Basket Weaving and Home Cooking

Basket weaving in the Philippines is not just an art. It is also a means of subsistence of indigenous and rural Filipinos who sell their handwoven baskets and textiles for cash income to buy basic necessities. Former immigration lawyer turned basketry advocate Jill Stanton reports on her visit to basketry communities in the Cordilleras and Pala'wan.

A grieving daughter celebrates her late father's expertise in the kitchen and shares the recipe of his favorite quick dish. Titchie Carandang-Tiongson writes about her dad, well-known TV producer Tony Carandang in "Papa's Japanese Rice."

It has been 17 years since the cataclysmic event now immortalized as 9/11 but the magnitude of the terror remains fresh in many minds, especially those who had a close brush with death on that day. One of them is General Antonio Taguba who was in the Pentagon when the plane crashed and demolished the section he was in just a few minutes before. Read Again his account of "My Close Call on 9/11." 

As we continue to collect martial law stories and vignettes, here's another one of mine. Read Again "Creative Subversion." 

Our Happy Home Cook recipe is another one from Chef Marvin Gapultos who we featured last week. This time a complicated but surely delicious dish which will delight the Ilocanos -- Papaitan. 

Here are this week's links to stories you may have missed:

China Poised to Win Major Victory in Sea Dispute With Help of Philippine Resources Deal
https://www.wsj.com/articles/oil-and-gas-pact-poised-to-hand-china-a-victory-in-sea-dispute-1536571801?redirect=amp#click=https://t.co/iliNWX2Kc6

The Philippines' Human Rights Abuses
https://www.usnews.com/news/best-countries/articles/2018-08-03/the-brutal-personal-costs-of-the-philippines-human-rights-abuses

Kapuso Mo, Jessica Soho: 11 Year-old Boy Serves as Parent to Younger Brother
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hKei-sZ0iOk

Our Video of the Week: GMA's Jessica Soho brings together young basketball talent Justine Remo and his idol, three-time NBA champion Stephen Curry in this exclusive video.

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Tell Us Your Martial Law Story

We are collecting personal stories of life under Martial Law (1972-1981) in the Philippines. If you were there, you would have at least one. Did you violate curfew? Were you arrested? Was anyone in your family a political detainee or was "salvaged?" Did martial law motivate you to leave the country?  Did you benefit from it? What is your most enduring memory of that period?

In 200-600 words, join us in documenting that important era in our homeland's history. Your story counts. And if you have pictures, that would be great.

Please send to martiallawstories@gmail.com.

Here's to Pulutan

PF Correspondent and food expert Elizabeth Ann Quirino checks in with chef/author Marvin Gapultos who has come out with a new cookbook, his second, that focuses on that most proletarian of food traditions: the pulutan. Gapultos, who has shared some of his recipes from his first cookbook, The Adobo Road, likewise shares with the Happy Home Cook his own take on the classic Fish Kilawin, a favorite among Filipino beer drinkers anywhere.

This month brings back memories of Proclamation 1081, President Ferdinand Marcos' declaration of martial law dated September 21, 1972. To counter the push from certain quarters to revise history, there are ongoing efforts to gather stories of that period so the millennial generation will know how life was during that time. I write this week about the curfew which, in the overall scheme of things, was a relatively benign imposition compared to the other impositions of the authoritarian regime.

A new contributor from Illinois, Christian Gabriel Pareja, introduces us to a Filipino art therapist, Corazon Pecson Pagnani, who treats mental patients at Chicago's Kindred Hospital.

The news from the Philippines about the government importing rice infested with bukbok (weevil) and the Agriculture Secretary trying to convince people of its safety by eating it himself beg the question: how much lower can the administration get on the pathetic meter? It's a good time to Read Again Fil-Am journalist Dorian Merina's piece, "Wanted: A New Agriculture to Face Climate Change." In this article, Merina also pays tribute to Fil-Am labor leaders Larry Itliong and Philip Vera Cruz whose contributions to the US farm labor movement are immeasurable.

Here are the links to stories you may have missed this week:

How Duterte Used Facebook To Fuel the Philippine Drug War
https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/daveyalba/facebook-philippines-dutertes-drug-war

Duterte voids amnesty of critical senator, orders his arrest
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/duterte-voids-amnesty-of-critical-senator-orders-his-arrest/2018/09/04/0588ceae-b00a-11e8-8b53-50116768e499_story.html?utm_term=.fa377f0dc11e

The art find of the century or its greatest hoax
https://news.abs-cbn.com/focus/08/29/18/the-art-find-of-the-century-or-its-greatest-hoax

The Sarah Huckabee Sanders of the Philippines
https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2018/08/18/the-sarah-huckabee-sanders-of-the-philippines-219370

PH’s Maya-1 CubeSat deployed into Int’l Space Station
https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1019926/phs-maya-1-cubesat-deployed-into-intl-space-station

And for Video of the Week, Our Better World features one of girls whose life was transformed when she was taken in by Tahanan Sta. Luisa, a shelter for girls in the Philippines.

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Tell Us Your Martial Law Story

We are collecting personal stories of life under Martial Law (1972-1981) in the Philippines. If you were there, you would have at least one. Did you violate curfew? Were you arrested? Was anyone in your family a political detainee or was "salvaged?" Did martial law motivate you to leave the country?  Did you benefit from it? What is your most enduring memory of that period?

In 200-600 words, join us in documenting that important era in our homeland's history. Your story counts. And if you have pictures, that would be great.

Please send to martiallawstories@gmail.com.

Food and Heroes

In a small coastal town named Borgarnes (pop. 1,500) in Iceland, a Filipino restaurant, Matstofan, has been serving Filipino food with Icelandic touches  for over two decades. First-time PF contributor Jennifer Fergesen took a bus from Reykjavik, Iceland's capital 70 km away, to see how Cora Villanueva Grönfeldt runs her restaurant, which has the distinction of being the northernmost Filipino restaurant in the world.

From Matstofan comes our Happy Home Cook recipe of the week, Rhubarb Sinigang, definitely a touch of the unique.

Aspiring young writers, some barely in their teens, in Manila can now get valuable writing inspiration and lessons from Write Things, formerly known as Where the Write Things Are, ran by the children of journalist/author Neni Sta. Romana Cruz. Roel, her son, writes about their vision of creating a writing community of young Filipinos.

We can't let go of the month of August without reminders of the heroes of our past. Read Again:

"Andres Bonifacio, the Other National Hero," by Dr. Penelope V. Flores. On August 23, 1896, Bonifacio led the historic revolutionary moment immortalized as the Cry of Balintawak. 

President Manuel L. Quezon, born August 19, 1878, is remembered for many things, one of them an unparalleled humanitarian act not commonly known. We share historian Ambeth R. Ocampo's story on how "Quezon Saved Jews from the Holocaust." 

And more good reading you might have missed from other publications: 

Activist priest recounts 'close call' with death squad
https://www.rappler.com/nation/210477-amado-picardal-priest-threats-davao-death-squad

The people left behind by Philippines' brutal war on drugs - photo essay
https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2018/aug/14/death-drugs-duterte-philippines-poor-bear-brunt-of-narco-crackdown

Fil-Am author Erin Entrada Kelly on bullying, hope, and her new Filipino folklore-inspired book
http://cnnphilippines.com/life/culture/literature/2018/08/24/erin-entrada-kelly-interview.html

Watch: How Chicken Adobo Unites the 7,000+ Philippine Islands
https://www.eater.com/2018/8/22/17769936/best-chicken-adobo-nyc-filipino-food-video

and for Video of the Week we feature Norman King,the first aeta to graduate from the University of Philippines.