Every October, Filipino-American History Month (FAHM) commemorates the first recorded landing of Filipinos in the United States on Oct. 18, 1587. FAHM was first celebrated in 1992 and established as a national commemoration in 2009 by the U.S. Congress.
UC Irvine’s four main Philippine cultural clubs are Pilipinx Pre-Health Undergraduate Student Organization (PUSO), Pilipinx-Americans in Social Studies (PASS), Kababayan (Kaba) and Fusion. Each club celebrates their Filipinx heritage with various programs and activities. For instance, Kababayan’s third general meeting revolved around FAHM on Oct. 10.
“[The third] cultural meeting was Pilipinx-American History Month (PAHM),” Kabayan’s Cultural Coordinator Jared Caluag told New University. “And there we basically explain our history, illustrate how that history has evolved over time and how as Filipino-Americans today we can learn and grow.”
Kaba is one of the largest Pilipinx-American collegiate organizations in California with over 600 members. They are also the oldest Filipinx club at UCI and are celebrating their 50th anniversary this year. Kaba differentiates itself from the other Pilipinx clubs at UCI with its Pilipinx-American Cultural Night (PACN) performance.
“So PACN is a whole production,” Kaba’s Community and Political Affairs Chair, Mina Ceniza, told New University. “It is a way for us to showcase our culture.”
Since 1979, PACN has been an annual cultural show held at UCI’s Bren Events Center during spring quarter. According to Ceniza, members perform traditional dances and skits that tie into “one cohesive story.” One well-known dance they perform is called “Tinikling” where the performer hops in between two bamboo poles on the ground.
Ceniza’s parents drove down from Los Angeles last year and attended PACN to support their culture and their daughter.
“There’s something about a Filipino audience that gets the jokes you’re trying to say,” Ceniza told New University. “It’s a huge Filipino audience who are proud to be there and proud that their sons or daughters are performing.”
Fusion’s president Hailey-Gwen Gumanab also shares the same Filipinx pride as Ceniza.
“So many of us are really proud to be Filipino,” Gumanab told New University. “I feel like it also heals a lot of people, especially if they come from places [where] they didn’t really feel represented.”
Gumanab leads Fusion, which is a Filipinx club centered around engineering and STEM. Fusion’s weekly meetings are themed around Fusion’s five pillars of culture, science and engineering, academics, support and professionalism. They offer a mentorship program, assign members into “families,” host tagalog workshops and more.
Fusion also conducts engineering and intermediate computer science projects. This year, members will collaborate to build a precision cargo drone as well as a website and app for the organization. According to Gumanab, Fusion provides a place for Pilipinx students in engineering and STEM to find community and bond over shared academic interests.
“Our mission is to just really provide a space for the Filipino [community],” Gumanab told New University. “Especially those who are in engineering and STEM to find a community and to find a space where they can feel represented and further expand upon different skill sets and interests.”
PUSO is also a major-based Pilipinx organization like Fusion. PUSO serves as a community for Filipinx students on the pre-health track.
“PUSO has been a community that allowed me to grow professionally but also feel more empowered in my Filipino identity,” PUSO Political Director Jadyn Lontoc told New University. “I’m very thankful for PUSO.”
PUSO’s biggest event is the annual Pre-Health Conference (PHC) which occurs every fall quarter. According to Lontoc, the conference places Filipinos who are working in the medical field to act as panelists.
“Panelists share their experiences and their journey and tie their cultural identity to the healthcare field they’re working in. I’ve [gone] every year,” Lontoc told New University. “It’s truly inspiring seeing people who have that same background, who can understand you and see them accomplish goals you wish to achieve.”
PUSO also has its Community Health Outreach Team (CHOT), a volunteer program that sends members out to perform blood pressure screenings at Seafood City, Calif. and other locations. Lontoc stated that high blood pressure is an issue that “disproportionally affects [the Filipino] community.”
According to PUSO’s CHOT page, volunteers joined the program to practice “understanding their community’s needs” and “actively fight against disparities in healthcare.”
“[The] mission of the club … is to give back to our community,” Lontoc said. “Whether it be increasing representation of healthcare workers or providing the people that our community needs to address health disparities.”
PASS also offers Filipinx students a major-specific community. PASS specializes in fields related to business, law, humanities, social sciences and social ecology. They are celebrating their 20th anniversary this year and are the youngest Filipinx club at UCI.
According to PASS Alumni Relations Director Ryan Mailangkay, the PASS motto is “a community within a community.” In 2004, UCI student Daniel Santos noticed that the Pilipinx community lacked a humanities-centered organization and had a vision to create that space.
“I think what PASS really [means] to me is that ‘community within a community,’” Mailangkay told New University. “[I am] able to exist in that space where I can be authentic.”
PASS celebrated FAHM during Week 2 of the fall quarter and planned a trip to Historic Filipinotown in Los Angeles for the winter quarter. They also posted “Tagalog Tuesdays” on Instagram to cultivate use of their native language for members. October’s “Tagalog Tuesday” taught about “buhay kolehiyo” or “college life.”
Students can keep up with Kaba, Fusion, PUSO and PASS through their Instagram pages: @kabaatuci, @fusionatuci, @pusoatuci and @passatuci.
Alyssa Villagonzalo is a Features Intern for the fall 2024 quarter. She can be reached at akvillag@uci.edu.
Edited by Kaelyn Kwon and Annabelle Aguirre
