WEDNESDAY, APRIL 28, 1999

History focus of Filipino panel

By Lovelynn Barlahan

On-Line Forty-Niner

In an effort to create awareness of Filipino issues and history, professors from Mindanao State University in the Philippines participated in Friday's conference "Philippine Issues Untouched: Opening Your Eyes to Mindanao" at Cal State Long Beach.

"It is a great opportunity to have them come to CSULB and share what they know about their background," said Elaine Ramos, president Kappa Psi Epsilon. "I'm in awe how there is another culture in the Philippines that we are not familiar with."

The conference hosted by Kappa Psi Epsilon, a Filipino-based sorority at CSULB and Chi Rho Omicron, a Filipino-based fraternity from San Francisco State University, took place from 6 to 10 p.m. in the University Student Union's Small Auditorium.

The panelists were professor Mulawi Calimba and attorney Abdurraliman Canacan, both from MSU in General Santos City, Philippines, and Joy Soriano, a book publisher from Quezon City, Philippines.

The panelists spoke about the unspoken issues and unheard mysteries of Filipino history from Mindanao, the meaning behind the Muslim culture influence in the Philippines, the people and their struggles from the past and the present.

Mindanao, an island of the Philippines, comprised of a predominantly Muslim culture in a Roman-Catholic influenced country, is known as the "unconquered land," Calimba said.

More recently, Mindanao has also been termed as "the land of promised" due to its rapid growing economy, he said.

"Most of us as Filipino-Americans get so little education about the Philippines in the first place," Jeanne Aguinaldo, vice president of Kappa Psi Epsilon said. "The little that we do get is about colonial history ... not realizing that there is a whole different culture in the Philippines and history."

Also addressed in the discussion was Mindanao's economic development and how the issues in Mindanao affect Filipinos and Filipino-Americans.

"We believe that there must be some effort to know more about Mindanao and the Philippines," Canaca said. "If you lose your identity on your way , you'll forget about your roots."

The panelists have also spoken at San Francisco State University and Sacramento State University and ended their tour at CSULB.