A Filipino Post-9/11 Secret

Guantanamo Bay, a former US naval base, has earned notoriety as the island prison for terrorists. A little known fact about Gitmo is that some 200 Filipino skilled construction workers were recruited to help construct the jail, under a contract with an American engineering firm and the Arroyo administration. PF Correspondent Myles A. Garcia digs out the story in "The Secret Post-9/11 Pinoy-'Gitmo' Connection."

On Seattle's Beacon Hill, there's a new, innovative Filipino restaurant called Musang that emerged from a pop-up and funded through crowdfunding. Its founder/chef Melissa Miranda describes the enterprise as "community driven, not chef driven." PF Correspondent Anthony Maddela, a Beacon Hill native, writes about the restaurant and its owner in the context of the neighborhood it operates in, in "Where Good Food Declares 'We've Arrived!"

From Chef Melissa comes our Happy Home Cook recipe for this week: Adobong Kangkong.

Robert Conrad, the star of two popular TV series of yesteryears, "Wild Wild West" and "Hawaiian Eye" passed away recently, prompting some sweet teenage nostalgia from PF publisher Mona Lisa Yuchengco. Read "Me and Robert Conrad" and remember. 

We begin Women's Month with profiles of outstanding Filipinas. Read Again:

Titchie Carandang-Tiongson's "The Thoroughly Modern Sofia de Veyra: https://www.positivelyfilipino.com/magazine/the-thoroughly-modern-sofia-de-veyra

Mauro Feria Tumbocon Jr.'s "The Timeless Nora Aunor": https://www.positivelyfilipino.com/magazine/the-timeless-nora-aunor

Robby Tantingco's "Why Women Rule Pampanga": https://www.positivelyfilipino.com/magazine/why-women-rule-pampanga

In case you missed them, our links to interesting stories: 

9 Kickass Women in Philippine History You’ve Never Heard Of
https://filipiknow.net/extraordinary-filipinas-in-history/?fbclid=IwAR1kgD9JrGui4LraBch9r6dMyfEaYzmAXxtG6v7cMuYS9zGtQ-MtC-2FQHA

Why the Philippines is the only country where divorce is illegal
https://www.economist.com/asia/2020/02/13/why-the-philippines-is-the-only-country-where-divorce-is-illegal?fbclid=IwAR2IJKik3cDIaUwsJT-6buekYUd3deC2IalSYncgkIqtXAHM-7sgb6A4Rk0

Quezon City: The History of the Landmarks in the Homesite’s Project 1 through Kamuning Road, Tomas Morato Avenue and Don Alejandro Roces Avenue
https://lakansining.wordpress.com/2020/02/19/quezon-city-the-history-of-the-landmarks-in-the-homesites-project-1-through-kamuning-road-tomas-morato-avenue-and-don-alejandro-roces-avenue/?fbclid=IwAR1OcmKm2G9q3FMaxc1H4sJ6VF1YxuKy9ZxLUlDzNDf9ReuP1n2uEe9XsnQ

This Underpass in Makati Highlights the Story of 105 Million Filipinos
https://www.spot.ph/arts-culture/the-latest-arts-culture/81006/new-salcedo-underpass-mural-a833-20200214?utm_source=Facebook-Spot&utm_medium=Ownshare&utm_campaign=20200214-fbnp-artsculture-new-salcedo-underpass-mural-a833-20200214-fbfirst&fbclid=IwAR1GxHk3VzXZMv2daTWhVqGQfz6O3WRTYY-pCeQZG0ek1_MaqDGO8aLjQuk

For Video of the Week, in the thick of the coronavirus scare in Italy, a Filipino, who was mistaken for being Chinese, was assaulted.

New on Holy Week

As the Christian world takes a breather for Holy Week, we'd like to invite San Francisco Bay Area residents to watch "An Open Door: Jewish Rescue in the Philippines," an award-winning documentary by Noel Izon on how the Philippines opened its doors to more than a thousand Jews rescued from Europe in the early years of WWII. A touching affirmation of love and brotherhood featuring the children of the survivors, this film will be shown for the first time for free on April 15. Seats are limited so click on this link right now for details.

We don't usually do Q&As, but we couldn’t resist one with Walden Bello, who recently resigned as congressman because he could no longer support his party's (Akbayan) uncritical support for the Aquino administration, following President PNoy's skirting of responsibility for the Mamasapano tragedy. Walden is always worth reading, and this interview shines new light on some aspects of the controversy that has been glossed over by media.

And speaking of controversy, writer/professor Peter Bacho shares some pretty strong views about Filipino Americans and the issue of identity, in this profile by regular contributor Anthony Maddela. In "Peter Bacho, Pessimistic Sage," the author of Boxing In Black and White states that “Young Filipinos are not interested in the past; they are not intellectually curious, so I have no real desire to explain [the Filipino experience], to be honest.” Read the story to get the full context of this controversial statement.

Starting with this issue, we're posting a recipe a week to help you with your menu planning for your family. We start off with Elizabeth Ann Quirino's Filipino Fish Stew in Ginger Broth with Tomatoes and Spinach, a perfect Holy Week treat that I can personally attest to as delicious. If you have a recipe that you want to share, please send it in. Read the intro to The Happy Home Cook on how to do it.

And in observance of Holy Week, we've gathered some pictures of rituals and images from our contributing photographers, Marites Falcon, Brian Aguilar Agana and our art director, Raymond Virata.

More Holy Week traditions are featured in our Video of the Week.

In my blog, I focus on a trending topic in the Philippines: divorce, or the lack of it.