Silme Domingo

Biography

Silme Domingo was born in Killeen, Texas, on January 25, 1952, one of five children of Nemesio and Adelina Domingo. He grew up in Texas and the family moved to Seattle in 1960. Silme attended Ballard High School and graduated with honors from the University of Washington, where he was a student activist. He participated in the effort during the 1970s to save Seattle's International District, and in 1974 joined the Union of Democratic Filipinos (KDP) and established the Seattle KDP chapter, which organized the first protest in Seattle against the Ferdinand Marcos dictatorship. Domingo was co-founder of the Alaska Cannery Workers Association, a civil rights organization that pursued legal action against the discriminatory practices of Alaska canneries, in which Filipino American, Anglo American, and indigenous workers were paid, treated, and housed differently based on their race. Along with his fellow organizer and friend Gene Viernes, Domingo was elected as on officer in Seattle's Cannery Workers and Farm Laborers Union, Local 37 on an anti-corruption, union democracy platform. He was survived by two children, Ligaya and Kalayaan.

Assassination

Silme Domingo and Gene Viernes, were officers and reformers in Local 37 of the International Longshoremen’s and Warehousemen’s Union (ILWU). They were elected on a reform platform as officers of ILWU Local 37 — to end corruption and bribery in the union. Domingo and Viernes were both shot to death inside the Local 37 offices in Pioneer Square in downtown Seattle.

Viernes died immediately, but Domingo was taken to Harborview Medical Center, where he spent 24 hours before dying — disclosing clues about identities of the gunmen, which led to the arrests of Pompeyo Benito Guloy and Jimmy Bulosan Ramil. Guloy and Ramil were found guilty of first degree murder and sentenced to life in prison. During the investigation, the murders were linked to Fortunato “Tony” Dictado, a gang leader.

The murders were originally thought to be an isolated act of violence, but friends and family organized a Committee for Justice for Domingo and Viernes (CJDV) eventually linking the murders to Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos and his wife Imelda, finding that they had ordered the murders in retaliation for the victims’ anti-Marcos organizing. In 1989, and a federal jury agreed with the CJDV, finding Marcos guilty of the murders.

In 1991, former Local 37 president Constantine “Tony” Baruso (1928-2008) — a supporter of the Marcos regime — was also found guilty of aggravated first-degree murder in the death of Viernes but not Domingo.

Legacy

In 2011, the Inlandboatmen's Union, Region 37, created an annual scholarship to honor the memory of Domingo and Viernes. The scholarship is available via the Harry Bridges Center for Labor Studies, University of Washington.