PINOY COOKS: Taken in different contexts, the comment of US President George W. Bush on the White House chef, who happened to be a FilAm, has amused some Filipinos while rubbing others the wrong way.

Who was Mr. Bush talking about when he mentioned his enjoying dinner in his recent conversation at the White House with visiting President Gloria Arroyo? Part of my Postscript summary (in www.manilamail.com) in 2005 says:

“FilAm Cristeta Comerford, (then) 41, has become the first woman White House executive chef. The pay is $80,000 to $100,000 a year with no overtime. With a bachelor’s degree in food technology from the University of the Philippines, she emigrated to the US when she was 23, studied classic French cooking and worked in Austria and DC hotels.”

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BUSH DINNER: This is a transcript of what Mr. Bush said in his meeting with Ms Arroyo:

Bush: Madam President, it is a pleasure to welcome you back to the Oval Office. We have just had a very constructive dialogue. First, I want to tell you how proud I am to be the President of a nation that in which there’s a lot of Philippine-Americans. They love America and they love their heritage. And I reminded the President that I am reminded of the great talent of the… of our Philippine-Americans when I eat dinner at the White House. (Laughter.)

Arroyo: Yes.

Bush: And the chef is a great person and a really good cook, by the way, Madam President.

Arroyo: Thank you.

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STEREOTYPE: I picked up Mr. Bush’s remarks on the chef because of critical commentaries, such as that of Perry Diaz, a California-based writer. He stirred up a discussion with his Yahoo group posting:

“After World War II, Filipinos were being stereotyped as ‘cooks.’  When I arrived in the US in 1970, I went to an employment agency in San Francisco looking for work.  I was surprised -- and shocked -- that most of the employment counselors suggested that I took a job as a restaurant ‘busboy.’

“They also told me not to mention in my employment application my bachelor’s degree in engineering and experience in computer programming.  They said that would make me ‘over-qualified’ for the job.  I asked them why they can’t find me a job as a computer programmer. 

“Their answer: ‘You don’t have local experience and a degree from an American university.’ I asked one of the counselors, ‘Why would you recommend me for a busboy instead of another type of work,’ and her reply was: ‘That's what most of your people do.’

“I refused to work as a restaurant busboy so I enrolled in a ‘computer programming’ class in a local school. I was the best in my class (my classmates didn’t know that I was a trained computer programmer back home).  After finishing the six-month course, I was recommended by the school to work as a computer operator at AT&T. That was a step down but it was a good start. I worked in the graveyard shift. Where else would they put me? After nine months, my former instructor called me and he said that he had a new job as programming manager in Sacramento.  He offered me a job as programmer. I took it.

"The point I am trying to make is that 38 years after my ‘experience’ with employment agencies, Filipinos are still being stereotyped as ‘cooks’ -- no less by the President of the United States.

“Since 1970, Filipino-Americans have progressed in the employment arena. We now have doctors, lawyers, nurses, caregivers, accountants, IT professionals, businessmen, etc. We’re no longer railroaded to jobs as cooks or busboys.

“I remember meeting a former Filipino judge in San Francisco working as a busboy and a lawyer working as a night shift security guard. Now, thousands of Filipinos are working as lawyers and some have been appointed judges, including a Filipina in a State Court of Appeal. We now have Filipino doctors owning their own hospitals and clinics and caregivers owning their own care homes.

“I am proud to say that we were once a community known for our cooking abilities catering to the taste buds of Americans, including Presidents since the time of Franklin Roosevelt.

“However, to be stereotyped in any manner -- cooks, laundrymen, gardeners, manicurists --  is a subtle form of racism and should not be condoned. Filipinos are a people of many talents and we deserved to be treated with respect.”

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‘BYE TO ABER: We report with sadness and a sense of loss the passing of a great friend, former assemblyman and deputy public works minister Aber P. Canlas. He died at noon Friday at the Marikina Valley Medical City at age 77.

Aber was an adviser and benefactor of the Capampangan in Media Inc., and a bosom friend of many newsmen who had known him.

He was the “action man” of the Marcos administration, completing ahead of schedule major infrastructure projects such as the Philippine International Convention Center, Cultural Center of the Philippines, Folk Arts Theater, Manila International Airport, LRT 1, Lung Center, Kidney Center, and the Heart Center. He also served as administrator of the National Waterworks and Sewerage Administration.

He is survived by his wife Pilar, children Amelita “Amy” and Rene de Leon, Luisito “Louie” and Amanda, Leonides “Boyet” and Annie, and Josephine “Joie,” grandchildren Cesca, Erick, Mark, Cara, Quitos, Irish. CJ, Nica, Caylene and Kevin.

His body lies at Premiere B Chapel, Loyola Memorial Park, Marikina, and will be interred at noon, July 1, at the Loyola Memorial Park after the 10 a.m. Mass at the San Jose Manggagawa Parish, Barangka, Marikina.

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