I think some people thought I missed it, but I didn’t. I just get lazy and I post when I want, you know?

But before I go on, I don’t know Elita Loresca. Yes, she also went to Cal State Fullerton (but graduated in 2000, before I got there) and yes, she’s Filipino — but I didn’t know a thing about her before seeing her in the famous FHM spread.

I scanned through the article quickly, looking for whether they focused on the folks from my station — Johnny Mountain (called the Santa Claus of L.A. weather), Josh Rubenstein (so cool!), Jackie Johnson (so nice!) — but the writer didn’t really seem to talk to my guys. Go figure. I have a feeling the writer pitched the story with just Elita in mind.

Anyway, her portion of the article blew me away. You see, “taba” means fat in Tagalog. So even though she’s on TV, even though she’s done a spread in FHM, her relatives are still going to come at her the way all Filipino relatives seem to come at young Filipino women — with whether they’re fat or not. Awesome.

Yet at the family baby shower she went to this weekend, the prevailing comment was, “Oh my gosh, you look so skinny in person. On TV you are so taba,” which means “fat” in Tagalog.

“I was blessed with a full moon,” she countered with a happy sigh. “A little round face. You have to love what the Lord gave you. If I look 10 pounds heavier on television than I do in person, so be it.”

“But why you diet?” said the aunts, imploring her, in that Filipino way of saying hello, to eat, eat.

“Thank you,” said Loresca, yielding to yet another photo with the relatives, who love to take pictures. “But I can only have one fried chicken, not 10.”

Good to know that with all the problems with society today, older Filipino relatives are still concerned with young womens’ chub.

Photo by Mayra Beltran

Sixty years later, is it too late to pay back someone who risked life and limb for you? I don’t think it is.

The Senate has finally approved a measure to expand benefits to Filipino veterans who fought either with the U.S. or under U.S. command during World War II. Hopefully the House will make a decision on this bill before the end of the year. However, there is of course contention over the bill, from Republicans:

Republican opposition to creating a new pension benefit had blocked action on the Filipino provision until Thursday’s vote. But debate over the measure, part of a larger bill to expand or extend benefits to all veterans, split along a generational divide, with WWII veterans from both parties backing the bill.

“I see this as a matter of honor,” said Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska), who noted that there were only five WWII vets left in the Senate. “I know some of my younger colleagues might see this as expensive. About 1 million Filipinos were killed in defense of our country. This bill restores their benefits . . . how long can that last? I appeal to the Senate.”

A Republican senator wants to redirect the funding from the FilVets to younger U.S. vets. That’s all well and good, but not a great example to show the world when you’re trying to get them to fight on your side in any given conflict. Not only that, these FilVets are all in their 80s and 90s, living in poverty conditions throughout California. They really need this help.

The Iraq war is most presently on our minds, yes. But if you try to make things history and not learn from those mistakes, you’re doomed to repeat it.

I have a passion for this issue after a story my friend Mayra and I did in college. Check it out here.

The Filipino Channel has an interesting election going on. They want to know who is Balitang America’s Newsmaker of the Year.

Balitang America, if you don’t know, is a Filipino English-language newspaper. So, technically, the name of the newspaper is America News. Anyway, they have 15 candidates, some of whom are not known to most American bloggers. Here’s the list: Continue reading →