PinoyBuilt — Stories of Filipino America

Vallejo, CA • March 2026. Hiraya Manawari: The Ancient Filipino Phrase That Became a Generation's Battle Cry. hiraya manawari meaning, ancient tagalog phrase, filipino manifestation, reach your dreams filipino, baybayin tattoo hiraya, decolonize filipino identity, pre-colonial philippines language, hiraya manawari tv show abs-cbn, filipino words of power, fil-am cultural reclamation. DECOLONIZE • MARCH 2026 Hiraya Manawari: The Ancient Filipino Phrase That Became a Generation's Battle Cry How an archaic Tagalog phrase meaning "may the visions of your heart come to pass" survived colonialism, powered a beloved 90s TV show, and is now reclaiming Filipino identity — one tattoo, one graduation caption, and one whispered prayer at a time. There are words in every language that carry more weight than their syllables suggest. In English, we have "freedom." In Japanese, ikigai . In ...

Philippines • April 2026. The Laguna Copperplate Inscription: The Philippines' Oldest Written Record and What It Means for Every Filipino. laguna copperplate inscription, philippine history, pre-colonial philippines, tondo kingdom, baybayin, decolonization, antoon postma, 900 CE, namwaran, kawi script. Philippine History • April 2026 The Laguna Copperplate Inscription: The Philippines' Oldest Written Record and What It Means for Every Filipino On April 21, 900 CE — 1,126 years ago today — a scribe inscribed Old Malay, Sanskrit, and Old Tagalog onto a sheet of copper in the Kingdom of Tondo. What he created is proof that Filipino civilization was literate, legally sophisticated, and globally connected six centuries before Magellan ever set foot on our shores. The Laguna Copperplate Inscription, dated April 21, 900 CE — the oldest written document ever found in the Philippines. National Museum of Anthropology, Manila. When I was a ...

Mahal Kita (I Love You) in Baybayin If anyone is interested in Baybayin in general (i.e. your last name in Baybayin script), please let me know. If you're interested in Baybayin apparel using MALAKAS or MAGANDA, please visit http://shop.pinoybuilt.com . Thank you. Salamat. Join me and blog with Pinoybuilt. I joined Facebook in September 2007, so I have tons of photos I haven't posted yet. I will be posting to this blog/website going forward. I'd rather make money for Pinoybuilt instead of Facebook and Mark Zuckerberg. 😉 Please visit often, and leave a comment. Please click to follow our website/blog PINOYBUILT.com

Baybayin  ( ᜊᜌ᜔ᜊᜌᜒᜈ᜔ ,   formerly known as  alibata ) is a  Philippine script . The  script  is an  abugida  belonging to the family of the  Brahmic scripts . Geographically, it was widely used in  Luzon  and other parts of the  Philippines  prior to and during the 16th and 17th centuries before being replaced by the  Latin alphabet  during the  period of Spanish colonization . It was used in the  Tagalog language  and, to a lesser extent,  Kapampangan -speaking areas; its use spread to the  Ilocanos  in the early 17th century. In the 19th and 20th centuries,  baybayin  survived and evolved into multiple forms—the  Tagbanwa script  of  Palawan , and the  Hanuno'o  and  Buhid scripts  of  Mindoro —and was used to create the constructed modern  Kulitan script  of the  Kapampangan  and the  Ibalnan script  o...

New Design at Shop.pinoybuilt.com I uploaded a new design at the shop : Maganda (beautiful) in Baybayin . I still have to finish editing the sizes of the print on each product, but I made this available on Men's apparel. My question: Would gay Filipino-American men wear " Maganda " on a tshirt or hoodie?   Click on the photo to view/buy this hoodie at the shop. Shop for Filipino-American apparel at  shop.pinoybuilt.com or  https://pinoybuilt.myspreadshop.com/ . Join me and blog with Pinoybuilt. I joined Facebook in September 2007, so I have tons of photos I haven't posted yet. I will be posting to this blog/website going forward. I'd rather make money for Pinoybuilt instead of Facebook and Mark Zuckerberg. 😉 Please visit often, and leave a comment. Please click to follow our website/blog PINOYBUILT.com

Baybayin Script reads: "Maraming Salamat." Thank you all for the birthday greetings. It's always nice to be greeted by family and friends on your born day, especially as you inch closer to the "December" of your life. I had a simple celebration with my loved ones at my sister's house with my parents, of course. The photo I posted here yesterday  is from a unique situation. In all my life, I have spent each of my birthdays with both my parents (and sister). My parents immigrated to the USA a year ahead of my sister and me, but fifteen days after my birthday. My sister, Lola Rosita and I immigrated to the USA on August 19, almost one month ahead of my tenth birthday. But I moved back to Chicago, Illinois by myself in April before my 23rd birthday. My 23rd birthday was the first I celebrated away from my parents and my sister. The photo I posted was from my "speed limit" birthday. I had just gotten off my birthday dinner cruise on my actual birthday ...

During this pandemic, I've made it a point to watch my kids' shows with them on Netflix. My eldest started watching Ink Master Season 1 on Netflix a week or so ago. I reset the Netflix password and didn't give it to my kids so they'd have to watch on the family room TV.  Otherwise, they'd all be in their own rooms watching their own shows.  I'd never see them.  This way, I can 'see them' even if I don't watch their show.  But I ended up watching Ink Master with Nica and got into it. As we were watching the finale, my daughter teasingly asked that we get the same tattoo -- our last name in Baybayin with a 'Filipino sun' at the top.  I laughed.  Then she pulled up the design on her iPhone.  She was serious! Hmm.  Now I'm actually playing with the idea in my head.  We shall see. I nk Master is an American reality competition television series that aired on Paramount Network. The show, which premiered on January 17, 2012 (when the chann...

California • April 2026. UCLA Received 151,107 Applications for Fall 2026 — What Filipino-American Students Need to Know. ucla admissions 2026, filipino american college, ucla fall 2026, california university admissions, fil-am students UC, samahang pilipino, bruins, westwood, los angeles. EDUCATION • CALIFORNIA • APRIL 2026 UCLA Received 151,107 Applications for Fall 2026 — What Filipino-American Students Need to Know For the first time in history, UCLA crossed 150,000 applications. For Filipino-American families in Los Angeles County — home to the largest Fil-Am population in America — the Westwood story did not start with the numbers. It started in 1972. There is a specific moment in every Filipino-American household in Southern California — somewhere in West Covina, Cerritos, Carson, Eagle Rock, or Historic Filipinotown — when the conversation about college turns to UCLA. It is not a casual conversation. It...