by Elpidio R. Estioko
Did you know that Lynda P. Johnson, the new mayor of Cerritos City, California, has Filipino roots and a Hawaii connection?
Johnson was born in Japan to her Filipino mother, Delia, and her American father, Samuel Johnson, a member of the US Navy, who was assigned to a Naval Station based in Yokosuka, Japan. Then they moved to Hawaii and lived there for six years when his father was assigned to Pearl Harbor, Honolulu.
Her father was reassigned to Illinois when she was only six years old. At the age of seven, her father retired, and the whole family settled in Cerritos, California in 1971, where they made it their home for a lifetime.
On April 8, 2026, Johnson was sworn in as Cerritos City’s first Filipino-American mayor during the city’s 70th anniversary. While there have been women mayors in Cerritos before 2026, Johnson’s mayoral term highlights the growing representation of Filipino Americans in leadership roles in local governance and public service.
This historic milestone in the closely-knit and diverse Cerritos community of about 50,000 residents was unanimous in framing this new set of City Council members as an All-Asian American council, and a majority of women, led by three Filipino Americans.
When asked what it means to be the first Filipina Mayor of Cerritos, Mayor Johnson said:
“When my family moved to Cerritos in 1971, I was the only Filipino in my second-grade class. Today, I am deeply honored to serve as Mayor of a city that reflects the richness of diversity, where 60% of our residents are Asian, and Filipinos represent the largest share of that community. This moment is profoundly meaningful to me. It represents a full-circle journey, from a young girl finding her place, to the privilege of serving as the first Filipina Mayor of the city I have proudly called home my entire life, the City of Cerritos.”
Johnson also added:
“I am grateful to my City Council colleagues for their selection and for the opportunity to serve as the first Filipina Mayor for my hometown of Cerritos. I grew up here when there were still dairy farms and cows. Looking back, I’m proud to have witnessed our city’s extraordinary progress and now be helping contribute to our high-quality services, amenities, and a strong business climate.”
Her term as mayor reflects a full circle moment on how far the community has come and the future the city residents have to continue to build together.
Johnson took over the post from another Filipino, Mayor Frank Aurelio Yokohama, who remains a City Council member. She is the third Filipino mayor of Cerritos after Mark Pulido and Yokohama.
Johnson’s first involvement in public service occurred when she started becoming active in the Parent-Teacher Association in her children’s school.
Through this experience, she was able to hone and develop her leadership skills, knowledge in governance, and participation in community service. Thereafter, she served as a board member of the ABC Unified School District from 2011 to 2017.
In her professional career, she was a field deputy to Los Angeles County Supervisor Janice Hahn and transitioned to being a field deputy to Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva. In April 2022, she was elected to the city council.
When Pulido, another son of a US Navy Pinoy, vacated his position as Trustee of the Education Board and won as a member of the city council, she ran for the position and won. That was the start of her political career, she said.
She was elected to the City Council in 2022 and has a strong focus on community service. Her appointment is viewed as a major milestone for Filipina representation in local Southern California leadership.
To get in touch with her constituents, Johnson writes the column, “From the Mayor’s Desk,” on the city’s social media outlet City News Category, where she highlights recent initiatives and upcoming events in the city. This is her way of reaching out to the community on a closer level.
Johnson is not new to public service because she worked on the following Internal Ad Hoc Working Groups before becoming the mayor of the city in the areas of: Arts Program; Chamber of Commerce; City Charter Review; Legislative; Library; Personnel; Policy and Procedure; Sister Cities; and Ube Fest.
She also served on several community-based organizations. In addition, she previously served on the following committees: California League of Cities Revenue and Taxation Policy Committee (2023); and League of California Cities Governance, Transparency, and Labor Relations Policy Committee (2024-2025).
Johnson also served as a Governing Member of the ABC Unified School District Board of Education from 2011 through 2017, taking over the slot vacated by a fellow Fil-Am, Mark Pulido, who ran and won as a member of the city council.
A 39-year employee of the County of Los Angeles, Johnson was a Paralegal with the L.A. County District Attorney’s Office for 20 years. She also served as the Field Deputy to Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva from 2021 to 2022. She also served as the Special Assistant to Los Angeles County Supervisor Janice Hahn.
Johnson attended ABC Unified School District schools, including Patricia Nixon Elementary School, Haskell Junior High School, and Artesia High School. She has a Paralegal degree from Cerritos College. As early as her college days, she always dreamed of her agricultural community becoming the jewel of the region.
She has roots in Cebu and Iloilo (her mother, Delia, is from Iloilo) in the Philippines, which she hopes to visit regularly. She was with the VIP Consulate Group that visited the Ilocos Region last year, and this year, she will be with a group visiting Cebu, Bohol, and Dumaguete.
Johnson, who has been in Cerritos for 50 years, has no aspirations to go anywhere else. She aims to give the best that she can for the residents, to continue giving back to her community, and to recognize diversity and bring it to a higher level.
I would like to thank Cerritos City Manager Trisha Murphy and Cerritos Communications Manager Steve Harvey for their help in arranging the phone interview with Mayor Johnson, among others.
More power to you, Trisha and Steve!
Mabuhay ka, Johnson!
ELPIDIO R. ESTIOKO was a veteran journalist in the Philippines and an award-winning journalist in the US. He just published his book, Unlocking the Chain of Poverty: In Pursuit of the American Dream, which is available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Xlibris Publishing. For feedback and comments, email the author at estiokoelpidio@gmail.com
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