PinoyBuilt — Stories of Filipino America

Hawaii • April 2026. Kapamilya vs. Ohana: Why Fil-Ams Are Trading Tagalog for Hawaiian. sakada, ohana, kapamilya, filipino diaspora, ilocano hawaii, fil-am identity, kinship, tagalog language, philippine history. CULTURE & IDENTITY • APRIL 2026 Kapamilya vs. Ohana: Why Fil-Ams Are Trading Tagalog for Hawaiian More than 118 years after the first Sakadas landed in Honolulu, Filipino Americans are borrowing a Hawaiian word to describe their most Filipino value. What does that say about who we are — and what we may have forgotten? The Filipino bond with Hawaii stretches back to 1906, when the first Sakada laborers arrived on sugarcane plantations that would define the islands' modern identity. | PinoyBuilt In July 1985, at the age of eighteen, I bought my first "Filipino Strength" T-shirt at the Aloha Stadium swap meet in Honolulu. I was on my first trip to Hawaii — wide-eyed, proud, and not yet aware that those two words a...

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 ...

Vallejo • March 2026. Huerta's Bombshell and the Filipino Hero History Forgot: Larry Itliong Started the Delano Strike. dolores huerta, larry itliong, fil-am, filipino, vallejo, delano grape strike, labor movement, ufw 2026, cesar chavez, new york times, manong generation, filipino labor leader, filipino-american history. Breaking News • March 18, 2026 Huerta's Bombshell and the Filipino Hero History Forgot The Heart of the Story: Larry Itliong Started the Delano Strike Dolores Huerta's stunning public disclosures — confirmed in a New York Times investigation published today — have shattered the UFW's founding mythology. As the nation reckons with who Cesar Chavez really was, Filipino-Americans are reclaiming the truth that was always theirs: Larry Itliong started it all. Larry Itliong and the Manong generation of Filipino farmworkers initiated the 1965 Delano Grape Strike — the foundation on which t...

Vallejo, CA • August 2021. A Mass for Tess and a Walk to the Ligao Brothers' Graves at All Souls Cemetery. all souls cemetery vallejo, perseveranda family, ligao albay, filipino american genealogy, filipino catholic cemetery tradition, family archive, vallejo california. Vallejo, CA • August 2021 All Souls Cemetery, Vallejo: A Mass for Tess and the Ligao Brothers Who Rest There Five years ago, two generations of the Perseveranda-Putong family gathered at a Vallejo cemetery for a mass — then walked together to the graves of two brothers born a world away in Ligao, Albay. My three kids and me, my sister Joy, her husband Vince, and their children, standing at the graves of Lolo Marciano, Lolo Emiliano, and Tito Ed after mass. All Souls Cemetery, Vallejo, CA — August 14, 2021. Five years ago today, we drove to a corner of Vallejo that doesn't show up on anyone's tourist map of the 707 — All Souls Cemetery, a name that reads almost too o...