January 14, 2008

  • I lost another well-respected hero in my life last night, after a courageous battle with cancer.

    Frank Tibon, I will miss you. I promise that the work that you have done on behalf of the community will continue to be recognized.

    Manong Frank was part of the Filipino Political Action Committee (FilPAC), which was integral in getting Filipinos their own check box on demographic collections. This meant that Filipinos were not counted in the very general Asian label. It meant that more meaningful information could be collected about Filipinos, including graduation rates, college attendance rates, etc. He often talked about speaking to then-State Superintendent of Public Instruction (SSPI) Wilson Riles, changing his personal views from Filipinos being politically unimportant to being a power as a democracy-believing and politically active Filipino community.

    He was a former president of the Filipino American National Historical Society (FANHS), to which I was installed as treasurer on Saturday. The least I can do now is serve FANHS in the way that Manong Frank would want, with honor and integrity.