PinoyBuilt — Stories of Filipino America

California • April 2026. UC Berkeley Received 133,211 Applications for Fall 2026 — What Filipino-American Students Need to Know. uc berkeley admissions 2026, filipino american college, uc berkeley fall 2026, california university admissions, fil-am students UC, golden bear, bay area, alameda. EDUCATION • CALIFORNIA • APRIL 2026 UC Berkeley Received 133,211 Applications for Fall 2026 — What Filipino-American Students Need to Know Berkeley is not a "reach" — it is a fortress. But for Filipino-American students, the story of Cal starts in 1969, with a strike that changed American higher education forever. Every year, tens of thousands of Filipino-American families across California open their laptops, navigate to the UC application portal, and check the box next to "UC Berkeley" with a mixture of hope, dread, and the quiet understanding that Cal is different from the rest of the system. It is t...

Vallejo, CA • March 2026. Rob Bonta's Next Move: What the AG Race Means for Fil-Am Politics in California. Filipino American, California Attorney General, Rob Bonta, 2026 election, Fil-Am politics. VALLEJO, CA • MARCH 2026 Rob Bonta's Next Move: What the AG Race Means for Fil-Am Politics in California California's first Filipino American Attorney General chose the courtroom over the governor's mansion. Here's what that decision means for Filipino American political power — now, and in the decade ahead. In January 2026, Rob Bonta made a choice that surprised many California Democrats — and clarified something important about where Filipino American political power in California actually stands. With the governor's race wide open, labor unions lobbying him to enter, and a fragmented Democratic field in search of a frontrunner, Bonta said no. He would stay as Attorney General, he announced, because the fight against the Trump admini...

Press Release Source:  California State Assembly (Sacramento, CA) – Assemblymember Rob Bonta (D-Oakland), Chair of the California Asian Pacific Islander Legislative Caucus, issued the following statement today in response to Donald Trump’s call to ban Filipino immigration and tourism: "The latest salvo of divisive and hateful rhetoric being spewed by Donald Trump demonstrates yet again that he is unfit to serve as President. “As an immigrant from the Philippines and as the first and only Filipino American elected to the California State Legislature, I’m extremely proud of the contributions Filipino Americans have made to America, from fighting heroically in our Armed Forces to igniting the struggle for farm worker rights, and the list goes on. "Trump’s call to restrict immigration and tourism from the Philippines doesn’t represent the America my mother believed in when she made the journey to this country decades ago. It doesn’t represent the America that...