A Meaningful Journey

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Toronto-based intrepid traveler/chronicler/photographer Odette Foronda invites us to experience (not just see) Auschwitz, 70 kilometers from Krakow, Poland and site of the most notorious Nazi concentration camp in WWII. It's not going to be a joyful journey but a meaningful one, an important history lesson in fact, considering current US and world realities. Through her words and photos, Odette poses a challenge: learn and understand what happened in Auschwitz and disprove what she quotes a wise man as saying, that "The only thing we learn from history is that we learn nothing from history."

FilAm artist and picture book illustrator Niña Mata has come up with a children's book called Girls to the Front, featuring 40 Asian American women from various generations who became prominent in their chosen fields. Of the 40, seven are Filipinas. Find out who they are from Claire Mercado-Obias' review, "Let's Hear It for the Girls."

She may not look Filipino but multi-awarded theater and film actress Sunita Mukhi is as Filipino as sinigang and tinikling. Born and bred in the Philippines, educated in St. Scholastica and La Salle, Sunita, now a US citizen, goes home (to Manila) whenever she has the time because family and friends are there waiting for her. Rogelio Constantino Medina profiles this totally Filipino performer.

Our Video of the Week: to commemorate the 9th anniversary of the arbitral ruling on the West Philippine Sea, a concert at sea was organized by Akbayan. 

Read Again: 

How Filipinos Got Their Surnames by Penélope V. Flores
Quezon Saved Jews from the Holocaust by Ambeth R. Ocampo
Filipino Terms of Endearment by Myles A. Garcia

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Staff

Our Net Gain–Alex Eala

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The current darling of the Philippine sports scene is tennis phenom Alex Eala. The 20-year-old is now the highest ranking Filipino in Women's Tennis Association (WTA) history at number 56. Just a few weeks ago, Alex played at Wimbledon against defending champion Barbora Krejcikova of Czechoslovakia. Though she wasn't able to beat Krejcikova that time, the tennis world took notice. The general outlook is it will only be a matter of time before Alex will be vying for the championship. 

Here's a little known fact about her background: her first tennis trainor was her maternal grandfather, Bobby Maniego, who grew up in the University of the Philippines (UP) campus in Diliman. When Alex was a little girl, Maniego would take her to the UP tennis court for practice. Unfortunately, the grandfather passed away before his granddaughter started making her mark in world tennis.

Veteran sports columnist for Business Mirror Tessa Jazmines shares her story on Alex Eala.

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In another arena, a Filipino girl group is just as sensational. BINI, composed of eight multi-talented Filipinas, has exploded into the BINIverse and recently performed at London's OVO Wembley Arena. PF contributing writer Julienne Loreto was there and shares her unforgettable pride not just as a certified Bloom(s), often stylized as BL∞M(S), the BINI fandom, but as part of the huge Filipino community in the UK who came in hordes to support its own.

*****

The street heroes  of Binondo is the subject of a photo essay by a journalism student, Mikaelah Bianca Panopio, based on her interviews with the street vendors and workers, and her photos of them.

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"What to the immigrant is the 4th of July?" In this timely essay that clearly resonates in these days of extreme uncertainty, Jose Antonio Vargas eloquently dissects the effects of recent government actions on those who are the subject of unwarranted scrutiny and harassment. First published in Time magazine and reposted with the author's permission, the essay is food for thought and action.

Read It Agains: 
Boy Camara Superstar by Bella Bonner
Kapwa, Bayanihan, Makibaka! The FAJ Story by Susan V. Tagle
My Bacolod of Sights, Sounds, Smells by Lilia V. Villanueva

[Video of the Week] The History of Filipino Women That Schools Never Taught Us

In The Know

From Bohol to the World: The Heartfelt Journey of Song of the Fireflies
https://www.esquiremag.ph/culture/movies-and-tv/the-making-of-song-of-the-fireflies-a3690-20250703-lfrm2?

Today I Learned: The Makahiya Plant Is an Aphrodisiac
https://www.esquiremag.ph/life/sex-and-relationships/today-i-learned-makahiya-aphrodisiac-

First Olympic gold medalist Hidilyn Diaz hints she might teach at UP
https://www.abs-cbn.com/sports/othersports/2025/7/6/hidilyn-diaz-hints-she-might-teach-at-up-1115

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Staff

On July 4, A Changed America

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It's July and another Philippine-American Friendship Day is upon us (July 4).

While the Philippine government welcomes the pledged support and military hardware that the U.S. has bestowed to counter the Chinese aggression in the West Philippine Sea, the almost 5 million-strong Filipino community living in the U.S. is facing a different reality -- a changed America, no longer the welcoming land of freedom and democracy. Instead there are threats to the way of life, the safety nets, the comfort of citizenship (among others) that we have worked hard for to reap the benefits of living lawfully in America. One thing sure: the concept, the ideal and the celebration of Philippine-American friendship is up for a deep rethinking in the next few years.

This first-of-July 2025 issue of Positively Filipino brings good tidings though. Sulu, the province way down south of the Philippine archipelago, is emerging from decades of war devastation and is now a peaceful, safe and bustling (comparatively speaking) destination, as PF Correspondent Criselda Yabes happily reports. She knows the province well, having lived part of her childhood there and has since been visiting regularly. This welcome development is reason for hope. "Everything around me moved at the relaxed pace. Everywhere I went there were signs of things looking better. No one knows how long the relative peace will last, or if Sulu will get the future it deserves," Cris writes. Unlike her previous visits, she could now dare to be optimistic that the province's dark years are over. "Leaving the island felt better this time around. I can’t say entirely if it’s in better hands, but I’m counting on the people to know what goodness brings, without the fear of gunfire," she concludes. 

We always welcome heroes, or stories about them. Like this little known heroine of WWII, Josefina "Joey" Guerrero, who was afflicted with leprosy but managed to provide valuable intelligence to Allied forces that saved many Filipino and American lives. In a 200-page biography written for middle schoolers, FilAm author Erin Entrada Kelly accords this valiant U.S. Medal of Freedom awardee the recognition and honor she richly deserves. PF Correspondent Elizabeth Ann Quirino writes about At Last She Stood: How Joey Guerrero Spied, Survived, and Fought for Freedom.

Two Filipino venture capitalists are smashing the traditional rules of funding startups and rewriting them to ensure a more equitable access to capital. Read about them and their upcoming "Power Forward" investment summit. 

Read It Again:

A Valiant People's Army by John L. Silva 

A Reunion of Strangers by Oscar Peñaranda 

The Battle of Manila, WWII by James M. Scott

 [Video of the Week] In The Studio With Patis Tesoro - Vogue Philippines

In The Know

TRENDING: Dylan Harper's Filipino mom, Maria, captures attention after his NBA draft
https://philstarlife.com/celebrity/924358-dylan-harper-s-filipino-mom-maria-pizzaro-harper-trends?

F. Sionil José’s Manila bookshop up for sale
https://varsitarian.net/literary/20250628/f-sionil-joses-manila-bookshop-up-for-sale?

Remembering the Chinese Battalion That Defended the Philippines During World War II 
https://www.esquiremag.ph/long-reads/features/wa-chi-battalion-a1520-20200218-lfrm?

Not American enough. Not Mexican enough. But in Filipino love, Rocio found home.
https://www.facebook.com/thefilipinostoryofficial/videos/4123376281270830?vh=e&extid=MSG-UNK-UNK-UNK-IOS_GK0T-GK1C

Rock Doc on the Association's Larry Ramos Has World Premiere in Houston
https://www.houstonpress.com/music/things-to-do-see-along-comes-larry-trailer-from-director-rick-quan-20759448

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Staff