A War’s Toxic Legacy

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Agent Orange. An innocuous enough term for those who were not yet around during the Vietnam War or who are not aware of its folly. But for those who were there, like historian/writer and Vietnam War veteran Alex Fabros, hearing the term triggers a historical trauma, a deep-seated PTSD, an inescapable decades-long physical deterioration, hand-me-down genetic defects to offspring, a bureaucratic nightmare and a generational guilt that permeate the psyches of VW veterans. In other words, Agent Orange, the chemical weapon that the US unleashed in then-South Vietnam from 1962-1971 was, by any definition, a colossal bomb that may be as physically and psychologically destructive as the nuclear bombs dropped in Hiroshima and Nagasaki in WWII.

"How Vietnam War Vets Wrestled with the Shadows of the Toxic Orange Mist" by Alex Fabros, our lead story this week, was not easy to write. Though he wrote the first version a few years ago, Alex had to set it aside several times. The memories and the pain that he endures to this day are just too much. We went back and forth with it for months as he rewrote, re-edited, tweaked. This while he was in and out of the hospital as he continues to bravely battle ailments related to, yes, Agent Orange.

As you read his story -- and we hope you will take it to heart --please take a moment to reflect on the immeasurable costs of war, not just to actual combatants and their families, but to nations and the future of mankind. 

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Our other stories this week:

"New Residency Fellowship for Fil-Am Writers Launched" by Elaine Elinson introduces the Helen Toribio Kapwa Fellowship for Filipino and FilAm writers and activists at the Mesa Refuge, a writing residency north of San Francisco. The fellowship, named after a FilAm author/activist who passed away a few years ago, now has its first three recipients.

"Trump Immigration Clampdown Facing Backlash" is PF editor Rene Ciria Cruz's column, Edgewise in Rappler, where he dissects the pernicious implementation and effects of Trump's ill-conceived immigration actions that have led to the rapid fall of his poll numbers.

"Soccer, Lola, and the Persistence of Memory" by Anthony Maddela talks about FilAm soccer player Reina Bonta's short documentary, "Maybe It's Just the Rain," which is essentially a love letter to her Filipina lola Cynthia Bonta whose consequential life is definitely film material. 

Our Video of the Week: Retired Stockton teacher continues to inspire her Filipino community

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Staff

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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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.

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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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