How Chuck Mangione Helped Filipino Street Children
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Chuck Mangione (Source: Michael Ochs Archive)
Why is this important to me? Only a handful of people knew that Chuck Mangione was instrumental in helping me launch Philippine International Aid (PIA), the non-profit I started in 1986 to help disadvantaged children in the Philippines.
Here is the story. After the 1986 People Power Revolution in the Philippines that toppled President Ferdinand Marcos, I, like many Filipinos all over the world, was euphoric at this peaceful turn of events and long-awaited outcome – so much so that I considered returning home. But I decided against it because my children were just getting adjusted to life in San Francisco and were happy with their newfound friends. (Besides, it wasn’t just the political situation that I was running away from.) I was still determined to help the Motherland and wondered what I could do. That’s when I started Philippine International Aid (PIA).
I made a short trip to Manila, looking for projects that we could help with. I had been gone since 1982 and had lost touch with what was happening in the Philippines not because I was not interested, but because I didn’t have time or energy left while raising two young boys. My sister, Susanne, told me that she had just received a request from a Good Shepherd nun for a project dealing with abused children, and suggested I check it out. I’m glad I did, and this changed my life.
Sr. Myrna Tacardon greeted me upon my arrival at Caritas Manila. I was in total shock and surprise with what she told me about the children. She talked about the street children who were being preyed upon and the growing problem of child prostitution. I asked her if she was referring to teenagers, and she said, “No, these are children as young as four years old who are being sold by their parents to pedophiles.”
Street children collecting scrap Metal
She showed me pictures of foreigners, mostly white men, with their arms wrapped around young, scrawny-looking boys, maybe around seven or eight years old. She also made me listen to recorded sessions of these boys with a counselor where they described the lewd acts inflicted on them, and the innocence and naivete of not knowing or realizing what was actually being done to them. I was in disbelief and in tears. How can this be happening to our children?
I was told that the government was in a dire financial crisis and it tolerated the sex tours that flourished during that time, at the expense of our women and the children.
Sampaguita vendor (Photo by Sidney Snoeck/ NomadicPolitics.blogspot.com)
Sr. Myrna’s goal was to establish a rehabilitation center at Caritas Manila where the children could learn new skills and values. She would go to the bars at night in her habit and look for underage girls. If she was lucky, one of them would go home with her where the child could begin a rehabilitation. The whole project would cost about $30,000 and I promised Sr. Myrna that I will find a way to raise the funds. Filipinos in the Bay Area were still feeling excited and proud of ousting a dictator and, in a few months, I was able to raise the money.
But the problem of children being abused and turned into “prostitutes” needed to be heard all over the world. It wasn’t just happening in the Philippines, but also in other countries with a high level of poverty and uneducated populace. I brought Sr. Myrna to San Francisco and she spoke at the World Affairs Center, she was interviewed at a radio station, and she met community members who were eager to help. We even got a donation from a taxi driver who donated around $2,000 after hearing Sr. Myrna’s interview on the radio.
a poor child at a street corner (Source: Pexels)
Then I met Barbara “Tweetums” Gonzalez, the advertising and marketing expert who decided to settle in San Francisco. I asked her to help me amplify the plight of the abused children and at the same time bring PIA to a bigger audience. With the photos provided by Sr. Myrna, Tweetums organized a slide show (no computers yet then) with the background music Look to the Children by Chuck Mangione. It turned out to be a very emotional presentation. However, this being the United States, we knew that we needed to get permission from Chuck Mangione to use his music.
And as luck (and God) would have it, Chuck Mangione was going to perform at the Fairmont Hotel in San Francisco the coming week. How do we get to him? One of our Board Members called Fairmont Hotel and asked if he could be connected to Mangione’s manager. He told them that a few of Mangione’s fans wanted to meet him and ask for a special permission, and if we could go backstage after the show. The manager didn’t guarantee an audience but said he would try.
Of course, we bought tickets to the show, and we brought our slide projector and tape recorder as well. After the show, we went backstage and the manager motioned for us to come in and introduced us to Mr. Mangione. We told him about the plight of the abused children in the Philippines and played the slides and music for him. He was quiet the whole time it played. After, he nodded and said, “Yes, you can use it.” We were ecstatic and profusely thanked him. (No cell phones yet then, so no pictures.) Shortly thereafter, we received a contract from his manager allowing us to use the song for three years.
A few weeks later, I heard about a national conference for Filipino Americans organized by Alex Esclamado. One thousand people were expected to attend. “How do we get to the conference and show our slides?” I asked Tweetums. “Let me check,” she replied. A few days later, she introduced me to Lupita Aquino Kashiwahara, who was directing the conference’s program. Lupita told us that the program was very tight and long, and that there was no room to add another speaker. Tweetums and I decided to go to Los Angeles anyway (where the conference was taking place), bringing along the slides and the tape recorder.
Again, God was on our side! One of the speakers did not show up, and Lupita called us if we wanted the slot. Of course, we did! Overnight, I wrote my speech. Nobody in that ballroom knew who I was, except for Lupita and Tweetums, and therefore most people were surprised when it was announced I would speak. I told them the story of how I started PIA, the story of the children who were being abused and who were being turned into prostitutes….and then I played the slides and the music of Chuck Mangione. People were crying. A few shouted, “How can we do this to our children?” People couldn’t stop talking about the children and many came to me asking how they could help.
I do not have the slides anymore. Also, photos of children depicting them as sex victims started to be banned. Their faces could not be shown. But the message was heard loud and clear. Listen to the song, Look to the Children below (duet with Esther Satterfield) and imagine how haunting, stirring, and powerful it is to make us move into action. And imagine the song with photos of children struggling to survive. The photos and the music were a perfect combination.
This year PIA celebrates 39 years, and we have since given about 70,000 children educational assistance, including street children who may have been lured into despicable situations. That slide presentation catapulted and jump-started PIA’s efforts in providing scholarships to the children to get them off the streets. Everywhere I went to show it, people were moved to tears, ready to help.
Only a handful of people knew that Chuck Mangione was instrumental in helping me launch Philippine International Aid (PIA), the non-profit I started in 1986 to help disadvantaged children in the Philippines.
Thank you to Sr. Myrna who continues her advocacy in helping the children despite her old age. Thank you Tweetums, one of my best friends, who passed away a year ago, for your dedication and creative talent. Thank you, Lupita for giving us the break. And most of all, thank you, Chuck Mangione, for your sensitivity and generosity in helping the children. Your music propelled us to heights we didn’t think was possible. On behalf of me and the children, may you rest in peace.
Give Chuck Mangione a listen:
Look, please look to the children
The children they know
In their eyes are the answers we seek
And their hearts feel the way to go
Look, please look to the children
They know more than we
How it feels in this world to be free
Free to love and be loved by all
See, please see how the children
They wake with a smile
For to them life's so precious a thing
Every day is their first day of spring
Look, please look to the children
They know more than we
For all kids are from one family
Any playground is home to them
You (me) let's be like the children
Together let's play
Sharing all that this world has to give
Life's a groove we all once loved
Love, give, live like the children
Source: LyricFind
Songwriter: Chuck Mangione
Look to the Children lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
