Babe's Eye View article

We were invited by Hawaiian Airlines on a junket to Hawaii on their first non-stop flight from Manila to Honolulu last Thursday. Hawaii is where a lot of Filipinos have migrated over the years, especially those of Ilocano lineage. I'm told by Hawaiian Airlines president Mark Dunkerley that now is the right time to open the new Manila service because a lot of second and third generation Filipino-Americans who have never been to the Philippines are curious to visit their ancestral roots.

Hawaiian Airlines is very fortunate because ATA and Aloha have already filed for bankruptcy. There has also been a 14.3 percent decline of visitors most especially those coming from the US mainland to Hawaii, and according to Mark, they are looking at the emerging market in Asia with Manila as their gateway. The closure of Aloha and ATA puts Hawaiian Airlines in the best position to fill the gap and grow the emerging Asian market.

On Thursday evening, Hawaiian Airlines threw a lavish party at the Hawaii State Art Museum located at Hotel St. in downtown Honolulu for the Filipinos who were on the inaugural flight as well as a number of Fil-American groups. International hotelier Arthur Lopez noticed the Philippines didn't quite take advantage of the occasion to bolster tourism opportunities. He said Tourism Secretary Ace Durano should have been there, since more and more second and third generation Filipinos are just waiting for an opportunity to visit the Philippines. Additional efforts to promote the country would be good for the tourism industry.

While many of these second and third generation Filipino-Americans hardly remember the Philippines, most of us baby boomers remember Hawaii because of a popular TV series called Hawaii Five-O starring Jack Lord as Steve McGarrett. McGarrett went after local criminals and international syndicates, saying his famous line "Book him, Dan-o" whenever he caught a criminal. The show ran for 12 seasons and to this day, a lot of people are still using the Hawaii Five-O theme as their ringtone. Another detective series, but which didn't quite make it was Hawaiian Eye starring Robert Conrad, lasting for only four seasons. Conrad eventually shot to fame as secret agent James West in The Wild Wild West.

No doubt the entry of Hawaiian Airlines into the Philippine market will strengthen the ties between the US and the Philippines even more. A lot of Filipino balikbayans are based in Hawaii, and it is also the location of the US Pacific Command. USPACOM Commander-in-Chief Admiral Timothy Keating visited the country during the RP-US Balikatan exercises, underscoring the close relationship between our military institutions.

PACOM presence is critical in the balance of power in Asia-Pacific, and it has been a key partner in the Philippines' comprehensive security activities particularly those regarding terrorism, and in disaster relief activities through engineering and medical assistance.

In 1906, long before the term "Overseas Filipino Workers" was popularized, 15 Filipino "sacadas" arrived in Hawaii to work in the sugarcane plantations. The numbers gradually increased until Filipinos replaced the Japanese as the biggest ethnic working group in the 1930s. Filipinos were hardworking and industrious, and plantation owners also came to prefer them because they were the lowest paid and served as an alternative labor force to the striking Japanese workers.

Out of the approximately 1.3 million Hawaiian population today, Filipinos comprise about 15 percent. Through the years, there have been a lot of Filipino-Hawaiians who have made a name for themselves such as Miss America 2001 Angela Perez Baraquio and boxer Brian Viloria (both of whom were featured in People Asia magazine), American Idol finalist Jasmine Trias and professional baseball player Benny Agbayani who was elevated to Hawaii's athletic Hall of Honor.

The early batch of Filipinos was mostly Tagalogs, but Ilocanos soon became the biggest number of migrants. They can be a powerful political force—already proven when Ben Cayetano became the fifth governor from 1994 to 2002. Other prominent political figures include Eduardo Malapit, the first Fil-Am mayor of Kauai and Lorraine Inouye, a state senator of the first district.

Many young Fil-Ams who have never set foot to the Philippines want to visit the homeland of their parents, and the entry of Hawaiian Air flying four times a week with reasonable fares will make it easier for them to visit. There's a big potential for second and third generation Fil-Ams as tourists, and they just need a little more incentive.

Perhaps Ace Durano should focus on this high-potential tourist market instead of concentrating on Koreans and Chinese. In Hawaii, there is a "solid north" of Ilocanos with many of them going back to the Philippines very often. And now, there's a solid group of second and third generation of Fil-American tourists just waiting to be tapped.

In spite of Palace pronouncements saying Joseph Estrada cannot run again, it looks like all roads could lead to Malacañang for Erap judging from the number of politicians and all sorts of people who trooped to Polk St. to celebrate his 71st birthday—which I couldn't attend for obvious reasons. From the way things look, Erap might just take the matter all the way to the Supreme Court, and I'm told that even some GMA allies are already making overtures to the former president.

A businessman-ally of GMA also commissioned a private survey of presidentiables where Noli de Castro came out on top with 25 percent, Joseph Estrada at 23 percent, and not far behind were Loren Legarda and Chiz Escudero at 22 and 21 percent, respectively. Whatever happens, it looks like 2010 will be an interesting year for Filipinos. As they say, only in the Philippines.