January 08, 2025

An Icon of Human Decency

January 08, 2025/ Staff

The President Jimmy Carter exhibit at the Martin Luther King, Jr. National Historic Site in Atlanta, GA.

Jimmy Carter, the 39th President of the United States, served from 1977-1981 -- an ancient time now for our young readers but halcyon days for those who lived through it. He may not have been the most effective president but he led at a time of decency, courtesy, honor and civil bipartisanship in US politics. Remember those days?

It was after his presidency, however, that the full measure of Jimmy Carter's greatness emerged. From the time he left office at 56 years old until his last breath at 100 years old, he was an indefatigable fighter for democracy, human rights, international peace and economic development. He wrote multiple books, helped build houses with Habitat for Humanity, lectured, met with world leaders and basically showed the world what a real decent human being can be -- one who puts the greater good over and above self-interests, without the need for the trappings of high office.

Let's extol President Carter today; we may not see the likes of him again in the coming years.

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Positively Filipino has been unstinting in its coverage of the exemplary work of Filipino American nurses through our articles and webinars. It's gratifying to find out that even outside the US, Filipino nurses are winning accolades and positions of responsibility, as reported by our contributing writer, Jerome Babate who heads the Filipino Nursing Diaspora Network (FiND), in "2024: A Landmark Year for Filipino Nurses Globally."

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Much have been written about the [long-delayed] Congressional Medals of Honor that the US Congress has [finally] bestowed on Filipino World War II veterans but there's still one crucial benefit that has eluded them: getting their families who were left in the Philippines to the US. Seattle-based veterans' advocate Conrado (Sluggo) Rigor, Jr. describes the heartbreaking fate of Filipino vets who came to the US in their twilight years in "Forgotten Freedom Fighters."

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On the lighter side, how would you like your portrait done by an artist whose works are conversation pieces? PF Correspondent Rey de la Cruz writes about the portrait painter, Kim Canonigo.

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For a story that will leave you breathless with shock, check out our first link (from the New York Times) in our In The Know section below.

Read Agains:

January Is Fiesta Time Staff

How Filipinos Got Their Surnames by Penelope Flores

[Video of the Week] The Last Traditional Sailboat in the Philippines

In The Know

Private Bruno R. Orig: Medal of Honor
https://www.army.mil/medalofhonor/orig/index.html?

On the Run, a Hit Man Gives One Last Confession
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/05/world/asia/philippines-hit-man-confession.html

Edgar Matobato ‘currently safe’ after fleeing Philippines
https://www.rappler.com/philippines/edgar-matobato-duterte-whistleblower-safe-after-fleeing-country/

Best Filipino Restaurants in Chicago
https://www.facebook.com/reel/430328429798233

Why Filipino restaurants go out of business; 2 chefs offer their insights (Part 1)
https://thefilam.net/archives/42493?fbclid

September 20, 2023

A September to Remember

September 20, 2023/ Staff

September is the month to remember the full impact of the Marcos dictatorship in our homeland. Here are some reminders from our archives:

Marcos’ Legacy and the Philippine Military

Martial Law Stories: My Thriller in Manila

The island of Negros in the 1970s and 1980s fell on hard times when the US ended its market quota for Philippine sugar in 1974. Just two years after the declaration of martial law, President Ferdinand Marcos handed the reins of the industry to his cronies. What started out as an attempt to avert a crisis created the biggest crisis of all: the downfall of the once-formidable sugar industry which in turn led to families losing their farms and sugar farmers losing their livelihood. By the time the Marcos administration was forced to exile in 1986, social unrest and famine were widespread. Ian Rosales Casocot, whose family lost everything during the market crash, wrote about their descent to destitution (Read: "Raping Sugarland").

In February 1945, a daring rescue by US troops of prisoners of war (POW) at the UST campus happened. It wasn't exactly a clean operation -- while the POWs were freed, several of the rescuers were killed. Worse, the Japanese military retaliated with a massacre of civilians in Los Banos, Laguna. Cecilia Gaerlan, head of the Bataan Legacy Historical Society tells us the story.

A Filipino/Indian/Canadian newscaster has been a constant presence in broadcast news in Vancouver, British Columbia for years. Jason Pires' recent career move confirms his upward trajectory in an industry and a market that reward hard work and talent.

In the US, the list of remarkable Filipino Americans in various fields continues to grow. Chapter 51 of our publisher, Mona Lisa Yuchengco's, compilation is here.

Likewise, our series on Bridge Generation stalwarts by writer/historian Peter Jamero continues with a profile of Seattle-based civil rights activist Lois Fleming.

[Video of the Week] The Story of the Filipino: Dely Po Go

In The Know

Romualdez article takedown: Editor quits, asserts no official immune from scrutiny
https://www.rappler.com/nation/usa-editor-inquirer-net-resigns-reasons-no-official-shielded-scrutiny-removal-romualdez-harvard-story/

Vanessa Hudgens is doing all she can to let everyone know she’s Filipino
https://nextshark.com/vanessa-hudgens-interview-filipino-heritage

Tsokolate! The rise of Philippine fine chocolate
https://verafiles.org/articles/tsokolate-the-rise-of-philippine-fine-chocolate?fbclid=IwAR0o77SmHDWkBpjGWVQSE7Xe-ehy1e9tCXbeoRRkE4T7y5dxjIb5zjxs5WA

Doreen Gamboa Fernandez, Her Legacy And Legend
https://metro.style/food/features/doreen-gamboa-fernandez-legacy-filipino-food-writi/36237

From New York to Seattle, these soon-to-open Filipino restaurants are worth waiting for
https://usa.inquirer.net/136381/from-new-york-to-seattle-these-soon-to-open-filipino-restaurants-are-worth-waiting-for?fbclid=IwAR0MEtv-iLeJsoz4Vok47OnwDJHJMVGIiW7tFeu8wBjM4-LDbzBJQrZT1Vo

Filipino Restaurant Archipelago Brings Identity, Culture, and Empowerment to the Center Stage of Fine Dining
https://southseattleemerald.com/2023/09/16/filipino-restaurant-archipelago-brings-identity-culture-and-empowerment-to-the-center-stage-of-fine-dining/?fbclid=IwAR2I8x1wXXIhml-7v25zYtz7Ap9xhzVnSvDwYbMi0ATxniLiMZFtDYvEarQ

January 05, 2022

Of Philippine Democracy and Heroes

January 05, 2022/ Gemma Nemenzo

This issue marks the 8th year of Positively Filipino's publication. As some of you know, there are only four of us putting this e-magazine to bed but we are supported by our writers pool of over a hundred contributors (and counting). To them and to all of you, our readers, we owe our continued existence. Thank you for sticking with us.

We begin 2022 with the continuing dissection by the former chair of the Philippine Commission on Elections (COMELEC) Andres Bautista of the realities of the Philippine electoral system. For this issue, he continues debunking "the Big Lie" of 2016, which has real-life repercussions on the 2022 election.

A controversial decision by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) to redesign the 1,000-peso bill by replacing the images of three WW II heroes -- Josefa Llanes Escoda, Chief Justice Jose Abad Santos, and General Vicente Lim -- with the Philippine Eagle has triggered an uproar. Historical researcher and author Desiree Ann C. Benipayo makes a case for keeping the three in the 1K bill.

Aside from the martyrdom of Escoda, Abad Santos and Lim in the hands of the Japanese conquerors, they have another thing in common as history professor Jose Victor Z. Torres states. Find out more in "The Last Time They Were Seen Alive."

One of the best memoirs I've ever read on growing up a Fil-Am male is the late Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Alex Tizon's Big Little Man, published before he wrote that highly controversial essay, "My Family's Slave." Retired Philippine Ambassador Virgilio A. Reyes, a regular PF contributor, writes about Tizon's heartbreaking deep dive into the psyche of being male, gifted and brown in a society that values white the most.

New Year toasts may be over and done but a Meyer Lemon Frozen Margarita is timeless. For the Happy Home Cook, Elizabeth Ann Quirino shares her concoction.

Our Video of the Week offers a good start to the New Year: a frank, painful and ultimately inspirational TED talk by former Miss Universe Pia Wurtzbach on her mental health challenges.