3 Fil-ams, a health service CEO, civil and labor rights leaders, advise Biden
US President Biden will appoint 23 commissioners—three of them Filipina-american health care, civil rights and labor rights women advocates—to the President’s Advisory Commission on Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders (A API), the White House announced last week.
The three Filipino-american commissioners are Teresita Batayola from Seattle, Washington; Dr. Amy Agbayani from Hawaii and Luisa Blue from California.
The presidential commission is expected to advise Biden on policies to address anti-asian attacks in the United States, as well as address other inequity issues being faced by women, LGBTQ+ Asians, native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders.
Teresita Batayola is the president and chief executive officer of Seattlebased International Community Health Services — a nonprofit health center that provides comprehensive health care to immigrants, refugees and those who need affordable care. A health care access advocate, Batayola has obtained, among others, these awards and recognition: the Puget Sound Business Journal’s Award for Outstanding Business & Philanthropic
Contributions, Woman of Courage Undaunted from the University of Washington Women’s Center, and the Filipino Women’s Network’s Most Influential Filipino Woman in the World.
Dr. Amefil “Amy” Agbayani, 78, was born in the Philippines and is a graduate of political science from the University of the Philippines. She is known as “Manang Amy” and has fought for the civil rights and fair treatment of Filipinos in Hawaii.
She is an emeritus assistant vice chancellor for student diversity and equity at the University of Hawaii at Manao. She is a former chair of the Hawaii Civil Rights Commission, conducting research on AANHPI in higher education; and is member of the Patsy T. Mink PAC and the Legal Clinic for immigrant justice Hawaii.
In an interview with PBS Hawaii, Agbayani blamed former US President Trump for triggering the anti-asian sentiments during the Covid-19 pandemic. She said Trump “made things worse” by calling Covid-19 a “China virus.”
“We have to call it what it was—it was a racist statement that did not assist in reaching out to these communities .... Filipino Americans did not just die from the virus, Filipino nurses make up 4 percent of the nurses in the US, and 30 percent of nurses who died in the US during the pandemic are Filipinos,” Agbayani said.
Luisa Blue is labor rights activist, who recently retired as executive Vice President of the Service Employees International Union (Seiu)—making her one of the highest ranking AAPI officials in the labor movement. During her term, Blue was responsible for the SEIU Asian Pacific Islanders Civic Engagement and Leadership program, is a member of the Racial Justice Task Force, chair of the Environmental and Climate Justice Committee, and chair of the Ethical Culture Committee.
The National Federation of Filipino American Associations (NAFFA A), a national affiliation of Fil-am institutions, umbrella organizations, and individuals in the US, were thrilled over the White House announcement.