Stewards and Stalwarts
/We continue with Filipino American History Month with a look back at the storied Filipino Pensionados in the early part of the 20th century, who were sent here by the American authorities in the Philippines to be educated as future native stewards of U.S. colonial rule. “From the moment they set foot in California,” writes historian Alex Fabros Jr., the pensionados “became both students and political instruments” (From Colony to Campus: Filipino Pensionados in California, 1903–1940).
Cut to contemporary Filipino Americans: Nurse Kathleen Vargas of the Washington State Nurses Association will not stand idly by and let anyone diminish the worth of her fellow international nurses, reports our correspondent Anthony Maddela. She successfully pressured St. Joseph Medical Center to give full credit to international nurses’ overseas experience (“When This Filipina Pushed Back, All International Nurses Got a Fair Deal”).
Meanwhile, get to know Gus and Ethel Mercado, pillars of the Filipino American community in North Texas, whose commitment to each other reflects their dedication to the well-being of Filipinos in their state and in the homeland (“The Indefatigable Mercados of North Texas,” by Jocelyn Alvarez Allgood).
[Read It Again]
The Wards Cove Case: Separate and Unequal by Cindy Domingo
Celestino’s Crusades by Lisa Suguitan Melnick
JR de Guzman Shows Filipinos Are Truly Funny by Anthony Maddela
[Video of the Week] Foreigners Who Love the Philippines vs. Filipinos Who Want to Leave the Philippines
In The Know
Manila Recovers Chinese Underwater Drone Operating in Philippine Waters
https://news.usni.org/2025/10/01/manila-recovers-chinese-underwater-drone-operating-in-philippine-waters?
US State Department flags ‘pervasive’ corruption in PH
https://usa.inquirer.net/180782/us-state-department-report-flags-pervasive-corruption-in-ph?
Podcast: When America tried to expel all Filipinos in the U.S.
https://gerfarinas.substack.com/p/podcast-when-america-tried-to-expel?r=2eosah&fbclid=I
Dillon Gabriel to become the second Filipino American starting quarterback in NFL history
https://www.instagram.com/p/DPWtZBEEbua/?igsh=
Lolita the Zebronkey: Manila Zoo’s Forgotten Wonder
https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=1324926856084067
Financial Adviser: 5 Business Lessons Everyone Can Learn from Sonya Garcia, Founder and CEO of Sonya’s Garden
https://www.esquiremag.ph/money/industry/sonyas-garden-sonya-garcia-business-lessons-
