PinoyBuilt — Stories of Filipino America

Vallejo, CA • October 2026. AncestryDNA Is $34 Through October 20: Why I'm Asking My Relatives and Friends to Join Me. ancestrydna sale 2026, ancestry dna $34, filipino dna test, filipino ancestry dna results, jose rizal chinese ancestry, out of taiwan filipino dna, filipino genealogy, family history, 10/7. GENEALOGY • OCTOBER 2026 AncestryDNA Is $34 Through October 20: Why I'm Asking My Relatives and Friends to Join Me The kit is $34, plus shipping, until October 20. My cousin Melvin, Nica, and Chesca are already linked with me on Ancestry. Jian's kit is next. Here is why your family should be there too. PinoyBuilt hero image for the October 2026 AncestryDNA sale. My cousin Melvin Perseveranda, Tito Maning's eldest, got his AncestryDNA results earlier this year, after I got mine. So did Nica and Chesca. We are all linked on Ancestry now. That leaves Jian. I bought him a kit, and he hasn't taken it or sent it in yet. ...

San Carlos, California • October 2026. The Filipino Flash Signed Our Gloves: Nonito Donaire, from a San Carlos Gym in 2011 to Four-Division Legend. Nonito Donaire, Filipino Flash, Filipino American boxing, Fil-Am boxer, Bay Area boxing, Undisputed Gym San Carlos, Donaire open workout 2011, Donaire Narvaez, Donaire Oubaali oldest bantamweight champion, Donaire dual citizenship, San Leandro, Filipino American History Month, FAHM 2026, 10/8. Nonito Donaire • October 2026 The Filipino Flash Signed Our Gloves: Nonito Donaire, from a San Carlos Gym in 2011 to Four-Division Legend On Nica's 11th birthday in 2011, our family watched Nonito Donaire work out in San Carlos. Fifteen years later, here is the full story of the Bay Area-raised champion, and why he belongs in Filipino American History Month. Nonito Donaire has his arm around Jian as he puts his guard up toward Nica, as Chesca smiles in the middle. San Carlos, 10/8/11. October 8, 2011 was...

Vallejo, CA • October 2015. Six Flags Discovery Kingdom: 2016 Season Passes, Day One. six flags discovery kingdom, 2016 season passes, vallejo, jian, nica, chesca, filipino-american family, throwback, on this day, 10/4. ON THIS DAY • VALLEJO • OCTOBER 2015 Six Flags Discovery Kingdom: 2016 Season Passes, Day One Jian, Nica and Chesca on a Sunday in Vallejo, four days before Ate Nica turned 15. An ordinary family day, kept on purpose. Left to right: Jian, Nica and Chesca at Six Flags Discovery Kingdom, October 4, 2015. Facebook Memories handed this one back to me today: October 4, 2015, a Sunday, at Six Flags Discovery Kingdom in Vallejo. Left to right, that's Jian, Nica and Chesca. My caption back then was short: "First time to use their 2016 season passes." I can't find the original post anymore, so I'm moving the memory here, to the archive I keep. It was four days before Ate Nica's 15th b...

Vallejo, CA • September 2026. September 15, Nine Years Ago: A 'Happy Friday!' on the I-80 School Run. jf perseveranda family video, vallejo family archive, i-80 school morning, filipino american family, kapamilya, atet nica jian chesca, on this day 9/15. ON THIS DAY • VALLEJO, CA • SEPTEMBER 2017 September 15, Nine Years Ago: A 'Happy Friday!' on the I-80 School Run On September 15, 2017, Nica pointed my phone at the whole car — Atet up front, Chesca and Jian in back — somewhere on I-80 before the overlook into Vallejo. Nine years later, to the day, here's the whole morning back. Nica's phone video from the back seat: Atet up front, Chesca and Jian behind her, on the way to school — I-80, September 15, 2017. The title wasn't complicated. I called it "Happy Friday!" because that's what it was — a Friday morning like a hundred others that fall, the five of us in the...

Valencia, Bukidnon • August 2026. Balikbayan: Chesca vs. Rambutan, 2012 vs. 2026. balikbayan, chesca perseveranda, valencia bukidnon, mama helen, garcia family, rambutan, tagalog, fil-am, filipino american, philippines Valencia, Bukidnon • August 2026 Balikbayan: Chesca vs. Rambutan, 2012 vs. 2026 Fourteen years apart, same rambutan, same house in Valencia, Bukidnon — and a text thread, half English, half hard-won Tagalog, that made a father's whole week. Chesca in July 2012, back at Mama Helen's house in Valencia, Bukidnon — her first visit was 2004-2005. I woke up before the sun rose per usual, and got her text around 6 a.m. in the 707 from my bunso. It was 9 p.m. in the Philippines, and Chesca had just gone back to Valencia, Bukidnon — back to Mama Helen's house from the farm, the house where her mommy grew up — and done something nobody asked her to do. She'd found the same spot, picked up a rambutan, and recreated a photo of he...