L.A. Filipinos Angry That Aquino Trip Excludes City

The Philippine community in Los Angeles has expressed outrage and disappointment that the U.S. tour of Philippine President Corazon Aquino does not include a stop in the city with the largest Filipino population outside the archipelago.

In emotional editorials, letters and public statements, Philippine community leaders here have implored the president to reschedule her eight-day tour to include Los Angeles--all to no avail.

“There’s a big disappointment here,” said Sebastian Catarroja, editor-in-chief of the California Manila Times, a weekly Filipino-American newspaper based in Los Angeles. “It’s like Pope John Paul visiting the U.S. and bypassing Chicago, which has the largest Polish population in the country. We are very hurt.”

But those involved in scheduling Aquino’s visit say no slight was intended.

“There’s no way she can do it,” said Lupita Aquino Kashiwahara, the sister of slain Philippine opposition leader Benigno S. Aquino Jr. and one of a five-member committee that helped schedule the visit. “I tried very, very, very hard up to the last minute to try to get her to Los Angeles,” Kashiwahara said in a phone interview last week. “We wanted to make the Filipinos in Los Angeles happy, but there just is not time.’