Amerasians: Identity in the margins: A documentary on the Filipino Amerasians of Olongapo and Pampanga

• Main Author: Abalos, Eunice Louisa
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Animo Repository 2019
• Subjects: Amerasians > Philippines; Americans > Philippines; Asians > Philippines; Communication
• Online Access: https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/etd_bachelors/3000
• Institution: De La Salle University

An Amerasian is a person who has a mix of American and Asian descent. It is particularly used for people who are fathered by American servicemen in Asia. The Philippines hosted two of the largest US military bases outside the US Clark Air Base and Subic Naval Base, which played major roles during the Vietnam, and first Gulf wars. There are roughly 50,000 to 250,000 Filipino Amerasians to this date. The Amerasian Act of 1982 provides US citizenship for Amerasians in certain countries, namely Korea, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam. Despite the Philippines having substantially more Amerasians were not included in the law. This exclusion was upheld by the US Senate on the basis that Filipino Amerasians were born during peace time, and the Philippines was not a war zone during the Vietnam war. Today, the socio-economic issues of thousands of Filipino Amerasians regarding longing, lack of identity, poverty, and discrimination is still not settled. This photo essay will show the interactions that sustains the meaning of being Filipino Amerasian.