Our Manongs' Coachella

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For millennials and GenZers, Coachella in Southern California means an annual pilgrimage to the massive music and art festival of most Aprils since 1999.

For farm laborers in the 1960s, including Fil-Am writer/historian Alex S. Fabros, Jr. writing part 3 of his memoirs about his years as a farmworker, the Coachella Valley meant hard daily labor harvesting grapes. But the place meant more than just farms in labor movement history: it was here where the stirrings of what later exploded as the Delano Grape Strike of 1965-1970 began. (Note: The Delano Grape Strike, initiated by Fil-Am labor leaders Larry Itliong and Philip Vera Cruz, began on September 8, 1965. It lasted until July 29, 1970.)

Fabros' story of what happened in Coachella in 1965 is an important labor movement chronicle and a significant chapter of his love life as well. 

And more of Fabros' writings, after attending PF's tribute to the second batch of manongs and manangs last August 24, he wrote a poem for the ten honorees. Fabros was one of the awardees in 2024, the first time the event was held.

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Another love story: when celebrated Filipino master violinist Gilopez Kabayao was making his debut at Carnegie Hall at age 20, Corazon Pineda was still an infant. But that didn't stop their fates from meshing -- she, growing up a piano virtuoso, became his favorite accompanist and eventually his wife and the mother of his three children. Their love story spanned half a century, as told by PF contributing writer Maria Carmen Sarmiento, ending only when Kabayao passed away last year at age 94. 

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Who wants to go on an African safari? Who doesn't? Our intrepid traveler/writer/photographer Odette Foronda finally embarked on her dream adventure at age 70 and she tells/shows us how it went.

[Read It Again]

From Spain to Delano—The Radical Roots of Farm Workers Unions by David Bacon

Nelia Sancho: The Last Conversations by Lynett Advincula-Villariba

[Video of the Week]

Coachella 565 - Another Chapter in Filipino American Labor History

In The Know

DOCUMENTARY: Mula dagat hanggang sikmura
https://www.rappler.com/environment/documentary-fish-loss-daram-samar/

You’re Not Alone: Survey Says Millennials and Gen Zs Use Travel to ‘Mentally Reset’
https://www.esquiremag.ph/life/travel/klook-travel-pulse-survey-2025-a7940-20250504?

‘Magellan’ Review: Gael Garcia Bernal Plays the Famous Explorer in Lav Diaz’s Exquisitely Shot Challenge of an Arthouse Epic
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-reviews/magellan-review-gael-garcia-bernal-lav-diaz-1236229407/

Yes, These Churches in the Philippines Were Built With Eggs
https://www.esquiremag.ph/culture/lifestyle/churches-philippines-built-with-eggs-a2765-20220614-lfrm?

Young Fil-Am Dance Crew Conquers US Stage
https://www.facebook.com/reel/781715634392041

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Staff

Our Manongs and Manangs: They're Positively Filipinos

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Last Sunday, August 24, Positively Filipino hosted the second "Building Communities: A Tribute to our Manongs and Manangs" event at the San Francisco Public Library. Here is an excerpt from PF Publisher Mona Lisa Yuchengco's welcome address:

For the past 12 years, Positively Filipino has been publishing weekly, to inform the Filipino diasporic community with accurate information, about our culture and heritage, our heroes and sheroes, and issues that affect us not only in our adopted countries, but also in our Motherland.

The name Positively Filipino evokes pride in being a Filipino, wherever we may be. The name Positively Filipino is also a rejection and a reversal of the racism that Filipinos faced in the 1930s where a hotel in Stockton posted a warning sign that read, “Positively No Filipinos Allowed.” It’s been almost 100 years since then, and we have come a long way. Yet, no one doubts that we are still fighting for the recognition of our contributions to this country. 

The ten outstanding individuals we are honoring today are all of immigrant background, who left the Philippines in search of a better life in America. All of them achieved success and recognition in their own right despite the difficulties and prejudices they faced. 

This year has brought so many disruptions to our political system and challenges to our longstanding values of empathy and respect for diversity. Immigration, the very system that brought many of us to these shores, is undergoing radical changes. While all nations have the right to control their borders, the right of individuals to due process, be they native-born or immigrant, is the hallmark of a democratic society.

Unfortunately, the rules-based system we have lived in is being seriously tested by new and arbitrary policies. It doesn’t matter anymore that your grandparents or parents toiled the farms in Hawaii and California. Or if you and your family members have served in the military and died for this country. Or if you risked your life to care for others during the pandemic. With or without legal status, US citizen or not, anyone can be suspected of violating immigration laws and can be detained even “based on physical features,” according to a current border enforcement chief.

Beneath dark political clouds, it becomes even more important to honor our manongs and manangs for their contributions to this country and our community. Let it be known that they have given this country their knowledge and skills to help run farms, businesses, classrooms, hospitals, care homes, services, and government offices. We thank this country for giving them—and us—the opportunity to do so, but gratitude should flow both ways.

Let us, our community, be the first to thank our elders, among them these ten honorees, on whose shoulders we stand, for paving the way for all of us. We must continue to tell our stories as integral parts of this American life.

Our Stories This Week

Honor the Past, Uplift the Present, Inspire the Future by Lorna Lardizabal Dietz

“Community Building: A Tribute to Our Manongs and Manangs 2025” honored the legacies of our Filipino American pioneers.

[Video] Building Communities: A Tribute to Our Manongs and Manangs 2025 by Ken Guanga

Positively Filipino continues to honor Filipino Americans who have given us pride.

Cutting Asparagus in Gonzales, California — Spring 1965 by Alex S. Fabros, Jr. 

Farmworker-Soldier-Historian Alex Fabros, Jr. shares the second part of his Filipino American memoir.

Filipino Language and Its Discontents by Julienne Loreto

It’s Buwan ng Wika (Language Month) but shouldn’t it be Buwan ng mga Wika (Month of Languages) instead?

Have Books, Will Travel by Claire Mercado-Obias

A vacation reading list for those who can’t travel but need an escape.

FilAms Among The Remarkable And Famous, Part 70 by Mona Lisa Yuchengco

Role models and achievers, some of whom you may not even know are Filipino.

{Read It Again]

When Lolo’s Debating Team Vanquished America by Liana Romulo

The Last Night of I-Hotel by Veronica Versoza

[Video of the Week]

Alexandra Eala on Tennis in the Philippines

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Staff

A Fateful Homecoming, August 21, 1983

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What does it take for a young kid fresh out of high school in the mid-'60s to learn about real life before he joins the US military in Vietnam? For Fil-Am writer/historian Alex S. Fabros, Jr., it was doing back-breaking labor with Filipino manongs in the farmlands of California. In this issue, we post the first of a series of five stories Fabros wrote about his time as a farm laborer. The story -- and the series itself -- is a valuable Fil-Am history lesson, made more so by the author's end notes and citing of sources. 

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"He will be lonely without me." While probably said in jest, these words from Benigno "Ninoy" Aquino, Jr. of his arch-rival, then-President Ferdinand Marcos, shortly before he (Aquino) left his US exile to fly home to Manila is the ultimate ironic statement. Forty-two years ago tomorrow, on August 21, 1983, Aquino landed in Manila and was shot dead, a heinous act that marked the beginning of the end of the Marcos regime.  Chibu Lagman, a then-student journalist who happens to be Aquino's fraternity brod recalls his last interview with the Filipino martyr.

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Humor that bites -- that's what stand-up comedian Vice Ganda is known for. With over 20 million followers in social media, Vice is a formidable force in Philippine society and politics, as our Manila-based correspondent Rene Astudillo attests. 

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Filipina nurses in WWII is now the focus of a campaign by the Bataan Legacy Historical Society to recognize their heroism with a Congressional Gold Medal. Cecilia Gaerlan, the group's Executive Director and founder, writes about Adelaida Garcia, one of the heroic nurses, to jumpstart the campaign.

[Read It Again]
The Ghosts of Plaza Miranda by Gregg Jones
August 21, 1971: A Testament to My Immaturity by Mila D. Aguilar 
Diary of a Fil-Am Cop by Edwin Palomar

[Video of the Week]
”Quezon” Trailer

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Staff