Goodbye 2025, Good Morning 2026!
Alfredo G. Evangelista | Assistant Editor | Photos courtesy Alfredo G Evangelista
As we bid goodbye to 2025, we anticipate the new year with hope for peace, health and prosperity.
For many of us, 2025 was filled with both highlights and challenges. Sadly, we woke up to news of deaths on O‘ahu due to fireworks. And from January 7 through January 31, fires ravaged Southern California—the two largest fires were in the Pacific Palisades area and the Altadena vicinity.
In 2025, everyone’s lives intertwined with the news of the day. Mine surely did.
In early January 2025, my wife Bessy and I traveled to the Washington DC area to visit the newest grandchild in the Evangelista ‘ohana. My son Christian and my daughter-in-law Carolyn named their second daughter after my Mom—Catalina, who passed in July 2024. The young Catalina was born in November 2024 and we couldn’t travel to the East Coast until early January (and we celebrated Bessy’s birthday that week). It was cold and it even snowed in the DC area. On the day of our arrival, I almost slipped on the icy sidewalk.
The inauguration of Donald Trump (which would be moved indoors due to the weather) was a week away; we didn’t run into any unusual situations except at the Portland airport where airport security checked each person’s ID at the gate before boarding the flight to DC (Dulles airport not the Reagan airport where a tragic airplane crash would occur in late January). (For a full text of President Trump’s inauguration address, see the January 2025 issue of the Fil-Am Voice.)
During our trip, we found time to worship at the Washington National Cathedral.
On the day after President Trump’s Inauguration, the National Cathedral hosted A Service of Prayer for the Nation. President Trump, Vice President Vance, their families and other dignitaries attended. In her sermon, The Right Reverend Mariann Edgar Budde, Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Washington exhorted President Trump to have mercy. (“In the name of our God, I ask you to have mercy upon the people in our country who are scared now.”) President Trump would later demand an apology from Bishop Budde, claiming the service was “nasty.”
During this January trip, we flew for the very first time on Alaska Airlines, which was undergoing a merger with Hawaiian Airlines. Initially, it was a way different experience which concerned me. To start, when we checked in at Kahului, for some reason our TSA pre-check status did not transfer over. We didn’t want to go back to the check-in counter so we braved the non-TSA pre-check line and had to remove our shoes, etc. It’s a good thing my socks didn’t have any holes.
I had tried to synchronize my Hawaiian Miles program with the Alaska program but it wasn’t working and even when I called, they said it would take some time because it had to be manually inputted. So at that time, we didn’t get priority boarding and had to pay for our excess baggage. Also, the airplanes Alaska uses to fly to the West Coast seats three persons together (instead of the two, four, two configuration of Hawaiian Airlines). Bessy normally gets the window and I would get the aisle next to her but because there were three seats, I was stuck in the middle and yes, a rather large, obtuse, young male sat right next to me, squeezing me in.
At some point, I needed to use the bathroom but the guy next to me was crunched forward, sleeping and wouldn’t budge; I kept saying, excuse me, I have to use the bathroom but it was difficult. He finally woke up and instead of him standing up, I practically had to climb over him. Auwe! Now, we take the aisle seat and middle seat so we don’t have to climb over anyone to use the bathroom aka CR or comfort room. While we were waiting at the Portland gate, I tried synchronizing our mileage accounts and voilà! it worked and we boarded early.
Later in the year, the merger/acquisition became official. While some of my friends have expressed disappointment and confusion, I’ve found out some positive stuff. For example, when you travel on earned miles, you now get status points on Atmos—the new mileage program for Hawaiian+Alaska. Hawaiian never gave you that.
Also, if you’re upgraded on Alaska, your traveling companion also gets upgraded; not so if you’re traveling on Hawaiian. And if I get free bags on Alaska, my traveling companions (up to a certain number) get free bags also! Wow, can you imagine if Alaska flew to the Philippines—I could bring a whole bunch of balikbayan boxes. But wait, even though Alaska does not travel to the Philippines, you can book your flight through Alaska Airlines and earn Atmos points—but still fly on Philippine Airlines, which is a partner with Alaska.
Reading to my granddaughters.
For the infrequent traveler to the Philippines, it makes sense as it takes a lot of flights to the Philippines to get the full benefit of Mabuhay miles. I’m still not happy how sometimes it takes a long time to get connected to Alaska through the phone (it takes longer if you have a question on your Atmos account) but my contact at Alaska tells me they’re working on it. And yes, the food on Alaska Airlines does not compare with the food on Hawaiian Airlines. But I am generally pleased with the merger and really happy I did not lose my Hawaiian miles during the merger–which happened to me when Aloha Airlines filed bankruptcy. (For more questions and answers on the merger, see the September 2025 issue of the Fil-Am Voice.)
California. In November, Bessy and I returned to the DC area to celebrate my granddaughters’ birthdays (both were born in November—a week apart). We first celebrated Cora’s third birthday and then celebrated Catalina’s first birthday. Bessy was in awe with the changing season; she brought back some oak leaves to share with her grandson Lucas. It was cold again! But it was important to me to spend some time with my granddaughters who I hardly see. (Bessy gets to see her two grandsons almost every day.) During this time of travel, the government was shut down. We were afraid flights would be delayed or canceled; I figured if our flight was canceled, we would be stranded because our priority for re-booking would be at the bottom due to our flying on miles. But the only delay was about half an hour in Portland. The TSA personnel were tired and you could sense their frustration and anxiety about not getting paid but still having obligations for food, shelter and transportation. My daughter in law was deemed an essential worker so she had to work for free although when the government was re-opened, she got her back pay.
The trip was also a vacation gift for Bessy. After forty years of working for the same company—Maui Chemical and Paper Products/TJ’s Warehouse—she retired on October 31. With retirement, you have to deal with issues of social security, Medicare and supplemental health insurance. Yes, in case you haven’t figured it out, Medicare does NOT cover everything! And social security is never enough. The cost of health care and prescription drugs is astronomical. (I take a number of pills each day for a variety of medical conditions—high blood pressure, heart etc. and I am always visiting my eye doctor (my high school classmate Dr. David Anzai at Aloha Eye Clinic), my dentist (fellow Maui High School and USC alum Jonathan Lum), my primary care physician (Dr. Nolan Arruda, another fellow Maui High School and USC alum), as well as specialists for dermatology (USC alum Dr. Micki Ly) and urology (I think Dr. Carlsen’s uncle is a USC alum), so having a good medical plan and insurance is important to me. (During the government shutdown, the Democrats said they were fighting for Obamacare.)
The second half of the November trip was to attend my 45th class reunion for the University of Southern California. This year’s Homecoming week featured the reunion classes for 1980 (my year), 1975 (the 50th year) and a whole bunch of younger classes (they celebrate on a five-year basis). Our class’ 40th year reunion was during the pandemic. Initially, Pac-12 canceled football but after a few weeks, reinstated the games without allowing anyone to attend the games. The reunions were held online (give your classmate a hug via Zoom! Yeah, right.) And I refused to attend the zoom reunions. But this time I went; I hardly saw anyone I remembered from my class but met with some of the other reunion committee members.
And yes, we attended the USC-Iowa homecoming game in the rain! We stood up the whole game and USC had a thrilling come-from-behind victory thanks to the heroics of Hawai‘i-born Jayden Maiva, USC’s star quarterback. Fight on! (The Dinengdeng & Pinakbet column authored by Gil Keith-Agaran in October 2025—and reprinted in November 2025—highlighted class reunions.)
Speaking of sports, it’s been a great—and not so great year in sports. Each year, I travel to the Ninth Island to place a bet on USC, the Raiders, the Bengals (for Gil), and the Seahawks (for Bessy) to win it all. Sadly, USC lost early so they never made it to the College Football Playoffs. The Raiders—even with a rested Pete Carroll as their new coach—failed miserably. (I never liked Geno Smith when he was a quarterback in Seattle. When we saw the Raiders go against the Cowboys on Monday Night at Allegiant Stadium, Geno was so bad the Cowboys thought they would end up in the Super Bowl!) Likewise, the Bengals were out once their quarterback smoking Joe Burrow got hurt again. (Geez, it all starts with protecting (and rushing) the quarterback.) Surprisingly, the Seattle Seahawks (Sea—-Hawks!) are still in the running. We saw them lose by only two points at Sofi Stadium to the Los Angeles Rams. Only two points despite four interceptions by the newly acquired quarterback Sam Darnold (and yes, he’s a USC alum that we saw play against Notre Dame before he turned pro.) When we returned home in November, I joked with Bessy that we would travel to Seattle in early December to watch the rematch—and we did! That overtime game was a thriller, with Seattle erasing a 16-point deficit in the fourth quarter!
But the greatest thrill of all was the Dodgers repeating as World Champs! Seven games including an eighteen-inning game! When we traveled to LA in November, I just had to get me an Ohtani jersey (I already have a Fernando Valenzuela jersey who pitched when I was attending law school in LA during the early 1980s.) The sad and crazy thing, however, was I did not place a bet on the Dodgers. Hmmmm. I must place a bet for a three-peat. I also didn’t place a bet on my beloved Lakers so maybe they’ll be champs this year. Not too late to jinx them and place a bet on them. Before I forget, I will say that the transfer portal, the NIL (name, image, likeness) payments and other stuff have destroyed college football. Of course, there will always be politics in sports.
Politics continued to take center stage this year. In the motherland, it’s been super crazy. Former president Rodrigo Duterte was allowed to be brought to The Hague to face charges relating to extrajudicial killings as part of Duterte’s drug war. Actually, “allowed” is too soft a word as the Marcos administration transported Duterte to The Hague. This led to a split in the Marcos family between President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos, Jr. and his sister, Senator Imee Marcos. The split was so severe Imee broke away from Bongbong’s party list for the mid-term elections and Imee sided with the Duterte’s. Imee was re-elected, however, but she was in the lower tier. (The April 2025 issue covers the Imee-Bongbong split). Recently, after all the chaos of corruption, Imee has publicly accused Bongbong and the First Lady of being drug addicts. Whew!
And we thought American politics was bad with the current Republicans vs. Democrats situation. President Trump decided to rule via Executive Orders, with many challenging established principles such as citizenship by birth. Diversity, Equity and Inclusion became a hot topic (see the March 2025 issue) throughout the country while the threat of tariffs was constant (see the February 2025 issue) as well as ICE raids (see the Editorials in the May 2025 and July 2025 issues). And despite Trump’s claim he would end it, the war in Ukraine continues. Recently, the Epstein files has become a hot issue for President Trump and the Republicans. The Democrats, perhaps with Hawai‘i’s Senator Brian Schatz leading them in the future (see the May 2025 issue), continue to fence with President Trump, with the Democrats hoping the 2026 mid-term elections will restore Democratic party majorities in the Senate and/or House.
In local politics, the death of Councilmember Tasha Kama in late October (see the November 2025 issue) brought the Council to a standstill with a 4-4 split between the more conservative contingent (Lee, Yukimura, Cook and U‘u-Hodgins) and the Pono block (Paltin, Sinenci, Johnson and Rawlins-Fernandez). Despite this split, the Council passed the controversial Bill 9 (see the Editorial in the August 2025 issue) which would phase out the TVR (transient vacation rentals) on the Minatoya list. (My friend, the late Richard Minatoya who was the Deputy Corporation Counsel that authored the opinion, would later complain how he hated that it became known as the “Minatoya list.”
Fight on forever, Richard.) The 4-4 Council could not agree on Tasha’s replacement (there were three candidates: Kauanoe Batangan (nominated by U‘u-Hodgins), Carol Lee Kamekona (nominated by Sinenci) and Virgilio Agcolicol (self-nominated). With the Council unable to agree, the decision fell to Mayor Richard Bissen, Jr. who appointed Batangan in December—but only after Bill 9 was passed—probably because Batangan had expressed he would not vote for Bill 9.
The issue of housing, especially after the Lahaina wildfire, continued to be a hot topic. The Ho‘okumu Hou program sought to assist those who lost their homes during the 2023 wildfires (See the August 2025 issue). The public relations campaign for the program was hot and television ads featured Mayor Bissen—perhaps as a precursor to his re-election campaign which is now in full swing with at least three unions (Ironworkers, ILWU and HGEA) issuing early endorsements. The coconut wireless has Bissen facing opposition from a current elected official.
2025 also saw the election of a new Pope after the death of Pope Francis. Pope Leo XIV became the first Pope born in the United States. (See May 2025 issue). The Pope is an avid Chicago White Sox (baseball) fan. Throughout the year, Pope Leo XIV became a constant critic of President Trump, criticizing him on topics such as the war in Ukraine and immigration.
In early October, Maui County saw the return of the Maui Fair, which was last held in 2019. (See the Dinengdeng & Pinakbet column in the September 2025 issue.) Kicking off the Fair weekend was the parade featuring the bands, queens, businesses and yes, politicians. At the Fair, the lines were long. On social media, folks complained about the long lines and the prices. We tend to complain about every little thing, huh? And despite the lack of a Ferris wheel and some favorite food like flying saucers (when my brother Rogelio was active with the Veterans group he would be a key honcho), the Fair was a success.
And not to be outdone, the 56th Annual Barrio Fiesta® was another resounding success. (See May 2025 issue.) Thousands cramped the Binhi at Ani Filipino Community Center for the two-day affair to experience Filipino culture, Filipino games, and yes, Filipino food. Heading the cultural aspect was the crowning of the 2025 Miss Barrio Fiesta Kyrah Navarro Pagdilao and her court—First Princess Jordyn-Leeah Pagaduan and Second Princess Sofiya Marey Dominique Quines Cartagena. And yes, the food included the favorites of adobo, pansit and halo halo. You could even find dinardaraan, igado and kwek kwek. But my favorite was to sample the lechon cooked by Bobby Sales and sponsored by the Magbual family in memory of their parents. Oh, the skin was so crispy! Diet? Forget about it—that’s for next year!
And as the year comes to a close and as we say Happy New Year, many Filipino families will gather round to remember those who have gone before us, to give thanks for the blessings and to remember the reason for the season—the birth of Jesus Christ to save us sinners. Merry Christmas everyone—and Happy New Year!
Assistant Editor Alfredo Evangelista and his wife Bessy dressed in cultural attire during the 56th Annual Barrio Fiesta®, together with Manny Pacquiao.