As he surveyed the ballroom filled with about 400 people celebrating Filipino Americans in Texas earlier this month, Gus Mercado felt a special sense of accomplishment and pride for his community.

The entire community in the Dallas area was about that size when Mercado and his wife Ethel first moved to the region. They moved to the U.S. in the 1970s to flee the political persecution of dictator Ferdinand Marcos, who established martial law in the Philippines from 1972 to 1981.

Fortunately, Mercado and his wife were computer engineers and had little trouble finding employment, but the first few years were not a cakewalk, Mercado recalled. A particularly painful moment was when he couldn’t attend his father’s funeral.

“I was the only son,” Mercado said. “But my friends at the French embassy told me to stay in America if I valued my life.”

Mercado said he and his wife created a community for themselves in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.

About 33,800 people identified themselves as Filipino in Dallas, Tarrant, Denton, Collin and Rockwall counties, according to U.S. Census data from 2022. Mercado, however, said the actual count is closer to 80,000.

Mercado, his wife and many others are mending a gap between the group elders who have helped build the fabric of the Filipino American community and the young leaders who want to carry their mission forward. An important cornerstone of that relationship is a shared vision for a community center.

“It’s a challenge, but it’s a very worthy challenge to unite Filipinos coming from 7,000 islands speaking 256 different dialects to get behind a common cause,” Mercado said.

Two events in October symbolized the unity within the community.

On Oct. 18, the Philippine-American Chamber of Commerce of Texas, which Mercado and his wife co-founded, celebrated its 15th anniversary.

Guests at the event, which is held every five years, included Texas Secretary of State Jane Nelson and singer Sir Earl Toon of Kool and the Gang. The event highlighted chamber members from across the state.

About a week prior, the Pilipino American Community Endeavor held its third annual Lone Star Palengke Filipino market at Asia Times Square in Grand Prairie.

Mercado and his wife bought their first house in Garland in 1975 and moved to Plano shortly before 1980. They lived there for more than 25 years and currently live in the Flower Mound area.

They started getting involved in the community by helping refugee populations from southeast Asia who settled in east Dallas in the late 1980s and 1990s. The couple also immersed themselves in the greater Asian American community in North Texas.

Around the 2000s, Mercado said he and his wife saw a need for an organization that could unite the different languages and cultures that make up the Filipino community.

“We all agreed that we needed to come together and speak with one voice,” Mercado said.

They led efforts to create the Filipino Leaders Coalition of North Texas, or FILCON, which brings leaders of different Filipino and Filipino American organizations together. The coalition started in 2018.

Ethel, an honorary consul in Dallas for the Philippines, led the chamber’s consular outreach efforts. She was presented with a special award at the October gala for her work in the Filipino American community.

Consul General Gunther Emil M. Sales from the Philippine Consulate General in Houston said the chamber filled an important need in the area.

About 240,000 people of Filipino descent live in the state, Sales said.

“We were established in 2018, so in fact, our presence in Texas has only been about six years,” Sales said. “Previous to then, they were pretty much our partners for our consular services here.”

Younger generation takes lead

In addition to the community’s growth, Mercado said he has seen more of a willingness from younger Filipino Americans to lead. He welcomed their passion and respect for those who came before them.

“Now it’s kind of time for us to start retiring into the sunset and watching the new generation,” he said.

Conrad Alagaban, 37, was recently elected president of FILCON and is one of those young leaders, Mercado said.

Alagaban said some of the leaders of the Filipino American community in North Texas are people who saw him growing up in high school. He said he tried to earn the trust of older leaders in his community by “showing up.”

“They only trust me when I’m putting in the effort and taking initiative and going through the grind with them,” he said.

Alagaban is also the financial chair of the Pilipino American Community Endeavor, or PACE, which organized the market event in Grand Prairie.

One of the major goals of the organization is to create a community center for the Filipino community in North Texas. Funds raised from the October event will be used for the project, Alagaban and other leaders of the organization have told The News.

Mark Sampelo, president and co-founder of PACE, said his work in the Filipino community is rooted in part by his faith.

“God gave me a vision to serve the Filipino American community in North Texas, and the vision was a Filipino Community Center,” Sampelo said.

He and the other members of PACE want to create a place where Filipino community members can gather and find resources.

“When I think about my family, our children and our community, it’s not just about having a building; it’s about having a home for Filipinos.”

In addition to being a fundraising vehicle for the community center, Lonestar Palengke is a celebration of the community’s contributions, Sampelo said.

“It’s in October intentionally because of Filipino American History Month, which celebrates the contributions and accomplishments of the community as a whole, but also here in D-FW,” he said.

Shared love for community

Linda French, who has lived in North Texas for 38 years, said she has been involved in multiple organizations with connections to the Filipino community.

French said the idea of building a community center is something the community had tried to do in the past. She hopes PACE can make that vision a reality.

“I think it’s very imperative that we have a center for educational and cultural knowledge of Filipinos,” French said.

June Jovero moved to the U.S. in the 1980s and has lived in North Texas for about 40 years. She said she is heartened to see younger people in her community “embracing their Filipino-ness.”

“I think it’s because the community grows up being together,” Jovero said. “When we go to parties, we bring our kids. Even the ones who are not blood relatives come to be ‘titos’ and ‘titas.’ They come to be relatives through social gatherings, so they expand their core group.”