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‘Independence Day is not a time machine where you choose any day you like’
By R Sonny Sampayan, USAF-Ret. Several years before my father passed away, he once reminded me that Filipinos used to celebrate July 4th as our independence day. At 12:00 o’clock in the afternoon on Thursday, July 4, 1946, after 48 years of American sovereignty, the United States granted the Philippines its independence. Manuel L. Roxas […]
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IN THE MOTHERLAND: The American tour guide who mocked Lapu-Lapu
By Laurel Fantauzzo This week, Laurel Fantauzzo begins a series of essays on the Philippines. She is in the country on a Fulbright scholarship to research her journalism project, “Jolli Meals: The Rise of Filipino Fast Food.” The tour guide felt familiar to me at first. He was Midwestern American and proud of his father, […]
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A mural grows in Philly
A stained glass mural depicting Philippine history through its heroes and regular folks is being crafted in Greater Philly by noted muralist Eliseo Art Silva. Unfortunately, all work is on hold right now because the project is low on funds. “If I get partial funding by mid-May this year, it should be done by December […]
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The making, unmaking and remaking of Marcos as a hero
The Philippines is moving to anoint rapacious dictator Ferdinand Marcos a hero. First by having his portrait restored in the armed forces Hall of Heroes and very soon getting his body transferred to the Libingan ng mga Bayani, the U.S. equivalent of the Arlington National Cemetery reserved for war heroes. The armed forces historian […]
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In an Italian restaurant, veteran keeps memory of Los Banos Rescue alive
By Cristina DC Pastor The 1945 Rescue at Los Banos is a little-known POW mission in Philippine-American history. It is not nearly as religiously memorialized as the January 30, 1945 Cabanatuan Raid, which freed about 500 Allied soldiers and survivors of the Bataan Death March. But like Cabanatuan, Los Banos was harrowing as it was […]
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When Manila manufactured its own Elizabeth Taylor
By Tony Joaquin The Philippines in the 1950s exuded arts and culture. Perhaps, it was because the country had just begun to slowly recover from a horrible world war barely five years before. In Manila there were stage presentations galore in schools as well as by private drama groups such as the Barangay Theatre Guild […]
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‘Took me 50 years to read all of Carlos Bulosan’s books’
By Cristina DC Pastor; TF photo R Sonny Sampayan shares vicarious memories of celebrated Asian American writer Carlos Bulosan, the granduncle he never met. TF: Exactly how are you related to Carlos Bulosan? RSS: My paternal grandfather Marcos Sampayan and Carlos’ mother Meteria are siblings. So it’s Carlos Sampayan Bulosan. TF: And you never met. […]