Fil-Am Founded Care.com Bought for $500M By Media Giant IAC

Care.com founder Sheila Lirio Marcelo

Filipina American-founded Care.com, the world’s largest online marketplace for finding and managing family care, will be acquired by American-holding company IAC for $500 million. Care.com was founded by Sheila Lirio Marcelo in 2007 (See Inquirer.net for story).

UP Scientist Named Among World's Top 100

Mahar Lagmay (Photo from Mahar Lagmay)

University of the Philippines disaster scientist Mahar Lagmay has been named among the Top 100 Scientists on Twitter by Finster Data, the only Filipino to make it to the list (See GoodNewsPilipinas.com for story).

Fil-Am Boy Is U.S. Nat’l Cursive Writing Champ

Edbert Aquino

A Fil-Am fifth grader in New Jersey is the national cursive writing champion of the United States. Edbert Aquino, 10, took home last year’s national trophy, $500 and bragging rights for his Roman Catholic elementary school in Bergen County (See New York Times for story).

Stockton School to Be Named After 1st Fil-Am Teacher in California

Flora Arca Mata

An elementary school in Stockton, California will be named after Flora Arca Mata, the first Filipino American to graduate from the University of California, Los Angeles and served as the first Filipina and woman of color to teach at the Stockton Unified School District where she taught for 32 years (See AsAm News for story).

Filipina Receives Franco-German Rule of Law Prize

Mary Aileen D. Bacalso, former Secretary-General of the Asian Federation against Involuntary Disappearances (AFAD) receives the Franco-German Prize for Human Rights and the Rule of Law from French Ambassador Nicolas Galey and German Ambassador Anke Reiffenstuel (Philippine Embassy in France/Manila Bulletin)

Mary Aileen D. Bacalso, former Secretary-General of the Asian Federation against Involuntary Disappearances (AFAD), a multi-awarded Filipina human rights defender who dedicated most of her life in opposing involuntary disappearance was this year’s recipient of the Franco-German Ministerial Prize for Human Rights and the Rule of Law (See Manila Bulletin for story).

Fil-Am Teacher to Head Anaheim Elementary School Board

Jose Paolo Magcalas and his mother Marilou Dazo (Source: AJPRESS)

Jose Paolo Magcalas, a Filipino American educator, will serve as the president of Anaheim, California’s Elementary School District Board of Education for the coming year. (See Inquirer.net for story).

Chinese Construction Firm Wins $10B PH Airport Contract

China Communications Construction Co Ltd (CCCC) and its local partner have won an auction for a $10 billion airport on the outskirts of Manila, the latest move by Chinese state firms to gain a foothold in the Philippines (See Yahoo/Reuters for story).

Pope Taps Cardinal Tagle for Key Vatican Post

Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle and Pope Francis (Source: AP)

Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle is not the first Filipino to be appointed in the Vatican office of the Propaganda Fide that oversees the spread of Catholic Faith globally (See Inquirer.net for story).