September 30, 2020

Bridge Generation

September 30, 2020/ Gemma Nemenzo

Many stories have been written, narrated, and documented about the "manongs," the first-generation Filipino migrants in the US who were recruited from the Philippines to work the farmlands of Hawaii and California. Not much have been written, however, of the "bridge generation," the children of the manongs/manangs who, because of legal and societal issues (including the law that prohibited minorities from marrying whites), are comparatively small in number but who nonetheless occupy a significant and consequential niche in Filipino American history.

This year, we are starting our celebration of Filipino American History Month tomorrow with a webinar that will feature three prominent members of the Bridge Generation taking us back in time on how it was to grow up in the era before civil rights, diversity and a new generation of Filipino immigrants.

We hope you join us in honoring these Fil-Am community trailblazers.

This Week’s Stories

A Poet Laureate Who Must Now Voice Sic Semper Tyrannis By Agatha Verdadero

Fil-Ams Among The Remarkable And Famous, Part 9 By Mona Lisa Yuchengco

GAD And COVID By Rene Astudillo

[Partner] Visas Available For Filipino Registered Nurses, Physical Therapists & Other Healthcare Workers (Including Caregivers) By Lourdes Santos Tancinco

[Read Again] The Happy Home Cook: Vegan Longganisa By Chef Richgail Enriquez

Video of the Week: 100 Miles Apart, a video about two Filipino healthcare workers directed by Garveaux Sibulboro for A-Doc.

In The Know

How Covid has affected Asian American multigenerational homes
https://news.yahoo.com/covid-impacted-asian-american-multigenerational-100020665.html?soc_src=social-sh&soc_trk=ma

Family Ordeal Catapults A Young Filipina To The U.S. — And The Pandemic Front Lines
https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2020/09/24/916018250/family-ordeal-catapults-a-young-filipina-to-the-u-s-and-the-pandemic-front-lines?fbclid=IwAR2_7eK3dm8FZ6b6wHfDhz1_7_1cewyr_xICUzUkW7LkAQv0IT026LQSd60

The men behind QAnon
https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/men-qanon/story?id=73046374&fbclid=IwAR3UKqi9ZC8ofC0UCFgTOEH2cLruPz0ohCkcMJ7W1upBOZpjk4Gejx4CqI0

Long-time Fil-Am Republican: ‘Why I reject Trump’
https://usa.inquirer.net/57091/long-time-fil-am-republican-why-i-reject-trump?fbclid=IwAR02J2dz820bVjoJnVnyD80lRT8wRXnZFrkF0_HS85u9HM_eJd2EQ8sm3Sc

When Ferdinand Marcos hid his illness from Filipinos
https://www.rappler.com/newsbreak/in-depth/ferdinand-marcos-hidden-illness-philippines?fbclid=IwAR3prIdpMLiP5eXkvTol7YHNJe-QaupXvl5kgCqgGjntvqyGtbUTADFg5yI

August 12, 2020

Immigration and White Supremacy

August 12, 2020/ Gemma Nemenzo

Last Monday's Positively Filipino webinar on Immigration in the Time of Racial Unrest, Pandemic and Trump was chock full of information and food for thought, with the combined forces of Jose Antonio Vargas, who was, as usual, a profound, articulate "spokesperson" for the undocumented, and Lourdes Tancinco, a veteran immigration lawyer who provided valuable updates on how immigration policies have changed under Trump. One participant commented that the webinar "should be recommended viewing for all Filipinos and Fil-Ams."

For those who missed the session, here's the recording: [WEBINAR] Racism And The Filipino American 3: Immigrants In The Time Of Racial Unrest, Pandemic, And Trump

We are also announcing the next webinar, "Shut Down for a Shakedown? Behind the Attempts to Muzzle Press Freedom and ABS-CBN.” This will be on Monday, August 24 at 6pm PDT/9 pm EDT and in the Philippines, on Tuesday, August 25 at 9 am. Click on the link to register. https://bit.ly/shutdownshakedown

This Week's Stories:

On Filipino Culture, In The Wake Of Barkadagate By Kat Velayo Greenberg

Mia Mercado Keeps It Real By Walter Ang

What Happened On Hacienda Street By George Deoso

What’s My Future In The Culinary World? By Nina Ines Garma

Read Again: The Untold Story of Nina Thomas By Titchie Carandang-Tiongson & Erwin R. Tiongson

Recipe of the Week: The Happy Home Cook: Atsara (Pickled Papaya) By Nina Ines Garma

Video of the Week: Why People Risk Their Lives To Bleach Their Skin

In The Know

Coronavirus: Philippines denies it has the most cases in East Asia
https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/se-asia/philippines-denies-it-has-the-most-cases-in-east-asia?fbclid=IwAR31nRGP-2SyMK1b0Bq82hLlDqq_RDh3mN3BNwM905z7vqtTGZWpK2-J9JM

The Fearless Journalist Targeted by a Murderous Dictator
https://news.yahoo.com/fearless-journalist-targeted-murderous-dictator-091715077.html?soc_src=social-sh&soc_trk=ma

Hot chocolate in the tropics? The story behind sikwate, a delicious Philippines treat
https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/philippines-sikwate-chocolate/index.html

Philippine fast food giant Jollibee loses US$240 million and will be closing 255 stores
https://sea.mashable.com/culture/11835/philippine-fast-food-giant-jollibee-loses-us2-billion-and-will-be-closing-255-stores?fbclid=IwAR1iW3pOOZ3WHVXedsCdKGNxPSehue5EHCc-WogmwckbyaDu2m7KTPW2C6Y

Rising volume of intercepted PH pangolins tied to Chinese influx
https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1317400/rising-volume-of-intercepted-ph-pangolins-tied-to-chinese-influx#ixzz6Uw2JQ6DY

Coping with COVID-19: Food Art by Dindo Llana
https://www.australianfilipina.com.au/article/coping-with-covid-19--food-art-by-dindo-llana?fbclid=IwAR3KjTesbvwzI6qRjSKBiHEoxK9FmpNXIBPYZCA_RRtaLHfDgYuuZfSSUL8

August 05, 2020

They Who Heal Us

August 05, 2020/ Gemma Nemenzo

At the beginning of 2020, our world was still what we had known it to be. Our daily routines were simple: work; play; love; travel; enjoy.

Two weeks into the year, the Philippines suffered its first major tragedy, but it was localized. Taal Volcano erupted, spewing tons and tons of ashes that turned some parts of Batangas and Cavite gray, forcing large-scale evacuations and rendering farms and orchards dead.

And then Covid-19 happened towards the end of January and, just like that, the world as we knew it was completely upended. Within a few weeks, lockdowns would be imposed in almost all countries, businesses destroyed, international travel banned, and mass deaths became the norm.

We're now on the 8th month of the pandemic and the end is nowhere in sight. In the Philippines, 80 health care groups representing 80,000 doctors and a million nurses have petitioned the government for a "timeout" to recalibrate its strategy (or the lack of it) in fighting the virus because the entire health care system is now in danger of complete collapse, its frontliners exhausted to their human limits.

The US is not doing any better. The country is on top of the list in covid infections in the entire world and every day, records are broken for new cases. Toiling at the forefront, side by side with the doctors and other health care workers are the 150,000-strong Filipino nurses scattered in most states but mainly in California and New York, where they make up about 20 percent of the labor force caring for coronavirus patients. Do a Google search and you'll see many reports on how Fil-Am nurses have been disproportionately impacted by the pandemic. Watch our Video of the Week -- a CBS news report by Fil-Am journalist Elaine Quijano on precisely this topic.

Our story this week on Zenei Cortez, the president of the California Nurses Association and co-president of National Nurses United, the US' largest nurses' union, is both a call to action and a tribute to these heroes of the moment, many of whom are our kababayans. PF Correspondent Cherie Querol Moreno reports.

Writer and long-time activist Bonifacio P. Ilagan gives us a capsule post-mortem on the real state of the nation, following President Duterte's address last July 27.

And, if you haven't yet, register for Positively Filipino's webinar on "Immigrants in the Time of Racial Unrest, the Pandemic and Trump" featuring Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and author Jose Antonio Vargas and veteran immigration lawyer Lourdes Tancinco. The webinar happens on Monday August 10, 6pm PST/ 9pm EST (Tuesday 9 am Manila time). Here's the link: bit.ly/ImmigrantsRacialUnrest.