Filipino-born lawyer savors council victory in Bergenfield

BERGENFIELD — Although Filipino-Americans make up nearly 20 percent of the borough's population, more than a decade has passed since one has served in local government.

That drought ended Tuesday when Arvin Amatorio, a 43-year-old lawyer who emigrated from the Philippines 12 years ago, was voted onto the Borough Council in convincing fashion. Amatorio received 2,947 votes as part of the Democratic ticket, almost 900 more than Republican incumbent Kathleen Sahlberg. His running mate, Christopher Tully, who has served on the council since 2009, easily won reelection with 2,972 votes.

"If there is an opportunity to serve my community, I wanted to do so," Amatorio said. "With my inclusion in the system, I can be an agent to relate to people how important it is to participate."

Buddy Deauna, the Filipino-American owner of Asian Pacific Travel in Bergenfield, served as Amatorio and Tully's campaign chairman. "I tried to awaken the sleeping giant," he said. "And we are lucky they responded to our cry for help."

St. John the Evangelist Church, which boasts a sizable Filipino-American contingent among its parishioners, served as the epicenter of support, said Amatorio. Conversations about his candidacy spilled out into shops and restaurants in the area, so much so that volunteers all the way from Jersey City, which also has a significant Filipino-American population, traveled to Bergenfield in the days leading up to the election to stir up support for the Democratic candidates, he said.

Amatorio was born in Aurora, Philippines, where he received his legal training and lived until 2002, when he visited his girlfriend in New York and decided to stay. Growing up using English in school and watching American movies, he found it easy to adapt to an American lifestyle. Without close family nearby, however, he struggled to build a new support network.

Amatorio passed the New York bar in 2006, shortly after getting married to that same girlfriend, and started his own practice in Manhattan that specializes in immigration and labor law.

Despite his roots, Amatorio said that his ethnicity is incidental to his role as a councilman and that he will remain open to what needs to be addressed. In fact, besides describing himself as a "fiscal conservative" who wants to rein in costs, Amatorio did not point to any specific agenda he will bring to the table.

But he said he hopes his victory will encourage more residents to get involved in local politics. "Outside of the U.S., a lot of people want to participate in the electoral process," he said. "But in America, [where] they have such a powerful weapon to change the system, they are wasting it."

Amatorio is the first Filipino-American to serve on the council since Robert Rivas, who was appointed to the remaining year of Kevin Clancy's term after Clancy was elected mayor in 1996. Clancy won a three-year term later that year and served as mayor from 1998 to 2003.

Rivas said he thinks many Filipino-Americans in Bergenfield are so busy trying to get settled that they don't find time for political engagement.

"When a lot of Filipinos come here, job No. 1 is taking care of their family — finding a job, finding a house, sending the kids to school," said Rivas. "Politics is not at the top of the list of priorities."

Deauna agreed.

"We are here for economic reasons — to work and send money to family in the Philippines who are experiencing hardship," Deauna said.

But Bergenfield is becoming less of a transitional town for Filipino-Americans and now they are finding their political voice, said Rivas. "People realized what they were looking for was here in Bergenfield," he said, citing affordable housing and strong schools.

In the decade preceding 2010, the Filipino-American population of Bergenfield grew from 11.7 percent, or 3,081 residents, to 17.1 percent, or 4,569, according to U.S. census data.

"I can be the bridge between the people and the government," said Amatorio.

Email: pugliese@northjersey.com