San Francisco International Airport • August 2026. Nica, Jian & Chesca Board PR105: Home to Bukidnon for Mama Helen's 85th Birthday. balikbayan, philippine airlines pr105, valencia bukidnon, mama helen 85th birthday, nica perseveranda, jian perseveranda, chesca perseveranda, tess garcia.

Philippine Airlines PR105 • Aug 12, 2026

Nica, Jian & Chesca Board PR105: Home to Bukidnon for Mama Helen's 85th

A photo landed on my phone the second they found their seats. I was already on the freeway somewhere in Vallejo. Three siblings, one flight, headed back to the province that raised their mother — to celebrate the woman who raised her.

Jian, Chesca and Nica — buckled in on PR105, SFO to Manila. Nica texted me this the moment they found their seats, Aug. 12, 2026.

My phone buzzed. Nica had sent a photo: the three of them, side by side, seatbelts on, PR105 still on the ground at SFO. "We’re sitting together," Nica texted. She had told me they were supposed to have separate rows. A nice suprise. 

Philippine Airlines PR105 is the same nonstop that has carried Bay Area balikbayans across the Pacific for generations — wheels up in San Francisco, wheels down fourteen hours later in Manila. This time it was carrying my three kids, together, for the first time since they were children.

Twenty Years Between Departures

Their mommy, Tess, took all three of them to the Philippines as kids — a trip that stretched from December 2004 into the spring of 2005. I flew out to join them for about four weeks that March. Chesca was baptized there that spring, still a baby. That was the last time Nica, Jian, and Chesca were in the Philippines together as a trio.

Chesca went back once more on her own, with her mommy, in July 2012 — she turned eight while they were there. But for Nica and Jian, this PR105 flight is their first time back in the Philippines, period, since they were small kids over two decades ago. This boarding photo is the start of something all three of them have been waiting on for a very long time.

Why Valencia, Bukidnon

They're not just going home to the Philippines. They're going home to a very specific place: Valencia, Bukidnon, in Mindanao — the town where their mommy was born, where she grew up, and where her parents, Antonio and Elenita "Mama Helen" Garcia, ran TonyLen Farms.

It's also the place where Tess and I held our first wedding ceremony, on November 16, 1999. And it's the place where Chesca was baptized, in March 2005. For this family, Valencia isn't a stop on an itinerary. It's the map of Tess.

The occasion this time is Mama Helen's 85th birthday. Their lola, or Mama, — the woman who raised their mother, and who has waited a long time to have all three of her Fil-Am apo under one roof again. It's also their mommy's birthday! August was and remains a special date within our family.

📌 Did You Know?
PR105 is one of only a handful of nonstop flights linking the Bay Area's large Filipino community directly to Manila — a 14-hour red-eye that has quietly carried three generations of balikbayans home, including, this week, three siblings flying together for the first time in over 20 years.

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🇵🇭 Tagalog Word of the Day
Balikbayan — bah-lik-bah-YAHN
From balik (to return) and bayan (country, homeland). A Filipino coming home — whether from a semester abroad or, like Nica and Jian this week, from more than two decades away.

Following Along

More from Valencia, Bukidnon — Mama Helen's birthday celebration, the farm, and whatever else these three find waiting for them — will follow here on PinoyBuilt as it happens. For now: safe travels, anak. Kiss your Lola Helen for me.

Source: Flight routing and aircraft details for Philippine Airlines PR105 (San Francisco–Manila) per Philippine Airlines published schedules.

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J.F.R. PERSEVERANDA · FOUNDER & EDITOR

J.F. (Jonjo) left the Philippines at age nine, spending a lifetime bridging the gap between his Marikina roots and his Chicago/Vallejo upbringing. A proud Hogan Spartan from East Vallejo and resident of LA/SF, he founded PinoyBuilt not just as a digital archive, but as a cultural compass for his three children to navigate their heritage, language, and identity with Pinoy Pride. 💬 Please comment below ↓