No question about it: Filipinos consider Valentine's Day a holiday-of-obligation, second only to Christmas in pomp and kitsch, and in the traffic jams it creates in already jammed Metro Manila.

Here's a timely tidbit: A majority of Filipinos (58%) claim to be very happy with their love life, according to a December 2023 survey by the Social Weather Stations. The number is the highest since 2011, when a record 59% said they were very happily in love. It would have been interesting to find out what brought about this increase but the survey didn't cover reasons.

As for Valentine's Day gifts, money, love and flowers topped the most wished-for list, with men wanting apparel and any gift from the heart the most. Women prefer getting money and flowers, though both genders desire love and companionship equally.

In the spirit of V-Day, we have two love stories for your kilig pleasure this week.

PF Correspondent Myles A. Garcia perused YouTube videos and zeroed in on the love journey of Darlene Bumacod of Pangasinan and Boris Kuznetsov of Russia, as documented in Darlene's travel vlog.

It's never too late for love, and octogenarians Emilio Quines and Angie Cruz, both medical doctors in New York, prove it when they married last year. The Filam.net founding editor, Cristina DC Pastor, tells us their story.

Filipinos of a certain age will remember child movie star Tessie Agana, once dubbed "the Shirley Temple of the Philippines." Now in her 80s, she has lived in the US for decades and raised three children with husband Rodolfo Jao. One of the three is Fr. Radmar Jao, a Jesuit priest, who moonlights as an actor. Here's the story of his interesting life.

In Seattle, PF correspondent Anthony Maddela sought out a 61-year-old Elvis tribute performer (as opposed to a mere impersonator) named Tony Colinares, who entertains with his band, Gracelandmanila.

We're now on the 55th edition of our list of Fil-Ams Among the Remarkable and Famous, and our publisher, Mona Lisa Yuchengco who does the compilation, is not stopping anytime soon. So many standouts lifting up our heritage.

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