![]() ![]() Young Filipinos in today’s society should respect and appreciate Philip Vera Cruz and his work. He was awarded with this honor because of his involvement in the advancement of the Filipino population. In 1987, Vera Cruz traveled back to his home country for the first time in 50 years to accept the Ninoy Aquino Award. Vera Cruz saw Marcos as a brutal dictator and he didn’t want to be associated with him and his regime in any way. The reason he stopped seeing eye to eye with Chavez was because Chavez traveled to the Philippines and befriended Ferdinand Marcos. Chavez was the same person who Vera Cruz worked hand in hand with to bring rights to the farmers in California. In 1977, he resigned from the union because he had differences with Cesar Chavez. In the UFW, Philip Vera Cruz served as the Vice President and as a member of the managing board. Without the farm laborers, there was no one to grow and harvest the grapes that the companies wanted to sell. The companies that sold the grapes grown in Delano felt pressured by the boycotts and strikes because now they couldn’t make money selling their products. By 1970, the UFW were able to reach an agreement with the grape growers they worked for. This movement was a peaceful one, as it utilized boycotts, marches, strikes, and other organized events. The Delano Grape Strike comprised of around 10,000 workers and it lasted about 5 years. When the Filipinos and Mexicans joined together, they became the United Farm Workers (UFW). Eventually the Mexican population, led by Cesar Chavez, joined the Filipino workers on strike. The Filipinos were the majority of the AWOC. ![]() The AWOC led the Delano Grape Strike, during which the farm workers demanded that grape growers pay their workers’ wages equal to the federal minimum wage. When all these groups combined, they called themselves the Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee (AWOC). In the 1950’s, Vera Cruz joined the National Farm Labor Union and with this organization he helped bring together groups of Filipino farm workers. He would eventually settle in California, where he began working as a farmer to support himself. ![]() In 1926 he moved to the United States and worked a variety of positions, including working in a restaurant and a box factory. This statement goes to show how difficult it was for him to gain his fair share in America. Vera Cruz would later described his work in Ilocos Sur to be much easier than the work he would endure in California. At a young age Vera Cruz began working on the farms in his town. He was born in Ilocos Sur in the Philippines in 1904. Philip Vera Cruz was instrumental in the founding of the United Farm Workers Union. A key leader during this time period was Philip Vera Cruz, and the Californian Department of Education believes his contributions to the movement are important enough to be included in the education of young students. This gigantic step for Fil-Ams was a great way to start off October, which is also Filipino American History Month. Early in the month of October 2013, Governor Jerry Brown signed a bill that requires that the California academic curriculum include the contributions of Filipino-Americans during the farm labor movement. In present day America, the Filipino community is finally gaining the recognition it deserves for its invaluable involvement in the American labor movement. Read on to see Aaron's thoughts on labor leader, Philip Vera Cruz. ![]() As part of Fil-Am History Month, interns explored California's new law to include history on Fil-Am farm workers and their efforts in the state's education curriculum. Note from the Editor: Aaron Alcana is one of UniPro’s interns for the fall. ![]()
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