San Francisco, August 27, 2012 – South of Market or SOMA is a relatively large neighborhood just south of Market Street in San Francisco. For about a 100 years now, Filipinos have called SOMA home. During the early 1900s, Filipinos were shipped to the San Francisco to work in the city’s restaurants and hotels and to work in the fields of California.
It wasn’t an easy life for these early immigrants. Many of them struggled with poverty and even discrimination. But it is in SOMA where these Filipinos found other kababayans to lean on…fellow Filipinos who inspire and live to make a difference in the community.
ABS-CBN International presents “The Filipino Champions of SOMA“, a documentary that features three extraordinary Filipinos.
The Crusader
Rudy Corpuz lived a life filled with drugs, violence and crime. After serving time, Corpuz decided to turn his life around and help others who could fall prey to SOMA‘s tough streets. In 1994, he founded the United Playaz, a gang prevention and anti-violence group that operates by the mantra, “It takes the hood, to save the hood.”
He explained, “When it says ‘It takes the hood, to save the hood’, all it means is it takes the people to save the people. You don’t have to be from the hood to save someone from the hood. You just have to have a loving and caring heart.”
The nonprofit group has an after-school program, where kids are taught things they need to succeed in life — leadership skills, academic achievement and community involvement.
The Guide
MC Canlas is a historian who believes that the younger generation of Filipinos should know their roots and be proud of it. Canlas is a community strategist of the Filipino American Development Foundation or FADF.
Under the FADF, he co-founded the Galing Bata Bilingual Program in 2001, which provides after-school care to Kindergarten to 8th grade students at Bessie Carmichael/Filipino Education Center in SOMA. Canlas is also the founder and coordinator the annual Parol Lantern Festival, a first of its kind in the United States.
He said, “It doesn’t matter where life leads you. What matters is, you bring your Filipino-ness with you.”
The Advocate
Rudy Asercion was born into a military family. His father served in World War II and was killed in the infamous Bataan Death March. Asercion also joined the U.S. Navy and served in the Vietnam War.
When the Filipino veterans began migrating to the U.S. in 1990, Asercion also began advocating for them, helping them in their fight for full military benefits.
Asercion also advocates for struggling Filipino families in SOMA through the Westbay Pilipino Multi-Service Center, where he serves as executive director — making sure they get affordable housing, food assistance, healthcare coverage and even after-school care for their kids.
He said, “I’m just trying to fill a need in the community and everywhere you look, your help is needed.”
The Filipino Champion
The documentary, “The Filipino Champions of SOMA“, stems from a weekly segment of ABS-CBN International‘s newscast Balitang America called “The Filipino Champion“.
Producer and Senior Reporter Henni Espinosa said, “It’s important to recognize the community’s modern-day heroes. And being able to tell their stories and the stories of people whose lives they helped change — was truly a privilege.”
“The Filipino Champions of SOMA” will air on The Filipino Channel (TFC) in the U.S. on September 1, Saturday, from 2:50 pm to 3:20 pm, right after “Maalaala Mo Kaya“. (HJE/Balitang America)
