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Envoy urges UPenn students: ‘Raise profile of Filipino Americans’
“Elevate the presence of the Filipino Americans in the U.S.” That was the message of Consul General Mario de Leon, Jr. to the University of Pennsylvania’s Penn Philippine Association during a presentation in October. The symposium was held to commemorate Filipino American Heritage Month, where De Leon was the keynote speaker. The consul general cited […]
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Nelson Navarro memoir to launch Jan. 16 at Philippine Center
The international launch of Nelson A. Navarro’s memoir, “The Half-Remembered Past,” will be held at the Philippine Center on Fifth Avenue on January 16th at 7 p.m. Journalist, biographer and TV talk show host Navarro is now based in Manila, but he lived in New York for 17 years as a political exile from the […]
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Feast of the Three Kings officially concludes the season of seasons
By Ludy Astraquillo Ongkeko, Ph.D. In our Christian Doctrine classes as youngsters, when we were able to read stories accompanied by multi-colored illustrations of Christmas, the Three Kings’ significant role was always part of that season of seasons. The Philippines held the reputation as one of the countries that had the longest celebration of the […]
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FilAms brave icy weather to meet new Mayor Bill de Blasio
By Elton Lugay On January 5, thousands of New Yorkers braved the frigid arctic weather to meet the new mayor of New York City. Mayor Bill de Blasio opened his official residence at Gracie Mansion to thousands of city residents, including a dozen Filipino Americans. The 6’5” former Public Advocate towered over the FilAms, bending […]
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Anakbayan NJ commends passage of in-state tuition law in New Jersey
Anakbayan New Jersey hailed the passage on December 20 of the In-State Tuition Bill, which was signed into law by Governor Chris Christie. New Jersey becomes the 16th state where undocumented youth may qualify for in-state tuition rates at colleges and universities. Originally nicknamed the NJ DREAM Act, the bill had initially opened tuition assistance […]
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Being Catholic and a journalist
By Veronica Velarde-Pulumbarit Not too long ago, my husband Riz and I missed the daily Mass for the first time in about 16 years. On vacation in a village where there was only one Mass a day, we waited for the priest to show up but we were told he was very sick to officiate. […]
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An airline glitch, a belated Christmas present for traveling couple
By Cristina DC Pastor A $52 round-trip fare from New York to Los Angeles! It was enough to jolt awake Air Force veteran R Sonny Sampayan the morning of December 26 as he was reviewing the Twitter and Flyertalk feeds on his laptop. He knew it was another one of those occasional computer glitches, but […]
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What we read this year; The FilAm’s most-clicked stories in 2013
By Cristina DC Pastor A pioneering pediatric scientist, a cheeky essay on the Philippines’ islands-full of charm, and an undocumented immigrant’s full-throttle candor. These are among the stories most read by Filipinos in the New York area in 2013. The stories that made The FilAm’s Top 10 selection are primarily local and not necessarily the […]
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An invitation to a fellowship: Rebranding ‘balikbayan,’ what it means and what it can be
By Rexy Josh Dorado Having spent equal halves of my life in the Philippines and in the United States, I never know whether to call myself a Filipino American or an American Filipino – which word defines the other, which adjective colors the essence. Since my arrival in the U.S. at the age of 11, […]