Mariano Laya Armington

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[1908-1994] Filipino community and labor leader. Mariano, with Phillip Veracruz, Larry Itliong, Andy Imutan, and Pete Velasco, and others helped begin the 1st grape strike, begun by Filipinos, in Delano, California in 1965. The strike began for Mariano and his crew of workers after he spoke with the ranch owner, George Lucas, making a demand for a 10 cent per hour raise to $1.10. Mariano indicated that the raise was needed or that a strike could begin, to which Lucas responded, "You Filipinos will come crawling back on your hands and knees". The strike was begun by AWOC (Agicultural Worker's Organizing Committee) under leadership of many Filipino leaders including Phillip Vera Cruz, Larry Itliong, Andy Imutan, and Pete Velasco. Mariano later continued organizing farm workers with Phillip Veracruz, first under the NFWA, and under the UFW Union led by Cesar Chavez. Carlos Bulosan, a Filipino American author and labor activist, worked in the vineyards for a time under Mariano near Delano in the central San Joaguin valley of California. Mariano served as worshipful master in the Filipino Masonic Lodge in Delano, a lodge within the Grand Oriente Filipino. A past president of the Filipino Community of Delano, he was the primary force in arranging for use of the Filipino Community Hall in Delano as the "strike hall" for the UFW. He helped found the Filipino American Political Association and, on invitation, attended the inauguration of Philippine president Diosdado Macapagal. A cousin, Juan C. Laya Jr., came to the United States to complete his college education. Mariano and Juan often communicated and Mariano helped with Juan's expenses while he studied in the U.S. Juan C. Laya returned to the Philippines and wrote several textbooks including a secondary school text on the national language and a new up-to-date curriculum for elementary and secondary education for the Philippines. Mariano made it a point to never ask a Filipino, upon meeting them, what province they were from in the Philippines. To him it was an irrelevant question. His concern was only that you were person in need. He was never known to have refused help to anyone, of any race, in need of assistance.