WITH PASSION AND PURPOSE DOCUMENTARY PHOTOGRAPHY by RICK ROCAMORA

MAKING A DIFFERENCE - DYNAMIC TEEN COMPANY -CAVITE CITY, PHILIPPINES

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How to order - AMERICA'S SECOND-CLASS VETERANS

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My apologies. Before an online ordering service is set up, please consider the following if you like to order a copy. Many thanks for your support.

PLEASE SEND YOUR ORDERS TO:

Rick Rocamora
c/o San Francisco Veterans Equity Center
1010 Mission Street, San Francisco, CA 94103

with your check or money order and shipping instructions for: (Please include your phone number or email address to confirm receipt of your order)

Hard-bound book - $50.00 each
Paper-bound book - $30.00

Community memorial for Cory Aquino - San Francisco

2009-08-07T10:03:00.000-07:00

Sacrifices for Vets Equity

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Washington DC Prepares for Obama

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AMERICA'S SECOND-CLASS VETERANS

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OP-ED ARTICLE - On Veterans Day - Waiting for equity
Rick Rocamora -San Francisco Chronicle-Sunday, Nov 11, 2007

In 1947, U.S. Marine Corps Major Austin C. Shofner wrote to Magdaleno Duenas, "I can never repay you for all you did for me in Mindanao." Duenas assisted Shofner and nine other U.S. soldiers on a long trek to freedom after their escape from the Davao Penal Colony on the Philippine island of Mindanao. Under constant threat of recapture by Japanese soldiers, Duenas and other Filipino guerrilla fighters helped the Americans reach Misamis Oriental, where they were rescued by a U.S. submarine crew. When they reached Australia, they told the world of the Bataan Death March and Japanese POW camps. Life magazine described it as a "tale of atrocity, murder and starvation."

The escapees continued their military careers and retired with full benefits and recognition as U.S. veterans. We honor them every year.

Duenas, and the 200,000 thousand Filipinos who fought side by side with the U.S. soldiers as part of the U.S. armed forces in World War II were promised citizenship, and with it recognition of their service and veterans' benefits, by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Congress reneged on that promise.

Forty-five years later, Congress passed the Immigration Act of 1990 allowing the Filipino veterans to apply for citizenship. Many became citizens and, despite their advanced age, decided to live in the United States. They subsist on Supplemental Social Security Income and continue to wait for the veterans' benefits that they thought would come easily.

To survive, they live in sub-standard housing, frequent soup kitchens and avail themselves of free services. They live apart from their families in the hope that, eventually, they will be recognized as full-fledged U.S. veterans, thus entitled to full benefits.

U.S. Rep. Bob Filner, D-San Diego, has tried since 1992 to pass the Filipino Veterans Equity Bill, which would give the Filipino WWII veterans full recognition and some better benefits. "Fifty years of injustice still burn in their hearts and memories. They want justice in their last years. It is time that this country adequately recognized their contributions, recognize the injustice, and act to correct it. We must do this to establish our honor - and the honor and dignity of these veterans."

Many have died waiting for justice. They all have hoped that justice will prevail and that they will be fully recognized as veterans for their services fighting for democracy and freedom during World War II.

The Filipino Veterans Equity Act (HR. 760 and S.57) is again pending before the Congress. The Rescission Act of 1946 gave nationals from 60 other countries veterans' status - but not Filipinos. They were singled out for exclusion. The pending bill will restore this status and bestow full honor and recognition on the Filipino veterans.

For those who died waiting, I will wait for them. They deserve justice, even after death.

Rick Rocamora is a documentary photographer. He has recorded the Filipino fighters' day-to-day lives since 1992. He is working on "H-1B's and Immigrant Entrepreneurs - America's Technology Lifeline."

This article appeared on page E - 5 of the San Francisco Chronicle

Women celebrate Obama's Victory

2008-11-05T01:00:00.000-08:00

AFRICAN-American, Latino and youth votes have been largely credited for helping propel Barack Obama to the presidency of the United States. Women voters, however, also figured prominently in Obama’s victory as 56 percent of women who voted in the November 4 elections cast their votes for him.

Meanwhile, efforts by the Republican Party to woo the votes of women, particularly those who supported Senator Hillary Clinton in the Democratic primaries, by choosing Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as John McCain’s running mate only proved to be disastrous. Exit polls showed that four in 10 voters overall were influenced into voting for the Democratic ticket by the selection of Palin as the GOP’s vice-presidential nominee.At the Oakland Convention Center, and in many other places across America, women of all color celebrated Obama’s historic victory with tears and chants of “Yes, We Can.”

San Salvador - City under Siege

2008-11-03T13:51:00.000-08:00

In 1989, with a 10 day visa and 20 day round trip ticket bought at a discount, I spent days documenting the day-to-day life of Salvadorans as they face the militarization of their country financed by the US government aid of one million dollars a day. Images taken during the trip was later used as calendar fund-raising project of the Human Rights Commission of the FMLN (Farimundo Marti Liberation National)

CUBA SI!

2008-11-01T19:59:00.000-07:00

I made several trips to Cuba on my own and on assignment for the American Public Health Association. Temple University Press was interested to publish a coffee table book of my work, but after long deliberation, I withdrew my commitment because I don't have enough images to show the impact of the US embargo to the Cuban people.

GLOBAL PINOYS

2008-11-01T17:29:00.000-07:00

A work-in-progress photo-documentary project about Filipinos living and working overseas. The 8 million Filipinos remit to the Philippines around 14 billion dollars annually. They are called the modern heroes of the Philippines.

BALIKBAYAN JOURNAL-Philippines

2008-11-01T16:42:00.000-07:00

Every immigrant in America always look forward to visiting their motherland. Their visit are of varied reasons. In my case, aside from assignments from US based publications and other news outlets, I go home to see old friends and family but also to document day-to-day lives of Filipinos. I focus mostly on stories that I am concerned about, situations where my pictures may add to a better understanding of its people,politics and its economy.

City of Seven lakes - San Pablo

2008-11-01T12:17:00.000-07:00

The lakes of San Pablo, 100 miles south of Manila is a good example of how a beautiful lake became polluted and eventually lost its natural wonders. It will take a concerted effort by the residents, business community, local and national government to restore its full potential.

Malonga's Center for the Arts - Oakland

2008-11-01T12:03:00.001-07:00

A collection of images taken at various dance and drum classes at the Malonga Center for the Arts in Oakland, California. Recognized as one of the biggest dance center in the country, master teachers from many immigrant communities share their cultural heritage to enthusiastic students of all color. This is a tribute to Malonga Casqueloard, one of the pioneer master teacher at the
center.

Manila's Invisible Children

2008-11-01T11:34:00.000-07:00

They jail children, don't they? In smelly cells in police stations, youth rehabilitation centers and mental hospital. They tie them up, chain them to beds, lock them up in filthy rooms. Children are put behind bars supposedly for their protection. But once there, their world is not much kinder than it was in the streets or slums. Food is scarce and stale. The cops are mean and the quarters, cramped and squalid. Policemen and wardens beat up little boys hauled from the streets, while young girls are molested. Once children are in jail or behind bars, their world becomes cramped and small" he says. Without outside help and concern, these children would be permanently scared.

Unbroken Spirit - Muslim Filipinos in time of war

2008-11-01T11:32:00.000-07:00

“Unbroken Spirit — Muslim Filipinos in Time of War” taken during several trips to Maguindanao and Cotobato before September 2001. Depicted here are scenes from the battlefields of then Moro Islamic Liberation Front-controlled territories in Maguindanao, including rebel strongholds Camps Abubakar and Raja Muda, and the altered lives of ordinary Muslim Filipinos forced to stay at refugee camps in North Cotabato.

These scenes,are “repeated again and again every time conflict ensues between the MILF and the government.”

Indeed, then, as now, the decades-old war has seen no just end. Then, as now, peace has remained elusive for our Muslim brothers and sisters in Mindanao.

As a Filipino who faces racial discrimination in America,I can easily understand why Muslim Filipinos continue to struggle for justice and equality in their own land.They deserve better and they need a lasting peace.

Forced Isolation-MUSLIMS IN QUAIPO

2008-11-01T11:30:00.001-07:00

EXPECT the Muslim population in Metro Manila to swell every time the Bangsamoro conflict escalates down south. To escape the brutalities of war in Mindanao, many Muslims particularly flock to Quiapo, the heart of downtown Manila, where a sizable Muslim community has taken root since the 1970s in the vicinity of the Golden Mosque on Globo de Oro Street.

As it is not easy to find a place to stay in Manila, Quiapo provides them a home away from home. Quiapo’s Muslim settlement, after all, is what sociologist Mokhammad Yahya calls a self-contained ethnic community with deep communal and emotional ties, allowing them to “maintain their ethno-cultural identity from the onslaught of the Christian majority ideology and the modernizing/secularizing tendencies of urban life.”

But while in the city, Muslims cannot completely escape certain situations in their search for a better life, like having to adopt Christian names just to land a job as they end up working in Manila’s underground economy to support their forced isolation from their homeland.