FILAM Dec 2021

Issue 46, December 2021

Leila Policarpio Marching for N.Y. State at the Macy’s parade

Princeton exhibit What’s next for Filipino American art?

SFIO’s Jeths Lacson CEO's roadmap to growth for franchising company

Letter from the Editor

Dear Bongbong, why do you want to be president ?

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eriously. Why? Is your mother putting you up to it?

Jeez, you’re 64. You can put your foot down.

Is your family urging you to do it because you’re the Kuya and older sons, by tradition, are expected to “man up” and take over the reins of the family in the absence of the father? Well, man up if you will but politics is not way to do it.

I can understand why your energy level shoots up when it comes to politics. It’s a way of life for your family. You grew into it. You think you know it but you don’t. If you do, you will not make Sara Duterte your VP because her father is trying to sabotage your candidacy by planting Bong Go into the race. We all know Bong Bong with his mother, former first lady Imelda Marcos. how that will pan out: Bong Bong vs Bong will surely result in votes being miscounted for one or the other. If you see this scenario and still your father, a tough and ruthless politician, is want to go through with it, up to you. You got probably curling in shame in his grave. money to burn in another election protest.

Tell your family you’re done with politics What you know about politics is the wheeling and you just want to be left alone to pursue and dealing part of it, the switching allegiances, your interests, whatever they are. You want to the mudslinging, the Laglagan and the Ahasan. get into the cannabis business, by all means And if you learned well from your father, the do it. You want to play the crypto market? Go vote buying too. for it. You want to open a restaurant, sure! You Tell your family your heart is not into it. It deserve to be happy. shows. Duterte, in a thinly veiled attack on his Leave politics to people who truly want to daughter’s running mate, said you are “weak” serve. I don’t think that’s you. If you are truly “spoiled” and “nagko-cocaine,” and what do you into public service, you should have done – or do? You turned the other cheek and offered said -- something about poverty in the country, him your “respect and admiration.” Gosh, the corruption that becomes serious as the

Contributing Writers Tricia J. Capistrano Ludy AstraquilloOngkeko Joel David Mariel Padilla Wendell Gaa Lindy Rosales Maricar CP Hampton Vicky Potenciano-Vitug Angelito Cabigao Danielle Vania Bonus

Founding Editor Cristina DC Pastor Address P.O. Box 8071 New York, NY 10116

Duterte years went by, or at least called on the government to focus its attention on the distribution of COVID-19 vaccines. You have muted yourself in the last four years that Duterte and some of his officials are drunk with power.

You’re nothing but a professional politician, someone who sits idly by when there is no election. But when election season comes, you go leaping up on stage, having your photos taken with politicians raising your arms, and becoming visible again shaking hands and granting interviews.

The best you can do at this point is a public apology. Say sorry for the massive corruption during your father’s dictatorship, the killing of activists, and your mother’s shopping sprees. Open up your heart and be truly remorseful. Tell the Filipinos you’re sorry, and that although there were those accusations, your father had done some good too. There’s got to be some kind of reckoning no matter how difficult. Your family will probably ostracize you, and maybe some fanatical Ilocanos too. In time, they will understand, and the nation -- especially your wife and children -will find the true leader in you. It is hard. If you ask the survivors of domestic violence, it takes time to trust again.

PS: Stop saying you want to run for president because you want to “unify the country.” All the candidates are saying that, and nobody believes them.

Contact Thefilamny@gmail.com

The FilAm is a publication of A&V Editorial THE FILAM |

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Leila Policarpio: She represented N.Y. State at the Macy’s marching band

By Cristina DC Pastor

Every year since she was a kid, Leila Policarpio, her parents and elder sister would watch the Macy’s Thanksgiving parade, the world’s largest, on NBC.

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he morning tradition usually begins with the East Hills, New York family getting up for a special holiday breakfast and then turning on the TV for a marathon viewing in their PJs. This year, Leila, now 17 years old, did not watch. Instead, she marched in the parade on November 25, now on its 95th year, and played the flute for the legendary Macy’s Great American Marching Band (MGAMB). She represented not only Roslyn High School where she is a senior student, but New York State, where she was born and raised.

Her family joined millions of Americans who watched the festivities on television as well as on Herald Square where the parade set out.

What makes this year’s parade historic in a sense is the grim shadow of a global pandemic that has hovered over everyone’s lives for more than a year.

The parade was a welcome break from the forlorn months of staying home, staying alone for some, and just staying sane and healthy.

“I still couldn’t wrap my head around it,” Leila raved when interviewed by The FilAm. “It all happened so quickly and it was one of the best experiences I’ve ever had.”

It all started when Leila, younger daughter of Jason and Mariliz Policarpio of East Hills, submitted a video to the MGAMB having learned of an audition going on. She approached

With family cheering on: Parents Mariliz and Jason Policarpio and sister Sophia.

Frank Mauriello, the band director at Roslyn High School, to inform him about her application. The video showed her playing an instrumental as well as a marching performance.

“My mom helped me film my audition video,” she said.

Leila was accepted into the band of among the finest high school musicians. It is under the direction of Dr. Richard Good, Auburn University; Dr. Doug Rosener, Auburn University, Percussion Director; Bart Woodley of WGI, Flag Instructor; and Kailene Laga, Montclair State University, Dance Instructor, according to a press statement. The 185 musicians are complemented by approximately 40 flags and dancers.

This year, however, alumni members from previous years joined to celebrate the band’s 15th anniversary, and the number of youngsters who performed at the parade swelled to 300. “Three

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hundred strangers from all across the country who have never met before,” noted Leila’s mother Mariliz.

When it was finally assembled the MGAMB required every performer and participant to receive a vaccination.

For three days, the young musicians rehearsed two songs -- George Gershwin’s “Strike Up The Band” and “Celebration” by Kool & the Gang -- the ultimate goal for all was to perform with confidence and to “sound as one.”

“The MGAMB had always been my favorite out of all the other marching bands that performed in the parade,” said Leila. “I admired how they were all perfectly in unison and played such entertaining music which blew everyone away. The fact that it is comprised of kids from all across the country and that all 50 states are represented was inspiring.”

She has been playing the flute for almost eight years, and has been with

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‘Still couldn’t wrap my head around it,’ says the Roslyn High School senior and band flutist. the Roslyn High School Marching Band for four years. This year, she was appointed Chief Information Officer.

She also plays the piano and has performed at Carnegie Hall.

“It feels surreal that I am able to be part of such a great American tradition,” she said. She made friends with another FilAm student who played the clarinet.

Relishing the experience, Leila said, “It’s definitely mind-boggling to think that I was actually a part of the parade instead of just watching it on TV.” She was equally thrilled that the parade happened this year after a lull in 2020 due to the pandemic. “It shows that we’re staying positive through these trying times.”

Leila thanks the Red Poinsettia Charitable Foundation, Alicia Almendral MD, Joanne’s Gourmet Pizza, and The Adorable Chef for helping to sponsor her participation in the MGAMB.

Letty Lanuza: A mother’s love conquers death (Part 1) What is a more fitting story to tell during the Christmas season than the story of how a mother’s faith, hope and love saved her son from being beheaded?

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etty Celestino grew up with seven other siblings in Nueva Ecija. Their father managed rice fields and their mother was a prayerful woman with a strong devotion to the Blessed Mother Mary.

She attended the St. Joseph High School run by Carmelite Nuns from Switzerland, and there her Catholic faith deepened. She adopted her mother’s practice of praying the rosary every night.

Letty met her husband Edilberto Lanuza while both were working at Zuellig Pharma. They got married, and were soon blessed with four children: Roderick, followed by Rodelio whom they nicknamed Dondon, Rowena and Ronaldo.

In 1995, the family began a new life in the United States where Letty’s widowed sister Norma Celestino in California had asked Edil, an accountant, to help her manage her rental apartment buildings. Roderick, who was finishing his tech studies, and Dondon, who did not want to desert his girlfriend, decided not to go with them to America.

A year later, Dondon informed them that he was going to Saudi Arabia because his cousin, Benito Celestino, enticed him to work as an architect at Aramco.

Dondon moved to Riyadh to work as a designer-architect at Aramco.

Everything was going well, he was making good money, until Dondon’s life took an unexpected turn in 2000. He and other Filipinos were invited to the apartment of a co-worker who was a Saudi national.

Although drinking liquor was prohibited in public places in Saudi Arabia, drinking in the privacy of one’s home was common.

Soon, everybody got inebriated and each of Dondon’s friends left one at a time. When Dondon was about to leave, the Saudi host made suggestions of a sexual nature. When Dondon refused, the Saudi locked the door and moved towards him menacingly with a knife in his hands. A struggle ensued, and Dondon was able to wrench the knife from the man and stabbed him in an act of self-defense.

As the Saudi fell to the floor bleeding, Dondon was able to escape, and fled to his apartment. It did not take long for the local police to arrest him on a charge of murder.

The case was almost a fait accompli – the slain victim was a Saudi national and the accused

Dondon and mother Letty Celestino Lanuza. Facebook photo defendant a foreigner. Although self-defense was an argument to be presented, the court ruled he was guilty of murder. The punishment: death by beheading.

Letty heard the news by telephone from a friend of Dondon, who told her, "Tulungan ninyo ang anak ninyo. Your son was sentenced guilty of murder."

At that time, Letty was in Manila visiting her relatives. She immediately went to the Department of Foreign Affairs and was told by the receptionist upon learning Dondon’s story, "Pupugutan po siya ng ulo (He will be beheaded)."

Letty was in tears. But she was still full of faith. And hope.

She learned that the final decision depended on the family of the Saudi man who had two young sons. They would decide when they turned 18 years old, whether Dondon would be beheaded or whether he would give "blood money" to support the sons in exchange for the life that he took.

Thus began the walk of faith of Letty Lanuza, on how to raise the blood money of 3 million Riyals (equivalent to $800,000).

I met Letty Lanuza, a slender, kindly-looking Filipina, on the side of the 2011 Summit on Overseas Filipinos in Manila chaired by Imelda Nicolas, who was appointed by then President Benigno Aquino III. She was calm and gentle in her narration, I had to ask her, "Are you not afraid that if you cannot raise the Blood Money, your son will be beheaded?"

Letty replied without hesitation and without bombast, "I have faith. God’s will be done." That convinced me that I had to help this mother whose son’s life was hanging by a thread.

I learned that the Secretary of Foreign Affairs Albert del Rosario was also in Manila at the time and was attending the 75th birthday celebration of then-Speaker of the House Feliciano Belmonte Jr. THE FILAM |

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Dondon, wearing a Saudi scarf over his head, when he was in jail. Photo courtesy: Dondon Lanuza at the Peninsula Hotel. I was able to gate-crash the event because I told the gatekeepers that Secretary del Rosario was expecting me, and I was not going to sit down for dinner.

Soon enough, I was able to get close to the table of Secretary Del Rosario. I worked with him on several projects to benefit Overseas Filipinos since I was with the National Federation of Filipino American Associations (NAFFAA).

He told me that Blood Money is known to the DFA vis à vis Saudi Arabia and other Muslim countries.

But the budget of the DFA allowed a maximum of only $100,000. He also said that it was a matching grant — if we are able to raise $100,000, DFA would match it up to $100,000.

I breathed a sigh of relief. That was a start!

Shortly thereafter, I invited Letty to come to New York so we could launch an online campaign called, "Save Dondon." When she came in February 2012, we held a press conference with the FilAm media of New York. Thus, the "Save Dondon — Barya mo, Buhay ko” movement was launched.

To be continued

Watsonville riots film provokes difficult questions about race

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omewhere in California in the 1930s, they had the Watsonville riots.

Framed within the current wave of anti-Asian violence, this aggression against Filipino farm workers has been a long-forgotten episode of our painful past in this country.

Filmmaker Randal Kamradt, a Filipino American who teaches video production in Fillmore High School in California, wants us to not forget. He made the short film to commemorate Filipino American History Month in October and also to “bring more of my culture’s voice into cinema.”

“No Dogs” stars Georgina Tolentino and Ian Coleman as two strangers who find themselves in a tense interaction inside a diner during that era. Marisol seeks safety in Carl’s diner while riots are raging. Just the two of them inside the restaurant, they go through a range of emotions -from distrustful to hostile to easy-going to angry to suspicious to silent – until the 15-minute film climaxes into its powerful ending.

Randal was born in San Diego and raised almost entirely in California. His mother is Filipino from Biliran province located between Leyte and Samar in the Visayas. His father is Caucasian with German roots. It took him a while to develop a consciousness about being Filipino American, he said, because there was no FilAm in Fillmore where he spent his boyhood. He returned to Leyte in 2012 to make a film about his mother’s hometown in Almeria in Biliran. While living in Philippines at the height of typhoon Yolanda in 2013, he met his Filipino wife and from there grew to have a “deeper connection to my heritage.” He has directed, produced, or written about 10 features and short films.

His most recent, "No Dogs" won two awards from the Chelsea Film Festival in New York on October 17th -- the Petite Prix Award for Best Short Film and the Short Film Audience Award.’

Actor Ian Coleman also won the Best Supporting Actor award.

The FilAm: Is the title in reference to the door signs ‘No dogs, no Filipinos allowed’ which were posted in public places in California in the 1930s?

Randal Kamradt: It is at first a totally enigmatic title when you don't know anything about the film.

We glimpse the sign but not the full thing near the start of the story. At the very end we see the full sign and it underscores the racism so commonplace and unremarkable at the time.

By Cristina DC Pastor

TF: Why did you make this film?

RK: Really it is as simple as being Filipino American and having an interest in portraying our stories and history in film. I'd never heard about this history, and the story was brought to me by our producer, star, and writer Georgina Tolentino. Once I read it, I realized very quickly that this was an incredible opportunity and would make for a very meaningful story.

TF: What were you trying to say?

RK: We wanted to explore some unseen history and ask difficult questions about race relations both then and today.

TF: How did you become a filmmaker?

What types of films do you like to make?

RK: I can barely remember ever wanting anything other than to be a filmmaker. It's basically a childhood dream. My story that I tell is that I loved old Godzilla movies as a kid, and one day I asked my father how they got made and who it was that made such wonThe ‘No Dogs’ team at the Chelsea Film Festival in New York: From left, actress/ drous things. He said the director makes the film, and I latched onto that. writer Georgina Tolentino, actor Ian Coleman, and director Randal Kamradt There's nothing more appealing to make than adventure films. They are so perfectly suited to cinema, to the ability to depict action dynamically and to capture unique locations.

So, I love making adventure films. But I really feel that I'm quite able to make films of nearly any genre. They are all the same in the end: how do you get an audience to feel something?

You have a lot of tools at your disposal as a filmmaker, and all of them need to be aimed at generating emotion. “No Dogs” is a period drama and partially a thriller, and it was terrific fun to make. I hope to make more like it.

TF: You’re a writer, director, special effects, etc. Did you go to film school?

RK: I did not go to film school. I felt that film school would train me to make films of a certain minimum scale, a scale that Hollywood calls “low budget” but is still usually more than the cost of a house. That would mean I would be reliant on investors.

Being an artist of color in addition to having no Hollywood family connections, I felt this was a dubious method of making films. So instead, I chose to focus on getting involved in no-budget genre filmmaking.

I worked on a film called "Zombie Ed" along with countless others and eventually Scenes from ‘No Dogs,’ a film about anti-Filipino racism in California in learned quite a few tricks on how to get the 1930s. things made for next to nothing.

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Well-loved Ridgway, PA Mayor Guillermo Udarbe, 81 Doctor Guillermo Udarbe, who was mayor of Ridgway, Pennsylvania for 12 years, died unexpectedly on November 11, according to an obituary announcement. He was 81.

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e is survived by his wife Gloria Aragones Udarbe of Ridgway, daughters Cherry Pie Udarbe Clark of Fairview, PA and Charina Udarbe Felix of Lutherville, Maryland; five grandchildren Isabella Udarbe Felix, Clarissa Udarbe Felix, Nathaniel Udarbe Clark, Olivia Udarbe Felix, and Andre Markus Felix; and sister Mila Udarbe Campos of Guelph, Canada.

Udarbe was born February 10, 1940, in Dugo Camalaniugan in Cagayan province, the son of the late Dominador Urias and Luz (Genobebe) Udarbe. He married Gloria Aragones on December 23, 1967.

He resided in Philadelphia for 12 years and Ridgway for 40 years. He was a member of the Trinity United Methodist Church where he was a Trustee. He was the mayor of Ridgway for 12 years, and formerly Chief of Residence Family Practice in Northeastern Hospital in Philadelphia.

Interviewed by The FilAm in 2012, Udarbe shared that he and his wife Gloria were the first Filipino residents of Ridgway.

“We had a hard time at first,” he said then. “We received phone calls telling us to go away. They even called us niggers.”

But the couple persisted and raised two daughters, Cherry and Charina, while Gloria worked as a nurse and Udarbe ran his private practice. He served his residency at Northeastern Hospital in Philadelphia and Temple University. He had been employed as a Family Practice physician for 52 years, first in Ridgway and later at the UPMC Kane Community Hospital in Kane, Pennsylvania.

“I came here because Ridgway is just like my little hometown in Camalaniugan,” he said wistfully.

When he became mayor in 2009, the town had a population of 4,600, where 98 percent were Caucasians and 2 percent were Asians. There were two more Filipino families in addition to the Udarbes.

The town lost nearly half of its residents – from about 9,000 down to 4,600 -- when factories that made automotive brake linings and ball bearings closed at the height of the recession. People moved to nearby cities in search of jobs.

“Nagsi-alisan sila. Bumaba ang census namin,” he said, speaking in Tagalog.

Seeing that Ridgway was getting to be a “ghost town,” he decided to run for mayor in 2009. It was a five-way

Mayor Guillermo Udarbe (standing) makes a courtesy call on then-Consul General Mario de Leon Jr. at the Philippine Consulate in 2012.

At a family gathering enjoying a glass of ‘halo halo.’ race; his four opponents were all Americans. He won by 65 percent as the Democratic candidate in a Republican-leaning community.

“It’s all because of my relationship with the people. I’m a friendly guy,” he said. He was re-elected two more times.

Udarbe continued to see patients as a doctor of the Kane Community

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WPVI-TV interviews the mayor in 2014 where he invited the public to visit Ridgway which, he said, is ‘just like my hometown in the Philippines.’

Hospital and the Elk County Regional System. By end of business, he puts on his mayor hat and meets the town council. Most council meetings are held at night “I am a full-time mayor,” he said.

Udarbe was a much-loved family physician in town. As mayor, he enjoyed leading the annual Firemen’s

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Parade and planted trees in downtown Ridgway to beautify the town.

“Mayor Udarbe’s election as the first Asian American and Filipino American mayor of Ridgway brought a great honor for the Philippines and the Filipino American community,” said then-Consul General Mario de Leon Jr., a friend of the mayor. – Cristina DC Pastor

COVER STORY

SFIO: On the path to global expansion

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conglomerate based in Australia and New Zealand, SFIO’s core holdings span franchising, food manufacturing and distribution, coffee, and property development. SFIO is quoted on the OTC markets in the USA. And, beginning in 2022, it intends to grow its asset base through mergers, acquisitions, focused investments and partnerships.

||A disruptive global company The world has been upended by Covid-19. Once dismissed as buzzwords appear here to stay: remote work, rapid digitalization, remobilizing. Despite uncertainties, SFIO saw an opportunity to restructure its business model to adapt to the changing needs of people and industries. “We are introducing new models suitable for the new normal,” says Chairman and CEO Jeths Lacson.

Jeths Lacson, CEO of SFIO, leads an Asset Management Company expanding in the U.S.

||Evolving with market demands Founded in 2021 as Smokefree Innotec, Inc. (and to be rebranded as Starfleet Innotech, Inc.), the story of SFIO began in New Zealand with the Epiphany Café brand, a franchise business which SFIO’s founders built from scratch. Epiphany’s growth backed strategic acquisitions and served as a reminder to evolve with shifting market demands. For example, SFIO’s Technology and Software Division works closely with the Franchise and Food Divisions as it develops business solution applications, including AI and data analytics, for Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises.

||Smart freeze technology Creativity has sparked the growth of SFIO’s consumer businesses. Its Smart Freeze Technology enables food to be frozen for up to six months. Thawed within an hour at ambient temperature, products retain “fresh-like quality in appearance and taste.”

Smart Freeze addresses wastage, and could allow brands and micro-business concepts to expand beyond a region or country. Applied to Epiphany, its core products (donuts, coffee, cakes, bread) provide a value proposition to partners such as franchisees, and to customers looking for premium quality.

||A roadmap for the future With a positive outlook and under strong leadership, SFIO is bullish about 2022 and beyond. Using tech advances and the shared-ownership model, SFIO charts its strategic expansion in Australia, Asia and the USA for the next five years. The key is speed with high precision in executing the roadmap, which began

Lacson (third from right) is a transformational leader whose roadmap to growth enables SFIO to navigate the new digital economy. As CEO, he leads a nimble team that adapts to market shifts and changing consumer needs. with a global fundraising and marketing campaign in August 2021. SFIO encourages interested parties to become part of its global growth by investing through authorized brokers or by partnering with one of SFIO’s business holdings.

Why you should team up with SFIO 1. It is a publicly listed firm capitalized at US$50 million. SFIO eyes “uplisting” on NASDAQ and other exchanges in the next five years.

2. SFIO banks on diverse businesses for expansion.

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3. Trusted Australian and New Zealand brands form the backbone of SFIO’s foundational business holdings.

4. Owning shares in other companies, SFIO has recently acquired tech and software development hub LNS+ (Yahoo News Nov. 22, 2021), building a global, cross-industry innovation ecosystem.

5. SFIO’s franchising and supply chains, Smart Freeze technology, and now its innovation roadmap powered by the LNS+ acquisition, boost its consolidated business capabilities.

Princeton exhibit: What’s next for Filipino American art?

By Vina Orden

Julio Jose Austria and Francis Estrada confront this colonial gaze in their work On October 6, in honor of Filipino by referencing the human zoo on Coney Island, where indigenous Bontoc people American History Month, Princeton were displayed in an “Igorrote Village” for University’s programs in American white audiences’ entertainment. Austria’s painting, “Dog Eaters,” foregrounds studies and Asian American studies the huddled Bontoc (rendered from a presented the art exhibition, “300 1905 photograph) against an industrial backdrop, drawing parallels between the Years in a Convent, 50 in Hollywood.” trafficking and exploitation of laborers then he exhibit’s title alludes to and Overseas Foreign Workers now and reverberations of Spanish their disillusionment with the “American and American colonization in Dream.” Estrada’s “Escaping Dreamland,” Filipino culture and society. which features a kayumanggi-colored It features work by NExSE (for mannequin branded with a map of Luna Northeast US by Southeast Asia), a collective Park and surrounded by models of precoloof eight intergenerational Filipino American nial balangay vessels, at once critiques the artists from New York, New Jersey, and PennAmerican pleasure industry and reimagsylvania—Julio Jose Austria, Jeho Bitancor, Mic ines alternate, emancipatory possibilities Boekelmann, Francis Estrada, Ben Iluzada, Ged for the Bontoc.

Merino, Eva Marie Solangon, and Maria Stabio.

Estrada’s other piece, “Amboy” (a They found each other in early 2020 through contraction of American boy), is styled the Filipino American Artist Directory created after the Boxer Codex, a 16th-century

by Janna Añonuevo Langholz to connect and manuscript illustrating various “types” uplift U.S.- and Philippine-based visual artists. of Filipinos framed by real and imaginary Entering the Lewis Center’s CoLab housing flora and fauna from the islands.

The artists. On the ground (from left): Julio Jose Austria, Eva Marie Solangon, Mic However, as a self-portrait, “Amboy” is the exhibition, one is greeted by “Voices,” Jeho Boekelmann and Maria Stabio. Seated up top: Jeho Bitancor and Francis Estrada. a refraction. The subject isn’t framed Bitancor’s sound installation, which features interviews in Tagalog and English with Filipino rather is the gilt frame; the symbols immigrants embodied in the space by their peraren’t decorative but meaningful (for sonal effects—a worn handbag, a pair of basketinstance, white baybayin characters ball shoes, a t-shirt from the 6th Aurora Surfing painted over a red circle spell out “cola,” Challenge. A line from the surfer’s interview helpmeet to American imperialism); and echoed out in particular to me: “Maganda ang the framed blankness signifies resistance to what W.E.B. DuBois called “doublepagiging kayumanggi ang kulay” (It’s beautiful consciousness, the sense of always looking being brown), considering the persistence of at one’s self through the eyes of others” colorism among Filipinos, traceable to colonialand to a fixed definition of “Filipino ism’s institutionalization of a racialized hierarAmerican.” chy in the Philippines.

The challenges of connecting with this Renaissance explorer narratives like identity are explored by Mic Boekelmann, Antonio Pigafetta’s chronicles of the who left the Philippines at a young age Magellan-Elcano circumnavigation and and moved from place to place; and by the Boxer Codex as well as ethnological Ben Iluzada, son of a Filipino immigrant surveys and censuses undertaken at the who grew up apart from other Filipinos turn of the 19th century by the Americans in Texas. Both artists work with abaca, or (including zoologist-turned-Secretary of Manila hemp, once used to make Manila the Interior of the Philippine Islands Dean Conant Worcester) distinguished between envelopes. the “civilized” (or Christianized) versus Boekelmann created “She’s Here”—a “wild tribes” who were the “white man’s terno dress fashioned out of Manila ‘Dog Eaters’ by Julio Jose Austria burden” to “uplift and civilize.” envelope cutouts of sampaguita

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‘Escaping Dreamland’

by Francis Estrada

and kaluchuchi flowers (often associated with the spirits), along with words of affirmation from family elders in Tagalog and Bikolano—as “armor” for her daughter.

In contrast, Iluzada’s artist book, “Buckle,” hand-printed on handmade, translucent abaca paper, intimates the clash of cultural values and expectations between father and son, with illustrations of the embroidery on a barong Tagalog, a buckle belt painted in opaque white, and a band of red etched with the words, “I want the most well-behaved kid.”

Patrick Flores, professor of art studies at the University of the Philippines, joined NExSE in conversation virtually from Manila. He brought up diasporic artists Carlos Villa (once told by a teacher at San Francisco Art Institute that the Philippines had no art history) and Santiago Bose, who acknowledged Spanish and American influences among Filipino artists but asserted that their incorporation of indigenous materials

‘She’s Here’ by Mic Boekelmann

and concepts creates new artistic vocabularies and possibilities.

Situating NExSE within this lineage, one sees continuity in how the artists engage with history, colonization, migration, and diasporic identities.

But one also glimpses what Flores anticipates as a “third moment” in Filipino American art—one that resists the flattening frameworks of nationalism or the precolonial / colonial / postcolonial and is grounded instead in subjective memories and experiences. The familiar becomes a springboard for artists and viewers alike to imagine new contexts, definitions, and futures.

Vina Orden is a writer, artist, and immigrants’ rights and human rights advocate based in New York City. Currently, she is Associate Editor for poetry and creative nonfiction at Slant’d magazine.

She also is the co-host, along with Tamara Crawford, of The Lift Up, a monthly transatlantic conversation about books, writing, identity, and representation.

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Ben Iluzada's ‘Buckle’

Fil Am Cover SFIO_VF_pp.qxp_Layout 1 11/24/21 8:30 PM Page 2

On the Path

Engr. Jeths Lacson (center) is a transformational leader whose roadmap to growth enables SFIO to navigate the new digital economy. As CEO, he leads a nimble team that adapts to market shifts and changing consumer needs.

For investors, SFIO provides new business opportunities, sustainable growth, and stability.

to Global Expansion A conglomerate based in Australia and New Zealand, SFIO’s core holdings span Franchising, Food Manufacturing and Distribution, Coffee, and Property Development as well as Technology and Software Development. SFIO is quoted on the OTC markets in the USA. And beginning in 2022, it intends to grow its asset base through mergers, acquisitions, focused investments and partnerships.

A Distruptive Global Company

The world has been upended by Covid-19.

Once dismissed as buzzwords appear here to stay: remote work, rapid digitalization, remobilizing. Despite uncertainties, SFIO saw an opportunity to restructure its business model to adapt to the changing needs of people and industries. “We are introducing new models suitable for the new normal,” says Chairman and CEO Jeths Lacson.

Evolving with market demands

Founded in 2021 as Smokefree Innotec, Inc. (and to be rebranded as Starfleet Innotech, Inc.), the story of SFIO began in New Zealand with the Epiphany Café brand, a franchise business which SFIO’s founders built from scratch. Epiphany’s growth backed strategic acquisitions and served as a reminder to evolve with shifting market demands. For example, SFIO’s Technology and Software Division works closely with the Franchise and Food Divisions as it develops business solution applications, including AI and data analytics, for Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises.

Smart Freeze Technology

Creativity has sparked the growth of SFIO’s consumer businesses. Its Smart Freeze Technology enables food to be frozen for up to six months. Thawed within an hour at ambient temperature, products retain “fresh-like quality in appearance and taste.” Smart Freeze addresses wastage, and could allow brands and micro-business concepts to expand beyond a region or country.

Applied to Epiphany, its core products (donuts, coffee, cakes, bread) provide a value proposition to partners such as franchisees, and to customers looking for premium quality.

A roadmap for the future

With a positive outlook and under strong leadership, SFIO is bullish about 2022 and beyond. Using tech advances and the sharedownership model, SFIO charts its strategic expansion in Australia, Asia and the USA for the next five years. The key is speed with high precision in executing the roadmap, which began with a global fundraising and marketing campaign in August 2021. SFIO encourages interested parties to become part of its global growth by investing through authorized brokers or by partnering with one of SFIO’s business holdings.

Why You Should Team Up with SFIO 1. It is a publicly listed firm capitalized at US$50 million. SFIO eyes “uplisting” on NASDAQ and other exchanges in the next five years.

2. SFIO banks on diverse businesses for expansion.

3. Trusted Australian, New Zealand and Philippine brands form the backbone of SFIO’s foundational business holdings.

4. Owning shares in other companies, SFIO has recently acquired tech and software development hub LNS+ (Yahoo News Nov. 22, 2021), building a global, cross-industry innovation ecosystem.

5. SFIO’s franchising and supply chains, Smart Freeze technology, and now its innovation roadmap powered by the LNS+ acquisition, boost its consolidated business capabilities.

The founders of SFIO, Inc.

• Closetsnyc invites our fellow kababayans to our store located at 309 E. 23rd St. (inside Gloria Cabrera Salon) • We are offering a HUGE Collection of Pre-loved bags and designer samples from Chanel, Gucci, Louis Vuitton, Coach, Michael Kors, Kate Spade, Nicole Miller.

• Open Monday-Saturday 10am- 6 pm and Sundays by appointment only.

• First-time visitors get a special gift worth MRSP $150-$350.

• Bring a copy of this newspaper to get a discount.

• To schedule an appointment Please call 914-837-0192 or 347-957-2000 Email Angelaaquinonyc@gmail.com

Roi Santos and the foundation of a true makeup artist

“B

By Maricar CP Hampton

eauty is understanding and accepting who you are including all your imperfections.”

With this point of view, Sephora makeup artist Roi Santos, 34, proceeds to do his magic not so much to make women beautiful but to bring out the beauty within.

“Artist to the stars” is how Roi is known throughout San Mateo, California, where he and his sister Danica were raised by immigrant parents Ramoncito, an airport technician, and Rosanna, a health care worker.

His father’s family is from Mandaluyong, and his mother from Pasig.

After college, he worked as a pharmacy technician.

While it brought him the pay check it did not bring passion into his life. Doing makeup made him happy.

Soon, women around the city would go to him for their wedding, their Quinceañera, their anniversary, birthdays and other milestones. They wanted to be “glammed up” by Roi Santos.

Ten years of hard work paid off when he landed his first celebrity makeup gig with the help of actress Rufa Mae Quinto whom he met at Sephora. He has since styled showbiz stars such as Donita Rose, Maria Isabel Lopez, and Cherie Gil as well as celebrity wife Jinkee Pacquiao. He has also done makeup for Bunny Paras, Beth Tamayo, LJ Moreno Alapag, Carla Humphries, beauty queen Rabiya Mateo. Roi met them through fashion photographer Vincent Gotti who did their magazine shoots.

“I met Rufa when he shot her first magazine cover in the U.S.,” he said. “He has helped me get introduced with all of them.”

“I feel fortunate that many celebrities have given me a chance to glam them up,” he said when interviewed

by The FilAm. “Some have given me advice. They have also shown me makeup tricks and shown me the ropes.

They are patient with me and want to see me succeed.”

He added, “They are not just clients but have gained them as friends.”

||Bullied in school

What Roi remembers about growing up was being bullied in school for being gay, looking androgynous and wearing clothing that did not define gender. He was always well groomed and took care of his skin unlike some teens for whom acne and pimples are a lifetime struggle.

“I remember going to the department store counters where they sell beauty products and would ask the salesperson a million questions from color correcting to using the right shade of concealer, foundation,” he

With FilAm actress Donita Rose, one of Roi’s celebrity clients.

Tricks with makeup show Roi can be both creative and fun. said. He made sure to educate himself about makeup and caring for the skin.

As a Sephora makeup artist, Roi is able to work on different types of skin and apply his knowledge of how to work around certain imperfections.

“I like the skin to show a little bit of its texture and not to look cakey,” he said. “I strive to enhance what qualities they already have. Every consultation is different, and I try to tailor my skills with every client and make sure their makeup does not look thick and heavy.”

Makeup is a combination of trick and science, and different types of skin require different attention through processes of blending, highlighting, contouring, or spraying, etc. ‘Natural finish’ is always the best look, he said.

“Working at Sephora has helped me be more versatile with my makeup preferences,” he said. “I continue to educate myself. No matter how much experience one has, there is always room to grow.”

On another tangent, Roi said he is not against surgery and injections if it will boost the person’s self-esteem and make her feel “happy and satisfied.”

He said, “I myself had Botox and got a rhinoplasty done. I always say whatever floats your boat.”

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Actress LJ Moreno Alapag is another client from the entertainment world.

Roi is looking to launch his own makeup and skincare line, but it is a goal for now. He is always generous with best practices on how to slow the development of wrinkles and fine lines -- eating food rich in antioxidants, getting enough sleep, and staying hydrated.

“Right now, I'm soaking everything in. When I launch my beauty treatments, they will be suitable for all, based on everything I have learned over time. I can make the best recommendations to my clients, get them the products that complement their skin and their budget,” he said.

To aspiring makeup artists, he offers this advice: Never give up on your dreams. Be yourself and learn as much skills as you can and make them your own.

FACINE: The longest-running FilAm film festival at nearly 3 decades

T

By Joel David

his year’s edition of the annual film festival of the Filipino Arts & Cinema International, or FACINE, promises a rewarding three-day treat for film connoisseurs from all over the world. And this time around, no one has to travel all the way to the admittedly pricey city of San Francisco in order to attend the screening of the entries. After a year’s respite due to the then-raging COVID-19 pandemic, the nearly three-decade-old festival made good its promise to make itself fully available online.

The FACINE event will prove fascinating even for those who wish to find out first about the festival and its origins. It originated in 1994 as Sine! Sine!, the name by which the first Filipino American Film & Video Festival called itself. Sine!

Sine! screened about 60 films and videos from Filipinos and Fil-Americans for a whole month at two participating city centers. After exploring several new venues, the renamed festival managed to finalize an arrangement with the historic Roxie arthouse complex. It has been featuring fulllength and short-film competitions for the past several years, and has handed out special prizes to individuals and institutions for their enrichment of Philippine and Fil-Am film culture.

The best way of appreciating FACINE’s achievement as the U.S.’s longest-running FilAm film event is by tracking the career of its founder and current artistic director, Mauro Feria Tumbocon Jr. Mau and I were contemporaries in film journalism in the Philippines during the dictatorship of Ferdinand Marcos. I recommended Mau for membership at the Manunuri ng Pelikulang Pilipino or Filipino Film Critics Circle, but I left the group after too many unresolved complaints.

When Mau resigned for similar reasons a few years later, we set up the alternative Young Critics Circle, with him as founding chair. When later we opted for a more flexible film-awards system, we broke away and founded Kritika, again with him in charge.

Most of the Kritika members, however, had to leave for various reasons – graduate studies in my case, migration on Mau’s part. He first lived in New York, where I was studying, and once more organized a film event, Sa Pinilakang Tabing (On the Silver Screen), comprising film screenings and lectures, at Columbia University. He and I, along with Bliss Cua Lim, now a professor at University of California at Irvine, were the resource speakers. With Sine! Sine! he effectively oversaw two separate Philippine film events at both coasts of the U.S. in the same year.

Founder Mauro Feria Tumbocon Jr. FACINE also holds the distinction of recognizing the overlooked accomplishments of practitioners in diverse areas of engagement, including filmmakers Raymond Red and Elwood Perez, regional actress-producer Gloria Sevilla, historian Nick Deocampo, and the late crossover performer Bernardo Bernardo. Having successfully merged artistic excellence and popular triumphs in careers that span decades, Sevilla and Perez are fully worthy of the Philippines’s National Artist award, despite the MPP’s inexplicable insistence on overlooking the latter. The festival has also recognized efforts in independent production, global distribution, archiving and restoration, B-movie research and documentation, animation, rare-film preservation, and scholarship and THE FILAM |

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criticism (personal disclosure: I was recipient of the last-mentioned award in 2016).

Not surprisingly, FACINE has matured in more than just temporal terms. This year’s edition boasts of adult material in the fullest sense of the word, in effect a maximizing of the freedom from external censorship afforded by streaming platforms. I was able to provide reviews of the opening and closing films, Law Fajardo’s Nerisa and Joel C. Lamangan’s Lockdown respectively, in The FilAm not long ago. Irene Emma Villamor adds sensual dimensions to her rom-com entries, On Vodka, Beers and Regrets (closer in spirit to her FACINE-winning Meet Me in St. Gallen) and You and Me and the Ending (her first foray into lumpen-proletariat milieu). Dodo Dayao’s Midnight in a Perfect World and Joselito Altarejos’s Love and Pain in Between Refrains are recognizably indie, downbeat and subtle in their display of filmmaking expertise. A documentary, Adrian Ellis Alarilla’s Wherever We May Be, provides a record of the filmmaker’s autobiographical journey, while Lamangan’s other entry, Another Rainbow, brings together outstanding performers of the 1970s-80s Second Golden Age in an impressive demonstration of thespic supremacy.

Pop-culture aficionados will not be wanting for reserves of titillation and intrigue. A star whose marriage is on the rocks appears with his current flame in Nerisa, while the son of an actor serving time in prison reveals much more than humongous talent in Lockdown. A successful though strictly professional rom-com love team work their chemistry in On Vodka, while a real-life couple draw from their hard-knock origins and their funny-sexy commitment to each other in You and Me. You can read allegories of the confusion and derangement wrought by the current administration’s wholesale disregard of human rights in Midnight, while Love and Pain brings the violence into the intimate spaces of a couple’s home. Honesty is the currency of Wherever We May Be, while Another Rainbow upholds how glamor resides not in actors’ looks, but in performative flair.

Joel David is a Professor of Cultural Studies at Inha University and was founding Director of the University of the Philippines Film Institute. He holds a PhD in cinema studies at New York University and was this year’s recipient of the Writers Union of the Philippines’ Balagtas Award for Film Criticism. He has written several books on Philippine cinema, with his latest, a short manual titled Writing Pinas Film Commentary, available for free on his blog at https://amauteurish.com/books.

Chris Carbonell: The first Filipino Guardian Angel

C

By Cristina DC Pastor

hris Carbonell, who manages a Filipino restaurant in Queens, is the first Filipino Guardian Angel.

Meaning, he is the first Filipino to join the anti-crime organization founded by Curtis Sliwa in 1979 whose avowed mission is to repel crime in New York City subways.

Depends on who you ask, the Guardian Angels have been dismissed as either a crackpot vigilante group or embraced as a positive presence on NYC streets. They are seen by some as ‘non-essentials’ in crime prevention or a force for good by others. With the rash of violence against Asian Americans in the last couple of years, Guardian Angel patrols are now a welcome addition to law enforcement presence in vulnerable areas, such as Chinatown and Queens.

Chris joined the Guardians (not to be confused with the Guardians fraternity) when he was 15 years old and a student at Newtown High School in Queens.

“Two of my friends asked me to join.

I joined and that’s when the Guardians first opened up. I went to two patrols and I didn’t like it and I left,” he recalled in an interview with The FilAm. “I am the first Filipino member,” he continued. “I was with one Chinese guy, and the others are Blacks and Hispanics.”

Chris left to go to college, but would return. He would leave again and return again, chronicling his ambiguous attitude toward the group until in the 1980s he decided to stay for good. He currently holds the title First Commander and manages a team of 25 people, including some women, in charge of patrolling Queens. In the Guardian hierarchy, he reports to a Captain, a Puerto Rican guy code-named Negro.

Chris is one of Sliwa’s most trusted lieutenants. When Sliwa ran for mayor of New York City in November, Chris was part of his security detail. He said the Guardians have anywhere from

With founder Curtis Sliwa (center) and other Guardians in front of the Philippine Consulate on Fifth Avenue.

Chris is code-named ‘Bruce’ -- as in Bruce Lee – in the organization because of his martial arts skill.

5,000 to 6,000 members in 13 countries, including Europe.

As a member, he earned the code name “Bruce” -- as in Bruce Lee – because of his martial arts skill and his masterful handling of the wooden stick Chako. Chris learned Arnis and Kali from Grand Tuhon Leo Gaje and Tuhon Chris Sayoc, and for more than 30 years mastered the techniques of handling knives and disarming people with weapons.

With the escalating violence against Asians – including Filipinos who have been mugged in subways, on their way to church, or just walking the streets – Chris said crime in NYC has been “bad.”

“The state of criminality in New York is bad because of the defunding issue,” he said categorically. “They cut down on cops. Three of my friends got laid off.”

A USA Today reports that “(NYC’s) budget cuts nearly $484 million from the NYPD's annual $6 billion budget and shifts funding to other agencies as well as youth and social services programming…New York City officials THE FILAM |

agreed on a budget that shifts roughly $1 billion from the police department, but advocates and lawmakers say the change doesn't go far enough.”

He said today’s crime situation is not near as bad as it was in the 1970s to ‘80s when subway trains were crawling with gang members, and there were more gangs than NYPD cops.

“Back then, subway cars were covered with graffiti inside and out and gang members would just hang out in subways, especially in winter time because it was cold. There would be rumbles or fights or muggings. Just to scare people.” This was during the time of Mayor Ed Koch, he said. This was also around the time that Sliwa formed the Guardian Angels because “he couldn’t take it anymore.” “(Then-Mayor Rudy) Giuliani cleaned up the city real good,” he said.

Today, he said, “Day in and day out when we put on our colors we can feel the tension and the danger out in the streets.” When he goes out on patrols, Chris wears a red sports jacket matched with a red beret. Underneath is a white shirt that says “Guardian Angels Safety Patrol.”

He said the Guardians have gotten in the way of some crimes in the act of being committed as when a Chinese couple was being harassed inside a Brooklyn train by a knife-wielding man.

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“He was brandishing a knife to an old couple. People were just looking. I slowly crept up behind him and I disarmed him and pressed him against the door of the subway. When the train opened, I kicked him out and he ran,” recalled Chris. He has stopped many other crimes from being committed, he said.

Even at the height of the anti-Asian violence, he would take the subway at any time of the day and fellow Guardians would call him “the crazy Filipino,” he said laughing and with a touch of levity. “Takot ako sa mumo (ghost), hindi sa tao.”

He said Filipinos should always be “alert and vigilant” wherever they are, especially in subway trains.

“I would tell them do not always look down in your phones, your Facebook and Instagram. Think of it as the jungle. You are the gazelle and there are tigers stalking.”

He is amused at how some Filipinos would rant and rave against violence.

“When I tell them why don’t you join us, they will say, ‘Busy ako.’” He would like to see more Filipinos join the Guardians, he said.

He likewise shakes his head when he hears some in the community invoke God in their concerns about personal safety. “I hear so many old people say, Bahala na ang Diyos. They can’t just leave it all to God,” said Chris. “We have to be alert and vigilant.”

When airline passengers misbehave

By Cristina DC Pastor

Flight attendant Lia Ocampo has had her share of defiant airline passengers chortling in disdain when told to wear face masks while boarding the plane. Some travelers with ‘attitude’ tell her to her face “just let me go home” in an angry tone.

S

o far, she has not figured in a situation where a passenger has been verbally or physically abusive. Media reports have streamed instances where flight crew are bullied, yelled out or violently attacked as when a Southwest Airlines attendant lost two teeth in a physical assault by a passenger in July of this year.

“I never confronted a passenger about vaccine mandates. Flight attendants don't deal with that information,” said Ocampo in an email to The FilAm. “When I encounter a passenger not wearing a face mask, I explain that the company's policy and federal law are in place for their health and safety and everyone onboard.”

Alvin Adriano, a travel podcaster and CEO of Travelwise International, said airlines have seen a large increase in unruly passengers since the implementation of the travel protocols due to the pandemic. He said many of the incidents were due to travelers’ refusal to comply with safety instructions, such as wearing masks.

“About 70 percent were due to mask regulations,” he told The FilAm. Citing data from the International Air Transport Association, Adriano said, “Based on IATA reports, there have been 6.7 unruly passengers for every 10,000 flights.”

Federal Aviation Administration data, as of October, shows 3,615 incidents of unruly passengers and 610 investigations initiated so far in 2021, according to a Yahoo report.

As a travel professional, Adriano said, “We always inform and educate our clients on the current travel protocols for every airline and destination. We always recommend wearing a mask and traveling safe.”

Ocampo shared with amusement how passengers have used a variety of ruse to avoid wearing masks.

“Some are taking an unreasonable amount of time to eat and drink. Some pretend to sleep while their mask falls off.”

Dealing with passengers at this time of heightened emotional tension can be “challenging, she said, as

Airline stewardess Lia Ocampo empathetic tone, recognizing their concerns, and reassuring them of their safety are tools to prevent pushbacks.”

She said she treats passengers equally whether they are in first-class or the main cabin. “I anticipate my customers to be nice so that the positive energy would radiate to them, and they will treat me nice.”

Ocampo has been an airline stewardess for eight years. She said her passion for flying has allowed her to meet people, create memories, and inspired her to write a book titled, “I Love Flying.”

Alvin Adriano, travel podcaster and CEO of a travel agency

||New normal

the pandemic has caused stress, anxiety, sadness, fear, and loneliness. “People's behavior has been affected. Some of us bring our stress and anxiety when we travel, sometimes resulting in misdemeanor, misconduct, assault, threats, attacks, and outrage on the plane.”

There's a technique to communicating with passengers, she said further. “How we communicate and approach them sometimes determines their compliance. Talking to them professionally in a caring and

For those in the travel industry, the risks from frazzled passengers will always be there. They are trained to deal with people who are unable to manage stress during travel and are prepared to handle touchy situations using messaging that informs and educates.

Wearing a mask is the “new normal,” shared Adriano. “I would not be surprised if this continues for months to come. It is important to understand that travel continues to evolve, and that effective communication is important.”

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COVER STORY

Angela Aquino: Sustainable fashion in Gramercy boutique

By Cristina DC Pastor

Seven months ago, Angela Aquino’s life nearly collapsed.

A

fashion stylist who has done business from Madrid to Bangkok, Angela is a businesswoman who has merchandised luxury clothes and accessories for 15 years. Being the stylist of boxing legend Manny Pacquiao was her claim to fame. Until her e-commerce site was compromised and her business completely disappeared. An investigation is currently ongoing.

Disheartened but not defeated, Angela moved her remaining merchandise into a storefront owned by a friend, hairstylist Gloria Cabrera, and started anew. She opened a boutique and named it after her defunct e-commerce store: ClosetsNYC Eco-friendly and trendy is on 309 E. 23rd Street.

“I knew I had to start all over again and from ways to reclaim your life. Surround yourself scratch,” said Angela, who spoke to The FilAm with positive people and fun people and pretty things that you like. Just move on but on how she managed to “reclaim my life.”

The Filipino American community in her don’t forget at the same time get back what’s Gramercy neighborhood in Manhattan was rightfully yours.” first to come to her support. She said: “My ||Sustainable fashion vendors gave me great deals, gave me some mannequins, racks, items to help me get Angela trades in pre-loved branded goods back on track again.” as she practices “sustainable fashion,” a Most important, her loyal customers – concept identified with making fashion a some who come from upstate New York more environmentally conscious lifestyle. and New Jersey -- did not stop buying from “Some items are great to use second hand. her. “Women empowerment,” according to They are usually very good quality to begin Angela, played a big part in how she overwith,” she said. came her loss.

It’s not just a matter of reselling used bags She is also trying to heal emotionally, she and clothing in specialty stores to extend said. “Stepping forward doing little things their life, although some do start that way. for yourself like going to the salon, getting Angela has upcycled or customized designs by adding personal touches like appliques, your nails done, exercising, yoga and being embellishments, glitters, cut-out fabrics, open-minded and trying again are all great

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‘As a woman entrepreneur it’s very important to keep your power.’

some New York graffiti touch, or positive affirmations, like Love, Justice, Hope, Faith.”

“They’re a hit with customers,” she said.

“As long as the condition (of the clothing or bags) is good, the body is good and styles and colors are classics, these are great items to buy second hand. Other than it being good for the environment you also save lots of money doing so.”

“The term ‘sustainable fashion’ or ‘slow fashion’ has been making a buzz in the fashion industry for many years now,” she said. “Sustainable, meaning continuous and unceasing.” It has been noted, she said, that fashion is a high polluting industry almost equal to oil and gas because of the hazardous material used, the harmful chemicals on textiles, the wasteful packaging, and shipping practices. Design houses have been trying With boxing legend Manny Pacquiao (left photo); son Daniel Leo to make products that last longer or those that can find new life when resold in the second-hand market.

“One can also be sustainable in fashion by She usually works with certain designers to see donating to your favorite charitable institutions if they are open to releasing samples from their your used clothes and bags and they usually collections to free up space in their inventory. process and recycle these fabrics,” she said.

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“Fashion waste is a staggering 150 million tons which will really catch the attention of any one listening,” said Angela. “As a fashion trendsetter, business woman, and consumer, I eventually identified my role and how I can contribute to make a positive difference.”

Angela’s boutique recently opened in Manhattan’s Gramercy neighborhood. She is happy to see her customers back and welcome new ones into the store where she carries labels such as Michael Kors, Coach, Kate Spade, Dooney & Bourke as well as classic luxury favorites Chanel, Gucci and Louis Vuitton.

“My son plays a major role in inspiring me because I know if I’m doing very well, happy and successful then he will benefit from it,” she said.

She has learned hard lessons from more than 15 years in the business. Not to be too trusting is one of them. She also learned the meaning of “asserting your rights” as a woman entrepreneur. “I realized that’s it’s very important to keep your power and not give up.”

Issue 46, December 2021

Randal Kamradt

Chris Carbonell

Difficult questions about race in Watsonville film

The 1st Filipino Guardian Angel

Angela Aquino

Only ethical fashion in Manhattan boutique