.

In 1934, the Tydings-Mcduffie Act reclassified Filipinos as aliens and immigration was limited to 50 per year despite the Philippines being an American territory, temporarily halting mass migration. After the Second World War, the War Brides Act allowed many Filipina spouses and children of US servicemen to immigrate.

The next big wave of immigrants came in the middle to late 1960s after the Immigration and Nationality Act was promulgated in 1965. This landmark law abolished national origin quotas, allowing Filipino professionals like nurses, doctors and engineers to legally migrate to the United States.

The cascading effect of this large-scale migration greatly increased the Filipino-American population, including multi-racial Filipinos, from about 350,000 in the early ‘70s to what it is today, as Filipino migrants were able to marry and raise families and sponsor other family members.

This upward demographic trajectory coupled with a strong ethnic identity helped fuel Filipino-American political consciousness and empowerment. Fil-Ams did not only gain greater political significance, they became active in local, state, national and party politics, and eventually began running for public office.

Thelma Garcia Buchholdt became the first Filipino-American and Asian-American woman elected as a US state legislator, in Alaska in 1974. In 1992, Fil-Ams broke through into national politics when Bobby Scott was elected to the US Congress representing the 3rd District of Virginia, and he continues to serve to this day.

Ben Cayetano won election as governor of Hawaii in 1994 and served two terms. Steve Austria became the first Filipino-American elected to Congress from the Midwest, representing Ohio’s 7th District from 2009 to 2013.

In 2019, TJ Cox was elected to Congress representing California’s 21st District and served until 2021. Rob Bonta became the first Filipino-American to hold statewide office in California when he was elected Attorney General in 2022. Currently, many Filipino-Americans are serving in the local and state levels. Atop this list is San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria, the first Filipino-American to serve as mayor of a major US city.

But empowerment does not only entail getting Fil-Ams elected to political office. Fil-Ams have arrived and will continue to be a force in America’s political scene. They are already in the mainstream, not on the fringes.

What matters most is that Fil-Ams also empower their communities and help amplify the voices of those who have been historically marginalized or underrepresented, leading to a more inclusive and representative democracy. This is of absolute importance, since individual freedoms and liberties are currently under pressure everywhere.