Filam June

Issue 4, June 2018

International artist Lolita Valderrama Savage: The good life p8 You’re a Big Star now, Sisig p4 A day in the kitchen of Romy Dorotan p3 Photo by Filbert Kung

More stories on the web @ TheFilAm.net

Letter from the Publisher

Missing Doreen

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ne does not write about food There were other restaurants where we met as an expression of cultural to discuss programs for our department. I may identity and not mention not remember the names but I will never forget Doreen Fernandez. how Doreen exuberantly talked about the food in Doreen was a food writer those places. Our meetings were like loud family and historian, a fellow teacher, and eating reunions over hearty dinners. companion to many of us in the Mass The last time I heard from Doreen was in the Communications department of the Ateneo weeks before she passed away in June 2002. She where she was then the chairperson. She’s called me one afternoon to set up a meeting. We one I’m proud to call my mentor and friend. were not able to meet because she was rushed to One day in the 1990s, she gave me her the hospital where she stayed for a week. Upon book, “LASA,” which featured interestgetting out, she gave me another call to schedule ing places to eat in the regions of the another meeting. country. It’s for when I went on one of my We talked about her plan to enlist the Ateneo assignments in the provinces when I was alumni living in the New York area to teach a reporter for Reuters, she told me as she undergraduate online courses so the university handed me a copy. could tap their knowledge and skills. We again I took the book with me wherever I went made plans to meet the following day to discuss -- from Vigan in the north to Bacolod in the further.

Visayas. It became my resource guide, my That never happened because she was rushed Food historian Doreen G. Fernandez/Wordpress Food Bible. Through it, I found this wild to the hospital again. In the early afternoon of game restaurant near Pinatubo volcano in Pampanga. With a photogJune 24, 2002, I made my way to the New York Presbyterian Hospital rapher and a cameraman, we savored python adobo, frog legs, stewed where I found her sister and a family friend. wild duck, and buttered pritong crickets. We learned the crickets They left me alone while I stood by Doreen’s bed. The shadows from were raised on the farm, and the butter made them even more crispy. the blinds played with the slivers of light dancing around the room. A I was the only one who popped the chicharron-crunchy crickets in my tube helped her breathe. She was already unconscious. It was painful mouth like peanuts. to see her that way. I looked out the window of her hospital room to LASA introduced me to spicy Vigan longganisa and how addicting the East River swirling by on a humid summer day. Her sister said they were on a cool morning, especially when washed down with thanks for me passing by. Doreen passed a few hours later. strong barako coffee. With cups of garlic rice, you can skip lunch and From Doreen, I came to enjoy food no matter who cooked them and go straight to dinner. what restaurant served them. I learned how the simple act of eating Our faculty meetings were held in different restaurants around can be enjoyed by a group of teachers like us, a community, or the Metro Manila. One was a Chinese dimsum place on the corner of Que- society at large, and become one unifying ritual. zon Boulevard and Timog called Le Ching Tea House. On Doreen’s recommendation, we all tried the beef brisket, and everyone came out Rene Pastor stuffed.

Founding Editor Cristina DC Pastor

Business & Advertising Manager Rene Pastor

Address P.O. Box 8071 New York, NY 10116

The FilAm is a publication of A&V Editorial

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Contact Editorial: 848-219-0069 Advertising: 732-428-6318 Thefilamny@gmail.com

A day in the kitchen of Romy Dorotan

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n a beautiful Spring morning, I met Chef Romy Dorotan at the Union Square farmers’ market to do some food shopping before heading to Purple Yam Brooklyn for what he called a session of ‘satsatan lang.’ My husband James and I have known Romy and his wife Amy Besa, the duo behind Cendrillon in Soho then and Purple Yam for more than a decade now.

“When did food first lodge itself in your consciousness?” I asked in the spirit of their book, Memories of Philippine Kitchens, in which Amy captures the moment of her “first inkling of the power of food” when roosters crowed before daybreak as pan de sal was brought into the kitchen.

Although he initially seemed to prefer avoiding a philosophical or a romanticized discussion of food that is perchance best left to speak for itself, Romy indulged my question. We went down the steps to the kitchen in the basement of Purple Yam Brooklyn and down his memory lane while he moved from sink to counter to walk-in cooler to stove to oven.

Like Amy, Romy’s first memory of food was pan de sal. He remembers early mornings in Irosin, Sorsogon. Pan de sal is set for breakfast; coffee for adults and for the children, “kape de arroz”--a caffeine-free drink made with uncooked rice roasted first then steeped in hot water. So, for the couple--as for many Filipinos, the Proustian madeleine is the small crusty ‘bread of salt’; it’s no surprise that among the first recipes in their cookbook is Ube Pan de Sal. Romy was born to a father who migrated to the Philippines from mainland China, marrying a local lass and raising his family to grow into the fabric of Bicolano culture, and a mother who was a merchant, selling staples like rice, sardines, and cooking oil in the market. The figure memorable to him in the kitchen was a Chinese cook hired during special occasions. Standing before coal-fired stoves in her loose white sando, swigging from a bottle of sioktong, she prepared fiesta meals. Romy cited arroz valenciana, fish escabeche, and camaron rebosado among the dishes that our Chinese immigrant ascendants improvised. Incorporating Spanish elements in traditionally Chinese dishes popularized their cooking. Hybridization is after

By Carina Evangelista

FILIPINO FOOD

Let’s eat!

A conversation that began at the Union Square farmers’ market and continued all the way to the basement kitchen of Purple Yam Brooklyn.

Photos by Carina Evangelista all Philippinization. Dorotan is itself a Filipinized Chinese name.

Romy started his duck adobo upon our arrival at Purple Yam. Mulberry vinegar, fresh bay leaves and bird chilies, and garlic go into the pot. I taste the vinegar as he reveals its provenance. Besieged by birds that raided the coffee trees in a plantation in Bukidnon, the owner decided to plant mulberry among the coffee. Problem solved. Mulberry aplenty for birds and for fermentation into vinegar that’s so good I imagine macerating figs in it.

As the adobo simmered, he prepares our brunch, fishing boiled duck eggs from their sumptuous magenta bath of beet juice, rosemary, and cardamom, then quail eggs from their earthy bath of mulberry vinegar, chili flakes, and turmeric oil. He unwraps the sourdough THE FILAM |

boule that he and Perry Mamaril had baked the night before. Perry, an artist who also cooks at Purple Yam, created a pandan leaf lattice for the bread. Romy holds up the cross-sections of their bread and of the polenta boule we bought at the farmers’ market, showing the difference in distribution of air pockets. “Ours is not there yet. It takes years and years to achieve this level of perfection,” states the seasoned cook who sees his craft as one of perpetual discovery, learning, and honing.

We try both breads with the cheeses and radishes we bought. Then, he cuts thicker slices of bread, fries up some tocino, rings of cipollini onions, and builds open faced sandwiches topped with fresh mozzarella.

After finishing the tosoulog--tocino, sourdough bread, duck and quail eggs, 3

Romy throws purple fingerling potatoes and Jerusalem artichokes doused with extra virgin olive oil into the oven. What brought him to the U.S.? A scholarship to pursue a doctorate in Economics at Temple University where he would later meet Amy. A sister prodded him to study abroad. He was not seeking greener pastures but had he not left, he would have followed an older brother in his footsteps as a cadre leader killed during the Marcos dictatorship. “I’d probably be dead, too, now.”

Personal and national histories intertwine. How could Romy’s journey from a family grieving a brother’s early death alloyed with anger at an abusive regime lead to the kitchen? The activist left but did not leave his activism behind.

Continued on page 11

You’re a Big Star now, Sisig

Let’s eat!

By Cristina DC Pastor

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t’s time.

Adobo’s star has dimmed, although its influential place in the culinary mainstream is assured. Non-Filipinos now recognize Adobo and order it with authority like they had grandmothers who cooked it for them.

You’re the New Star now, Sisig.

We have waited and wondered when you will emerge in the mainstream consciousness, until, lo and behold, celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain’s prophetic proclamation got most everyone’s attention.

“Sisig will win the hearts and minds of the world,” Bourdain declared in a CNN Philippines program that aired in June 2017.

Sisig has since became a favorite comfort food in the New York metropolitan area and not just for Filipinos who drink beer. Business for Sisig City food truck from Staten Island has picked up since the pronouncement from Bourdain. Owner Manny Imperial told The FilAm, “Our numbers for catering and events have gone up since. Sisig City’s pretty booked for the summer with weddings, food truck events and private parties.”

Mama Fina’s House of Filipino Sisig, a pioneer in New Jersey, opened in early 2018 in the East Village, a location that is always packed. The restaurant said its growing following prompted the need to expand. It offers a variety of Sisig dishes, such as Pork Sisig, Tuna Sisig, Posit Sisig, and Bangus Sisig, all of them mincechopped and blended with onions and chili.

Sisig will always be a specialty staple in many Filipino restaurants because the dish is familiar — traditionally eaten as “pulutan” (snacks) and paired with beer or any form of alcohol. Some Filipino women may find it greasy, but with husbands or boyfriends who drink, they get used

FILIPINO FOOD

Sisig Crunch Cups at Sisig City Food Truck to eating it with them. It is usually served in restaurants on a sizzling plate and hardly ever cooked at home.

What goes into Sisig may be awkward to explain to non-Filipinos getting acquainted with Filipino food: pig’s head (snout, cheeks, and ears), chicken liver and heart, and pork skin. The ‘meats’ are flavored with chopped chili and onions and bathed in vinegar and calamansi

(citrus) juice. To solve the Eek Factor, some restaurants have replaced the pig’s head with fish or squid.

Tama Restaurant in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn is prettifying the Sisig and making it Instagram-worthy. Owner and chef Miguel de Leon described during the launch of Filipino Restaurant Week how Tama has recreated Sisig into a patty wedged within a purple bun.

Traditional Sizzling Sisig at Max’s in Jersey City THE FILAM |

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“When you get a plate of Sisig it’s hard to look at,” said De Leon.

“Using all the parts, the ears the cheeks the skin, everything, we form them into patties, deep-fry them and that’s the basis for our Sisig Burger.”

He added, “It’s hard to take a picture with what your lola makes but it’s easy to make a picture when something is purple or something is or bright green or when there’s an egg yolk running through it.”

Bjorn Dela Cruz, chef and owner at Ibis Eats also in Brooklyn, welcomed the mainstreaming of Sisig but cautioned against stereotyping Filipino cuisine with just one dish.

“Filipino food is not about one dish, just like Korean dish is not just Kimchi or Vietnamese dish is not just Pho,” he said. “What I like about what’s happening to Sisig is it creates a bigger, broader view of the Filipino food experience.”

“We’re bringing the Sisig to other states, to Pennsylvania to Washington, and then we’ll have a party and have fun,” proclaimed Tourism Attaché Susan del Mundo about plans by her office for a Sisig roadshow.

See, Sisig? These are exciting times.

Sisig Burger at Tama Restaurant

The ‘shame piece’ A

By Cristina DC Pastor

lso known as the “last piece of anything.”

In Philippine culture, it is usually the last piece of food left on a plate.

Filipinos are reluctant to touch that piece for fear they would be seen as ‘matakaw’ (greedy) or ‘gutom na gutom’ (overly hungry). Hence, that last slice of Bibingka or last piece of Adobo chicken on a tray will just sit there and remain uneaten. When all the guests have left, maybe the host will finally get to eat it so there is no more ‘tira’ (leftovers).

“Let me tell you that in any gathering, a family meal or a party, perhaps, when they serve the chicken or the pizza or the cassava cake, Pinoys will swoop down and take their piece. Except for the last one,” noted Deputy Consul General Kerwin Tate in keynoting the launch of Filipino Restaurant Week from May 14 to 26 at the Philippine Center. “No one will touch it. That’s the shame piece.”

The last slice of pizza no one will touch Philippine tradition passed down from our elders to our children regards the shame piece as something observed out of a sense of consideration

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FILIPINO FOOD

Let’s eat!

for a guest who may be hungrier or one arriving late to a party. It will leave them with the thought that there will always be food for them.

“I always thought it was a silly tradition. If you’re still hungry, why not just take it?” wondered Tate.

Until his mother explained it to him: “Anak, it’s not that everybody is full – it’s an act of consideration.

Maybe someone is hungrier than you. Or perhaps someone, a late guest, will appear, and you save something for them.”

That’s how the shame piece came to be a venerable tradition among Filipinos, who honor it and make it a part of their celebration through food.

“The shame piece is not a negative thing, but a beautiful act,” he said. “It’s not just pretension, or ‘pakitang-tao.’ It’s a community agreeing, non-verbally, that we have an obligation to make sure that we control ourselves, for the sake of others who might be coming along later, or who are, right now, hungrier than we are.”

The fragrance of home in Ysabel Potenciano-Cottrell’s candles

By Cristina DC Pastor

Her dream is to become CEO of her own company

She lived in Forbes Park, was chauffeured to and from Assumption with her Shih-Tzu and bodyguard.

Until one day, a suspicious fire razed the family’s transportation business.

Everything went up in flames – wealth, security, status, and over time, relationships.

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sabel Potenciano-Cottrell, who was 13 then, remembered distinctly how her family went from riches to challenging times. Her family owned the BLTB (Batangas Laguna Tayabas) Bus Co., whose crowded terminal was some kind of a Pasay City milepost. Her family struggled, in spite of it all, and

survived through hard work and the kindness of relatives. “We moved from house to house,” she recalled in an interview with The FilAm. A painful memory, but she dubbed it as one of the most teachable times of her life. The most important lesson I learned was "knowing what remained after all the chaos; family and close friends.”

She followed her dream to study in the U.S., but also struggled financially.

There was a time when she thought she may not even be able to finish her degree. “I was a broke college student,” she chuckled.

A foundation called House of Friendship heard about her story through her mother, and offered to help her finish college. She finished as a Cum Laude with a Bachelor’s Degree in Finance and is currently undergoing her Master’s in Business Administration, with a focus on Legal Studies. Currently, she is transitioning as the Acting Director of Purchasing at Deringer-Ney, Inc. in Bloomfield, Connecticut.

From that harrowing tragedy, it became her life’s dream to become a CEO of her own company, a workplace where compassion is the core principle, and where workers are treated like family. She recently opened her candle-making online business called Messages from Home (MFH), whose soy candles have distinct Philippine scents, such as ube, sampaguita, pastillas de leche, etc.

“I want to be able to create a culture where people feel invested in and valued by their place of work; where they cannot be replaced at the drop of a hat and they do not feel obligated to come to work every day,” said this 28-year-old entrepreneur, non-profit volunteer, the average girl-next-door with determination and ambition.

The idea behind MFH was inspired by a recent visit to the Philippines.

With her boyfriend, Ryan LeBlanc, they started brainstorming the concept and came up with the plan.

She said, “The Philippines is where my roots are planted. I wanted to be able to recreate the experiences through the stimulation of scents. I want to be able to take them with me wherever I go. So I created scents that are unique -- mangoes, ube, sampaguita, yema, etc.”

She partnered with a perfumery in Manhattan, where the essential oils are mixed to create the perfect scent.

Ube, or purple yam, for example, is “not just one scent but a combination of different scents.” The pouring, molding, wicking, and packing she

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does at her Norwich home. She vowed all her candles are eco-friendly, soy based, and “made with love.”

Messages from Home is in its early stages. In the future, one of Ysa’s plans is to open a kiosk at the Manila airport. This way visitors leaving the country can take the fragrance of the Philippines with them, and enjoy the rich, redolent smell of Filipino food or flowers wherever their next destination is.

“I've made a lot of places home and I end up missing it after I leave. It could be a home where you moved out of, or a foreign country,” said Ysa. She is hoping through her candles one can recreate and make the memories last.

Candles to make memories of the Philippines last 6

How food inspires

Dani Chou’s floral designs

By Cristina DC Pastor

Beauty is in the eye of the…floral designer?

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ani Chou, who owns the floral design studio Petals by Dani, knows a thing or two about beauty and style, surrounded throughout her life by the essence of what is pleasing to the eyes.

She grew up in central Taiwan, in a country house with a paved courtyard and where gardenia shrubs and jasmine vines grew bountiful by the roadside. She remembered how, as a little girl, she would ride a bike with her grandfather with tiny flowers adorning her hair.

“I grew up in a traditional home in Taiwan. We always had flowers growing either in the garden or on trees,” said Dani.

Her mother owned a beauty salon where she did bridal hair and makeup.

From watching her at work, Dani acquired and developed her own sense of style. This would sharpen further when she worked for more than a decade as an international sales executive for top cosmetics companies in New York.

“I think I was born into this industry of beauty,” she explained how her life seems to gravitate around the notion of being able to discern what is truly beautiful.

She came into the flower business by accident. She was helping her brother put together the marketing plan for his skateboard business when it dawned on her that she wanted to do the same thing: “I wanted to do something that I love.”

She adores flowers, and so took classes at the New York Botanical Garden to learn about floral design. By January this year, the website Petals by Dani went live. Her first few businesses came from friends. Her first big event was the wedding of her Filipina friend.

This arrangement uses broccoli rabe flowers, chives, mint, chilis, and cabbage “One of the biggest satisfactions about working in this industry is not only am I working with the gifts from Nature but that I am giving these wonderful gifts to someone to be happy and to admire them. I cannot take the full credit for flowers because they were created by Mother Nature.

It’s not mine, but we (myself and my clients) have the privilege to enjoy it,” she said.

Dani speaks with a lot of thought, as if reflecting the care she lavishes on her designs. She explained her process – from prepping the flowers days ahead to carefully stowing them so the vases do not break. Larger, life-size arrangements are usually done on location.

“I like to visualize the space and carefully plan things out,” she said.

If the party theme calls for food, she uses vegetables and fruits. Using food as part of design can be creative since they provide unique textures and a variety of colors. It can also be THE FILAM |

‘I grew up surrounded by flowers.’ Photo by Geno Chou a challenge because they wilt under extreme temperature. If the event is for a few hours, she uses a lot of leafy vegetables, such as kale, which is multifaceted for its different shades of green – from dark and deep to yellowish. “Kale has great color and texture,” she said.

She uses radishes if she’s looking for fresh shapes and bright color. Figs, a type of citrus called kumquat, Mandarin apples, and grapes also provide certain colors and textures she needs for aesthetics.

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In extreme temperature, she avoids leafy vegetables that tend to wilt. “I have to use something substantial, like artichoke which is sturdy and comes in different shapes.” Zucchini, carrots, lemon slices, and jalapeno, when combined with flowers, provide “great presence and are visually very appealing.”

Dani said she aspires to create designs that are elegant and timeless. “Nothing complicated but classy.”

Petals by Dani can be reached by email: hello@petalsbydani.com

COVER STORY

The magnetic Lolita Valderrama Savage: Nature artist, Chairman's wife, mother of 3

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By Cristina DC Pastor

orporate chairmen's spouses are known to stay at home, raise the children, manage the household, and still look elegant for after-dinner parties.

Artist Lolita Valderrama Savage, who has been married for almost 40 years to retired chairman of global asset management company, Alliance Capital Management International, Frank Savage, recast that traditional stereotype. She traveled -- or rather sailed -- with her husband; raised her family; and pursued her art. She painted, exhibited, and was constantly creating art, collecting enough paintings to be able to show them around the world. For having the flexibility to do all that, she expressed her gratitude to her mother and sister who would come to New York to help with the kids.

“My mother and sister who lived in California helped me with my children,” said Lolita in an interview with The FilAm. “I didn’t want to leave my children totally to strangers, baby sitters and nannies.”

From the time she knew she had a “gift,” Lolita This portrait of Lolita appeared on the cover of gave the arts almost her undivided attention. She ‘La Toscana,’ a leading art and culture magazine in Italy remembered how before she was even 4 years old she was this precocious girl who loved to draw. To keep the university. She won the grant and was sent to the her behaved, her mother supplied her with paper and Accademia di Belle Arti, Florence, Italy, not knowing pencil, and Lolita would sit still for hours just drawing then the city “would be part of my destiny.” Lolita as if in a trance. became one of the students of the famous Florentine “Mother knew I had something,” she said. “It’s a gift artist Silvio Loffredo. He passed away in 2013, just and it showed. All I wanted to do was to draw.” before Lolita's grand solo exhibit at the Palazzo She drew picture after picture with pencils, and Medici Riccardi Museum. as she grew as an artist, with charcoals, watercolors and oil paints. When the signs of an artistic flair became apparent, her mother urged some caution as “there is no money in the arts,” she recalled at a Ma-Yi Theater fundraising gala in New York City.

“Both my mother and father didn’t think one could make money out of such a humble career,” she said. "But now, I cannot think of any career more precious and invaluable than art. My art has taken me to distant places and cultures and brought many great people into my exciting life including family and friends.

Art has been a fulfillment of my being.”

Her professors from University of Santo Tomas’ College of Architecture and Fine Arts saw a blooming artist, and urged Lolita to apply for a scholarship to the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, after she was just Lolita with family and friends in the New York Yacht Club appointed art instructor upon graduating at THE FILAM |

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“Florence was the most beautiful town I ever saw where art and beauty merge in the works of the greatest artists of all times,” Lolita told La Toscana magazine, recalling her days as the proverbial struggling artist. At the time, she was in her 20s and supported herself from the stipend she received from the scholarship.

She has always felt love for Italy from the time she arrived in 1973. “People were very respectful and kind to me,” she said. "They were extremely curious about me and my Filipino culture. I was proud to be able to tell them about my beautiful people and country."

She began to paint nature in Florence, because she could not do that in Manila and New York where she told The FilAm, the noise never stops. “I always longed to get away from the confusion of the city so I became a painter of nature,” she said. “Unlike Manila and New York, Florence then was contained, not busy at all. You could walk the entire city in half a day, and in just a few minutes from the center, you could be in the breathtaking countryside of Chianti and other medieval towns rich in history and natural beauty."

Florence would be her home for two years before she moved to Sweden, where she continued to paint, exhibit, and teach art. She was introduced to the famous Swedish painter Staffan Hallstrom, born in 1914, who became her initial mentor upon arrival in Scandinavia. Hallstrom generously allowed her and other young artists to work in his studio in the old part of Stockholm City for free. Apart from art techniques, he taught Lolita the art of coping with the challenges of being a serious painter.

She met Frank while visiting her sister Lilia Beavers in California. He was then working as a Vice-President for the Equitable Life Assurance Society of the U.S. Her sister Lilia worked for the company’s office in L.A. Lolita then moved from Sweden to New York City to work for the United Nations using her knowledge of languages while at the same time getting to know Frank. They married in 1980, and have three children, Fredrik Antoine, Grace Erlinda, and Frank Alexander.

“Frank never stopped me from being an artist. I continued with my art. I was able to juggle my arts, my community work, my family, my husband,” she said with a laugh.

Across Europe, Asia and the U.S., she participated in group exhibits and mounted her solo shows one after the other. In 1991, she exhibited at the UNESCO in Paris, and in 1999, she was part of an exhibit of internationally acclaimed artists and writers,

such as Sumet Jumsai, Dale Chihuly, Paulo Coelho, Hans Erni, Laura Esquivel, etc. at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. In that same year, Lolita became the first Filipina to solo-exhibit at the Casa di Dante (family home to Divine comedy author, Dante Alighieri) in Florence. In 2006, after another exhibit in Paris, she participated in the “Art for Peace” auction at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London to benefit Atlantic College in Wales.

Lolita went back to Manila in 2011 to exhibit at the Ayala Museum and the UST Museum of Arts and Sciences. In 2013 she was once again in Florence to do a one-woman exhibition at the prestigious Palazzo Medici ‘Silent Snow’. Oil on Canvas ‘Path to the Woods’. Oil on Canvas Riccardi Museum. In 2014, she 36 X 48 inches. Sweden, 1982 36 X 48 inches. Sweden, 1984 was honored by then Philippine President Benigno Aquino III at the Malacanang Palace with the Pamana ng Pilipino award ities, art, culture, science, politics, in keeping alive for her cultural and artistic accomplishments overseas. the legacy of the greatest Patron of Renaissance Art, Lorenzo Medici, the Magnificent.

Another milestone came in 2017 by way of the She is the first Filipino to be awarded joining the distinguished Premio Lorenzo Il Magnifico, a prestiranks of previous honorees, such as opera singer gious award granted by the Academia Internazionale Luciano Pavarotti, Italian Prime Minister Giovanni Medicea (The International Medici Academy) in Florence to those who excel in promoting the human- Spadolini, actor Vittorio Gassman, and others.

When they were younger, her children would insist on being involved in her creative process. Recalled her son Fredrik Antoine “I would help my mom with some of her pieces, mix colors on the palette until the late hours of the night.” It felt great, he added, seeing his mother’s paintings grace the Stamford Museum & Nature Center at her solo exhibit in 2016, “in the hometown where she raised me.” The Savage family moved to Connecticut after living for 15 years in New York’s Central Park West (and being neighbors with personalities like Michael Douglas, John Lithgow, Bill Moyers and Dick Cavett).

“She’s very magnetic,” said Grace, Lolita’s daughter. “I always see my mother in her work. It could start from anywhere, from the sketch of a rock, to someone sitting on a train, to a leaf on a tree.”

Her youngest son Frankie said, "I am happy that my mom is an artist. Every society thrives because of artists who enrich our human culture."

Art – and for the most part, life -- has been good to Lolita.

“As I think back, how did I do all that?” she wondered as if pensively. “God seems to give you all that energy at every stage of life.”

Maya Angelou to her florist: ‘Oh, I love Filipinos’

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here was never a tangled Christmas tree light in the many years – since 1998 – that florist Dennis Josue had been decorating the Harlem home of Maya Angelou.

But one time was embarrassingly memorable. Dennis of Fantasia Floral Design on the Upper East Side, was called back to Angelou’s house.

The Christmas tree had toppled over from the heavy ornaments he used to adorn her 15-foot fir.

“I rushed back the following day,” said Dennis recalling with a laugh that singular time when the poet, best-selling author, feminist, civil rights activist and literary immortal asked him to fix her tree. “She did not get angry. Dr. Angelou was a very nice lady, a very gentle woman.”

Dr. Angelou. That’s how Angelou would ask people who was not family or she was not intimate friends with, to address her. And that’s how Dennis paid her the ultimate respect.

Dennis met Angelou through a friend, Gary Warren, then a window display artist at Bloomingdale’s.

He and Gary went to the same church.

One day, Gary asked Dennis if he would like to decorate a friend’s apartment for the holidays. That would signal the start of him doing Angelou’s Christmas décor year after year up until about three years

ago when she began – perhaps for reasons of health — to stay longer in North Carolina even spending the holidays there. Angelou, 86, passed away May 28, 2014 in Winston-Salem.

She also had a townhouse down Harlem’s Malcolm X Boulevard, where, he believed, Angelou’s son Guy lives.

Dennis and his assistant would decorate its three floors, two fireplaces, railways, doors, bedrooms and kitchen.

“She liked decorations that are whimsical and playful because she liked having family and grandchildren over for Christmas,” he told The FilAm. And Dennis was only too happy to oblige. One time, he adorned the kitchen fireplace to look like a gingerbread house using real gingerbread confections. The family gathered around the fireplace enjoying bites from the baked decor.

He recalled, too, how in the Christmas after September 11, 2001 Angelou requested a red-white-andblue color theme. “We did her a patriotic Christmas.

The tree was all white, including all the ornaments.”

She loved the color white. Dennis recalled scattering white amaryllis plants around the house that year.

Blue is another favorite for its calming quality.

Dennis said Angelou was not always around while he worked, but she would give Gary instructions on what she would like her Christmas theme to be.

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The feminist icon; florist Dennis Josue One time, actress Cicely Tyson came to visit, and so Dennis avoided working in the kitchen where Angelou entertained her.

He recalled, in one of their brief pleasantries, mentioning that he is Filipino, from the Philippines.

Her face lit up, saying “Oh, I love Filipinos,” enough to make Dennis feel even more enamored of this lovely, gentle African American artist.

When he learned of her passing, Dennis turned to Facebook to join in the national mourning: “Dr. Angelou, you’re in my thoughts and prayers. I remember the happy times I had decorating your house.” -- Cristina DC Pastor

With son Emmanuel (left), daughter Annabelle Estacio Touhey, and a family friend

Dancing with his daughter Annabelle during the Grand Marshal Gala.

Photos by Rachell Banez

An ardent Santo Nino devotee is PIDCI Grand Marshal

By Cristina DC Pastor

Legend has it that when the old St. Augustine’s Church in Philadelphia had shrunk to a few dozen congregants in late 1980s, it was Dr. Restituto Estacio – armed with a small statue of the Santo Nino — who rallied support from the Filipino community Today, the church highlights in its website the importance of Filipino Catholics for its survival, and how St. Augustine is now the “parish of choice for many Filipino Americans in the Philadelphia area.” There are novena prayers to the Santo Nino every Sunday, and the FilAm community of the Delaware Valley celebrates a yearly ‘Sinulog’ street festival.

Philippine Independence Day Council, Inc. (PIDCI) Grand Marshal Estacio, 84, takes pride in being at the forefront of that campaign. He recounted to The FilAm how it all started.

Early 1990s, he said, was around the time his devotion to the Santo Nino had taken root. “It was providential.” St. Augustine Catholic Church – built in 1801 and renovated in 1848 — was very old and in need of repair. The churchgoers were few, and mostly from other ethnic communities.

A priest asked him, “How do you like to have your own church?” His reply was, “Oh my God, that’s our dream.” He gathered Filipino Catholics in Philly and, in 1992, began their devotion to the Santo Nino in the historic church. As the flock grew so did contributions which enabled the church to fix itself, starting with the weather-beaten steeple.

Estacio organized a ceremony to enshrine the Santo Nino and ordered catering for 100 people. By his account, “Aba, 900 people came.

Napuno yung second floor (of the church). The caterer said, ‘I don’t know what happened, I cooked for 100 people but all these people were fed.’ We call it the Miracle of Meatballs,” he recalled with pride and with a chuckle.

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||25 babies a day

Estacio came to the U.S. in 1959 shortly after getting his medical degree from the Manila Central University College of Medicine in Caloocan City.

“Pag pasa ko ng board, umalis na ako.

Dito na ako naghintay ng result ng medical board. Intern na agad ako, Harlem Columbia Presbyterian, NYU, Bellevue,” he said.

He had his residency at the Harlem Hospital Center, an affiliate of Columbia University, and completed several fellowships. As a doctor, he specialized in Internal Medicine, Aerospace Medicine, and Pediatrics. One of the stories passed around in PIDCI is how he delivered 25 babies a day. “Totoo iyan,” he said.

His wife Carmen Estacio passed away in September 2017 at the age of 84. She was, for 20 years, a house physician in the I.C.U. at West Jersey Hospital Eastern Division in Voorhees. They have three children: Emmanuel and Michael, who are both doctors; and Annabelle, a journalist. They have four grandchildren: Tim, Steven, Serena and Ava. The offer to become PIDCI Grand Marshal appeared to come at a time when Estacio is by his lonesome 10

Dr. Restituto Estacio of South Jersey.

Photo by Boyet Loverita although not alone because his family is nearby. By curious coincidence, this year’s street festival will feature the Dinagyang and Manggahan dance companies that both honor the Santo Nino.

“PIDCI keeps me young. I enjoy coming to New York for meetings, for parties,” he shared.

On May 29, he will turn 84. He said his friends from PIDCI are planning parties for him that are sure to include a lot of dancing because, “I love dancing.”

He is not ruling out a relationship, saying, “It will come when God gives me a partner. I’m not in a hurry. I’e had the best girl in the world, my wife, and she is the only one in the whole world.”

His advice to seniors? Stay healthy, enjoy life, and be religious.

A day in the kitchen of Romy Dorotan Continued from page 3

Amy who wrote in her introduction to their cookbook, “I said my farewell to a country that had shaped my soul and to a people that had wounded my heart,” was also at Temple pursuing a master’s in mass communication. They met in the KDP (Katipunan ng mga Demokratikong Pilipino), protesting discrimination against Filipinos in the U.S. and calling for an end to U.S. intervention that empowered Philippine Martial Law. They survived with odd jobs. Amy worked in a restaurant cooking pastry and Romy started out as a dishwasher at The Frog, a French bistro in Philadelphia. One day, the chef suddenly left for another restaurant, taking with him all the cooks. Romy was suddenly promoted to cooking staff meals.

Later, Amy was already teaching at Temple but a KDP call prompted a move to New York. Romy expanded his culinary repertoire as lunch chef at Hubert’s. The artist in the activist was woke in the city that is the world’s food mecca; and the rest is history.

Romy pairs the potatoes and sunchokes with his version of Fish Almondine, fried brook trout with a sauce made with butter, garlic, ramps, and chopped pili nuts. We had just had two lunches in a row but he offers three flavors of ice cream: Malagos chocolate with rhubarb and strawberry, mulberry with pomelo rind, and goji berry with longan.

Purple Yam is more than a restaurant. Amy has been hailed the “universally acknowlTHE FILAM |

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edged den mother of Asian chefs in America” for her inclusivity, inviting innovative Asian chefs to guest at their restaurants. Their restaurants have also been known to provide wall space for art. You plop down in one of their booths and by the time you get up, you had been sitting there for hours being plied with damn good food and banter. You actually want to stay forever. Neither Romy nor I could that day but he did not let me leave without my precious duck adobo.

Romy Dorotan is among the luminaries celebrated in the currently running exhibition, New Immigrants: What Gifts We Bring, at the Lower East Side gallery of City Lore (The New York Center for Urban Culture). For his exhibition portrait, he is shown beaming with a taro leaf in his hand. Laing, taro leaves cooked with garlic, onion, and chili in coconut milk, is the quintessential Bicolano dish that is on the menu of Purple Yam Brooklyn.

Carina Evangelista is currently Editor at Artifex Press in New York. She has also worked on numerous exhibitions and catalogues at the Museum of Modern Art. She is contributing author to a number of publications on Philippine contemporary art. She wrote the libretto for the musical Manhid, staged by Ballet Philippines; served as actor and lyricist for the film Pisay; and early this year participated as visual artist in Open City, the first Manila Biennale held in Intramuros.

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‘Students don’t want schools to look like prisons’

By Rene Pastor

Schools Chancellor Richard Carranza believes all NYC students should have access to the public school system, especially those who do not enjoy the benefit of wealth and private tutoring.

“Integration is the law of the land,” said Carranza, the son of a Mexican sheet metal worker and a hairdresser.

“As Chancellor of schools, that will not disappear from the radar.”

In a round-table forum with the community and ethnic media, he said diversity in the public school system is a necessary conversation although not an easy one to have.

The issue of diversity and integration is “fraught with landmines,” he said, but stressed, “it’s something we have to talk about.”

Integration is a particularly sensitive topic, especially after a study found that 40 percent of New York kindergartners do not attend the area school they are assigned to. Many flock to schools that perform better on test scores, leaving marginalized some schools whose students come from lower-income neighborhoods. Some parents have expressed concern about the campaign to ensure diversity and integration of schools.

The Department of Education says the NYC school district is the largest in the United States, serving 1.1 million students in more than 1,800 schools.

In a city where 40 percent of residents come from somewhere else, it is “just implausible” that the issue of diversity not come up, he said.

Carranza said he is also committed to make immigrant communities, already feeling a sense of siege from the hostile policies of the Trump administration, “feel safe and

protected” in the school system.

New York is a sanctuary city that has laws in place which defy the federal government by protecting undocumented immigrants accused of low-level nonviolent offenses from being turned over to U.S. immigration authorities. Other cities like Chicago and Los Angeles have declared themselves as sanctuary cities.

Low-income neighborhoods already face “stressors that come with living in the city,” Carranza explained.

Those stressors include homelessness, intra-generational poverty and drug addiction, issues that can make life an ordeal for students where survival is sometimes more important than attending classes.

Calls for increased security measures, like metal detectors or attack dogs to protect city schools and prevent another shooting as what happened in Parkland, Florida, is probably not top of mind for the Department of Education. He said students across the five boroughs were nearly unanimous in telling him: “They do not want their schools to look like prisons.”

The Department of Education already coordinates closely with the New York Police Department for security in and around schools.

“We want to be smart, we want to be safe,” the school chancellor said.

The city would also consider one of the top complaints by students – the

Lunches, security, and testing are among Carranza’s concerns

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Schools Chancellor Richard Carranza: A public school educator for nearly 30 years food they eat in cafeterias around the city. They may do a taste of school lunches and just “maybe modify our menus.”

Carranza also found fault with the almost single-minded obsession on tests, saying “sorting students by a single test is not (the best way) to identify talent.” He pledged that more meetings with communities around New York will be held and added with a slight smile that intractable issues that make some parents uncomfortable will need to be tackled.

“Sometimes, I have to call things out,” he said.

Carranza grew up in Tucson, Arizona. His grandparents were immigrants from Mexico, and his parents never attended college. “(My parents) knew that the path forward for my twin brother and me included an education. They wanted more for their children—a college degree and meaningful work. I know that you also want the same opportunities for your children,” he said in his Letter to Families issued April 9.

An educator of nearly 30 years, he began teaching in the same public high school, he attended in Tucson.

He taught bilingual social studies and music, and later became a high school principal. He then went on to be a regional superintendent in Las Vegas, and a superintendent in San Francisco, and most recently, in Houston.

Guess who came

to Explore the islands

By Cristina DC Pastor

“The Philippines is not like a city like New York, it is like a jungle.” Whoa! Direct from the mouth of a third-grader!

S

tudents from Success Academy on the Upper West Side shared their impression of the Philippines when they checked out Explore Islands Philippines on May 10 at the Grand Central Terminal. The children, ages 8 to 9, were on their way to a field trip and were attracted to large electronic billboards on Vanderbilt Hall flashing Philippine beaches, forests, and colorful dances. They had a variety of opinions about the Philippines, a tropical country with lots of “cool animals.”

“The Philippines is near China,” said one student. The Philippines is always sunny,” said another. When asked if they would like to visit, they all said yes, rather ebulliently.

Explore is the four-day tourism and investment expo (May 9 to 12) organized by JS Productions to “showcase the country’s cultural heritage and encourage investments.”

It had the support of the Philippine Department of Tourism (DOT) and Philippine Airlines (PAL).

It attracted all sorts of people, some on their way to work, others coming from their offices, others with appointments at Grand Central.

There’s the N.Y. State Trooper who made a joke that he’s only been to 400 of the Philippines’ 1,641 islands.

An American woman who shared stories of the Filipino family from Iloilo she home-stayed with when she was with the Peace Corps. A mother and son from Kansas City who are planning to visit the Philippines and looking for suggestions on what places to visit. A Filipina who works at the UN, pleasantly surprised to

One of the mural billboards on Vanderbilt Hall; 3rd graders from Success Academy share what they know about the Philippines. The FilAm Photos see the flashing billboards. A nanny with her toddler ‘alaga (ward).’ And of course, the gaggle of youngsters from Success Academy eager to learn about Philippine monkeys and other animals.

From the time it was conceptualized three years ago with the idea of showcasing Philippine culture and attracting investments, Explore had an overly earnest vibe. But the executives behind JS Productions, Inc., Jerry Sibal and Edwin Josue, are no strangers to large, ambitious ventures. They produced Noli Me Tangere the Opera in New York and Washington D.C., and brought it to Manila, from all accounts an artistic and commercial success. Aggressive marketing, sustained social media, and word of mouth introduced Explore to the public.

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“People, the nurses, they were very happy with the displays at Grand Central,” executive producer Josue told The FilAm. “People came even if it’s just the expo’s first time. They were proud to see the Philippines out there (in Grand Central).”

A 10-minute protest by left-leaning activists chanting anti-Duterte slogans interrupted the presentation of Locsin on Day One. Neither the organizers nor the speaker made any attempt to call security, with Locsin earning praise from some observers for telling the audience the activists should be allowed to speak their minds. The protesters departed Vanderbilt Hall without incident.

A lavish Unity Gala on Day Three was held at Cipriani celebrating the launch of the Friends of the Philippines Society USA, a nonprofit

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At the Unity Gala, organizers Edwin Josue (left) and Jerry Sibal express their thanks; a fashion show delights guests.

Photos by Ledy Almadin started by Sibal, Josue, and artist Miguel Bautista to promote “understanding and cross-cultural collaboration in the global milieu.”

About 300 guests dressed formally witnessed the award of honors for New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (he sent a representative) who has been a “constant friend and proponent of Filipinos,” and the Nepales couple for “their outstanding achievement in journalism.”

“This is what we’ve envisioned, for people to come and be proud of their country,” said Josue. “Everybody was happy. We will definitely be back next year.”

Columbia University’s Mariel Padilla wins a Pulitzer at 23

By Cristina DC Pastor

Photo by Adiel Kaplan

“It feels unreal. I don’t think it’s really sunk in yet. I’m still processing it.”

T

hat’s Columbia journalism graduate Mariel Padilla describing how she felt on learning she won a Pulitzer Award. She is 23 years old.

She was attending class on April 20 when a friend texted, asking if she knew she won the Pulitzer. The investigative article, “Seven Days of Heroin,” by The Cincinnati Enquirer won in the Local Reporting category. Mariel, then an intern at the Enquirer, was part of the team that produced, in the words of the Pulitzer judges, the “riveting and insightful narrative and video about Cincinnati’s heroin epidemic.”

More texts and emails followed.

Mariel was excited, in shock, but she was in class listening to her professor and, “I didn’t want to interrupt the class.”

Her editor at the Enquirer Bob Strickley confirmed with a text: “Congratulations.

You’re a Pulitzer winner.”

Right away, she texted her family to say the Enquirer just won the Pulitzer “so I kinda won too.”

She cracked up at the memory of how it all happened, friends asking why she did not erupt with excitement. It’s a Pulitzer, the teacher would understand.

“It’s not my personality,” she said when interviewed by The FilAm.

Mariel graduated in May from Columbia Journalism School with an M.S. in Data Journalism. Her parents came to NYC to see her march, their first time together after the Pulitzer.

The middle child of three siblings, Mariel was born in Charleston, South Carolina. At age 2, her family moved to Indiana where her father worked at engine maker Cummins as an engineer. Her mother taught Math at The Citadel Military College of South Carolina and later joined her dad at Cummins. She has two brothers, ages 21 and 28.

She was an English and Communication major at the Miami University in Oxford, Ohio when she decided to take up a journalism class. She did a lot of entertainment reporting and writing about the students’ interest in music.

One of her assignments was to report on local news in a small town. She wrote about poverty among children in a local elementary school.

She thought, “I should do this journalism thing. I love reporting and writing and I want to really help people…I started taking more journalism, and I got an internship.” Although her interest would pivot toward journalism, she decided to complete her degree in English.

At the Enquirer, she was part of a team that followed and filmed heroin addicts some of them while under arrest, overdosing while driving with their children. The investigative team interviewed families as well as police officers and health care workers.

“The entire 60-person newsroom worked together on this project,” said Mariel. “It was executed/reported in one week, 24/7. I was only there for the summer but did most of my contributions during that one week.” Mariel collected opioid-related arrest slips from the county jail every morning and created a database.

“This database was used to find sources and personal overdose sto-

‘I love reporting and writing, and I want to really help people.’

Photo by Kat Moon

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ries. I also interviewed local forensic scientists who process drugs seized by police officers. They told me about the recent rise in fentanyl and carfentanil and how the increasingly dangerous substances were affecting their work. I also partnered with another journalist and reported on how children in the city were being impacted by the opioid crisis. We observed family visitations and talked to the parents and children separated by Hamilton County children’s services,” she said.

“Seven Days of Heroin” was published in 2017. The following year, Mariel moved to NYC to pursue journalism more seriously. The Pulitzer came shortly after.

“I was happy with my classmates hugging me, congratulating me. I was happy but holding it in. Walking home I let it out, I was just jumping up and down. It’s that kind of excitement,” she said.

Mariel Padilla is a contributing writer for The FilAm.

Issue 4, June 2018

Columbia U’s Mariel Padilla wins a Pulitzer at 23 p15 Santo Nino devotee leads Independence Day parade p10 FilAm florist remembers ‘happy times’ with poet Maya Angelou p9

Photo by Kat Moon THE FILAM |

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