Americans complain about inflation.
Filipinos complain about surviving.
That’s not a knock on America. It’s a reminder that for millions of Filipino Americans, the Philippines isn’t some faraway place we visit on vacation. It’s where our parents were born. Where our cousins still live. Where grandparents are buried. Where every phone call home can begin with, “We’re okay,” or, just as easily, “We need help.”
The Bay Area is home to one of the nation’s largest Filipino communities. California alone has nearly two million Filipinos—roughly half of all Filipino Americans in the United States.
Every year, Filipino Americans send an estimated $17 billion from the United States to the Philippines. Those remittances account for roughly a tenth of the Philippine economy. One wire transfer may keep children in school, put food on the table, pay hospital bills, or help elderly parents make it another month.
That’s why Filipino Americans were paying attention to President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s State of the Nation Address this week.
They were listening for justice.
They were listening for Lyle Prijoles.
Prijoles, a 40-year-old Filipino American from Hayward, was killed on April 19 during a Philippine military operation in Negros Occidental. Also killed was Kai Sorem, a 26-year-old activist from Seattle.
The Armed Forces of the Philippines say those killed were connected to the Communist Party’s New People’s Army.
Their families say otherwise.
Human-rights advocates describe Prijoles and Sorem as labor organizers and peaceful activists working alongside sugar workers struggling under crushing poverty. Prijoles had traveled repeatedly to the Philippines since 2006, documenting conditions in Negros and advocating for farm workers whose lives rarely improve no matter who occupies the presidential palace in Manila.
Those conflicting stories are exactly why members of Congress, led by Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA-7), have called for an independent investigation.
After all, two American citizens are dead.
If an ally’s military kills Americans under disputed circumstances, shouldn’t we want to know exactly what happened?
Yet the story barely made news in the United States.
Perhaps because it’s inconvenient.
It’s inconvenient for Manila – and Washington.
Strategic allies aren’t supposed to kill American citizens.
The Philippines isn’t just another country.
It’s family.
President Marcos had bigger issues on his mind this week.
China’s growing aggression in the West Philippine Sea dominated much of the speech. Marcos rightly rejected racist insults aimed at Filipinos and insisted his country would not surrender its sovereignty.
“We are not racists. We are not liars,” Marcos declared. “We are respectful, and we are dignified. We are Filipinos, and we do not yield.”
Strong words.
But patriotism isn’t measured only by how forcefully a government stands up to China.
It’s also measured by how a government treats its own people.
The Philippines inherited many of America’s democratic institutions. Even the “State of the Nation Address” echoes our “State of the Union.” Congress. Elections. Constitutional government. We exported the architecture of democracy.
What we couldn’t export was accountability.
That’s why activists like Lyle Prijoles believed ordinary workers deserved better.
And that’s why his death matters.
About the Author
Emil Guillermo is an award-winning journalist, political analyst and comic monologist. See him on his microtalk show on YouTube at @emilamok1.
