The Philippine Cultural Center of Virginia will celebrate its 25th anniversary this Saturday.
Along with the “silver jubilee,” local Filipinos are celebrating a legacy of community organizing that goes back more than 50 years in Hampton Roads, said Cynthia Romero, chairman of the Council of United Filipino Organizations of Tidewater.
The Council oversees the Philippine Cultural Center in Virginia Beach. The Center, which opened in 2000, was the culmination of years of fundraising to house the numerous Filipino organizations in the area.
It’s more than a building, Romero said. It’s a place that “allows our Filipino families to have a place to gather, to support each other, and, more importantly, to preserve our precious Filipino culture, heritage, traditions and values.”
Today, the Center hosts regular meetings for veterans, a historical society, language classes, martial arts and more.
Hampton Roads is home to the largest population of Filipino people on the East Coast. Many arrived in connection with the U.S. Navy because military service offered a path to citizenship.
Hailing from a chain of islands in the South China Sea, Filipinos are historically seafaring people. They served in the Navy as early as the Civil War, and between 1952 and 1991, 35,000 Filipinos joined up.
Now, more than 40,000 Filipinos call Hampton Roads home, according to the U.S. Census.
One of the oldest organizations in the area was the Filipino Women’s Club, formed in 1964. Romero said many of the women in the group were the spouses of Navy servicemembers.
Other organizations formed to support the growing community, including the Pompano Association, the United Ilocano Association of Tidewater and the Seafarers’ Organization, which supported language and cultural traditions.
The Council of United Filipino Organizations of Tidewater formed in 1976 to unite the organizations and to build a home for them. Fundraising efforts included a Mrs. Philippines of Virginia pageant established in 1979, dances, monthly donations and more.
Romero was crowned Mrs. Philippines in 1985, and helped fundraise $18,000 that year — which “in ’85, was a significant amount,” she said.
By 1996, the Council had raised $100,000 to build the Center, which would cost about $1 million.
“The bank at the time said that they could not give a nonprofit organization a construction loan unless there were guarantors who would be willing to fill the shortfall each month if the mortgage payment was not raised by the nonprofit,” Romero said.
Thirty-two individuals and families stepped up to fill that gap, Romero said — including her parents. Her mom was a physician and her dad was in the Navy. They immigrated to the United States before Romero was born, and raised her within the vibrant and tight-knit Filipino community.
Those 32 became the Board of Trustees, and the bank approved a loan for $988,500.
The Philippine Cultural Center was completed in 2000 and opened its doors June 24. The loan, Romero said, was paid off within 14 years.
Guests at the anniversary celebration on Saturday can expect Filipino foods; song and dance and traditional costumes; and a celebration of the organization and families that established a place for the Filipino community to thrive.
