Amost seven years ago, I was invited to dine with Nurallaj “Nur” Misurai, the former firebrand revolutionary leader of the Moro National Liberation Front who once sent tremors and shockwaves into living rooms of northern Filipinos as they watched the grim progress of death and destruction unfold on their television screens.
On that humid early summer evening at the Manila Hyatt, the wiry, goateed and visibly tired 58 year-old Muslim leader, who had brokered an earlier peace agreement with former Philippines President Fidel Ramos, turned to an honored guest at the table, the elegant and dark-eyed Zamboangan, Yolanda Ortega Stern and calmly stated, “ I am so happy to call her not only my friend, but also the true daughter from Mindanao.”
This diminutive Berkeley-educated Filipino and president of the Philippine-American Federation of Chambers (FPACC) is largely responsible for last year’s key passage of the Dual Citizenship Act. This tireless fashionable champion of the Filipinos has been at the helm of the Filipino business activities in the U.S. through her powerful federation headquartered in Berkeley, California which boasts a national network with 42 chapters and over 5,000 small to medium sized companies.
“ This passage was indeed a genuine homecoming and victory for every Filipino after a long absence abroad,” stated the charismatic Mrs. Stern, who started a concerted campaign directed to the Philippine bicameral legislature more than two and half years ago.
Her husband, Dr. Thomas Stern, a Berkeley-based physician turned successful novelist, has ardently supported his wife’s political empowering efforts for 20 years.
Stern’s first novel, Gold Fever, an adventure story about the fabled Yamashita treasure in the Philippines, may be partially based on the adventures of his Chinese-Filipina mestiza- wife since the narrative includes: politicos and friends, like Fidel Ramos, Nur Misuari, rebels, missionaries, and of course, love and death in the jungle.
For Mrs. Stern, armed with a Ph.D. in Education and teaching experience, the Dual Citizenship Act is especially impactful. It offered to those natural-born Filipinos who lost their citizenship by naturalization as citizens of a foreign country, a legislated chance to reacquire their birthright or Filipino citizenship upon taking an oath of allegiance to the Philippines. Stern became the first Overseas Filipino to reacquire her Philippine citizenship when the law became effective.
Of course, there’s a silver lining for the government since these overseas Filipinos do remit over $6 billion US each year to their homeland. Overseas Filipinos in this newly enfranchised voting public represent almost 7.4 million constituents, nearly one tenth of the entire Philippine population.
For the determined metiza from Mindanao, Mrs. Stern’s political capital has increased significantly. Her star continues to shine even more brightly even after the country's general election.
Yolanda Ortega Stern has previously been awarded the coveted Most Order of Rizal (“Noble Order”), a tribute to the Philippines national hero, Dr. Jose Rizal, who inspired the Philippines revolution and brought about the nation’s independence from Spain. This award was bestowed on Stern for her specific contributions to nation-building in Mindanao. The engaging and very fashionable middle-aged mother has been responsible for numerous agreements pledging economic development to her ancestral roots in Mindanao.
While the Philippines’ efforts to end the war with Muslim rebels continues to be stalled, Ortega continues to place herself in harm’s way in Mindanao on numerous occasions to broker peace. She remains special emissary to return to Zamboanga, a hotbed of Moro nationalism, to help directly in bringing medical aid to those areas devastated by the continued battles between rebels and the military. An estimated 125,000 men, women and children have died over the past three and half decades of war.
“I have met pure and sacrificing Filipinos in the countryside. They are simply unaware that there are many Americans trying to do what we can for the country. Most often it breaks rather than mends our hearts,” sighs Mrs. Stern from her Filipino decorated living room in Berkeley, California, situated just a few blocks from campus.
While her organization cannot always bridge economic ties where entrepreneurship is not a part of the daily vocabulary, the politically-savvy and well connected woman frequently entertains guests in her home in a traditional low key gracious and generous ‘Filipino-style. Earlier this year she quietly arranged a fifty-year West Point reunion for former President Fidel Ramos and a fellow Point classmate.
Several years ago, as a journalist for The Washington Times, I witnessed her networking skills up close and personal as she arranged a interview for me in 1998 with President Fidel Ramos. At that interview, we spoke about the situation with the rebels in Mindanao.
Stern knows many of the present Muslim insurgents who have continued their centuries-old struggle in defense of their homeland against the Philippine government. She has seen the poverty in Jolo, Ipil, Sulu and Cotobato and embraces the region’s history and people near her family’s home in Zamboanga.
Again, this is the same spirited woman who introduced me in Manila to the 81 year-old spry Colonel Emmanuel de Ocampo in Manila, chairman of the Philippines Veterans Bank and president of the Veterans Federation of the Philippines. Stern, a stunning fashion maven in her Jill St. John designer suits, has proven herself to be an instrumental campaigner in Washington, DC for the passage of the Veterans Equity Bill for those sons and daughters of World War II Philippines Veterans who fought alongside the US troops defending their country against the Japanese.
Stern’s birthplace in Mindanao, where the once fertile land fed and nourished the entire Philippines. Now that soil and the people continue to face the ravages of war and hunger. She knows that Mindanao’s weary population wants nothing more than peace. After all, these are the same people who after more than three generations have heard the same false and hollow promises from Malacanang Palace in Manila. The poor desperately cling to any kind of hope to lift them from their hardscrabble poverty, deforested mangrove provinces, absent exotic wildlife and barren coconut fields.
For this strong-willed Berkeley resident, mixing dreams and politics is Stern’s everyday life. And who can doubt the contributions made by this bolo-packing intelligent woman from the Philippines. She openly shares a vision that her once lush southern countryside will become the breadbasket again for the nation. Among many watchful international eyes, she is an American-Filipino harvesting hope.
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