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history
 symposium2002
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philsixties
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| COMING TO AMERICA IN THE SIXTIES |
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| by ERNIE C. TURLA, president, Aguman Capampangan Northwest U.S.A. |
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"It was the best of times; it was the worst of times."
It was a period of hope and faith; it was a period of living dangerously.
It was the era of a space race; it was the era of a brewing cold war.
It was the age of the cursillo and de colores; it was the twilight of
the traditional tridentine Latin Mass.
It was the year of successful heart transplants; it was the year of the
deadly Hongkong flu.
It was the heyday of English proficiency in the Philippines and the dawn of
immigration opportunities; it was the dawn of the so-called brain drain.
Such was the way we were in that year when we left our homeland and
followed our dream. Such was the portrait of our nation when we left it
for greener pastures.
A great deal of water has run under the bridge since that May day when
we embarked on a journey into what we had heard was a land of milk and honey.
Before I touch on our experiences here in the U.S., I'd like to take you back
in time, reminisce some fond memories and put you in nostalgia.
The year was 1968. The population of the country was 35 million.
Pres. Marcos was into his third year in office. The vice president was
Fernando Lopez. The senate president was Gil Puyat and the speaker was Cornelio Villareal. Among the senators then were Benigno Aquino, Raul Manglapus,
Gerardo Roxas and Arturo Tolentino. The mayor of Manila was Antonio Villegas.
Its archbishop was Cardinal Rufino Santos. The civil service commisioner was
Abelardo Subido. the AFP chief of staff was Gen. Ernesto Mata.
Hollywood stars Tyrone Power and Errol Flynn had long been gone and a younger
set has taken their place, in the likes of Rock Hudson and Paul Newman, and
lately then, Steve McQueen. Among recording stars, Paul Anka and Neil Sedaka
were still around, and Elvis Presley, the King, as he was known as, had been
virtually dethroned with the invasion by the Beatles. The Beatles, by the way
had just been chased away at the MIA by angry fans in Manila for allegedly
snubbing the First Lady with their impolite refusal to perform in Malacanang.
The newest theaters in Manila then were Odeon, Roxanne and Cinerama -
they joined the older ones, namely, State, Avenue, Ideal, Times, Lyric and Capitol.
Still around were the Clover theater and the Manila Grand Opera House which
offered live shows and featuring such talent singers as Pat Salem and Dinky Doo,
and the Reycard Duet.
With the newest dance craze, discos had begun to mushroom in metropolitan
areas, discoteque having captured the country by storm. Nora Aunor had just
recently won the championship in the famous Tawag ng Tanghalan. Among the most
popular TV comedy shows then were Oras ng Ligaya with Sylvia La Torre and Oscar Obligacion, Tang tarang Tang with Bentot, and the game and talent shows, Darigold Jamboree hosted by Pepe Pimentel and Student Canteen hosted by Leila Benitez and
Eddie Ilarde. Popular TV announcers included Bong Lapira, Lito Gorospe and
Vic Pacia. Radio personalities included announcers Johnny de Leon and Rafael Yabut,
and daytime soap opera king, Ben David. Glittering in popularity on the silver
screen were the feuding Susan Roces and Amalia Fuentes, Charito Solis, Rita Gomez, Josephine Estrada, Jean Lopez, Gloria Romero, Helen Gamboa, Shirley Gorospe,
Cynthia Ugalde, Marlene Dauden, Daisy Romualdez, oh there were so many and the
list could go on and on. The leading male stars were Luis Gonzales, Ric Rodrigo,
Joseph Estrada, Fernando Poe Jr., Zaldy Zhornack, Tony Ferrer. They were with the new generation that took the places of Rosa del Rosario, Mila del Sol, Rosa Rosal,
Rogelio dela Rosa, Leopoldo Salcedo, Jose Padilla, Eddie del Mar and Oscar Moreno.
The villains or contra-vidas were Max Alvarado, Rocco Montalban, Nort Nepomuceno,
Rod Navarro, Paquito Diaz, Bino Garcia. The top action star was stuntman,
Jess Lapid. The sex goddesses were Divina Valencia and Stella Suarez, though like
Marilyn Monroe, Jane Russell and Brigitte Bardot, were nowhere compared to the
bold stars of today when it comes to skin exposure. The new leading recording star
then was Eddie Peregrina with his hit, "What Am I Living For." We had many
comedians too such as Apeng Daldal, Chiquito, Pugak and Patsy. And oh yes, the
Maggie dela Riva case was then hitting the headlines.
The leading newspapers then were the Manila Times, Manila Chronicle, Manila
Daily Bulletin, The Daily Mirror and the Evening News. The leading weeklies were
the Philippines Free Press, the Nation and Kislap-Graphic. The top columnists
and journalists were Teodoro Valencia, Teodoro Locsin, Jose Guevarra, Maximo
Soliven, Amando Doronila, J.V. Cruz, Filemon V. Tutay, Jose Luna Castro,
Jose Quirino and Napoleon G. Rama.
The literary circle was dominated by Nick Joaquin, N.V.M. Gonzales, Bienvenido
Santos, Wilfrido Nolledo and Kerima Polotan.
The largest university in point of enrollment was the F.E.U., and among the
high schools, it was Torres High.
Rodolfo Reyes of San Beda emerged as bar topnotcher in that year.
Polo, Bulacan was not yet Valenzuela City. Azcarraga had just been
renamed Recto Boulevard.
To combat traffic congestion, the Quiapo Underpass had been built.
The ball-pen and the transistor radio which came out about the same time,
had been around for some eight years. And so had been the tilapia culture.
The Ambuklao had been supplying our place with electricity for 4 years then.
Bungalows were then becoming ubiquitous, and TV antennas on rooftops
were then a status symbol.
Boys still greased their hair then with pomade or solidified brillantine using
such products as Tancho and Three Flowers.
Anti-perspirant was just newly invented and introduced in the market, and the
first brands to come out were Mum and Arrid.
People wore Ang Tibay, kids wore Elpo and Marcelo rubber shoes, and basketball
players wore white Chuck Taylor converse shoes.
Tricycles had become a popular means of local transportation in local areas in
addition to calesas that were still around.
Only a few had cars which were mostly stick shift, but new cars with automatic
transmissions just came out and were called "hydra-matics".
One gasoline company was then carrying the slogan "Put a tiger in your tank,
with ESSO".
The most popular brands of cigarettes in addition to the classic ones were
Golden Key and Old Gold. Also, Salem (which was then pronounced
over there as Sah-lem) and with its ad, "You can take Salem out of the
country But, you can't make the country out of Salem."
Vegetable oil was not yet in use. People used lard or animal oil, the most
popular of which were Purico, and Cenvoco, "the mantekang pantahanan". Among the magarines, the most popular was Star Margarine (mispronounced there as mar-ga-rin).
There were no Xerox copy machines; photostats were made instead and were
costly. Mimeograph machines were still very much in use. There were hardly
any color pictures; most were still in black and white.
There were no cassettes yet; tape recorders had reel-to-reel.
In addition to the 78 rpm records and long playing albums for phonographs,
we had the 45 rpm and the 8-track. Jukeboxes were having their last picture show
and were no longer as common as during the 50's.
Influenced by such movies as "Westside Story" in the past, street gangs proliferated in Manila especially Tondo, the biggest of which were perhaps the OXO, the Sigue-sigue, and the Apaches.
The transportation from one point to another in the city had just been raised to
20 centavos; for 25 years before that, it was just 10 centavos.
Teachers pay on the top of the scale was 286 pesos a month.
The exchange rate had just been raised: 3.85 pesos to the dollar. For 30 long
years prior to that, it had been 2 pesos to the dollar.
In the Philippines, those were the days.
Now, America here we come.
The president then was Lyndon Johnson, and the vice president was Hubert
Humphrey, Democrats. Not running for reelection during that year, Johnson
was succeeded by the Republican candidate, Richard Nixon, in the latter's
second attempt to run for president where he narrowly defeated Humphrey.
The governor of California was Ronald Reagan. That of Oregon was Tom
McCall who had become famous with his line, "Visit Oregon, but please don't stay."
Our senators then were Mark Hatfield and Bob Packwood. The U.S. chief justice
was Earl Warren; the U.S. secretary of state, Dean Rusk. The Soviet Union
premier was Breshnev; that of Red China was Mao Tse Tung. The head of the
U.S. forces in Vietnam was Gen. Westmoreland. The U.N. secretary-general
was U Thant.
The U.S. was then at war in Vietnam.
The world heavyweight boxing champion then was Joe Frasier, Cassius Clay
having been stripped of the title for refusing to be drafted into the army.
Bill Gates, the future billionaire, was only 12 years old.
The U.S. population was 201 million. That of the city of Portland was 385,000
and with a Catholic population of 201,000.
The tallest skyscraper in the country was then the Empire State building.
Bank of America was then the largest bank with almost 20 billion dollars of deposits.
The corporation with the largest annual revenues was General Motors.
The state with the highest per capita income was Connecticut.
The minimum wage was $1.60 per hour. Calculated in real dollars (buying power)
it was the highest ever since the minimum wage law went into effect in 1938.
16 out of 17 homes had TV sets reaching 96% of all households.
The Big Mac was only 49 cents. Stamps: 6 cents, to anywhere in the U.S.
The cost of gas was in the range of only 19 cents to 21 cents per gallon.
All gas stations were still giving full service then. They would clean your windshields, check your tires, your oil, transmission fluid, coolant/anti freeze
and water level, would even give you a free street map when asked - the good
old days which will never come back! The word "smog" was coined, and people
were becoming environment-conscious.
The word "gay" and the expression "to make love" were just starting to take on different meanings.
The largest magazines in point of circulation were the Readers Digest and the
TV Guide. Among the newspapers, they were the New York News, the New
York Times and the L.A. Times.
The best selling fiction included Topaz, Rosemary's Baby and Airport.
The academy award winner for best picture for that year was the musical, "Oliver". For best actress it was a tie between Barbara Streisand for her very first movie performance in "Funny Girl", and Katherine Hepburn for a third Oscar-winning role. For best visual effects the winner was "2001: A Space Odyssey". The oscar for
best song was given to "Windmills of Your Mind". Simon and Garfunkle and their
songs were then at the height of popularity.
On television, there was Combat, Mission Impossible, The Virginian, The Wild,
Wild West, Perry Mason, I Love Lucy, Bewitched, Lawrence Welk, Ed Sullivan,
and the game shows The Price Is Right, Password, and To Tell The Truth.
The important happenings during our first 5 years in the U.S. include the ff.:
1. the assassination of presidential candidate Robert Kennedy during our first week.
2. the Apollo 11 lunar landing on July July 20, 1969
3. the mass murders by Charles Manson and his group on August 9, 1969
4. the Delano, California grape strike led by union leader Cesar Chavez in Oct. 1969
5. the Olympics in Mexico City (Oct. 1968) where the US garnered 107 medals
6. the start of desegregation where students were bused from one area to another
to achieve racial balance in schools
7. the approval of the two-letter state abbreviation by the Post Office
8. the launching and start of the Daylight Saving Time Law
9. the turning coed for the first time of Yale University after 267 years
10. the closure of Columbia University due to student protests. (Anti-draft
demonstrators, including Dr. Benjamin Spock, were arrested in NY as they sought
to close down induction centers of the Selective Service. Conscientious objectors
sought haven in Canada.)
11. the civil rights demonstrations and rallies, and racial tension.
12. the first successful heart transplant performed by Dr. Barnard
13. the issuance of a decree by Pope Paul II against the use of contraception for
birth control and which caused controversy among Catholics.
14. the signing of a law by Pres. Johnson to make four holidays on Monday every
year to provide long weekends, namely, Memorial, Veterans, Columbus and Washington's.
15. the invasion of Czechoslovakia by the Soviet Union with tanks
to quell a liberalist movement there and which caused fear and anxiety.
That was the tale of 2 countries.
And now,.... our story:
The story of our immigration here started when a friend of mine dropped by
at our house and asked me if I was interested in going to the U.S. We were then
school teachers in our hometown, and because of meager income, some of us had
been trying their luck then in such places as Vietnam. He told me about the
Immigration Act of 1965 which was allowing the U.S. to accept professionals and
skilled laborers for the first time. He also told me about the easy, "Fly now,
pay later" plan. Well, to make the long story short I jumped at the opportunity.
My wife and I applied for a third preference visas and in just one and a half
years we, along with our first born, Michael, were able to come to the U.S.
We first stayed with some relatives in Pasadena, transferred to an apartment
after a week, and after just another week I found a temporary job at Caltech.
At the same time, I applied for a teaching job, took an English proficiency test
which I passed with a very high score, got a standard teaching credential
and was able to teach in the Pasadena Schol District for three years.
It was a big break for me and I was happy. Compared with what I made in the
Philippines, and with most people here making just around $300 a month,
my $1, 034 a month was indeed something to brag about then. Within just a year
we were able to pay off all our debts and were able to buy a brand new car for
$3,000. But in 1971 there was a big earthquake in the San Fernando Valley and the surrounding areas and which scared the daylight out of us, prompting us to decide
on moving. We drove to the east coast, through 22 states, then came back to the
west coast when we found the cost of living there too high. We decided to settle
here in Portland for a number of reasons: there are no earthquakes, tornadoes, hurricanes, floods or even rattlesnakes :) My wife was able to get a job in a
factory where she later became a supervisor. She worked during daytime and I
worked on night shifts, first in a steel mill and then at the Post Office,
and we were able to take turns taking care of our four children, three of whom
(Pam, Eileen and Kathy) were born here in the U.S. and are now all college
graduates and with excellent jobs. We were able to buy our first house three
and a half years after we first set foot on US soil. It was a two bedroom house
with a basement and cost $16,000 - the first of 12 that, over the years, we were
able to eventually acquire and which are now all paid off.
After we obtained US citizenship, we petitioned all our parents, brothers and
sisters so they would also enjoy a better life.
Some of the surprising experiences we had in the US. were: while we had a maid
in the Philippines, here we had to do all the household work. While over there,
people had no health insurance, here we have, and which is a plus. Senior citizens,
including Filipinos that did not even work here are able to get SSI benefits,
food stamps and welfare checks.
We got to see real snow for the first time. We got to go to drive-in theaters
and malls. We got to see such customs as "trick or treat" and senior proms. Our
children had many bicycles and so many toys which they could never had had in the Philippines.
After 5 years, we decided to visit our homeland. Incidentally, the first
balik-bayan welcome celebrations were being held. At the MIA we were greeted by
a band of musicians. In our hometown, Lubao, Pampanga, we were treated like VIP's
and interviewed one by one. The local government threw a big party for us,
complete with lechon and all the native delicacies they thought we had missed
while away from home. The central school presented folk dances and a zarzuela.
We felt like heroes, but of course, since back then there were yet only a few
Filipinos that had made it to the US.
Looking back, I'd say that we were lucky. If we had it to do over again,
most likely we'd just do the same thing, follow the same course.
For coming to America was indeed a milestone and is truly the best choice
we've ever made in life.
(The above is a speech delivered by Ernest C. Turla, president of the Aguman Capampangan Northwest U.S.A., in a symposium on "Coming To America In The
The Sixties", during the first Filipino-American Community Fair sponsored by the Filipino-American Historical Society and held at the Fil-Am Center in Portland, Oregon on October 5, 2002.)
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