Not "Porgotten": A Filipino American History Month Hunt Through Forgotten Island

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PASO Blog • October 2026 • Filipino American History Month

Yes, we spelled it "porgotten" on purpose. Say it in your Tita's voice. Now you get it.

Two Seasons, Then Ohio

Back home, there are two seasons: hot, and hot with rain. Tag-araw and tag-ulan. That's the whole menu. So picture the OG generation's first October in Northeast Ohio. The trees, which had been behaving normally all summer, suddenly turn orange, then red, then let go of everything all at once. Somebody's Lola stood in a Parma driveway in 1972, wrapped in three cardigans and a borrowed coat, watching the leaves fall, and thought:

"Ano 'to?" What is this?

That was transformation. Not just the trees. Them. New country, new weather, new words, new everything, and somehow they kept the old things too: the rice cooker, the rosary, the stories Lola told at bedtime so you'd stay out of the trees at night.

Fall is the season of change. October is Filipino American History Month. And this year, it comes with a movie.

Beyond the Margins

This year's FAHM theme from the Filipino American National Historical Society is "Beyond the Margins: Centering Intersectional Filipino American Histories." It's a call to look past the main story and find the people history usually leaves in the background: Filipina women, Indigenous Filipinos, Moro and Muslim Filipinos, LGBTQ+ Filipinos, multiracial Filipinos, adoptees, and the undocumented. In FANHS's words, "there are some

stories and identities that often remain forgotten or overlooked."

We're taking that literally this month. Because the best stuff in Forgotten Island is in the margins too.

The Setup (No Spoilers, We Promise)

Forgotten Island is DreamWorks Animation's new film from directors Januel Mercado and Joel Crawford, in theaters since September 25. It's being called the first major Hollywood animated feature inspired by Filipino culture and mythology.

Jo (H.E.R.) and Raissa (Liza Soberano) are best friends growing up in the 1990s Philippines. Raissa is about toleave for school in America. Before the big goodbye, the two get pulled into Nakali, a mystical island full of creatures from Filipino folklore. The catch: the island

slowly eats your memories.

That's all you get from us. Go see it.

But when you do, don't just watch the story. Watch the background. The filmmakers packed this thing with Filipino details, and most of them are hiding in plain

sight.

The Forgotten Island Cultural Hunt

House rule: This hunt is a team sport. Every team needs at least two generations. A Lola and a grandkid. A Tito and a nephew. A Gen Z cousin and a Tita who still calls

the remote "the controller." The kid spots it. The elder explains it. That's how this works. That's how it's always worked.

Score one point for every item you spot. Bonus point if someone whispers "uy, look" at least once.

🛺 On the Streets

☐ A jeepney. Bonus point if you catch the "Mabuhay"

sign.

☐ Electric wires tangled overhead like a bowl of pancit

canton. If you've been to Manila, you know.

☐ Public school uniforms. Your Tita will say "that's exactly what we wore." She will be right.

🏠 At Home

☐ A religious image on the wall. Every Filipino house is legally required to have one. (Not legally. But spiritually.)

☐ Lip pointing. Someone will point with their lips instead of their finger. You will feel seen.

☐ A Lola. Jo's Lola Fatima, voiced by Dolly de Leon. Respect the Lola.

☐ Food on the table. One point for every dish you can name before the scene ends.

📿 In the Details

☐ Charm bracelets loaded with little trinkets: a nod to anik-anik, the Filipino art of collecting cute tiny things you absolutely do not need.

☐ Polaroid cameras. It's the 90s. Photos had to be shaken. It was a whole thing.

☐ The sun from the Philippine flag, eight rays and all. Watch for it in a very important place.

☐ A balisong with something special engraved on it. Look closely.

☐ A reference to sandugo, the blood compact, one of the oldest stories of loyalty in Philippine history.

🌋 On the Island

☐ A Manananggal (Lea Salonga!). The upper half flies, the lower half stays home. Like your Tita who's at this party but already mentally at the next one.

☐ A Tiyanak. Looks like a baby. Is not a baby.

☐ A Kapre (Jo Koy). Giant, lives in a tree, stares. Every family has a Tito like this in the garage.

☐ A Duwende. This is who you've been saying "tabi tabi po" to your whole life.

☐ A Batibat, the Ilocano spirit that sits on your chest while you sleep. (See also: Noche Buena spaghetti at midnight.)

☐ A were-aspin. That's Raww (Dave Franco), and yes, aspin means asong Pinoy, the beloved Filipino street dog. Finally, representation for the dogs.

☐ A glowing bird that might make you think of the Ibong Adarna or the Sarimanok.

🎧 With Your Ears

☐ Filipino artists on the soundtrack, including BINI, SB19, and Ruby Ibarra. (Grandkids, this one's yours. Explain them to Lola.)

☐ The Bamboo Organ of Las Piñas. The composer actually recorded the centuries-old organ for the score. You won't see it. Listen for it. (Lola, this one's yours. She might have heard it in person.)

🧠 Extra Credit: The Name

☐ Nakali. Say it slowly. Now say nakalimutan, "forgotten." We have a theory. You'll have one too.

Scoring

0 to 5: You were on your phone. Lola saw.

6 to 12: Solid. You know your culture, you just blinked during the jeepney.

13 to 18: Certified. You whispered "uy, look" at least four times and somebody shushed you.

19 and up: You are the Duwende now. You see everything. Please run our next history night.

The Story Grew Up

Here's the part we don't joke about.

Think about where that Manananggal started. A Lola, a dark room, a kid who wouldn't go to sleep. A warning whispered so you'd stay inside after dark. Passed down mouth to ear, generation to generation, for longer than anyone wrote anything down.

Now she's voiced by Lea Salonga, in a DreamWorks movie, with BINI and SB19 on the soundtrack, playing in a theater in Ohio.

That's not the story getting lost. That's the story evolving.

Same creature. New generation. New way to tell it.That's what culture is supposed to do. It isn't a museum piece behind glass. It's a recipe each generation adjusts a little (sorry, Tita) and still calls by the same name. It's Lola's bedtime story becoming her great-grandkid's

favorite movie. But it only works if somebody builds the bridge.

Built Like a Bridge

That's been PASO's job since 1967.

When the OG generation got here, they didn't have Nakali, or a DreamWorks budget. They had folding chairs, potlucks, and each other. So they built a place where being Filipino in Northeast Ohio didn't have to be done alone, and where their kids, and their kids' kids,

would always have somewhere to come home to.

Our tagline says it best: Bayanihan sa Ohio. Our Heritage Calls Us to Serve, Our Community Gives Us Purpose. Bayanihan is the old picture of a whole village lifting a neighbor's house onto their shoulders and carrying it together. That's still the model. Elders carry the memory. The next generation carries it forward. Nobody carries it alone.

PASO exists to be the bridge between heritage and whatever comes next, honoring our past while embracing our future. The Lola who remembers the barrio. The first-gen parent who half-remembers. The Gen Z kid who learned "Pantropiko" before "Bayan Ko." And the Gen Alpha toddler who just watched a Kapre on the big screen and is about to ask, "Is that real?" Somebody needs to be there to answer. That's us. That's you.

October is a reminder of how far back that story goes. Filipino sailors came ashore at Morro Bay, California onOctober 18, 1587, which is why FAHM falls this month. Then came the Manongs who worked the fields. Larry Itliong and Philip Vera Cruz, who led Filipino farmworkers out of the Delano grape fields in 1965. The nurses who staffed Ohio's hospitals on night shifts. And this year's theme asks us to go further, to the stories even our own community left in the margins. The trees let go every fall. That doesn't mean we have to.

Your October Assignment

1. See the movie. Bring two generations. It opened as the biggest DreamWorks Animation debut ever in the Philippines. Here in the U.S., Hollywood decides which stories get told next by counting tickets. Let's make ours count, and let's fill the row with Lolas and grandkids.

2. Ask one question on the ride home. "What creature were you warned about when you were little?" Then bequiet and let her talk. Record it if she'll let you. That's Filipino American history. That's literally the assignment.

3. Come home to PASO. [EVENT DETAILS: October PASO programming, FAHM events, Line Dancing (Mondays, 7 PM) and Mahjong Club (Thursdays, 6 PM) at the Philippine American Cultural & Civic Center in Parma.

4. Post your score. Tell us in the comments how many you got, and who was on your team. Honor system. Lola is watching. The island is forgotten. We are not "porgotten."

Tara na. Let's go.

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BONUS: Which Ran Your Childhood?