Voter Alliance Striving to Be Political Voice for Filipinos : Elections: The group’s goals include registering more Filipino voters, creating a new cultural center and grooming candidates.

During the last city election, local Filipinos got a taste of U.S. politics. They called at their compatriots’ homes, knocked on their doors and handed them flyers.

The new activists urged their fellow citizens to reelect Mayor Ernie Kell, who barely won the election by 700 votes.

“We made a difference,” said Paul Blanco, a leader in the local Filipino community.

Blanco and other Filipinos want to continue making a difference in Long Beach politics, where minority representation is practically nonexistent. They recently formed a nonpartisan political group and set goals including registering more Filipino voters, creating a new cultural center and eventually grooming their own candidates for political office.

“We feel that the Filipinos have always been taken for granted. We want to have our voices heard,” said Blanco, president of the Long Beach-based Federation of Filipino-American Assns.

The new nonpartisan group, which falls under the federation’s umbrella, is called the Filipino-American Voters Alliance. The group’s officers were officially inducted earlier this month, but the alliance has been in the planning stages since last year and has nearly 1,300 members, according to its chairman, Hector L. Sulit.

“Our first goal is to educate Filipinos to exercise their right to vote,” Sulit said.

The group plans to raise the issue of voting at most Filipino social and service-oriented gatherings, which the federation sponsors almost weekly, Sulit said.

The federation, through its six affiliated groups, helps Filipinos apply for medical benefits, provides orientation for new immigrants and offers other referral and social services to the approximately 650,000 Filipinos living in Los Angeles County.

But until now, there was no group to focus on politics and politicians. “There are so many of us, but we’re not getting anywhere,” said Sulit, who pointed out that about 26,000 Filipinos live in Long Beach. Federation officials estimate that about 4,000 of the Filipino residents in the city are registered to vote.

“Historically, Filipinos have not been politically involved here,” said Mary Bradley, federation treasurer. “Back home, if you do anything, if you become involved, people might think you’re a communist.”

Federation member Sam D. Demonteverde added: “Many just don’t realize that they can make a difference in the affairs of the community.”

Sulit said Filipino residents contacted during the June election “were all enthusiastic about it. They all said it was time for us to wake up.”

Jeff Adler, Kell’s political consultant, said Filipino voters “did play an important role in the election. The efforts by their group and others made a difference. In a close election, everybody deserves a share of the credit. I hope their involvement in the race whets their appetite for more.”

Sulit said Filipinos endorsed Kell because he was accessible and appeared receptive to their concerns for a new cultural center.

They also chose to endorse the incumbent because there seemed to be few differences between him and his opponent, Councilman Tom Clark, Sulit said.

Blanco and others said they are talking to several agencies that may partly pay for the cultural center project, which is in the planning stages.

Once the Voters Alliance is rooted in Long Beach, officials said, they plan to work with other Filipino groups in communities with large Filipino populations, including Wilmington, Gardena and Carson.

“I kept telling my people that we are not going anywhere unless we get our act together,” Blanco said. “We can make a political impact on the community.