Conquering America

Filipino Dignitaries on America

It seems to be that America is the second home of most Filipinos wherein the number of Filipino immigrants settling on the American land is not handful to be measured. Thus, the blood of Filipinos already conquering the American races through gaining dignitary positions on the American land is indeed surprising such as Brigadier General Cary Chun who is said to be the highest ranking Filipino general in the United States Air Force who heads all the Department of Defense Space Forces of the Unites States; judge Lilian Lim who said to be the first Filipina judge in the United States;Ms. Velma Veloria who said to be the first Filipino-American who become a Washington state legislature; Mr. Rey Pagtakhan said to be the first Filipino-Canadian Parliament member; Ms.Josie Natori a Filipina fashion designer not only known in America but also in the world; and many other Filipinos who gain a dignified position on the American land.

“The number of Filipino immigrants in the United States tripled between 1980 and 2006, from 501,440 to 1.6 million, making them the second largest immigrant group in the United States after Mexican immigrants and ahead of the Chinese, Indian, and Vietnamese foreign born……There were 1.6 million foreign born from the Philippines residing in the United States in 2006. The 1960 census counted 104,843 Filipino immigrants, a number that increased 15.6 times to 1,638,413 Filipino immigrants in 2006. The Filipino born were the second-largest foreign-born group in the United States in 2006 after immigrants from Mexico…..” —Migration Information Source

If since 2006, there are already millions of Filipino immigrants in the United States, what more today or this current year wherein brand new Filipino achievers were arising into one of America’s dignitaries. There are many of them which are not reported on the mainstream media in the Philippines but just later on discovered when they make noise or controversies around the world. The recent is Ms. Charice Pempengco‘s success.

Now aside from Ms. Charice Pempengco who has gain respect as an entertainment artist in the United States, recently another Filipino have gain such position in America, who has become the first Filipino to become a president of Seton Hall University in New Jersey (a Catholic University in America).He is Mr. Amado Gabriel Esteban, a Philippine born Filipino that got the highest position in an American Catholic University wherein only priests of the university are voted for the position. It is another brand new dignitary position an immigrant Filipino received on a foreign land and it do not end there but continue counting which make us wonder how come America become the benchmark of international success of most Filipinos but on other countries we never heard any dignitary success but shame actually most especially on Singapore where most Filipinos received death penalty for the sins they, I guess did not commit but was only frame up on Singapore.

The recent population of Filipino immigrants has become 1.7 million from being 1.6 million as the Migration Information Source says :

“April 2010
The United States is home to about 1.7 million Filipino immigrants, making them the second-largest immigrant group in the United States after Mexican immigrants. The Filipino immigrant population grew rapidly during the 1970s and 1980s and has continued to grow (although at a slightly slower pace) since then. In addition, the United States is home to about 1.4 million native-born US citizens who claim Filipino ancestry. Heavily concentrated in the western United States, the Filipino born account for almost half of all immigrants in Hawaii …” — Migration Information Source

The Philippines still remains the second source of foreign immigrants in the United States after Mexico.