America is a microcosm of the entire planet. There are ample cohorts of every race, nation, culture, ethnicity and religion. American Indians aside, native or foreign-born Americans may trace ancestry from outside the continent. A vast majority are white and European, while a minority comes from Africa, Central and South America and the Caribbean, and also Asia.

In this nation of immigrants, Filipinos are one ethnic group that has become more prolific in recent years and more conspicuously as nurses, doctors and other professionals in hospitals and health care facilities. True to their adherence to religious beliefs and strong ties to family tradition, they bond themselves together into different communities that reflect their origin. This is not defiance to American way of life but reinforcement to one’s identity, for like Dr. Jose Rizal said, “he who does not recognize his past will not see the future”.

In a new environment, to see a familiar face or hear a familiar voice is quite comforting. Factor in the challenges and insecurities of living in a foreign land; the need to bond with former town mates is an enduring quest. This is rather a simplified look into the motivations behind organizing the Basaynon Katiguban USA and Canada. There is more soul-searching and spirituality behind all this.

In September 1972, Mrs. Benita Licopit-Ionin invited fellow Basaynons in California to celebrate the Feast of St. Michael the Archangel, the patron saint of Basey. Monsignor Yrigan, a Calbayognon expatriate but long-time parish priest of Basey, officiated the solemn mass. This rekindled the spirit of the Basaynon. Short of miraculous, the longing became a passion, the passion a commitment. Five years later, Mr. Silvester Modesto offered to keep the spirit alive and passed the flame to eager Basaynons who became subsequent hermanos and hermanas like Conrad Modesto, Ben Yabut, Gloria Macawili, John and Julie Soriano, and Billy Gayon.

In 1983, during the sponsorship by Cesar Estorninos, these pioneering Basaynons formally organized the Basaynon Katiguban in California. The circumstances were like a replay of the 1921 gathering (katiguban) of Basaynons in metro Manila that gave birth to the first Basaynon Katiguban, only this time in a stateside matrix. A de facto franchisement of the original Basaynon Katiguban would spread beyond the boundaries of Basey – in the beginning more like therapy groups for home-sick Basaynons.

The diaspora of Basaynons in the Eastern seaboard did not quite enjoy the benefits of Katiguban novenas and fiestas held by the now fully organized California Basaynons, obviously because of distance. The melancholia of Ana Octaviano and encouragements of Encarnacion Orejola in 1992 proved irresistible to Drs. Vinia Octaviano Nañez and Wilmo Orejola to organize another de facto franchise of the Basaynon Katiguban in the Eastern USA. The Eastern BK held annual fiestas that would easily be outdone in numbers by the Western counterpart. But the competition was amicable. The Eastern chapter was willing participant in various projects initiated by the well-organized California-based BK, like landscaping the church plaza for example. In like manner the BK of California supported the construction of perpetual adoration chapel initiated by the Eastern BK.

In September 1994, Dr. Lonie Ocdol was a popular choice for hermanidad by the BK of California. She propitiated her sponsorship in a conciliatory theme “East meets west”. This gesture included the donation of three identical large images of St. Michael the Archangel for the Western, Midwestern and Eastern USA chapters of the Basaynon Katiguban. Following the Michigan initiative, subsequent fiestas in Sacramento, California sponsored by Vir Yancha (1995) and in Edmonton, Canada by Brenda Cabigon Basiga (1996) adopted unified celebrations.

The organization became officially incorporated as Basaynon Katiguban USA and Canada in the State of California on June 6, 1995. Dr. Artoteles Tandinco was the first president of the incorporated organization.

Based in the New York City area the Eastern BK took upon itself representing the entire Basaynon Katiguban USA and Canada in the most active Filipino community outside the Philippines. It participated yearly in the Philippine Independence Day parade down Madison Avenue in NYC every first week of June. In 2002 the lady members led by Dr. Vinia Nañez paraded in unique and elegant banig ternos imported from Basey to the delight of onlookers and the news media.

In September 1997, the unified fiesta was held for the first time in the Eastern USA (Long Island, New York) under the hermanidad of Dr. Vinia Nañez. Tradition was set to rotate sponsorship of the fiesta throughout the four regions, to wit; Western USA, Midwest USA, Eastern USA and Canada. Following the Anaheim fiesta under the sponsorship of Rev. Fr. Marito Rebamontan in 2000, another such celebration was back in the Eastern seaboard (New Jersey) in 2001 under the sponsorship of Dr. Wilmo Orejola. Dr. Orejola also took over the presidency from Fr. Rebamontan that year.

In 1999, Addi and Elsa Batica during their sponsorship of the fiesta in Minneapolis, Minnesota introduced the newsletter Radyo Baktas, with Addi himself as the editor-in-chief. At the fiesta in San Francisco under the sponsorship of Tesa Cabab-Reyes, the Radyo Baktas became officially the newsletter of the Basaynon Katiguban USA and Canada. The quarterly issued newsletter has become an indispensable tool of the organization. It would facilitate more ambitious projects undertaken by the Basaynon Katiguban USA and Canada. This includes the $10,000 (PhP 520,000)-roof restoration project of the St. Michael Church in Basey.

The organization is in the process of amending the by-laws to make its mission and goals relevant with the changing times. It tries to insure continuity for the future generations and its governance well in keeping with the religious and civic responsibilities of Basaynon expatriates. It has drawn a new generation of expat Basaynons into its fold like the lost tribes of Israel.

Members look forward to annual fiesta celebrations with alacrity. As we celebrate this year the hemanidad of Amado and Freda Gad in Chicago, we mark it with a website dedicated to the interests and betterment of the Basaynon. This is in keeping with the times - the boom of information technology. We appreciate the efforts of Boy and Gilda Colinares-Tabao Vilches for designing our website - http://www.baseynon.faithweb.com.