As an ethnic studies professor, the current mayor of Daly City, and the director of a nonprofit for Filipino-American education, Roderick “Rod” Daus-Magbual aims to harmonize his work in these three roles. 

Daus-Magbual was born in Canada to Filipino immigrants and moved to Long Beach, California in 1980. He later moved to Riverside due to gang activity and crime. Duas-Magbual faced the challenge of moving from a predominantly Filipino, Latino and Black neighborhood to a predominantly white suburban area.

“I went through a whole identity crisis,” said Daus-Magbual. 

Daus-Magbual became involved with the Youth Community Outreach program at UC Riverside. The program gave him the opportunity to talk to his grandfather about the racism he experienced as a Filipino migrant worker in the 1930s. Daus-Magbual describes it as his “first taste” of ethnic studies where they discussed issues, identity and asked questions within the Asian-American community. 

“We would come to UC Riverside to talk about issues, about what does it mean to be Asian, or API, what does it mean to be Filipino? And it opened up this whole world, like, damn, I didn’t even know that Filipino history existed before my parents came here,” Daus-Magbual said.

Daus-Magbual recalls the words of his late former mentor, Dawn Bohulano Mabalon at an event called Enclave. 

“One of their audience members asked Dawn, ‘Knowing what you know now. What did you wish you had?’ And she said, ‘I wish we had representation in place of power. I wish we had either a board seat or we could bring our own seat to the board right.’ And then she continued with her response,” Daus-Magbaul said.

“‘You got to be part of the process before times of protest,’” Daus-Magbaul said, quoting Mabalon. “‘especially in times when the federal government is attacking local communities.’” 

Daus-Magbual’s role as mayor places him as the representative of the city with the responsibility of dictating and implementing his agenda. He faces a challenge to enacting his agenda as the role of mayor and vice mayor in Daly City switches every year.

“It’s a sprint because you want to put in your agenda that you have and try to get everything done as fast as possible,” Daus-Magbual said. 

Daus-Magbual utilizes his background in ethnic studies to emphasize the diverse community within Daly City. Under his leadership, Daly City held its first Jewish-American and Arab-American Heritage Month celebrations. 

“We’re at a conversational point… so that we can have reconciliation for years to come,” Daus-Magbual said. 

Daus-Magbual plans to visit Daly City’s sister city, Izumisano, Japan; he aims to open up dialogue in the community beyond celebration.

Alongside his role as Daly City’s mayor and a Skyline professor, Daus-Magbual also runs the nonprofit Pinay/Pinoy Educational Partnership (PEP) that mentors higher education students who are interested in teaching Filipino-American studies in San Francisco. 

Skyline College professor Liza Marie S. Erpelo is a former member of PEP. Daus-Magbual states that the program has built an interconnected community.

“Where I go to work, it doesn’t feel like work,” Daus-Magbual said.

Daus-Magbual states that he hopes to achieve “harmony” rather than “balance” in all of his roles. He states that the skills and knowledge he has gained from each of these roles can be transferred to his other positions. 

“In all the different hats that I wear in the community, they’re all the same, except that they’re just different instruments,” Daus-Magbual said. 

Daus-Magbual emphasizes the importance of community dialogue and representation as essential to the political process. 

“You gotta be part of the process,” Daus-Magbual said.