Our most prolific contributor of Fil-Am history stories, Alex S. Fabros, Jr. has handed us another gem of a story on Ramon Reyes Lala, who was a pioneer on two fronts. He was the first Filipino to be naturalized as a US citizen: "In 1896, despite court rulings that barred Asians from citizenship Lala secured naturalization as a U.S. citizen. How he did so remain uncertain—perhaps through a loophole, persistence, or the benevolence of a sympathetic judge. But the certificate was real, and he carried it like armor," writes Fabros. And two years later, in 1898, Lala came out with The Philippine Islands, the first English-language book by a Filipino published in America. Unfortunately, we can only find a very blurred picture of the original cover but there is a 2015 reprint by Jefferson Publication (sent to us by Fabros) available online (link posted at the end of the story). It's a very interesting and valuable read, with graphic descriptions and images of the Philippines and its people in the late 1800s.

A few years later, in 1903, as American colonialism was taking root in the Philippines, a clever act of creative subversion initiated by Filipino/Kapampangan playwright Aurelio Tolentino had the invited American officials squirming in their seats. Tolentino's play, "Kahapon, Ngayon at Bukas" was touted as a harmless historical drama (and thus approved by the American censors). In reality, it was anything but. Robby Tantingco, a noted book author and academic, posted this amusing vignette on his Facebook page to commemorate Tolentino's 156th birth anniversary on October 15.

She started out as a model and a beauty queen, became a multi-awarded actress and later on, the head honcho of the nation's biggest media conglomerate. Now retired from her corporate roles, Charo Santos-Concio has returned to acting. Her full-circle life is the stuff of inspiration and emulation, as her classmate of yore, Elizabeth Ann Quirino relates.

A short documentary titled "Oakland Ilokana" by Fil-Am Elenita Makani O'Malley puts together the voices and the stories that previously eluded the filmmaker until she focused on her grandmother Lola Marie, Marie Veronica Mendoza Rivera Yip, one of the first Filipino children to grow up in Oakland, CA's Chinatown. The film is a tribute and an archive to the grandmother, Filipinos in Oakland, and to the city itself. PF contributing writer Lisa Suguitan-Melnick reports.

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