"Feastivals" and Valentine Videos

A day after Valentine's Day, the social media universe of the Philippines – where some serious celebration of V-Day happens every year -- is still kilig over the three tear-inducing videos of Jollibee, titled Crush, Vow and Date. Watch them here and get your hankies ready.

Minola Oil (a Philippine product) underscores the progress of gay rights in the country with its V-Day commercial.

Another story of celebrations comes from Positively Filipino Correspondent Rene Astudillo, who has moved semi-permanently from the San Francisco Bay Area back to the homeland. “Feast-ivals of the North” introduces the food festivals of the Ilocos, a region famous for both healthy and strange dishes.

Another Positively Filipino Correspondent, Los-Angeles-based Anthony Maddela profiles Fil-Am Jeffrey Cirio, principal dancer of the American Ballet Theatre in New York. Jeffrey, raised in Philadephia by his Filipino father and American mother, will be dancing in Don Quixote in May 2017.

For your expanded reading fare, here are the In the Know links for this week:

From Oprah to MoMA Catalog: Filipino Designer's Clutch is a Hit: http://www.townandcountry.ph/out-about/arts-culture/filipino-designer-carissa-evangelista-s-clutch-makes-it-to-moma-s-international-catalog-a00180-a00185-20170208

The Second Youngest Billionaire in the World is a Filipino-American:
http://nextshark.com/bobby-murphy-snap-inc-filipino-american/

Toronto Ube Desserts
https://www.facebook.com/Insiderdessert/videos/1643592859269533/?autoplay_reason=user_settings&video_container_type=0&video_creator_product_type=2&app_id=2392950137&live_video_guests=0

Bongbong to DILG? Robredo allies, ex-Comelec exec weigh in:
http://news.abs-cbn.com/news/02/14/17/bongbong-to-dilg-robredo-allies-ex-comelec-exec-weigh-in

We go vegan again this week with Richgail Enriquez's recipe for vegetable lumpiang shanghai.

A post-Valentine Watch Again treat: “66 Years, 2 Months, 21 Days…. and Still Counting,” produced and directed by our publisher, Mona Lisa Yuchengco.

Gemma Nemenzo

Editor, Positively Filipino