HONOLULU, May 6 -- Filipinos in Hawaii are hoping the improved Philippines-United States relations will translate into more economic engagements -- a boon they expect to eventually trickle down to the families they continue to support back home.

"I think that the relationship between the Philippines and the US should improve economically. That should be the direction (so) that the Filipinos here would not have to support and be called heroes because they send money every month," Dr. Eva Rose B. Washburn-Repollo, vice chairperson of the Filipino Community Center in Hawaii, said in an interview with visiting Filipino journalists on May 3 afternoon (Hawaii time).

Washburn-Repollo, who is also a professor at the Chaminade University School ...