A FILIPINO CANDIDATE IN HAWAII

-written by Gerry Gil (1942-1995) in his column “Methinks” of the Manila Standard Sunday
Magazine on September 18, 1994.

Gerry Gil- associate editor and opinion editor of the Manila Standard from 1989 till his death in
1995. He is well-known for his columns and editorials written in vigorous prose.
Vigorous Prose
1. Well-reasoned argument
2. Impish sense of humor
3. Scholar’s learning
4. Dexterity at wordplay
Ted Mina- central figure of the great story about Filipinos in Hawaiian politics.
- he felt that he would have a very good chance of being elected to the State House of
Representatives because there were lots of Filipinos in his district.
- at his first attempt, he did not bother to campaign among the Filipino-Americans. He
was confident to win. But he lost by 45 votes. The reason is many Filipinos did not vote because
they were illiterate.
- after two years, he decided to run again. He registered first so that his name would
appear at the top of the ballot. He then told the Filipinos to check the name in the first line of the
ballot. After the elections, he still lost by five votes. Nearly a hundred votes were declared
invalid because the voters had not checked the name of any candidate, but the first line on the
ballot (State of Hawaii).
- after two years, he run again for office. Luckily, he finally won HAHAHA JAWPIE
daw

VOCABULARY WORDS:
1. Impish- naughty
2. Vigorous prose- powerful prose
3. Dexterity- skill
4. Skeptical- doubtful
5. Campaign spiel- campaign speech
6. Illiterate- unable to read and write
7. Handicap- obstacle; impediment
8. Invariably- every time