A Fateful Homecoming, August 21, 1983

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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. 

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"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.

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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. 

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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

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Staff

Fateful August

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August, particularly its third week, can trigger some somber memories among Filipinos of a certain age who were living in the Philippines during the administration of the first Ferdinand Marcos.

Fifty-two years ago, on August 21, 1971, the bombing of the miting de avance of the Liberal Party at Plaza Miranda happened. This heinous crime, which permanently injured some of the LP's leading lights, led to the suspension of the writ of habeas corpus, a precursor to martial law.

Forty years ago, on August 21, 1983, Benigno "Ninoy" Aquino was assassinated a few minutes after his plane landed at the Manila International Airport, another heinous crime that eventually resulted in the downfall of the Marcos dictatorship. [See our stories below on Ninoy Aquino.]

The killings have not stopped. Our lead story this week is about a concert tribute that poet/journalist/arts and culture impresario Pablo A. Tariman mounted last week to honor the memory of his daughter Kerima and her husband, Ericson Acosta. Both were felled by government bullets on August 20, 2021 and November 30, 2022, respectively.

A sad/horrific story but with a new twist: AsAm News reports that the Smithsonian Institute has arranged to return the remains of 64 Filipinos from the early 1900s that were unethically collected by an American anthropologist for his research (unsubstantiated) to prove that White people are genetically superior to other races. Take a deep breath before reading this story. 

This issue is not all grim, however. 

We have a delightful story about a 72-year-old who went paragliding and sky jumping. And lived to tell the tale.

Then there's this young Filipino artist who paints raindrops. 

This week, we are also posting a new section called Anti-Asian Health Watch that provides links to stories on Asian hate incidents. With our Act Against Hate section, Positively Filipino continues to be an information resource for California's anti-Asian hate campaign.

Anti Asian Hate Watch

Funding provided by the State of California.

Free program offers legal services to Californians facing racial discrimination in the workplace

https://www.abc10.com/article/news/community/race-and-culture/program-california-employees-victims-racial-discrimination-workplace/103-b5afc674-fd7b-4d45-bc1b-9d4f95a8ff90 

Discrimination during pandemic significantly harmed Asian American students’ mental health: study

https://nextshark.com/discrimination-during-pandemic-significantly-harmed-asian-american-students-mental-health-study

16-year-old girl charged with assault for viral attack on Asian family riding NYC subway

https://nextshark.com/teen-girl-assault-charge-nyc-subway-attack-asian-family

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Staff

It's About Time

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A video that went viral of a transgender woman being prevented from using the women's restroom in a Quezon City mall has renewed calls for the passage of a Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Expression (SOGIE) legislation that will protect the LGBT community from being discriminated against. As usual, the voices for or against are strident and loud, as PF Correspondent Rene M. Astudillo reports in "A Transgender Restroom Incident and Filipino LGBT Rights."

In far-away Vienna, Filipina IT veteran Malou Soto Reininger commits her time and skills to the Philippine-Austria Cultural and Educational Society (PACES), an organization that provides scholarships to deserving Filipino students in the fields of science, technology, education and mathematics, aka STEM. Hawaii-based PF contributor Pepi Nieva profiles Reininger in "From Vienna, an Angel for Filipino Science Scholars."

August, or more specifically August 21, is a historically tragic day for our homeland. Two heinous crimes were committed on this day that upended the course of Philippine history. The August 21, 1971 Plaza Miranda bombing that almost decimated the entire leadership of the then-Liberal Party led to the suspension of the writ of habeas corpus by President Marcos, which eventually led to the proclamation of martial law. In 1983, August 21 was the day Benigno "Ninoy" Aquino Jr. was assassinated in the airport tarmac, a tragedy of enormous proportions that triggered massive protests against the Marcos administration and, three years later, led to its downfall. Read Again our stories on those two monumental events:

Gregg Jones' "The Ghosts of Plaza Miranda" 

Ken Kashiwahara's "Ninoy's Final Journey" 

On a more positive note, August is also the month we honor our homeland's Commonwealth president, Manuel L. Quezon. So here's another Read Again:

Ambeth R. Ocampo's "Quezon Saved Jews from the Holocaust" 

For the Happy Home Cook, here's Elizabeth Ann Quirino's Instant Pot Pata Tim recipe, guaranteed to be worth the calories.

Our In the Know links this week: 

Gina Lopez, Who Led Crackdown on Mines in the Philippines, Dies at 65
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/19/obituaries/gina-lopez-philippines-dies.html?fbclid=IwAR1MV-1GeJlvmOnuvMnF-DPUlWut4Y8FIDOO73EDM7p-xem2E2YcrTo5KHc

The Vigilante President
https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/philippines/2019-08-12/vigilante-president?utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook_cta&utm_campaign=cta_share_buttons&fbclid=IwAR15L81WXDBJZ0GA1V5NNrphbjrf6hvyDKNJzrltqex30gPZdd3ihnw_NZw

Penguin Classics’ Pinay publisher puts the spotlight on PH literature
https://news.abs-cbn.com/life/07/29/19/penguin-classics-pinay-publisher-puts-the-spotlight-on-ph-literature?fbclid=IwAR3ZSdOt2nYt-IyZbTvUc_KgNeP0CyFIcA5QSAvbz83Fj1vGP3oI50nLdPo

Mayor Vico Sotto: 'The Rules of the Game Are Clear, But We Need People to Push the System a Bit'
https://www.esquiremag.ph/long-reads/profiles/mayor-vico-sotto-the-rules-of-the-game-are-clear-but-we-need-people-to-push-the-system-a-bit-a2212-20190722-lfrm2?ref=home_featured_big

Jia Tolentino on the ‘Unlivable Hell’ of the Web and Other Millennial Conundrums
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/04/books/review/jia-tolentino-trick-mirror.html?te=1&nl=books&emc=edit_bk_20190816?campaign_id=69&instance_id=11703&segment_id=16236&user_id=a6813a01d20d50942afadad6c6f1e549&regi_id=47563992

For video of the week, KPIX SF Bay Area reports on the renaming of a Mountain View school after Pulitzer Prize winner and immigration reform activist Jose Antonio Vargas.