Filipina Soul

Here’s a nostalgic place to tour when in Los Angeles, California…

Filipinotown, an actual district of Los Angeles, and located between Westlake and Echo Park. It was created by a resolution proposed by city council member Eric Garcetti on August 2, 2002. It’s historically one of the few places where Filipinos first settled in America and currently has one of the highest concentrations of Filipino Americans in Southern California.

What does Filipinotown offer?

There is this “Gintong Kasaysayan, Gintong Pamana” mural (above) at the Beverly Union Park created by Eliseo Art Silva. A lengthy 145’ x 25’, it depicts both history and culture of Filipinos and Filipino-Americans.

The first Filipino WWII Veterans Memorial in the nation at Lake St. Park, is a reminder for everyone that Filipinos served, and died, alongside their American counterparts in the last world war.

The Filipino American Library in North Park View has over 5,000 titles on books written by and for Filipinos, and other historic memorabilia.

Amee Enriquez of Balita wrote of her recent tour of the district, where she saw firsthand these historic sites and of course, a sampling of Filipino-American life. She writes -

“Did you know that Bernie’s Teriyaki, founded in 1977, one of L.A.’s best hole-in-the-walls, is the oldest existing Fil-Am restaurant in the area? Or that Little Ongpin, along Beverly, is reputed to have the best pancit?”

Nope, didn’t know these tidbits… Next time I’m in LA, I’ll definitely go see this place. I think I’ll feel right at home.

Tags: Filipino, Filipinotown, Los Angeles, mural, Filipino WWII veterans memorial, filipino american library, tour, district, filipino-american

Kudos to our Laguna cops!

Our able and peace-enforcing Laguna cops are now disabled-friendly. A first of its kind in the Philippine National Police (PNP), members of Laguna’s police units went through a five-day sign language course to help them better communicate with crime victims and witnesses who are speech and hearing-impaired.

“I was talking with board member Paras one day when our topic centered on the need for our local policemen to be armed with sign language capabilities in dealing with speech and hearing-impaired victims and witnesses of crimes. So that’s where the project took off,” PNP chief Director General Avelino Razon Jr said. Equipping policemen with know-how on sign language is part of Razon’s program to raise the PNP’s crime solution efficiency.

Now isn’t this one of those ‘good civil service’ we so need to hear these days.

Great job, chief Razon! Hopefully this will be replicated all over the country.

[source:ABS-CBN; image]

Tags: Laguna, policemen, Philippine National Police, PNP, Razon, sign language, hearing-impaired, speech-impaired, law enforcement, Filipino

An earthquake with a magnitude of 5.9 was felt in areas of the Philippines on Tuesday, November 27. Details below:

Magnitude 5.9
Date-Time Tuesday, November 27, 2007 at 04:27:00 UTC
Tuesday, November 27, 2007 at 12:27:00 PM at epicenter
Location 16.088°N, 119.862°E
Depth 45.3 km (28.1 miles) set by location program
Region LUZON, PHILIPPINES

Distances
50 km (30 miles) W of Dagupan, Luzon, Philippines
90 km (55 miles) WSW of Baguio, Luzon, Philippines
125 km (80 miles) NW of Angeles, Luzon, Philippines
200 km (125 miles) NW of MANILA, Philippines

There were no immediate reports of damage or casualties (source).

via USGS

Tags: Philippine earthquake, Philippines

Hooray to the RP shooting team for winning the country’s first silver medals in the 24th Southeast Asian (SEA) Games in Bangkok.

The men’s trap team composed of Jethro Dionisio, Erwin Ang and Carlos Carag bagged the silver medal after a faltering start Tuesday. Their triumph was closely followed by a bronze-medal feat by Emerito Concepcion in the 10m air rifle event.

The SEA Games officially opens on December 6, 2007 but the shootfest (shooting, skeet and trap) have begun. (See full schedule here). Actually, the games have yet to open but already Thailand has 11 medals, Singapore has 9 (5 of which are gold), and Vietnam has 6. A total of 273 gold medals are up for grabs at this year’s regional sportsfest.

The celebration in Thailand will coincide with His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej’s 80th birthday, and if you know anything of the Thais, its that they revere and love their royal family. So expect that this year’s SEAG opening ceremony will be memorable.

sources: ABS-CBN;VietnamNet; image

Tags: southeast asian, games, SEAG, philippines, medals, silver, gold, bronze, thailand, singapore, sports, shooting, trap, bangkok

Welcome three new b5media blogs at our Travel and Culture Channel!

Discover the beautiful greater Vancouver with The Vancouver Traveler, written by Ken Dunlop. And check out the natural beauty of Barkley Sound, British Columbia. Wish I had that for my backyard…

Heather Takacs brings the Big Apple to us with The New York City Traveler. Tonight, the Rockefeller Center Tree lights up midtown Manhattan, to welcome the Christmas season!

Wanna taste more of the Mile High City, check out Alicia and Shawn Marie at The Denver Traveler. This is definitely Broncos Country, with the orange and blue all over Denver these days.

Our channel blog list is getting longer, so check out the bottom of Filipina Soul for more blogs that launched in the last quarter. We’re all about giving you the best travel and culture destinations the world over. Well, just about, so…

Stay tuned for more b5media Travel and Culture blogs to launch in the next few weeks. Meantime, our channel editor Mary Jo tells us she’s looking for bloggers for several new blogs -

and new bloggers for established blogs

If you’re interested or know someone, send an email to Mary Jo.

Tags: b5media, travel, culture, blogs, bloggers, denver, vancouver, new york city, jobs, opening, destinations

The winners of this year’s FAMAS Awards, as listed in Mukamo Philippines, are:

• Best Actress - Judy Ann Santos
• Best Picture - Kasal, Kasali, Kasalo
• Best Director - Jose Javier Reyes
• Best Theme Song - Hawak Kamay by Yeng Constantino
• Best Supporting Actress - Gina Pareno
• Best Actor - Cesar Montano for the film Ligalig
• Best Supporting Actor - Allen Dizon for the film Twilight Dancers
• Posthumous Award - Ramon Zamora
• Jose Perez Memorial Awards - Ernie Pecho, showbiz reporter
• Fernando Poe, Jr award - Rudy Fernandez
• Lifetime Achievement awards - director Celso Ad Castillo and Gloria Sevilla
• Golden Artist Award - Jolina Magdangal
• Grand Award - German Moreno

Inspite of some technical difficulties and no-shows among the awardees, the organizers of this year’s Famas Awards are to be commended for putting together Philippine cinema’s most prestigious awards show for the 55th time in a row. This is where we get the expression “Pang-FAMAS!”, after all.

Congratulations to all the winners!

source

Tags: FAMAS, Famas Awards, Philippine cinema, Philippine entertainment

* Typhoon Mina pounds Isabela (source)

* Philippines attracts English-eager Koreans (source)

* Banco de Oro prices landmark Philippine bond (source)

* Reyes lone Filipino to reach Final 8 of All Japan pool (source)

Tags: Philippines, Philippine news

The Philippine oral history is not just full of riddles (bugtong). We also have a rich tradition of proverbs and sayings (salawikain). Here are just a few of them. I’ve tried my best to translate these into English, but I feel that I haven’t captured the exact sense of the some of the proverbs. If you have a better translation, please feel free to help us out.

* Ang isip ay parang itak, Sa hasa tumatalas. (The mind is like a knife, it is honed by sharpening.)

* Kuwarta na, naging bato pa. (It was already money, but it became a stone.)

* Bibig na natatakpan, hindi papasukin ng langaw. (A mouth that is covered will not be entered by flies.)

* Kung anong bukang bibig ay siyang nilalaman ng dibdib. (What is constantly talked about is what’s inside the heart.)

* Mabuti pa ang kubo, na nakatira ay tao kaysa mansiyon na nakatira ay kuwago. (A nipa hut where a person lives is better than an mansion lived in by an owl.)

* Aanhin pa ang damo, kung patay na ang kabayo. (What use is the grass if the horse is dead.)

Tags: salawikain, Filipino proverbs, Philippine proverbs

I’m going to take a short break from blogging, for the Thanksgiving weekend (unless some awesome news happens. ;) ).

Happy Thanksgiving!

Of the major U.S. holidays, Thanksgiving is one of the more meaningful days to celebrate with family and loved ones. It’s a big event in the USA, and more people travel this week than any other holiday, except for Christmas, to be with the people they love.

The origins of Thanksgiving, of course, are very much rooted in the American history. Traditionally, the holiday is celebrated at the conclusion of the harvest season. The first thanksgiving service in December 4, 1619 was held by English settlers in honor arriving safely on the shores of a new land. Two years later, Pilgrims from Massachusetts celebrated an autumn harvest.

In its simplest form, the Thanksgiving celebration is all about being grateful - for life, for family, for the good things that happened and the good days to come. And in that, anyone, any race, will have cause to celebrate.

So whether you’re American, Filipino, or other nationality, may you find reason to celebrate and be thankful, this week or any other day of the year.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

AT MARAMING SALAMAT PO.

Tags: thanksgiving, celebration, U.S., holidays, harvest, tradition, salamat