Golden Circle Honoree: Dolores Sibonga – Northwest Asian Weekly

By Bernadette Connors & Bitaniya GIDAY
Members of Asian Asian Pacific American Defenders of Big Seattle

This account has been reprinted with permission from OCA’s Asian Pacific LawyersS This is one of the four profiles of the Northwestern Asian Weekly I will run This week.

Dolores Sibong. With the kind assistance of the Asian Pacific lawyers of the OCA Asian Pacific of Big Seattle.

Like the first Philippine to practice law in Washington, and later, the first not white woman serving in the City Council in Seattle, Dolores Dasala Sibong not only broke the glass ceilings, she broke them. These innovative achievements, combined with its commitment to social service and social justice, have forged a heritage that continues to inspire generations.

Dolores was born in 1931 in Seattle. Her childhood was spent in the international neighborhood of Chinatown, where the restaurant of the same name and the pool of her family, Estigo’s cafe, serves as a place for meetings of the city Philippine community. This connection of the Community is very informed about Dolores’ decisions, including her choice of college specialty. Encouraged by her mother, who had deep respect for Victor Velasco, the longtime editor and publisher of the Philippine Forum (a weekly newspaper covering the growing Philippine community in Seattle and the Pacific Northwest, which took place since 1928-1963), Dolores won the degree of its degree A journalism degree from the University of Washington (UW) in 1952. She then worked on television and radio, at one point he collected an Emmy nomination for her work with Komo-TV. Her journalistic career came in a full circle when Dolores and her husband Martin bought the Philippine Forum after Velasco’s death in a canned fire. Sibongas continued to use the newspaper as a platform to emphasize social inequalities and support the continued civil rights movement. At one point, she and her then 15-year-old son/photographer of staff were arrested while covering a demonstration at Sea-Tac Airport led by black performers.

This experience with the justice system aroused her interest in the legal profession. The University of Washington had a summer program designed to help ethnic minorities go to a law school. With the support of her husband, Dolores completed the course and was admitted to the UW Faculty of Law in 1970. In 1973, she became the first Philippine adopted at the State Bar Association in Washington. For the first time, she works as a public defender before taking on a legislative analysis work at the King County Council. From there, she moved to the King County Human Rights Service and eventually to the Washington State Ministry of Human Rights, where she served as a deputy secreter. In 1978, she again made history when she was appointed to fill free space in the Seattle City Council, the first for minority women. The following year, she successfully runs for elections and has taken the position for three terms. After refusing to seek re -election in 1992, Dolores briefly returned to the practice of law before adopting a two -year appointment to the Equestrian Race Commission in 1998, followed by a five -year appointment to the Human Rights Commission immediately.

Throughout his career, Dolores has supported the problems of social justice, such as the costs of life, health care, transport and preservation and protection of neighborhoods against commercial development. It is the co -founder of the Asiacan female cause, introduced legislation to provide reparations for city employees who were fired during World War II due to its Japanese heritage and opposed the plan of the company of Walt Disney to destroy and redesign the center of Seattle in his own image. She also helped to launch Ruth Wu’s scholarship for emerging leaders, an annual paid position for young people from economic disadvantaged communities to gain access to a career in local authorities. At 93, Dolores Sibong continued to make the way for future leaders.

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