Lockdown and Nostalgia

If you google "lockdown and nostalgia," you'll see all the articles about how nostalgia -- the longing for what seems now as "better times" -- is a common offshoot of the anxieties brought about by the pandemic. The nostalgia can take various forms -- from bingeing on favorite music, old movies and comfort food, to reaching out to relatives and friends previously neglected. To the history inclined, it may mean researching past events or finally starting that genealogical tree for one's clan.

While his scholarly research on his ancestors' Teduray roots is definitely not pandemic-induced -- the breadth and depth of his research shows labor that spans decades -- social scientist and academic Eduardo C. Tadem's "The Saga of the Tamontaka Teduray Sisters" is a fascinating window into a lesser known Mindanao indigenous tribe that has spawned some big names in the Mindanao political landscape. 

Meanwhile, Japan-based Chinese-Filipino author and academic Caroline S. Hau tries her hand at fiction and the result is Tiempo Muerto, a novel about class divide and exile. Political scientist Patricio N. Abinales reviews in "Death and Loathing in Sugarlandia."

Our publisher Mona Lisa Yuchengco continues her series on outstanding Filipino Americans in part 2 of "Fil-Ams Among the Remarkable and Famous."

As our personal news feed is marked by the constant drip of reports on the deaths of people we know, let's stop and pay tribute to one of the biggest names in Philippine cinema, movie director Peque Gallaga, who passed away a few weeks ago of non-covid causes. Marra PL. Lanot writes "Three Days in My Life with Peque."

Check out our two Partner posts this week: 

A call to fight back against the growing trend of hate crimes against Asian Americans https://www.positivelyfilipino.com/magazine/partner-enough-is-enough

The online showing of a powerful play on the early Fil-Am farmworkers, our beloved manongs https://www.positivelyfilipino.com/magazine/partner-magno-rubio-now-online

On the occasion of her 67th birthday, Read Again "The Timeless Nora Aunor" by film critic Mauro Feria Tumbocon, Jr.  and watch this tribute video in Video of the Week.

For the Happy Home Cook, here's a recipe with a whimsical name: French Kiss from the prison kitchen of then-detained soldiers Elmer D. Cruz and Emerson R. Rosales. 

Here are links to stories from other publications:

These Filipino scientists left their career abroad to help PH combat COVID-19
https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/05/13/20/these-filipino-scientists-left-their-career-abroad-to-help-ph-combat-covid-19?fbclid=IwAR34-L44addHOuzbSw3NT6rOtRMI_9XfXfCipv8rD5myEc3jLhvNLJc01Sg

Combatting Covid-19 the Iloilo City Way
https://tribune.net.ph/index.php/2020/05/17/combatting-covid-19-the-iloilo-city-way/?fbclid=IwAR32ycnpiBvhfCUBk_ZQtVSaIGlHpnWSnQFuwBimaXEz5haOVluzh49vOdE

A New Portrait of Lapulapu
https://www.nqc.gov.ph/en_US/resources/a-new-portrait-of-lapulapu/?fbclid=IwAR1PKXQ25XESBgB0NIcfpWwUqV8wdxssFt1O5pCAnf9BN4bbAb_lU2CZGt8

Kapampangan ‘survival’ dishes
https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1272424/kapampangan-survival-dishes?fbclid=IwAR3Xy1osI5rqXgCy_FykIzqO3dqEGEDiYdSR2_KXI5BhBs36IxHxv4VPrCk

Column: Filipino nurses battled discrimination to work in American hospitals. Now they fight for PPE
https://news.yahoo.com/column-filipino-nurses-battled-discrimination-130014792.html

Fil-Ams You Should Know

Aside from Mother's Day, the big celebration in the US in May is Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month (AAPIHM). Why May? Because the first Japanese immigrant to the US arrived on May 7, 1843 and the transcontinental railroad was completed by mostly Chinese immigrants on May 10, 1869. Filipino Americans have their own month to celebrate - October, since it is believed that the first Filipinos to reach American soil got here on that month. Nonetheless, we celebrate in solidarity with our fellow Asians because any occasion to honor the contributions of immigrants to this giant melting pot of a country is cause for celebration.

Get to know some famous -- and infamous -- Filipino Americans in the compilation spearheaded by our publisher Mona Lisa Yuchengco, the first of which is in this issue. ["Fil-Ams Among the Remarkable and Famous"]

Likewise, in our continuing salute to mothers this month, Lisa shares with us her tribute to her late mother, Paz Sycip Yuchengco. ["A Final Goodnight"]

Cultural writer Walter Ang introduces Cynthia Salaysay, a Filipino American author, whose first book Private Lessons, a young adult (YA) novel, is coming out this month. ["Cynthia Salaysay's Healing Heart"]

Some deaths are heavier than others as Manila-based PF Correspondent Criselda Yabes illustrates in her tribute to her good friend (and ours too), former secretary of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources Fulgencio Factoran Jr. ["Jun Factoran, A Friend Forever"]

Here's a timely Read Again that will make you feel good: Liana Romulo's account of her esteemed lolo's amazing feat. https://www.positivelyfilipino.com/magazine/2013/7/when-lolos-debating-team-vanquished-america

For the Happy Home Cook, let's dig up another comfort food from our archive: Binagoongang Baboy from Beth Romualdez. http://www.positivelyfilipino.com/magazine/the-happy-home-cook-binagoongang-baboy

Here are links to stories from other publications: 

Pandemic slashes remittance lifeline as overseas Filipino workers lose jobs
https://www.bworldonline.com/pandemic-slashes-remittance-lifeline-as-overseas-filipino-workers-lose-jobs/?fbclid=IwAR2ZbbTPIYw0LpqUFsh8vzsLSGFEUl7K1VkEaNvRy3tdxcMCianXJBPqeao

Five things to remember during Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month and beyond
https://www.adn.com/opinions/2019/05/24/five-things-to-remember-during-asian-american-and-pacific-islander-heritage-month-and-beyond/?fbclid=IwAR2jZorBTiALQj6TTSuWoG8_8vvAIJqqZvwIHsZbsW7FnytFlftX4kPea6M

In the Claws of a Police State
https://thebaffler.com/latest/in-the-claws-of-a-police-state-flores-fantauzzo?fbclid=IwAR07Jk2QrkXK74CLdhFltQGC2o08EG829-Uq2Qya-59Q3fZQnw-7LLdDVN0

“Similar to Times of War”: The Staggering Toll of COVID-19 on Filipino Health Care Workers
https://www.propublica.org/article/similar-to-times-of-war-the-staggering-toll-of-covid-19-on-filipino-health-care-workers?utm_source=pardot&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=majorinvestigations&utm_content=feature

Celebrity IOU: Michael Bublé fulfills grandfather's dying wish with home for his caretaker Minette
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-8287151/Celebrity-IOU-Michael-Bubl-fulfills-grandfathers-dying-wish-home-caretaker-Minette.html?fbclid=IwAR19mlzdhKtFDgjwFXybGLCl7hbynMdswyUZfA0SjGQZKjjZoMoPrHPYY0s#i-5912dad24a9fa0a6 

What Manila Looked Like The Year You Were Born
https://www.esquiremag.ph/culture/lifestyle/old-manila-vintage-photos-a00297-20200501-lfrm3?utm_source=Facebook-Esquire&utm_medium=Ownshare&utm_campaign=20200431-fbnp-culture-old-manila-vintage-photos-a00297-20200501-lfrm3-fbfirst&fbclid=IwAR3rDBH9HefUzse2Da5tbFqoe3AffarjJtkamXXsbO_w30FQ2bCgmdCA6H0 

For our Video of the Week, witness veteran journalist Howie Severino's documentation of his bout with Covid-19. 

ABS-CBN Shutdown: Once More, the Trauma

One Saturday morning in September 1972, I left for work early because it was going to be a busy day -- we were going to shoot a promo announcing the first nationwide broadcast of ABS-CBN, then as now, the Philippines' largest network. The sight that confronted me was chilling: Metrocom soldiers in full battle gear were guarding the gates of the sprawling complex in Bohol Avenue, Quezon City. Across the street, my fellow employees gathered, faces perplexed and fearful. It took a while before the collective whisper reached me: martial law had been declared, and just like that we lost our jobs, our personal stuff in our offices inside, and our freedom.

I didn't realize how deeply embedded that trauma is in my psyche until I woke up this morning to the news that ABS-CBN, the network that has since expanded tenfold since our time, has been ordered closed by the Duterte administration's National Telecommunications Commission. Once again, I felt shivers down my spine. The end was just as dramatic as 1972 -- one minute viewers were watching a regular news program; the next, the screen just went dark.

Beyond the legalese and the sycophantic justifications, we know that ABS-CBN has once again fallen prey to political vindictiveness that goes all the way to the top. It was that way in 1972, albeit under different circumstances; it is the same reason now. Talk about ill-timed and ill-conceived. With the country reeling from a pandemic and its subsequent economic turmoil, when information dissemination is vital, the nation's largest broadcast network is silenced. 

This story of course is just beginning. It took 14 years and a dictator's ouster for ABS-CBN to rise again. Will history repeat itself?

Our stories this week:

US Marines veteran and military brat Alex G. Fabros Jr. tells a cautionary tale of how an epidemic victimized his childhood friends in "Do You Remember Polio?"

Retired Philippine ambassador Virgilio Reyes Jr. relates his Covid-19 story in "Living with Corona, a New Yorker's Perspective."

For those in search of good books to read in quarantine, history professor Vicente L. Rafael shares his "Lockdown Reading List: Filipino Fiction (Mostly)."

To celebrate Mother's Day, I wrote down my thoughts on motherhood, "Love, Patience and Renewal."

Read Again Carolyn Prasad's touching tribute to her "mail-order bride" mother, "The Making of a Matriarch." 

And Cathy S. Babao's story about "A Lesson My Mom, the Actress Caridad Sanchez, Told Me" 

For the Happy Home Cook, treat yourself to a repeat of Elizabeth Ann Quirino's Mango Refrigerator Cake, because it's May and mangoes are in season. Plus, hopefully, you've been good in quarantine. 

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

Commentary: Racism is the other virus sweeping America during this pandemic
https://www.chicagotribune.com/opinion/commentary/ct-opinion-coronavirus-asian-americans-morita-20200420-ep3bmn3tincczfihw3qvl64boa-story.html?fbclid=IwAR3G9NjNjFhxwBKVTWFSZWMbo5XjmyezMeB7APFYs4LGQ-QxirXK-6KwZ5s

Philippine nurses, long treated like exports, now told to stay home to fight coronavirus
https://news.yahoo.com/philippine-nurses-long-treated-exports-013256696.html

The Philippine Peso’s Resilience Is a Risk to the Economy
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/philippine-peso-resilience-risk-economy-221454976.html

'Second tragedy': Cremation traumatises in virus-hit Philippines
https://news.yahoo.com/second-tragedy-cremation-traumatises-virus-hit-philippines-043849393.html

The Heartbreaking ‘Last Shift’ of a New York City Nurse
https://ph.news.yahoo.com/heartbreaking-last-shift-york-city-170412559.html

Which ABS-CBN businesses can still operate after NTC's cease and desist order?
https://news.abs-cbn.com/business/05/05/20/which-abs-cbn-businesses-can-still-operate-after-ntcs-cease-and-desist-order?fbclid=IwAR1w8Z5dLemXle9LzpyL28VeNw0VTv3vuoX0xlYzQi9h4l9LCMC7iVNJTYM 

For video of week, the Filipino-American Airmen community of the US Air Force put together their version of the “Don’t Rush Challenge” on social media