Guingona gets Chinese American backing for San Mateo, Calif. seat

Filipino and Chinese American Community leaders attend the first Daly City Asian American Asian Heritage Month and give their all-out support for Mike Guingona (fourth from left) in his bid to be the next San Mateo County District 5 Supervisor. JUN NUCUM

DALY CITY, California – City council member and candidate for the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors Michael Guingona received a big boost from endorsements by Asian American leaders that came pouring in during Daly City’s very first celebration of Asian American Heritage Month.

Among those who voiced their support for Guingona at a festivity in Moonstar Restaurant was Daisy Li, Asian American Heritage Month president, who said it was only fitting that community leaders like her express their support for Guingona during Daly City’s first Asian heritage celebration.

“We fully support Mike Guingona who has been good council man for 22 years and I think we should come up with something to honor him who has provided service to us for so long,” Li announced.

Of the 58,716 voters in the district, about 66 percent, reside in Daly City with the rest living in Brisbane, Colma, Broadmoor, parts of South San Francisco and parts of San Bruno.

Competing with Guingona are fellow Daly City Councilor David Canepa, Colma Councilwoman Helen Fisicaro and Brisbane Councilor Cliff Lentz.

Honored, excited

Li declared that she was very honored and excited with the celebration because finally whatever annual Asian event they’ve had in San Francisco was being brought to Daly City.

“We never had anything like this that united Asian communities. I think that it is good that we can always come together and join forces and I am really proud to do this. I have been in business for Moonstar for 25 years and I always give back to the community wherever I am. I always help non-profits and Asian community,” Li disclosed.

Philippine Bayanihan Resource Center President Ray Satorre, Daly City Councilman and candidate for San Mateo County Supervisor Mike Guingona, Daly City Asian American Heritage Month President Daisy Li and Council Member Judith Christensen started the celebration of Asian American Heritage Month. JUN NUCUM

Li also plan to have Asian American Heritage month every year to celebrate being Asian, being successful in running a business and being in the United States to fulfill the dreams of every Asian American.

Chinese community support

Together with Li, the other Chinese community leaders present to express their support for Guingona were Chinese American Democratic Club President Wilson Chu, Hop Wo President Steven Woo, Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association Past President Roger Louie and Sherman Yu, among others.

Among those who expressed the need to have an Asian American in San Mateo County was Filipino community leader and Filipino American Chamber of Commerce of San Mateo County (FACCSMC) Director Guy M. Guerrero who lamented that although almost 60 percent of Daly City are Filipinos, they are still considered a minority group.

“But whites dominate the elective posts in San Mateo. Someone from the minority groups should be elected, and Mike Guingona might just do it,” Guerrero maintained.

Past school board Commissioner of Daly City Joe Otayde, who congratulated all those behind the Asian American Heritage month, also endorsed Guingona.

“United we stand. We have to vote for our people, our community and for our values. And that is why we are here for Mike Guingona. This election will be the time we can really make things happen in electing Mike Guingona. So together we stand in 2016 united we stand,” Otayde stressed.

Guingona’s colleague in the Daly City Council for six years Judith Christensen said that she had the honor and pleasure of working with Guingona “and I am looking forward to having him as the next Supervisor.”

“He is very concerned with the individual problems in our community like health problems, the effects of sugary drinks, especially since the Filipino population has a bigger percentage of having diabetes,” she said.

Christensen added that Guingona promotes being physically active with his program Bike with Mike where he bikes all over Daly to urge people to exercise.

Not fancy

“He is also promoting clean drinking water in public parks, in schools and other public places. What I like about that is that it is not fancy, not flashy, but is a real concern with the quality of a lot of people’s lives. Also we’ve been working on issues on affordable housing one of which is going up right now,” Christensen said further.

For his part, Philippine Bayanihan Resource Center President and Daly City Planning Commissioner Ray Satorre stated that they are trying to level the playing field in San Mateo by endorsing Guingona as supervisor.

“We hope that we can get the imagination and all the support of not only the Filipino and Chinese Americans, but also the entire community. We are working hard on this because this is the most significant way of expressing our support to Guingona to be the first Asian elected supervisor in San Mateo County,” Satorre expressed.

Old boys club

Satorre is also confident that the Asian community “will gain respect, honor and dignity if we can have an elected Filipino American supervisor since it has been a long time of practically 48 years that Asians didn’t have representation in the county.”

He said further: “It has always been the old boys club or only the whites that have been elected to the county and the Asians or any other race cannot make it to the county elective positions because they spend a lot and there is collusion among them to ensure one of them makes it. Countywide, you can never win over them. But on the district level, composed of Brisbane, Colma, Daly City and some parts of South San Francisco, we can make it since this is the stronghold of Asian community,” Satorre explained.

Together with other Fil-Am activists, Satorre campaigned for the political rights of minorities in San Mateo County, alleging that the county was violating the with its at-large voting practice. Their efforts led to the San Mateo County settlement of the discrimination suit that led to district-based elections starting this term.

Other Filipino community leaders who personally came to wish Guingona the best in his candidacy were San Mateo County Filipino American Chamber of Commerce officials President Ray, Fel Amistad, Manila Mail publisher and realtor Thez Santos and Philippine News publisher Francis Espiritu.

Filipino community leader Guy Guerrero is fighting for Asian representation in the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors. JUN NUCUM

“We made history because for the first time we had the Chinese community come out and do a joint effort with the Filipino community,” said an elated Guingona.

“It is the future, basically a preview of the days to come. Being a city councilor for as long as I have, I have dreamt of something like a Asian American Heritage month, and it took the Chinese and Filipino community getting together to rally for a common cause. And this would be a yearly thing,” Guingona emphasized.

Among his priorities as a supervisor in San Mateo county is to provide a safety net for its most vulnerable population, he said.

“In the 5^th district of San Mateo county where I live, there are more people who are transit-dependent, health care dependent, safety net services that the county provides. So my job is to make sure that the seed medical services stay open, we build more affordable housing to people and that we maintain our services for public safety,” Guingona explained.

He admitted that one Filipino concern that has not been taken care of up to now is the huge population of Filipinos who have type II diabetes.

“We need to put the word out that type II diabetes, a preventable disease, has been attacking our community more than any other disease. We need to be aware of it. Filipinos should be aware that we are susceptible to it and we can do things so we don’t catch this disease,” Guingona stated.