News and Events
Local News
January
Hosted the 2025 San Francisco Bay FANHS Bay Area Consortium Holiday/New Year’s party. The consortium is comprised of the East Bay, Santa Clara, San Francisco, San Mateo, Sonoma, and Vallejo.
May
Sponsored a book talk by Napa Valley writer/poet Eileen Tabios, who read excerpts from her new book “The Balikbayan Artist.” Leny Strobel writes, “The novel breaks out of the confines of the modern/colonial frame and returns us to the wondrous world of myth-making. This is how Story becomes Medicine.” The event was well attended and held at Moonlight Farm in Glen Ellen. The author sold out of all of her books.
July
In partnership with the Japanese American Citizens League/Sonoma County Chapter and the Asian American Pacific Islander Coalition of the North Bay, we held a seminar featuring local activists and had discussions with immigration attorneys including a representative from the Philippine Consulate General in San Francisco. The seminar was held July 26th at the Rohnert Park-Cotati Regional Library.
August
On the 26th FANHS-Sonoma participated in the Rohnert Park Pacific Islander Festival held at the Rohnert Park Community Center. Member volunteers signed up new members and raised funds by selling lumpia and desserts.
September
FANHS will participate in the Windsor Day Parade in Downtown Windsor starting at 10am. Our entry will include 2-vintage cars with members walking. The parade theme is “All Aboard for Imagination.” We want people to imagine “what it was like” when Filipino/American pioneers began residing in Windsor during the 1930’s and 1940’s. We hope you can join as a participant or parade attendee. (see event flyer for more details)
October
FANHS will both have a display with information and, in partnership with Kalingafornia, provide a cultural dance and music performance at the 1st annual Many Moons Festival on October 4th, from 11am-7pm at Ives Park in Sebastopol. The event is a production of AAPIC, Asian Pacific Islander Coalition of the North Bay. Event details can be found here: https://aapicnorthbay.org/event-5996814
November
FANHS will serve as a sponsor at this years’ Sonoma County Finding History Day event on Saturday, November 1st, from 10am-2pm at the Veterans Memorial Building in Santa Rosa. Information about our history will be provided thru tabling and a presentation during the program. (see event flyer for details)
Commission on Human Rights
Through the leadership of Commissioner Elizabeth Escalante, on October 26 the Sonoma County Human Rights Commission passed a Resolution in Recognition of October as Filipino American History Month. Community members who spoke in support of the resolution included Jeannette Anglin, Leo Tacate and Michael Viloria.
National News
Celebrating Filipino American History Month 2025
Seattle, WA — Since 1992, the Filipino American National Historical Society (FANHS) has been celebrating October as Filipino American History Month (FAHM) across the United States. In 2009, the month was first recognized by the U.S. Congress, and in 2015, President Obama hosted the first FAHM celebration at the White House. We are pleased to share the official theme for FAHM 2025: From Quotas to Communities: Filipino American Migration and Movement.
Bataan Death March Veterans Anniversary
On April 6, 2019 the Bataan Legacy Historical Society commemorated the 77th Anniversary of the Bataan Death March. This annual event commemorates the long-awaited recognition of Filipino and American soldiers who valiently fought side by side in World War II.
The brutal march began on April 4, 1942, when the US surrendered the Philippines’ Bataan Peninsula to the Japanese Imperial Army. Seventy-five thousand Philippine and US soldiers, along with civilians, were forced to walk 65 miles in the sweltering heat of tag-init from Mariveles to San Fernando, Pampanga and finally, Camp O’Donnell, Capas, Tarlac.The prisoners suffered severe abuse and senseless killings. Weakened by starvation and sickness, many perished along the way. Those unable to walk were left to die. Those who survived were taken to San Fernando train station and crammed into stifling boxcars bound for prisoner-of-war camps where many died of starvation, mistreatment and disease.
It wasn’t until February 1945, nearly three years later, that US General Douglas MacArthur made good on his word to return to the Philippines. US-Philippine forces then recaptured the Bataan Peninsula, and liberated Manila that March. A military tribunal tried and convicted Lieutenant General Homma Masaharu, Commander of the Japanese invasion Forces in the Philippines, for war crimes, after finding him responsible for the death march.
The Bataan Legacy Historical Society’s foremost goals are to include this seminal part of World War II history in high school history and social science curriculums throughout the US, and to document the stories of WWII veterans and survivors in the Philippines.
Sonoma County resident MaryAnne Tabor, daughter of John Tabor, shares the story of her father’s own experience in War World II in this excerpt from Remembering Our Manongs, Sonoma County’s Filipino American History. It is a poignant testament to the resilience and tenacity of a man who endured the dark days of war, then immigrated to the United States where he raised a family, and established himself as a successful business owner and community leader.
…And when the war broke out, he was teaching, so he was immediately enlisted in the American Army. He was a survivor of the Bataan Death March. He was captured and taken to a prison camp. He was thrown amongst the dead in the prison camp because he had been so emaciated from starvation and dysentery that they didn’t even think he was alive. He had been down to skin and bones and was able to through escape through the wires. He then joined the Philippine Scouts in the mountains and he fought as a guerrilla until the end of the war.
Bells of Balangiga Returned
After 117 years, the Bells of Balangiga were returned to the Philippines on December 11, 2018. In 1901, in the town of Balangiga, Central Samar, hundreds of Filipino villagers, armed with bolos, used one of the town's church bells to signal the start of a massive attack, one of the bloodiest single-battle losses of American occupation forces in the Philippines. The U.S. Army brutally retaliated, killing thousands of villagers, during the Philippine-American War.
According to Filipino historian, Rolando Borringaga, American soldiers were told to shoot villagers 10 years and older and to turn the island into a "howling wilderness." After the war, the Americans took the three bells claiming them as spoils of war. For decades, Filipinos have been demanding that the bells be returned. Two of the bells had been displayed for decades at FE Warren Army Base in Cheyenne, Wyoming. The third bell was with the US Army in South Korea. The return of the bells was accomplished through a concerted effort supported bv varioius Filipino-American organizations, U.S. Veteran organizations and goverment agencies. At a special ceremony, Philippine Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana said, "It's time for healing, it is time for closure, it is time to look ahead as two nations should with a shared history as allies."
Calendar/Upcoming Events
FANHS National Conference
FANHS 2022 Conference (Past, Present, Future) will be held on August 11-13 in Seattle, Washington. The FANHS national network, comprised of over 30 chapters throughout the United States, was founded by Dr. Dorothy Laigo Cordova and Dr. Fred Cordova in 1982. The FANHS 2022 Conference in Seattle will celebrate the 40th anniversary of the founding of FANHS!