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.

War and Remembrance

How do you forgive wartime enemies that committed horrible atrocities and victimized your own family? Correspondent Elizabeth Ann Quirino tells how the late President Elpidio Quirino forgave the Japanese imperial forces who wreaked havoc in his country and killed members of his own family ("War and Forgiving"). "Old soldiers never die, they just fade away," declared the late Gen. Douglas MacArthur in his retirement/farewell address to cadets of West Point. Titchie Carandang-Tiongson writes about the memorial that makes sure the old soldier's legacy doesn't fade away ("A Visit to the MacArthur Memorial"). And In a different kind of war that Filipinos eventual won by peaceful means, a blog by the late Benjamin Maynigo gives an account of his family's escape from the clutches of the Marcos dictatorship, in "Martial Law Stories: Escape to Sabah."

In our [In the Know] links:

The Ruins Of Marawi: A year after liberation, Meranaws await rehabilitation
http://www.mindanews.com/top-stories/2018/10/the-ruins-of-marawi-a-year-after-liberation-meranaws-await-rehabilitation/

BBC: Philippines Democracy in Danger
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nSDEtZsqSj0&feature=share

The Facebook cleaners: 'I've seen hundreds of beheadings'
https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-asia-45833049/the-facebook-cleaners-i-ve-seen-hundreds-of-beheadings

For our Happy Home Cook, Elizabeth Ann Quirino shares with us her recipe for Adobong Kangkong (water spinach) with Talong (eggplant)

For our video of the week, Flyhigh Manila TV posts Cebu Pacific's Capt. Irizari's emotional farewell speech on his last flight before retirement.