(applause) >> thank you, supervisor kim. why don't we proceed actually rather than going from 5, 6 on, down, down to district 5 and then down to district 4 and we'll proceed in that order. supervisor breed. >> thank you. today district 5 is honoring chris [speaker not understood]. i hope i pronounced your last name right. chris is the executive director of the asian law caucus. i'm sure many of you are familiar with him and his work, but he is a district 5 resident

that we're very proud of. i'm honoring him for his social justice work. he has been active in the asian american community for over a decade. i know he looks a lot younger than a decade, but he has been extremely active. he's been involved in grassroots activism in the asian american immigrant worker and lgbt communities on both coasts of the country and his vision for social justice is grounded in the realities of those communities. after graduating from brown university and ucla law school, chris worked as a ford foundation new voices fellow where filipino advocates for justice in oakland before joining the positive resource center in san francisco as a staff attorney representing clients living with hiv. he is currently the executive director of the asian law caucus which works on housing rights, immigration, labor, and employment issues in the asian community and ha been very

active in effecting positive social change on the policy level here in san francisco and right here in our own board of supervisors. thank you, chris. i know you're here today with your partner ed and thank you for your dedication and service. and on behalf of the board of supervisors and the city and county of san francisco, we want to thank you for your commitment and let you know that we are paying very close attention and we appreciate all that you've done to make the community better. (applause) >> thank you, supervisor breed, and thank you, board of supervisors, for this recognition. i'm really humbled and very excited that the board is recognizing filipino-american heritage month this year as you do every year. i've been a d-5 resident for ten years, but the last six years my other life has been with the asian law caucus and we've been part of building up and supporting the filipino-american community since the 1970s as supervisor

avalos noted, standing beside filipino [speaker not understood] who are one of the first folks in our community fighting gentrification in our city. it's a legacy that we carry on today and we continue to serve many low-income [speaker not understood], immigrant workers and i'm really proud to be able and privileged to be able to serve the community in this way. just want to acknowledge all of the filipino americans who have come before me and we shoulder them being able to continue on this work today. of course i want to close by thanking my partner in crime [speaker not understood] photographer at the [speaker not understood] center. thank you. (applause)

>> thank you, supervisor breed. now coming down from district 5 to district 4, supervisor tang. >> thank you, president chiu. today it is my great honor to recognize someone who truly embodies the theme of this year's [speaker not understood], [speaker not understood]. unfortunately he passed away earlier this year, but i think it's never too late to honor someone who has contributed so much to our community and i wanted to take this opportunity to acknowledge his family who is here with us today. you can clap. (applause) >> he was dedicated and tireless civil servant. in addition to his job as an electrical engineer, he served as a member of the filipino-american contractors and engineers association. he served as a member of the filipino-american -- sorry, i apologize. and was an active member of the filipino-american democratic club in which high quality public education was one important goal of the group. mr. [speaker not understood] was the first filipino-american to be elected to the san

francisco board of education serving in the 1980s. as a staunch advocate of bilingual education and the chairman of a citizens bilingual task force he was instrumental in institutionalizing the bilingual education program in the san francisco unified school district. he was also the founding member of the filipino-american development foundation [speaker not understood] community center. it was through the community development work of the foundation and the community senterra long with parents and community bilingual supporters that the advocacy around filipino bilingual education continues at betsy carmichael school, where the [speaker not understood] after school program [speaker not understood] is still run 40 years after mr. [speaker not understood] served on the citizens bilingual task force. today it is really wonderful to honor [speaker not understood] given that san francisco recently certified tagalog as a language covered under our city's language access ordinance. with mr. [speaker not understood]'s family here today, i wanted to share with them that our office has been

working to build upon his legacy by improving language access for all through strengthening the language access ordinance to something that was spearheaded by supervisor chiu here. mr. [speaker not understood]'s legacy will continue to impact our communities. he was a gem in our district and has impacted so many through his service to our city. and i don't know if this is up and running now, but we recently, mr. [speaker not understood] was actually honored by asian, inc., so, we do have a video that they played there as a tribute to him, his life, i'd like to show a short clip of that. [video presentation] >> he what in the personal page.

he was a [speaker not understood] very accessible. [speaker not understood]. [speaker not understood]. so, they he were able to not only able to be successful [speaker not understood], but they were [speaker not understood]. >> [speaker not understood].

[speaker not understood]. one of the first filipino board members in san francisco. and right before he passed away, we were so proud to [speaker not understood] that the filipino language was added as a certified language in the city and county of san francisco and even after had i passing he still continues the legacy [speaker not understood].

♪ >> thank you very much, and i apologize for the sound quality there, but i really just wanted to show you a glimpse of mr. servantes and his work. with that i want to invite the family up to accept the commendation on his behalf. again, thank you very much. (applause)

(applause) >> thank you, supervisor tang. it is my honor to make the next presentation, and i first just want to thank and congratulate all of the amazing filipino-american leaders that we have in our community. san francisco has a proud heritage of filipino-american leadership. i certainly know that as someone who represents the former manila town and the former international hotel and i want to thank and congratulate all of you for that. my honoree is someone who is part of the amazing leadership

of nonprofit organizations that we have in san francisco. amor santiago received a master in public health at san jose state. he has been teaching health care organization and administration for 14 years, has served as the senior fellow of the american leadership forum, and he has served in critical health leadership roles throughout his career. as the founding executive director of [speaker not understood] of santa clara county, ceo for asian with community involvement, the executive director of the india community center, the director of the healthy living initiative, and director of healthy silicon valley. but many of us we know amor not just as a great guy and an amazing mentor, father and friend, but as the current executive director of apa family support services. this is an organization that promotes healthy children and families by providing services to prevent child abuse, domestic violence and ensuring that our families are safe. and i can certainly tell you,

colleagues, and i think many of you know amor's work. he has been able to impact hundreds of families and children in ensuring that the city of st. francis really takes care of her own. with that in celebration of filipino history month i want to thank amor and i see that supervisor cohen would like to add a few words. amor on behalf of our constituents in district 3 and many districts around the city i want to thank you for everything you're doing. supervisor cohen. >> thank you for allowing me a moment just to also lift up and honor amor sanity whition owe. ~ santiago. you've been incredible to the valley since you stepped n. i think your leadership transcends any kind of ethnic boundaries, any kind of class boundaries. you have a good heart. you have a wonderful nature about you that really connects with many people. so, on behalf of the visitacion valley community i want to say thank you and also acknowledge your outstanding leadership. thank you. (applause)

>> thank you very much, supervisor chiu, and those kind words, supervisor cohen, and all the supervisors. i actually got my start here in san francisco as a college of podiatric medicine when dianne feinstein was mayor. i came back in the '90s to serve on the filipino task force on aids when aids was disparately affecting gay filipinos. blat five years i've been here and it's been a privilege to be part of the community and to serve. thank you for honoring me this way and i'm just, yeah, very honored when i see those that are honored including my fraternity brother al perez from san jose state. so, again, it's been a great privilege. i hope to continue to honor the community and your trust in us and our work in nonprofit in serving the broader community. thank you so much. (applause)

(applause) >> now up in the batting order, supervisor farrell. >> thank you, president chiu. i believe my honoree is still running in the building, if you will. if we could skip over. >> sure, thanks. slide to district 1, supervisor mar. >> thank you. to all the honorees, we're really lucky to have such an amazing array of different types of leaders from the filipino community. the choice for the richmond

district today is i think one of the most inspiring and creative people that helps to build our movements with his messages of hope and struggle. i wanted to say the legacy theme, i'd say that tony robles, if tony can come forward. [cheering and applauding] >> understand why i'm saying this. there is a mural at san francisco state that the league of filipino students and filipino activists created and artists. it shows the struggle in the philippines and the connection to the u.s., people struggles and it says, we stand on their shoulders. i know when generations look back they'll think of tony as a person that they're standing on his shoulders, very, very nurturing person for young people. i have this book that tony wrote, message to my daughter.

it's one of tony's two books but he's got another one coming out soon. it's called [speaker not understood] hotel. but i know his work with young people, seniors and so many others in our communities, is not just your normal type of organizer. he's a real empowerer of the people. and i'll just create that word, empowerer of the people because i think it's a belief that the people should speak for they have selves and he's giving them inspiration, courage and skills to lead struggles and we need them to lead our future struggles. ~ themselves so, our 2014 filipino-american history month honoree from district 1 is tony robles. he's a long-time richmond district resident, though he no longer lives in the richmond. tony was born and raised in san francisco. he went to peabody, george peabody school [speaker not understood] in the richmond, roosevelt and washington high in the richmond and city college as well. he's a poet and eviction

fighter, a nephew, a son, an organizer and former richmond district resident. he's also -- after he finished his education he went on to become the board president of our manila town heritage foundation that's in the spot, the former hole in the ground aye hotel, manila town [speaker not understood]. he's the editor of poor magazine. and i see how he inspires a multi-racial group of young people to be revolutionaries and fighters for their communities and for self-determination everywhere. and he's the author of two children's books, walk us [speaker not understood] fish and [speaker not understood] hotel, and be on the look out for his upcoming book of poems and essays, cool don't live here no more, and it's going to be released in the spring of 2015. tony's blog, tony robles word press.com has a number of poems that he's written. from the challenge from alejandro [speaker not

understood] poet laureate we should bring poets into this dome every board meeting, i wanted to readth one of had i, one of my favorite poems from tony's list of poetry ~ and this one is benito's drum for eviction fighter and [speaker not understood] who ha had a lot of the antieviction struggles and is such a great inspiration to many of us. tony's poem beknit owe's drum, do you hear that sound, the sound of skin from benito's drum is the sound of resistance to eviction. the skin of beknit owe's drum is the skin of [speaker not understood] fillmore black elders, filipino [speaker not understood], and lolos and lolas [speaker not understood]. the skin of manila town, the skin of [speaker not understood] filipino struggle, the skin of aye hotel, the skin of poets who wrote on the walls

of their minds. hell no we won't go. benito's drum is the beat of struggle from the heart of struggle from the mind, of struggle. the drum bone beat of his hands carry the dirt poems of the aye hotel rising out of the ground. benito's drum skin drum beat life a wakes the city from its sleep. it wakes the elders, the children, the workers, the forgotten. benito's drum is awaking the city ~ with the city of his aye hotel heart. (applause) >> that's tony robles' poem. tony is a true revolutionary, worker scholar who always maintains a humble level head, even in the most crisis oriented situations, even when fighting for the people in the most charged issues like housing justice, and the fight against displacement and gentrification in san francisco

creatively tony writes poetry and stories that inspire hope and struggle of our communities. i'm proud to honor him today. i think he uses his mind, his heart, his hands creatively and lovingly to inspire filipino community members but also all of us. and i wanted to say again that i believe he's an empowerer of those that need to lead our struggles and for me as a member of this board of supervisors and our whole body, it's my honor to recognize brother tony robles as our honoree from district 1. tony? [cheering and applauding] >> thank you very much, supervisor mar. and to think that i thought you were going to take me out to joe's ice cream. [laughter] >> i didn't expect this. let me just say for the record, if not for a poet by the name

of al robles, you would be saying tony who because that was a real organizer, a real man. i don't consider myself to be a great organizer, not even a good one, but i'm a poet like my uncle was. just a poet, just a dreamer. filipino-american history month is observed in october. it commemorates filipinos landing in morrow bay, part of san luis obispo, manila trade that started in 1865 and lasted until about 1815. 250 years of transferring, 200 to 300 filipinos each time, okay. many jumped ship. 101 people in contrast came over on the mayflower. now, by the time the mayflower got here in 16 20, there were over a thousand filipinos here on the west coast. we've been here, we have a rich and a very rich and powerful history here. and i got that information not from my own head, but from

filipino scholar oscar [speaker not understood]. i want to say we got the world series happening. i tell you, the world san francisco giants, i've got to tell you, those kids out on the mission playground standing up and standing and holding their ground. (applause) >> those are the real san francisco giants. i'll tell you some other giants. the kids who are at west bay, the way they comport themselves, the way they behave with such class and the way they behave around their elders, those are the real san francisco giants. i take my hat off to them. those are the real san francisco giants. my work in the housing organizing is inspired by manila town. it's inspired by my uncle al. i work with senior and disability action. i'm the president of the board of manila found heritage foundation. what i've seen in san francisco, it breaks my hardththv. i'll be honest with you.

the eviction crisis that we're in, being born and raised here, it's heart breaking, you know. it really is. i go back five generations here in san francisco, man, and to see, to see what's happened to my city, you know, to see the poetry and the art disappear from our city, how are we going to have a city without poetry? how are we going to have it without art? but i'm hopeful that we have kid like those in the mission playground that stood their ground and said, no, we ain't gonna move. we have a right to be here. we dee he serve to be here. this is our home, this is our -- this is our community. this is our community. ~ deserve we're not going to be bought out from our community. you can see my t-shirt i have here, you see my t-shirt? (applause) >> excuse me --

>> you ain't buying your way out of this one. but anyway, i want to -- i just want to thank you once again for honoring not only me and my work, but honoring my uncle and my family. i want to introduce somebody really important in my life, my best friend james whitten, went to college together, city college together, known each other 30 years. my mom, i think she's watching from north carolina. i love you, mom. and my wife from poor magazine, thank you. [cheering and applauding]

>> thank you, supervisor mar. (applause) >> i understand our district 2 honoree is here, supervisor farrell. >> thank you, president chiu, and thank you, colleague, for -- supervisor mar, for going and jumping ahead once my monday rewas running into the building literally. so, want to bring up al perez. colleague, today -- a round of applause for mr. perez here. (applause) >> colleague, today i have the pleasure of honoring commissioner al perez who was a pointed by then gavin newsom to be [speaker not understood]. an amazing part of that group that works with all of our offices so well. i think to me what stands out about al is his commitment to the community in general here in san francisco. al is so active in so many volunteer activities in our neighborhoods. he currently serves as president of the filipino-american arts expo significance where he lead a core staff and army of volunteers planning and

executing the annual pistan parade and festival they celebrate each year which is one of the largest expressions of the filipino community outside of the philippines. also volunteers with two teams very close to all of our dear hearts. not only soon to be san francisco warriors but also the san francisco giants. filipino cultural and heritage nights at our ball parks and our arenas. he also works to organize those nights with the oakland raiders and athletics for that we forgive you here in san francisco, al. al serves in a number of other organizations at the asian street heritage celebration, the san francisco be free campaign and the filipino women's network. for all the outstanding work over the years he's also received presidential citations from former presidents of the philippines. he's an amazing leader. someone we've all gone to work with in the role of the entertainment commission now. i want it thank you for all of your service to the city, to the filipino community and

congratulations on this award. (applause) >> thank you so much, supervisor mark farrell for this honor, i'm really touched and really honored to be here. i share this award with over 200 volunteers and staff of the filipino-american arts expo significance, faae is an all-volunteer nonprofit organization. our mission is simple, to promote the best of the filipino-american art, culture, history and community, to foster cultural pride and economic empowerment. thank you for recognizing my work and our work as a group. it's really appreciated and this motivates me to keep moving forward, so, thank you. (applause)

>> thank you, supervisor farrell. why don't we now go to district 11, supervisor avalos. supervisor avalos? [laughter] >> thank you. i have actually two commendations to do, one for the filipino community center and after that for pat, [speaker not understood]. first i'll do the filipino community center and would like to call up terry [speaker not understood] who is the director at the center. [cheering and applauding]

>> [speaker not understood] organizing the filipino community center, the fcc, was established in 2004 by community organizers who were responding to the mass layoff of filipino airport screeners and other immigrant workers in the post-911 hysteria and to address the great unmet needs to services to the filipino community. from a church based on san juan to now being located in the heart of excelsior across from the [speaker not understood] triangle fcc has grown its services from employment and legal support, domestic violence prevention, [speaker not understood], language access, and immigrant and worker rights. it continues to thrive based on three core strategies. it was founded upon organizing, advocacy, and service. in the last ten years the fcc has achieved major victories with the neighborhood.

city and filipino community ~. working with and organizing neighborhood youth, the fcc helped to get a new stop light on all man i and san juan after a young student, stacey cross was killed at the intersection. alemany ~ [speaker not understood]. in just the past few years the fcc's worker rights program in collaboration with the office of labor standards enforcement has helped win over $1 million in back wages from filipino caregivers -- four of them, i'm sorry, four filipino caregiver, which is a significant event. and what's really great about the work that the filipino community center does on wage theft is that there are volunteers who actually do a lot of the work and really connect with the workers and make sure that they know what their rights r