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Showing posts with the label friendship

A 20-Year Throwback to Friendship & Laughter

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Happy Birthday again, Missy! Flashback to January 18, 2005 when I hung out with you and met Maricruz. I had not posted these photos since they were taken before we all joined Facebook (me in 2007). Great meeting you Maricruz! Tess and the kids had flown to the Philippines in early December so thanks you two for letting me hang out. I'm pretty sure we finished at least a couple bottles of Cabernet Sauvignon. Peace my friend! November is the month of Thanksgiving  Missy, thank you for being part of my story, for the good energy you’ve always shared, and your friendship. You deserve a birthday filled with love, peace, blessings, and the kind of laughter that echoes like it did back in 2005. I would have posted our Seattle vacation pix, but I still have to scan phtos prior to December 2000 (when I got my first digital camera). Stay tuned; I'll be scanning those. Happy Birthday, Missy. Here’s to more years of connection, friendship, and moments worth remembering. ...
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Location: Vallejo, CA, USA
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Friendship Games @PASAKaibigan Roll Call @CSUF @FG_2K22 #FAHM

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October 22, 2025 at 11:11PM by pinoybuilt Throwing it back to #FILAM Friendship Games 37 on October 22, 2022, when I had the chance to cover the Friendship Games hosted by #csuf PASA #kaibigan in Fullerton, CA! 💛 Here's the Roll Call by the host PASA KAIBIGAN. "Friendship Games roll call" refers to a competitive dance or performance competition held at the annual Friendship Games, a large event for Filipino-American student organizations. This specific event involves groups performing a choreographed routine, often with a theme. The term "roll call" is used because the organizations and their members are called out in a process similar to how attendance is taken, and they are expected to perform and show their spirit. From fun competitions to laughter-filled moments, it was an amazing day celebrating friendship, community, and our Pinay/o/x pride. 20221022 173732 FULLERTON FRIENDSHIP GAMES 📢 Internship Opportunity: Digital Creator for PinoyBuilt - https://bit...
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UC Berkeley Pilipinx American Alliance: Salamat!

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Maraming Salamat to the UC Berkeley Pilipinx American Alliance! We’d like to give a big thank you to the UC Berkeley Pilipinx American Alliance (PAA) for following @PinoyBuilt on Instagram! Your support helps us continue to connect Filipino Americans — from students and alumni to creatives and professionals across the U.S. As a Filipino-founded media project, PinoyBuilt celebrates stories of identity, heritage, and community. We’re inspired by organizations like PAA that embody bayanihan — unity, cultural pride, and leadership within the Filipino American community. 📸 Flashback Feature: Friendship Games 37 Here’s a throwback to Friendship Games 37 , held on October 22, 2022 at California State University, Fullerton — a celebration of friendship, culture, and school spirit that continues to unite Filipino American students across generations. UC Berkeley’s PAA proudly represented the Bay Area with energy and pride! 📍 UC Berkeley PAA at Friendship Games 37, C...
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Location: 800 N State College Blvd, Fullerton, CA 92831, USA
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The Significance of July 4: A Shared Legacy Between the Philippines and the United States

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While July 4 marks American independence, it’s also the date the Philippines gained its own sovereignty in 1946. 🇺🇸🇵🇭 For Filipino-Americans, this day carries a powerful dual meaning: freedom and friendship across the Pacific. While July 4 is widely known as Independence Day in the United States, it also holds profound meaning for Filipinos—especially those of us living in America. On July 4, 1946, the United States officially recognized the independence of the Republic of the Philippines—marking the end of nearly 50 years of American colonial rule. For decades, this date was observed in the Philippines as Independence Day, and later as Philippine-American Friendship Day . Today, while Filipinos commemorate our June 12 independence from Spain, July 4 remains significant—especially among Filipino-Americans. It symbolizes a shared legacy of freedom, resilience, and transpacific ties. It’s a day that reminds us how far we've come—and how far we can go...
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Location: San Francisco, CA, USA
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One tree can start a forest...

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One smile can begin a friendship; One hand can lift a soul; One word can frame the goal; One candle can wipe out darkness; One laugh can conquer gloom; One touch can show you care; One life can make the difference; Be that one today. Author Unknown Join us & help build a Fil-Am online community. Please leave a comment, and  click to follow our website  www.pinoybuilt.com. Join one of our sites in California: Los Angeles , Sacramento ,  San Diego , San Francisco ,  San Jose  or Vallejo . Click on a tag below to browse.
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Location: San Francisco, CA, USA
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'Madonna of the Slums' by Vicente Manansala

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Manila, Philippines • March 2026. Madonna of the Slums: The Soul of Post-War Manila. Vicente Manansala, Transparent Cubism, Filipino modernism, post-war Manila, National Artist Philippines, Thirteen Moderns, heritage, art history, diaspora identity. Art History & Heritage • March 2026 Madonna of the Slums: The Soul of Post-War Manila Vicente Manansala's 1950 masterpiece reimagined the sacred Madonna as a Brown Filipino mother in the wreckage of post-war Manila — and in doing so, changed Philippine art forever. Seventy-five years later, it still speaks directly to us. Madonna of the Slums (1950) by Vicente Silva Manansala. Oil on Masonite, 86.5 cm × 61 cm. National Museum of Fine Arts, Manila. A cornerstone of Filipino Modernism. There is a particular kind of gravity that settles over you when you stand before a painting that refuses to look away. Vicente Manansala's Madonna of the Slums , complete...
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Bruno Mars' 'The Romantic': A Filipino Soul Renaissance Across Generations

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Los Angeles / Bay Area • March 2026. Bruno Mars The Romantic album Filipino heritage diaspora soul music. Bruno Mars Filipino, The Romantic album, filipino american music, bruno mars peter gene hernandez, manila sound, fil-am pride, filipino diaspora culture, I Just Might Billboard Hot 100. Music & Culture • March 2026 Bruno Mars' 'The Romantic': A Filipino Soul Renaissance Across Generations With The Romantic , Bruno Mars doesn't just reclaim the Billboard charts—he reconnects Filipino Americans across three generations to the soul of who we are. 🇵🇭 Did You Know? Bruno Mars' mother, Bernadette San Pedro Bayot, was born in Manila and raised in Cebu City —two of the Philippines' most storied cities—before immigrating to Hawaii in 1968 at age 11. A singer and lead hula dancer at the famed Al Harrington Show in Waikīkī, she passed away in Honolulu in 2013. Bruno has sa...
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Hiraya Manawari: The Ancient Filipino Phrase That Became a Generation's Battle Cry

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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 ...
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The Memory Heist: How DreamWorks' 'Forgotten Island' Turns Filipino Mythology Into a Diaspora Reckoning

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Hiddenbrooke, CA • March 2026. The Memory Heist: How DreamWorks' 'Forgotten Island' Turns Filipino Mythology Into a Diaspora Reckoning. forgotten island dreamworks, filipino mythology animation, H.E.R. liza soberano, lea salonga manananggal, nakali island, filipino american diaspora, pinoy pride, fil-am identity, filipino folklore, dreamworks animation 2026, joel crawford januel mercado, filipino culture film. FILM & IDENTITY • MARCH 2026 The Memory Heist: How DreamWorks' 'Forgotten Island' Turns Filipino Mythology Into a Diaspora Reckoning The first major animated film rooted in Philippine folklore asks the question every immigrant carries: What do you lose when you leave? A PinoyBuilt analysis of the most important Filipino cultural moment in animation history. DreamWorks Animation's Forgotten Island features a voice cast led by H.E.R., Liza Soberano, and Lea Salonga in a story root...
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Two Empires, One Final: What a Filipino Sees That Spain and Argentina Can't

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Global • July 2026. Two Empires, One Final: What a Filipino Sees That Spain and Argentina Can't. spain argentina world cup 2026, blanqueamiento, decolonize the mind, filipino american, football racism, spanish colonization philippines, enzo fernandez chant, vinicius junior, lahi, diaspora identity. WORLD CUP • DECOLONIZE THE MIND • JULY 2026 Two Empires, One Final: What a Filipino Sees That Spain and Argentina Can't Spain beat Argentina 1-0 to win the 2026 World Cup. But when the two teams that met in the final are a country that ruled the Philippines for 333 years and a country that erased its own Black and Indigenous people, the trophy is the least interesting thing on the field. On Sunday, July 19, 2026, at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey, Spain beat Argentina 1-0 to win the FIFA World Cup. For ninety-eight minutes, nobody scored. Then, thirty-nine seconds into the second half of extra time, substitute...
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Learn Tagalog: "Hindi Kita Malilimutan" — Basil Valdez and the Power of Never Forgetting

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Manila, Philippines • March 2026. Learn Tagalog: Hindi Kita Malilimutan — Basil Valdez and the Power of Never Forgetting. basil valdez, hindi kita malilimutan, learn tagalog, opm, filipino values, fil-am, tagalog lessons, filipino music, diaspora, remembrance, pinoy pride, language learning. LEARN FILIPINO • MARCH 2026 Learn Tagalog: "Hindi Kita Malilimutan" — Basil Valdez and the Power of Never Forgetting Master 50 Tagalog words, Filipino grammar, and the cultural depth of remembrance through the song that became the emotional anthem of the Filipino diaspora. PinoyBuilt "Learn Filipino" series — exploring the Tagalog language through OPM classics that shaped the Filipino soul. There are songs that belong to a moment, and then there are songs that belong to a people. Basil Valdez's " Hindi Kita Malilimutan " — I Will Not Forget You — is the latter. Written by a Jesuit teenager named Manoling Francisco wh...
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Mindanao Earthquake 2026: 7.8 Magnitude Kills 32, Tsunami Hits General Santos City

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Mindanao, Philippines • June 2026. Magnitude 7.8 earthquake kills dozens in General Santos City and Sarangani. Mindanao earthquake, tsunami, General Santos City, Cotabato Trench, Filipino diaspora relief, Fil-Am. Mindanao • June 2026 Mindanao Earthquake 2026: 7.8 Magnitude Kills 32, Tsunami Hits General Santos City The most powerful quake to hit the Philippines since 1990 struck southern Mindanao on June 8, killing at least 32, triggering a tsunami, and plunging Fil-Am families into a desperate silence — no power, no signal, no word from home. General Santos City — population 700,000 — sustained catastrophic structural damage when a magnitude 7.8 earthquake struck 13 km southwest of the city on the morning of June 8, 2026. | Hero image: Gemini/Imagen for PinoyBuilt It was a Monday morning, the first day of a new school year for more than three million children across Mindanao. Parents had packed bags and sent ...
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