User:RightCowLeftCoast/Sandbox/Philippine Enlistment Program

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Philippine Enlistment Program
Part of Military Bases Agreement
TypeRecruitment
Location
Philippines
Date1 January 1947 – 31 December 1992 (1947-01-01 – 1992-12-31)
Executed byUnited States Navy

The Philippine Enlistment Program was a recruitment program of the United States Navy. It recruited Filipino citizens into the United States Navy, without need of immigration papers. It existed from 1947, until 1992, as it was part of the Military Bases Agreement between the Philippines and the United States. It resulted in tens of thousands of Filipinos enlisting into the United States Navy before it ended. Those Filipinos, would naturalize, and bring their spouses to the United States, and make families, which contributed to the growth of the total Filipino American population.

Background[edit]

See also: Filipino seaman, History of the Philippines (1898–1946), and Manila Galleon

Filipino seaman during the manila galleon

Filipino seaman jumping ship, settling in the United States

Spanish American War into the Philippine American War

Filipinos being allowed to enlist in the United States Navy

Filipinos in the Navy during World War I & World War II

Philippine Independence

1947 Military Bases Agreement

For over 400 years Filipino mariners have been plying the worlds waters.[1] Beginning in the 16th century, Spain become the dominate power in the middle and northern Philippines;[2] connecting that territory to the rest of the Spanish Empire was the Manila Galleons which sailed between the Philippines and Mexico.[3] To man those ships, Filipinos were impressed, and forced to work in harsh conditions.[4] As early as the 16th Century, one of these places those Filipinos would sail to, was to Morro Bay, on their way to Acapulco, Mexico.[5] Some of these Filipinos who were impressed into service did not return back to the Philippines.[6] Some settled in New Spain.[7] They created the seeds of a community in Acapulco.[8] Others left, and moved elsewhere, including Louisiana, and Alta California.[9] By the 19th century, Filipino seamen could be found sailing on American whaling ships.[10]

Filipino stewards in front of President Harry Truman, at the Postdam Conference in 1947.

Around the turn of the 20th Century, the United States was in war with Spain, and then with the First Philippine Republic, leading to the annexation and submission of the Philippines.[11] In 1901, President William McKinley signed an executive order to allow 500 Filipinos to enlist in the U.S. Navy, beginning the history of Filipinos enlisting in the United States Navy.[12] By the end of World War I, there were about 6,000 Filipinos in the Navy.[13] From the signing of the executive order until World War I, Filipinos were able to serve in multiple rates; however, after that war, Filipinos were restricted to serving as messmen.[14][15] This restriction of occupations did not apply to a Insular Force which was geographically limited to Guam and the Philippines.[16] Due to their military service, Filipinos were able to become naturalized citizens of the United States.[17] During World War II, Filipinos continued to serve in the Navy as stewards.[18]

In 1946, the Philippines became an independent nation, ending its period as an American commonwealth.[19] Just prior to independence, a rush of Filipinos attempted to enlist into the Navy.[18] In 1947, the signing of the U.S.-Philippine Military Bases Agreement formalized Filipino enlistment in the U.S. Navy without immigrant credentials.[19]

Program[edit]

Structure of program

The enlistment program created a situation unique to the Navy, which did not apply to the branches of the rest of the Armed Forces, which allowed for enlistment of male Filipino citizens living in the Philippines; all other branches required foreign nationals to first be green card holders before enlisting.[20] Filipinos wanting to enlist into the Navy went through the process at one of two recruiting stations in the Philippines; one was at Sangley Point Naval Base, and the other was at Subic Bay Naval Base.[14][21] In 1947, enlistment of Filipinos into the Navy was limited to 1,000; this limit was increased to 2,000 in 1954.[18]

When taking their oath of enlistment, an insertion to the oath is made for Filipino enlistees, which states that their service does not deprive them of Philippine citizenship.[18] Filipinos who enlisted into the Navy were later able to naturalize and become American citizens.[22]

Impact[edit]

Philippine President Benigno Aquino surrounded by American Sailors, of Filipino ancestry, aboard the USS Nimitz (CVN-68) in 2011.

Number of Filipinos in the United States Navy, what rates they entered

Impact on population of Filipino Americans

1992 end

From 1946, until 1965, Filipino immigration to the United States was limited to 100 persons a year due to the Luce-Celler Act of 1946.[23] However, Filipinos serving in the United States military were exempt from that limitation, leading to the establishment of Filipino American communities around naval bases.[24] Due to the numerous Filipinos serving on navy ships, Filipino cuisine was not uncommon within navy galleys, and due to their camaraderie Filipino sailors within any given ship became known as the "Filipino Mafia".[25]

Filipino American sailors remained restricted to the rating of steward, with 80% of the almost seventeen thousand Filipino American sailors being stewards;[26] the tasks of the rate were seen as a systematic femenizing/emasculating of Filipinos on a ship's crew.[27] In 1970, there were more Filipinos serving in the U.S. Navy than there were in the Philippine Navy;[28] that same year, the number of Filipinos recruited into the United States Navy was reduced from the thousands per year down to 35 a month, while Filipinos re-enlistment rates were 95% (which made them eligible for naturalization).[29] The rating restriction ended in 1973, after the U.S. Senate investigated civil rights issues in the U.S. Navy and opened all ratings to Filipino Americans.[30] In 1974, there were 22,500 Filipinos serving in the Navy, an increase from 16,000 a decade prior; of those serving in 1974, nearly half were serving in rates other than steward.[18] In the White House, Filipinos Navy stewards, continued to serve as valets after the restriction was lifted,[31] as late as into the 1990s.[32] A few years later, in 1976, there were over seventeen thousand Filipino Americans in the U.S. Navy, including just under a hundred officers.[12][33]

In 1982, over a thousand candidates applied to the recruiting program, less than fifty were allowed to join the navy.[34] In 1992, the U.S. Navy stopped recruiting Filipino nationals due to the end of the 1947 Military Bases Agreement;[35] as of May 2019, there were a few Filipino American sailors who had enlisted through the program still on active duty.[36] In some cases, the enlistment of a Filipino into the United States Navy, has led to family traditions of later generations serving in the military.[33][37]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ Kale Bantigue Fajardo. Filipino Crosscurrents: Oceanographies of Seafaring, Masculinities, and Globalization. U of Minnesota Press. pp. 43–44. ISBN 978-1-4529-3283-5.
  2. ^ Bartolomé Leonardo de Argensola; John Stevens (1708). The Discovery and Conquest of the Molucco and Philippine Islands: Containing, Their History, Ancient and Modern, ... Written in Spanish by Bartholomew Leonardo de Argensola, ... Now Translated Into English: and Illustrated ...
    Leandro Heriberto Fernández (1919). A Brief History of the Philippines. Ginn and Company. pp. 44–53.
  3. ^ William Lytle Schurz (1939). The Manila Galleon. Historical Conservation Society.
    "The Manila Galleon, a Spanish trade route that connected 3 continents". San Diego Union Tribune. Agencia EFE. 15 September 2016. Retrieved 9 May 2019.
  4. ^ Thomas Cleveland Holt; Laurie B. Green; Charles Reagan Wilson (3 June 2013). The New Encyclopedia of Southern Culture: Volume 24: Race. University of North Carolina Press. p. 120. ISBN 978-1-4696-0724-5.
    Talampas, Rolando G. (January 2015). "Life and Times of Filipino Seamen During the Period of Spanish Colonialism". Hong Kong: Southeast Asia Research Centre. Retrieved 9 May 2019 – via academia.edu.
    Peterson, Andrew Christian (August 2014). "Indios aboard the Manila Galleons and Across the Pacific" (PDF). Making the First Global Trade Route: The Southeast Asian Foundations of the Acapulco-Manila Galleon Trade, 1519-1650 (Doctoral thesis). University of Hawaii at Manoa. pp. 258–272. Retrieved 9 May 2019.
  5. ^ Larry L. Naylor (1997). Cultural Diversity in the United States. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 181. ISBN 978-0-89789-479-1.
  6. ^ James Alexander Robertson (1922). The Hispanic American Historical Review. Board of Editors of the Hispanic American Review. pp. 648–661.
  7. ^ Joan Shelley Rubin; Scott E. Casper (14 March 2013). The Oxford Encyclopedia of American Cultural and Intellectual History. OUP USA. p. 253. ISBN 978-0-19-976435-8.
    Wade, Lizzie (12 April 2018). "Latin America's lost histories revealed in modern DNA". Science. Washington, D.C. doi:10.1126/science.aat8574. Retrieved 9 May 2019.
  8. ^ Walton Look Lai; Chee-Beng Tan (15 February 2010). The Chinese in Latin America and the Caribbean. BRILL. pp. 8–9. ISBN 978-90-04-19334-5.
    Guevarra Jr., Rudy P. (October 2011). "Filipinos in Nueva Espana: Filipino-Mexican Relations, Mestizaje, and Identity of Colonial and Contemporary Mexico". Journal of Asian American Studies. 14 (3): 389–416. doi:10.1353/jaas.2011.0029. S2CID 144426711. Retrieved 9 May 2019.
  9. ^ Marina Estrella Espina (1988). Filipinos in Louisiana. A.F. Laborde.
    Estrada, William David (17 February 2009). The Los Angeles Plaza: Sacred and Contested Space. University of Texas Press. p. 281. ISBN 978-0-292-78209-9.
    Ette, Ottmar; Müller, Gesine (1 December 2016). New Orleans and the Global South: Caribbean, Creolization, Carnival. Georg Olms Verlag. p. 380. ISBN 978-3-487-15504-3.
  10. ^ Jacobs, Ryan (9 August 2013). "The Strange Sexual Quirk of Filipino Seafarers". The Atlantic. Washington, D.C: Emerson Collective. Retrieved 3 May 2019.
  11. ^ Great Projects Film Company, Inc. (1999). "The Film". Crucible. PBS. Retrieved 10 July 2019.
    Plante, Trevor K. (Summer 2000). "Researching Service in the U.S. Army During the Philippine Insurrection". Prologue. Vol. 32, no. 2. United States National Archives and Records Administraiton. Retrieved 10 July 2019.
    "Spanish-American War and the Philippine-American War, 1898-1902". Golden Gate National Recreation Area. National Park Service. 28 February 2015. Retrieved 10 July 2019.
  12. ^ a b Hooker, J.S. (October 1976). "Filipinos in the United States Navy". Naval Historical Center. Department of the Navy. Archived from the original on 2006-08-20. Retrieved 2 September 2009.
  13. ^ Weaver, Teri (2 August 2007). "Filipino tapped as Navy's top enlisted member in 7th Fleet". Stars and Stripes. Retrieved 10 July 2019.
    Vergara, Benito (2009). Pinoy Capital: The Filipino Nation in Daly City. Temple University Press. p. 26. ISBN 978-1-59213-664-3.
    Waters, Mary C.; Ueda, Reed; Marrow, Helen B. (2007). The New Americans: A Guide to Immigration Since 1965. Harvard University Press. p. 561. ISBN 978-0-674-02357-4.
  14. ^ a b Ono, Kent A. (15 April 2008). A Companion to Asian American Studies. John Wiley & Sons. p. 340. ISBN 978-1-4051-3709-6.
  15. ^ Espiritu, Yen Le (17 June 2010). Filipino American Lives. Temple University Press. pp. 15–16. ISBN 978-1-4399-0557-9.
  16. ^ Naval History & Heritage Command (1 April 2011). "The Insular Force: Adapting to Local Conditions". Naval History Blog. United States Naval Institute. Retrieved 11 July 2019.
  17. ^ Sohoni, Deenesh; Vafa, Amin (January 2010). "The Fight to Be American: Military Naturalization and Asian Citizenship". Asian American Law Journal. 17 (4): 119–151. doi:10.15779/Z38PC3B. Retrieved 11 July 2019.
  18. ^ a b c d e Finney, John W. (24 November 1974). "My is Enlisting Filipino Servants". The New York Times. Retrieved 14 July 2019.
  19. ^ a b Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Rialyn Rodrigo (1 March 2009). "Philippine Enlistment Program Sailors Reflect on Heritage". Navy Region Southwest. United States Navy. Retrieved 24 December 2014.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
    Maligat, Luisto G. (June 2000). Study of the U.S. Navy's Philippines Enlistment Program, 1981-1991 (PDF) (Thesis). Naval Postgraduate School. Retrieved 24 December 2014.
    McNutt, Paul V.; Roxas, Manuel; Quirino, Epidio (1947), "Article XXVII Voluntary Enlistment of Philippine Citizens" (PDF), Agreement Between the United States of American and the Republic of the Philippines Concerning Military Bases, United States: Library of Congress, p. 68, retrieved 2 September 2019
  20. ^ Reza, H.G. (20 April 1986). "Filipino Nationals in U.S. Navy Say They Would Like to Become Citizens". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 14 July 2019.
  21. ^ Espiritu, Yen Le (5 May 2003). Home Bound: Filipino American Lives across Cultures, Communities, and Countries. University of California Press. p. 106. ISBN 978-0-520-92926-5.
  22. ^ Reyes, Christina (Spring 2019) [1987]. Family Matters: The Effects of Filipino U.S. Air Force Membership Across Generations (Undergraduate Honors Theses). University of Colorado, Boulder. Docket Honors Program. Retrieved 5 September 2019.
  23. ^ Segal, Uma Anand (2002). A framework for immigration: Asians in the United States. New York: Columbia University Press. p. 149. ISBN 978-0-231-12082-1. Retrieved 4 September 2019.
  24. ^ Espiritu, Yen Le; Wolf, Diane L. (1999). "The Paradox of Assimilation: Children of Filipino Immigrants in San Diego -- Yen Espiritu". Research & Seminars. University of California, Davis. Retrieved 4 September 2019.
  25. ^ Gaston, Chino (7 August 2019). "Filipinos shine aboard one of the most powerful US Warships". GMA. Philippines. Retrieved 5 September 2019.
    Quismundo, Tarra (26 October 2012). "US Navy feasts on adobo, pansit, lumpia, chopsuey". Philippine Daily Inquirer. Philippines. Retrieved 5 September 2019.
  26. ^ Farolan, Ramon (21 July 2003). "From Stewards to Admirals: Filipinos in the U.S. Navy". Asian Journal. Archived from the original on 24 March 2009. Retrieved 2 September 2009.
    Jon Cruz (1 January 1999). Elliott Robert Barkan (ed.). A Nation of Peoples: A Sourcebook on America's Multicultural Heritage. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 211. ISBN 978-0-313-29961-2.
  27. ^ Fajardo, Kale Bantigue. Filipino Crosscurrents: Oceanographies of Seafaring, Masculinities, and Globalization. U of Minnesota Press. pp. 12–13. ISBN 978-1-4529-3283-5.
  28. ^ "The Filipino Diaspora in the United States" (PDF). Rockefeller-Aspen Diaspora Program. Migration Policy Institute. February 2014. Archived from the original (PDF) on 26 December 2014. Retrieved 25 December 2014. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |lay-date= ignored (help); Unknown parameter |lay-url= ignored (help)
    Darrell Hamamoto; Rodolfo D. Torres (12 November 2012). New American Destinies: A Reader in Contemporary Asian and Latino Immigration. Routledge. p. 27. ISBN 978-1-136-05062-6.
  29. ^ "Filipino Stewards Still Used by Navy, But Number Drops". The New York Times. Associated Press. 25 October 1970. Retrieved 22 November 2018.
  30. ^ Wilmoth, Janet M.; London, Andrew S. (2013). Life Course Perspectives on Military Service. Routledge. p. 85. ISBN 9780415879415. Retrieved 7 February 2013.
  31. ^ Scharff, Ned (29 July 1974). "Filipinos Remain As White House Lackeys". Daytona Beach Morning Journal. Washington Star News Service. Retrieved 24 September 2014.
  32. ^ Martin, Michel (22 July 2014). "The White House Doctor". NPR. Retrieved 24 September 2014.
    "Chinese guard harasses Clinton's two valets". The Boston Globe. Reuters. 26 June 1998. Retrieved 24 September 2014. McCurry described the Chinese guard as over-excited and said Clinton's Secret Service agents told him that the two were Clinton's personal valets, who are Filipino-Americans.
    Tabafunda, James (21 October 2010). "1st API female doctor to three U.S. presidents speaks on honoring Filipino roots". NorthwestAsianWeekly. 29 (43). Retrieved 24 September 2014.
    Connie Mariano (2010). Dr. Connie Mariano, "The White House Doctor: My Patients Were Presidents - A Memoir". BookTV, CSPAN. Retrieved 24 September 2014.
  33. ^ a b Rowe, Peter (27 July 2016). "Deep ties connect Filipinos, Navy and San Diego". San Diego Union-Tribune. Retrieved 11 October 2016.
  34. ^ Logico, Mark (13 October 211). "Sailors Become Citizens at Pearl Harbor Visitors Center". Navy Region Hawaii Public Affairs. Retrieved 2 May 2019.
  35. ^ H.G. Reza (27 February 1992). "Navy to Stop Recruiting Filipino Nationals : Defense: The end of the military base agreement with the Philippines will terminate the nearly century-old program". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 7 February 2013.
    PH2 Clayton Farrington (August 1992). "The Last Recruits: Philippine Citizens Take Oath in Subic Bay". All Hands.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  36. ^ Arciaga, Ryre (6 May 2019). "The Lasting Legacy of the Subic Bay Sailors". USS Kearsarge (LHD 3). Arabian Gulf. Archived from the original on 3 May 2019. Retrieved 8 May 2019. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |work= (help)
  37. ^ Legros, Joe (21 May 2018). "A Filipino-American Sky Soldier Celebrates Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month". Defense Visual Information Distribution Service. 173rd Airborne Brigade. Retrieved 5 September 2019.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: location (link)
    Ambion, Francis (29 May 2019). "Air Force officer continues Filipino family tradition". Lompoc Record. California. Retrieved 5 September 2019.

Potential reference[edit]

Further reading[edit]

External links[edit]


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