October 28, 2026

Shivers of Recognition

October 28, 2026/ Staff

Halloween may be all about costumes, candy, and trick-or-treating in America, but for Filipino Americans, the season carries an extra shiver of recognition. We grew up with stories of the dwende, manananggal, kapre, and other creatures of the night, passed down by elders who knew just how to make the darkness come alive. These are more than childhood frights; they are pieces of the folklore we carried across oceans, connecting us to the land and stories of our ancestors. Peter Bautista revisits this wonderfully eerie inheritance in “The Monsters We Brought With Us.”

While Halloween has caught on in the Philippines, November 1 remains a deeply cherished tradition, especially in the provinces. On All Saints’ Day, cemeteries come alive with families bearing food, drinks, flowers, and memories, gathering around the graves of loved ones. What might seem solemn from afar often becomes a joyful family reunion, a time for stories, laughter, and the feeling that those who have gone before us are still part of our lives. For those of us in the diaspora, these rituals stir a particular longing: for home, for family, and for a culture that keeps love alive even beyond death.

From remembrance, we turn to the living soul of Iloilo. In “Soulful Iloilo,” Philippine-based contributing writer Maria Carmen Sarmiento takes us beyond the city’s celebrated cuisine and grand ancestral homes to its quieter treasures: welcoming third spaces where Ilonggos find peace, free government-run museums that nourish mind and spirit, and a thriving arts and music scene. With Iloilo gaining international recognition for its creative gastronomy, there is even more reason to celebrate a city whose richness lies not only in what it serves at the table, but in the life and culture it lovingly sustains.

Service to country, too, can become a family legacy. In “Our Family’s Three-Generation Call to Serve,” retired Brussels-based Filipino diplomat Maria Antonia Bosa Van Espen-Boonen traces the distinguished Busa/Bosa clan’s multigenerational commitment to foreign service in two countries—a testament to how a calling to serve can be passed down like an heirloom.

And for the 83rd installment of her monthly series, Mona Lisa Yuchengco once again shines a light on the remarkable achievers among us in “FilAms Among the Remarkable and Famous.” Their stories remind us that wherever we Filipinos find ourselves, our talents, contributions, and dreams continue to leave a mark.

In this season of remembering our dead, celebrating our roots, and honoring the lives we build, we are reminded that the ties that bind us to the Philippines are never quite severed. They live in the stories our elders told, the graves we visit, the cities we cherish, and the achievements we pass on to the next generation. Distance may take us far from home, but it cannot take home out of us.

This Week’s Stories:

Soulful Iloilo by Maria Carmen Sarmiento

The Monsters We Brought With Us by Peter Bautista

One Family’s Three-Generation Call to Serve by Maria Antonia Bosa Van Espen-Boonen

FilAms Among The Remarkable And Famous, Part 83 by Mona Lisa Yuchengco

[Read It Again]

Veteran journalist Philip Lustre, Jr., in the news nowadays because a surprise cyberlibel suit filed by Baste Duterte, is a PF contributing writer:

Our Old-Fashioned Courtship: ‘Dalaw,’ 'Sundo,’ ‘Hatid’ by Philip M. Lustre, Jr.

Retired movie star Lotis Key writes about her adopted son, US Chess champion Wesley So:

A Traveling Fool by Lotis Key

[Video of the Week]

Inside the world of Catholic exorcisms in the Philippines | 101 East Documentary

In The Know

Ube in focus: US puts $34.1 million behind Philippine purple yam, funded by American soybean meal
https://gulfnews.com/world/asia/philippines/us-puts-341-million-behind-philippine-ube-funded-by-american-soybean-meal-

No kids, no apologies: Why Filipino women are opting out of motherhood
https://www.rappler.com/features/philippines/filipino-women-opting-out-motherhood-low-fertility-rate/index.html

As Asia grays, can an aging Philippines avoid its neighbors' fate?
https://www.rappler.com/features/philippines/aging-population-senior-citizens-asia/index.html?fbclid=IwY2xjawVA2IhleHRuA2FlbQIxMABwZG9mBWJyaWQRMTZ6TUVEdEkzZ0JSNG5uOHlzcnRjBmFwcF9pZBAyMjIwMzkxNzg4MjAwODkyAAEegU46nX97yy8mflN5ZBrzz8b57w_hF67zLNwdkKN56xAAjhExSDq4lNlMEHo_aem_6mWX4evOSzFZ8yPfVwDH9g

Filipino American charged in alleged Medicare fraud takedown
https://asamnews.com/2026/10/24/filipino-american-medicare-fraud-scheme-charges-hospice/

Morning Sun Eatery in QC
https://www.facebook.com/reel/1381949877433601

What 900 Filipino Soldiers on a Korean Hill in 1951 Can Teach Us About Defending Our Waters
https://www.esquiremag.ph/politics/opinion/what-900-filipino-soldiers-on-a-korean-hill-in-1951-can-teach-us-about-defending-our-waters-a8232-20261021-bsc?

Save your seat now for Philippine International Aid's 40th Anniversary! Featuring Martin Nievera and friends! Sunday, November 8, 2026 at the Hyatt Regency Embarcadero in San Francisco.

April 07, 2021

Bullseye on our Backs?

April 07, 2021/ Gemma Nemenzo

Where are our martial arts warriors when we need them?

I heard someone ask this question when the video of a 65-year old Filipino woman being assaulted last week in New York's Times Square in broad daylight became viral. Sure, it's a stereotype and a myth that Asians are Bruce Lees but with the almost daily stream of verbal and physical assaults on Asian Americans, can't we call on our ninja warriors for protection? Or at the very least, assistance? The video of Vilma Kari didn't show anyone coming to her aid; in fact, security guards at the building closed the doors on her (they've been fired). It was only a few days later that Vilma's daughter posted that a person across the street "yelled and screamed to get the assailant's attention" thereby disrupting the vicious attack. No one else helped; NYPD didn't even get a 911 call.

Few of us can be as badass as the Chinese lola Xiao Zhen Xie in San Francisco who fought back. Or as lucky, since there was a wooden board handy that she picked up to whack her assailant with which landed him, not her, in the hospital.

It's gratifying to know that Asian American groups, including the National Federation of Filipino American Associations (NaFFAA, see Partner post below), are calling for the consolidation of efforts to address this issue of hate crimes against Asians. Doubly gratifying that the Biden administration has our backs, rhetorically and policy-wise.

In the real world however, we continue to be vulnerable. I was in New York last week at the time of Vilma Kari's assault and I admit that the very normal NYC activity of taking a walk felt like there was a bullseye on my back. This is no way to live.

What can we do to protect ourselves while we wait for all the organizing and the concerted efforts to take effect?

Our Stories This Week

Fil-Ams Among The Remarkable And Famous, Part 17 By Mona Lisa Yuchengco

A Child Forever By Rey E. de la Cruz

‘Stand The F**K Up’ By Corin Ramos

[Partner] NaFFAA To Develop Hate Crimes Task Force In Response To Anti-Asian Attacks

Read Again: In The Heat Of The Night: The Exeter And Watsonville Riots 1929-1930 By Alex S. Fabros, Jr.

The Happy Home Cook: Gising Gising (Seafood Extreme)

[Video of the Week] World War II in the Philippines, the Forgotten War

In The Know

Filipina mom grateful for extraordinary act of kindness in small-town Alberta
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/filipinos-rural-alberta-1.5965398?cmp=rss&fbclid=IwAR2P9YD4Bul5zBjhzK-yCprbMQsE28LcaYhgVy9q1xvZPzB_dHufzQ9Uh7s

The Best Books About Asian American Identity, According to Experts
https://nymag.com/strategist/amp/article/best-books-about-asian-american-identity.html?__twitter_impression=true&s=04&fbclid=IwAR0Lj1NvHcNu1LuOhYHYPcSQzvT_dn3OrnwfB_0QMKoTNGv-1lfktOSt2X0

Gliceria Marella-Villavicencio: A revolutionary figure you’ve probably never heard of
https://nolisoli.ph/66528/gliceria-marella-villavicencio-csanjose-20190826/?fbclid=IwAR14fApK1p2eI_s_tclC4DJIOqVufT93iJXhYpl5qnqWTQYxSyZALx5UxFE

Meet the hidden Filipino treasure that is dulce prenda
https://www.sbs.com.au/food/article/2021/03/17/meet-hidden-filipino-treasure-dulce-prenda?fbclid=IwAR3Tdbuo7lsCzrGJGsEe1fmFKF2wZ4ywaiHHpSJ4cgYBsnuLf9teCDJmlWc

December 16, 2020

A Life in Film

December 16, 2020/ Gemma Nemenzo

Some of the best Filipino movies were created in the mid-1970s to the mid-80s when the likes of Lino Brocka, Ismael Bernal, Mike de Leon, Marilou Diaz-Abaya, Peque Gallaga, Eddie Romero and Lupita Kashiwahara dominated the directorial scene.

Not surprisingly, the period also brought about the elevation of production design as an award category, in recognition of its role in setting the overall look and feel of a movie. Setting the gold standard for production design was Fiel Zabat, who worked on some of that era's most critically acclaimed films and won many awards for her work.

The Manunuri ng Pelikulang Pilipino recently awarded Fiel with the Natatanging Gawad Urian, the lifetime achievement honor, for her body of work. Manunuri stalwart Butch Francisco writes an extensive feature on Fiel's filmography and dishes out some juicy behind-the-scenes stories of the making of a number of Filipino film classics. ["Fiel Zabat: A Film Production Designer’s Production Designer"]

Meanwhile, the world is hopefully in the homestretch of the war against the Covid-19 virus and contributing writer Susan Araneta sums up the large role of Filipino health workers in various countries who were the frontliners in this, the most severe public health challenge of the century. ["A Virus Among Us: Filipinos and COVID-19"]

In Hawaii where many Fil-Ams won elective positions in the state legislature, long-time Honolulu resident and professor Belinda Aquino writes about the distinguished career Senator Donna Mercado Kim. ["State Sen. Donna Mercado Kim: A Household Name in Hawaii"]

The Happy Home Cook: Beer-Braised Pork chop from Rene Astudillo

Video of the Week: U.P. Concert Chorus sings “Simbanggabi”