October 08, 2025

Stewards and Stalwarts

October 08, 2025/ Staff

We continue with Filipino American History Month with a look back at the storied Filipino Pensionados in the early part of the 20th century, who were sent here by the American authorities in the Philippines to be educated as future native stewards of U.S. colonial rule. “From the moment they set foot in California,” writes historian Alex Fabros Jr., the pensionados “became both students and political instruments” (From Colony to Campus: Filipino Pensionados in California, 1903–1940).

Cut to contemporary Filipino Americans: Nurse Kathleen Vargas of the Washington State Nurses Association will not stand idly by and let anyone diminish the worth of her fellow international nurses, reports our correspondent Anthony Maddela. She successfully pressured St. Joseph Medical Center to give full credit to international nurses’ overseas experience (“When This Filipina Pushed Back, All International Nurses Got a Fair Deal”).

[Read It Again]

The Wards Cove Case: Separate and Unequal by Cindy Domingo
Celestino’s Crusades by Lisa Suguitan Melnick
JR de Guzman Shows Filipinos Are Truly Funny by Anthony Maddela

[Video of the Week] Foreigners Who Love the Philippines vs. Filipinos Who Want to Leave the Philippines

In The Know

Manila Recovers Chinese Underwater Drone Operating in Philippine Waters
https://news.usni.org/2025/10/01/manila-recovers-chinese-underwater-drone-operating-in-philippine-waters?

US State Department flags ‘pervasive’ corruption in PH
https://usa.inquirer.net/180782/us-state-department-report-flags-pervasive-corruption-in-ph?

Podcast: When America tried to expel all Filipinos in the U.S.
https://gerfarinas.substack.com/p/podcast-when-america-tried-to-expel?r=2eosah&fbclid=I

Dillon Gabriel to become the second Filipino American starting quarterback in NFL history
https://www.instagram.com/p/DPWtZBEEbua/?igsh=

Lolita the Zebronkey: Manila Zoo’s Forgotten Wonder
https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=1324926856084067

Financial Adviser: 5 Business Lessons Everyone Can Learn from Sonya Garcia, Founder and CEO of Sonya’s Garden
https://www.esquiremag.ph/money/industry/sonyas-garden-sonya-garcia-business-lessons-

October 01, 2025

Grief, Rage, and a Dream Come True

October 01, 2025/ Staff

We all know that the death of a loved one triggers grief, but Allan Manalo tells contributing writer Wilfred Galila, “Grief is something not to get over; it’s something you learn to live with. Grief is love rearranged.” In “Comedian Allan Manalo’a Life In Bituin,” Galila relates how Manalo has channeled the intensity of his enduring grief from the passing of the love of his life into his one-man show.

Back in the homeland, massive protests have erupted against the biggest graft and corruption scandal in years, over graft from flood control projects. “Kurakot, ikulong!” (“Imprison the corrupt!”) is the enraged public’s overriding cry, and several legislators and contractors are in deep, deep trouble, Rosario Garcellano reports in “Return the Money, Jail the Crooks: Vigorous Protests Again Animate the Motherland.”

A long-held dream of Filipinos in Las Vegas is finally coming true. Filipino Town Cultural District in Las Vegas is here at last, “not just a landmark but a living, breathing cultural destination for locals and tourists alike,” reports Corin Ramos in “Unveiling of Filipino Town Las Vegas Sign Set for October 9, 2025.”

In celebration of Filipino American History Month, keep abreast of our community’s milestones and ongoing contributions in our updated “Filipino American History Timeline.”

[Video of the Week] KQED Celebrates Filipino American History Month

In The Know

Magnitude 6.9 earthquake kills 61, damages heritage churches in Cebu
https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/2117606/magnitude-6-7-quake-jolts-cebu

Extraordinary day in The Hague for the EJK dead
https://verafiles.org/articles/extraordinary-day-in-the-hague-for-the-ejk-dead

Filipinos Are Addicted to Online Gambling. So Is Their Government
https://apple.news/AsKbAF_CMSRmxhB7vuXbXTw

Keeping his literary legacy alive: Where to read Greg Brillantes’ timeless works
https://www.rappler.com/life-and-style/literature/greg-brillantes-literary-works-available-libraries-online/

Filipino designer Veejay Floresca is 'Project Runway' season 21's winner
https://mb.com.ph/2025/09/26/filipino-designer-veejay-floresca-is-project-runway-season-21s-winner

12 Filipino designers set to shine in Milan
https://tribune.net.ph/2025/09/18/12-filipino-designers-set-to-shine-in-milan?

September 24, 2025

Enough is Enough!

September 24, 2025/ Staff

For many sectors of the Filipino diaspora, the most compelling (read: emotion-triggering, disbelief-baiting, thought-provoking) drama nowadays is not on Netflix or Hulu or the usual streaming services.

It's the ongoing investigations on high corruption among government officials happening in the Philippines (usually on YouTube). What started out as outrage against the sub-standard or completely absent flood control projects (that nature exposed with rainfall so devastating) has now ballooned into a new national passion that pervades all sectors: looking for evidences of corruption in every nook and cranny of government.

The effort is multi-generational (the tech-savvy Gen Zs are in the forefront), multi-sectoral, unencumbered by class, age and ideologies. During the massive rallies on September 21, families including small children filled up EDSA and to a certain extent, Luneta. The mood, according to reports, is angry, impatient, no longer willing to accept cover-ups or half-hearted efforts by investigators. It goes with a lot of skepticism -- will Congress have the guts to punish their own? Will the powerful be exempt? Along with these are the high expectations that will determine the fate and legacy of the Marcos II administration.

Of course there are efforts by certain groups to derail and debunk, single-minded as they are to effect a regime change. But their activities have been epic fails, powered as they are by their delusions. So far.

Our homeland right now is teetering on a tightrope and we who are watching from afar can only hope that the next month or so will be a game changer. As the rallyists chanted last Saturday, "Tama Na, Sobra Na, Ikulong Na!" This is the closest to "off with their heads" that the Filipino nation -- generally a forgiving lot -- can muster.