I was born in 1944 in Panama to a Filipino Father, who was an orphan, left the Philippines in 1910 when he joined the U.S. Navy, and sadly never returned. I know very little of his life in the Philippines. Since coming to America in 1964, I’ve been learning about our history, our struggles, our accomplishments, in America,, and I feel so proud of my heritage . I came to New Orleans 60 years ago knowing very little of my Father’s heritage, In the early days I was introduced to the Filipino community by Marina Espina, a librarian at LSUNO and author of “Filipinos In Louisiana”, came to know the Burtanog family, the Filipino American Goodwill Society, and grew to appreciate the ways my Father’s birth country shaped him, which were hardly apparent to me growing up in Panama.

My favorite childhood memory is seeing my father’s joy whenever he gathered with Filipino families stationed on the military bases in the Canal Zone, spending the day eating Filipino food and speaking Tagalog. My father became an Admiral’s chef but cooked Filipino food, so you can imagine his joy.

Being Filipino in New Orleans has been a real journey of discovery. I’ve been here for 15 years now, but my family has been part of this city since before I was even born, which adds a whole layer of depth to my experience here. The New Orleans Filipino community I know today is a young vibrant generation, wildly

proud of being Filipino, sharing & promoting the Filipino food culture, conducting walking tours of the history of Filipinos in New Orleans, and deeply committed to remembering that in Louisiana we have the oldest permanent Filipino settlement in the U.S.- St Malo