S1: Welcome in San Diego. It's Andrew Bracken in for Jade Hindman on today's show , as the US looks to celebrate America's 250th anniversary , a new KPBS series tells the story of the Philippines own independence movement in the forgotten 4th of July. This is KPBS Midday Edition. Connecting our communities through conversation. This weekend , America will officially commemorate 250 years since declaring independence from British rule , and celebrations have been well underway. But the 4th of July also marks another important anniversary. 80 years ago this Saturday , the US signed the Treaty of Manila , which freed the Philippines from colonial rule , and a new four part series from KPBS looks at how that treaty has shaped the Filipino diaspora over the past several decades , both here in San Diego and beyond. It's called the Forgotten 4th of July. I'm joined now by KPBS reporters Corey Suzuki and Elaine Alfaro , who both worked on this series. Corey. Lainey , welcome.
S2: Thank you. Hey , Andrew. Thanks for having us.
S1: Great to have you here. So , Corey , what inspired you to take on this series originally? What got you going here?
S2: Well , I think for me , the biggest question that I had at the beginning was , um , what what is the significance of this event coming this year? I mean , I feel like there are so many questions around the identity of the United States right now around who who the country is welcoming and who it's not , and also around kind of the exercise of U.S. power and U.S. sovereignty around the world and how that affects the sovereignty of other nations. And so I think that I was really curious about how this event coming eight years , um , eight years ago , would be being celebrated or being commemorated at this time , and especially here in San Diego , where we have such a large a region that's home to such a large Filipino community in the US. Yeah.
S1: Yeah. And , Elaine , it seems like there's a lot of intersections here. As Corey was talking about with the history of the United States , the history of the Philippines , you know. Tell us more about your inspiration and why you wanted to tell these stories.
S3: Yeah , I think Corey covered it. I mean , just the fact that the US is recognizing this 250 anniversary and 80 years for the Philippines as well , I feel like those two big milestones felt like they should be talked about in conjunction with each other. Um , and I think the other thing is the fact that San Diego's Filipino diaspora is so is so big and has such deep roots within that 80 years. Um , it felt like both an international story , but also one that's hyper local to San Diego and to the ways that many Filipinos came to San Diego throughout these 80 years. And for me personally , it also came from a place of curiosity. As someone whose film and wanting to better understand how my community feels about this day , especially in the bigger picture , that Independence Day is actually celebrated on a different date entirely in the Philippines. So how do we think about the Independence Day that the Filipinos recognize in the Philippines? And how do we think about Independence Day , the one that that the US um , gave? So , yeah , I think those are some of the entry points into in some of the questions that I was thinking about as we started working on this project.
S1: Really interesting. I mean , Corey , let's go back 80 years now and talk more about the history behind the Treaty of Manila. What can you tell us about that agreement and what led up to it? Right.
S2: Right. Well , the Treaty of Manila was this landmark agreement that , like you've both mentioned , um , released the Philippines from US colonial role. And this happened during 1946 , but there was a kind of a long history leading up to that. The US really took control of the Philippines right at the beginning. At the end of the 19th century , at the beginning of the 20th century , this was part of an agreement with Spain as part of a peace treaty settling the Spanish-American War. And the US and Spain struck that deal , even though Filipino leaders had declared their own independence , which led to this kind of ongoing and very violent war for independence between Filipino revolutionaries and US military forces , and kind of in the decades following that leading up to the treaty , there's this what we learned is that there's there's a much kind of more complicated history. I feel like that leads up to this year when the US grants independence. It feels like when you see videos of this , uh , of this event , uh , the , the , the , um , official ceremony that commemorated the Treaty of Manila , it looks like this , this kind of grand occasion. You have diplomats and military leaders arriving in Manila , in the capital of the Philippines , and it was timed to the 4th of July , this incredibly significant date for the for the United States. And at the same time , I feel like what we learned speaking with historians and professors who have studied the time period leading up to this event , what we really learned is that there's just a kind of a much more , deeper history there , and in some ways , a much uglier history when it comes to why exactly the US decided to grant the Philippines independence.
S1: As you as you previously mentioned , San Diego is home to one of the biggest Filipino communities in the country. Corey , I'm wondering if you can talk about what drove that migration into this region over the past several decades and how it was able to continue growing even after , you know , limit limits on immigration. Kind of , you know , played a role in it as well.
S2: Right , right. Well , I mean , limits on immigration were really the backdrop to what was happening at the time. I mean , this was the era of the Chinese Exclusion Act , and the US was really moving to kind of try and place these very strict limits on particularly immigrants from different Asian countries , Chinese immigrants , Japanese immigrants from moving to the US , Filipino people who had begun moving to the US following the , um , the kind of that turn of the century and the transition of power and the Philippines from Spain to the US. Filipino people , um , had kind of a unique status because as a US colony , uh , people who lived in the Philippines were designated a kind of a specific term , which is a US national. We spoke to Rick Valdez about this. He's a professor of American studies at Brown University. And the way he described this is it's a status in between someone who's , um , who's not part of a country's citizenship status and someone who's a citizen. It's somewhere in the middle. And so because of that status , um , that was kind of the , the early some of some of the earliest examples of Filipino people , young men in particular , in the 1920s and 30s starting to move to the US as laborers and beginning to move to San Diego. Interesting.
S1: Interesting. Um , Elaine , as you mentioned , this anniversary is not something that's widely celebrated or known to much. What else did your reporting reveal there?
S3: What I think about when you asked this question is when we first started playing with the idea of doing this project , we did a lot of like pre reporting of just talking to folks about , you know , what does independence mean to you? And I think time and time again , I remember in a few of those early interviews there , folks would tell us , oh , the June 12th date , the , The the 1898 Independence Day. And then we'd be like , no. Um , July. July 4th , the US Independence Day. Um , and I think that's just very , um , very telling of how this history is talked about. It's it's not I mean , in some ways it's recognized and specific conversations , I'm sure , among Falam folks. And , um , also , you know , leaders in the Philippines. But I feel like when we talk about the narrative , that's the history that's told about independence in the US , even myself , like , I didn't know a whole lot about this July 4th date for the Philippines. And I think that's what I took away as we were doing the pre reporting , is that , um , the state isn't recognized in the same way as the Philippines Independence Day , the day they recognize independence from Spain. So I think that's just what's stuck with me as we've been doing this reporting process , is recognizing that this history just hasn't been told , um , Across the board in US education. I can't speak for Philippines education , but I feel like in our education system in the US , this state and this history isn't talked about.
S1: And your story. You have a four part reporting series here , and it covers a lot of different ground on that history that you've all been talking about. Um , Elaine , you reported on gardening as part of this series and how how did you want to show the relationship that a lot of Filipino families have with gardening food and that , you know , connection to culture?
S3: I think this came from a place of actually growing up in a film family , like I mentioned earlier , um , my Lolo , my Lola , my grandparents , they had this amazing garden that I remember going to growing up and picking , um , loquat. And I remember picking figs and lemons and my , my Lola had her own , you know , beautiful flowers as well. And just , um , as I was thinking about my own connection to that garden , I wondered whether other Filipino Americans felt that way too. And just as we were doing reporting and trying to figure out what stories fit into how San Diego's Filipino Americans set down roots in the county , I just realized that I think gardens are one of those spaces that physically , they actually set down roots and planted the fruits and vegetables and herbs that came from the Philippines to continue their culinary and traditional medicine practices , but also as a space to , like , share those very important traditions and recipes and even memories with second , third , fourth generation Filipino Americans. And so I think part of it was more just like a curiosity spot for me of like , oh , is this just me? Or is this like what other folks experience , too? And I think as we were , um , you know , trying to figure out what stories to tell there , that was one of the big ones. And so I actually spoke to one one really wonderful man , Alfonso Vila mora. He is a Spring Valley resident and veteran , and he welcomed me into his garden and shared a bit about how he started gardening.
S4: My gardening started even overseas because that was already in my psyche where I grew up. That was something I did raised vegetables because self-sufficiency is what our parents taught us.
S1: So in that story , you kind of talk about , you know , that connection to food and culture really , really , really beautifully there. But Catholicism has also played a major influence on Filipino culture and became a means of building community as well. Can you talk about the role religion plays here and the significance of fiestas , which is another story in the series for sure. Yeah.
S3: Yeah. So , um , Catholicism , uh , it has a there's a mixed feelings about how Catholicism has impacted Filipino culture and history. Catholicism came to the Philippines through Spanish colonization. And so folks , we we talked with about Catholicism , um , you know , recognized the tension they feel about their religious beliefs , but also the really beautiful ways that Catholicism has brought community together , especially for folks in the diaspora overseas. And so , um , for this story about Catholicism , um , it's actually more rooted in what are called these regional groups. So , folks , um , who came from the Philippines would actually , you know , set down roots in their new home like San Diego , and they'd look for other people from their hometowns. And , um , once they found each other , they started forming these different regional associations that had ties back to their hometowns in the Catholic calendar and cultural traditions that those hometowns observed. And so they'd continue to practice those traditions , and they'd continue to observe those holidays , even here in San Diego. And so what we did is we attended one of the fiestas that was put on back in May. Um , the devotees of Our Lady of the Rosary of Monologue is a religious affiliation. And each year they honor their , um , lady , Our Lady of the Rosary of Monologue , and they do a procession throughout , uh , about a block in National City. And that mirrors the same procession that's happening in the Pangasinan region. And so , yeah , we attended this procession and got to learn more about the importance of this patron , the saint , and then this image. And then we also got to hang out with them as they did their their mass and their prayers. And we stuck around for lunch as well. And food is just such a big part of these fiestas. It's obviously the culture and the religion , but it's also the food and the way of like seeing them , you know , take the lechon and chop that up. And then seeing all the the older women , you know , serving the food and serving the priests , it just is a really big part , I feel like , of that story in Catholicism. So I could talk on and on about that one. But I'll let Salvacion Peralta , who is is the organizer of the devotees , share a bit about , um , the fiesta.
S5: We set a good example. And so they used to follow like what we do , like praying the rosary , bringing the statue house to house , celebrate the fiesta. So the year they will when we are gone. So the next generation will do the same thing.
S1: Another aspect your series touches on Corrie is how many Filipinos came to San Diego by way of the Navy. How did you want to explore that relationship and Filipinos relationship with our military?
S2: Yeah , and I have to say , I mean , I think the connection that so many folks in the Filipino diaspora here in San Diego have to. The Navy is really something that kind of permeates all throughout our series. I mean , Lenny mentioned earlier , um , the , the folks that we spoke with , many of them who we , uh , we visited their gardens for that story. Many of them were veterans or had had traveled to the US or had had immigrated to the US because of military ties. And so it's a I mean , it's just something that's such a part of the the fabric of the community here in San Diego. And so we wanted to look elsewhere , I think , and that was part of why we because that story has been told and has been explored in many times before by researchers and scholars and journalists. We wanted to look at these other ways that people have put down roots. But because the Navy is such an important part of the story , we did , um , we did make sure that we wanted this to be a part of the series , too. And one of the people that we talked to about the military was Felix Turei , who is a retired professor , a professor emeritus of history and Filipino studies at Southwestern College. And , um , Felix , I think , puts it really beautifully into words. He essentially says that , um , for many families , what the Navy meant was stability. It was a sense of being able to have access to medical care , being able to potentially take steps towards buying a house or putting down physical roots , having having a physical home. And that at the time when many people were moving to the United States in the decades after the Treaty of Manila , that this was really a time when those things were incredibly important , obviously continue to be , but especially then , I mean , people were moving into , uh , redlined neighborhoods. They were moving into areas where they were racially segregated by US housing laws , federal housing laws. And so they were kind of they were the Navy. And the military just became this kind of , um. Anchor in some ways is , I think , the way that Felix would describe it , just a way that , um , that that they were able to , um , to , uh , to again , to to something they could look to for stability. And then at the same time , I think , like , um , like Elaine mentioned , the Navy also , there are some people who now , um , feel complicated at the same time about their relationship to that , the Navy and the military in the US. Is this also , again , a tool of US influence of power overseas? And here , as we're seeing now here in the United States , too , in places like D.C.? And so , um , I think that , um , there's a lot of pride and there's a lot of people who feel a deep connection to , um , military service. And then there are also some people who recognize at the same time that that that story is , is complicated as well. But , um , that's a this was a big part of our series , too , and I think it was kind of it , it touched every part of , um , of the stories that we worked on.
S1: Well , it's fascinating series. It covers a lot of ground in just about 30s we have left. Elaine , I'm wondering , what do you hope people will take away from the series?
S3: Oh , man , there's so many takeaways , and I want to make sure Corey touches on how he ends our first part of the story , because I think that's the takeaway of this project. But I just hope that quickly. I just hope people can walk through the , like , put on a different pair of shoes and walk through someone else's life and see their gardens and and see the beautiful foods and all the things.
S1: I've been speaking with KPBS reporters Elaine Alfaro and Corey Suzuki. Their reporting series , The Forgotten 4th of July , can be found at KPBS. Org. We'll have a link to that in our show notes in part four of the series comes out tomorrow. Corey , Laney , thanks so much for being here.
S2: Thanks , Andrew.
S3: Thank you.
S6: That's our show for today. I'm your host , Jade Hindman. Thanks for tuning in to Midday Edition. Be sure to have a great day on purpose , everyone.
