Lone Filipino arrested in D.C. rally: He’d do it again for immigration reform

Gregory Cendana, wearing a Not Your Model Minority shirt, is being led to a waiting van by Capitol Police.

“No I wasn’t surprised. I was expecting to be arrested,” Gregory Cendana, said as he reflected on the aftermath of the October 8th March for Dignity and Respect immigration reform rally.

Hours after the rally, Cendana, executive director of the Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance (Apala), found himself handcuffed by the Capitol building fronting the National Mall and then loaded into police vans with hundreds of fellow marchers that included eight Democratic congressmen John Lewis, Luis Gutiérrez, Raúl Grijalva, Keith Ellison, John Crowley, Charles Rangel, Al Green and Jan Schakowsky.

“If others were willing to risk this arrest I wanted to be able to do that too,” he said in a phone interview with The FilAm Metro D.C. “As a young Filipino gay man, I felt like it was an opportunity to really show Congress that we mean business and we want to make sure immigration reform passes.”

Cendana and others were booked on charges of “crowding, obstructing and incommoding,” the
Capitol police said, citing a local law.

It was a long weekend, recalled Cendana. There were back to back rallies across the country. This one was a massive protest gathering with an estimated 20,000 people in attendance. Many of those arrested were at the forefront of the march.

“This (day) was kind of a culmination of different activities, and really what we wanted to do is to tell Congress, hey Congress the people want you to act on immigration reform and want you to act on it now. We were willing to take steps of action to show you how serious we are about wanting to get it done,” he said.

He knew going into the rally that civil disobedience was a possibility. People knew that too, he said. It became reality when the rallyists blocked off a street in front of the Capitol.

“We were put into a facility. I was there for more than 12 hours. They asked us whether we would accept the fine, and I said yes. The fine was $50,” he said.

Although Cendana couldn’t give an estimate of how many Filipinos participated in the rally, he believes he was the only Filipino arrested.

“I am not sure how many FilAm organizations participated,” he said. “The rally was quite huge. (But) to my understanding I was the only FilAm arrested.”

This was not Cendana’s first time. In 2009, he was arrested in another immigration rally in front of the White House.

“I am willing to do whatever it takes for us to see that vote and for us to see immigration reform pass by the end of 2013,” he stressed. “Immigration reform is necessary to ensure that the 11 million aspiring citizens will be able to really call the place they know as home, home.”

Manila Asian Foods. Tuloy po kayo.