Area Filipino-Americans are breaking from traditional enclaves and flourishing in Orange County.

August 22, 2001

By KATHERINE NGUYEN
The Orange County Register

Ernie Delfin didn't think twice before moving to Orange County from Los Angeles in 1977.

Never mind that he was the only Filipino-American in his Fountain Valley neighborhood, or that he was miles from traditional Filipino enclaves in Los Angeles County cities such as Carson and Long Beach. The move made sense after his wife's company relocated to Irvine, and he already worked in Los Alamitos as an accountant.

"We're assimilated and confident enough that I don't care if there is or isn't a 'Little Manila' hive of Filipinos where we live," said Delfin, who has called Orange County home for 24 years. "Everything that I need I can get here in Orange County."

His attitude may reflect those of a growing number of Filipino-Americans scattered across Orange County.

Census 2000 data show that Orange County's Filipino community has grown by 61 percent in the past decade, from 30,356 in 1990 to 48,946 today. It is now the fourth- largest Asian-American group in Orange County, behind the Vietnamese, Chinese and Koreans, with many families living in Anaheim, Buena Park and Irvine.

But the local Filipino community is still small compared with the 101,000 Filipinos living in Los Angeles, according to the census, and a fraction of California's 918,000 Filipino-Americans.

Orange County "looks like a new pattern of Filipino- American settlement in Southern California," said Linda Espana Maram, assistant professor of Filipino- American history at California State University, Long Beach. "It makes sense that they're breaking away from traditional pockets of concentration as they become even more mainstream.

"The growing numbers in Orange County are probably the Filipinos who have established themselves in the professional work force and are more economically mobile," Maram added.

Dean Toji, a Cal State Long Beach professor of Asian- American studies, agrees: "The kinds of immigrant groups that cluster are those that don't speak English well, tend to be poor and need to live near family members for a support network. Most Filipinos predominantly speak English, and the Filipinos today are mostly professionals, so they don't need to cluster."

While there may not be an official Little Manila in Southern California, those who live in Filipino-concentrated cities such as Carson, West Covina and Cerritos can readily find Filipino shops and restaurants.

O.C. Filipinos find needs are met

North Orange County Filipinos like the Delfins shop in Westminster's Little Saigon for basic groceries such as lychees, bittermelon, jasmine rice, dried-salted shrimp, ready-to-eat fried fish and fish sauce.

Occasionally, the Delfins will drive 20 minutes to Cerritos to get Filipino goods such as empanadas, pan de sal (bread), halo-halo (fruit and shaved ice) and ube (taro root) ice cream.

There also are a few Filipino grocery stores and restaurants in Orange County.

In Fountain Valley, Manila Sunset owner Maria Lilia said she's surprised her restaurant has thrived, since Filipino cuisine is not as mainstream as Chinese or Vietnamese food. But she says many of her Filipino customers come from as far away as Laguna Niguel, Irvine and Cerritos.

"Many non-Filipinos also eat here, too," Lilia said proudly.

Filipinos also connect through their shared Catholic faith, flocking to heavily Filipino congregations like St. Filomena in Carson, often jokingly referred to as "St. Filipino," or St. Pius V in Buena Park and St. Irenaeus in Cypress.

Many older immigrants also join regional associations, identifying with others from the same province in the Philippines, while second- and third-generation Filipinos unite through student organizations such as the California State University, Fullerton, Pilipino American Student Association or the University of California, Irvine, Kababayan.

OPPORTUNITIES TO BUILD COMMUNITY ABOUND

Still others hook up through social and nonprofit charity groups, like Katipunan-USA, started by Delfin and his 24-year-old daughter, Donna. Katipunan-USA provides help to the needy in the Philippines.

In June, a fund-raiser was held to benefit Cabanatuan City Orphanange in the Philippines. Proceeds and donations helped poor students purchase backpacks, pens and pencils.

There are other efforts to increase community-building for Filipinos in Orange County. Jason Lacsamana, a program coordinator with the Orange County Asian Pacific Islander Community Alliance, recently helped form the Pilipino American Network to enable word to spread easily among Orange County Filipinos about community events and services.

The alliance also has started researching issues in the general Filipino community, such as high suicide rates among girls and recent statistics showing low numbers of Orange County students eligible for UC/CSU admittance.

"As the Filipino community keeps growing, these are going to be the kind of issues that will emerge," Lacsamana said.

A HISTORY FORMED IN THE FIELDS

Malinda Gonzales, a second-generation Filipino-American, says her father, Anacleto Soriano, settled in Cypress in the early 1930s to pick oranges and tend strawberry fields, as waves of Filipino immigrants dominated California's agricultural work force.

Gonzales remembers growing up picking beans and tomatoes alongside her family and other Filipino farm workers in Anaheim, Garden Grove and Santa Ana. She fondly recalls weekly gatherings with about six other farming families.

"We'd all get together on Sundays in Garden Grove, and we would feast on traditional food like lechon (whole roasted pig), lumpia egg rolls, adobo chicken, pancit noodles and bibingka dessert," Gonzales said.

She said she hopes to open an Orange County chapter of the Filipino American National Historical Society.

"Nobody really knows about the rich history that Filipinos have here in Orange County," she said.

"Everyone thinks first of the Filipinos elsewhere in California."

Register news researchers Eugene Balk and Gayle Carter and staff writers Ronald Campbell and Valerie Godines contributed to this report.