California Aggie, Volume 123, Number 136, 25 October 2004 — NEWS Filipino Heritage Week returns to UC Davis this week All communities welcome to attend events [ARTICLE]

NEWS

Filipino Heritage Week returns to UC Davis this week

All communities welcome to attend events

ByKATYTANG Aggie Campus Editor

Located in downtown San Francisco, the International Hotel was once home to over 100, senior citizens, primarily of Filipino descent. When over 3,000 protestors surrounded the building to protect the last remaining housing in former Manilatown from destruction, nearly 400 police officers crushed the human barricade. Many who lived there became homeless when the building was demolished in 1977. The eviction of I-Hotel’s residents and the torn-down building are woven into the history of Filipino culture, which UC Davis students hope others will want to learn more about. After a six-year hiatus, Filipino Heritage Week returns to UCD

today, and the week-long event will highlight the accomplishments of Filipinos in the community, as well as educate those who are interested in learning more about Filipino culture. A handful of Filipino campus organizations joined together at the end of last spring to plan the event, which will include a movie night on Monday, spoken word performances on Tuesday, cultural showcase events on Wednesday and Thursday and a barbecue on Friday. Also among the events is a film-showing on Thursday night, sponsored by Chi Rho Omicron fraternity, to educate students about the history of IHotel and its effect on the Filipino community. One of the main goals for the week will be to raise $1 million to build a cultural center at the I-Hotel, according to Jaime Rodriguez, president of Chi Rho Omicron. “Many veteranos and manongs were evicted from I-Hotel...and

our focus is to raise money for [the cultural center],” Rodriguez said. So far, the fraternity’s statewide chapters have collected about $50,000.

For more information or rides to events, e-mail filam-presidents@ucdavis.edu. The I-Hotel has been rebuilt since its destruction, and will open in April 2005 with 104 units for low-income housing. Rodriguez said his fraternity is working to ensure that senior cit-

izens from his community will have the chance to live at the IHotel again. On Wednesday, the event will feature Bth Wonder, an 8-mem-ber group made up of four Pinays and four Pinoys who spearheaded the spoken-word revolution in California. Throughout the week, members of Filipino campus organizations will table and introduce students to the sibling program—where students from all communities can sign up and become a big sibling or little sibling to someone else, according to David Soloman, president of Mga Kapatid. Soloman said that the outdoor events, such as a traditional dance showcase on Wednesday, may be canceled due to rain, but the barbecue on Friday may be relocated. The campus’ lack of a Filipino cultural week in past years was due to the organizers’ busy schedules. But this year, seven Filipino campus organi-

zation presidents made it their goal to become more unified as a community. “Filipino culture isn’t really well-known here,” said Eric Abad, president of Pilipino Americans in Science and Engineering at UCD. “This is our culture and we’re proud of it, and we want people to know our culture as well. And for those Filipinos who don’t know their culture, this is a good time for them to learn.” Filipino Heritage Week is sponsored by Bridge, Chi Rho Omicron, Filipino Association for Health Careers, Filipinos in Liberal Arts and Humanities, Kappa Psi Epsilon, Mga Kapatid and Pilipino Americans in Science and Engineering. For more information about the event, e-mail filam-presi-dents@ucdavis.edu. KATY TANG can be reached at campus@californiaaggie.com.