TRIBUTE TO FILIPINO MANONGS

TRIBUTE TO FILIPINO MANONGS

By Ron P. Muriera

Filipino American History Month in October is cause for celebration in San José this year. A new park in East San José pays tribute to the contributions of the Filipino “manongs” (“older brother” in the Ilocano dialect of the Philippines) and their involvement in the most significant and momentous agricultural farmworker labor movement in American history. Delano Manongs Park is the new public park located on Gimelli Way, near North Capitol Avenue in East San José.

“A new park in East San José pays tribute to the contributions of the Filipino “manongs..”

Daniel Lazo, an organizer with LEAD Filipino, responded to a community call by the City of San José for the naming of a new park located in the neighborhood where he grew up in East San José:

I submitted “Delano Manongs” as the name for this new park near my childhood home because of my own personal connection to this significant part in our Filipino American history. I first learned about the manongs during my time in high school at the Filipino Youth Coalition in a small community space at Welch Park, where we learned about our history every week.

“I submitted “Delano Manongs” as the name for this new park..”

When I was in college in 2015, I visited Delano for the 50th anniversary celebration of the grape strike. There, I met Marissa Aroy, a filmmaker who made the award-winning PBS documentary “Delano Manongs.” The name for this park is of inspiration from this documentary, giving appreciation to Filipino American farmworkers, such as Larry Itliong, Philip Vera Cruz and Pete Velsaco. This endearment does not only give appreciation to the Filipino American farmworkers who sparked the international five-year boycott on grapes, but also the Mexican and Latinx farmworkers, such as Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta. I see them all as my manongs and manangs who shaped who I am today as a Filipino American from San José.

“I see them all as my manongs and manangs who shaped who I am today as a Filipino American from San José.”