Women at the Forefront

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Before anything else, please join us for our webinar, "Nurse Unseen" on Thursday, April 4 at 4 pm. Filipino nurses have been at the forefront of caring not just during the pandemic but every day, in hospitals and other health settings. They are also facing dangers, including anti-Asian hate. If you are a nurse or you have a nurse in your life, this webinar is for you. You will also get to watch excerpts from an award-winning film of the same name. See below for the flyer and registration details.

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This week we are privileged to feature the series "Women Workers of 19th Century Manila" by the National Historical Commission of the Philippines (NHCP). Informative and delightful, the series was posted one at a time in NHCP's Facebook page. We are consolidating the posts into two parts, the first six in this issue, and the second five next week. NHCP has retained the 19th century word spellings and has illustrated each post with old postcards, vintage images and 19th century art from acclaimed painter Jose Honorato Lozano.

More interesting, accomplished women are in our spotlight. In addition to the second installment of the Filipina Women's Network's Movers and Shakers list, we're shining the light on the women creators of a groundbreaking children's book, Dancing Hands: A Story of Friendship in Filipino Sign Language. Written originally in Filipino by Joanna Que and Charina Marquez, with illustrations by Fran Alvarez, the English version has already won two awards. Claire Mercado Obias tells us the story behind the making of the book. 

A surfer who is also a film maker is the subject of PF Correspondent Anthony Maddela's story this week. Satya Sullivan, who is doing her master's in Marine Affairs in Rhode Island, has founded a nonprofit called Colorful Lineup that offers surfing clinics to girls and women of color. She has also won awards for documentary filmmaking and cinematography. Quite impressive creds for someone who is only in the US temporarily. 

Here's a historical story worth reading again: We have published a substantial number of stories on Filipinos in Hawaii and the West Coast but not enough on the pioneering Filipinos in the Gulf Coast. So here's one on Filipino trappers and shrimpers in Louisiana in the early- and mid-1900s: "Life on the Bayou," by Carmelo Astilla. 
https://www.positivelyfilipino.com/magazine/life-on-the-bayou

[Video of the Week] The World’s Best Natural Free Divers

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Staff

Losses and Gains

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Positively Filipino begins its week on Wednesdays in the US (Thursdays in the Philippines). This is the day we come out with our new issue.

We begin this second week of January 2024 by remembering distinguished Filipinos who passed on in 2023, not just in the Philippines but in another countries as well. This edition of "In Memoriam," compiled by our publisher Mona Lisa Yuchengco, includes four caregivers who lost their lives in the ongoing Israel-Hamas war. There are 113 names that include statesmen, civil servants, artists, writers, diplomats, performers, business people, health workers and OFWs -- Filipinos who all contributed, in their own way, to the enrichment of our heritage. May they all rest in peace.

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Visual arts in the Philippines is alive and well, what with such giants as Jose "Bogie" Tence Ruiz, whose art falls under the "social realism" genre but whose more than a half century of creation has produced a body of work so vast that it defies categorization. The ever-productive Bogie recently compiled his works into a giant of a book called Litanya, from which PF contributing writer Isabel Rodrigo draws information and inspiration for her story this week, "The Relevant and Irreverent Jose Tence Ruiz."

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In the performing arts, Lea Salonga is the biggest Filipino marquee star of the moment. But years before her shining, a number of Filipinas have gained a foothold on Broadway and Hollywood, playing roles that may not have made them big stars but which nonetheless paved the way for Lea and other Fil-Am performing artists. PF Correspondent Myles A. Garcia honors these women pioneers in "Before Lea Salonga, Filipinos Who Made It to Broadway and US Films."                                 

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If you lived in Manila in the '70s, chances are you have an Our Tribe thingy tucked somewhere in your memory or in your closet. This leather goods store whose bags, wallets, sandals, and keychains (among others) are known to last beyond a lifetime, is still going strong despite some setback years.  Our Manila-based contributing writer Bella Bonner talked to the Manalang-Tayag owners on how their tribe managed to thrive for more than 50 years in "How Leather Goods Brand ‘Our Tribe’ Increased."

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Hope springs eternal as the current Philippine government last November opened negotiation lines with the alleged leaders of the Left insurgency, one of the longest lasting on earth. The road to peace is of course laden with obstacles and controversies. Previous administrations have tried but failed to even get close to an agreement to end the fighting; will the Marcos II administration fare better? Retired Judge Soliman M. Santos Jr., a human rights lawyer, underscores the need for both parties to "address the fratricidal war’s human costs and the need to repair the tattered social fabric."

Anti-Asian Hate Watch

Man in Chinatown called terrorist and sprayed with unknown substance
https://asamnews.com/2024/01/07/hate-crime-chinatown-suspect-called-victim-terrorist/

FBI says anti-Asian hate crimes less reported in 2022, but what does that mean?
https://www.mvariety.com/news/national/fbi-says-anti-asian-hate-crimes-less-reported-in-2022-but-what-does-that-mean/article_a70be704-a922-11ee-8a3b-dfce6d897d2e.html

Hate crimes overall are on the rise in Illinois and across the U.S. Who's targeted?
https://www.sj-r.com/story/news/crime/2024/01/07/hate-crimes-are-on-the-rise-in-illinois-and-the-u-s-doj-data-shows/72119623007/

California restaurant’s comeback shows how outdated, false Asian stereotype of dog-eating persists

https://www.kron4.com/top-stories/ap-top-headlines/ap-california-restaurants-comeback-shows-how-outdated-false-asian-stereotype-of-dog-eating-persists/

‘Our history matters’: California to develop Asian American and Pacific Islander history lessons
https://www.sacbee.com/news/equity-lab/representation/article283563003.html

Funding provided by the State of California.

In The Know

‘There’s No Other Job’: The Colonial Roots of Philippine Poverty
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/30/business/philippine-economy-colonial-legacy.html?mwgrp=a-dbar&unlocked_article_code=1.J00.YJ4e.9ofGXo0h006c&smid=em-share

Surprise? Manila Is One of the Most Expensive Cities to Live in Southeast Asia
https://www.esquiremag.ph/money/industry/manila-most-expensive-cities-to-live-southeast-asia-a00289-20210421?utm_medium=Echobox-Esquire&utm_campaign=Echobox-Ownshare&utm_source=Facebook&fbclid=IwAR12l1onXeHhlSgMHyP-Aa4uMMYQwONrYq0n6m9uOpnME7u-MW_DUJG1gw8#Echobox=1704032357

The SPOT.ph 50 Great Restaurants of 2023: Best of Manila and Beyond
https://www.spot.ph/eatdrink/the-latest-eat-drink/107367/50-great-restaurants-2023-a2793-20231210-lfrm8?utm_source=Facebook-Spot&utm_medium=Ownshare&utm_campaign=20240102-fbnp-eatdrink-50-great-restaurants-2023-a2793-20231210-lfrm8-fbold&fbclid=IwAR1J061fZedW84mSE0JhBVRZX3f4hW_v4W3LK9Wijq3k62w7nidQPBaXNTw

10 Old + New Reliables in Pampanga for a No-Fail Food Trip
https://www.spot.ph/eatdrink/the-latest-eat-drink/107524/pampanga-restaurants-to-visit-a3378-20231223-lfrm?utm_source=Facebook-Spot&utm_medium=Ownshare&utm_campaign=20240101-fbnp-eatdrink-pampanga-restaurants-to-visit-a3378-20231223-lfrm-fbold&fbclid=IwAR2dtSnS6s3kSZEjd7UkqDkD6ruuXX5NCMg3EXKpNqh5Q0cZnCzcla9GfvM

ENDO buster: DALI shaking up industry not only in pricing but also in providing secure employment and competitive wages
https://bilyonaryo.com/2023/12/29/endo-buster-dali-shaking-up-industry-not-only-in-pricing-but-also-in-providing-secure-employment-and-competitive-wages/business/?fbclid=IwAR1Vl-uY-f1KySDr7rJ_tnxUKOQgjYOZetLxGTSOIRTyB_8cUFId5ubLMrY

Breaking Glass: Piolo Pascual on forging a path that goes nowhere but up
https://www.tatlerasia.com/lifestyle/entertainment/piolo-pascual-january-2024-tatler-cover-story?utm_source=tatlerasia.com&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=PH_DIG_BREAKINGGLASS_FULL20240105&tId=7ee5e4e8f916fd76066a2703d3ca9ed9

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Staff

'Tis the Season to Be Peaceful

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When the Hamas-Israel war broke out in October, the Philippine Embassy in Israel immediately went into crisis management mode, a familiar switch among diplomatic posts in unstable regions. With Filipino OFWs in almost 200 countries in the world, crisis-induced aid forms a major part of diplomatic work, as journalist Jeremaiah Opiniano writes in "PH Runs a Cycle of Crisis-Induced OFW Aid." In Israel today, the Philippine Embassy acts as guardian and succor to the almost 30,000 Filipinos in the country (about 130 in Gaza), most of whom have chosen to remain in their jobs (less than 300 have chosen repatriation) despite the threats they face as bystanders in the current war.

'Tis the season to be jolly nonetheless and what better way to celebrate than the traditional Simbang Gabi. Despite (or maybe because of) being away from the Motherland, overseas Filipinos nurture the holiday spirit, as first-time contributing writer Ronald Salazar reports from Wellington, New Zealand. Read "Simbang Gabi Abroad -- Our Faith and Our Music" because indeed, there's no taking the Filipino away from our Christmas traditions.

And what is Christmas without food? Our friend Micky Fenix, one of the leading lights in the Philippine culinary scene, takes us on a virtual tour of Iloilo City's gastronomic delights, a fitting tour d'horizon of the recently proclaimed UNESCO Creative City for Gastronomy.

Another food story to tickle your palates, "The Comforting Squidginess of Slow-Cooked Veggies" by Jeanne Jakob-Ashkenazi, a Filipino food researcher based in Valencia, Spain. This essay won the second prize in the 2022 Doreen Gamboa Fernandez Food Writing Award.

Finally, if you're lucky enough to have this Fil-Am movie showing in your area, here's a preview of "Asian Persuasion" starring KC Concepcion, Dante Basco and Paolo Montalban, among others, as directed by Jhett Tolentino. 

And for our Video of the Week, it's always a treat to watch Lea Salonga. This one is particularly poignant as she sings "Payapang Daigdig" with the Tabernacle Choir. The song composed by Felipe de Leon in 1946 is a paean to peace, something the world needs badly right now. 

Partner: “Remember Pearl Harbor… And The Philippines!”

Anti-Asian Hate Watch

Brutal Attack on Elderly Asian Man Is Not a Hate Crime, Says LA County Sheriff’s Department
https://ethnicmediaservices.org/stop-the-hate/brutal-attack-on-elderly-asian-man-is-not-a-hate-crime-says-la-county-sheriffs-department/

Trial to be set for killing of Vicha Ratanapakdee, who’s death sparked ‘Stop Asian Hate’
https://asamnews.com/2023/12/09/trial-to-be-set-for-killing-of-vicha-ratanapakdee-whos-death-sparked-stop-asian-hate/

Lifting the lamp for AAPI New Jerseyans, 80 years after the Chinese Exclusion Act
https://newjerseymonitor.com/2023/12/06/lifting-the-lamp-for-aapi-new-jerseyans-80-years-after-the-chinese-exclusion-act/

Hate crime surge raises alarms, adds safety concerns for minorities
https://www.losangelesblade.com/2023/12/10/hate-crime-surge-raises-alarms-adds-safety-concerns-for-minorities/

Funding provided by the State of California.

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Staff