May 15, 2024

Our Mothers, Our Heroes

May 15, 2024/ Staff

All of us have our own personal heroes and we celebrate their presence and their legacy at various times of the year. Mother's Day, birthdays, anniversaries, Father's Day -- these are dates we jot down in our memory banks that allow us to renew gratitude and reverence to those who have personally guided and inspired us.

And then there are the heroes of a nation -- admired from afar, accessible to a lucky few -- who nonetheless earn our esteem and appreciation because of their works, their deeds, and the principles on which they anchored their life work.

In this issue, we pay tribute to two exemplary Filipinos who recently passed on: ex-Senator and human rights lawyer Rene Saguisag (as remembered by current Senator Risa Hontiveros) and playwright/poet/theater VIP Floy Quintos (as honored by his acolyte, Charlette San Juan).

And as a belated Mother's Day feature, two strong-willed and unique women are given due appreciation by their daughters (actress/writer/director Bibeth Orteza and author/community organizer Rochit Tañedo) who grew up not exactly like them, but close.

Speaking of, here's an important Mother's Day history: Mother's Day started in the 1870s as Mothers' Day (note the apostrophes). According to historian Heather Cox Richardson, a woman dynamo named Julia Ward Howe (she wrote the "Battle Hymn of the Republic") organized Mothers' Day festivals as a clarion call for peace and to empower women to have an equal say in changing society. The then-revolutionary intent of Mothers' Day stemmed from the shock of the carnage of wars that maimed and killed thousands of men. As Cox Richardson writes, Ward Howe believed that "women must take control of politics from the men who had permitted such carnage. Mothers’ Day was not designed to encourage people to be nice to their mothers. It was part of women’s effort to gain power to change society."

Our Stories This Week

SERRV Sells Crafts To Help Filipinos Help Themselves by Anthony Maddela

Tribute To Ka Rene Saguisag, A Lion Of Justice by Sen. Risa Hontiveros

Honoring The Legacy Of Beloved Playwright Floy Quintos by Charlette San Juan

Our Indomitable Mamang by Rochit Tañedo

My Mother’s Task by Bibeth Orteza

[Partner] PNANC’s Spring Conference And Induction Gala

[Video of the Week] Spotlight on Maui, Hawaii: An AANHPI Special

Read Again

The Making Of A Matriarch by Carolyn Prasad

A Happily Mixed Up Marriage by Regina Manzana-Sawhney

In The Know

Sleepy far-flung towns in the Philippines will host US forces returning to counter China threats
https://apnews.com/article/us-forces-philippines-south-china-sea-taiwan-

Filipino American labor icon Larry Itliong honored with park naming
https://asamnews.com/2024/05/13/union-icon-united-farmworkers-asian-american-history/

UPMin to open College of Medicine
https://mindanews.com/top-stories/2024/05/upmin-to-open-college-of-medicine/#gsc.tab=0

How a Filipino café in Barcelona went viral, thanks to ube
https://www.thediarist.ph/how-a-filipino-cafe-in-barcelona-went-viral-thanks-to-ube/

Filipino California: Art and the Filipino diaspora
https://asamnews.com/2024/04/22/filipino-american-artist-exhibition-influence-from-philippines/

Funding provided by the State of California.

April 03, 2024

And Along Comes 'Larry the Musical'

April 03, 2024/ Staff

A shout-out to Northern Californians: if you haven't yet, hie over to the Brava Theater in San Francisco to watch the superhit "Larry the Musical." Night after night, it gets a standing ovation from the audience, and that's quite a major statement in the [jaded] culture mecca of the San Francisco Bay Area. PF contributor and FilAm history enthusiast Elena Buensalido Mangahas, herself a theater veteran, hails the show for both its historical and theatrical significance.

April is Filipino Food Month, a celebration which started in 2018 in the Philippines and has since expanded to encompass the global Filipino diaspora, thanks to the foodie culture bearers who have elevated Filipino food to international standards. Veteran Filipino food writer Micky Fenix, who is also the president of the Food Writers Association of the Philippines, gives us a backgrounder on how this officially sanctioned (by the Philippine government) 30-day celebration and offers a path forward for future activities.

Retired FilAm professor James Sobredo attended the recent global summit on nursing held in Iloilo City where the real state of nursing as a profession in the Philippines and other countries was discussed extensively. While the worldwide appetite for hiring Filipino nurses continues unabated, working conditions are not always ideal. Filipino nurses in the US were at the forefront of the Covid-19 pandemic which resulted in a disproportionate number of fatalities among them. The big income gap between nurses in Philippine hospitals vs. those employed abroad has resulted in a nurse shortage in Philippines. How to solve this conundrum is a question for the current and future generations of Filipino health workers and policy makers.

On an entirely different note, first-time PF contributing writer Yugel Losorata profiles Ted Reyes, the multi-talented former leader/composer and lead singer of the Filipino band The Freesouls. Reyes has since moved to the US to seek a wider stage for his considerable creative abilities.

Though Women's History Month is over, we continue to honor women who played important roles in our lives. Toronto-based poet/author Patria Cabatuando-Rivera pays tribute to her unforgettable elder sister in "My Ate Nene, With Flowers in Her Hair."

Around this time every year, we commemorate the Bataan Death March which happened on April 10, 1942. Some 75,000 Filipino and American prisoners of war were made to do the arduous trek of about 65 miles. Read Again the account of Filipino veterans advocate Jon Melegrito when we joined re-enactment of the march a few years ago in New Mexico. For him, it was personal. His father was one of the survivors of that WWII tragedy. https://www.positivelyfilipino.com/magazine/re-enacting-the-bataan-death-march-a-personal-journey

[Video of the Week] Tradisyon: Serving Accessible, Traditional Filipino Comfort Food At New York City

[Webinar] Nurse Unseen: The Role Of Filipino Nurses During The Pandemic And How They Became Victims Of Anti-Asian Hate

Anti-Asian Hate Watch

Vandalism at Chicago mosque investigated as possible hate crime
https://asamnews.com/2024/03/19/downtown-islamic-center-chicago-mosque-vandalism-hate-crime/

A man was arrested after he verbally assaulted, pepper-sprayed an Asian gas station owner because the suspect wanted to pay in all coins
https://ca.style.yahoo.com/man-arrested-verbally-assaulted-pepper-014758333.html

Anti-Asian hate attack unites community in Portland, OR
https://asamnews.com/2024/04/01/senior-citizen-concussion-attacked-with-log/

As Attacks on Asian Americans Regain Spotlight, SF Group Seeks to Soothe Community
https://www.sfpublicpress.org/as-attacks-on-asian-americans-regain-spotlight-sf-group-seeks-to-soothe-community/

Sinophobia unmasked: The racism pandemic
https://mronline.org/2024/03/25/sinophobia-unmasked-the-racism-pandemic/

Funding provided by the State of California.

In The Know

‘Tubaw-inspired’ provincial capitol building to rise in Maguindanao Norte
https://mindanews.com/top-stories/2023/08/tubaw-inspired-provincial-capitol-building-to-rise-in-maguindanao-norte/?

TIPS: What you'll need to apply for a US tourist visa
https://philstarlife.com/living/163945-tips-us-visa-application?page=2

Mall of memories: Greenbelt 1’s closure evokes fond memories
https://bilyonaryo.com/2024/04/01/mall-of-memories-greenbelt-1s-closure-evokes-fond-memories/property/?

BIZ BUZZ: PAL ready for takeoff to Seattle
https://business.inquirer.net/452746/biz-buzz-pal-ready-for-takeoff-to-seattle?

March 27, 2024

More Extraordinary Women

March 27, 2024/ Staff

One of our favorite places to converge at when we're in Metro Manila is Cibo (pronounced chee-bo), a restaurant in the Shangri-la Plaza mall in Mandaluyong. Not only is the mall a convenient meeting point when coming from various places in the traffic-choked metropolis, the restaurant itself is right smack in the middle of the second floor lobby, the better to eat, chat and people-watch at the same time. Its most important draw, of course, is the food. Cibo is an Italian restaurant, but it's not the checkered-tablecloth kind of Italian that leaves you burping and bloated the rest of your day. Cibo dishes are light and healthy and satisfying -- crafted undoubtedly by a gourmet chef. And that's Margarita Fores, a wiz in both the kitchen and business, an exemplary Filipina as profiled by PF Correspondent Criselda Yabes.

This is our last issue for March, Women's History Month 2024, and like our other issues this month, it's chock-full of stories about Filipinas who have made indelible marks not just in the Philippines but in other countries where they have settled. The last installment of "Filipina Movers and Shakers" shows the reach and expanse of the sisterhood of Pinay achievers while the second (and final) part of the National Historical Commission's "Women Workers of 19th Century Manila" provides a historical perspective of women's work in the Philippines.

In San Francisco, a recent gathering of Fil-Am women viewed a rough cut of a forthcoming documentary, "Manilatown Manang," which answers the oft-asked question, "But Where Are the Manangs?" The Manilatown Heritage Foundation film directed by Caroline Cabading honors two generations of Filipina women activists in San Francisco's Manilatown who worked side-by-side with their male comrades in defending the I-Hotel. PF contributor Lorna Lardizabal-Dietz reports on the event.

We couldn't resist adding a bit of spice and snark in this issue and Myles A. Garcia's "Gina, Imelda, Manda and the Tasadays" serves up just the right amount to close the curtain on PF's Women's History Month 2024 coverage.

For those whose submissions didn't make it this month, fret not. For us, every month is women's month. The celebration never ceases.

And if you haven't yet, register to join our webinar, Nurse Unseen, on Thursday, April 4. See flyer below for details and sign up here: https://bit.ly//nurseunseenzoom

[Video of the Week] Manila Visita Iglesia 2024