Filipinos in Hawaii

[Tiger Beer]

I'm just curious what the overall perception is of the Filipino population in Hawaii.. I'm sure stereotypes aren't PC-correct.. but what kinds of things do people say or think of the Filipinos who've made Hawaii home?

(I should note that my gf is 100% Filipina from the Philippines who has been living on the Mainland the last 5 years - and yeah, eventually we're making the move to Honolulu!)

[Miulang]

Re: filipinos in hawaii

My perceptions of Filipinos in general: extremely hard working, parents sacrifice a lot so their kids can have everything they want, the younger generations are well educated. The ones who have emigrated to America are very patriotic and best of all, they make some onolicious food!

Did you know that 2006 marks the one hundredth anniversary of their arrival in large numbers in Hawai'i to work in the sugar plantations? 2006 also marks the 40th anniversary of the last large wave of Filipino immigrants to Hawaii.

Miulang

P.S. Even here in Seattle where minorities of all races are celebrated with festivals, we celebrate Philippine Independence Day with Pista Na Sayon in the summer.

[kimo55]

Re: Filipinos in Hawaii

I'm just curious what the overall perception is of the Filipino population in Hawaii..

dey jez like odda islanders here. What kine peception you t'ink we should have abouddem?

I'm sure stereotypes aren't PC-correct..

arent "politically correct-correct"? Huh!?
what are you saying here?

[adrian]

Re: Filipinos in Hawaii

Well, they're almost everywhere, from Ewa Beach to Waipahu, to Kalihi (duh)

Filipinos know when there's a good opportunity to grab, and coming to Hawaii was no exception. Atleast when my Dad came here 21 years ago, the neighborhood was filled with plantation houses, and he converted one into a 2 story house. He brought his wife over and started a family.

Like other things in Hawaii, they mixed their culture with fellow neighbors and "we all stay live together".

[pinakboy]

Re: Filipinos in Hawaii

I'm just curious what the overall perception is of the Filipino population in Hawaii.. I'm sure stereotypes aren't PC-correct.. but what kinds of things do people say or think of the Filipinos who've made Hawaii home?

(I should note that my gf is 100% Filipina from the Philippines who has been living on the Mainland the last 5 years - and yeah, eventually we're making the move to Honolulu!)

Here in Hawaii there is a definite difference in the filipino dialects. Most filipinos in hawaii are Ilocano from the Northern part of Luzon in the Phils or Visayans from the southern islands of the Phil archipelago which migrated here to the islands during the plantation days like my great grandparents on both my parent's side. My wife is 100% filipina from the Phils and doesn't speak the dialect of Ilocano or Visayan to which my parents are. She is from Pampanga and speaks Pampango and is considered a Kapampangan. In the Phils they speak the national language of Tagalog or Pilipino and english to communicate between the dialects. In recent years say the last 20, there have been a small migration of the tagalog speaking filipinos to hawaii unlike the mainland USA where most of them reside in California and in NJ like in Daly City and Jersey City. Hawaii is bypassed by majority of the Philippine franchises like Goldilocks, Red Ribbon, and Jolibee to name a few. Hawaii doesn't seem to have the demographics yet for them to setup shop here. My wife and I are waiting. Most of the famous Phil entertainers (singers, musicians, and actors) usually bypass Hawaii for their concert tours seeing that Hawaii's filipino population is too small for them to come here but there have been some exceptions. Which are few, rare and a big treat!
My wife has found out that most of the filipinas she has met are either Ilocanas and bisayans, so she speaks to them in Tagalog.
My in-laws are in their early 70's and had a hard time assimilating to the ilocano way of thinking and working while they were here for 2 years. They are now in NJ and part of a huge Kapampangan community there and have fit in well except for the cold winter months.

As for filipino cuisine, Hawaii hasn't experienced world class filipino cuisine outside of the Philippines. Most people in Hawaii only know Ilocano food and its small following of restaurants, not a bad thing but makes us limited in knowing what real filipino cuisine is all about. There is only one filipino restaurant in Hawaii that tries to emulate the Goldilocks Bakery and Restaurant chain called "Golden Coin". They have done a great job of cloning this restaurant but it's still isn't the same. It's just a close comparison.

When I stayed in the Phils with my then fiance (my wife) I was in culture shock. I was a small fish in a huge fishbowl. The local Hawaii born and raised Ilocano boy from kalihi wasn't in Kansas any more. The people and food were all so different. The city of Metro Manila makes our Honolulu tiny in comparison. Their malls blew our Ala Moana, Pearlridge, and Kahala Malls out of the water. Most people think the Philippines are grassshacks on stilts with coconut trees and or rice farmers just like from Vietnam war movies. Sort of what they think of people in Hawaii. Sandy beaches, grassshacks, pineapples, and coconut trees etc.

Your gf will find Hawaii very nice for the weather and the people but certain filipino amenities available on the mainland you won't find here.

The stereotypes of the filipinos here in hawaii are very much same as across the USA. That we eat dogs, have more than 3 jobs, work for practically nothing and always sending money back home to the Phils etc. The filipino people is one ethnic group that is global and can live anywhere.

Hawaii is a great place to live even with the high cost of living.

[Glen Miyashiro]

Re: Filipinos in Hawaii

My in-laws are in their early 70's and had a hard time assimilating to the ilocano way of thinking and working while they were here for 2 years. They are now in NJ and part of a huge Kapampangan community there and have fit in well except for the cold winter months.

There's an Ilocano way of thinking and working, that's different from the Kapampangan way? Huh. What is it?

[pinakboy]

Re: Filipinos in Hawaii

There's an Ilocano way of thinking and working, that's different from the Kapampangan way? Huh. What is it?

In the Phils, there is a animosity between the dialects, one of them is between the Ilocanos and the Pampangans. One looks at one group as being poor thrifty hard working farmers and they other as braggarts, womanizers, lazy, and the corrupt.

My father-in-law got a job working with an all Ilocano employee cleaning biz and he finally experienced what it was like to be ridiculed by Ilocanos. They saw him as a filipino with no knowledge of working with power/cleaning equipment tools and or common sense despite he him having a MS in EE and graduated from one of the top universities of the Phils. He told us he never was humiliated like that before in his life. My mother-in-law had a different story while working for a dry cleaning biz, the Ilocana ladies felt she was making waves by being to pushy and assertive with their Korean boss/owner. They told her not to make suggestions etc and to just do her monotonous job. My mother-in-law had a BS in Teaching and was a public school teacher for 30 years in the Phils.

Even my wife experienced animosity working at HMSA with her filipino counterparts. They either hated or loved her.

It was so terrible hearing my wife tell me the stories.

Can't we all just get along??!!

ok calming down... lol

what get fo kaukau??

[Miulang]

Re: Filipinos in Hawaii

It was so terrible hearing my wife tell me the stories.

Can't we all just get along??!!

Heh. Just like da Okinawans don't think they're Japanese and Taiwanese don't consider themselves Chinese...

Miulang

[Tiger Beer]

Re: Filipinos in Hawaii

The stereotypes of the filipinos here in hawaii are very much same as across the USA. That we eat dogs, have more than 3 jobs, work for practically nothing and always sending money back home to the Phils etc. The filipino people is one ethnic group that is global and can live anywhere.

Hawaii is a great place to live even with the high cost of living.

My last time living in the U.S. was in San Francisco area.. there were several Jolibee Filipino fast-food restaurants.. that is surprising there aren't any in Hawaii. Also, on the West Coast mainland.. the Filipino Channel can be found everywhere.. and I did notice most celebrities from the Philippines would go to California and Seattle.. sometimes Hawaii too though.. but CA seemed to be destination #1.

Interesting about the Ilocano being the dominant group in Hawaii. There seems to be some differences there.. I can't recall meeting any of my girlfriend's friends who were Ilocano.. but then again, she speaks Visayan, Ilongo, and Tagalog.. seemed like she was constantly meeting mostly Visiyan or the rare Ilongo speakers (which she LOVED to meet!)

Yeah, I also went to the Philippines myself.. and SO developed! It has poverty.. but shopping malls seems to be an obsession there.. and the roads were well-paved and well-traveled with a lot of cars (quite unlike Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, etc.)

[Tiger Beer]

Re: Filipinos in Hawaii

In the Phils, there is a animosity between the dialects, one of them is between the Ilocanos and the Pampangans. One looks at one group as being poor thrifty hard working farmers and they other as braggarts, womanizers, lazy, and the corrupt.

WHere are the Pampangans? Is that in Luzon as well?

Wasn't Marcos an Ilocano? Or am I wrong about that?

[pinakboy]

Re: Filipinos in Hawaii

WHere are the Pampangans? Is that in Luzon as well?

Wasn't Marcos an Ilocano? Or am I wrong about that?

yes in Luzon, about 2 hrs from Manila...






and yups Marcos was an Ilocano from the northern part of Luzon...

[Glen Miyashiro]

Re: Filipinos in Hawaii

In the Phils, there is a animosity between the dialects, one of them is between the Ilocanos and the Pampangans. One looks at one group as being poor thrifty hard working farmers and they other as braggarts, womanizers, lazy, and the corrupt.

Which is which? I wasn't sure from your story...

[cezanne]

Re: Filipinos in Hawaii

Which is which? I wasn't sure from your story...

I believe the Ilocanos are considered the hard-workers. Tagalog are the socialite city types so to say. My dad is a tagalog from the PI and my mom is a Hawaii-born filipina to Ilocano parents. The thing is my dad wanted to escape that lifestyle and be independent and also to be a US citizen so he joined the Navy (RET). I love to hear the stories of how my grampa the pig-raiser didn't like my cityslicker dad and how my parents had to elope to get married and stuff. But it's true to some extent how the different dialects don't seem to get along.

[kimo55]

Re: Filipinos in Hawaii

I believe the Ilocanos are considered the hard-workers. Tagalog are the socialite city types so to say.

stereotyping! stereotypes!
dsicrimination!

[kaimipono]

Re: Filipinos in Hawaii

Ano? Ano gina gawa mo?