Talking About Tariff

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When Philippine President Bongbong Marcos met with US President Trump at the White House over a week ago, it resulted in a one percent reduction of tariffs on Philippine exports, from the original 20 percent to 19 percent. No tariffs will be imposed on US goods to the Philippines. A lopsided trade deal? Perhaps but, as our writer Rene Astudillo (who writes as Politikal Pinoy on Facebook) opines, it need not be the be-all and end-all of US-Philippine trade deals. In fact, the Philippines can turn it into a competitive advantage, he says. How? Read "Trump's Tariff Need Not Hurt PH" for a different take on this issue.

Kulintang in the Alps? Read about how Conrad Benedicto, a kulintang player, brought the traditional instrument of Maguindanao to Switzerland to celebrate Philippine Independence Day with the Filipino-Swiss community in Chur and Bern. 

More remarkable FilAms in PF publisher Mona Lisa Yuchengco's continuing and growing compilation, now in its 69th edition.

We wish you all a meaningful and comfortable August, weather-wise, as the world deals with torrential rains, flooding, extreme heat and war crimes.

[Read It Again]

Leaving Gaza by Chupsie Medina
June Dalisay, Art Healer by Serina Aidasani
Mark of Four Waves by Mel Orpilla

{Video of the Week] Filipino Couple Walks Down Flooded Aisle on Wedding Day

In The Know

Jollibee named best fried chicken in U.S. in editor-reader poll
https://asamnews.com/2025/07/18/fast-food-fried-chicken-poll-usa-today/ 

9 Independent Bookstores in the Philippines to Discover Your Next Read
https://rollingstonephilippines.com/culture/books/9-indie-bookstores-in-philippines/

The Tragic Story of the Passing of 24 Filipino Boy Scouts Involved in a Plane Crash
https://www.esquiremag.ph/long-reads/features/filipino-boy-scouts-plane-crash-true-story 

Kara David & Karmina Constantino on the Lola Who Taught Them the Power of Words
https://www.spot.ph/newsfeatures/newsfeatures-peopleparties/111678/meet-the-woman-who-shaped-kara-david-and-karmina-constantino?

108-year-old Fil-Am shares tips for a long, happy life
https://usa.inquirer.net/154417/108-year-old-fil-am-shares-tips-for-a-long-happy-life

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Staff

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. 

*****

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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Staff