Pinay from Butuan seeks election in Virginia, USA

Vellie Sandalo grew up in a poor family in Butuan City. As a teenager, she sold doughnuts, firewood and vegetables she carried in a basket on her head. Now, Vellie Dietrich Hall is running for public office in the United States, her adopted country. The 55-year-old petite marathon runner is contesting incumbent Penelope Gross supervisor representing Mason District in Fairfax County in northern Virginia. Gross is a Democrat while Vellie is Republican. Vellie, who holds a brown belt in tae kwon do, said she is prepared to vie for the position held for three terms by Gross. “How I got here, and how I decided to announce my candidacy for this office, was a long journey from my childhood in the Philippines. But it’s a journey for which I’m very proud, and I thank you in advance for taking a few minutes to learn more about me," Vellie said in her campaign website www.votevellie.org. Shortly after graduating from the University of the Philippines with a degree in Liberal Arts, Vellie tried her luck in the United States in 1981. She is the eldest of three children of Sylvia and Samuel Q. Sandalo, a World War II veteran. When she first came to the US, Vellie first worked as a nanny to a French-American toddler whose family lived in Washington D.C. where she met her first husband, Charles Mark Dietrich, a brilliant and successful structural engineer from Virginia. But her first marriage lasted only two years. She had to stay briefly 23 years ago in a shelter for battered women in Alexandria after her Dietrich, who she said was an alcoholic, started beating her. She left their home with her then one-year-old daughter Ayn, named after author and philosopher Ayn Rand whose message of self-sufficiency and individualism appealed to Vellie. The experience with her first husband turned her into an advocate against domestic violence. Her daughter has completed a master's degree in East Asian Studies at Columbia University and a stint as an inter in the White House. She took on a middle management position at the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). Vellie dreams that her daughter would become the first Asian American Secretary of State. “Today, I have achieved things I never imagined possible as a barefoot, hungry child in the Philippines. I am proud of the financial management work my company, HPS Enterprises, does for the Department of Defense," she said. Through sheer hard work and determination, she became the chief executive officer and president of her own firm, HPS Enterprises, Inc., a management-consulting service company dedicated to filling in the "expert vacuum" within the Department of Defense. She was honored as keynote speaker at U.S. military bases during the 2001 Asian American Heritage celebration because she is one of the very few female Filipino Asian-Americans within defense department that succeeded in penetrating the male-dominated workforce. Vellie was appointed by President George W. Bush to an advisory commission dealing with issues concerning Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders. She is also the first Asian American since 1857 to be named a trustee of Randolph-Macon Woman’s College, one of the premier educators of women based in Lynchburg, Virginia. She likewise was a member of the Board of Directors of Horizons Theater (where she was the first Asian and only Filipino member), a member of the Board of Directors of QBD Ink - a Filipino-American Theater, and a District Officer of Toastmasters International. She is also the publisher of the Filipino HERALD of Virginia. She also received her Acquisition Career and Program Management accreditation from the Department of Defense Systems Management College. "I want to give fresh alternatives in this community. I want to give responsive leadership," the proud FilAm said about her reason for joining in a tight contest for public office. "I'm the best person to strengthen the community." He candidacy for the November elections had been endorsed by U.S. Rep. Tom Davis (R-11th) and Virginia Sen. Vincent Callahan (R-34th). Davis was himself once Mason District supervisor. Despite running in a district that has voted overwhelmingly Democratic in recent elections, Vellie said one reason she will win is her own personal ethnic diversity that, in a way, mirrors the diversity of the Mason District, which is made up of more than 60-percent minorities. Besides being of Filipino descent, Dietrich Hall can trace her family tree back to Spanish, Italian and Chinese ancestors. She kicked off her campaign in January at a home of a native Bolivian. Her finance chairman is from India and her two political directors are Koreans. "I think [the Board of Supervisors] should reflect the diversity of the community," she said in one interview. "It's about time." "The best practices of the East and West, I can combine them," said Vellie, who is now happily married to Harry Hall. Vellie was the immediate past president of the Filipino American Republicans of Virginia (Farv). She’s also a member of the President’s Advisory Commission on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders at the White House. She is running on issues of anti-crime and pro-business growth, easing traffic congestion in the state’s top magnet for local and international business, and putting a cap on property taxes, which, she said was “an unfair burden on homeowners and small business." Five per cent of Filipino Americans reside in Mason District, next to Asians of Korean and Chinese descent. Vellie said Filipinos in the United States are getting more actively involved in politics. “And that’s the way how to do it. In order for us to affect policies, to affect the lives of our children, we need to be active in politics and I see that growing and I am proud to say that I am leading that crusade by forming the Filipino American Republicans of Virginia," Vellie said. “My positive attitude is grounded in my belief in the ability of individuals to succeed despite tremendous odds working against them. Yes, friends, the American dream is indeed alive and well today," she declared. - GMANews.TV