No Paywalls or Pop-Ups, Just Pleasure

If you've been checking out multiple pubs online for your news fix, you know all about the paywall which stops you from accessing the rest of the content after you've reach your limit for the month. To continue, you have to buy a subscription.

Then there are those annoying online ads that pop up or clutter your screen, interrupting your reading or requiring you to scroll down repeatedly before you can see the rest of the story.

Well, with Positively Filipino, you will not have any of these. What you get is plain, pleasurable, uninterrupted reading. And all we ask in return is for you to spread the word -- share the link to the magazine -- so our global barangay of readers and contributing writers will get bigger and livelier.

Occasionally we will ask you to share your thoughts, the better for us to know you more. And we welcome story contributions (subject to topic approval and our editorial standards; send query to PFeditor@yahoo.com).

As we begin our 8th year of publication, we hope that 2021 will be another year of sharing and caring in our uniquely Positively Filipino way. 

Our Stories This Week

Where Giving Back Is The Main Course By Cherie M. Querol Moreno

She Tracks The Wind For Wildlife’s Sake By Anthony Maddela

Read Again: 

The First Quarter Storm Was No Dinner Party, Part 1 By Jose Lacaba

The First Quarter Storm Was No Dinner Party, Part 2 By Jose Lacaba

Note From The Underground By Patricio Abinales

[Recipe of the Week] The Happy Home Cook: Steamed Stuffed Bitter Melon A La Siomai By Rene Astudillo 

[Video of the Week] Ambeth and the San Miguel Corporation anniversary

In The Know

‘It’s Starting Again’: Why Filipino Nurses Dread the Second Wave
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/15/nyregion/filipino-nurses-coronavirus.html?smid=fb-share&fbclid=IwAR2_onJf7EDLWdmEyUrhQyCm0wDzo892iJNzGMrNIKvs4x9wPisDFamRlzs 

These are the proposed toll fees for SMC's Skyway 3
https://www.autoindustriya.com/auto-industry-news/these-are-the-proposed-toll-fees-for-smc-s-skyway-3.html?fbclid=IwAR0tsm4vHXzyiTLHang3-0MjWOGoLHwI8XzGo2f0ol_LviWaZJ3_ya7Mck0

[ANALYSIS] Trying to understand Filipino-American Catholics who voted for Trump
https://www.rappler.com/voices/ispeak/analysis-trying-understand-filipino-american-catholics-voted-trump?fbclid=IwAR2lSqvBcSORSWu6zJCNPU9PXT7FnXUM8L8hAUsTTTGCeKUUsiMyv-DdgCc

Why Filipinos Love the Santo Niño
https://nqc.gov.ph/en/resources/why-filipinos-love-the-santo-nino/?fbclid=IwAR0K45O1k3yv5HqFV95kWv3wedysDLdC9VNFz7zv1mcj08-qwqYG4HxhcQE

In the Philippines, the soon-to-be tallest statue of the Virgin Mary in the world is about to be ready
https://catholicsay.com/in-the-philippines-the-soon-to-be-tallest-statue-of-the-virgin-mary-in-the-world-is-about-to-be-ready/?fbclid=IwAR0Ape2Pv0a0mqTTdNRdXLnTpaOGM905tJN4h0KTa7iBAMyvcBWgmr53seo

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What the #@!, Tiger?

As the clock ticks toward the 2016 national elections in the Philippines, controversies hound the Aquino administration even as the economy is roaring its way to Asian tigerhood. Marites D. Vitug offers an incisive analysis on this irony in "Aquino Conundrum at the Heart of Messy Politics," which we picked up from Nikkei Asian Review.

We also feature this week two artist friends who are unrelenting in their pursuit of their artistic passions:

First, Sonny Alforque who, for 25 years now, has produced and directed a community theater in every sense of the word in Sacramento, California. The Sinag-tala theatrical revue which happens every first weekend of December is always worth driving two hours for just to enjoy the energy, the enthusiasm and the varied talents of Filipino American children and adults who have come under the tutelage of Sonny. Regular contributor Anthony Maddela profiles this theater dynamo in "Sonny Alforque Shines the Light on Sinag-tala."

Second, Filipina artist France Viana explores the various shades of Filipino skin color in an innovative installation ongoing at Mills College in Oakland, California. In "Fifty Shades of Kayumanggi," Manzel Delacruz explains the complex concept and the hard work that France put into this exhibit of her extraordinary talent.

Meanwhile, for entrepreneurs and companies wanting to do business in the Philippines, Marla D. Rausch, CEO of Animation Vertigo, draws on her extensive experience in taming the bureaucratic beast in our homeland. Be sure to read "10 Things You Should Know About Starting a Business in the Philippines" before you take the plunge. 

The Happy Home Cook recipe for the week features Ampalaya with Beef or Shrimp, from the kitchen of Jojo Sabalvaro-Tan. 

And for our Video of the Week, a couple weds under the best and the worst of circumstances. Be prepared to shed tears.