IN MY column marking the second anniversary of Only IN Hollywood “Constantly fishing for the Filipino connection” posted on April 9 at INQUIRER.net, I used the term “FC” for the first time.

FC, short for Filipino connection, is a tongue-in-cheek term that I came up with to call a comment or reply from a Hollywood celeb, a line from a movie, TV show, stage play, musical or anything that has to do with the Philippines that I can play up in my writing.

The readers’ response to my FC anecdotes was heartwarming. These encounters involved recent Oscar winners Helen Mirren (her late brother lived and loved in the Philippines) and Forest Whitaker (in the country for a film shoot, he stayed in a house in Balic-Balic, Manila when the 1986 People Power Revolution broke out), Robin Williams (married to a Fil-Am, he cracked me up with his balut anecdotes), and director Oliver Stone (filmed award-winning movies in Ilocos Norte, Cavite, Laguna and other Philippine provinces).

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FILIPINO communities in various parts of the world, especially in the US, love to give awards to each other in addition to staging dinner dances that also feature the search for Miss Mankitkitao of Los Angeles or Mrs. Mabalahibo of San Francisco.

We are guilty of these maladies, “beauty pageant-it is” and “award-itis.” On virtually any weekend, a Filipino community somewhere in America is honoring, for example, the most outstanding Filipino-American water filter salesman of the year or Mr. Door-to-Door Cargo.

I have attended an event where folks gave each other awards. These people basically took turns standing up and presenting each other with a plaque until everyone had one. I did not know whether to laugh or to cry about the absurdity of the situation.

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WELCOME! It took a long time for this blog to finally hit cyberspace. Some of you might be familiar with my column, “Only IN Hollywood,” which is printed every Friday and Sunday on the Philippine Daily Inquirer and posted online at www.inquirer.net.Let me begin by asking, “Are you a closet Filipino?”

In my years of wandering as a promdi in Hollywood, I have come across some folks who hide their Filipino heritage. These personalities say that they’re a mixture of Spanish (or to be more vague, “European”), Chinese and Malay, the standard racial make-up of most Filipinos. Some even claim that they are of Polynesian heritage. Basta anything but Filipino.

Why do these Filipinos or hyphenated Filipinos conceal their Pinoy identity? Most are performers — actors, actresses and singers — who want to appeal to as broad a market or audience as possible. Or they like to be ambiguous in their race identity so they will not be pigeonholed into Filipino or Asian roles only.

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