Enough is Enough!

For many sectors of the Filipino diaspora, the most compelling (read: emotion-triggering, disbelief-baiting, thought-provoking) drama nowadays is not on Netflix or Hulu or the usual streaming services. 

It's the ongoing investigations on high corruption among government officials happening in the Philippines (usually on YouTube). What started out as outrage against the sub-standard or completely absent flood control projects (that nature exposed with rainfall so devastating) has now ballooned into a new national passion that pervades all sectors: looking for evidences of  corruption in every nook and cranny of government.

 The effort is multi-generational (the tech-savvy Gen Zs are in the forefront), multi-sectoral, unencumbered by class, age and ideologies. During the massive rallies on September 21, families including small children filled up EDSA and to a certain extent, Luneta. The mood, according to reports, is angry, impatient, no longer willing to accept cover-ups or half-hearted efforts by investigators. It goes with a lot of skepticism -- will Congress have the guts to punish their own? Will the powerful be exempt? Along with these are the high expectations that will determine the fate and legacy of the Marcos II administration.

Of course there are efforts by certain groups to derail and debunk, single-minded as they are to effect a regime change. But their activities have been epic fails, powered as they are by their delusions. So far.

Our homeland right now is teetering on a tightrope and we who are watching from afar can only hope that the next month or so will be a game changer. As the rallyists chanted last Saturday, "Tama Na, Sobra Na, Ikulong Na!" This is the closest to "off with their heads" that the Filipino nation -- generally a forgiving lot -- can muster. 

Stories This Week

First Filipino Photographer Felix Laureano and his Milieu by Vicente Salas

Baguio’s Timeless Souvenirs by Rene Astudillo

FilAms Among The Remarkable And Famous, Part 71 by Mona Lisa Yuchengco

[Read It Again]

Remembering Nora Daza, 1929-2013 by Noel A. Añonuevo

Halo-Halo? In Hungary? by Jennifer Fergesen

[Video of the Week] Filipino Professor Talks to a Descendant of Jose Rizal 

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Pinoy scientist returns home after studying at Harvard University
https://www.pep.ph/lifestyle/extraordinary/187977/pinoy-scientist-home-after-studying-at-harvard-a717-20250804?

Fil-Am dad killed in Louis Vuitton burglary crash in Chicago
https://usa.inquirer.net/179728/fil-am-dad-killed-in-louis-vuitton-burglary-crash-in-chicago?

How a Filipino educator became Arizona’s top history teacher
https://www.abs-cbn.com/lifestyle/2025/9/20/-for-sat-8-am-how-a-filipino-educator-became-arizona-s-top-history-teacher-0800?

Jessica Sanchez Transforms “Die With A Smile” Into Pure MAGIC!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FMB3674nFOY

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The Story of a Life

Fifty years ago this month, thousands of Filipino youth gathered in various places in Metro Manila at various times to protest a variety of issues such as the emerging Marcos dictatorship and American imperialism. That period in our homeland's history has been immortalized as the First Quarter Storm, an apt description of the political upheavals yet to come.

One of the prominent leaders of that era was Edgar Jopson, the chair of the moderate student group, the National Union of Students. As authoritarian rule became inevitable, EdJop was quickly radicalized and he became a leading figure in the leftist National Democratic Front until his death by military bullets. His awe-inspiring life story has also been immortalized in veteran journalist Benjamin Pimentel's book U.G. An Underground Tale: The Life and Struggle of Edgar Jopson. Author/journalist Criselda Yabes reviews this third iteration of Pimentel's bio of EdJop in "The Story of a Life."

Filipinx poet Eileen Tabios shares with us her memories in poetic prose of growing up in Baguio City in "My City of Baguio, A Meditation." 

From PF Correspondent Elizabeth Ann Quirino comes a review of the new cookbook of Missouri-based chef Malou Perez-Nievera ("Connecting the Pots, Food from the Philippines to America"). And for those eager to know more about the First Quarter Storm of 1970, Read Again an excerpt from poet/journalist Jose "Pete" Lacaba's immortal Days of Disquiet, Nights of Rage:  

https://www.positivelyfilipino.com/magazine/the-first-quarter-storm-was-no-dinner-party-part-1

https://www.positivelyfilipino.com/magazine/the-first-quarter-storm-was-no-dinner-party-part-2

For our recipe of the week, we feature Perez-Nievera’s Lomo Lomo A La Papa Diddi (pork loin in anchovy and ginger reduction).

Here are our In The Know links this week:

‘Like a Scene From a Movie.’ What I Saw Photographing the Taal Volcano Eruption in the Philippines https://time.com/longform/taal-volcano-philippines-eruption/?utm_source=facebook.com&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=social-share-article&utm_content=20200116&fbclid=IwAR0j29elLA8tKDluJlxnC7pOjVjtL_9sjC1HZRrrlxJZYiglKMG0D7wQoi4

What Cardinal Tagle's Appointment as "The Red Pope" Means For Him and the Catholic Church
https://esquiremag.ph/long-reads/cardinal-tagle-red-pope-a00293-20191212-lfrm?fbclid=IwAR3UwOfVVm-ljhafTINycelYx0vE2QAJel5L-ifWo_B10X9Oh70XQhQ6I9w

This Scenic Spot in Rizal Sits Above a Sea of Clouds
https://www.spot.ph/things-to-do/the-latest-things-to-do/80443/treasure-mountain-tanay-sa1177-20200104-src-sp?utm_source=Facebook-Spot&utm_medium=Ownshare&utm_campaign=20200104-fbnp-things-to-do-treasure-mountain-tanay-sa1177-20200104-src-sp-fbfirst&fbclid=IwAR34yrWCvohkH4IS8vclbRZiQiquheBGT94H7tnK1q405oP8DwSnNxFlMMM

The Story of the Exhibit: Manila Shawl
https://www.fashionmuseumriga.lv/eng/kaleidoscope/manila/?fbclid=IwAR1MJJaFt21mX1sFULVRINhEBO83ON0TWN_BE7N3JozZzODYDozovi6JpBk

Dr. Joven Cuanang: Forever young at 80 (or how art made him a better doctor)
https://lifestyle.inquirer.net/354858/dr-joven-cuanang-forever-young-at-80-or-how-art-made-him-a-better-doctor/?fbclid=IwAR3ojC3vBnR6WVkvAkbXy5jskRqnDX7VorXwqtl94TpQRvVr5g3Kn7mXu4k

For Video of the Week, Youtube’s The Endless Adventure features this year’s Sinulog Festival.

Passion and Romance

Passion -- or the ability and persistence to pursue what your heart wants, no matter the odds -- separates genius from ordinary mortals. His passion for music made Ryan Cayabyab break his promise to his late mother, an opera singer, on her deathbed; it was also what drove him to drop out of business school and lie about his age in order to pursue his music. Of course, there's also talent -- and no doubt Ryan, now acknowledged as The Maestro -- has an inordinate share of that. But how did his music career begin? PF contributor and Ryan's sister-in-law Bella Bonner dug up family stories and shares them with us in "Music Man Ryan Cayabyab Came Up the Hard Way." Read it and be inspired.

Passion of the romantic variety enabled our Toronto-based contributor Corito Fiel to embrace all the good things and bad in a love affair with someone who made the earth move for her. In "Love and Magic in Baguio," she shares the story of her One Great Love, with whom she spent only two years before he passed on. 

And from our Seattle-based contributor Gia R. Mendoza, her curiosity and delight on her "First Glimpse of Cuba."

Let's not let up on romance this month, with our worthy Read Agains:

Manuel L. Quezon and his American fiancee: http://www. positivelyfilipino.com/ magazine/the-untold-story-of- nina-thomas?rq=Nina%20Thomas

Hilda Koronel and Becca Godinez and their new, happier lives: http://www. positivelyfilipino.com/ magazine/second-springs?rq= Hilda%20Koronel

Here are the links to the In The Know lineup this week:

In the Philippines, political trolling is an industry – this is how it works
https://www.opendemocracy.net/digitaliberties/jonathan-corpus-ong-jason-cabanes/in-philippines-political-trolling-is-industry-this

In an Anchorage professor’s letters to his family, the reality of racism is revealed
https://www.adn.com/arts/books/2018/02/17/in-an-anchorage-professors-letters-to-his-family-the-reality-of-racism-is-revealed/

Where heroes and kin used to tread
http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/969562/where-heroes-and-kin-used-to-tread

Figure skating: Filipino skater got call to Olympics less than a month ago
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-olympics-2018-figs-m-phl-martinez/figure-skating-filipino-skater-got-call-to-olympics-less-than-a-month-ago-idUSKCN1G00AQ

If you feasted on Valentine's Day, here's a recipe to bring you back to a sensible diet: Richgail Enriquez's Vegan Arroz ala Cubana.

For Video of Week, upcoming comedian Jeppy Paraiso recently posted his latest for Valentine's. Paraiso broke out last Thanksgiving with his Filipino Tita videos on social media.