Philip Vera Cruz

Philippine-born labor activist

• Born: December 25, 1904
• Place of Birth: Saoag, Ilocos Sur, Philippines
• Died: June 12, 1994
• Place of Death: Bakersfield, California

Vera Cruz was part of the first generation of Filipinos—or manongs, as they were respectfully called in the Filipino dialect of Ilocano—who immigrated to the United States in the 1920s and early 1930s. He helped found the United Farm Workers, serving as the union’s vice president from its founding in 1966 to his departure in 1977. Vera Cruz embodied the ideals of internationalism as he dedicated his life to the causes of immigrant and human rights, especially for workers located in the United States and the Philippines.

Areas of achievement: Activism, social issues

Early Life

Philip Vera Cruz was born in Saoag, Ilocos Sur, the Philippines. Due to his father’s ill health, the impoverishment of his country, and a desire to support his siblings’ educational endeavors, Vera Cruz immigrated to the United States in 1926. Like that of many Filipinos of his generation—affectionately called manongs—Vera Cruz’s arrival in the United States was precipitated by the passing of the Immigration Act of 1924. This legislation placed a restriction on Japanese, Chinese, and other East Asian immigrants into the country, but not on Filipino immigrants. As a result, single Filipino males became the new source of inexpensive labor for the nation’s industry. Vera Cruz would travel throughout the United States, finding himself in such cities as Seattle, Chicago, and Spokane, working various menial jobs throughout his young life. He picked seasonal crops and worked in canneries, doing whatever he could find for work.

Vera Cruz attended school when he could, after sending large portions of his wages to his family in the Philippines. Eventually, he was able to save enough money to complete a few courses at Gonzaga University in Spokane, Washington. However, without the necessary funds for his matriculation, he was unable to complete more than a year of higher education. In 1942, at the age of thirty-eight, Vera Cruz was drafted into the US military and stationed in San Luis Obispo, California. Because of his older age, Vera Cruz did not serve in World War II; instead he was discharged from military service to work in the fields. In 1943 he followed a cousin to the town of Delano in California’s Central Valley, where he would become one of the most important Filipino labor leaders in US history.

Life’s Work

Vera Cruz’s early years diverged greatly from those of other Filipino labor leaders, such as Chris Mensalvas, Ernesto Mangaong, and Carlos Bulosan, who helped organize the labor movement in the United States from the 1930s through the early 1950s. Through a culmination of various life experiences, Vera Cruz would realize that the rhetoric of the American Dream was a far cry from the reality of racial exclusion and labor exploitation that his compatriots experienced every day. His politicization would continue to mature through his participation and leadership role in the Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee (AWOC) in the 1960s, which consisted primarily of Filipino farm workers. On September 8, 1965, Vera Cruz played an instrumental role in AWOC’s decision to refuse the grape growers’ proposal to work below an hourly wage of $1.40. The decision to strike, initiated by Filipino farm workers, served as the catalyst for a nationwide movement to defy the exploitative wages and oppressive working conditions of America’s agricultural workers. In August 1966, as a result of the Delano Grape Strike (1965–70), Vera Cruz’s AWOC would merge with the National Farm Workers Association (NFWA), led by Cesar Chavez, to form the United Farm Workers of America (UFW). Vera Cruz served as second vice president, the highest-ranking Filipino officer of the UFW. During his tenure, he was instrumental in the formation of a Farm Workers Credit Union as well as Agbayani Village, a retirement community for elder Filipino farm workers.

Vera Cruz resigned from the UFW in 1977 to protest UFW leadership and, in particular, Chavez’s decision to accept an invitation to the Philippines from the then-dictator Ferdinand Marcos. After his departure from the union, Vera Cruz remained politically active by speaking at various college campuses and community events as well as to audiences of youth, activists, and students who would travel to Agbayani Village. In sharing his life experiences, he urged the younger generation of Filipino Americans to engage in global democratic struggles and link the social problems facing immigrants at home with US policies of aggression and support for military dictatorships abroad.

In 1987, Vera Cruz received the Ninoy M. Aquino Award for his lifelong service to the Filipino community in the United States. This award allowed him to return to the Philippines more than sixty years after he first departed, where he was reunited with his siblings and family members. In 1992, Vera Cruz was also honored at the founding convention of the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations’ (AFL-CIO) Asian Pacific American Labor Committee. On June 12, 1994, Vera Cruz died of emphysema at Mercy Hospital in Bakersfield, California.

Vera Cruz has been honored with other labor movement activists in murals in Los Angeles's Filipinotown. A school in San Francisco was renamed for him and Larry Itliong in 2013.

Significance

Vera Cruz dedicated his life to the causes of immigrant, worker, and human rights. As a labor organizer he championed the ideals of international solidarity. As a Filipino immigrant in the United States, he created links with other marginalized groups as he realized that any immigrant community acting by itself for social change would not be able to attain sustainable victories in a labor or social movement. His life is a testament to the possibilities of collective democratic struggle and his legacy continues to inspire those struggling to create a more just and peaceful world.

Bibliography

Antonio, Marjorie Justine. "Philip Vera Cruz." US National Park Service, 23 July 2024, www.nps.gov/people/philip-vera-cruz.htm. Accessed 21 July 2024.

Fujita Rony, Dorothy. “Coalitions, Race, and Labor: Rereading Philip Vera Cruz.” Journal of Asian American Studies 3.2 (June 2000): 139–62. Print.

San Juan, Epifanio, Jr. “Parallel Lives: Carlos Bulosan and Philip Vera Cruz.” Balikbayang Sinta: An E. San Juan Reader. Manila: Ateneo de Manila UP, 2008. Print.

Scharlin, Craig, and Lilia V. Villanueva. Philip Vera Cruz: A Personal History of Filipino Immigrants and the Farmworkers Movement. Seattle: U of Washington P, 2000. Print.

Valledor, Sid Amores. The Original Writings of Philip Vera Cruz. Indianapolis: Dog Ear, 2006. Print.