Timeline of Our Life in America

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Positively Filipino's FilAm History timeline is the most comprehensive available. With this issue, we have added updates (in red) that hopefully keeps up with the constantly increasing number of milestones the community has chalked up to firmly establish its presence in the US. But timelines are always a work-in-progress, so please alert us if there are items missed or to be added.

Meanwhile, FilAm achievers continue to create history as they excel in their respective fields. Making the list in PF's "Fil Ams Among the Remarkable and Famous, Part 39" compiled by our publisher Mona Lisa Yuchengco, are a sportswriter/ESPN host, Miss USA 2022 and a U.S. Ambassador.

Tarmo Peltokoski, a 22-year-old Filipino-Finnish conductor is the current sensation among orchestra fans in Europe. Cultural writer Pablo A. Tariman profiles this amazing classical music star.

October 7 marks the 100th day of the presidency of Ferdinand Marcos Jr. How has he fared so far? PF's Manila-based analyst Ernesto M. Hilario writes a report card.

Here's a story that brings us back decades, to WWII and one man's harrowing experience in Fort Santiago. PF contributor Harvey Barkin has the written account of Enrique Fernandez, a Nueva Ecija tradesman, as shared by his son, Manny Fernandez.

Our Video of the Week features FilAm Ben Scharlin digging up the fascinating story of a little known revolutionary/babaylan named Papa Isio in Negros Occidental, the heart of the Philippine sugar trade. 

TOMORROW! REGISTER HERE!

In The Know

How Filipino Americans could decide the balance of the Senate

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/08/08/filipino-americans-voters-senate/

Undiscovering the Hidden Histories of California’s Filipino Community

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/blogs/smithsonian-education/2022/10/04/undiscovering-the-hidden-histories-of-californias-filipino-community/?fbclid=IwAR155nPAC6P9yCV3XFLVrNbDNY3PZStr71Litvlhi9J-XefUlwbPYg_gFMY

10 Award-Winning Filipino Movies on Netflix You Should Have Watched by Now

https://www.clickthecity.com/tv/article/129988/netflix-award-winning-filipino-movies/

Rhuigi Villaseñor Has Earned It

https://www.gq.com/story/gq-hype-rhuigi-villasenor?utm_source=nl&utm_brand=spotlight-nl&utm_campaign=aud-dev&utm_mailing=thematic_spotlight_092122_2&utm_medium=email&bxid=620a27d6813922770b3bd8a9&cndid=68611519&hasha=05ddf22f422e66287df84d4b55ef48a5&hashb=ce49ef3437bce21746d36352988bb7db8952786c&hashc=ae79b0e4adf2c0ab70bcc4e01da4fd8713d5081e7281775da76c12a1dd74ca53&esrc=spotlight_2022_07_01&sourcecode=thematic_spotlight&utm_term=Thematic_Spotlightt

The Fascinating Life of Nick Joaquin

https://www.esquiremag.ph/long-reads/nick-joaquin-life-a00293-20190507-lfrm?utm_source=Facebook-Esquire&utm_medium=Ownshare&utm_campaign=20221001-fbnp-long-reads-nick-joaquin-life-a00293-20190507-lfrm-fbold&fbclid=IwAR2qYv7s4iUIO-t58TYlDbiAKM5HWmS1iXbl2W1BUvB2Dgh3T-05hPcnirc

This charming Filipino restaurant in Berlin has gained local fans and even television fame

https://news.abs-cbn.com/ancx/food-drink/restaurants/10/02/22/berlins-pinoy-restaurant-has-gained-fans-and-tv-fame?fbclid=IwAR0MzuizWWgOcGDfGXM-WAWqdTiQcy50S1DJfti1nU7KfrSVHvXccqrpsrM

FilAm History: The Past As Prologue

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Positively Filipino strongly condemns the heinous assassination of our media colleague, the popular radio broadcaster Percy (Mabasa) Lapid on Monday night, October 3, Philippine time. We hope the Philippine authorities will expeditiously identify the perpetrators and the mastermind(s), and bring swift justice for the Mabasa family. 

We send our deepest condolences to the bereaved family. 

October is here again and with it, the annual celebration of Filipino American HISTORY Month, not Heritage month, as some publications have mistakenly named. There's an important distinction between these two terms, as explained by the late, beloved historian, Dr. Dawn Bohulano Mabalon:

Why October? It was the month of the first known landing of Filipinos in America, specifically in California. Though they were not yet known as Filipinos, but rather as Indios Luzones, these men were aboard the Spanish frigate, Nuestra Señora de Buena Esperanza, which started its journey from the Philippines on July 12, 1587, with Acapulco, Mexico as its final destination. California was its three-day stopover. Read Again about this history in Abraham Ignacio Jr.'s article, "Where Exactly Did 'Filipinos' First Land in California?"

October as Filipino American History Month is a nationwide commemoration, legislated by the US Congress and the California Legislature in 2009. It took 18 years of hard work to achieve this official designation and we owe the victory to the relentless efforts of the Filipino American National Historical Society (FANHS). 

In the early 20th century, when Filipino farmworkers began arriving in California in hordes, the farming region of Pajaro Valley was the initial destination of most of them. Today, a group of community researchers, the Watsonville Is in the Heart initiative in partnership with The Tobera Project, are unearthing and documenting the stories of the manongs. Christina Ayson Plank and Kathleen Cruz Gutierrez, both of the University of California Santa Cruz, tells us about their work.

Ponce Cazem of San Jacinto, Pangasinan, was one of those who sailed to America in 1929 to seek better opportunities. He didn't go the farmworker route, however. Instead, he got employment as a houseboy and chauffeur to some Hollywood stars and later, a rich family in Illinois. Cazem later distinguished himself as part of the 1st Filipino Infantry Regiment in WWII. His son, Mark Cazem, writes about his father's interesting life.

A young FilAm, Mikko Jimenez, pays tribute to his aunt who immigrated to the US in the late '60s and, in the process, reflects on his dual identity as American and Filipino.

Sumalee Montano is one FilAm to be proud of. She created, co-produced and stars in "The Deal," a sci-fi thriller inspired by her Filipino mother, currently showing on The Roku Channel. PF's LA-based Correspondent Anthony Maddela reports. 

Check out the FilAm History Month celebrations in our Partner posts below and in your communities. This month we gather and connect. 

In The Know

That’s how we roll! Lumpiang Shanghai is 2nd Best Street Food in the World, according to TasteAtlas

https://www.rappler.com/life-and-style/food-drinks/lumpiang-shanghai-ranking-best-street-world-tasteatlas-2022/?utm_medium=Social&utm_campaign=Echobox&utm_source=Facebook&fbclid=IwAR0y_lsvNL-W5C-sjjEQcrP9MYPeH4pSYtfBhFqh3yfvO6g9y_Sx9VYJxZI#Echobox=1664374781

The enduring legacy of Talisay’s Balay ni Tana Dicang

https://philstarlife.com/geeky/698178-enduring-legacy-talisay-balay-tana-dicang?page=6&fbclid=IwAR0_gv-Macb0jgToblI3xTESuHOQngQNd9CPbeyqTVIk6G4PJoB46cUocPA

These are the Best Serviced Apartments in Metro Manila

https://www.tatlerasia.com/homes/property/best-serviced-apartments-in-manila

Overlooked No More: Maria Orosa, Inventor of Banana Ketchup

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/29/obituaries/maria-orosa-overlooked.html?unlocked_article_code=RN3uDQrAvDGxkqFN4Va3CxOwRqLiJhPLVEST2e9-2wCHjErR2II5TY9EVwqmVu4tDw5MV9spKicEKGFAkDQZMxjaNEoAM8kI2D2R7diGTb8a07Iu3SgW44d1EkCP9xlSJLPAz8yK8PvMFUpDD_szTblYzbgD2EKHITQCIQv9Dokfovgk_bmrwWa6GrZicvetHG9AiAoevggXbvVv2lBIzDfJJQn1tp-vsdb-iaH5WrS8xwtszMF0x446NRDCH9Aa1T3ktRQMEHKjj_A7kZPl0nzVK9iNNl9UanH_3s_F2gFINqywNYiOTgfgXHCqUl6MTK5_4uUshysyS6Pffg1f6cjS5w&smid=share-url

This Family Is Putting Filipino Food On The Map In London

https://www.forbes.com/sites/lelalondon/2022/09/27/this-family-is-putting-filipino-food-on-the-map-in-london/?sh=6a6caa4c4aaf&fbclid=IwAR1AuDhk4gCDl9O6HymIFamTtyF8pvVO8MY5n2mNkXsS121cO7UDBhMAcM0

Filipino fan art inspires BTS’ Park Jimin’s tattoo

https://www.thediarist.ph/filipino-fanart-inspires-bts-park-jimins-tattoo/

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Staff

A September to Remember

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We end this September of remembering by noting that attempts by certain quarters to revise or even suppress history has triggered instead an outburst of recollections.  

Every action after all has an equal and opposite reaction, a Newtonian lesson that is lost on despots and their underlings all over the world.

Thus this month saw the emergence of an impressive collection of books, movies, stage plays, articles in print and online, art, songs, concerts and webinars to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the declaration of martial law in the Philippines. 

This is the time to learn and to teach. It is also a good time to document the never-ending array of stories from everyone who lived through that period and to reflect on who we are as a nation and people.

One recently completed documentary film with the intriguing title "11,103", reviewed here by veteran journalist Benjamin Pimentel, did just that.

A fraternity brother of both Ferdinand Marcos (the original) and Ninoy Aquino remembers a slain brother, Melito Glor, who chose to fight for "the other side."

Though September is about to end and we switch our focus to memories of other times (in October, it will be FilAm History Month), we will continue to be watchful and welcoming of stories that tell the history of our homeland.

Popular inquirer.net columnist Randy David puts the recent US visit of current President Bongbong Marcos in historical context, the better for us to understand the nuances of foreign relations. 

PF contributing writer Rafaelito Sy profiles former broadcast journalist, now a novelist Marga Ortigas whose debut novel, The House on Calle Sombra, draws from her coverage of Philippine and international realities.

And our lineup of FilAm community stars and stars-to-be continue with part 38, compiled by our publisher Mona Lisa Yuchengco.

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Staff