Late Filipina Civil Rights Leader, “Tita” Alice Bulos, Honored with Memorial Highway in Daly City

“Tita” Alice Bulos was known as the “Grandmother of Filipino-American Politics.” Earlier this month, a portion of State Route 35 was dedicated in Daly City in the Bay Area and a sign commemorating her name and work has been erected announcing the Alice Peña Bulos Memorial Highway. 

If you’ve not heard her name before, Tita Alice Bulos’ legacy and impact is vast as she’s played a critical role for over 40 years in being a leading voice in Filipino-American politics and empowerment of minorities across America. Born and raised in the Philippines in 1948, and after early professional years as a Professor of Sociology at Santa Tomas University in Manila, she moved to Sacramento in 1972 to work with CETA as an employment counselor. She immediately began encouraging young Filipino-Americans and Asian-Americans to become political active and became a staunch voice in immigration, healthcare, education and domestic violence. 

Bulos has served on the Filipino American Caucus of the Democratic Party, as well as the San Mateo County Chapters of the American Red Cross, American Heart Association, and the American Lung Association. Among other accomplishments, she has also served as a delegate to five democratic national conventions. 

While she has created and served on the board of countless community organizations, from 1993-2000, Tita Alice was appointed to the National Council of the Aging appointed by then President Bill Clinton, making her the first Filipino American selected by a sitting president to serve on a federal post. 

While Tita Alice passed in 2016, current Assemblyman Phil Ting (who introduced the resolution to honor Bulos) encourages all to continue her work, “now its our turn for the next generation to make sure we follow Tita’s Alice’s example. That we remember everything she did not for us individually but for us as a community.”

So next time you drive through the highway and see Tita Alice’s sign, send out a “Maraming Salamat Po” to the woman who worked tirelessly so that immigrants and their families had voices to build a better life in America.

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