Fight vs ABC unites feuding Filipinos in US

By Nimfa U. Rueda (Inquirer)
Posted date: October 09, 2007

LOS ANGELES -- The increasingly heated campaign against a perceived slur against Filipino doctors on a recent episode of “Desperate Housewives” has shown that Filipino Americans, when united, are capable of highly coordinated action.
There had been differences among Filipino-American groups over campaign strategies, said Arnedo Valera, legal counsel for the National Alliance for Filipino Concerns (Nafcon). Valera led a group of Filipino-American community leaders who held a dialog with Robert Mendez, ABC television network’s senior vice president for diversity, on October 5 in New York City.

But in the end, divergent groups came together in achieving one goal -- to defend the reputation of Filipino health professionals and make a statement against racism. “We have agreed to stand united with respect to (our) demands and plans of actions,” said Valera, a Washington DC-based lawyer who also serves as executive director of the Migrant Heritage Commission.

“We are taking this great opportunity to join forces and show our strength as the second largest minority group in the United States,” he added.

While the militant Nafcon leads a boycott of the network and its parent company, Walt Disney Company, the National Federation of Filipino American Associations (Naffaa) plans to sit down with Mendez, in a second round of talks, on Tuesday.

Nafcon spokesperson Rico Foz said they decided to call for a boycott and escalated protest actions after facing a tough stand-off with Mendez on their demand for a broadcast apology. This decision was backed by a progressive group within Naffaa, led by California-based lawyer Rodel Rodis.

“The Filipino community needs to apply continuous pressure on ABC,” said Rodis, who is also spearheading efforts to form an antidefamation committee and preparing a class action suit against ABC.