Mahalaya First Edition

Mahalaya First Edition

What’s

Inside

1 About Us

4 Who Are We 6 Upcoming Events 7 Battle For Marawi 8 Filipino Heritage Month 10 Aspect Showcase

About Us

M

abuhay!

Thank you for reading the first edition of the Mahalaya! The Mahalaya is a special newsletter that aims to showcase our very own Bayanihan as well as bring awareness to current events in the Philippines. The name “Mahalaya� roughly translates to love and freedom, something we hope to promote and spread within our community through the use of this newsletter.

If you have any suggestions on what we should add or change to the Mahalaya, please email : admofficer.ucsc@gmail.com! We are always up for suggestions :D

Who are we?

B

ayanihan, formerly known as the Filipino Student Association, is a Pilipinx community at UCSC that strives to be a support organization that promotes unity and empowerment through the awareness of our diverse community. It strives to be a cultural resource for the community as well as to foster open forum based in mutual respect and understanding. Bayanihan works to promote a greater understanding and appreciation of the Pilipinx and Pilipinx American experience through meetings and events that explore our identity, history, and culture. It is important to note the Bayanihan is not (and does not assume to be) the sole representation of the Pilipinx community.

B

ayanihan directly translates to “community” in Tagalog. The term is derived from the traditions in rural areas of the Philippines where community members would come together to help physically pick-up a community member’s house and help relocate it. The act of“Bayanihan” represents coming together in order to accomplish something that may seem impossible to help fellow community members. The term “Bayanihan” hopes to foster the community we strive to be.

T

he purpose of the name change from “Filipino Student Association” to “Bayanihan” was to be more inclusive and supportive of our community’s needs.

We encouraged the use of the term “Pilipinx” within our community, since Pilipinx allowed for more inclusivity and the decolonization of the term Filipino/-a.

There is no “F” in the Tagalog alphabet and the “P” was used in order to create the “F” sound in “Pilipino.” As a result of colonization, people used the term “Filipino” instead of “Pilipino” arguing that the “P” does not make the “F” sound. yet the very name that represented still used the term “Filipino”. Additionally, the “X” in Pilipinx allows for inclusivity for those that do not conform to the gender binaries that “Filpino” (-o) or “Filipina” (-a) would imply.

I

t follows that the name “Filipino Student Association” was no longer fitting for the needs of the community. There was a lack of consistency as the community was encouraged to use Pilipinx yet our own name still used “Filipino” and it was hypocritical to say one thing and do another. Therefore, this year, we chose to move forward and commit to the name change. The name change was done to allow for a more inclusive space, to represent the culture and roots of our organization that many felt was lacking, to ignite conversations and opinions, and to push for change.

Bayanihan Photo credit : http://mattersmost.deviantart.com

UPCOMING EVENTS 10/26

10/26

10/29

11/03

11/06

Haluan Open Workshop Come join Haluan at the dance studio behind Media Theater for an Open Workshop from 8PM - 10PM! Learn how to dance from a special guest teacher, and just have fun! $5 admission for non-Haluan members~

Pagkakaisa Dance Troupe Info Night Want to learn more about our traditional dance troupe under Bayanihan? Then come to PDT’s Info Night at McHenry Rooms 0331 and 0332 from 8:30- 10PM! Here you can find out how to audition or try out PDT!

Stage Manager Application Deadline The stage manager is the production liaison and works closely with People Power and Main Stage to ensure the PCC goes smoothly! If this interests you, apply here!

KAMP Application Deadline If you are interested in being a part of a family, or being a part of our big/little program, then apply to be a part of the Kuya Ate Mentorship Program (KAMP)! Submit Apps by 11/3 at 5PM! Apply here!

1st General Body Meeting Come to our first meeting of the year! Here, you will have the opportunity to meet fellow members of Bayanihan! Time and Location TBA~

Battle For Marawi

O

n Tuesday, October 17th, president of the Philippines Rodrigo Duterte announced that the city of Marawi has been liberated from ISIS affiliated militants.

On May 23rd, Marawi, located on the southern Philippines island of Mindanao, was invaded by ISIS affiliated militants, causing a 5 month standoff in the city.

During this time, President Duterte declaredmartial law (a system of complete control by a country’s military over all activities).

The announcement of the city’s liberation comes one day after the country’s Defense Secretary, Delfin Lorenzana, said two leading militants -- Ipsilon Hapilon and Omar Maute -- were killed in a firefight. Hapilon was the leader of the Abu Sayyaf terror group, and was named by ISIS as the group’s emir in Southeast Asia. Omar Maute was one of the two leaders of the Maute group, along with his brother Abdullah, the main militant force behind the siege.

A

task force for the rehabilitation of Marawi has been ordered created by the President with an initial allocation of P20 billion.

The government has estimated the rebuilding of the city to take around 2 to 3 years.

As of October 16, the death toll in Marawi crisis has risen to 1,057, including 847 terrorists, 163 security troops, and 47 civilians.

“When we leave Marawi, we go quietly. We do not want to show any kind of celebration or happiness” -President Duterte http://www.sunstar.com.ph/manila/local-news/2017/10/17/dutertedeclares-liberation-marawi-569850 http://www.cnn.com/2017/10/17/asia/duterte-marawi-liberation/index. html http://news.abs-cbn.com/news/10/17/17/timeline-the-battle-formarawi

Jose Rizal

The Delano Grape Strike

The Philippine National Hero

1965-1970

In the 1960’s, Pilipino farm workers slaved away picking grapes from grape vines under horrible working conditions and poor pay for years.

However, in 1965, Pilipino farm workers had enough.

Under Larry Itliong, Philip Vera Cruz, Benjamin Gines and Pete Velasco, the leaders of the Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee (AWOC) at the time, Pilipinx farm workers walked out of the vineyards on strike against the Delano-area table and wine grape growers protesting years of poor pay and conditions.

Jose Rizal became a national hero of the Philippines as a reformist who

Soon, the AWOC merged with the National Farm Work-

advocated peacefully for liberty rather than violent means. He expressed

ers Association (NFWA) to form the United Farm Workers (UFW). With the help of Cesar Chavez, Pilipinx,

his love for the Philippines through his novels, essays, articles and

Chicanx, and Latinx farm workers stood united

poems rather than a force of aggression. His work and the

against grape growers and boycotted for 5

work of others led to the attrition of colonialism.

years. In 1970, the pressure of the ongo-

ISANG

Most notably, he published Noli me tangere (The Social Cancer), a passionate exposure of the evils of Spanish rule in the Philippines and El filibusterismo (The Reign of Greed), a sequel that established his reputation as the leading spokesman of the Philip-

ing boycott resulted in the signing of contracts that provided workers with significant benefits, proving that this

BAGSAK

movement was one of the most successful in human history.

pine reform movement.

It was during this time where our closing unity clap originated, a gesture mimicks

Although Jose Rizal had repeatedly said that he advo-

the progression of a heartbeat through collec-

cated peaceful reforms in the Philippines, one of the leaders of the revolutionary group called Katipunan, Andres Bonifacio,

tive, synchronized clapping. This created solidar-

had read the Rizal’s novels and had used these as a basis for the revolu-

ity between the workers, overcoming the language barrier

tion. So influential was Rizal that even without his permission they named

between Latino and Filipino members of the United Farm

him as a member and Katipuneros shouted his name as part of the their

Workers labor union in

battlecry.

1960s California. The unity clap ends with

Rizal faced charges of rebellion due to his reported association with the

“Isang Bagsak”, a literal-

revolutionary movement. The court found him guilty and sentenced him

ly meaning “one fall” in

to death. Jose Rizal was executed by a firing squad on December 30 1896,

Tagalog but figuratively

at 7:00am.

expands to “things can’t get done if people

What made Jose Rizal worthy of becoming the Philippines’ national hero

don’t communicate and

was not merely his intelligence, personality, literary acumen, or his pacifist

work together”.

ideals. Rather, it was his patriotism, optimism, and his belief in his countrymen which set him apart. He believed not merely in freedom but in the potential of the Filipino people to surpass what they were under the Spanish colonial government, and all he wished was for them to be given the chance to tap that potential.

http://ufw.org/1965-1970-delano-grapestrike-boycott/ http://l3d.cs.colorado.edu/systems/ agentsheets/New-Vista/ https://www.joserizal.com/ Picture taken from: http://recordsofrights.org/ records/135/the-delano-grape-strikeand-boycott

F il i pin o

Her itag e

Filipino Heritage Month is acknowledged during the month of October to recognize the important presence of Filipinos in the United States, and to celebrate Filipino heritage and culture. October was designated Filipino Heritage Month because the earliest documented proof of Filipino presence in the continental United States was the date of October 18, 1587, when the first “Lucones Indios� set foot in Morro Bay, California.

Mo nth

Aspect Showcase Pictured from left to right: Mikayla Konefal, Danielle Howard, Shirley Delgado

Pilipinx Historical Dialogue Pilipinx Historical Dialogue (PHD) is a 5 credit pass no pass student facilitated class that can be taken in the winter and spring, and can also be petitioned for the ethnicity and race general education requirement. We talk about Pilipinx history, culture, activism, mental, a bunch of different topics that relates Pilipinx identity, but you don’t have to be Pilipinx identified to take the class.

“The structure of the class is much different from a regular lecture type of class because it is student facilitated, its largely discussion based, and students have the opportunity to talk with their peers and share their personal experiences, which I think is quite a rare opportunity, especially in college because class sizes are really large and it’s hard for a class that talks about identity to have an impact on you if you don’t really have the time to process it.”

Mikayla

Q: What theme will you be focusing on during this class?

Mikayla: “We wanted something that was politically relevant as well, so that’s mostly our theme : intersectionality within ourselves and with others... this offers a really good opportunity to talk about identity because it’s talking about the different aspects of identity that intersect within a person and then the different aspects of politics and social issues that affect multiple people.”

Danielle: “Part of the reason I was really big on this theme regarding identity was because I know a lot of students wanna find out who they are, like I know for a lot of us, myself included, I don’t know who the heck I am, but I know a little bit of who I am. Like, I don’t know all of me, but I know a part of me because I know my history. I know all of this, so I think its really important that we chose a theme like this. The topics are some pretty deep topics, and I know that last year’s topics were really deep as well, but this year, we are digging a little bit deeper.”

Q: What do you want your students to walk away with by the end of the quarter?

M: I think the three of us were all hinging of the Jose Rizal quote, “No history, no self. Know history, know self”... I think that is something where we draw a lot of inspiration for the class because its that very idea of learning about history and identity and applying it to yourself and the society that you live in today, and again I think something that Danielle was talking about, which was that college is a time where people try to find out parts about themselves, and just trying to find out more about their identity and who they are as a person, so it’s a very appropriate timing to have this class because its not just learning about facts or history, it’s learning about yourself, and those kinds of lessons are priceless.

D: My biggest thing is I know that a lot of us are trying to figure out who we are every single day, but one of the things I really want the students to take away is to have a different perspective on things, cause I know, when I first started learning about Pilipinx history and activism, my mind changed, the way that I think about things changed completely, and obviously, it’s not gonna happen to everyone, but at least they are more aware of things more than they used to be. Like, I wanna say I want them to be a little more woke, but ya that’s one of the things I hope that they take away from it, in addition to having a little bit more knowledge of who they are and for those who don’t identify as Pilipinx, I want them to take away that these Pilipinx people went through similar things that we went through, and they went through different things from what we went through. I want them to know that we are their allies.

Shirley: I guess the only thing I would say is that when people leave our class, I want them to feel like they have a voice, because we talk about topics that I would say not any other classes talk about in such depth and so personally, and so making a space where someone comes in, and they feel that they are safe enough to open up, and like we have the vegas rule in our classroom, which is “what is said here stays here, but whats learned is shared”. So making sure that having that kind of safe space is something I want people to leave knowing that they have, even in Bayanihan, so, plug!

Q: What/who inspired you to run as a cohead?

D: Our cochairs. I took PHD with Abi and Alecxis last year in Winter, and I kinda always knew that I kinda wanted to run for academics cause I came into what was formerly known as FSA, Bayanihan now, wanting to do solely academics. I didn’t really care about the other aspects at the time, but what really pushed me then was one time, Abi told me “When I first saw you, I just thought you were some first year, like I didn’t know who you were because you were new in our space, but the more that I saw you in class every week, I just saw how much potential that you had”. That really struck out to me, and I decided that I was gonna go for it. Honestly, her saying that meant so much to me, and even the now-alumni’s like Arleah and Gordon helped me so much. They were super supportive. Even Percival, he prepped me for my interview. All of the alumni and all the current fourth years are just so helpful, in making sure that we grow in this space, and I think its because they had that when they were in our position. They had the support, and they just wanna make sure that we have the same thing.

S: I would say that the FSA community in general is what really pushed me to do Academics, because I actually ran for PDT co first, but I didn’t get it, and I remember that I was so discouraged, and thinking that elections were frickin wild! Like elections can take a lot out of you, and it’s very intimidating especially if you are not used to that kind of environment where people are staring at you. Actually, I would say my Kuya. I think my kuya is the one who pushed me go for academics, because I was interested in it, but he told me not to think too much and to just go for it, and if you get it then you get it. Oh ya, my Kuya is PERCIVAL PERLAS! M: I would probably say myself, and I only say that because I joined FSA when I took PHD, which was in the spring [‘17]. I tried joining during OPERS, and communication fell through, and I didn’t know about anything until I went to a retreat, where Jen was a facilitator at the retreat, and she was like, “Hey, you should come over to my house and hang out”, and so we did that, and she mentioned PHD, and I thought woah, that’s really cool and exciting. So, I entered this space very late, so it was sort of awkward because I didn’t really

If you are interested in taking the class, fill out the the PHD interest form (can also be found on our facebook page)!

know anyone except for Jen, so it was sort of me stepping into this new space. However, I knew that even if it was socially awkward, I should take advantage of this space because when I was in high school, I was heavily involved in a lot of different activists organizations, and you know climate change and other issues but they never intersected with Pilipinx groups at all, and that made me sad because I recognize that, and so even when I learned about FSA later in the year, I was like you should push yourself, because you know that this is a rare opportunity to have in this space, and you should take advantage of that... I felt sort of empowered from the past positions I’ve held in activist spaces, and I just went for the position, and I think a lot of it was driven by my own passion for activism and the desire for this space to exist but it never did in high school, and so when it did, I wanted to jump on that opportunity.

Q: In the spirit of Filipino HeritageMonth,what is one important event or person that you believe everyone should learn about?

D: Jose Rizal. Mikayla said it earlier, but I really stand by the quote “No history, no self. Know history, know self”. Cause I know that that had a really big impact on me, and he is involved in so many things within our history. Im kind of at a loss of words because he just had a really big impact on our history when we were colonized and what we were doing to rebel against that.

There are a lot of things I could go over right now, but the people who are reading this should take our class because we will be going over him! But ya, I believe he is definitely someone people should know about.

people of Sacramento to commemorate the history of farm workers rights. And it was the biggest surprise in the world when I realized that Pilipinx farm workers were involved in it. I could hardly believe it because I had never been exposed to that history of the fact that that entire movement would have never existed if it weren’t for the catalyst of Pilipinx farm workers, and there is so much rich detail and history of Pilipinx activism that we just don’t get told. For me this is something I very much recognize throughout my activist spaces. Very strongly related to the model minority myth , where Asian Americans don’t have a space in these activist spaces because they are assumed to be successful, and assumed to not struggle, which is not true and for me that kind of solidarity and recognition of history is important because along with the model minority myth there is just this stereotype that we are very submissive, and sort of related to OFW, you can give us the crappiest jobs in the world and we will take it, we will do it. And I feel like it’s this culture that makes you feel as if you have a lack of voice, and so when you hear about these experiences, mass activists movements, it’s so empowering on a new scale of what the word means because you have a much more personal connection to it, and that was really important for me, and I knew that when I learned about that, I was mind blown, and it was a really powerful moment for me.

S: Baybayin! It has a special place in my heart, but its basically Philippine Script, like we have our own script.

Like you know how the Chinese have their own writing, and Japanese have characters? We have our own characters but no one knows about it, and it’s a dying art. The reason it means so much to me is that my uncle is an advocate for baybayin, and is trying really hard to make it well known again. I think that this really relates to the theme of PHD last year, which was “building our communities through untold stories” and in order to build a community, you have to remember all the things you are losing, because if we lose who we were before colonization and everything, then who are we? And it looks dope~ M: I would probably say something related to the United Farm Workers movement, because when I lived in Sacramento, there are Cesar Chavez memorials everywhere. Like there are streets named after him, and there’s a park named after him, which is also right across city hall. It’s a big source of inspiration for the

Baybayin chart that was mentioned by Shirley~ Taken from http://rapcom-archives.blogspot.com/

Thanks for reading!

This is all we have for this edition of the Mahalaya! We really hoped you enjoyed reading! If you have any suggestions or questions, please email admofficer.ucsc@gmail.com!

For more content, check out our youtube channel too :D (Bayanihan at UC Santa Cruz) Also, if you would like to stay further updated with all the events happening in Bayanihan, join our facebook page! All updates and important announcements will be posted there!