(SAN FRANCISCO) - Tuesday night, more than 150 community leaders, advocates, elected officials, artists and professionals rallied together in downtown San Francisco to launch the efforts of Filipinos for Obama to unify the pinoy vote behind Barack Obama.  Filipinos for Obama is a Bay Area-based grassroots organization founded to mobilize pinoys nationally in support of Senator Obama.

"We want to make the case for why Barack Obama is the best candidate for Filipino Americans and the strongest leader for addressing our issues, such as immigration reform, affordable healthcare and equity for Filipino veterans," said Rich Pio Roda, a field organizer for Filipinos for Obama.  At their first event, just over a week ago, Filipinos for Obama marched and registered dozens of voters at the 15th Annual Pistahan Parade in San Francisco.

(Photo by Jerms Estrada: FFO Kick-Off Host Committee, L-R, Top-Bottom: Ace Climaco, Fred Cabasa, Rich Pio Roda, April Joy Damian, Genevieve Jopanda, Eric Casher, Audrey Bangi, Angelica Jongco, Dexter Ligot-Gordon, Virg Cristobal)

Check out more photos of the event by Photographer Jerms Estrada here.

Amid cries of "Kaya ba? Kaya! (Can we do it? Yes, We Can)",
the speakers urged the crowd to get involved.  Emil de Guzman,
president of the Manilatown Heritage Foundation, drew parallels between
his early experience as a community organizer working with the manongs
at the I-Hotel and Barack’s background as an organizer for the working
class.  SF State Professor Allyson Tintiango-Cubales highlighted the
education crisis that Californians are facing, and her colleague
Professor Dawn Mabalon fired up the crowd as she urged younger
Filipinos to fight back with the truth against any smear emails that
their lolas or other relatives might be passing on to them.

(Photo by Jerms Estrada: Event MC and FFO Political Director Dexter Ligot-Gordon Fires Up the Crowd)

Six term mayor of West Sacramento, Chris Cabaldon, drew attention to
the importance of exercising the right to vote.  "If you can call in to
vote for Super Crew 18 times, then you can find a way to go and vote on
election day," he joked, referring to the popular MTV dance
competition.  But the crowd was silent at first when Cabaldon stated,
"Obama means hope in Tagalog."  Everyone seemed to think to
themselves–umm, no it doesn’t. But Chris turned confusion into
laughter, acknowledging that, "Ok, maybe Obama doesn’t mean ‘hope’ in
Tagalog" but the Filipino language is such a mix of borrowed words from
Spanish and English, what’s one more? Why can’t Obama mean hope in
Tagalog?

With more than four million Filipino Americans living in the United States, the second-largest Asian Pacific American population can be the difference in November’s presidential election-especially in a swing state such as Nevada, where more than 3% of the voting age population is Filipino but the vast majority of those pinoys either are not registered or do not vote. In the 2004 presidential election, Senator John Kerry lost the state of Nevada to George Bush by less than a 3% margin.

Stressing that "Obama is the candidate of people power," Angelica Jongco, Chair of Filipinos for Obama, presented Filipinos for Obama’s three-point plan for mobilizing Filipino voters to make an impact in the presidential election.  First, they will register Filipino American voters. Second, they will talk to Filipino voters, especially in swing states, launching a massive phone bank and door-to-door operation in states with sizable Filipino populations like Nevada, Washington state, Florida, and Virginia.  Third, Filipinos for Obama will raise funds to support Obama’s campaign and their own efforts to reach out to Filipino American voters.  The group raised nearly $3,000 through wireless online "donation stations" and sales of Filipinos for Obama buttons and t-shirts at the event.

(Photo by Jerms Estrada: FFO Crowd of 150+ at Zebulon)

According to Dexter Ligot-Gordon, Political Director for Filipinos for Obama, "The purpose of Filipinos for Obama is to get the community excited about the Senator’s historic candidacy and give a voice to Filipino Americans in the political process; this is an opportunity for the Filipino community to claim its stake at the political table."

Check out more photos of the event by Photographer Jerms Estrada here.

To join Filipinos for Obama, visit www.filipinosforobama.org or email filipinosforobama@gmail.com.