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Jesusa Sonora is gone; long live Susan Roces
By Joel David Susan Roces’s recent passing made me realize at first how she could have been a star in Philippine politics as well, as the best First Lady and First Mother we never had. I’d voted for her late husband, actor-producer and National Artist Fernando Poe Jr., and later for her daughter, Grace Poe, […]
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Good night, Mr. Almeda, 104
Celestino Gonzales Almeda passed away peacefully on March 27 surrounded by his family in Rockville, Maryland. He was 104. He was the first recipient of the Filipino WWII Veterans’ U.S. Congressional Gold Medal presented by the Speaker of the House of Representatives in a historic ceremony in October 2017 under the Capitol dome. “It was […]
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The last seven weeks
By Rowena Cruz I love this picture of my mother. This was taken in February 1977 as she boarded a Korean Air Lines flight from Manila to San Francisco. She left behind her husband and three young children in the Philippines to build a life for us in this country. She worked hard, saved, and […]
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Well-loved Ridgway, PA Mayor Guillermo Udarbe, 81
Doctor Guillermo Udarbe, who was mayor of Ridgway, Pennsylvania for 12 years, died unexpectedly on November 11, according to an obituary announcement. He was 81. He is survived by his wife Gloria Aragones Udarbe of Ridgway, daughters Cherry Pie Udarbe Clark of Fairview, PA and Charina Udarbe Felix of Lutherville, Maryland; five grandchildren Isabella Udarbe […]
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Goodnight, Irene
By Lindy Rosales Makeup and hair stylist Irene Zapanta passed away on July 20 after a long bout with cancer. More than a beautician, she was, to people who knew her, a woman of “class and elegance,” a trusted confidante, a friend to everyone. ‘Everyone’ meant the prominent community personalities whose hair she had fashioned, […]
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The reluctant president
The FilAm Editorial Of all the people who became head of state in the Philippines, Benigno Simeon Aquino III – Noynoy to all of us — is one who would rather be somewhere else. He did not aspire to the presidency; it was thrust upon him when his beloved mother, former president Cory Aquino, died. […]
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Filipino UN staffers who perished in the line of duty honored
Three Philippine UN Staff Members who lost their lives while in the line of duty were among those honored by the United Nations Secretary-General during the Annual Memorial Service held virtually at the United Nations Headquarters in New York on May 6. The three UN staff members honored were Joanna Abaya, who served at the […]
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NUT to film critics: ‘Don’t take things too seriously’
By Joel David When 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 […]
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Remembering: No shame in being second
Papang, the family tenor By Rochit Tañedo Papang, Eliseo Del Mundo Tañedo, was a beautiful tenor, and sang amazing duets with his favorite sister, Auntie Nena Wijangco, a contralto. They had a “panata” in their youth to be Joseph and Mary in the annual “Salubong,” and in their adulthood sang the 1930s Kundimans beautifully. My […]