Journeys in Place

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With a force of more than 1 million ethnic Chinese living in the Philippines and over 23 million Filipinos of Chinese ancestry, our homeland can harness "people-to-people exchanges and solidarity ties" to cool down the tensions in the South China Sea, aka West Philippine Sea. This interesting though largely untested proposal is presented by UP professor Eduardo C. Tadem, who honors his Chinese roots in "Blood Could Be Thicker than Water in the South China Sea."

The pandemic lockdown in the Philippines, reportedly one of the strictest in the world, didn't faze five friends with interesting backgrounds to set free their creativity without leaving their homes. Channeling their common love of photography, the five men have come out with Journeyers, an impressive coffeetable book that our publisher, Mona Lisa Yuchengco, has been privileged to get. In "Journeyers: Five Men with Cameras Walk into the World," she give us a glimpse of the journeyers' journeys.

Speaking of journeys, now that the pandemic restrictions have been relaxed, how about visiting Romblon, a relatively untraveled province rich in natural resources and beauty, which has bred a National Artist, among other distinguished native sons. Retired Ambassador Virgilio A. Reyes, Jr. describes the province's many attractions.

There have been many stories about the Philippine Commonwealth President Manuel L. Quezon, but here's first-hand testimony about how good a tango dancer he was, from the famous Arthur Murray himself. History buff Erwin R. Tiongson of the Philippines on the Potomac project digs up this fascinating historical vignette in "MLQ Loved Tripping the Light Fantastic at Arthur Murray’s."

In Case You Missed These Stories:

Community leader and broadcast veteran Don Villar on how Filipinos and African Americans worked together in the Pullman Workers Union:

http://www.positivelyfilipino.com/magazine/how-black-and-filipino-unity-was-forged-in-the-pullman-workers-union

PF Correspondent Elizabeth Ann Quirino on her visit to the Kipping house in Tarlac where Leonor Rivera lived:
https://www.positivelyfilipino.com/magazine/leonor-rivera-a-heros-sweetheart

For the Happy Home Cook, here's a post-Valentine treat:

https://www.positivelyfilipino.com/magazine/the-happy-home-cook-chocolate-bark-crackers-with-salted-caramel

Our Video of the Week: popular movie star Angelica Panganiban's latest viral video on how to cancel a "mambubudol" from your life

In The Know

Nurses Who Faced Lawsuits for Quitting Are Fighting Back
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2022-02-02/underpaid-contract-nurses-who-faced-fines-lawsuits-for-quitting-fight-back?utm_campaign=news&utm_medium=bd&utm_source=applenews

MacArthur Given $500,000
https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1980/01/29/macarthur-given-500000/3ad863a3-8caa-4792-b038-d91bb3f804b4/?fbclid=IwAR3b82A37BoZOIlUffZbNLQoG6Q8S3XKjSwMDjLaJzjDzXMTEzFti6v-AZo

Jose Rizal’s Girlfriends and His Naughty Amusements
https://www.esquiremag.ph/long-reads/features/jose-rizal-girlfriends-and-amusements-a00293-20200305?utm_source=Facebook-Esquire&utm_medium=Ownshare&utm_campaign=20220214-fbnp-long-reads-jose-rizal-girlfriends-and-amusements-a00293-20200305-fbold&fbclid=IwAR0bqbvGM6qRVozSEXr74j-wvG4qw2q9LIhtlIjRVrpbSY9rATjF-t5svbY

Those Fabulous Filipino Brothers – the Bascos
https://www.goldenglobes.com/articles/those-fabulous-filipino-brothers-bascos?fbclid=iwar2o7l0kdgwzsh-etprfpohlooshqv3ylnbwl_uhsesfq0tavniw3hpnoni 

Sta. Ana Cabaret, Where Manila’s Rich and Famous Partied ‘Til They Dropped 
https://www.esquiremag.ph/long-reads/features/sta-ana-cabaret-history-a2386-20200602-lfrm2?utm_source=Facebook-Esquire&utm_medium=Ownshare&utm_campaign=20220205-fbnp-long-reads-sta-ana-cabaret-history-a2386-20200602-lfrm2-fbold&fbclid=IwAR01BKOFtwk5C6BeG_fZx05OQ8VWHR9F3K5pvrLRAUKOuPY0aCRJi-DKTfs

Dolly Perez: The first lady of landscape architecture
https://philstarlife.com/news-and-views/456041-dolly-perez-the-first-lady-of-landscape-architecture

"I didn’t know that these girls were prostitutes. I just thought about them as my aunts."
https://www.esquiremag.ph/long-reads/notes-and-essays/-i-didn-t-know-that-these-girls-were-prostitutes-i-just-thought-about-them-as-my-aunts-a2020-20171017-lfrm2?utm_source=Facebook-Esquire&utm_medium=Ownshare&utm_campaign=20220210-fbnp-long-reads--i-didn-t-know-that-these-girls-were-prostitutes-i-just-thought-about-them-as-my-aunts-a2020-20171017-lfrm2-fbold&fbclid=IwAR3UxBpf5JmHypmj3LDvVHHwd1rzPbnSE-FZlydD3irMMzQrCcFIe_uAakU

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Gemma Nemenzo

Editor, Positively Filipino

Carnivals Come and Gone

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Filipinos are in for a rough-and-tumbly three months with the official beginning of the election campaign yesterday, February 8, until its culmination on May 9. Before the mud-slinging and the muddling go full gear, here's a clear-eyed sum-up by our Manila correspondent Ernesto M. Hilario of what's at stake in this, arguably the most important election of this era. 

Right now, we can still afford to indulge in some merry nostalgia with a look back on the spectacles of yesteryear - the Philippines International Fair of 1953 in Manila, a massive undertaking that, of course, generated controversy and obstacles. Surprisingly, not much information about the event has survived the onslaught of decades, as PF Correspondent/Internet sleuth Myles A. Garcia discovered. That's why this painstakingly researched story that he has put together is valuable today.

Another spectacle that has gone away with not much of a bang is the annual carnival of Cebu which introduced a long line of Cebuano beauties as carnival queens. Cecilia M. Brainard, whose mother was once a carnival queen, was able to gather bits and pieces of information on these celebrated beauties in her story this week. 

And since it's Valentine's week, let's enjoy again some historical romances from our archives:

Historian Ambeth R. Ocampo's "Romances in History" 
http://www.positivelyfilipino.com/magazine/romances-in-history

Penelope V. Flores' "Rizal's Great Loves" 
http://www.positivelyfilipino.com/magazine/2013/6/rizals-great-loves

Titchie Carandang-Tiongson and Erwin R. Tiongson's "The Untold Story of Nina Thomas" 
http://www.positivelyfilipino.com/magazine/the-untold-story-of-nina-thomas

And my story on "The Poet and the Women He Loved" 
http://www.positivelyfilipino.com/magazine/2013/2/the-poet-and-the-women-he-loved

Our Video of the Week is a heartwarming coverage of how a Fil-Am who was just sworn in as a US citizen was honored by the students of the elementary school where he works.

Don't fail to read the election stories whose links we have compiled in our special section, Philippine Elections 2022.

[Cook It Again] Vegan Filipino Spaghetti by Chef Richgail Enriquez

Philippine Elections 2022

Interview no-show and the Marcos myths
https://www.bworldonline.com/interview-no-show-and-the-marcos-myths/ 

Characteristics in Candidates Running for National Positions Should Possess
https://www.facebook.com/democracywatchph/posts/299961952165129

A generation that’s losing sleep over Marcos Jr.
https://www.rappler.com/voices/thought-leaders/analysis-generation-losing-sleep-ferdinand-bongbong-marcos-jr/?fbclid=IwAR2nzXkVAIrvN5BD2-TP--Kz8_OFwstZstMVOpHAbsDUB5DCgXc_9Ff9gIk

The ‘golden age’ I remember
https://opinion.inquirer.net/149457/the-golden-age-i-remember?fbclid=IwAR2VnWQl4bRZBrSuVbI4T7DP6YsDIw_sH48pGzdj0vci2cnpkBXgiTaiiQY

Hindsight No.4: Denial and Dissonance
https://penmanila.ph/2022/02/07/hindsight-no-4-denial-and-dissonance/?fbclid=IwAR1dCjP1gmZR0tbF2CbDMlXRd2GUXhpnjwYSLOQlIjVyzrLTCBxThyePEqc

In The Know

Philippine Congress Allows Full Foreign Ownership in Telco, Rail
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/philippine-congress-allows-full-foreign-013456660.html?soc_src=social-sh&soc_trk=ma

FBI releases ‘Wanted’ poster for Quiboloy
https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1550293/fbi-releases-wanted-poster-for-quiboloy?fbclid=IwAR3M4AAGgILK249-QOPyO200GRXuAn95YjKB5XZXse7Q7MooY9G2-IBtk3U

FAST FACTS: Who is Filipino Winter Olympian Asa Miller?
https://www.rappler.com/sports/things-to-know-asa-miller/?fbclid=IwAR1MvYp6vgr7l4XLeZyLjdSR7vJU1iWLDx2WddWjrlJE9r28V0SnSDalUgk

Our Progressive Past
gmanetwork.com/news/specials/content/206/our-progressive-past/?fbclid=IwAR2mlav8t9Di-Mp2jqDH2-9nWlpOwhnZzhLp_SP7Albihawy8R5GetqUek0

Kidlat Tahimik’s Subversive Retelling of the Philippines’ Colonial History
https://hyperallergic.com/694716/kidlat-tahimiks-subversive-retelling-of-the-philippines-colonial-history/ 

Digital artist reimagines Madrigal sisters from Disney film ‘Encanto’ as Filipinas
https://news.yahoo.com/digital-artist-reimagines-madrigal-sisters-234144264.html?soc_src=social-sh&soc_trk=ma

F. Sionil Jose's Solidaridad book store to continue operations
https://news.abs-cbn.com/life/02/04/22/f-sionil-joses-solidaridad-to-continue-operations?fbclid=IwAR2SUAmcHE9XMZlRpb6PBgvh65d8oazPmr_HT-o3zYpssiWPsT5o_nc5WW8 

When an icon turns 90: Celebrating Auntie Dorothy
https://iexaminer.org/when-an-icon-turns-90-celebrating-auntie-dorothy/?fbclid=IwAR3fF2Wqg0zC1lcThsfh_E3BT2pVAgML4T3UlUAQBKj3Cro-RWoDolM45oI 

With superheroes and puppets, Philippines boosts child COVID-19 vaccination drive
https://www.channelnewsasia.com/asia/superheroes-and-puppets-philippines-boosts-child-covid-19-vaccination-drive-2484456

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Gemma Nemenzo

Editor, Positively Filipino

Young Love and Vengeful Murders

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A sweet experience of teenage love in a lively neighborhood did not anticipate the unspeakable tragedy that would befall that community and the nation. 

An American husband resolved his long-denied personal pain through the communal mourning enabled by his  Filipina wife's close-knit clan.

A metaphorical "call to arms" for the forthcoming Philippine elections from someone who knows what it takes.

These and a tribute to our modern-day heroes -- Filipino health care workers in the Covid frontlines who gave up their lives so others will live -- mark the beginning of our Year of the Tiger offerings this week.

Here's more: a relevant Read Again now that the Tallano hoax is getting some air time in the Philippines as it relates to the alleged Marcos gold. Myles A. Garcia's "Philippine Hoaxes: of Cabbages and Kings, Grifters and Trolls" is a wild ride through some mind-boggling claims that no one in his right mind should take seriously. (But apparently some people do!).

Our Video of the Week features a tribute to Stella Abrera, the first Filipina prima ballerina of the renowned American Ballet Theater (PF has featured her twice.) She retired in June 2020 when the Covid pandemic was at its height, so her farewell dance performance in "Giselle" had to be cancelled.

Top the week off with Elizabeth Ann Quirino's recipe for Chinese Peanut Cookies. We posted this to celebrate the Year of the Rooster 2017 but it works just as well for the Year of the Tiger 2022.

In The Know (Philippine Election Edition)

Hindsight No. 3: A False Nostalgia
https://penmanila.ph/2022/01/31/hindsight-no-3-a-false-nostalgia/?fbclid=IwAR0BQE0Wx-Q7X-PaVoTE1XAczlIzW3R73n4BvB5bhcj-Sf-IS82hW5Jz5sw 

Boy Abunda takes on Lacson, Marcos and Robredo
https://verafiles.org/articles/boy-abunda-takes-lacson-marcos-and-robredo

Marcos Sr. on Marcos Jr.
https://opinion.inquirer.net/149062/marcos-sr-on-marcos-jr?fbclid=IwAR3asRZyiiUzeXeH8_mELmmCdB5duDuI_SgisxlFdC2xrz1yGZWbsVgTSCw

Philippines' presidential bet Marcos shuns talk of past atrocities
https://news.yahoo.com/philippines-presidential-bet-marcos-shuns-070101576.html?soc_src=social-sh&soc_trk=ma

[OPINION] What if Ka Leody had been invited to the Soho interview?
https://www.rappler.com/voices/thought-leaders/opinion-what-if-ka-leody-invited-soho-interview/?fbclid=IwAR0vSeNqRRqZM8f9Uaarvsktw2uiN7JPkQQhqVpKj-TJBtmfGDAFKM361nc

Sui Generis
http://us4.forward-to-friend.com/forward/show?u=81b6ec9d9be6b6261a822deb0&id=3b03af597c

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Gemma Nemenzo

Editor, Positively Filipino