Marcos cites Filipinos' selfless service to Americans amid COVID-19 pandemic

SAN FRANCISCO — President Ferdinand "Bongbong'' Marcos Jr. on Wednesday (PH time) highlighted the Filipinos' "selfless service'' to Americans during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.

In a speech before the Filipino community here, Marcos mentioned that most nurses in the West Coast have been trained in the Philippines.

"Ngayon ang nangyari pa during COVID-19 [During the COVID-19 pandemic], Americans experienced first hand the Filipino way of caring and acting on the needs of others. One in every five nurses here in the West Coast are trained in the Philippines," Marcos said.

''Our Filipino nurses, doctors, our first responders, essential workers have all demonstrated the timeless Filipino virtues of malasakit, pakikipagkapwa at ang [ka]bayanihan [concern, companionship, heroism],'' he added.

He said that Filipinos and Filipino-Americans can be found in various sectors of American economy, society and media, as well as in politics and government.

Marcos expressed gratitude for the selfless service of Filipinos to humanity ''and we look up to you as role models for future generations of Filipinos and Filipino-Americans.''

Marcos encouraged the Filipino community in the San Francisco Bay Area and the Pacific Northwest for their full support ''as your government works to build a resilient, sustainable and inclusive future for our people back home.''

''Let us remain united and firm towards our common goal so that together we’ll be able to leave behind a new Philippines that our children and grandchildren deserve,'' Marcos said.

The President said he is honored to follow the footsteps of his father, the late President Ferdinand Marcos Sr., who first visited San Francisco in 1966 during his first year in office.

Marcos said that considering San Francisco as an important city because of the significant Filipino population, the Philippine government in 1974 purchased a set of buildings off Union Square in the downtown area, which is now known as the Philippine Center in San Francisco.

There are more than four million Filipinos and Filipino Americans in the US, of which 1.3 million reside in the 10 states under the jurisdiction of the Philippine Consulate General in San Francisco.

Of this figure, around 700,000 Filipinos are living and working in the Bay Area. — RSJ, GMA Integrated News