Pinay Mama's death galvanizes the California community

Long Beach, California-Am Eve of the Mother's Day here, the sons and daughters of the Filipino diaspora prepare a parade in this part of America to honor the life of an illegal mother and widow from Manila from Manila, which was killed by a hit-and-run driver last year.

Friends and community activists gathered on Friday afternoon (Saturday morning in Manila) in the Filipino Migrant Center (FMC) along the Avenue Burnett here to get to Lorna Escusa, a 75-year-old Filipina care, on the way to the St. Lucy Catholic Church in the corner of the Santa Fe-Avenue and 23rd Street and the 23rd Street and 23rd Street and the 23rd Street and 23rd Street and 23rd Street and 23rd Street and the 23rd Street.

“Lorna went to the fair this morning when the accident passed. Such a tragic fate for a member of our faith community,” said Father Dr. Budi Wardhana, the pastor in St. Lucy, where some of the 20,000 Filipino immigrants come to worship in this city.

Wardhana visited Escusa when she was lying in the St. Mary's Hospital in comatose. It was the Catholic priest of the immigrants from Indonesia who gave her the last rites.

Cause Célèbre

“My heart broke when I found out that she had died. I was destroyed,” said Nanette Apacibble, a retired nurse and Escusa's best friend.

Escusa's death became a cause of a community that was made unsafe by disappeared street lighting and broken street signs, from which activists were responsible for their premature death.

They say that the money that should have been used for public infrastructure is diverted to build sports areas for the 2028 Olympic Games.

“We deserve the right to go safely in our streets without fear for our lives,” said Theresa Jaranilla, one of the FMC officials.

As part of your call, you call up the immediate repair of the old and neglected street infrastructure, which lives here and the limbs of the citizens.

immigration

Escusa's death also has the local Filipino community, which is already threatened – some to the point that it is traumatized – by the shady arrests of immigrants across America on the command of President Donald Trump with his policy of mass deportation.

The unrestricted office of FMC has become a kind of sanctuary for Filipino Tnts (Tago Nang Tago) migrants who are victims of human trafficking and illegal work practices such as wage theft and non -payment of overtime work.

This Friday afternoon, young people are preparing to honor the memory of Escusa for a parade on the eve of the mother day.

Sacrifice for the family

“She was a mother. That is all I need to know,” said 20-year-old Matthew Samar, one of the volunteers who drove the last nail into a poster he will use at the parade on Saturday.

“I think of my own mother while we celebrate her,” said Samar.

“She (Escusa) lived here in America alone. She worked hard every day to take care of her two sons and families in Manila,” added the 70-year-old Apacible, who comes from the province of Kawit, Cavite.

Cooks ready

After retiring as an employee of the PAG BIG Fund in Manila, Escusa received a visitor in the USA and came in California 11 years ago.

She overtook her visa and started working as a caregiver for older people by sometimes working around the clock, according to Apacible.

“Lorna was the ultimate proof of how a mother sacrifices her loved ones. Her monthly transfers paid her two sons Michael and Jade to end her training,” said Apacible.

She said her girlfriend – whose husband died in Manila in 2022 – had become increasingly desperate and miserable.

She was also afraid that she could be deported if Donald Trump wins the presidential elections, said Apacibble.

Escusa's death on this fateful September morning made too immaterial.

After their remains were cremated, their friends went to their rented apartment to prepare all the things she had accumulated in America for 10 years.

They were surprised that their things in Balikbayan boxes that were stacked properly were all bundled.

She was ready to go home.