About the Author:

  Hello, Thank you for visiting! My name is Steven Larry Pertubal. I was born at the Naval Hospital at Naval Ordinance Testing Station (N.O.T.S.) China Lake, California in the United States of America on the first day of October, 1955.

I am a full-blooded Filipino, though I tell everyone "I am half and half". Due to my dark complexion, people believe that I must be half black or Puerto Rican or something other. Then, I reveal that my father, Hilario Tayoan Pertubal was an Illocano from Nasaag, San Manuel in the province of Pangasinan on the big island of Luzon and that my mother, Trinidad Colasito is a Visayan from one of the southern islands, Hinunangan, Leyte. (Sorry, This is a cultural joke that only Filipinos can appreciate.)

Growing up, I had difficulty in relating to most people... Every aspect of my homelife was thoroughly Filipino, but being born in the States and not knowing how to speak Tagalog, the native tongue, isolated me from the Filipino community. Being raised totally in American culture, I was more comfortable with Americans but socially, I was distanced by the color of my skin. On top of that, we were poor, lacking of social stature. I was intelligent, but not enough to stay away from the wrong people. A typical " NERD " with a capital " N ", skinny, uncoordinated, bad teeth, and natty, shoulder length hair. An outcast who sought solace with others of the like.

Having been raised on a Navy base, my father was a warehouseman in the public works department on base, I always knew that I would join the US Navy. I became an Electronics Technician at a time when all Filipinos in the Navy were being allowed to expand their career choices. This was in whole due to the foresight of then Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) Admiral Elmo R. Zumwalt. Prior to that period, Filipinos could only be found in the STEWARD rating. Read this informative document discerning the recruitment standards of Filipinos into the US military.

(Note: in order for a Filipino national to enlist in the United States military, they must complete a battery of tests, from which the US selects the most qualified applicants. There is no end to the number of applicants and most spend years waiting to even take the tests. It is not uncommon for these applicants to hold college degrees. A far cry from Americans, who have but to walk into any recruiter's office and are accepted!)

I have been to the Philippine Islands on three separate WestPacs' on three separate Naval ships. The first was in 1976 aboard the USS Coral Sea (CVA-43), the second was in 1982 aboard the USS Fox (CG-33) and the last time was in 1988 aboard the USS Peleilu (LHA-5). Each time, I behaved no different from my shipmates, American and Filipino alike. Drinking like a "typical sailor", indulging in the company of the prostitutes, in short, being "an ugly American." I completely forgot that I was a Filipino and did not stop to think from the viewpoint of the Filipinos.

Years later, I separated from the US Navy. I felt a sense of sorrow for the Philippines as the US military abandoned their bases at Subic Bay and Angeles City, thinking that the Mount Pinatubo eruption was a thinly veiled excuse to get out cheap, believing that if the US had been fair and offered a fair amount for the base leases, they would still have their forward presence. Considering the amount of money that the USA pays in base leases for Diego Garcia BIOT, the numerous bases in Japan, Korea, Guam and other places, the cost of the leases for the Philippines bases was relatively " DIRT CHEAP!! "

My children, Rachel Leann Pertubal and Steven Larry Pertubal II have provided the inspiration for this web site. Through all the injustice that the USA has inflicted on the Philippines and the Filipino people, there is little hope that one person (me) can ever hope to bring about change to the social order. Therefore, I will do my small part to bring joy to the smallest ones who do not yet comprehend.

My children have participated in our city's recreational soccer league for the past three years. They are by no means, talented and by all accounts, marginally functional. But, they enjoy playing and I hope that they can one day eclipse the " NERD " persona that their father has bestowed upon them. I bought new soccer shoes for them at the start of every season because they simply outgrew the old ones. These shoes are used for a minimal time and then outgrown. I calculated that in our city alone, that would figure to be in the vicinity of some 300 pairs of very good condition soccer shoes. The idea came to me that perhaps I could get those shoes donated to the children of the Philippines. Bear in mind, Imelda Marcos jokes aside, that most people in the Philippines have very few shoes, "every day", dress or otherwise and for the most part, walk around wearing flimsy "zorrie-type" shower slippers.

Given, the growing popularity of soccer in this country, I am quite surprised that the Philippines has not taken a fancy to " The World's Game ", being fixated instead on American basketball... Quite lofty ideals, I say, probably stemming from their aggregate short stature. Watching my kids play soccer and then, this last season coaching... I firmly believe that Filipinos could do very well in this sport. I watched smaller players show their heart and marveled in the pure ecstasy of well-coordinated teamwork. We had very talented players on my team and yet... they never learned to work together as a team. We worked on what I believed to be fundamental skills... passing, passing and more passing! But every game showcased a different "Ball Hog" and in the end, we would lose... but I would eat, sleep and dream SOCCER... I spent countless hours researching drills, thinking of strategies, making game plans and so forth... all for naught! But, perhaps, not all is lost, for I approach this project with that same single-mindedness, that dogged determination to make a difference and in the end... if I fail to reach my goals, then I will, at least, know that I tried.

Another aspect of Filipino history that I stumbled across while researching this subject was the history of the "Manongs". This occurred in my own family and I had no idea and now I am just beginning to understand... My father, Hilario Tayoan Pertubal, was an original "Manong" coming over to the United States in the early 1920's, following his older brother, Agraphino "Felipe" Pertubal to make his fortune and return to the Philippines a wealthy man... What they found, was a brutal nomadic life, following the crops, getting paid barely enough to survive and constantly facing racial oppression. My father bore the scars of an accident suffered as his arm was pulled into machinery while working in the Alaskan salmon canneries.

My father, for whatever reason, joined the US Army, at the height of World War Two... I don't believe he ever saw combat, but he was close enough to the front that he contracted "Jungle rot." That malady haunted him until his deathbed. I'll have to research more about his active duty service. Fortunately, he was able to use his military veteran status to obtain a job at Naval Ordinance Testing Station, China Lake, California, where he worked until retiring. He was in his 50's when he married my mother, a pen-pal courtship. I was the first of five children.

Uncle Felipe worked in the grape fields of Delano, California for as long as we could remember. We would go to Delano every few months, particularly in the summer months to get fresh backyard Umpalaya and other gulay and we would always visit Uncle Felipe at one of the many farm labor camps where he worked... Poor guy, he had the worst case of crabs...Still living the life of a "Manong". I found out much later that he left a family in the Philippines.

My mother was a story in herself. She lost her mother and father when the Japanese invaded their town... She and her brothers and sisters lost everything and were forced to live with her uncle who proceeded to lay claim to the land that was rightfully their inheritance... Thankfully, she was spared the ordeal of becoming a Japanese comfort woman. She was eighteen years the junior of my father, which may have contributed to an affair with Beato "Bill" Tejano. Uncle Bill was an outspoken man who also worked in the grape fields of Delano, the lettuce fields of Salinas, the strawberry fields of Watsonville and countless other places as he was quick to tell us... He along with Pete Velaquez, Larry Italong and other members of the AWOG were the first to voice their dissent over the farm labor issues. They asked Caesar Chavez and the AFL-CIO to join them in "THE STRIKE" that gave birth to the farm labor movement. An ironic twist of fate, Chavez revealed later that the AFL-CIO would have been ready to strike "Maybe in 1968". But, Chavez was able to organize the Mexican farm workers, by far the largest group of farm workers and garner the support as the "pet" cause of Hollywood and the civil rights movement. The Manongs were content to quietly fade into the background... and were soon forgotten.

Working in the grape fields one summer, a Manong who fancied himself to be a scholar of Philippine history told me that the Philippines had eighteen major gold mines prior to World War Two. I took that with a grain of salt at the time, but why did I recall that so clearly when my research revealed that the United States had TWENTY-THREE military installations in the Philippines at the end of the war? Perhaps, if we were to map the gold mines and overlay the military installations?... And then to top that off, somehow, the United States got all those installations, RENT FREE, for a 99 year lease. Later administrations got the lease changed to twenty-five years, from 1961 to 1996

 

Much, much more to be added...

 

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Send Email to us  [email protected]

Our Internet address - http://personal.zcloud.net/~rassle_co/

Written by Steven L. Pertubal / and RaSSLe Co

DISCLAIMER: All viewpoints, opinions and comments are strictly those of the author and in no way reflect the official position of the United States Government, the Republic of the Philippines, Japan, Germany, the Soviet Union or any of their assignees or supporting departments.
Copyright © 1999 - 2002 RaSSLe Co. All rights reserved.