August 20, 2025

A Fateful Homecoming, August 21, 1983

August 20, 2025/ Staff

What does it take for a young kid fresh out of high school in the mid-'60s to learn about real life before he joins the US military in Vietnam? For Fil-Am writer/historian Alex S. Fabros, Jr., it was doing back-breaking labor with Filipino manongs in the farmlands of California. In this issue, we post the first of a series of five stories Fabros wrote about his time as a farm laborer. The story -- and the series itself -- is a valuable Fil-Am history lesson, made more so by the author's end notes and citing of sources.

*****

"He will be lonely without me." While probably said in jest, these words from Benigno "Ninoy" Aquino, Jr. of his arch-rival, then-President Ferdinand Marcos, shortly before he (Aquino) left his US exile to fly home to Manila is the ultimate ironic statement. Forty-two years ago tomorrow, on August 21, 1983, Aquino landed in Manila and was shot dead, a heinous act that marked the beginning of the end of the Marcos regime. Chibu Lagman, a then-student journalist who happens to be Aquino's fraternity brod recalls his last interview with the Filipino martyr.

*****

Humor that bites -- that's what stand-up comedian Vice Ganda is known for. With over 20 million followers in social media, Vice is a formidable force in Philippine society and politics, as our Manila-based correspondent Rene Astudillo attests.

*****

Filipina nurses in WWII is now the focus of a campaign by the Bataan Legacy Historical Society to recognize their heroism with a Congressional Gold Medal. Cecilia Gaerlan, the group's Executive Director and founder, writes about Adelaida Garcia, one of the heroic nurses, to jumpstart the campaign.

[Read It Again]
The Ghosts of Plaza Miranda by Gregg Jones
August 21, 1971: A Testament to My Immaturity by Mila D. Aguilar
Diary of a Fil-Am Cop by Edwin Palomar

[Video of the Week]
”Quezon” Trailer

In The Know

Why The Hanapēpē Massacre Was Largely Forgotten For Decades
https://www.civilbeat.org/2025/08/why-the-hanapepe-massacre-was-largely-forgotten-for-decades/

Manuel L. Quezon remembered in Israel
https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/world/2025/8/18/manuel-l-quezon-remembered-in-israel-1920?

Inside the Personal Pugad of Cartoonist Pol Medina Jr.
https://www.spot.ph/arts-culture/arts-culture-peopleparties/inside-the-personal-pugad-of-pol-medina-jr-creator-of-pugad-baboy-a8115-20250817-dyn?

Get to know Bessie Badilla, the first Pinay model of Balenciaga
https://www.pep.ph/peptionary/188162/bessie-badilla-pinay-supermodel-balenciaga-a748-20250819-lfrm2?

July 16, 2025

A Meaningful Journey

July 16, 2025/ Staff

Toronto-based intrepid traveler/chronicler/photographer Odette Foronda invites us to experience (not just see) Auschwitz, 70 kilometers from Krakow, Poland and site of the most notorious Nazi concentration camp in WWII. It's not going to be a joyful journey but a meaningful one, an important history lesson in fact, considering current US and world realities. Through her words and photos, Odette poses a challenge: learn and understand what happened in Auschwitz and disprove what she quotes a wise man as saying, that "The only thing we learn from history is that we learn nothing from history."

FilAm artist and picture book illustrator Niña Mata has come up with a children's book called Girls to the Front, featuring 40 Asian American women from various generations who became prominent in their chosen fields. Of the 40, seven are Filipinas. Find out who they are from Claire Mercado-Obias' review, "Let's Hear It for the Girls."

She may not look Filipino but multi-awarded theater and film actress Sunita Mukhi is as Filipino as sinigang and tinikling. Born and bred in the Philippines, educated in St. Scholastica and La Salle, Sunita, now a US citizen, goes home (to Manila) whenever she has the time because family and friends are there waiting for her. Rogelio Constantino Medina profiles this totally Filipino performer.

Our Video of the Week: to commemorate the 9th anniversary of the arbitral ruling on the West Philippine Sea, a concert at sea was organized by Akbayan.

Read Again:

How Filipinos Got Their Surnames by Penélope V. Flores
Quezon Saved Jews from the Holocaust by Ambeth R. Ocampo
Filipino Terms of Endearment by Myles A. Garcia

Fil-Am leaders urge PH to negotiate remittance tax and product tariffs with Trump
https://www.gmanetwork.com/news/pinoyabroad/dispatch/952431/fil-am-leaders-urge-ph-to-negotiate-remittance-tax-and-product-tariffs-with-trump/story/?

Tourist who missed Norwegian cruise ship discovered dead on mountain trail in Alaska
https://nypost.com/2025/07/07/us-news/tourist-who-missed-norwegian-cruise-ship-discovered-dead-on-mountain-trail-in-alaska/

Here are some facts about the Sablay donned by University of the Philippines graduates
https://philstarlife.com/news-and-views/634691-here-are-some-facts-sablay-university-of-the-philippines-graduates?

Fil-Am students push for Tagalog class at Brown to reclaim culture, history
https://www.rappler.com/philippines/overseas-filipinos/fil-am-students-push-tagalog-class-brown-reclaim-culture-history/

"Philippines," 1926
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=90qcjBE-jlA

Today I Learned: Why Friday is Ginisang Monggo Day in the Philippines
https://www.esquiremag.ph/culture/food-and-drink/today-i-learned-ginisang-monggo-a7994-20250418?

Israel-based Filipina caregiver dies a month after Iran missile attack
https://www.rappler.com/philippines/overseas-filipinos/caregiver-dies-iran-missile-attack-israel-july-2025

February 16, 2022

Journeys in Place

February 16, 2022/ Gemma Nemenzo

With a force of more than 1 million ethnic Chinese living in the Philippines and over 23 million Filipinos of Chinese ancestry, our homeland can harness "people-to-people exchanges and solidarity ties" to cool down the tensions in the South China Sea, aka West Philippine Sea. This interesting though largely untested proposal is presented by UP professor Eduardo C. Tadem, who honors his Chinese roots in "Blood Could Be Thicker than Water in the South China Sea."

The pandemic lockdown in the Philippines, reportedly one of the strictest in the world, didn't faze five friends with interesting backgrounds to set free their creativity without leaving their homes. Channeling their common love of photography, the five men have come out with Journeyers, an impressive coffeetable book that our publisher, Mona Lisa Yuchengco, has been privileged to get. In "Journeyers: Five Men with Cameras Walk into the World," she give us a glimpse of the journeyers' journeys.

Speaking of journeys, now that the pandemic restrictions have been relaxed, how about visiting Romblon, a relatively untraveled province rich in natural resources and beauty, which has bred a National Artist, among other distinguished native sons. Retired Ambassador Virgilio A. Reyes, Jr. describes the province's many attractions.

There have been many stories about the Philippine Commonwealth President Manuel L. Quezon, but here's first-hand testimony about how good a tango dancer he was, from the famous Arthur Murray himself. History buff Erwin R. Tiongson of the Philippines on the Potomac project digs up this fascinating historical vignette in "MLQ Loved Tripping the Light Fantastic at Arthur Murray’s."