Home

Home • 2026. PinoyBuilt — Stories of Filipino America. An independent Filipino-American publication and permanent archive of the diaspora. fil-am, filipino, filipino american, diaspora, pinoy, pinay, philippines, culture, history, decolonization, learn filipino, photo essays, kalusugan, uc admissions, alex eala, community.
Since 2011

PinoyBuilt

Stories of Filipino America. Culture, diaspora, history, and identity — from the community, for the community.

An independent, founder-led Filipino-American publication and a permanent archive of the diaspora. We publish today's stories and keep the ones that came before us.

Ngayon · Now

Latest from PinoyBuilt

Every new story lands here automatically — the newest work first, whatever lane it comes from.

Loading the newest posts.

Browse the full archive →
Ang Arkibo · The Archive

Our primary format. Weddings, reunions, protests, fiestas, and ordinary Tuesdays — Filipino American life told frame by frame, and kept.

Photo Essays

Documentary photography from the diaspora and the homeland, published as dated, permanent entries in the archive.

Open the photo essay archive →

More photo essays →
Ugat · Roots

Where we come from, what was taken, and what we still carry. This is the spine everything else on the site leans against.

Decolonization

Reclaiming pre-colonial identity, language, and history — the throughline of everything PinoyBuilt publishes.

Featured

"Filipino" Wasn't Ours: How We Took the Word — and Why Some Want to Trade It for Maharlika

The name we answer to was invented for a Spanish king. What we did with it, and what it would mean to put it down.
More decolonization coverage →

History

Pre-colonial Philippines, the Philippine-American War, the manong generation, and the labor history that built two countries.

Open the history archive →

More history →

Learn Filipino

Word studies built on OPM, regional languages, and grammar — for Fil-Ams reconnecting with the language of their lolo and lola. Language is identity.

More Learn Filipino →
Kapwa · Community

The people and the places. Who is holding the diaspora up, and where in America we actually live.

Community Profiles

Organizers, veterans, artists, nurses, and neighbors — the people and organizations holding up Filipino America.

Open the community archive →

More community coverage →

Explore by Region

Filipino America, place by place. Each guide is a standing pillar page, not a news post.

Filipino Americans in USA

An estimated 4.6 million residents of Filipino descent — the third-largest Asian American group and the largest population of overseas Filipinos anywhere in the world.

Filipino Americans in California

1.7 million residents of Filipino descent — more than any other state, and more than any country outside the Philippines and the U.S. itself.

Filipino Americans in Hawaii

125,000 Sakadas built this state — from the SS Doric to the Hanapepe Massacre to the ILWU to Bruno Mars.

Filipino Americans in Texas

232,000 Filipino Americans and growing fast — now the third-largest home for Filipinos in the United States.

Population figures are sourced and dated on each regional guide.

Buhay · Life

The practical lane: our health, our kids' schools, our papers. What Filipino American families actually need on a Tuesday.

UC & U.S. Admissions

Campus-by-campus guides for Fil-Am families navigating the UC system — application counts, deadlines, and the Filipino student organizations waiting on the other side.

More admissions coverage →

Kalusugan

Health through a Filipino American lens — diabetes, hypertension, kidney disease, sleep apnea, and the conditions that hit our families hardest.

Series pillar

When the Bato Breaks: Diabetic Kidney Disease and the Filipino-American Silent Crisis

The first piece in the Kalusugan series — diabetes, blood pressure, and the kidney disease that follows them through Filipino American families.
Series in progress Kalusugan is a deliberately slow lane — each piece is reported and sourced before it publishes rather than posted on a schedule. Sleep apnea is next.
More Kalusugan →

Immigration & OFW

Policy and lived reality for OFWs, balikbayans, petitioners, and the families waiting on both ends of a case number.

Open the immigration archive →

More immigration coverage →
Kultura · Culture & Sport

Global Filipino excellence — on the charts, on the screen, and on the court.

Entertainment & Culture

BINI, H.E.R., Bruno Mars, OPM, Philippine mythology on screen, and what it means when the world finally looks.

Open the culture archive →

More entertainment & culture →

Tennis

Alex Eala's tour arc and the Filipina athletes following her — every match, every ranking, every round.

Open the tennis archive →

More tennis coverage →
Sino Kami · Who Built This
J.F.R. Perseveranda, founder of PinoyBuilt
Founder · Publisher · Editor-in-Chief

J.F.R. Perseveranda

J.F. (Jonjo) left the Philippines at age nine, spending a lifetime bridging the gap between his Marikina roots and his Chicago and Vallejo upbringing. A proud Hogan Spartan from East Vallejo, he founded PinoyBuilt not just as a digital archive, but as a cultural compass for his three children to navigate their heritage, language, and identity with Pinoy pride.

Read the full story: About PinoyBuilt →
Join the PinoyBuilt community: Facebook Instagram X TikTok Community Talk Shop

Recently Published

Browse the full archive →

4.6 million Filipinos in the U.S. One platform telling our stories. Salamat, kababayan.

Popular posts from this blog

Alex Eala Wins in Toronto, Where 280,000 Kababayan Were Waiting

Image
Toronto, Ontario • August 2026. Alex Eala Wins in Toronto, Where 280,000 Kababayan Were Waiting. Alex Eala, National Bank Open, Canadian Open 2026, Alycia Parks, WTA rankings, Venus Williams doubles, Filipino Canadians, Mississauga, Greater Toronto Area, Sobeys Stadium, Filipino diaspora, Fil-Am tennis, Vallejo, Hogan High School. Toronto, Ontario • August 2026 Alex Eala Wins in Toronto, Where 280,000 Kababayan Were Waiting The first Filipina in the world's top 20 beat Alycia Parks 6-1, 4-6, 6-2 before a flag-waving crowd at Sobeys Stadium. Fifty years ago my family slept one night in Mississauga — and only my father still remembers it. Alex Eala advanced to the third round of the National Bank Open in Toronto on August 5, 2026, two days after winning her first WTA Tour title in Washington DC. We watched Alex Eala beat Alycia Parks at my sister Joy's house — I don't get the Tennis Channel — my pare...
Read more

California's Filipino Power Map: Where 1.7 Million Filipinos Live, Work, and Build Community

Image
California • March 2026. California's Filipino Power Map: Where 1.7 Million Filipinos Live, Work, and Build Community. filipino americans california, fil-am california, filipinos in california, daly city filipinos, vallejo filipinos, los angeles filipinos, san diego filipinos, bay area filipinos, california filipino population, philippine diaspora california. CALIFORNIA • MARCH 2026 California's Filipino Power Map: Where 1.7 Million Filipinos Live, Work, and Build Community From Historic Filipinotown in LA to the Navy-rooted streets of Vallejo — this is the definitive breakdown of where Filipino America lives, and why California is the center of the diaspora story. If you want to understand Filipino America, you start with California. Roughly 1.7 million Filipinos live in the state — about 38% of the entire U.S. Filipino population . That's not just a statistic. It's a living, breathing network of familie...
Read more

Learn Filipino: How Cup of Joe's Record-Shattering 'MULTO' Teaches Us Pagharap — The Courage to Face What Haunts Us

Image
Philippines • March 2026. Learn Filipino Through Cup of Joe's Record-Breaking Hit "MULTO" — Tagalog Vocabulary, Grammar & the Value of Pagharap. learn tagalog, cup of joe multo, opm, filipino language, tagalog vocabulary, fil-am, filipino american, pagharap, grief, silakbo, baguio, billboard philippines. Learn Filipino • March 2026 Learn Filipino: How Cup of Joe's Record-Shattering 'MULTO' Teaches Us Pagharap — The Courage to Face What Haunts Us The most-streamed OPM song in history isn't just a love song — it's a Tagalog masterclass in grief, release, and the Filipino courage to confront what we've buried. 50+ words. One grammar lesson. One song that changed everything. Learn Filipino through Cup of Joe's record-shattering hit "MULTO" — the most-streamed OPM song of all time. (PinoyBuilt) There are songs you hear. And then there are songs that fol...
Read more

Kapamilya vs. Ohana: Why Fil-Ams Are Trading Tagalog for Hawaiian

Image
Hawaii • April 2026. Kapamilya vs. Ohana: Why Fil-Ams Are Trading Tagalog for Hawaiian. sakada, ohana, kapamilya, filipino diaspora, ilocano hawaii, fil-am identity, kinship, tagalog language, philippine history. CULTURE & IDENTITY • APRIL 2026 Kapamilya vs. Ohana: Why Fil-Ams Are Trading Tagalog for Hawaiian More than 118 years after the first Sakadas landed in Honolulu, Filipino Americans are borrowing a Hawaiian word to describe their most Filipino value. What does that say about who we are — and what we may have forgotten? The Filipino bond with Hawaii stretches back to 1906, when the first Sakada laborers arrived on sugarcane plantations that would define the islands' modern identity. | PinoyBuilt In July 1985, at the age of eighteen, I bought my first "Filipino Strength" T-shirt at the Aloha Stadium swap meet in Honolulu. I was on my first trip to Hawaii — wide-eyed, proud, and not yet aware that those two words a...
Read more

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

Image
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...
Read more

I Think I Survived That One”: Alex Eala Limped Into the Toronto Round of 16

Image
Toronto, Ontario • August 2026. “I Think I Survived That One”: Alex Eala Limped Into the Toronto Round of 16. alex eala caty mcnally, alex eala ankle injury, national bank open 2026, canadian open toronto, alex eala belinda bencic, alex eala bencic what time, alex eala next match august 9 2026, alex eala mcnally highlights, bencic townsend highlights, wta 1000 toronto, alex eala wta ranking, caty mcnally elbow surgery, sobeys stadium, filipino tennis, leylah fernandez semifinal, wta prize money toronto. Toronto, Ontario • August 2026 “I Think I Survived That One”: Alex Eala Limped Into the Toronto Round of 16 She rolled her right ankle in the second set, served for the match and lost it, then broke immediately in the third and never let go. Eala beat Caty McNally 6-3, 5-7, 6-4 — her seventh straight win, and the first one that looked like it cost her something. Alex Eala hugs Caty McNally on Centre Court after their 3-set battle in Sobeys Stadium,...
Read more

Hiraya Manawari: The Ancient Filipino Phrase That Became a Generation's Battle Cry

Image
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 ...
Read more