‘Here Lies Love’ The
‘Hamilton’
In the Old Testament, a case was brought to King Solomon by two women both claiming to be the mother of a baby.
Solomon ordered the baby split between the two. One of the women agreed; the second woman said no, let the other woman keep the child. Solomon gave the baby to the second woman because only a real mother would rather the child be kept alive.
In a way, that is the kind of dilemma the United States faces over immigration and the right of asylum.
If the nation were to stay true to its founding principles of providing succor to the great unwashed, the great moral obligation of the United States is to accept those who genuinely seek asylum.
Even before the founding of the country, what became the United States provided shelter for the world’s refugees. The state of Maryland was established back then for the protection of Catholics who were persecuted in other states.
Down through the centuries, the nation gave those refugees similar protection, be they Italians or Irish, Filipinos or Chinese. Their descendants flourished in the New World. They contributed to the enrichment of the United States.
That is the bedrock upon which the generous impulses of the country were founded.
It is a nation where, except for the Native Americans, everyone -- and we mean everyone -- came from somewhere else.
The rest of the world is also now in the process of tinkering with their immigration laws and letting more people in because the number of workers is not enough to sustain their economies. The Japanese and Germans are in that boat.
But good economics aside, the U.S. is agonizing about the sheer number of immigrants
flocking to its shores seeking asylum. What increases the angst for white Americans, stoking the toxic brew of racism in that segment of the population, is that the asylum seekers are brown.
Immigration and the right of asylum is now intertwined with the racially tinged politics of this country, causing a partisan bent that causes gridlock and prevents the compromise which could solve its policy divisions.
There is no honest discussion whether the country can accept more people when there are certain Americans who need help to deal with their poverty and lack of economic opportunity. The answer to these issues is complicated and not easy. For groups that are privileged by virtue of their color and status, asking them to sacrifice is not an easy ask given their own prejudices. Immigration is still good for the United States, but a willingness to compromise is needed. And we are not sure if that spirit is available among the people of this country.
We will need to exorcise the mean-spiritedness and spite of certain sectors that have seemingly forgotten that their own ancestors once upon a time relied on the generosity of Americans who accepted them into this country.
When I first arrived on these shores in the very early ‘60s, I was struck by the fervent regard for Mother’s Day. Brunches were crowded. Ditto all other dining venues: all day, from early afternoon to evening.
Months before that one Sunday in May meant for Mother’s Day, many specialty and department stores proclaim the significance of remembrances related to mothers through full-page ads that run for weeks.
My desire for information led me to find out why mothers, as parents, took precedence in this land. Motherhood included grandmothers, aunts, mentors, non-blood female relations, including foster mothers who took over the responsibility of homemaking.
One lover of sports made mention of how mothers have been regarded in a special manner over time.
“Do you ever notice how, when the camera focuses on the athletes who are asked to say something for the benefit of the television audience, the spontaneous reply, ‘Hi Mom,’ is the first greeting you hear? And if that ‘mom’ is watching that very sport right there, the camera turns the spotlight on that same figure too?”
Through the years, whenever I would watch sports on TV, I did notice how the same observation passed on to me was true. With due respect to fathers, I did notice there were scarcely greetings that said, “Hi Dad!”
As I dwell on the significance of Father’s Day, I recall how Papa’s role was and has been since I learned how to read. I learned the English language from him. As soon as I could read, he asked me to read newspaper reports; later, as I progressed in silent reading, the editorials represented oral reading highlights.
When I would hesitate upon coming across a word or words I could not pronounce well, Papa had a standing rule: go to the dictionary. Then he would ask me to provide a brief summary of what I had read in as few sentences as possible, in my simple manner of comprehension. Although our ‘sessions’ together did not take place every single day, they were frequent enough.
Before I knew it, Papa would ask me to put my thoughts down in writing when I would describe
pleasant experiences as they occurred. Then, he would encourage me to write to my older cousins who resided in various parts of the Philippines. Those writing experiences remain indelible.
While I was growing up, I was conscious that parenthood was not for mothers alone. Fathers purchased certain presents for their children as they browsed stores.
When I went for the goals of higher education, I did look back and realized how my introduction to the printed and spoken words came from my father.
Today, it is very encouraging to see how fathers in this country have become dedicated and active participants in their children’s development.
If only for what Filipino fathers have rendered to their families today in America, particularly those who come from immigrant families and who braved an alien world in the quest for a ‘better life,’ not limited to economic opportunities, I have great hopes that Father’s Day celebrations will be well remembered.
In the midst of various ethnicities growing and contributing to what is America today, I am more than optimistic that a Parents’ Day will be on the near horizon.
David Byrne and Fat Boy Slim’s musical “Here Lies Love” makes its Broadway debut presenting the first Filipino story on the Great White Way. It features an all-Filipino cast including stage legend Lea Salonga at The Broadway Theatre on July 20, 2023.
The show debuts two first-time Broadway co-producers Don Michael Mendoza and Lora Nicolas Olaes. (Author’s note: Lora also happens to be my niece.)
“I never thought I would say the words ‘I am producing a Broadway musical’ in my life,” says Mendoza. “It’s a dream come true and such an honor to be part of this milestone for my cultural heritage.”
Nicolas Olaes, an actor/singer whose history with “Here Lies Love” traces back to being cast on its very first workshop, concurs, “It’s pretty surreal that with about a decade in the theater industry as a performer, I get to make my Broadway debut—but as a producer. I never would have predicted that for myself 10 years ago, but in many ways, it feels so right that this is where my path as an artist took me.”
Another first in Broadway history are two Filipino lead producers: Clint Ramos (Tony Award winning costume designer) and Jose Antonio Vargas (Pulitzer Prize winning journalist).
Together with Mendoza and Nicolas Olaes, they are part of a historical cohort of Filipino co-producers, most of whom are making their Broadway producer debuts too.
“Here Lies Love” is a groundbreaking musical about former First Lady Imelda Marcos’s astonishing rise to power and subsequent fall at the hands of the Philippine People Power Revolution in 1986.
The musical had sold-out, critically acclaimed runs at The Public Theater in 2013, London’s National Theatre in 2014, and Seattle Rep in 2017.
Today, the buzz about this Broadway show is so loud that it already made milestones at the box office “breaking Telecharge” on the day pre-sales began in March, according to Ramos.
“Clint is becoming the Broadway producing mentor that I didn’t know I could have in my life,” said Mendoza who met Ramos through Nicolas Olaes via an email introduction, after expressing interest when he learned it was coming to Broadway. It felt the most natural for Mendoza to immediately invite Nicolas Olaes as partner, having already co-produced various shows together.
“Don Mike is the second person to recognize my potential as a producer three years ago (the first, being my cousin, Leslie Lewis), and has been my guide to the producing world since. I couldn’t be happier that we’re doing this together,” said Nicolas Olaes.
Mendoza added, “We were willing to sell t-shirts in the lobby to support this moment but Clint was gracious enough to give me and Lora a chance to become Broadway producers.”
In addition to the many staffing firsts, “Here Lies Love” also debuts many structural and technological achievements. This includes a dance floor made of 20 tons of steel stretching from the back of the stage all the way to the back of the orchestra section creating the dance floor ticketing tier, rather than the traditional orchestra seat, and the first 360-degree sound system to be used in a Broadway theater.
According to set designer David Korins, the entire Broadway Theater is transformed into an immersive disco club experience where audience members from the dance floor up to the mezzanine because of runways that stretch all the way to the back of the space will be. Korins also designed sets for Broadway’s “Hamilton” and “Dear Evan Hansen,” Immersive Van Gogh, and The Academy Awards and paired with direction from Tony Award Winner Alex Timbers.
It will be an experience few will forget.
“I saw the show three times,” Nicolas Olaes said,
referring to its Off Broadway run which concluded in January 2015, following multiple extensions.
Mendoza, who saw the show for the first time at one of the Broadway cast’s rehearsals agrees, “It’s the kind of show that will make audiences want to see it again and again, so they can experience the show in different ways,” he said.
The duo, who jokingly coined their co-producer nickname as “DORA”, agrees that this show could very well be the Filipino Americans’ “Hamilton.”
Both shows debuted with sold-out runs in the same Off Broadway theater, are historical in premise, and feature music that is revolutionary for the ever-evolving genre that is the American musical.
“Every song is a bop and it’s a piece of OUR history told in an entertaining and immersive way, that’s never before experienced on Broadway,” Nicolas Olaes said. Mendoza concludes, “And like ‘Hamilton,’ we believe it’s going to be a hit.”
Preview performances for “Here Lies Love” begin on June 17 and opens on July 20. The general public can purchase tickets online at the show’s website HereLiesLoveBroadway.com.
Years before my father passed away, he reminded me that Filipinos celebrated July 4th as our Independence Day. At 12 p.m. on July 4, 1946, the U.S. finally granted The Philippines her independence.
Manuel L. Roxas took the oath and became its first president. This historic event was witnessed by General Douglas MacArthur, Paul V. McNutt, and other dignitaries.
MacArthur said, “America praised The Philippines’ Independence as soon as it was possible. America now redeems that praise.”
McNutt also said, “I am authorized and directed by the President of the United States to proclaim the independence of The Philippines as a separate and self-governing nation.”
Thousands witnessed the final lowering of the U.S. flag with its 48 stars. Filipinos, for the first time, witnessed the unfurling and raising The Philippine flag to celebrate her independence. A gust of wind caused the flags to briefly tangle during the lowering and raising of the two flags as if to signal an everlasting hug of friendship.
After over 425 years of struggle to gain independence from Spain and the United States, Filipinos finally gained their long-awaited independence.
President Roxas reminded Filipinos in his inaugural speech:
“My fellow citizens, there is one thought I want you always to bear in mind. And that is – that you are Filipinos. That the Philippines is your country, and the only country God has given you…You must live for it and die for it—if necessary. Your country is a great country. It has a great past—and a great future…men and women, all working together for a better world than the one we have at present.”
I asked my father, “Why is the Philippines now celebrating her independence on June 12, when our country was granted independence in 1946”?
My father could only tell me that President Macapagal was ill-advised and signed an Executive Order (EO) that changed the Independence Day.
In December 1898, Spain turned over the Philippines and two outlying islands to the United States for $20.1 million for damages to Spanish properties; therefore, the Philippines was not an independent nation in 1898. Where is the glory and the Filipino pride of having our own and original Independence Day? My father could not answer my questions as we watched the July 4 fireworks from our home in California.
In 1998, still hungry for the facts. I spent long nights in the library at Ramstein AB, Germany, where I was stationed for nearly 10 years. I discovered a Time magazine article that was published on May 25, 1962 (“The Philippines: Debt of Honor”). The article reads, “…the Philippines changed its Independence Day to June 12.”
Apparently, a bill was pending a vote in the U.S. Congress. In 1946, the United States approved a $400 million war-damage claims. This amount was
not adequate, so an additional $73 million was needed to cover the remaining claims.
Over the years, Congress dragged its feet to fund the additional claims. Finally, a $73-million appropriations bill was finally brought to Congress. One congressman said, “It is a debt of honor.” Other lawmakers thought that this was a debt that the United States could renege on.
President Kennedy deemed this bill as very important. The Speaker of the House, John McCormack was confident that the appropriations bill would pass and did not take a headcount. The bill was defeated in Congress. One lawmaker said, “It was an economy vote. There aren’t any Philippine votes in our districts.”
Macapagal was upset and canceled his goodwill trip to Washington D.C.
He signed EO 28 and changed the Philippine Independence Day to June 12, 1898.
The defeat of the $73 million bill was a major setback. Kennedy promised Macapagal that he would give his stronger support to have the bill reintroduced and passed.
Macapagal hinted that he might be willing to change his mind about coming to America should the bill pass. Macapagal said, “I would be inclined to consider this as a restoration of goodwill.”
We should restore the true Philippine Independence Day because this is the day when the Philippines truly became a sovereign nation.
R Sonny Sampayan works as an executive assistant for a major European bank in New York City. He is a graduate in Public Administration.
Owning six Filipino restaurants -- two that opened during the pandemic -- should qualify Cherry Castellvi as a flourishing restaurateur in the Filipino community in the New York metro area.
It wasn’t her first rodeo in the food industry, but it was her first time as a solo entrepreneur after her marriage ended. Putting her career of 24 years as a physical therapist behind her, she opened her first Kabayan (meaning compatriot) Restaurant on Queens Boulevard after her ex-husband sold their family restaurant Perlas ng Silangan on Roosevelt Avenue.
Cherry’s chain of Kabayan restaurants across Queens and Long Island began with the opening of Kabayan Filipino Restaurant in June of 2015. She is one of many Filipino food entrepreneurs who have opened restaurants in New York mainly to bring Philippine cuisine to mainstream America.
In Queens, The FilAm counted some 50 different Filipino eateries and food stores, from family restaurants, to beer houses, to bakeries. The East Village in Manhattan is another area of the city where there are many Filipino dining spots. Filipino nurses who work in area hospitals such as Mount Sinai, Bellevue or NYU Langone say Filipino restaurants are vital to their community as gathering places and as providers of food and nourishment connecting them to their culture. Food and restaurant businesses are one of many industries that Filipinos in New York are involved in, according to a 2012 U.S. Census Survey of Business Owners. Filipino Americans own a wide range of
businesses ranging from mining operations to drycleaning services.
Consul General of the Philippines in New York Senen Mangalile said Filipino American entrepreneurs are, “living proof of our people’s ability to assimilate in their communities and find opportunities where they may.”
The 2012 SBO study represents the last time the U.S. Census identified the ethnicities of business owners. Data after 2012 are called “Annual Business Surveys.” They are no longer done every five years and they are not race-specific, according to Census Public Affairs Specialist Jewel Jordan. She did not say why they stopped collecting data on race after 2012.
“Unfortunately, because that survey is annual, we cannot produce ethnicity data beyond whether the business owner was Hispanic or Latino,” she said.
There is no available data showing the total number of Filipino
businesses in the state, their total investment value and how many people they employ. There are approximately 2.3 million small businesses across New York State, according to the 2022 Small Business Profile of the Small Business Administration’s Office of Advocacy. Of this number, Asians account for 322,737 of the businesses. But there is no way of knowing the size of Filipinos’ contributions to the state’s economy or in which sectors Filipinos have made the biggest impact.
“We do not have an exact count (of the small businesses) because not all of them register with us,” said Consul General Mangalile when asked for the size and extent of Filipino businesses in the city.
Out of an estimated 220,000 small businesses in New York City, about 47,141 are Asian-owned, one-third of them located in Queens, according to a 2021 study by the Center for an Urban Future. In Queens, Filipino businesses are mostly clustered along Roosevelt
Avenue including restaurants, doctors offices, immigration lawyers, food stores and remittances centers. Last year, a tiny corner of Roosevelt Avenue and 70th Street was named Little Manila in recognition of the growing and dynamic presence of Filipino businesses.
To get a better picture of Filipino small businesses in New York City, we spoke to social media blogger Maine Anderson. Maine runs the popular Pinoys of New York (PONY) page on Facebook. She believes the biggest Filipino business sectors are in 1) food and restaurants, 2) health care, and 3) entertainment and concert producing. Professional services such as offices for doctors, lawyers and accountants, and construction are also money earners for Filipinos, she added.
Maine’s blog has 12,000 followers with 1,500 more “pending and waiting to be approved.” It is a go-to site for companies that want to advertise jobs, fundraising and concert events.
“These are the businesses that commonly reach out to us,” she said.
While these businesses have the advantage of visibility, they may not necessarily have the biggest financial exposure. The restaurant business is the closest to the Filipino experience because food is always relatable, and the opening and closing of a restaurant is always “news” to the community. But restaurant ownership is only part of the story.
O n assuming his position in January as head of the Philippine Consulate General, Mangalile called for a survey of Filipino businesses across the Northeast covering the 10 states under his jurisdiction. Less than 50 companies heeded the call and registered for the fledgling Filipino Business Directory. The idea behind the initiative is to compile a list of Filipino-owned enterprises, a dataset sorely lacking as a community resource. The consulate has a list of community organizations, a list of
Roosevelt Avenue in Queens: One Filipino business after another. The FilAm Photo restaurants, a list of journalists, but no list of small businesses.
“Nobody seems interested in studying small businesses,” says a
noted academic researcher. He could not explain why “there is no interest” in the subject.
The FilAm reached out to the NY
Department of Small Businesses Services and was told they do not collect information on the ethnicity of business owners registered with them.
“And even if I have that information I am not at liberty to provide it,” said an employee from the SBS office.
“Filipino-American entrepreneurs represent the continuing evolution of our diaspora, from the pensionados at the dawn of the 20th century, hired hands in agriculture in the ‘20s, to the professionals in the ‘60s, said Mangalile. He would like to see Filipino business entities explore and be aware of all services and opportunities local government has to offer. “It is their right as taxpayers,” he said.
He expressed the hope that younger entrepreneurs would “dream big” so that their products and services would “cater to the entire American market and not just to a segment of it.”
This story was produced as part of the Small Business Reporting Fellowship, organized by the Center for Community Media and funded by the NYC Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment.
Ahallmark in the celebration of the Asian American Pacific Islanders Heritage in the month of May is the significant increase in the New York State Fiscal Year budget for 2023-2024 of $30 million to AAPI communities.
The office of Assemblymember Steven Raga, the first Filipino American elected official in New York state, said this increase of $10 million from last year’s allocation is a major victory for Filipinos and the broader AAPI communities.
Raga worked with the AAPI Equity Budget Coalition (EBC) for the increased allocation. The EBC is composed of 100 AAPI community leaders and nonprofits and played a pivotal role in advocating for the bigger funding.
"The historic level of funding secured for our AAPI communities in the New York State budget represents a significant step in addressing the systemic discrimination that communities like ours have faced," Raga said in a press statement.
"This commitment not only provides resources to combat the distressing rise in hate crimes and Anti-AAPI violence but also empowers Filipino New Yorkers and our fellow Asian communities to establish
robust support systems within their neighborhoods," he continued.
The Filipino community in particular is disproportionately impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic and increase in hate crimes in the city.
The newly secured funds will be allocated to enhance essential programs within these communities, to build the capacity of local organizations, and to
facilitate recovery from the impact of the COVID19 pandemic.
In the State Assembly, Raga serves in the committees of Agriculture, Banks, Government Operations, Social Services, and Veterans Affairs. He sits on the Black, Puerto Rican, Hispanic, & Asian Legislative Caucus and the Bipartisan Pro-Choice Legislative, the New York Legislative Aviation Caucus, the Asian Pacific American Taskforce, and the Puerto Rican/Hispanic Taskforce.
In his first 100 days, he had pushed for the passage of three pieces of legislation which were all signed by New York Governor Kathy Hochul:
• A04016: Empowering residents of assisted living facilities to access hospice services, thereby ensuring comprehensive end-of-life care.
• A04453: Enhancing the transparency and accountability of government agencies in New York by addressing their ability to claim copyright protection.
• A06512: Facilitating safety and coordination by providing notice to school districts and nonpublic schools in New York City of relevant construction projects.
According to his office, Raga is co-sponsoring more than 250 bills and over 50 resolutions covering the sectors of education, housing, healthcare, the environment, social justice, and economic development.
On a cold and cloudy June 4 Sunday, thousands of Filipinos marched on Madison Avenue to celebrate the 125th Philippine Independence waving their flags and wearing the colors of their islands.
The Philippine Independence Day Council, Inc., (PIDC), touted the parade a success with politicians, beauty queens and celebrities leading the massive gathering. Nora Galleros, who is PIDCI president, was joined by Consul General Senen Mangalile, Grand Marshal Dely Go, Ambassador Jose Romualdez, and special guest from the Philippines Senator Risa Hontiveros in welcoming the marchers, tired and famished from a three-hour wait but proud to show patriotic pride. Especially elated was Nora, who came to PIDCI when the organization was under investigation for alleged financial irregularities.
“People come to me, I don’t even know them, and they tell me PIDCI is now different,” she said.
As one supervising the momentous celebration, she is heartened by the positive comments as well as the support from New York to the Philippines and from folks she is meeting for the first time.
At the time of the interview with The FilAm, she, together with her board members, was finalizing the intricate details of the festival, which she said would have a musical concert, folk dances, a comedy show, and a street fair selling Filipino delicacies, dresses and flags.
While many may see the parade as celebratory in character, Nora glimpses a business opportunity. She envisions a “socio economic development market” of about 25,000 Filipino Americans who can contribute to Philippine tourism, trade and small businesses.
“As a business person I have a different take on things,” said Nora, a CPA with a private practice in New Jersey, Florida, and a flagship location in New York’s Madison Avenue. “How are we going to harness this huge crowd of about 25,000 people to generate socio-economic development for the Philippines? I’ve been thinking about this for years.” (She said the number 25,000 is the average yearly attendance in the NYPD’s estimate.)
Nora came to PIDC in 2018 as the organization treasurer then auditor and became its president in 2022, as the pandemic was winding down. She agreed to a second term this year because she wanted 2023 to be a milestone year, seamlessly handled with no baggage from the past weighing it down.
For this year’s parade, Nora introduced a Luz-Vi-Minda-themed celebration by inviting Philippine regions and provinces to New York City to talk about their distinct culture, their food, their people, their way of life. She said she invited mayors and governors to come to NYC, open a booth and talk about their provinces.
Fixing PIDC did not come without its challenges. Nora shared how she received pushback from the “oldtimers” about certain decisions she wanted to implement. Nora asserted her leadership.
She said, “Our theme for the parade is ‘Honoring our cultural heritage, inspiring diversity and inclusion.’ When we had a heated discussion I always say, Let’s go back to our theme. It says Inclusion. We have to live the theme, not just mouth it.”
Nora came to the U.S. in 1990, leaving behind her impoverished family in Gingoog City, Misamis Oriental so she could fulfill her scholarships at Fairleigh-Dickinson University in New Jersey and complete her MBA in Accounting. She took the CPA tests, all four parts, in one sitting and passed. She is the eldest
of four siblings and the first in her family to graduate from college.
She joined two large accounting firms before opening her private practice, Galleros Koh LLP, now known as Galleros Robinson, a Certified Public Accounting and Business Advisory
Services firm.
“I’m a big girl and I can handle different opinions but to me, PIDCI by its structure is really an umbrella organization. It does not belong to one person or a group of individuals,” she said. “No one should claim they own PIDCI.”
June 10
Makilala TV 10th anniversary
Sheraton LaGuardia East Hotel
135-20 39th Ave Flushing, NYC
June 3
Philippine Independence Cruise
Port of boarding: Pier 40 NYC
June 4
Philippine Independence Day Parade
Madison Avenue, from 38th to 27th streets
June 11
Philippine Independence Celebration of Staten Island
Sacred Heart School
950 Castleton Avenue
Staten Island NYC
June 24
‘Filipinos in Greater Boston’ book launch
Courtyard by Marriott
64 University Avenue
Westwood, MA
July 16
41st Ilocano American Association
Inc. Annual Gala & Coronation Ball
Leonard’s Palazzo
555 Northern Boulevard
Great Neck, N.Y.
July 16 to 23
44th PNAA National Convention & Cruise
Aboard Royal Caribbean Wonder of the Seas
July 16 to 24
Very Important Pinoy (VIP) Tour
Contact the Philippine Consulate General in New York for details
July 29
Vocal Champs with Kyla, KZ
Tandingan and Yeng Constantino
The Town Hall at Times Square
123 W 43rd Street NYC
August 19
Fiesta In America
American Dream
East Rutherford, New Jersey
For more information, visit www.fiestainamerica.com or email info@fiestainamerica.com
August 26
7th Annual Kids Philippines
Charity Golf Tournament
Pequot Golf Club
177 Wheeler Road
Stonington, CT
October 21
PACCAL Awards
The Graycliff
122 Moonachie Avenue
Moonachie, N.J.
October 28
FACC Runway for a Cure charity gala
Falls Church Marriott Fairview Park
Falls Church, Virginia
Text or call FACC at 571-352-0165 or email cancercare2022facc@gmail. com if interested to join as one of the models
Claude Tayag is best known as a chef specializing in Kapampangan cuisine. Bale Dutung, the restaurant that he runs with his wife Mary Ann, is a coveted dining destination in Angeles City. It is here where he hosted Anthony Bourdain for a Filipino cuisine episode on the show “No Reservations” back in 2009.
Claude Tayag is also a writer. He is a columnist for The Philippine Star and author of culinary-themed books namely, Food Tour: A Culinary Journal (2006), Linamnam: Eating One's Way Around the Philippines (2012), and the most recently published, The Ultimate Filipino Adobo: Stories Through the Ages (2023).
While he has built a name bolstering Filipino food to the world stage, Claude Tayag is first and foremost an artist. He is a watercolor painter.
He has been painting since he was a child and it didn’t hurt that his father (writer and lawyer Renato “Katoks” Tayag) had a circle of renowned artist friends — Vicente Manansala, Andres Cristobal Cruz, Romulo Galicano among them. He has developed his style over the years and has exhibited his masterpieces in Asia, Europe, and the United States.
He has built a name promoting Filipino food on the world stage. Photos by Claire Mercado-Obias
he nurtured even as he explored other disciplines like sculpture and furniture design.
"What I love most about watercolor is the spontaneity. Watercolor is one of the most difficult medium to explore, to master, for that matter. These paintings represent 30 years of my love affair with watercolor, the passion, my love for it did not diminish over the decades,” he added.
Painting and cooking are a happy marriage in Claude’s life.
He said, “People started asking, which came first, the art or the food as a chef? Hindi ako chef. Hindi ako nag-aral. It came up naturally being a Kapampangan and being a Tayag (known for our hearty appetites). My approach sa pagluluto is no different from my painting. Iba lang yung medium. But instead of watercolor paints and watercolor paper or oil on canvas, [you use] ingredients. You approach it in the same way, [starting with] an empty plate. How will you compose it? How will it look pretty using ingredients and color combinations? In 1988, I was invited by the late Larry Cruz in one of his restaurants to interpret my paintings into edible art. That’s how I approached anything that I did.”
For the first time, his work is on display at the lobby of the Philippine Center in New York and will run until May 12, 2023. The show “Claude Tayag Water Colors” is composed of 22 pieces demonstrating his range from portraits to still life.
At the exhibit opening, Claude recounted his journey: "Why watercolor? Just like any typical kid, if you
give him a piece of paper and Crayola or Guitar watercolor set, it’s the cheapest form of babysitting. Wala pang gadgets, noon. I grew up in the 1960s and we didn’t have a television at home, we didn’t have commercial toys, and since I’m the ninth of 12 children, most of our clothes were hand-me-downs. But we never lacked activities at home. We had each other as playmates. We were our own barkada. We would play patintero sa labas, drawing-drawing sa loob. We were always preoccupied. Watercolor, it has become for me, child’s
play. Until I grew up and met those artists and painters. At 12 years old, that was my eureka moment. That’s what I want to be when I grow up. And that’s the path I followed.”
Watercolor is the creative practice
"My advice to the younger generation who aspire to be artists: Follow your heart. The art will come,” he concluded.
Let Claude Tayag's work transport you back to the Philippines, from still life paintings of Filipino fruits, the santos in our old churches, our festivals like the Moriones and Ati-Atihan, the portraits of the T’boli, and some nostalgic landscapes.
His nationalistic pride is infectious, whether through food or in the art he creates.
Claire Mercado-Obias is a writer, food stylist, and pastry chef based in
Apicha Community Health Center (CHC) has opened its second location in Jackson Heights, Queens. The ribboncutting was held April 26 at 82-11 37th Avenue with political leaders, funders, and community partners joining the ceremony.
"For years, Apicha Community Health Center shared a dream with community leaders in expanding our services to the Jackson Heights community. About a decade ago, Daniel Dromm, who was then the council member, championed the idea of opening a clinic in Jackson Heights, with over 50,000 low-income neighborhood residents unserved by health centers,” Therese Rodriguez, CEO of Apicha CHC said. “With the opening of our new location, that dream has finally become a reality.”
The new clinic is a testament to Apicha CHC's commitment to providing quality healthcare that is accessible, inclusive, and culturally competent, she said.
The Jackson Heights community is known for its diverse population, with a rich tapestry of South and East Asian ethnicities, as well as diverse Latino populations. Apicha CHC has over 30 years of experience providing care to diverse groups of Asian and Pacific Islanders and other immigrants, making them well-equipped to serve the needs of the Jackson Heights community.
The new clinic will help close the gap in healthcare access in Jackson Heights and its surrounding neighborhoods, providing comprehensive services including pediatrics and dental care.
Rodriguez said, “We will serve anyone who comes to our door regardless of immigration status. We will serve anyone who has little or no insurance. We will take care of mothers to be, children, young adults, and adults. Our social workers, case managers, community health educators will help you through mental health issues, access to food and other social services. Everyone is respected. We not only take care of the poor but also those who face forms of discrimination. We too heal the spirit and the soul.”
The Primary Care Development Corporation said it is proud to have supported Apicha for almost a decade to help finance their community health facilities in Manhattan, and now in Jackson Heights, Queens.
“Our mission is to provide financing for communities and organizations that have historically been denied capital, to support the expansion of high-quality, affordable, and
culturally appropriate primary care and behavioral health that is fundamental to building healthy communities,” said Chief Executive Officer Louise Cohen, MPH.
“Apicha’s new beautiful site, and their multicultural and multi-lingual staff, are a model of what primary care can, and should, be.”
The new health center demonstrates Apicha’s “untiring commitment” to bringing health care and supportive services to diverse communities, said Joseph Kerwin, director of the AIDS Institute of the NYS Department of Health. “The mission and vision of this forward thinking organization reminds us that epidemics can only truly end when no population or group is left behind.”
New York State Assemblymember Steven Raga extends his “warmest congratulations” to APICHA on opening the new facility. “It reflects their dedication to providing essential health services and support to vulnerable communities in Assembly District 30 and throughout New York City. Congratulations to APICHA on this
milestone achievement, and we eagerly anticipate the great work they will continue to do for our community.”
The health center was made possible through major funding from the New York State Department of Health’s Capital Restructuring Financing Program, the New York City Economic Development Corporation, Primary Care Development Corporation, and the Henry van Ameringen Foundation.
For more information about Apicha and its services, please visit www.apicha.org.
Guns are the biggest killers of American children and are tied to an unprecedented rise in suicides and homicides among this generation, according to new data that paints a damming portrait of childhood mortality in the U.S. Drugs are now the third leading cause of death, according to the most recent figures.
“Put in plain terms, it basically means the probability of young people reaching age 20 is now decreasing,” said Steven H. Woolf, a professor of Family Medicine and Population Health at Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine. “We’re now losing our most cherished population.”
Woolf is the author of a new study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) showing that in addition to guns, deaths among adolescents from drug poisoning rose 94% in 2020. In 2021, 77% of all teen overdose deaths involved fentanyl.
Speaking during Ethnic Media Services’ weekly news briefing last week, Woolf stressed that death rates among infants, children, and teenagers in most industrialized countries have been falling for many years. But in the US, pediatric success in treating childhood leukemia and curing birth defects has been offset by deaths from guns and drugs.
“This data was so striking to us and is obviously a trend,” said Kim Parker, director of Social and Demographic trends at Pew Research Center. Pew conducted a national survey last fall looking at some of the most pressing concerns currently impacting parents and kids.
Mental health topped the list. Pew asked a very large sample of parents, broken down by racial and ethnic groups, how worried they were about their children getting shot.
“Place and setting really matter,” Parker said.
It turns out parents living in urban areas were significantly more likely to express a high level of concern about their children or child being shot than parents in rural or suburban areas.
Government figures show an overall increase in gun deaths of 23%, but the rate is twice that for young Americans. In 2021, for this age group, 60% of gun deaths in the U.S. were homicides, whereas 32% were suicides, says Parker.
Homicide is the leading type of gun death among children, regardless of the age of the child. Most gun deaths involving Black children in 2021 were homicides, whereas most gun deaths involving Asian and white children were suicides.
Mass killings continue to make headlines about once a week in the U.S., including the recent shooting at a private elementary school in Nashville, Tennessee, where state lawmakers expelled two Black legislators after they joined in protests calling for tighter gun control. The two lawmakers were later reinstated. But the incident highlighted the struggle gun-control advocates face in changing America’s lax gun laws.
The National Shooting Sports Federation reported gun sales have been going up for years and that in 2020, 40% of retail gun sales came from first-time buyers. The FBI says 39 million background checks were conducted in 2020, up from roughly 28 million in 2019.
The U.S. approach to guns and the Second Amendment is related to our history of white supremacy and racism, says Kelly Sampson, Senior Counsel and Director of Racial Justice for the nonprofit Brady United Against Gun Violence.
“There is an interplay between the sheer number of people who feel the need to arm themselves, and the
way that we characterize threats and safety, that is sort of underlying all of the gun culture in society,” she noted, adding self-defense is racially coded in American culture.
Sampson stressed that ready access to firearms is what sets the
U.S. apart. “What is different about the U.S. is its lack of regulation and the ease with which someone who is going through a mental health crisis, or who might be racist, or who is just angry, can get access to a firearm and kill people.” -- Ethnic Media Services
New York City’s public hospital system faces highstakes contract negotiations with the largest single component of its workforce: its registered nurses. At issue: A widening gap between what RNs earn in private and public hospitals – a pay differential that is causing public hospitals to hemorrhage fulltime nurses.
The City’s contract with the New York State Nurses Association (NYSNA) expired on March 2nd. While public hospital nurses are prohibited from striking, should a new deal not be reached soon, other job actions can’t be ruled out.
A status quo that has public hospital RNs intensely dissatisfied turned a March 23rd budget hearing by the City Council Hospitals Committee into a forum about nurses’ pay, involving management and nurses.
Dr. Mitchell Katz, the president of the public New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation (H+H), acknowledged that H+H was losing RNs, saying that 25 percent of 8,000 fulltime positions were vacant. He testified that H+H was using temporary staff to fill in for the missing 2,000 fulltime nurses.
Meanwhile, at a later NYSNA rally, City Comptroller Brad Lander estimated that H+H spent $200 million during a recent three-month period “to bring nurses in from out of state rather than paying what [public hospital] nurses deserve.”
H+H’s proposed budget for Fiscal Year 2024 (which begins July 1st) assumes an operating loss due to the continuing cost of temporary RN staffing. (In a similar vein, a May
report from the State Comptroller concludes that, “It is likely that the extended use of temporary nurses by H+H will continue until at least FY 2024.”)
RNs in public hospitals have typically earned less than their private hospital colleagues. Before the most recent agreement between NYSNA and the private hospitals, reached after a three-day strike at several hospitals in January, the gap was in a two-to-five percent range.
Now, however, as Sonia Lawrence, an RN who works at H+H’s Lincoln Hospital in the Bronx, testified to the City Council, “The gap between our pay and private sector nurse pay is only getting bigger and more unfair.”
NYSNA’s new private hospital agreement means that, absent H+H raises, the private-public pay gap will reach 20 percent by December 31st, 2025, with public hospital entry-level nurses earning $19,000 less annually and more experienced nurses as much as $25,000 less by the end of that contract period.
NYSNA, meanwhile, wants raises of seven, six, and five percent (20 percent, compounded) over the next three years.
NYSNA is threatening to trigger a long-dormant contract clause that dates from the Giuliani administration. It commits the City to come within $1,000 of RN salaries at Presbyterian, Mount Sinai, Montefiore, and Maimonides, among other private hospitals. The clause was suspended for the 2019-2023 contract, as it has been for every collective bargaining agreement since 1995.
The City has not denied its obligation. “We have listened to stories about how salaries impact staffing,” a City spokesperson told NYSNA bargainers. “This will take time to see how we can manage and make a proposal to you.... The answer is not ‘no.’ It's a timing thing.”
Waiting has an on-going price. “Every week that the City takes its time to come up with a parity proposal,” according to a NYSNA source, “they are wasting more and more
money on expensive travel nurses, and more staff nurses are leaving for better pay in the private sector.”
Even with the use of temporary nurses, public hospitals are understaffed.
“I work on the Med-Surg [medical-surgical] floor caring for 11-13 patients at a time on a normal day; the number I can safely care for is four or five,” a Harlem Hospital RN testified to the City Council. “And our union contract forbids more than six. Our new nurses get a sink-or-swim introduction to City hospitals and they are quick to leave us for higher pay and lower patient loads. Many don’t even complete orientation before starting a search for jobs with better working conditions.”
Read the complete report at the Center for New York City Affairs website www.centernyc.org
Barbara Caress has worked for many years in non-profit, union, and public agency health care policy and administration. She teaches public health policy at Baruch College.
The “Guardians of the Galaxy” trilogy has officially concluded with its final installment “Vol. 3,” which in my view is the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s best film since “Spider-Man: No Way Home.”
For the past couple of years, the Marvel movies and TV series of late have been struggling with both critical and audience reviews. Whether “Vol. 3” will ultimately have the box office legs to match the highest-grossing MCU box office hits of the 2010s remains to be seen. Regardless, this is one of the Marvel films which excellently combines heart, humor, emotion and excitement all at once, and like some of the best MCU films such as “Black Panther,” “Avengers: Endgame” and “Shang-Chi,” I could watch this repeatedly.
“Vol. 3” marks the end of an era in so many ways both on and offscreen. Aside from the fact that this will be the last time we will see these beloved galactic ragtag antihero characters teaming together to save the universe from malevolent forces, this film also marks the final time that director James Gunn will be helming a Marvel project before he makes his big move to being a major co-producer of a new series of DC superhero films, the main rival comic franchise of Marvel. As his last directed film under the Marvel brand, Gunn happily goes out on a high note with “Vol. 3,” which is
undeniably the most emotional and darkest of the “Guardians” trilogy.
The talking trigger-happy Rocket Raccoon is the center of the story here, and he is no doubt the heart and soul of the movie. Unlike in the previous films, we finally get the full background to his character and how he came to be, and mind you, his origin tale is not one for the fainthearted. We learn how as a newborn raccoon, he had been imprisoned, tortured and used as a laboratory experiment by a cold-hearted scientist known as the High Evolutionary, whose goal is to kidnap animals as part of his goal of populating the planet
Earth with highly intelligent animal lifeforms. Rocket, along with fellow animal inmates, develops the ability to communicate and express feelings and emotions beyond the abilities of mere animals, and is eventually able to escape the fate of his unfortunate fellow inmates who had become his only family.
Years later, he has now become a member of the roguish yet noblehearted Guardians of the Galaxy superhero team comprising of human leader Peter Quill/Star-Lord, and his extra-terrestrial crew of Gamora, Drax the Destroyer, Nebula, Mantis, and Rocket’s ever loyal friend and sidekick the sentient tree being Groot, all of whom have become his new surrogate family. After sharing many adventures with his Guardians gang, a new being by the name of Adam Warlock has entered the picture and has attacked Rocket for mysterious reasons.
Watching the film’s process unfold with the Guardians team scrambling to rescue their dear friend and comrade Rocket brings a level of emotional engagement which has seriously been lacking in some of the most recent Marvel movies, and it is indeed refreshing to experience such heartfelt investment being rewarded.
Bradley Cooper, who provides the voice of Rocket Racoon, gives his strongest performance with the role. While a few viewers will find his backstory very disturbing and upsetting, the tragic circumstances leading to his evolution as a heroic member of the Guardians team is definitely inspiring and validates the argument that the “Guardians” trilogy really is Rocket’s story, even more so than lead character Peter Quill.
Impressively, the rest of the team here is still given ample character focus, including our own FilAm Dave Bautista as the seemingly dim-witted yet lovable Drax the Destroyer. Bautista has been outspoken in that this would be his last performance ever as the rouge extra-terrestrial with a heart of gold, and it is indeed a great way for him to bow out from the character as he proves here that he has as much acting talent as he can wrestle. Much promise awaits this future WWE Hall of Famer as he moves on to other roles and continues to make the FilAm community proud.
After a five-year dance drought aggravated by the COVID-19 pandemic, the internationally recognized Leyte Dance Theater (LDT) of Jess de Paz Foundation, Inc is back on to its 9th U.S. tour.
The timing was reminiscent of our homeland’s traditional fiesta in May, plus the significant U.S. national recognition of the Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month. Also embraced was PAFCOM’s additional homage to the LGBTQIA, people with disability, the young and the elderly.
And wow did the LDT deliver, fully showcasing the vision of its founder, Jess de Paz, from our northern indigenous pre-colonial, “Dawn at the Highlands” suite to its post-modern nationalistic, “Bayan Ko” in a historical amalgam of five dance suites.
With renewed vigor and lots of coordinated choreography, the dance execution showed focused discipline to look breezy in their highly challenging moves. Classical ballet incorporated to story-tell our local flavors delivered a seamless appreciation of fusion-dance genre. The leaps and bounds, from solo, pas de deux to company pirouettes were seen throughout the many figures of their movements.
There was liberal use of local Philippine ethnological home-decorative and functional basketry. Martial artsy props, colorful outfits and headgears brought to the fore the deeper density of the visual storyline. The balance from the sky-high stack of earthen pots, crowning the Igorot tribal-dancer’s head, was supported by her sturdy neck and delicately swaying limbs. It definitely brought the tribe a few dainty steps closer to their highland heavens.
The second suite, “Mardi Gras de Principalia,” in quick-figures’ succession was a vow to the Castilian influ-
ence during our colonial acculturation. The scarf, umbrella, fan, cane and hat gave a romantic run for the altar, in a bamboo-castanets-sleight-of-hands tap-dancing signature and romantic melody.
The “Uncharted Sari-Manok Trail” was a definite awe-provoking Maranao dance suite. The simple percussions of Muslim time-signatured homophony with a mythical Sarimanok bird-song could tell a very nuanced story. Who could have conjectured how those eight colorful bamboo poles in their myriad reconfigurations could be a stretcher to transport a sick princess, totem pole to climb up to a prize, a tribal prince’s pyramid pole to reach up heights, or a bird trap and cage to ensnare a cure? This, was in addition to the final clacking celebratory multigeometric foot works permutations of their newly recovered-beloved princess.
Back to Terre Firme, the fourth suite, “Life at the Rurals”, was reminiscent of the halcyon days of our simpler lives, the daily lives and the barrio menfolks’ love of cockfighting. The cacophony of banters, shrieks and final barrio dance fest to rondalla music confirmed that it took just a little nudge to break to a dance.
The final “Bayan Ko” suite reminded us that through dance, the fight for freedom across obstacles needed no words. A mother’s gnawing scream of “anak ko”, as her son fell, was its denouement as he was soon lifted and marched up by his compatriots to his monumental pantheon via a pillar of bamboo poles.
I have enjoyed many genres of the ethnic and classical dance performing arts in the Big Apple, with some travel sights of the Ballet Folklorico Mexico, Thai, Chinese, Indian folklore dances, and some European dance shows, like in Vienna’s Rat
Haus. The dance repertoire of our 30-year young Leyte Dance Theater has definitely leaped and bounded to its global caliber and glory. It befits the accolades and recognition it has received. It transformed and produced our rich history, folkways, myths and lore to movement and local music.
Let us nurture more highly disciplined devoted FilAm students and alumni-dancers to a global audience.
Hopefully, our new generations of FilAms and others in the audience will have more chance and opportunity to really appreciate and support such Philippine ambassadors of artistic global goodwill. Mabuhay! Felicitas F. Santiago, MD was president of the University of the Philippines Medical Alumni Society in America (UPMASA) New York-New Jersey-Connecticut Chapter from 2019 to 2021.
