PinoyBuilt — Stories of Filipino America

Philippines • October 2026. Indigenous Peoples' Day Is Also About the Philippines. Philippine Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Peoples' Day 10/12, Columbus Day, Republic Act 8371, IPRA, National Indigenous Peoples Month, Kalinga, Chico River dam, bodong, Cordillera, 1904 St. Louis World's Fair, Igorot, Hanunoo Mangyan script, ancestral domain, Filipino American, decolonization. Indigenous Peoples' Day • October 2026 Indigenous Peoples' Day Is Also About the Philippines On 10/12, the United States argues over Columbus Day. In the Philippines, October is National Indigenous Peoples Month, and the Kalinga, the Hanunoo Mangyan and other peoples have a record every Filipino should know. PinoyBuilt illustration: a crowd in silhouette stands on a riverbank where a gold river runs through a red dam. It pictures the Chico River story at the heart of this piece, in which Kalinga communities outlasted a state dam program and the river stayed a riv...

Ligao, Albay • October 2026. Valeriana Presenta, Baptized in Ligao in 1891: Lola Inay Was 17 When Lolo Marciano Was Born. valeriana presenta, lola inay, ligao baptism 1891, albay genealogy, bicol ancestors, perseveranda family history, familysearch baptismal record, 12/14, 12/19, filipino genealogy, ninuno. Ligao, Albay • October 2026 Valeriana Presenta, Baptized in Ligao in 1891: Lola Inay Was 17 When Lolo Marciano Was Born A baptismal entry from Ligao, Albay dated 12/19/1891 gives Lola Inay a birth year at last, and shows she was far younger than the family guessed when Lolo Marciano was born. Valeriana Presenta's entry in the Ligao baptismal register, 12/19/1891: five days old, daughter of Mariano Presenta and Andrea Rolda. The record that gives Lola Inay a birth year and rewrites the family timeline. On Tuesday, Tito Nelson messaged me in our OG group chat: Tito Nelson: You have a birth year for lola Inay Jo? Me: Not yet...

Caloocan, Philippines • August 1896. August 24, 1896: The Day the Katipunan Became a Nation — and Andrés Bonifacio Became Its First President. katipunan government 1896, haring bayang katagalugan, andres bonifacio first president, philippine revolution august 1896, katipunan flag three k's, philippine history. Caloocan, Philippines • August 1896 August 24, 1896: The Day the Katipunan Became a Nation — and Andrés Bonifacio Became Its First President Days after Filipinos tore their cedulas at Pugad Lawin, the Katipunan reorganized itself into a sovereign government — the Haring Bayang Katagalugan — and elected Andrés Bonifacio its first president. Most textbooks start the story with Aguinaldo. This is the week before that. PinoyBuilt illustration. The Katipunan's flag — a red field bearing three white K's — flew over the government Bonifacio organized in Caloocan, August 24, 1896. I was nine years old in Marikina, in the second...

Philippines/USA • August 1898. On This Day: The U.S. Military Government That Began Without Filipino Consent. wesley merritt, mock battle of manila, philippine-american war, spanish-american war, us nationals, fil-am history, decolonization. On This Day • August 1898 August 14, 1898: The U.S. Military Government That Began Without Filipino Consent One day after a staged battle shut Filipino revolutionary forces out of their own capital, Major General Wesley Merritt declared a U.S. Military Government over the Philippines — the hinge point where American "liberation" became American colonization. Manila, August 1898 — the week the Philippines changed colonizers without ever being asked. I left the Philippines in 1976, but I didn't leave with a blank slate. I grew up in Marikina reading Rizal and Bonifacio off my titas/titos' bookshelf in #34. So when I sit with a date like August 14, 1898, I don't read it as a paragraph in ...