Masagana at Mapayapang Bagong Taon sa ating lahat!

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To say that 2025 was an unsettled year for both the Philippines and the US is, to put it mildly, inaccurate. The entire world knows what has been happening in the US but here in a nutshell is what has been going on in our homeland. PH in 2025: Calls for Urgent Reforms Amid Corruption Scandal and and Economic Woes

But we continue to hope and dream of a better year ahead. The wheels of history never stop churning and, from what we have witnessed and experienced from decades of living, bad times never last. They just hurt and disappoint us, and scare us into doing better. 

So cheers to a gentler and more consequential 2026. 

Your Positively Filipino family.

In The Know

Oscar-nominated Fil-Am cinematographer Matthew Libatique on his banner year
https://usa.inquirer.net/186387/oscar-nominated-fil-am-cinematographer-matthew-libatique-on-his-banner-year?

While most of the world is preparing for Christmas, the Philippines has been at it for months
https://www.cnn.com/2025/12/21/asia/philippines-christmas-decor-traditions-intl-hnk-dst?

Best Diving in the Philippines | 20 Top Dive Sites
https://www.divein.com/diving/destination/diving-in-the-philippines/

The World Wants More Ube. Philippine Farmers Are Struggling to Keep Up.
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/29/world/asia/philippines-ube-purple-yam.html?

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Staff

Lockdown and Nostalgia

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If you google "lockdown and nostalgia," you'll see all the articles about how nostalgia -- the longing for what seems now as "better times" -- is a common offshoot of the anxieties brought about by the pandemic. The nostalgia can take various forms -- from bingeing on favorite music, old movies and comfort food, to reaching out to relatives and friends previously neglected. To the history inclined, it may mean researching past events or finally starting that genealogical tree for one's clan.

While his scholarly research on his ancestors' Teduray roots is definitely not pandemic-induced -- the breadth and depth of his research shows labor that spans decades -- social scientist and academic Eduardo C. Tadem's "The Saga of the Tamontaka Teduray Sisters" is a fascinating window into a lesser known Mindanao indigenous tribe that has spawned some big names in the Mindanao political landscape. 

Meanwhile, Japan-based Chinese-Filipino author and academic Caroline S. Hau tries her hand at fiction and the result is Tiempo Muerto, a novel about class divide and exile. Political scientist Patricio N. Abinales reviews in "Death and Loathing in Sugarlandia."

Our publisher Mona Lisa Yuchengco continues her series on outstanding Filipino Americans in part 2 of "Fil-Ams Among the Remarkable and Famous."

As our personal news feed is marked by the constant drip of reports on the deaths of people we know, let's stop and pay tribute to one of the biggest names in Philippine cinema, movie director Peque Gallaga, who passed away a few weeks ago of non-covid causes. Marra PL. Lanot writes "Three Days in My Life with Peque."

Check out our two Partner posts this week: 

A call to fight back against the growing trend of hate crimes against Asian Americans https://www.positivelyfilipino.com/magazine/partner-enough-is-enough

The online showing of a powerful play on the early Fil-Am farmworkers, our beloved manongs https://www.positivelyfilipino.com/magazine/partner-magno-rubio-now-online

On the occasion of her 67th birthday, Read Again "The Timeless Nora Aunor" by film critic Mauro Feria Tumbocon, Jr.  and watch this tribute video in Video of the Week.

For the Happy Home Cook, here's a recipe with a whimsical name: French Kiss from the prison kitchen of then-detained soldiers Elmer D. Cruz and Emerson R. Rosales. 

Here are links to stories from other publications:

These Filipino scientists left their career abroad to help PH combat COVID-19
https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/05/13/20/these-filipino-scientists-left-their-career-abroad-to-help-ph-combat-covid-19?fbclid=IwAR34-L44addHOuzbSw3NT6rOtRMI_9XfXfCipv8rD5myEc3jLhvNLJc01Sg

Combatting Covid-19 the Iloilo City Way
https://tribune.net.ph/index.php/2020/05/17/combatting-covid-19-the-iloilo-city-way/?fbclid=IwAR32ycnpiBvhfCUBk_ZQtVSaIGlHpnWSnQFuwBimaXEz5haOVluzh49vOdE

A New Portrait of Lapulapu
https://www.nqc.gov.ph/en_US/resources/a-new-portrait-of-lapulapu/?fbclid=IwAR1PKXQ25XESBgB0NIcfpWwUqV8wdxssFt1O5pCAnf9BN4bbAb_lU2CZGt8

Kapampangan ‘survival’ dishes
https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1272424/kapampangan-survival-dishes?fbclid=IwAR3Xy1osI5rqXgCy_FykIzqO3dqEGEDiYdSR2_KXI5BhBs36IxHxv4VPrCk

Column: Filipino nurses battled discrimination to work in American hospitals. Now they fight for PPE
https://news.yahoo.com/column-filipino-nurses-battled-discrimination-130014792.html