FILAM May 2021

Issue 39, May 2021

The Filipino boys of Princeton ‘Silent and efficient’

Jose Planillo, RN The vaccinator as Piano Man

CA Attorney General Rob Bonta Son of social justice activists

Letter from the Editor

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What is there to be proud of ?

n a year, President Rodrigo Duterte’s successor will be elected.

Among the names looming perilously in a recent survey as likely contenders to succeed him are the following: His daughter Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio, former senator Bongbong Marcos, Senator Grace Poe; and Senator Emmanuel Pacquiao. None of them inspire or excite us that better times are ahead. Vice President Leni Robredo ranked far behind all of them.

In the five years he was leader of the country, some Filipinos have a hard time finding something of a success they can be proud of.

He inherited a robust economy whose rating was lifted to investment grade by major credit agencies. Today, the economy is shaky with his ‘build-build-build’ infrastructure program holding up hope of it ever recovering. Ratings agencies downgraded their outlook, corruption remains in place, and COVID-19’s effects on slowing business activity continue to weaken the economy. Endless lockdowns without a well-thought out package of assistance to poor Filipinos is criminal. Lashing out at community pantries is mindless.

Cursing out the Pope and our major allies showcases the lack of any policy whatsoever.

Gaslighting and lying are the character traits of a psychotic administration. His inutile

President Rodrigo Duterte and daughter Sara anti-drug campaign has liquidated small-time drug pushers or addicts without any semblance of following judicial norms or respect for human rights.

The problem of course is not just Duterte and his small-town mayor instincts. The poor culture of governance and accountability make us

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

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

pessimistic the next round of elections will change things for the better.

Is it any wonder then why the prospect of elections in 2022 will not stanch the Filipino diaspora which has driven 10 million of our people to seek jobs and fortune outside their native land?

Students who attend the country’s leading universities are often implored, no lectured, by admissions officers to use the first-rate education they get to serve their people.

Most will stay. But leaving will always be an option. The reason is simple. They see little hope of meaningful change in the way the country is run.

But to borrow the favorite phrase of ‘facts on the ground,’ the misgovernance of successive Philippine leaders has driven many of our best and brightest to live somewhere else where they feel the quality of life is better for them and their children. The honesty of that assessment can readily be seen in the feet of those going through our airports to board flights to every point in the compass.

Duterte will soon be hopefully gone. But not the decrepit political structure that remains in place. One would wish to be more optimistic about the prospects of the land we call home.

Contact Thefilamny@gmail.com

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

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The ‘Filipino Boys’ of Princeton: ‘Silent and efficient’ An obscure chapter in U.S.-Philippine history happened between 1920s and 1930s. It was a time when so-called “Filipino boys” worked aboard the Princeton Pullman train as cooks, servers, and did all sorts of menial jobs.

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blog by April Armstrong entitled “The Princeton Pullman’s ‘Filipino Boys’” is published at the Princeton University website under the Mudd Manuscript Library Blog.

The Princeton Pullman is a special railroad car that undertook summer expeditions across North America for Princeton University faculty and students doing research on geological specimens and fossils. The all-male Filipino staff – known as Manongs -- manned the kitchen and made the beds. They made quite an impression on the researchers who praised them for doing their tasks diligently.

One of the comments came from Professor Richard W. Field, who writes: “We were especially impressed with the way the Filipino boys worked day and night to make our trip a success, and we all felt that they took as great a pride in the expedition as we did ourselves.” The Filipinos were seen as “silent and efficient.”

Armstrong took note of the circumstances of the Filipinos’ migration to the U.S. during the time before World War II: “…The Philippines were a territory of the United States, and as a result restrictions on Asians entering the country under the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 and the Immigration Act of 1917 did not apply to them.

They were part of a wave of Filipino migrants known as the ‘Manong generation’ of menial laborers who were usually recruited for temporary work.

‘Manong’ translates as ‘older brother;’ this generation was mostly made up of young, single men like the Princeton Pullman’s staff. Their time with Princeton’s geologists corresponds

to a season of American conflict about their presence in the mainland U.S. A series of deadly anti-Filipino riots fueled by racial prejudice and resentment over the perception that Filipinos were taking jobs from white Americans occurred beginning with the first year of these summer train expeditions (1926), mostly on the West Coast. Attitudes toward Filipino Americans ultimately shifted during World War II.” The 2018 blog highlighted the story of one ‘Filipino boy’ by the name of Potenciano Sylvestre José Mendoza Taoatao, who was the head chef in 1930. He was having difficulty with the English language but he was knowledgeable of the terrain the train traveled. With the information he provided, the researchers uncovered useful fossils including “two sabertoothed tigers in their dig that day.”

“It’s hard to know,” states the blog, “what Taoatao’s role on these expeditions truly was. As a chef, records indicate he prepared any number of meals, including a special Filipino pig roast at the end of the summer of 1933. Yet it seems clear that he took more than a passing interest in the excavation of fossils, and we do know that at least some of the Filipino staff on board the Princeton Pullman were college students themselves.

Our records do not tell us what happened to Taoatao or the other Filipino attendants after Princeton retired its train…but we do know that without the Filipino staff who joined Princeton’s students and faculty on their transcontinental adventures, the experience would have been much different for everyone on board.” – Cristina DC Pastor THE FILAM |

‘Filipino boy’ Potenciano Taoatao who worked as a head chef of the Princeton Pullman in 1930. Photo courtesy of Princeton.edu’s Mudd Manuscript Library Blog.

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COVER STORY

California Attorney General Rob Bonta: ‘For the people not the powerful’ On April 23, Assemblymember Rob Bonta was sworn in by Governor Gavin Newsom as California’s 34th Attorney General, making him the highest ranked Filipino American in the state and the second Asian American -- after Vice President Kamala Harris -- to hold the position.

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n his remarks, Bonta made a pledge that “Government should work for the people -- not the powerful -- and as Attorney General, I will make it my mission to hold the powerful accountable when they cheat Californians and abuse the public trust.”

It is destiny that Rob Bonta has become the “top cop” as the New York Times called him, of the most populous state in the country. An estimated 1.5 million of the population are of Filipino ancestry.

Bonta was born in Quezon City, Philippines on September 22, 1972, one day after then President Ferdinand Marcos declared Martial Law. Two months later, his American citizen father Warren Bonta and his Filipino wife Cynthia left for the United States with their 2-month-old baby Rob and older sister Lisa. They would not tolerate living under a dictatorship.

As a student, his father joined Martin Luther King’s civil rights organizing in Alabama for the Civil Rights Act. His parents were working as missionaries in the Philippines.

The Bonta family initially lived in a trailer, near the headquarters of the United Farm Workers. His parents joined the clamor for fair wages and better working conditions for farm workers led by Filipinos Larry Itliong and Philip Vera Cruz, and U.S.-born Latino activists Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huertas.

Bonta pointing to a picture of his mom at the Bulosan Center for Filipino Studies at University of California, Davis. He helped secure funding for the center.

In 1977, his mother joined the protest to save the International Hotel in San Francisco where Filipino old-timers and low-income tenants had lived by themselves for decades.

Growing up in the “crucible of activism,” as Bonta stated at his oath-taking, his parents “instilled in my siblings and me a commitment to making the world a better place. They taught me to call out - and to root out - injustice wherever I saw it.”

To support himself at Yale University -- financial aid was not sufficient for

books and tuition -- he cleaned laundry rooms as a working student. He graduated Cum Laude with a bachelor’s degree in history in 1993. He attended the University of Oxford for one year, studying politics, philosophy and economics, giving him a better understanding of how nations rise and fall.

He returned to enroll at Yale Law School – again with the help of financial aid -- and graduated with a Juris Doctor degree in 1998.

“I knew the law provides the best path to make a positive difference

for the most people,” he said at his swearing-in ceremony.

He met his future wife Mialisa Tania Villafane at Yale Law School, “my partner in life and in service.”

She was an Afro-Latina from the Bronx whose parents were activists in the Young Lord’s Party. She is currently president of the Alameda Unified School District. They have three children and live in the East Bay Area with their dog Lego.

For 10 years, Bonta was a Deputy City Attorney representing the City and County of San Francisco and its employees.

By 2010, he ran and was elected to Alameda City Council. By 2012, he won the State Assembly seat representing East Bay (Oakland, Alameda and San Leandro) becoming the first Filipino American legislator in California’s then 165-year history. He had authored major changes in the penal code, immigration, health care and housing law.

In 2013, he authored a bill to require California public schools to teach students “the role of immigrants in the farm labor

Bonta’s activist parents Warren and Cynthia Bonta. ‘My heroes.’ Photo: Robbonta.com THE FILAM |

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movement.” It was signed into law

by Governor Jerry Brown that same year. In 2016, he filed a bill to outlaw “balanced billing” by hospitals to help consumers avoid surprised medical bills. Brown signed it into law that same year.

In 2018, Assemblyman Bonta together with State Senator Robert Hertzberg filed a bill to eliminate money bail for suspects while awaiting trial and replace it with a risk-assessment system. California became the first state to eliminate the bail system, which imprisons the poor without trial.

In 2019, Governor Newsom signed into law legislation introduced by Assemblyman Bonta to end the use of for-profit private prisons and detention facilities, making California again the first state to ban private prisons and civil detention centers.

In the same year, he filed a Bill to outlaw baseless evictions combined with a statewide cap on rent increases. The proposed legislation is now a law.

In 2020, Newsom also signed into law a bill to mandate an independent review by the California Department of Justice of any police officer involved in shootings. Bonta is the principal author of this bill.

Last year, he Bonta introduced legislation making it a crime to make a false call to the police based on someone’s race, religion or gender, inspired by the incident in Central Park in New York where a White woman called the police because a Black man called her attention about her dog running without a leash.

California Governor Gavin Newsom swears in Attorney General Bonta on April 23. The ‘People’s Attorney.’

The Prosecutors Alliance of California applauded the appointment of Bonta. “Mr. Bonta fought to end cash bail and cure the conflict of interest that occurs when elected prosecutors receive financial and political support from law enforcement unions. He is a leader that has dedicated his career to protecting and uplifting vulnerable communities.”

As California’s Attorney General, he continues his fight for justice for the underserved and the powerless.

Needs are constantly changing.

Monetary donations allow for the most effective disaster relief.

Rob and Mialisa and their children Iliana, Reina, and Andres.

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Alan Ariano looks back at ‘Miss Saigon’ after 30 years

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By Cristina DC Pastor

as it only yesterday when Alan Ariano found himself at 890 Studios on Broadway where about a dozen VIPS sat in front of a long table to listen to him audition for “Miss Saigon?” It does seem that way to this FilAm stage actor best remembered for playing a psychic healer in the off-Broadway “Felix Starro.”

After singing two songs for his audition, he noticed somewhat in a blur five heads come together as if in a huddle. After what seemed like an interminable few minutes, the center person moved to speak. “I can’t remember if it was Cameron or Hytner but I know he had an English accent. He stood up and pleasantly asked, Alan, care to join us on Monday?”

“I don’t know how quick or how long it took me to react but all I know is I literally dropped to my knees, clasped my hand in prayer and gratitude and said, ‘I would love to…thank you, thank you.’”

Alan recounted to The FilAm his final callback as it happened 30 years ago before the now-controversial musical “Miss Saigon” opened on Broadway in April 1991. He does not remember exactly who were at that table, but recalled that producer Cameron Mackintosh, director Nicholas Hytner, and choreographer Bob Avian were among them.

In a cab on the way home, his friend and accompanist Dean Johnson who was still gushing about him being hired on the spot, asked if he was alright.

“I simply responded. ‘I know this is going to change my life. I just want to remember the moment and take it

“Miss Saigon” made quirky theater history by having a large number of Filipino actors in the production. The Pinoy Crew was led by Lea Salonga -- her performance as the Vietnamese bar girl Kim who falls for an American GI earned her a Tony Award -- with dozens more actors in lead and support roles.

Alan was in the original cast as Ensemble and understudy to smaller roles, such as Club owner and Assistant Commissar.

||Bonding over food

‘A special experience in my life.’ all in,’” he said of that moment. “I don’t remember being nervous. It all seemed like it happened so fast. I probably was nervous. I was calm.”

Thirty years ago, Alan was a 26-year-old actor, who has had two years on stage before “Miss Saigon” formed part of his theatre credits. He had just moved to New York in 1988 from Los Angeles and had performed for productions, such as “M. Butterfly” and “Jerome Robbins’ Broadway” prior.

‘Celebrating 30 with the Men of Saigon,’ writes Alan on Facebook.

He is standing second from right wearing a green shirt.

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“The Filipinos were great,” he said. “We bonded as a culture of Asians who loved to socialize and to eat and to eat socializing.” There, he met Salonga, who was already a celebrity in the Philippines. “I was in awe.”

After the first year, he created a tradition called Asian Food Treat. “Those who wanted to participate would bring a potluck dish. The participants would vote on the best dish and the winner would be able to eat the next time without having to bring food. It was something we all looked forward to for our two show days.”

He brushed aside as “uncalled for” the negative controversy generated by the musical’s message seen by some as “fetishizing” Asian women. Said Alan, “The setting of this love story is the streets and bars of Saigon during the Vietnam war. It is based on historical events. People were desperate and did desperate things. The show was not meant to perpetuate the victimizing of woman.”

Born in the Philippines, Alan – with two older brothers -- came to the U.S. at age 5 after his mother was remarried to an American Navy man. “My father was stationed in San Diego, CA where I grew up and attended Chula Vista HighmSchool,” he shared.

He originally went to San Diego State University as an Architectural Engineering major. He changed majors and graduated from United States International University where he got his Bachelor of Fine Arts in Musical Theater.

While theater projects are few and far between because of the pandemic, Alan has booked a guesting gig on “FBI: Most Wanted” plus some industrial and print jobs doing Corporate In-house training movies or commercials.

Although he felt grateful and fortunate to be part of a fabled Broadway production – “Miss Saigon” closed after10 years and 4,092 performances – it was the friends and “family” he made that he will long remember.

“I didn’t realize till after we closed how special this experience in my life was.” “Miss Saigon,” he said, was a “coveted job” for some Asian, even non-Asian, actors.

“I now equate it to having won the lottery. It was a blessing in achievement of my theatrical goals. But mostly, it was a blessing of the friends and ‘family’ that I will always cherish.”

Jose Planillo, RN: The COVID vaccinator as Piano Man

By Cristina DC Pastor

During his 15-minute break, a masked gentleman in scrubs walks to an upright piano to play Chopin or a Broadway song by Sondheim.

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urprised patients in the Javits Center Observation Area recognize him as the man who just gave them their jabs. Smiles and applause follow Jose Planillo, RN, as he finishes his “mini concert” and walks back to the clinic to resume his job as a vaccinator.

“There is a piano at the Javits Center and I just play during my 15-minute break in the morning. I just love to play music for my patients,” Planillo – whose family comes from Liliw, Laguna – told The FilAm. “They’re just happy to hear music in these uncertain times of the pandemic.”

Planillo, 64, came to the U.S. in 1979, a year after earning his Bachelor of Science in Nursing from Far Eastern University in Manila. He was recruited by a small community hospital in Lincoln Park, Michigan. He moved to New York in 1983 to work in Intensive Care Unit – Metropolitan Hospital till 1989 and has since moved to Columbia University Medical Center, now the New York Presbyterian Hospital until 2020. He is currently a registered nurse for the New York State Department of Health.

He learned to play the piano from a maternal relative, Adelina Francisco Martinez, who is a graduate of the UP Conservatory of Music and an accomplished harpist.

“She married my uncle and become a homemaker but teaches piano at home. Most of her classmates became famous, one is Mike Velarde,” he shared.

Velarde is the founder of the El Shaddai Catholic charismatic movement.

On a regular 12-hour shift at the Javits Center, he has two 15-minute breaks, one in the morning and another in the afternoon. The morning break gives him the opportunity to rekindle his romance with the keyboard and “share my music.”

He wished he could play piano more, but being a very busy health care professional gives him little time to pursue music, not even as a side gig. “No opportunities,” he said.

He can play some pieces from memory but with some classical songs, he needs to have the notes in front of him.

Does he get requests?

“Not at the moment if there is someone that approaches me for a song, I will try to oblige,” he said.

Play me a song, Mr. Piano Man. Planillo’s wife is also a nurse. They have four children who are “living productive and purposeful lives,” he said.

Eldest daughter Jonie Planillo-Pachay broke the news about her dad “sharing both his talent of music and nursing.” She proudly declares on Facebook, “Great job, dad.”

Planillo has a message for the COVID deniers and anti-vaxxers who think the pandemic is a manmade health crisis: “COVID is a very deadly threatening illness and must be taken seriously.

It’s either you save your own life or not; these are the choices each has to decide…I choose life as my calling-to-healing ministry.”

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He is a Nursing graduate from FEU.

Family bond is the heart and soul of ‘Minari’

By Wendell Gaa

Amidst the disturbing rise of hate crimes against Asian Americans, it is inspiring to know that Hollywood has given due recognition to films conveying the unique perspective of the Asian American experience and the invaluable role and wonderful contributions our communities have made to the kaleidoscopic ethnic patchwork of the world’s most powerful nation.

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ne such moving film which I recently got to stream online is this year’s Oscar-nominee for Best Picture “Minari,” which reveals the tale of a Korean immigrant family attempting to settle down and begin a new life in rural Arkansas where they plan to establish a farm growing Korean agricultural products to sell to prospective buyers in Dallas, Texas.

The Yi family, led by father Jacob, moves from its more familiar and cosmopolitan surroundings of California to the seemingly remote and “backward” countryside of Arkansas, which soon becomes an extreme culture shock

and burden on the family, especially to wife Monica and their young children, daughter Anne and son David.

Even their new “farming home” is not what they expect it to be. Jacob insists that despite the initial hardships, they will eventually establish their family farming business in Arkansas which will thrive and prosper.

Despite the heated conflicts between Jacob and Monica over their joint decision in adapting to their new countryside life, they decide to give it a try and gain employment at a local hatchery to earn income, where they are tasked to divide chicks according to their gender. In need of a nanny to watch over the kids while they are away at work during daytime hours,

Steven Yeun as Jacob (far left) and Youn Yuh-jung as the grandmother Soon-ja (center), lead the cast of ‘Minari.’

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they soon arrange for Monica’s mother Soon-ja to travel from South Korea to live with them in Arkansas, as she also has no other family living with her. This causes friction with David as he feels Soon-ja does not fit the profile of how an “ideal” grandmother should be like. Soon-ja though in her persistent ways and grandmotherly affection refuses to give up reaching out to David.

The developing bond between Soon-ja and David, for me, formed the heart and soul of this film, apart from the relentless and laborious efforts which Jacob puts forth in pursuing the American Dream and providing a promising future for his family. “Minari” is such a well-crafted family drama without being condescending or preachy on its depiction of an Asian American family coming to terms with their dreams of a wealthy and independent life in rural America.

Although the story is set in the 1980s, the complications and trials which Jacob and his family must endure, physically, emotionally and culturally, is not too different from what many Korean, Filipino and other Asian immigrant families deal with today in attempting to assimilate into American society, while at the same time struggling to maintain strong ties with their own respective native cultures through food, customs and language.

Interestingly, overt racial discrimination is not addressed here, but there are moments of subtle cultural awkwardness implied, including a scene where the Yi family find themselves to be the only people of “color” within an all-white church congregation. The stares, as well as difficulties for Monica to communicate in straight English are hints of the family’s struggle to fit in.

Top performance honors definitely go to Korean American actor Steven Yeun as Jacob. I’ve admired Yeun’s work on the hit horror-drama series “The Walking Dead,” and I’m glad to see how he’s really branched off well into film drama. As the first Asian American nominee for Best Actor at the Oscars -- whether or not he wins -- I feel that his career as a bona fide screen actor is set, and I do hope his example will set a precedent for even more Asian American actors to step up the plate in attaining international stardom. Veteran Korean actress Youn Yuh-jung likewise does a very heartwarming and humorous performance as grandmother Soon-ja, and she is likewise also deserving of her nomination for Best Supporting Actress.

We will have to wait for the Oscar telecast scheduled on April 25 to see how much accolades “Minari” bags.

It has already done much to positively showcase the Asian American experience, something which is so badly needed especially in these difficult times.

Writer, director, critic Nestor U. Torre, 78

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By Joel David

hen I started looking out for bylines of prolific Filipino writers in English, Nestor U. Torre’s was the one I wound up reading most often. When martial law was declared, he moved from the opposition’s shuttered Manila Chronicle to the Philippines Daily Express, edited by a brother of the First Lady. Yet this was the period of the ascendancy of Torre (or NUT as he preferred to refer to himself ) as film commentator. He was also known as the director-writer of Crush Ko si Sir (1971), a pre-ML vehicle for Lino Brocka’s muse Hilda Koronel.

Not enough focus was placed then on NUT’s film writing, just as it was relegated at present to the background in nearly all the tributes paid to him by his colleagues in theater. This was the moment when film was setting out to stake its claim as a creative activity worth taking seriously. Most reviewers, then as now, claimed academic credentials and wrote accordingly. But like Bernal, NUT stepped in from an immersion in pop culture. Academia eventually came around to valorizing that kind of orientation, but it was too late for NUT. He wrote film reviews in a breezy, amused, occasionally ironic, sometimes self-deprecating manner, in a style that serious students of English literature would recognize as highly accomplished.

When a NUT review appeared in the Express, some of my classmates and professors would engage in discussion about it. I remember a senior stating that his take on Steven Spielberg’s Jaws (1975) was better than what came out in foreign newspapers – so I did spend some time afterward at the national university’s main library to confirm the claim. Around this time an announce-

ment involving NUT came out, one that I was still too young to realize was ominous: he and the other reviewers published by the Express were forming a critics’ organization, with him as founding chair.

I subsequently became a member of this group, the Manunuri ng Pelikulang Pilipino, which was how I learned about NUT’s departure. He was able to work on his last film project, Ang Isinilang Ko Ba’y Kasalanan? (1977), the year after the group launched its still-ongoing annual awards. At the meeting where it was discussed, the other members raised questions pertaining to its lack of political content and its derivative quality. He walked out and never showed up again.

The MPP prided itself on objectivity and admitted being harsher on its own members who aspired to industry practice. NUT’s misfortune was that he was the first to be subjected to this type of critical interrogation; ironically another founding member, Behn Cervantes, released Sakada during the year of the MPP’s founding. It had enough so-called social relevance to be considered subversive and was eventually banned by the government. Not surprisingly, it elicited rave reviews from the MPP members and was able to receive citations in major film categories, though its later unavailability excluded it from the awards competition.

Yet although AIKBK was completely bypassed, it had qualities that placed it a cut above the other two films: it featured eight women at a well-known halfway house for unwed mothers-to-be, and although the narrative finally gave precedence to the male superintendent empathizing with the expectant mothers, several of the individual stories succeeded in focusing attention on the plight of outcast women.

I remember AIKBK coming out a few months after a Brocka film which THE FILAM |

The ‘Two for the Road’ tandem of socialite Elvira Manahan and Torre. He passed away April 6 from COVID complications.

Photo: ABS-CBN/Tats Manahan had almost the same number of female characters, but which more easily capitulated to the central tale of a son seeking his mother and discovering how she worked as a has-been hooker in Olongapo. Unfortunately, these last two films may be lost for good, so we have no way of revaluating the merits of NUT’s entry vis-à-vis the others. All I can attest, to the best of my recollection, is that it left a far stronger impression than all the other films made by NUT’s MPP colleagues.

I had only one interaction with NUT, years after he gave up “creative” film activities including his distinctive brand of film reviewing. We were covering a 1980s film troubled by serious conflicts on set. Upon arriving, he immediately launched into a parodic performance of film buffery: he would mention an obscure decades-old movie title and state what its opening-day gross was, then he would start mentioning bit players no one ever heard of, as well as running times of ancient films no one had seen. “Isn’t it great to waste everyone’s time with information no one will ever need?” he went.

I later asked him what he thought film critics should be doing if they 9

wanted to make a positive contribution. “Make sure to connect,” he said, “and don’t take things too seriously.”

Bibeth Orteza, whom I remember made the strongest impression in AIKBK, once mentioned that NUT was determined to compile an anthology of his film articles. This was before he had his stroke in 2018, after which his mother died, he contracted Covid-19, and passed away last April 6, at 78. He was determined to recover from his stroke, but got exposed to the virus via his physiotherapy program. He will be remembered for several accomplishments like public relations and theater activities, but not for far more significant ones.

Joel David is a Professor of Cultural Studies at Inha University and was founding Director of the University of the Philippines Film Institute. He was given the Art Nurturing Prize at the 2016 FACINE International Film Festival in San Francisco and is this year’s recipient of the Writers Union of the Philippines’ Balagtas Award for Film Criticism. He has written several books on Philippine cinema and maintains a blog, Amauteurish, at https://amauteurish.com.

COVER STORY

Why U.S. classrooms need more male teachers of color

By Cristina DC Pastor

Tony DelaRosa, 31, a Teacher Leadership Coach at Teach for America in Miami-Dade County Public Schools, calls himself an “aspiring anti-racist educator.”

In many of the classrooms he’s walked into, he has witnessed or experienced anti-Asian racism or microaggressions — a kid or two yelling “ching chong ching chong” or asking if his family has brought the coronavirus to Miami. This has persisted for some time exacerbated by the pandemic where the sentiment has escalated to the point of triggering ugly violence.

U.S. classrooms should be the starting place for an anti-racism re-education. Instead, it fosters a condition where teachers of color – males especially – are in the handful. He helped design and found the Asian American Teacher Empowerment, Networking, Development initiative (AATEND). Together with the NYC Mayor’s Office and NYC Men Teach, they have set out to change the lack of support for male teachers of color. Tony has a Master’s in Teaching at Marian University and a Master’s in Education with a focus on Arts Non-Profit Management from Harvard University.

A motivational speaker, DEI consultant, poet, and overall ‘Cultural Broker,’ Tony was born in San Diego to Filipino parents Ruby (from Cavite) and Willy DelaRosa (from Pampanga) – loving parents who have “instilled in their children the Filipino values of hard work, family first, hustle, and teamwork.”

The FilAm: What is an anti-racist educator?

Tony DelaRosa: An anti-racist educator is someone who actively sharpens mindsets, skills, and ways of being to combat racism in the classroom and in the day-to-day interaction with colleagues and administration. As someone who trains teachers and education leaders, I do this by creating anti-racist goals from the beginning of year, as well as ensuring that my anti-racism includes all forms of racism from gender-racism, sex-racism, class-racism and more.

TF: Tell me about AATEND and the retention initiative for Asian American male teachers?

TDR: In a time where Asian American hate and violence rises, erasure continues, isolation persists, and the model minority myth continues to negatively impact the Asian American community, NYC Men Teach aims at strengthening the connection, capacity building, and co-empowerment of its Asian American men teachers in years 2 – 5 through the Asian American Teacher

Empowerment, Networking, Development initiative (AATEND).

I founded AATEND with Richard Haynes, a director at NYC Men Teach. Richard was in search of an Asian American anti-racist strategist who could help bring this idea to life. He found me through a mutual friend, Ron Rapatalo, who referred me due to my work experience leading Asian American initiatives at Harvard and Teach for America.

TF: So, data seems to suggest there are more students of color (8 out of 10) than teachers of color. Why do we need to change the equation?

TDR: We need to change this equation because representation matters. Period. Furthermore, we’ve learned through research the positive impacts of racial matching. Racial matching is when you place students with teachers of the same racial or ethnic background. There are numerous benefits from this type of matching. One example. A recent North Carolina study shows that Black students who were merely exposed to a Black teacher in grades 3-5 significantly reduced the high school dropout rate for Black males.

Educator Tony DelaRosa: ‘Anti-Asian racism has been an American tradition toward people who look like me.’

With wife Stephanie and his family at his graduation at Harvard Graduate School of Education. Tony and Stephanie met in Indianapolis in 2012 and are expecting their first baby boy in June.

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With AATEND, what if this could be true for Asian American students?

A CNN article in 2016 says that “In New York City, where more than 85% of students are Black, Latino/a/x or Asian, fewer than 40% of teachers share these racial and ethnic backgrounds. And this disparity becomes even worse when it includes gender: boys of color in New York City make up 43% of our public school population, yet only 8% of our teachers are men of color.”

TF: What is the situation for Asian American male teachers?

TDR: If education is tied to our future’s employment, and with Asian Americans having the highest unemployment rates amongst racial groups in NYC (source: NBC New York), then why have we been left out of the conversation for so long? This is not new, and the surge of unemployment is due to the pandemic and racism that has plagued our community from the federal level. Another reason we’re seeing this is because Asian Americans have been seen as the model minority, a harmful stereotype that makes us look like we’re always succeeding and doesn’t account for the disaggregated low-income Asian Americans.

I agree that our racial group as a whole, has not been given the proper attention in regards to recruitment, retention, and support across schools nationwide.

TF: Have you experienced being stereotyped as a Filipino American teacher?

TDR: In 2012, when I started teaching in Indianapolis, I remember the first time walking into Indianapolis Public School 103, and a few kids yelled, “We’re going to have a Chinese Mexican teacher — we’re

Tony moderating a panel called ‘Are Asian Americans People of Color?’ with the former Boston Public Schools Superintendent Tommy Chang and current Boston Teachers Union President Jessica Tang. going to be so good at Math this year.” They clearly have not been exposed to a Filipino American teacher, which isn’t their fault because the U.S. education system doesn’t include Asian Americans in the broader narrative of social justice.

My story is but one of many stories from Asian American educators in the U.S. Furthermore, this story only touches the surface between my interac-

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tions with youth, and doesn’t account for the racism and micro-aggressions I’ve experienced from adults at these schools. Anti-Asian racism has been an “American tradition” towards people who look like me from the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act to 1930’s anti-Filipino riots in Watsonville, CA, but today we rewrite this tradition through programs like AATEND.

The deaf can hear the love

By Vicky Potenciano-Vitug

It was a Broadway-style performance with Filipino children and young adults, singing, dancing and acting.

But for the unaware, they would not suspect “Musical Reflections” -- streamed online on March 18 -- had a cast of mostly deaf children!

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t was a surprise for me to see that the deaf could perform like professional singers and actors. I was in awe as I watched them. It must have taken tremendous skills and efforts to train this group of wonderfully gifted performers.

The Philippine Institute for the Deaf (PID) -- www.pidmanila.com -- which produced “Musical Reflections” has made it possible for many children to get past their hearing disability, communicate with their families, and, for some, to be able to perform in public.

Watching the production brought back painful memories of a deaf-mute friend.

Her attempts at speaking only caused her hurt and invited ridicule from others because all she could produce were slurry, incoherent mumbles. If only she was still alive today, she would have a better chance at a decent quality of life.

Currently, there are more than 8 million deaf children in the Philippines, many of them coming from poor families, according to PID. I did not realize that deaf children are usually classified as “handicapped” or “deaf-mute.” I thought it is an unfair classification because not being able to hear does not mean they cannot make sounds with their voices. The problem is that they do not know how to make sounds (utter words) because they do not get feedback from anyone regarding their sounds (or speech). Hence, there is no way to correct themselves.

However, proper speech training and support can address that need. PID’s Speech Therapy seeks to help them do that.

The author with friend Julie Esguerra-Schaffer, who founded the Philippine Institute for the Deaf, in honor of her mother.

‘Musical Reflections’ performers were hard-of-hearing youngsters.

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PID was the brainchild of my former classmate and friend, Julie Esguerra-Schaffer. It was her loving tribute to her mother, Sergia Esguerra, who was a well-known deaf educator.

For the past 33 years, PID has operated a Speech Therapy program seeking to dispel the notion that deafness is a liability. PID is equipped and staffed by experts who can teach and enable students how to speak. They believe the hard-of-hearing deserve an equal chance to live, grow, and prosper like everyone else. Their graduates are living proofs.

Josh Raymundo, who was born profoundly deaf, opened the virtual musical and introduced himself intelligibly. He was the first and only deaf student who passed the entrance test and interview at the University of Santo Tomas and finished a Bachelor’s Degree in Library Science. He passed the Civil Service Board Exam and is now a licensed Librarian. The Letran University in Laguna hired him immediately. He then took the available opening at the National Library of the Philippines in Manila to be closer to his family.

Another PID alumni, Carlo Paa, is now the manager of Lechon Republic, a restaurant in Singapore. He is an athlete and excels in swimming, cycling, and basketball. He also dabbles in photography.

PID’s, one-on-one Speech Therapy has been highly successful, but not everyone can afford it. To help with the cost, PID produced “Musical Reflections.” Musical stars like Martin Nievera, Lani Misalucha, Jed Madela, Yeng Constantino, Alden Richards, Darren Espanto, and K Brosas volunteered their services for a worthy cause.

It was an opportunity of a lifetime to the students, to be able to perform with musical stars and in front of so many people, including their families who were proud to see them shine on stage. They performed well, with poise and confidence, and the show was received well by the online viewers and public in general. The kids were outstanding for their tenacity and bravery in accepting with fortitude their challenges.

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Gene Del Carmen

A pitch for FilAms to bring PHL coffee to America The Philippines, the fourth largest coffee consumer in the world, imports 93 percent of its coffee requirement.

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hat fact alone opened an interesting conversation about investment opportunities in the Philippine coffee sector, featured in the Philippine Embassy’s first Agri-Negosyo webinar for Overseas Filipinos in the United States on April 8.

The webinar featured presentations by TJ Ryan, Chief of Party of the Philippine Coffee Advancement and Farm Enterprise (PhilCAFE) Project advocacy organization; Department of Agriculture Undersecretary for High Value Crops and Rural Credit Evelyn Laviña; and Department of Trade and Industry Regional Director for the Cordillera Administrative Region Myrna Pablo.

Laviña and Pablo discussed how their agencies could support overseas Filipinos who may want to go into the business of producing and distributing Philippine coffee.

Pacita Juan, president and co-chair of the Philippine Coffee Board, Inc., shared the perspectives from the private sector.

PhilCAFE Project’s TJ Ryan said, “The opportunity in the Philippines is tremendous. It’s spectacular. Ninety-three percent of the coffee is imported, and the growth of brewed coffee is likely to grow in a robust way. Buyers are, of course, looking for producers who can deliver quality on a consistent basis. It’s a question of getting quality planting material, learning, good agricultural practices and good processing practices.”

“Coffee is a high value crop,” said Laviña of DAR. “Despite being considered a value crop and a priority commodity, the full potential and growth of the industry are yet to be realized.”

She said that with a limited budget, “We at the Department of Agriculture have been implementing programs toward the development of the Philippine coffee industry.”

DTI’s Pablo discussed her agency’s Industry Cluster Enhancement (ICE) Program, said to be a “national strategy” to enhance industry competitiveness to develop and expand exports, generate investments, and create jobs.

She said, “Trainings and other technical assistance are given to coffee MSMEs like good manufacturing practices, roasting, green grading, cupping, product development, trainings on e-commerce, and marketing activities like participation in trade fair exhibits.”

Ambassador Jose Manuel Romualdez and panelists to the ‘Agri-Negosyo for Overseas Filipinos (USA)’ webinar.

Coffee picking. Photo: PhilCAFE Project Juan of the Philippine Coffee Board Inc. explained that her organization “has always promoted niche markets. Since we don’t have a lot of coffee to export, we have to find certain niches in the markets for coffee.”

She also highlighted opportunities for overseas Filipinos such as in planting coffee, providing THE FILAM |

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the coffee farm experience, importing green coffee from the Philippines, or investing in the roasted coffee business.

“I know that some of you are not ready to come home. You can help us promote Philippine coffee by bringing Philippine coffee to America, albeit in green form so that you can roast it freshly in your neighborhood and put up a neighborhood café. So, I think there is a future to come home to,” Juan told the audience.

The Philippines grows all four coffee species: Arabica, Robusta, Excelsa, and Liberica, whose one specific variety is the well-known “kapeng barako.”

“Programs supporting food production and agribusiness (such as coffee) have been a bright spot for investments,” said Ambassador Jose Manuel Romualdez who keynoted the virtual event.

“Agri-Negosyo for Overseas Filipinos (USA): Insights from the PhilCAFE Project” was jointly organized by the Philippine Embassy, through the Office of the Agriculture Attaché, Philippine Overseas Labor Office in Washington, D.C., and the Public Diplomacy Section, with the support of the Philippine Trade and Investment Centers and Philippine Consulates General in the United States.

ConGen Elmer Cato assumes post amid escalating anti-Asian violence Three things journalist-turned-diplomat Elmer Cato did when his appointment as Consul General in New York became official on March 30: He visited family and friends in Queens; he rolled up his sleeves and got himself vaccinated; he attended Easter Sunday mass at the Church of St. Vincent Ferrer on the Upper East Side.

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ato’s assignment comes at a time when the Filipino American community is struggling with rising incidents of anti-Asian violence. Some FilAms have faced assaults, including Noel Quintana whose face was slashed ear to ear while he was on a subway train, and Vilma Kari who was beaten up while on her way to church.

“The surge in the number of hate crimes against our ‘kababayan’ and other members of the Asian Community is particularly distressing,” he told The FilAm. “The Consulate is aware of at least five hate incidents involving Filipinos in New York. We believe there are more,” he continued. “We want to encourage our kababayan to report hate incidents to us so we could have a more accurate picture of how the Filipino community is being impacted by this.”

Cato, a career diplomat with the rank of Chief of Mission Class II, succeeds Consul General Petronila Garcia who retired in January.

Garcia held the post for a little more than five months.

Cato arrived from Libya where he served for two years as Chargé d’Affaires, e.p. and Head of Mission of the Philippine Embassy in Tripoli. A journalist before joining the foreign service, he had served in various capacities in the Philippines and abroad in the past 22 years.

His first overseas posting was at the Permanent Mission of the Philippines to the United Nations from

Enjoying Taho with Sago at Little Manila in Queens.

2003 to 2010 where he also served as a member of the Philippine Delegation to the UN Security Council from 2004 to 2005.

Cato was assigned to the Philippine Embassy in Washington, D.C. from 2012 until he volunteered to go to Iraq where he served as Chargé d’Affaires, e.p. and Head of Mission in Baghdad from 2015 to 2018.

At the Home Office, he served as Foreign Affairs Assistant Secretary for Public Diplomacy and later for Strategic Communications during the terms of Foreign Affairs Secretaries Alan Peter Cayetano and Teodoro Locsin, Jr. from 2018 to 2019.

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A career diplomat for 22 years.

During the term of Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert Del Rosario, Cato was designated Special Assistant for Special Projects at the Office of Administration; Director for Intelligence of the Intelligence and Security Unit under the Office of the Secretary; and Executive Director of the National Council on United Nations Peace Operations from 2010 to 2012.

Cato served as Special Assistant for Foreign Affairs Secretary Domingo L. Siazon, Jr. and Teofisto T. Guingona; spokesperson and Officer-in-Charge of the Presidential Commission on the Visiting Forces Agreement; and as Officer in Charge of the Regional Consular Office

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in San Fernando and Clark Field, Pampanga.

Consul General Cato is a recipient of the Gawad Mabini, one of the highest awards bestowed on Filipino diplomats, for initiating the publicprivate partnership that led to the transfer of consular offices to shopping malls across the country.

He joined the Department of Foreign Affairs in 1998 after passing the Foreign Service Officers Examination of 1996. Before joining the Foreign Service, he was a journalist for 17 years who started as a 16-year-old cub reporter. He was also an overseas worker in Jeddah and Jakarta.

Social media has turned us into spontaneous storytellers. Our new feature called “Remembering: Pinoy. Powerful. Personal” is a collection of short essays of memories pushed aside by time and making themselves apparent in the writer’s present. Some of the essays are contributed; others culled from social media posts. To send your essays, email thefilamny@gmail.com.

Eating with my face shield on

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By Roberto Villanueva

enerally, I do not leave my apartment because of the pandemic. But I had a couple of, maybe, rigid rules. One was me wearing a face shield and propping a portable divider on the table for additional protection while eating out with a friend. None of my other friends will eat out with me because of that. Another one was after my surgery. I had a visiting nurse and visiting physical therapist. I told them they had to be in full PPE from head to toe and have disinfectant if they plan to enter my apartment.

If they didn’t have any, I provided them—shoe cover, robe, face mask, gloves, alcohol wipes, etc. the same rule applies to my friends, so nobody wants to visit. Also, several friends have invited me to their homes for meals, I told them I would only visit if their home had an outdoor patio for dining. So, I no longer get invited.

Finally felt comfortable enough to have a restaurant meal outdoor for lunch.

Thank you Donghwan Kim for tolerating my hypochondria and paranoia. I had to eat with my face shield on. I did practice at home beforehand.

I also brought with me an unused grease splatter guard to protect our food from each other while eating. I know it seems over the top, but I live alone. My closest immediate family members are eight hours away. I don’t feel comfortable putting myself at risk for any chance of something terrible happening to me medically. I also don’t want to put my friends at risk. And, I wanted to show off my fifth self-haircut since the March lockdown.

Find the person who will ‘sit with you in the dark’

By Ness Bantog

I remember the morning after my son was diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder. I woke up with eyes puffy from the night before and immediately started crying. I just could not imagine how we would figure this life out. I was so sad.

And so mad. Why did this happen to us?

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t’s been a year since.

A lot changes in the year following a diagnosis. Changes in routine. Changes in relationships. Changes in expectations. Changes in emotional strength. We are one of the families on this journey lucky enough to see progress on the first year.

Our son is slowly meeting his therapy and IEP goals.

And we are so grateful for the support of our school district!

If your family just received a diagnosis, I see you and feel for you. Take one day at a time. Find your strength and fight for your child, even if you are sure that everyone around you knows you are scared. Know that eventually the shock and resentment will wear off. But don’t rush this important stage of grief.

Don’t let others try to rush you out of it either. Allow yourself to feel that sadness until you are ready to step into this world and be the warrior parent your child needs you to be. Think of Alice in Wonderland and find that person who will “sit with you in the dark” until you are ready. We took our time to sit in darkness and when we were ready, we stepped into the light and began our transformation into the parents we were meant to be.

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Fearless Filipinas and what success means to them

In honor of women’s history month, new book, Fearless Filipinas: 12 Women Who Dared to Be Different, shares the stories of modern Pinay heroes in the Philippines and around the world.

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ilipino history has a pantheon of great Filipina leaders, such as Gabriela Silang and Melchora Aquino. In addition to these historical heroes, there are many modern Filipino women who have succeeded spectacularly in their respective fields, broken the glass ceiling, and strived to give back to their communities.

These Filipinas deserve to have their stories documented at length so that other women can gain inspiration from not only what they achieved, but how they overcame the many obstacles that once stood in their way.

The book opens with a foreword from Vice President Leni Robredo, who noted that the book can be a catalyst for readers.

“While all of the women featured here hail from different fields, they are all united in their demonstration of ‘fearlessness’ in the face of adversity, prejudice, or even the status quo.

Celebrating their lives—and indeed, their individual moments of fearlessness—should serve as a rallying cry to all women: We are all capable of the courage it takes to achieve unprecedented greatness,” writes Robredo.

The women featured in Fearless Filipinas come from all over the world, including the Philippines and the United States. They also span a broad range of fields, including entertainment, sports, academe, arts, business, and more. The inclusion of such a diverse array of geographies and endeavors was intentional: At a time when many women may be pressured into a narrow definition of what success is—and is not—the book’s editorial team wanted to broaden it completely. As demonstrated by these women, success can be found in any field of your choosing wherever you are, so long as you are happy and content with your choices.

The book’s representative in entertainment is none other than Angel Locsin, who shared her coming-of-age

as one of our generation’s greatest actresses and activists.

“By sharing my story in Fearless Filipinas, my goal was not to inspire young women to follow my own path, as an actress or even as an activist. I instead hope that my experiences—combined with those shared by the other great women I am proud to appear alongside— give young women an even more powerful message: You can accomplish anything you set your mind to,” said Locsin.

The other women featured in Fearless Filipinas include: • Dr. Reina Reyes, the Princeton PhD who confirmed Einstein’s theory of relativity; • Kim Lato, the founder and CEO of Kimstore, one of the pioneering e-commerce retailers in the Philippines; • Elda Rotor, the Vice President and publisher of Penguin Classics who brought Filipino authors like Nick Joaquin to a global audience; • Kaizen Dela Serna, a Southeast Asian Games gold medalist in the burgeoning sport of obstacle course racing (OCR); • Erika Legara, a physicist who founded the Asian Institute of Management’s Master of Science in Data Science program; • Stella Abrera, the first Filipina American Principal Dancer of the American Ballet Theatre, playing roles such as Juliet, Giselle, and Princess Aurora • Jessica Cox, a motivational speaker and the world’s first licensed armless pilot and blackbelt in the American Taekwondo Association; • Jessie Sincioco, the President of The Manna Cuisine Corporation and the chef who served Pope Francis on his visit to the Philippines in 2015 • Dzi Gervacio, co-founder of the Beach Volleyball Republic (BVR) and a SEA Games beach volleyball bronze medalist; • Asia Jackson, a Filipina American actress in Hollywood who THE FILAM |

Stories of how 12 women overcame obstacles and succeeded spectacularly. started the #MagandangMorenx movement to combat colorism in the Filipino community; • Merlee Jayme, the “chairmom” and chief creative officer of Dentsu Jayme Syfu.

Fearless Filipinas was written by Monica Padillo, Pancho Dizon, and Mica Magsanoc; edited by Kyle Nate; and illustrated by Chloe Gaw. Magsanoc, also the managing editor, believes these stories can have a positive global impact.

“Fearless Filipinas is the perfect example of how different people from different backgrounds can all find success in their own ways. We hope that this book can reach young women globally who struggle with finding positive representation and content as they grow up and find their identity,” she said.

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Pinays as migrant women writing about social issues

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he Philippine Embassy marked International Women’s Day on March 8 with a virtual program, “A Panel Discussion with Filipino and Fil-Am Women Writers” featuring Cecilia Manguerra Brainard, Luisa A. Igloria, Migs Bravo Dutt, and Gayle Romasanta. The poet laureate of San Mateo County, California, Aileen Cassinetto, moderated the event.

The speakers read excerpts from their published works and shared their respective journeys as Filipino migrant women, including their influences, sources of inspiration, and challenges. They spoke about how being Filipino or Filipino American played a role in their writing and how they navigated various social issues that the Filipino diaspora has faced over the years.

Cecilia Manguerra Brainard is a fiction writer whose three novels — When the Rainbow Goddess Wept, Magdalena, and The Newspaper Widow, are set in Ubec, which is based on Cebu, her hometown in the Philippines.

She said, “I have many homes. I have a home in Cebu. I have a home in Manila. I have a home in California, and sometimes I don’t feel like I really belong in one place because I’m a little bit different in each place so I’m kind of a misfit. But that’s also okay because I’ve discovered that as a misfit, I can have an objective eye and I can look at Cebuanos and say this and I can look at Americans and I can say this because I’ve got this perspective that’s broad.”

Brainard also highlighted her focus on character development, saying that “What carries the weight of the story would be the characters and what happens to them.”

Migs Bravo Dutt, author of the contemporary novel, The Rosales House, has likewise contributed poetry to various anthologies and journals in Asia, Croatia, and the United States. She described her writing process as an exercise in consistency.

“I try to be consistent in my writing. So, I think one of the things I tried to establish is to write daily…But whenever I know that I’m going to write for a couple of hours, I prepare a playlist and so on the day that I write longer, I play that on and on repeatedly…I also get inspired by nature so whenever I go out for a walk, I try to be present. I try to observe what is happening around me, tiny things, tiny flowers, what’s the color of the bird, what kind of trees, just basically I try to be present and observe those details,” Dutt shared.

Luisa A. Igloria was appointed as the Poet Laureate of the Commonwealth of Virginia (2020-2022) in July and is one of two co-winners of the 2019 Crab Orchard Poetry Prize for Maps for Migrants and Ghosts (Southern Illinois University Press, Fall 2020).

Clockwise from top right: Aileen Cassinetto, event moderator; Luisa A. Igloria; Gayle Romasanta; Migs Bravo Dutt; and Cecilia Manguerra Brainard.

“I don’t think it’s possible to separate life from art, and vice versa. So the idea of equilibrium or balance and the idea of successful blending is beguiling, very attractive but this also seems to be premised on the thought that there’s something inherently wrong and may be disturbing about things that don’t show symmetry…I think there’s more value in embracing and celebrating difference, or unblendability. We’re able to create more powerful connections when we tell our very specific stories and histories which are of course complex and messy, as well as profound and also ordinary,” said Igloria when asked about her thoughts on achieving equilibrium in writing by blending distinct experiences.

Gayle Romasanta, a writer and artist whose work focused on social issues, underscored the still relatively small number of authors of color being published in the United States. However, she remains hopeful with what the community is creating, especially through the THE FILAM |

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advancements in technology. Romasanta co-authored the first book about Filipino labor leader Larry Itliong entitled, Journey for Justice: The Life of Larry Itliong, with the late and great historian Dr. Dawn Mabalon.

“He (Larry Itliong) said that the downfall of the Filipino is the tribalism…The only way that we can actually unify in the United States is to come together… to fight together,” Romasanta said as she shared her personal journey of letting go of the classism typically embraced by previous generations of Filipino Americans and advocating for racial equity and justice.

It is the first time that the Philippine Embassy is putting the spotlight on women writers, said Deputy Chief of Mission Renato Pedro Villa in his opening remarks.

“Fortunately, we have been seeing an increasing number of Filipinos making a name for themselves in the global publishing scene and making their mark on the printed page around the world,” he said. – Philippine Embassy

Issue 39, May 2021

‘Miss Saigon’ 30 years after

Fearless Filipinas

What success means to them

Educator Tony DelaRosa

Why we need more male teachers of color