By Bernadette Connors & Bitaniya Giday
Members of OCA Asian Pacific American Advocates of Greater Seattle
This profile has been reprinted with permission from the OCA Asian Pacific American Advocates of Greater Seattle. It is one of four profiles the Northwest Asian Weekly will run this week.

Dolores Sibonga. Courtesy of OCA Asian Pacific American Advocates of Greater Seattle.
As the first Filipina to practice law in Washington state, and later the first nonwhite woman to serve on the Seattle City Council, Dolores Dasalla Sibonga didn’t just break glass ceilings, she shattered them. These groundbreaking accomplishments, combined with her dedication to public service and social justice, have forged a legacy that continues to inspire generations.
Dolores was born in 1931 in Seattle. Her childhood was spent in the Chinatown-International District, where her family’s eponymous restaurant and pool hall, the Estigoy Cafe, served as a meeting place for the city’s Filipino community. This community connection informed many of Dolores’ decisions, including her choice of college major. Encouraged by her mother, who had a deep respect for Victor Velasco, the longtime editor and publisher of The Filipino Forum (a weekly newspaper covering the growing Filipino community in Seattle and the Pacific Northwest that ran from 1928–1963), Dolores earned her degree in journalism from the University of Washington (UW) in 1952. Afterwards, she worked in television and radio, at one point garnering an Emmy nomination for her work with KOMO-TV. Her journalism career came full circle when Dolores and her husband, Martin, purchased The Filipino Forum after Velasco’s death in a cannery fire. The Sibongas continued to use the newspaper as a platform to highlight social inequities and support the ongoing civil rights movement. At one point, she and her then 15-year-old son/staff photographer were arrested while covering a demonstration at Sea-Tac Airport led by Black contractors.
This experience with the justice system sparked her interest in the legal profession. The University of Washington had a summer program designed to help ethnic minorities go to law school. With the support of her husband, Dolores completed the course and was accepted into UW’s law school in 1970. In 1973, she became the first Filipina American admitted to the Washington State Bar. She first worked as a public defender before taking a legislative analyst job with the King County Council. From there, she moved to King County’s Office of Human Rights, and eventually to the Washington State Human Rights Department, where she served as a deputy secretary. In 1978, she made history once again when she was appointed to fill a vacant seat on the Seattle City Council, a first for minority women. The following year, she successfully ran for election and held the position for three terms. After declining to seek reelection in 1992, Dolores briefly returned to practicing law before accepting a two-year appointment to the Horse Racing Commission in 1998, immediately followed by a five-year appointment to the Human Rights Commission.
Throughout her career, Dolores championed social justice issues, such as cost of living, healthcare, transportation, and the preservation and protection of neighborhoods against commercial development. She co-founded the AsianPacific Women’s Caucus, introduced legislation to provide reparations for city employees who were fired during World War II due to their Japanese heritage, and opposed the Walt Disney Company’s plan to raze and redesign Seattle Center in its own image. She also helped launch the Ruth Woo Emerging Leaders Fellowship, a year-long paid position for youths from economically disadvantaged communities to gain access to careers in local government. At 93, Dolores Sibonga continues to pave the way for future leaders.
Dolores,
You look marvelous. My mom is almost 91.