Philippines’ Freedom Celebrated Filipino-Americans Still Show Spanish Influence

They gathered Saturday night to celebrate independence from Spanish colonialism, but the Spanish influences won’t wear off in Spokane’s Filipino-American community.

Women wore mestiza dresses, intricate satin or cotton dresses with large butterfly sleeves, some with sequins, others with lace. Men sported white barong tagalogs, traditional dress shirts made of silk and pineapple leaves worn to Filipino weddings and other occasions.

And dancers performed the valse, a traditional Filipino waltz adopted from the Spaniards.

About 120 people convened at Cavanaugh’s Inn at the Park for the 98th Celebration of Philippine Independence. Organized by the Filipino-American Association, the party was the first event of its kind for the city’s Filipino-Americans.

“We were under Spain for 300 years,” said Ben Cabildo, president. “We’re influenced by Spain in our clothes, our language, our culture.”

The occasion was marked with a dinner, and singing and dancing throughout the night.

The event was a chance for some to show patriotism to two nations.

“Just as we love the U.S., our adopted land, we cannot forget the Philippines, our motherland,” said Marilou Buan who heads the organization’s “Silangan Dancers” dance troupe.

Cabildo said he wants people to know the Filipino-American community in Spokane is growing, to about 500 today.

“(Filipino-American cultural events) is now a culture of Spokane because we are here,” Cabildo said.

The group’s “old-timers” said the event caused them to reminisce about Independence Day celebrations in the Philippines.

“We have fireworks, food, the whole country celebrates it,” said Purie Baum, one of the first members of the Filipino-American Association when it started 10 years ago.

Baum, who has been in Spokane for 14 years, says she misses various things from her homeland, especially the scenery.

“The palm trees, the Manila sunset, all the time I get homesick,” Baum said.

The younger Filipino-Americans said they like coming to cultural celebrations because they never had a chance to live in their native land.

“This is a good way for me to learn about the Filipino culture,” said Russell Minas, a recent Gonzaga University graduate and member of the Silangan Dancers.

Fellow dancer and friend Allan Esguerra said it’s been difficult to maintain a sense of culture while living in America.

“It’s sort of hard to hold onto it,” Esguerra said, as he talked about the relatively small population of Filipino-Americans in the Inland Northwest.

Others, like Buan, said having the Filipino culture while living in the United States has been a blessing.

“We have the best of two cultures,” Buan said.

That’s why the celebration was important for her.

“This is a remembrance,” Buan said. “Although we left, (the Philippines) is still in our hearts.”

, DataTimes MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: Philippines independence The Philippines won its first independence from the Spanish in June 1898, five months after the American warship “Maine” was blown up at Havana Harbor in Cuba. During World War II, the country was occupied by Japan. In February 1945, Americans invaded the main Philippine island, Luzon, and captured the capital, Manila. The country was granted full independence a year later. Saturday night’s celebration commemorated freedom gained from the Spanish.