PinoyBuilt — Stories of Filipino America

USA • September 2026. The Miseducation of the Filipino: Why Renato Constantino's Essay Still Speaks to Every Fil-Am. renato constantino, miseducation of the filipino, filipino american history month, fahm 2026, colonial mentality, decolonization, thomasites, american colonial education philippines, english medium of instruction, philippine history, fil-am identity, tagalog, 9/30. Decolonization • FAHM 2026 The Miseducation of the Filipino: Why Renato Constantino's Essay Still Speaks to Every Fil-Am Written in 1959 and printed in 1966, Constantino's essay argued that American colonial schools were built to win Filipino minds, not free them. As Filipino American History Month begins, it is the reading list's first assignment. PinoyBuilt illustration — a primer, a ship, and the thread between them. Not an archival photograph. On June 8, 1966, the Weekly Graphic in Manila printed an essay that its author had written seven yea...

Vallejo, CA • August 2026. The Cable Was Cut: What Manila Didn't Know on August 16, 1898. 8/16 1898, peace protocol manila, mock battle of manila, emilio aguinaldo locked out, wesley merritt, george dewey, fermin jaudenes, spanish american war philippines, philippine-american war origins, american annexation philippines, treaty of paris 1898, rizal act ra 1425, claro m recto, board of national education, filipino american history, decolonization, 8/16 Manila • August 1898 The Cable Was Cut: What Manila Didn't Know on August 16, 1898 Four days after the empires made peace in Washington, the news finally reached a city that had already changed hands — in a battle arranged in advance to keep Filipino soldiers outside the walls. The locked gate, August 1898. PinoyBuilt illustration over period documents — for four days, the men on both sides of that wall fought a war that had already ended. There is a particular kind of cruelty in be...

Manila, Philippines • August 1898. On This Day: The Mock Battle of Manila — how a staged surrender ended 330 years of Spanish rule, locked Filipino revolutionaries out of their own capital, and what that colonial playbook still looks like in the world powers of 2026. mock battle of manila, spanish-american war, philippine-american war, decolonization, fil-am history, emilio aguinaldo, fermin jaudenes. ON THIS DAY • AUGUST 13, 1898 The Mock Battle of Manila: How a Staged Surrender Ended 330 Years of Spanish Rule — and Locked Filipinos Out of Their Own Capital On this date in 1898, American and Spanish commanders scripted a fake battle so Spain could surrender Manila without dishonor. The one detail they didn't script was Filipino participation — and that exclusion still echoes in how world powers negotiate over smaller nations today. Intramuros, the walled heart of Spanish Manila — the prize both empires quietly agreed to trade without asking the F...

Vallejo, CA • August 2026. "Filipino" Wasn't Ours: How We Took the Word — and Why Some Want to Trade It for Maharlika. origin of the word filipino, indio meaning, insulares, luis rodriguez varela el conde filipino, las islas filipinas 1543 villalobos, maharlika meaning, merdeka maharddhika, william henry scott barangay, haring bayang katagalugan, andres bonifacio, los indios bravos, rename the philippines maharlika, parliamentary bill 195 eddie ilarde, decolonize the mind, filipino american history. DECOLONIZE THE MIND • AUGUST 2026 "Filipino" Wasn't Ours: How We Took the Word — and Why Some Want to Trade It for Maharlika Yesterday I published a glossary of the words the empire used on us. One word was missing. For most of three centuries, Filipino meant somebody else — and the story of how it changed hands is the best thing our ancestors ever did. The name arrived on a chart before it ...