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For the past 21 years, The Filipino Express has provided the Filipino American community the best news, arts and entertainment coverage from around the United States and the Philippines.
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Seven years after 9/11, Filipino-Americans still shiver
at the thought of that tragic Tuesday
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NEW YORK– Time does not heal all wounds.
Seven years have passed since the American tragedy known as 9/11, yet many Filipino- Americans are still incapable of recollecting the deadly events of that fateful Tuesday without a sense of fear.
Why aren’t they over it yet? The truth is, they may never be.
Perhaps it is the sheer barbarism and viciousness of the attacks that trigger most of these people’s fears. Perhaps it could also be the actual loss of their loved ones.
It could also be the unbearable carnage and wreckage that will forever be represented by images of twisted steel and fiery ruins of the once mighty World Trade Center Towers.
Alternatively, it could also be the idea that such unfathomable act of terrorism could and most likely would happen again anytime at any place.
9/11 is one of the few events that have altered people’s perception of mortality. It is similar to the bubonic plague of the dark ages and the two great wars. It reminds every single soul on earth that we all live on borrowed time. It also tells us that there are many things in life we can control, but we can never control our own end. “Death comes like a thief in the night,” according to a wise sage. “Be ready.” For the two thousand plus people who perished on September 11, 2001, death came in the morning rush hour encased in two passenger airlines steered to kill as many as it could.
It also came in the thunderous collapse of the WTC towers that spewed dust and debris so high up in the sky it was visible from space. The people that died weren’t physically and logistically ready. We could only hope that they were spiritually ready.
It is that thought of dying while doing one’s regular business that grips the heart with fear. If it happened to two thousand souls in the greatest city in the world, in the most powerful nation on earth, it could happen to anyone. It is the randomness of death that scares, and 9/11 reminds all of us of this cruel reality.
According to G. Ignacio, a Filipino-American resident of Manhattan and an employee of one of the largest garment corporations in the world, he is not over the effects of 9/11:
“I'm not over it. Because everyday I feel the effects of economic recession. Given that 9/11 was not directly responsible for the recession, however it prompted the government to invade Iraq and start an unnecessary war and depleted our resources.”
That and the unnerving checks at the airport if you are not holding an American passport and the hassle of getting a driver's license renewed. I feel like a criminal before I even step in the room of a federal or State office,” Ignacio added.
While Fil-Ams like Ignacio find it difficult to let go of 9/11 due to the changes it has brought politically, economically, and socially, others like A. Piñon of New Brunswick, NJ are still prisoners of 9/11 both psychologically and emotionally.
“ I lost my best friend when the World Trade Center collapsed. She worked on the 72nd floor of tower one,” Piñon recalled.
“ She had no family here so I was the only one she called that morning. She was optimistic that she will get out of the building. Well, she never did. I am never going to get over this.”
For J. Flores of Elmhurst, NY. 9/11 is all about the fear. Flores worked at the Staples near the World Trade Center towers in 2001. To this day, though he works in Brooklyn now, the sight of airplanes in the sky never fails to scare him.
“ I saw the second plane hit tower number two in the middle of all that chaos after the first tower was hit,” he said. “Now I see and hear airplanes dart towards the sky and I cannot help but cover my ears and close my eyes. It has become a reflex brought by fear.”
There are many stories like these in the Filipino- American community here in New York and in New Jersey. Stories that indicate that the longer time passes, the deeper the wounds become.
While the rest of the country may have relegated the 9/11 ceremonies in downtown Manhattan to a mere annual reading of names, the Filipino-Americans who were directly impacted by the tragedy continue to feel the hurt of the event that is as fresh today as it was seven years ago. To these people, every name read under the cool September morning breeze is a dagger to their hearts. Time, indeed does not heal all wounds.
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ROLLING MEADOWS -- The tale of the lechon (roasted pig) backyard home cooking has finally come to an end.
Unlike last February when newspaper and television representatives crawled inside the court room of Cook County Municipal Third District Court in suburban Rolling Meadows, Illinois, at theresumption of the case last Sept. 8, only this reporter and another reporter from the Daily Herald were on hand to witness Judge Alfred L. Levinson spare Amante R. Enad from paying $1,000 fine but making the injunction permanent. Mr. Enad, 55, a native of Minglanilla, Cebu in the Philippines, and a resident of Wheeling, Illinois, did not even show himself up in the court anymore.
Cook County State Attorney Steve Handler, prosecutor for the Village of Wheeling, told this reporter Mr. Enad did not need to show up in court as the Village health inspectors did not find anymore evidence of Enad ever roasting pig again in his home since Enad was found guilty last Feb. 14 of violating two counts of “operating a business in a residential area” and “preparing food for mass consumption without evidence of certification or license.” But the injunction is being made permanent as Enad is probihited from commiting the same violations “forever,” Handler explained.
Mr. Enad was earlier ordered to pay $500 for each of the two counts after he was found guilty by Judge Joel L. Greenblatt after a three-hour hearing last Valentine’s Day.
Enad’s homecooking attracted national and even international attention after he was cited by the Village officials, who became some sort of barbecue police, trying to stop him from continuing a Filipino cultural tradition.
Serena Fried, a Wheeling health inspector, told the court that the Village received a complaint against Enad in July of last year. Inspectors were back the following three months and each time and noticed five roasters on Enad’s property, which seemed to indicate a business. During each visit, Ms. Fried said the inspectors warned Mr. Enad “he was not allowed to serve food to the public.”
In November, Beverly Slaby, another village health inspector, found a roasted pig at Oriental Market in Wheeling during her routine inspection and saw that it was for sale. The owner of Oriental Market, Norman Nunag, told her Enad gave it to him to sell it. Enad, then, signed a handwritten letter, stating that he would cook only for his family and not the public. But at the court hearing, Enad told the court that when he gave the roasted pig to Mr. Nunag, he did not know Nunag was going to sell it.
In January this year, Wheeling found Enad had roasted three pigs at one time for a Philippine fiesta – Cebu superfiesta, “Sinulog,” at a church in Glenview, Illinois. It was at this point that he was issued two citations – “operating a business in a residential area” and “preparing food for mass consumption without evidence of certification or license.”
“Any time the public is served, we regulate it,” Fried told the court.
Enad argued that he “was not catering” because he never asked for money. He insisted that he was merely continuing his Filipino tradition of roasting lechon or roasting pig.
Handler told the court that Enad was not being prohibited from observing his rights and traditions. Handler added because Mr. Enad had no license to cook for the public on several occasion, “the issue is safety.”
Greenblatt said the village has a right and duty to protect its residents from unauthorized preparation of food. “I want you to celebrate your traditions; they’re wonderful traditions. (But) you cannot do it on such a mass scale in the manner you’re doing it.” Greenblatt told Enad. (lariosa_jos@sbcglobal.net)
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