this is "nightline." >> tonight, culture of caring. filipino health care workers on the front lines of the pandemic. saving lives. sacrificing their own. >> fair to say he was the love of your life? >> of course, yeah. >> why this community is paying a higher price. and its unique history of helping america. plus dignity in defeat. an election tradition in our democracy. >> while i strongly disagree with the court's decision, i accept it. >> in an american election, there are no losers. >> our leaders have to reach across the aisle to do the people's work. >> president trump staying silent, fighting back. and the surprise firing tonight. and special surprise.

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♪ good evening. thank you for joining us. as we find ourselves in the grips of covid-19, tonight we examine the filipino health care workers who have emerged as

heroes in the front lines of the crisis, putting themselves in harm's way to help others. here's my "nightline" coanchor juju chang with our "turning point" series. >> we are going to the mercado household. it's like there are several generations that live together. she actually did come down with covid. >> reporter: eight months into the pandemic -- >> hey! >> reporter: california is the second state to hit 1 million covid cases. pockets of l.a. once again in crisis mode. for aqualina soriana the stakes have never been hired. >> we had one couple, 16 people living in a house, one couple came down positive so then it started to expose the whole house. >> reporter: she heads-up the filipino worker center, and right now she says she's not just delivering food, she's

saving lives. >> this pandemic has really shone a light on the inequities that exist in our community. >> thank you so much. >> even before the pandemic, a lot of our community was already in crisis, dealing with poverty, dealing with crowded housing conditions, bad working conditions. >> reporter: in the heart of l.a., in what's known as filipino town, this group is a lifeline to the community here as covid-19 cases continue to climb. in california, 1 in every 5 nurses is a filipino descent. nationally, 4% of registered nurses are filipino-american. but account for nearly one-third of the covid deaths, the largest non-white ethnic group amongst nurses to die of covid-19. when a wave of covid hit florida this summer, 32-year-old nurse raya mora found herself fighting in the thick of the battle. >> what do you think so many of

your fellow nurses in the hospital are philippine foes? >> i think because it's part of our culture. we love caring. >> reporter: it wasn't long before the mother of two was diagnosed with covid-19. four days later, her husband joe also tested positive. reya recovered but joe took a turn for the worse. placed on a ventilator. what was it like being in the hospital, knowing your husband was somewhere as a patient, and hearing the code blues go off? >> a lot of my patients, most of them went to icu then later on died. so i was really scared. >> joe, i know this in many ways was the battle of your life. what memories do you have of that battle? >> i didn't want to sleep. i was scared that in i closed my eyes, i wouldn't have the strength that i needed to continue breathing. >> reporter: after a grueling nearly month-long battle with the virus, joe was finally able to return home. what was that first kiss like

for you, when you get reunited? >> it was the best reunion. >> my first kiss after 24 days. >> i realized how important my family is and how much should i spend time with my family? >> i understand that a lot of your nurses were also filipinos? >> yes, that's true. really during that time i relied on the machines that kept my organs going, and the nurses that kept giving me care throughout the day and night. >> reporter: it's not a coincidence there are so many filipino-americans in nursing. it's a legacy that can be traced back through american history. the philippines was one of the very few countries the u.s. ever colonized. >> george dewy, hero of manila bay, whose victory over the spanish fleet in 1898 won the philippine islands for the united states. >> one of the things the united states wanted to do was to sort

of create a cheap aglofone accessible and mobile labor force in their new colony, to train them in specific voections that were not necessarily useful to filipinos in the philippines, but were useful to americans, and specifically the u.s. military. >> reporter: professor adrian de leon, who studies filipino-american history at usc, says america tapped into this cheap labor pipeline in the '60s when the u.s. suffered a nursing shortage. filipino nurses were recruited and brought to the mainland. over 150,000 filipino nurses have since migrated to the u.s. >> there's a thing called "death from within." it translates to "debt coming from a good conscience." which is debt you have that you want to repay, family or someone who cared for you, to make sure they're cared back in turn. >> reporter: now, filipino health care workers disproportionately caught in the crosshairs of a raging pandemic. praised as heroes but thrust

onto the front lines of a deadly battle. among them, irwin lembrento. he was a doctor in the philippines. after falling in love with aurora, his college sweetheart, a respiratory therapist herself, he emigrated to the u.s. following her and his love of medicine. >> dad was very hard working. he came here and worked his way up to have a good life with us here. >> what do you think made him a good husband? and a good father? >> i mean, i couldn't ask for more. whatever you needed, i mean, he would try to give it to you. kind of like -- i don't have to beg him to get me this or get me that, do this or do that. >> fair to say he was the love of your life? >> of course, yeah, uh-huh. >> reporter: his other love? nursing. he truly loved being an e.r. nurse. for more than 20 years. but elmhurst hospital in queens, his hospital, overnight became known as the epicenter of the

ee epepicenter. >> he was still going to work. we were telling him, why don't you take a break, take a vacation or something? he said, no, are you kidding me? i have a lot of co-workers who are quarantined right now, and they have covid, so he really had to go. >> he felt a sense of duty? >> yeah. "no, i can't do that." that's what he said. >> reporter: edward benija is an emt, a first responder who says irwin was the one everyone looked up to in the e.r. but he was also the life of the party. >> he actually was known to be the deejay of elmhurst. he always logged into his music accounts. he would always play music. that was his thing. no one would touch that. >> you would were the batman and robin of the e.r.? >> correct. he would be the first person that patient sees besides me. >> when you saw him heading towards your patient what went through your mind? >> what better person for this patient to receive care from. he's always going to treat the patient the same way he treats everyone, with compassion.

>> reporter: like so many filipino-americans, irwin's home was intergenerational. living with his grown kids and their grandparents. >> covid came. and he realized that there were a lot of covid patients already. so he decided there and then to bring his parents to new jersey where his sister lives. >> he saved their lives? >> i would say that, yeah. yeah. that's how his mother is really very, very -- she couldn't take it. that was the last time they spoke to him. that was it. >> reporter: at the end of march, as cases peaked in new york, irwin came down with a fever. his family had to beg him to go to the hospital. >> so you took care of him? >> yeah, i bring him food. he said, i think my oxygen level is very low. which was 90. and i said, that's not normal. i told him, can you go to the hospital now? no, i'm okay, i'm okay. >> reporter: within a month, he was gone. >> i say, why? why did you leave me? something like that, like -- i

wasn't really prepared for this. because he -- i mean -- i mean, to be honest, i depended on him on almost everything. >> how big a hole has this left in your world? >> oh my god. what a hole. it's -- it's a big hole. i don't know. i'm still picking up the pieces. >> reporter: his colleagues, those frontline workers, paying their respects with lights and sirens. >> and they were all in front of the hospital. it's like -- they said it's like -- >> like a 21-gun salute, they called it. >> yeah. and i saw it on the news in the philippines. ♪

♪ >> reporter: three long months s after his death, wife aurora and daughter cara are putting irwin's ashes to rest. >> he can finally rest in peace. i was saying, okay, we can finally put you in your resting place forever. >> reporter: irwin's legacy first and foremost a loving family man. a dedicated caregiver. but his family hopes his death, like so many filipino-american health care workers, will not go unnoticed. >> i wish people would see that all these numbers, these statistics, there are human lives to them. they are someone's father, someone's mother, someone's sister, someone's significant other. but i don't want people to forget the humanity behind the statistics.

>> our thanks to juju. up next, the concession speech. a cornerstone of our peaceful transfer of power. anything! at the end of a long day, it's the last thing i want to do. well i switched to swiffer wet jet and its awesome. it's an all-in-one so it's ready to go when i am. the cleaning solution actually breaks down dirt and grime. and the pad absorbs it deep inside. so, it prevents streaks and haze better than my old mop. plus, it's safe to use on all my floors, even wood. glad i got that off my chest and the day off my floor. try wet jet with a moneyback guarantee i can tell that they used your milk, matilda. great job! [moo] you're welcome. breyers natural vanilla is made with 100% grade a milk and cream and only sustainably farmed vanilla. better starts with breyers. milk and cream and only sustainably farmed vanilla. and mine's unlisted.. try boost® high protein... -with 20 grams of protein for muscle health- -versus only 16 grams in ensure® high protein.

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elected the next president of the country that we both love. >> our constitutional democracy enshrines the peaceful transfer of power. and we don't just respect that, we cherish it. >> reporter: it's a hallmark of american democracy. since 1896, every losing presidential candidate has conceded. >> i have lost, mr. nixon has won. the democratic process has worked its will. >> reporter: often after bruising campaigns. >> it hurts too much to laugh, but i'm too old to cry. >> i promised you four years ago that i would never lie to you. so i can't stand here tonight and say it doesn't hurt. >> tomorrow will be the first time in my life i don't have anything to do. >> reporter: the losing candidates finding the words to help unify the country. >> at a time like this, we can't risk partisan bickering and

political posturing. our leaders have to reach across the aisle to do the people's work. >> whether or not our candidates are successful, the next morning we all wake up as americans. >> reporter: in 2000, the nation woke up with no winner. historic florida recount between al gore and george w. bush left the country on edge for 36 days. >> let there be no doubt, while i strongly disagree with the court's decision, i accept it. and tonight, for the sake of our unity as a people and the strength of our democracy, i offer my concession. >> earlier tonight i spoke with our chief white house correspondent jon karl and his tore yeah leah wright regore about president trump's refusal to concede. jon, first question. there's news tonight president trump has fired the head of the agency that vouched for the r y reliability of the 2020 election. what does that say about his willingness to concede and accept the results? >> this is christopher krebs, the top cybersecurity official

for the past two years at the department of homeland security, at donald trump's department of homeland security. and krebs had said that there was absolutely no credible evidence of any kind of funky business with voting machines, that they were secure. he said that cybersecurity experts across the board had confirmed this. and just after he does it, trump fires him. so look, it does not point to a quick concession from donald trump. he is still insisting, even as he's firing his own top cybersecurity official, he is still insisting widespread voter fraud of all types. >> leah, to that point, seems like president trump has the nation on a particular path. what will be the impact if trump refuses to deliver a concession speech? >> well, i think one of the things that we think about when we think about concession speech is the message that it sends to supporters. it sends one of generally unity, fall in line, this is the person

that will be leading the country, and i ask that you accept that. when donald trump says to his followers and to the world, i do not accept the results, it signals to his followers that they don't have to accept the results. so one thing that we know is that it will certainly undermine anything that the new administration and the administration-elect wants to do. joe biden and kamala harris will certainly have a lot of trouble on their hands because 70 million people in the country are being told by donald trump not to accept the results. >> leah, you're a historian. how significant is it to our nation's history, these concession speeches, and a peaceful transition of power? >> the interesting thing is that you don't have to do a concession speech. you don't have to concede the election. but it's generally something that the losing party does. it's seen as a sign of civility. it's seen as a really important transfer of power. so it signals, again, to the losing candidate's supporters that this is really important, that we be unified around the

new administration. and so what we know is that historically, even after the most bitterly contested of races, there's always been this moment where there has been a concession speech and where that concession speech has upheld democratic institutions and told america that it is really important to move forward and accept the results of a free and fair nation. >> jon, you've heard your fair of speeches by the winner and by the loser. you covered the bush v. gore recount and concession speech. describe that moment, and would we expect to see something similar in this election eventually, at some point? >> the florida recount, this is one of the most bitterly divided moments in our modern history. and after 35 days of a hotly contested recount, it was over after the supreme court ruled. there had been protesters out in front of the naval observatory, republicans who were chanting "get out of dick cheney's house." gore gave this speech, just a beautiful speech, conceding that

george w. bush hat won even after he fought so hard to overturn the results in florida. wished him the best of luck. offered to help him in his administration. those protesters actually still were out there chanting, but now they were chanting "thank you, al gore, thank you, al gore." as for donald trump, look. he wants people to believe that this election was fraudulent. he will ultimately, i believe, give some kind of speech, but it won't be a concession speech, it will be accepting the results in a way, but conceding, if he's conceding anything, conceding that the election was stolen from him. he wants to be able to go out to the 70 plus million people that voted for him and say that he's not a loser, that he didn't lose this thing. the only reason why he's leaving the white house is because the presidency was stolen from him. >> jon and leah, thanks again for your time. this is a conversation i know we

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♪ finally tonight, firefighters pay tribute to the littlest new member of their team. 3-year-old cameron pied getting a hero's welcome outside cleveland, returning home from his final cancer treatment in and a 10-month hospital stay. a parade of fire trucks and one just for him. that's wonderful. that's "nightline" for this evening. catch our full episodes on hulu. see you right back here same you're constantly on the go, on the clock, and on your way. hang on a second. what's the rush? know the speed limit, go the speed limit, and slow the fast down. go safely, california.