Filipinos

Even before it had a transmitter, Pan Asia Radio had a philosophy that set it apart from other radio stations: "Let us build a bridge to preserve our culture and traditions for the next generations. . . . " The ellipsis at the end was deliberate, meant to indicate a mission that was open-ended, said Grace Calvelo-Rustia, who founded the station with her husband in late 1996. The couple, both immigrants from the Philippines, weren't out to make money or score high on the Arbitron rating system.

YOU ARE quick to print anything negative about our military but not when they do something great. When the mudslides hit the Philippines, our awesome Marines were awakened to help rescue children. They grabbed their gear and were on the way. Nothing was mentioned about this in the paper. It would have been nice to see a positive story about the brave men and women who defend us every day. Why did you overlook this positive story about our armed services? Mark Gittel, Philadelphia

Members of the National Movement for Free Election in the Philippines watch a computer screen for ballot returns. Filipinos voted last week in their first congressional elections in 15 years, but critics accused President Corazon C. Aquino of vote fraud. The administration-backed candidates won 23 of 24 Senate seats and almost all the 200 House seats.

By learning native dances from the Philippines, young American-born Filipinos connect with their heritage. The Mutya Philippine Dance Co. has another purpose - to share the islands' culture with others.

Filipino Americans gathered yesterday aboard the USS Olympia, the U.S. warship that freed the Philippines from Spanish rule, to commemorate the 92d anniversary of independence for their Pacific island nation. Standing on the deck of the Olympia, now moored at Penn's Landing, speakers urged Filipinos to continue the struggle for dignity in their adopted land. The Filipino Americans followed a parade and 100-car motorcade to their site, where the red, white and blue flag of the Philippines was raised.

It was initially scheduled as a protest against a victory that was stolen. Instead, it became the celebration of a victory that was delivered. About 50 Filipino-Americans, still flush from the dramatic change of government in their homeland this week, gathered yesterday at Independence Mall for a rally of thanksgiving. "We planned this event last week as a protest - when it looked like Marcos would deny the people their election," said Ernesto Gange, local president of the Movement for a Free Philippines, referring to former Philippine President Ferdinand E. Marcos.

"The long agony is over. We are finally free. " That was Corazon Aquino's promise as she became president of the Philippines. But it's as much a challenge as a promise - a challenge to her and to 52 million Filipinos. Undoing the effects of 20 years under Ferdinand Marcos will not be easy. Gaping wounds exist in the government, the economy and the social fabric of this island nation. Aquino must come to grips with a $25 billion national debt; a bureaucracy spawned on corruption and citizen abuse; high unemployment, and a two-tier society that pits the wishes of the very rich against the needs of the very poor.

During the year following last February's church-backed popular revolution in the Philippines that exiled President Ferdinand Marcos and swept Corazon Aquino into the presidency, euphoria has been tempered by reality. The general feeling was that "people power" had overcome military might. "Nothing can stop us now," Filipinos were saying. One year later, they are making a more sober appraisal. The "democratic space" opened up by the revolution is still there, but so are the old military and economic structures that threaten to close it off. After assessing current conditions in their parishes, a group of 22 priests recently reported, "Not much of substance has changed.

Armed Iraq insurgents threatened to kill a Filipino hostage if his country did not withdraw from Iraq, according to a video that aired yesterday. The Philippines responded hours later by ordering a halt to further deployment. In the video broadcast by Al-Jazeera television, the group claimed to have already killed an Iraqi security guard who was accompanying the Filipino, the newscaster said. The statement gave no details of his capture. A banner on the wall behind the three armed men identified the captors as a previously unknown group, the Iraqi Islamic Army-Khaled bin al-Waleed Corps.

I applaud The Inquirer's recent condemnation of President Reagan's shameful embrace of Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos (Feb. 13). Unfortunately, the same editorial reveals that you share many of Mr. Reagan's assumptions about U.S.-Philippine relations and appropriate U.S. policy. Most glaring is your statement that now may be the time when "the United States lost the Philippines. " The Philippines is not ours to lose - its people are independent and have their own language, culture and national aspirations.

DAMASCUS, Syria - Syrian rebels on Sunday released four Filipino U.N. peacekeepers they abducted last week in a dramatic incident that prompted warnings from the Philippines that the nation might pull out its contingent from the Golan Heights. Meanwhile, a Syrian official said President Bashar al-Assad's troops have the right to enter the Israeli-occupied Golan whenever they wish - a veiled threat toward Israel to stay out of Syria's conflict. Also Sunday, Damascus rejected Turkey's allegations that Syria was behind two car bombings Saturday that killed 46 people in Turkey and wounded dozens more.

LOS ANGELES - A group of Filipino nurses who said they were mocked for their accents and ordered to speak "English only" won a nearly $1 million settlement against a central California hospital where bosses and coworkers were allegedly urged to eavesdrop on the immigrant workers. The $975,000 settlement, announced Monday by lawyers from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, is believed to be the largest language-discrimination settlement in the U.S. health-care industry, according to the Asian Pacific American Legal Center.

They were barely noticed amid the boom of European immigration to Philadelphia in 1912. The 50 or so Filipino seamen, veterans of the U.S. Navy, remembered the city so fondly from their shore leaves they put down roots here. Once settled, though, they were met with discrimination. To protect themselves and preserve their Pacific island heritage, they formed the Filipino-American Association of Philadelphia. A century later, more than 20,000 Filipinos live in Southeastern Pennsylvania and South Jersey, primarily Northeast Philadelphia and Cherry Hill.

MANILA, Philippines - The Philippine military said it killed three of Southeast Asia's most wanted extremist leaders in a U.S.-backed air strike that significantly weakens an al-Qaeda-linked network that used islands in the southern Philippines as a hideout and training base. The dawn strike targeting an extremist camp on a remote island killed at least 15 people, including Malaysian Zulkifli bin Hir, also known as Marwan, a top leader of the regional Jemaah Islamiyah extremist network, said a military spokesman, Col. Marcelo Burgos.

ILIGAN, Philippines - The government shipped more than 400 coffins to two flood-stricken cities in the southern Philippines on Tuesday as the death toll neared 1,000 and President Benigno Aquino 3d declared a state of national calamity. The latest count listed 957 dead and 49 missing and is expected to climb further as additional bodies are recovered from the sea and mud in Iligan and Cagayan de Oro cities. Several morgues reported being overwhelmed and running out of coffins and formaldehyde for embalming.

MANILA, Philippines - Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, America's outspoken advocate for democracy, found out Wednesday how vibrant democracy can get in the Philippines, as students bombarded her with questions on subjects from the contents of her purse to her daughter's life. After back-to-back meetings with President Benigno Aquino III and other officials to tackle heavy issues, Clinton dropped by a town-hall-like forum with student journalists and bloggers, organized by the Philippines' GMA network.

From his apartment on the Radnor estate where he works as a butler, Hyen David is building a business based on a feeling he knows well - missing home. The Philly-Pinoy grocery store he and his wife, Rowena, operate in Bridgeport stocks snacks, foods, and beauty products from the Philippines that local Filipinos have driven from as far as central New Jersey to buy. Their Philly-Pinoy outdoor restaurant near the waterfront in Brooklyn, N.Y., serves Filipino cuisine to the cruise ship workers longing for a taste of home.

Pedro and Salvacion Servano, Filipino immigrants facing deportation for misstating their marital status on visa applications, were placed yesterday under an order of supervision that restricts their movements but allows them to stay in this country, at least temporarily. After a meeting at the office of Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Philadelphia, the Servanos were required to surrender their Philippine passports. They were told they cannot leave Pennsylvania for more than 48 hours without permission from the agency and are required to report back to the office in 60 days.

Misa de Gallo. Pabasa. Santacruzan. Sumaiyo rin. Mano Po. These words and phrases might not mean anything to most people, but they are familiar to Filipinos practicing the Catholic faith. Since our birth, my parents, who were born and raised in the Philippines, have molded my two siblings and me through Catholicism. Sunday Mass was a natural part of our schedule, even when we were babies. Holy days of obligation and various Lenten services were routine and hardly met with complaint.

These days, sushi has become mall fare, a bowl of Vietnamese pho is common winter comfort, and pad Thai has been tamed into ready-made box meals on the shelf at your local Acme. So it's a thrill to encounter an Asian culinary tradition that has yet to be reinterpreted for the American mainstream. The food of the Philippines remains one of those final underexplored frontiers, at least on the East Coast. But I'm not entirely sure why. There are plenty of Filipinos in the region, especially around Cherry Hill.