Auntie Manye: Happy Birthday! 🎉

-


 

Flashback to September '92 when you arrived in the USA. Rachel was so tiny and my dad was 'healthy.' Check out Lola Amparo with her big smile. 😀

Comments

Post a Comment

Hi! Thank you for dropping by. Please leave us a comment. Sige na!

Popular posts from this blog

Marks of the Ancestors: Mel Orpilla and the Filipino Story of Vallejo

-
Image
Vallejo, California • March 2026. Mel Orpilla: Historian, Martial Artist, and Keeper of Vallejo's Filipino Memory. mel orpilla, vallejo filipino history, filipinos in vallejo, balintawak arnis, island warrior fighting sticks, manong generation, mare island naval shipyard, fil-am history, ifugao, ilocano heritage, pamana, filipino american history month. Vallejo, CA • Filipino American History Month 2026 Marks of the Ancestors: Mel Orpilla and the Filipino Story of Vallejo Historian, martial artist, and cultural keeper Mel Orpilla has spent decades ensuring that the Filipino presence in Vallejo—one of the oldest in Northern California—is documented, honored, and passed on. Mel Orpilla — historian, Balintawak Arnis master, and keeper of Vallejo's Filipino memory. 📍 Vallejo, California In the city of Vallejo, history lives in unexpected places. It lives in faded photographs tucked into family albums, in stor...
Read more

The Filipino Constellation: Why Diabetes, High Blood Pressure, and Heart Disease Hit Fil-Am Families So Hard

-
Image
California • April 2026. The Filipino Constellation: Why Diabetes, High Blood Pressure, and Heart Disease Hit Fil-Am Families So Hard. filipino american health, diabetes filipino, hypertension fil-am, heart disease filipino american, kalusugan, kidney disease, sleep apnea, pancreatitis, kaiser permanente distance, stanford care, aapi health disparities. KALUSUGAN • FIL-AM HEALTH • APRIL 2026 The Filipino Constellation: Why Diabetes, High Blood Pressure, and Heart Disease Hit Fil-Am Families So Hard Filipino-Americans carry the heaviest chronic-disease burden of any Asian-American subgroup — but because the data is routinely aggregated, the crisis stays invisible. One man's clinical story names the pattern moving through our families. Every Filipino-American family I know has a version of this story. A tito who died of a stroke earlier than anyone expected. A tita on dialysis. A lola who managed her diabetes...
Read more

Maligayang Bati Lualhati! 🎂

-
Image
Happy Birthday Nati! December 18. Early 90s. Vallejo, California. Birthday flowers for Mom. Thank you for everything! 💛 Explore Filipino American heritage, culture, and stories! Join our Fil-Am community to connect, comment, celebrate, and share experiences. Mabuhay! 📌 Follow PinoyBuilt Instagram 👍 Like PinoyBuilt Facebook ✍️ Follow PinoyBuilt Blog 📺 Follow PinoyBuilt YouTube 🎓 Interested in helping us create content? Apply as a college intern and join our team! #PinoyPride #PinoyCommunity #FilAm #FilipinoAmerican #PilipinoAmerican #kaibigan
Read more

5 Years Later: Wrestling, Resilience, and a Fil-Am Journey

-
Image
Fremont, CA • January 31, 2026. Half a Decade of Growth: A Senior Year Reflection: Five years after the Mission San Jose Invitational, we reflect on the grit of the Fil-Am journey and building a future on Turtle Island. wrestling, benicia, high school, student-athlete, turtle island, fil-am, heritage, january 31 Fremont, CA • January 31, 2026 Half a Decade of Growth: A Senior Year Reflection Five years after the Mission San Jose Invitational: Building grit on the mat and a future on Turtle Island. Looking at this photo now, I don't just see a wrestling match; I see a pivotal moment in the journey from student-athlete to adulthood. In the Filipino-American experience, we often talk about "building"—building a life, building a legacy, and building a future on Turtle Island . "Wrestling is a metaphor for our collective experience. It’s about finding your footing, staying grounded, and facing ev...
Read more

Daku kaayo ang kalipay: Reunited in Valencia, Bukidnon (April 1, 2005)

-
Image
April 2, 2026 at 01:17PM by pinoybuilt ​The April 1, 2005 Archive: Valencia, Bukidnon ​On March 25, 2005, the distance finally ended. After being separated since December 2004, I reunited with Tess and our girls in the cooler, quieter highlands of Bukidnon. ​This is a 30-second raw window into that afternoon, captured on an Olympus C3000z in the Barangay of Poblacion. You can hear the unedited "hiss" of 2005 technology, but more importantly, you hear my late wife, Tess. In the last third of the video, her laughter cuts through the decades—a reminder of the joy that anchored our diaspora journey. (I'll have to find video of her speaking fluent Bisaya). ​At PinoyBuilt.com, we analyze the news of today through the lens of where we’ve been. Sometimes, the most important "data" isn't a statistic, but a voice from 21 years ago. ​#PinoyBuilt #Bukidnon #Bisaya #FilAm #Diaspora #Legacy #2005Archive via YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IQZR7qkJx20
Read more

The BSN Playbook (2026): The Definitive Guide to Elite Nursing Programs in America and California

-
Image
USA • March 2026. The BSN Playbook 2026: The Definitive Guide to Elite Nursing Programs in America and California. BSN nursing schools 2026, Filipino American nurses, direct entry BSN programs, California nursing admissions, best nursing schools USA, Samuel Merritt accelerated BSN, Dominican University nursing, fil-am healthcare careers. HEALTHCARE & EDUCATION • MARCH 2026 The BSN Playbook (2026): The Definitive Guide to Elite Nursing Programs in America and California From the nation's top nursing schools to California's brutal admissions battlefield — a complete, evergreen guide for ambitious students, Filipino-American families, and anyone serious about building a career in nursing. For decades, nursing was seen as a stable, respectable — but secondary — career path. Something practical rather than prestigious. A "backup plan" for students who didn't make it into medical school. That p...
Read more

Christmas Day 2025: Dominic & Paige

-
Image
Maligayang Pasko Kapamilya at Kababayan! 🎄 2025 December 25: Vallejo, California. Dominic and Paige. Dominic & Paige - 2005 July 16 Here you go Paige and Dominic. Flashback to Chesca's first birthday at Blue Rock when I shot this photo. Paige's lola brought her and her sisters. Twenty years ago! 💛 Explore Filipino American heritage, culture, and stories! Join our Fil-Am community to connect, comment, celebrate, and share experiences. Mabuhay! 📌 Follow  PinoyBuilt Instagram 👍 Like  PinoyBuilt Facebook ✍️ Follow  PinoyBuilt Blog 📺 Follow  PinoyBuilt YouTube 🎓 Interested in helping us create content? Apply as a  college intern  and join our team! #PinoyPride #PinoyCommunity #FilAm #FilipinoAmerican #PilipinoAmerican
Read more