As Filipino American Democrats across the country have expressed excitement for former Vice President Joe Biden’s running mate, there’s one Fil-Am elected official who has experienced California Sen. Kamala Harris’ leadership up close. When Harris was announced as Biden’s VP, state Assemblymember Rob Bonta was quick to praise the choice as it put energy back…
After a four-day virtual Democratic National Convention that ended with former Vice President Joe Biden officially accepting the party’s nomination, Filipino American Democrats across the country are ready to fight the “battle for the soul of the nation.” Speaking from the Chase Center in Wilmington, Delaware on Thursday night, August 20, Biden made his case…
WITH Election Day less than three months away, Filipino Americans in Southern Nevada are ramping up efforts to ensure that the community shows its voting power as the largest Asian American group in the state. For Gloria Caoile, a labor leader who has been involved with civic engagement efforts for the past two decades, an…
As the Democratic National Convention kicked off virtually this week, Filipino American Democrats are doubling down on their support for the party’s nominee, Joe Biden, and his running mate, California Sen. Kamala Harris. Some 400 “Filipino Americans for Biden,” representing a national multigenerational coalition of volunteers, came together on the eve of the convention to…
LAST December, Alvin Cailan put a down payment on the former Chego spot inside Far East Plaza in Los Angeles’ Chinatown without the immediacy, or a defined concept, to occupy it. One possibility was a 12-seat steakhouse offshoot of his “Amboy” project — based on his childhood nickname referring to an American-born Filipino — with…
Two years into Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte’s term, Filipina American filmmaker Ramona Diaz set out to make a documentary about the crackdown on illegal drugs that has drawn international attention. However, the strongman’s war on drugs has become the focus of many films, which led Diaz — whose previous work includes “Motherland,” “Don’t Stop Believin’:…
Harris becomes the first Black woman and Asian American person on a major party ticket SEVERAL Filipino American elected officials and community leaders on Tuesday, August 11 reacted to the selection of California Senator Kamala Harris as former Vice President Joe Biden’s running mate. “Fierce, endlessly-talented, values-based, and Oakland-born, [Kamala] will not back down as…
Since childhood, Bryan Juan-Carlos Baltierra had set his sights on a military career and enlisted a month after graduating from high school. On Wednesday, July 29, the 18-year-old private first class marked his one-year anniversary of being sworn into the United States Marine Corps. A day later, he was one of nine service members killed…
FILIPINA visual artist and activist Pacita Abad was celebrated as a Google Doodle on Friday, July 31. On July 31, 1984, the late artist became the first woman to receive the Philippines’ prestigious Ten Outstanding Young Men award from the Junior Chamber International in Manila. The doodle, featured on the search engine website’s homepage on…
New applications will not be accepted for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), a program that has prevented certain young undocumented immigrants from being deported, the Department of Homeland Security said in a memo on Tuesday, July 28. This move comes despite the Supreme Court ruling on Thursday, June 18 that said the Trump administration’s…
This past spring, Joshua Obra and his younger sister Jasmine moved to Anaheim, California to be closer to Disneyland. The siblings considered the theme park their “second home,” as they would visit at least once a week since getting annual passes five years ago. As a family, the Obras experienced the six Disneylands around the…
The Filipino American student who made headlines for being accepted to all eight Ivy League schools is now bound for Harvard University. Craig McFarland, a Filipino and Black teenager from Jacksonville, Florida, had previously committed to Yale University’s class of 2024, but he’ll be donning crimson gear instead. The switch to the prestigious institution in Cambridge, Massachusetts…
Since the start of the coronavirus outbreak in the United States, Filipino Americans across the country have shown their bayanihan spirit by supporting workers on the front lines of the pandemic and families in need. In the Bay Area, non-profit economic development and arts organization Kultivate Labs launched the #FilipinosFeedtheFrontLines campaign in April to raise…
SEVEN years ago, Patrick Starrr wasn’t given a shift at a MAC Cosmetics store he was working at in Orlando, Florida, so he turned to YouTube and uploaded his first tutorial walking viewers through his daily makeup routine. To date, Starrr has become a leading beauty guru in the online space, amassing over 4.4 million…
As the United States’ decennial population count is underway in the midst of the pandemic, one Filipina American is tasked with making sure California residents, particularly those that are the hardest-to-count, respond to the 2020 Census. Going into July, the state’s self-response rate now stands at 63.2%, but Ditas Katague, director of the California Complete…
WHEN stage actor Josh Dela Cruz was announced as the new host for the “Blue’s Clues” reboot, a wave of nostalgia kicked in for kids who grew up watching Nickelodeon in the ‘90s. Not only were they reminded of the blue puppy, the talking objects and “skidooing” into another world, the lyrics to the catchy…
A Filipino American family from Southern California took a trip up north to Carmel Valley over the Fourth of July weekend to celebrate a birthday. What was supposed to be a happy occasion quickly turned into another example of pervasive anti-Asian hate caught on video. “We were having fun, playing games and when we were…
A Long Beach, California woman at the center of recent viral videos was arrested on Friday, July 3 in connection with a separate 2019 incident during which she reportedly assaulted a Filipina American inside a mall restroom. Lena Hernandez, a 56-year-old retired social worker, was taken into custody on Friday, a day after charges for…
TWO Filipina American commissioners have been reappointed to five-year terms on Los Angeles boards that handle critical infrastructure programs and utility services for the city’s 4 million residents. The LA City Council unanimously voted for Jessica Caloza to serve five more years on the Board of Public Works, while Susana Reyes will continue with the…
WHEN the coronavirus hit Los Angeles County, John Eric Swing, the newly appointed executive director of Search to Involve Pilipino Americans (SIPA), led a food delivery project for seniors and families in Historic Filipinotown. Swing, a U.S. Marine Corps veteran who joined the non-profit organization in 2015 and served as its director of small business…
WITH the United States presidential election less than five months away, the campaigns of President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden will court Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) voters — considered the fastest-growing segment of eligible voters in the United States — in a virtual town hall on Saturday, June 27. Biden…
A Filipino American man was stenciling “Black Lives Matter” in chalk outside his San Francisco home last week when a white couple confronted him and accused him of defacing private property. A video of the June 9 encounter, which has reached over 19.6 million views on Twitter, shows a couple asking James Juanillo, 50, if…
Fedelina Lugasan, a former domestic worker who spent 65 years enslaved by a Filipino family, died on Thursday, June 11 in Long Beach, California. She was 83. Fondly known as Nanay Fedelina, Lugasan was hospitalized earlier in the week for respiratory problems associated with COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, according to the…
Stella Abrera, the first Filipino American principal dancer of the American Ballet Theatre, has retired after 24 years with the classical ballet company. Under coronavirus-free circumstances, 42-year-old Abrera’s farewell performance would have been the title role of “Giselle” at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York on June 13. “I always thought my heart would…
A Filipina American in Southern California was verbally harassed and subjected to a racist tirade this week by a woman while working out at a public park. In a viral video posted on social media on Wednesday, June 10, the victim, who is only identified as Sherry, is seen using the steps at Wilson Park…
NEARLY three months since the coronavirus upended daily life and forced strict measures to be enacted, Los Angeles County moved forward with the third phase of easing restrictions on Friday, June 12. Under the modified health order, gyms, fitness facilities, hotels, lodging, short-term rentals, museums, galleries, zoos, aquariums, day camps, RV parks, campgrounds, outdoor recreation…
Los Angeles’ Historic Filipinotown will soon have a gateway structure to welcome visitors into the neighborhood and to honor the contributions of Filipino Americans in the city. The Historic Filipinotown Eastern Gateway Project, named “Talang Gabay: Our Guiding Star,” will be placed along the stretch of Beverly Boulevard that designates the neighborhood. It is set…
As protests continue across the United States for a second straight week, families are finding themselves having uncomfortable, yet crucial conversations about race, injustice and police brutality. For many multicultural Filipino American families, these discussions are not new, but the latest events have renewed the national discourse and awareness around the systemic issues that disproportionately…
A YEAR after Maria Quiban Whitesell’s husband Sean died of glioblastoma, a friend mailed her a book containing all the email updates she sent during the 18 months he battled the aggressive form of brain cancer. “It spurred the memory and promise that Sean and I made to each other, which was to write the…
EARLY morning on Tuesday, June 2, Mary Jane Rempola received a call from an employee that the front glass door of Bagnet in Panorama City had been shattered amidst the unrest unfolding across Southern California. Rempola opened the small Filipino restaurant in a plaza along Roscoe Boulevard in February, but has since been struggling to…
