VIA Times Filipino American Lifestyle and Culture in the Greater Chicago Area

ALLEN CAVILES Chief Executive Officer, PayMaple LLC Excellence in Entrepreneurship/Philanthropy Allen Caviles was born in Iloilo, Philippines, and immigrated to the U.S. in 1973 at the age of nine. He is one of nine children born to the late Dr. Alfredo ...

SGT. RONALD BONGAT Most Outstanding Asian American in Police Empowerment An offspring of First-generation immigrant parents from the Philippines (Romeo and Cyril Bongat, deceased), Ronald Bongat grew up in the west side of Chicago. After graduating high school from Lane ...

Dr. Marjerie Badilla is back in practice after a brief retirement. She has over 30 years of experience in both the civilian & military services. While in the Armed Forces, she was the chief of Acute Minor Clinic OP of ...

Christine Abuel Pompa is Senior Patent Counsel at The Kraft Heinz Company. She is responsible for developing and managing the strategy for the company’s global patent portfolio. She is also heavily involved in the company’s technology transactions and supply-chain agreements. ...

Philippine-born, award-winning author Maria Victoria A. Grageda-Smith writes poetry, fiction, and non-fiction, following an earlier law practice career in Manila distinguished not only by the prestige of the law firm (Sycip, Salazar, Hernandez & Gatmaitan) and company (San Miguel Corporation) ...

Dr. Nunilo Ignacio Rubio, Jr. (or Jun Jun as he was affectionately called) was born to Drs. Nunilo and Elenita Rubio in 1971 at the start of their new life together in the United States doing their residency at Hines ...

Patrick Joseph “Pat” Quinn, Jr., is the 41st Governor of Illinois who served from 2009-2015. As a member of the Democratic Party, his political career started as an activist and founder of the Coalition for Political Honesty. In the 2002 ...

Merly served as the Interim President of the Philippine Nurses Association of Illinois – in 2010-2011 during the Historical Dispute of the two PNAIs in Illinois that they finally won over in court in 2011. She served in the Board ...

Raja Krishnamoorthi, 42, has a unique understanding of the challenges facing the U.S. economy and their implications for families and future workers. With successful experience in both the public and private sectors, he will go to Congress with clear ideas ...

Christine Cadlaon Cabiltes, soprano, was born in Manila, but grew up in Cebu City. She comes from a musically-inclined family. Her mother, Elizabeth Lucero Cadlaon {a graduate of the Conservatory of Music from the University of the Philippines Diliman) is ...