VALLEJO, Ca - The unanimous vote by the Vallejo City Council in favor of filing for Chapter 9 federal bankruptcy protection has driven a wedge among Filipino-Americans, dividing the third largest Filipino population center in the United States. (Daly City and Hercules are the top two cities with the largest Filipino population.)

On one side are those who support the bankruptcy declaration in the interest of public safety, because Chapter 9 would freeze the city?s debts to allow unhampered delivery of public services, especially fire protection and police services.

On the other side are Fil-Ams who understand the plight of firefighters and policemen, whose salaries are now pegged at current rates ? leaving no room for any adjustment under the prevailing economic scenario.

Franklin Carballo, a retired businessman and member of the Solano County Republican party, is one of them.
?Maintenance of peace and order and ensuring public safety is paramount, and paying our policemen and firemen the unrealistic salaries and wages that Chapter 9 prescribes, would compromise these tasks,? he told the Star.

?Vallejo is uniquely different. Our police and fire departments are understaffed...These men and women work overtime, but still do the job. They deserve to be paid above-standard salaries.?

Another Fil-Am businessman, who requested anonymity, saw an equally grim scenario. ?Our property insurance payments will go up because of the rumored downgrading of the quality of fire protection services the city will now get coupled with higher incidence of burglary,? he said. ?Property values will go down, criminality will go up? Our streets and the city?s infrastructure overall will deteriorate, not to mention cutting the services for the poor and the elderly.?

Both said they would not object to increasing the retail sales tax, currently at 7.375 percent, as one measure to generate revenues for the city ? anything, in fact, but the filing of bankruptcy.

?Look at it this way,? Carballo continued. ?Who in their right minds now would come to Vallejo, put up new businesses, and invest here??

But Human Relations and Economic Development commissioner for the City of Vallejo Mary Bitagon, an active member of the Filipino-American Chamber of Commerce of Solano County, is confident about the council?s decision. She cited how Fil-Am councilmember Hermie Sunga, who originally opposed the bankruptcy filing, must have later seen the practicality of it all.

?It was the only solution left,? Bitagon said. ?Mayor Osby Davis being a lawyer and the rest of the council, who are all professionals and educated themselves, have thought this out rather extensively ? a difficult decision and certainly not frivolous.?

City Manager Joseph Tanner spearheaded the move to file for Chapter 9 after the city?s budget deficit could no longer contain the increasing salaries and wages of public employees, particularly the unionized police officers and firemen, and the worsening mortgage meltdown.

Chapter 9 would also allow the city to freeze its debts, even as city services continue. The council contends that the bankruptcy declaration is necessary to protect the city from its creditors and give it ample time to restructure its contracts with unions and service providers.

?Orange County had declared bankruptcy in 1994 after losing $1.6 billion in bad investments, but look at how Orange County is thriving now,? said Tony Salido, another long-time resident and member of the board of the largest Filipino organization in the city, the Filipino Community of Solano County.

?Eventually, it will be good for Vallejo,? he assured.

Eloise Escano Scott, an activist and delegate to the California Democratic Party, changed her anti-bankruptcy position after attending the May 6 council meeting.

?I changed my mind because it dawned on me that bankruptcy is the only way to undo the problems and mistakes that were made in the past,? she explained. ?If that gives Vallejo the flexibility to freeze its debts while maintaining city services, it is worth a try.?

Scott added that what Vallejo needs at this time are ?solutions, not the critics on the sidelines?because being part of the solution demands working or rolling up your sleeves in getting the work done.?

Indeed, many Filipino-Americans find it discomfiting that their city is in the national limelight for being the largest California city ever to declare bankruptcy ? a stigma that would persist for a long time.

Still, many others believe Vallejo will turn around, like it did in the mid-?90s when everyone thought the city would die with the closure of Mare Island Naval Shipyard.

Meanwhile the daily grind goes on for this city of 117,000, 20 percent of whom are Filipino-Americans. Some are even convinced that the bankruptcy issue has rekindled the community spirit in many, helping the city move on in their own small way.

?Now more than ever, patronage of local business establishments to generate greater income for the city in terms of sales taxes is crucial,? said Scott.

The Fil-Am Star