Posted on: Wednesday, June 12, 2002
Filipino community center inspires pride at opening
By Dan Nakaso
Advertiser Staff Writer
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| A bronze statue of Dr. Jose Rizal, unveiled yesterday, stands in front of the Waipahu center. Rizal is the Filipino hero who died a martyr's death 105 years ago.
Bruce Asato • The Honolulu Advertiser |
WAIPAHU — Dignitaries tugged on a sheet to reveal a 10 1/2-foot statue of Philippine hero Jose Protacio Rizal yesterday and in that moment connected Filipino pride back home to the biggest Filipino community center outside of the Philippines.
The 1.1-ton bronze statue shows Rizal — a surgeon, artist and martyred patriot killed by the Spanish rulers 105 years ago — holding a book in his left hand and a quill in his right. Rizal's pensive pose drew cheers from the dozens of Filipino immigrants and their sons, daughters and grandchildren who came to celebrate the opening of the $14 million Filipino Community Center, which has been
10 years in the making.
It is fitting that Rizal, "a symbol of Filipino hopes and achievement," stands in front of the community center, said Philippine undersecretary of foreign affairs Merlin Magallona.
"The image of the foremost Filipino stands in a place that (Filipinos) can truly call their own," Magallona said. "This great Filipino brings pride and dignity to all of us."
The day was full of pride for the third largest ethnic group in Hawai'i and for the effort it has taken to transform a 2-acre site once used for O'ahu Sugar Co.'s plantation homes.
Roland Casamina, president of the center's board of directors, said he always knew the center would be built in the scheduled 10 years.
"I just didn't think it would be this beautiful," he said. "I'm so happy."
Ethel Alikpala Ward, the secretary to the board, called the opening "the fulfillment of a dream (and of) the hopes for empowerment and cultural preservation and enrichment."
Although it's called the Filipino Community Center, the center is intended to serve anyone in the area, not just Filipinos. The three-story, 42,000-square-foot center will be home to a real estate broker, insurance agency, graphic/sign business and dental group on the first floor and a nonprofit group yet to be selected. Other space is available for business incubation space, a commercial kitchen and thrift store.
Bruce Asato • The Honolulu Advertiser But from the uniforms worn by Filipino-American veterans to the steps of the Filipiniana Dance Troupe to the music, food and periodic shouts of "mabuhay!" the focus of the day clearly centered on Filipino culture.
It began strictly Hawaiian, though, with a chant and maile lei being untied by dignitaries who included Lt. Gov. Mazie Hirono, Honolulu Mayor Jeremy Harris, Magallona, and Rolando Gregorio, consul general of the Philippines.
Then volunteers wheeled a grass hut, or bahay kubo, through the center to symbolize the Philippine tradition of villagers helping their neighbors move their huts.
More than 1,000 people filtered through the mostly empty rooms of the center, including government leaders of Filipino ancestry, World War II veterans in their Veterans of Foreign War garrison caps, retired sugar mill workers, working-class parents and schoolchildren.
"This center symbolizes progress we have made as a people," said state Rep. Nestor Garcia, D-37th (Waipahu/Crestview). "It's an example of what we can accomplish when we unite and become active in our community."
Tom Braulio, 77, of Waipahu, worked in cane fields for 27 years. He hopes to use the center for the simple pleasure of ballroom dancing.
But yesterday, all he wanted to do was eat, sit back and "watch the celebration of Filipino pride."
Reach Dan Nakaso at dnakaso@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8085.
At the opening of the Filipino Community Center, children of the Filipiniana Dance Troupe perform a traditional welcoming dance with a local twist: Instead of a crown of flowers, they hold red-white-and-blue lei.
