28 April 2008

Top 3 Reasons Why I Love The Philippines

Because I am deeply rooted here. Ako po ay totoong Batangueño [I am a true Batangueño]. My eyes are chinky, and in travels abroad, even foreigners mistake me for being a Chinese, Japanese, or a Korean. I always end up correcting them with a proud clarification --- I am a Filipino! I grew up in a once rustic town in Batangas, about 110 kilometers away from metropolitan Manila. It was a town where you can picture all the characters and events Camilo Osias wrote in his Barrio Life books, and where you can see in true color the details of what Fernando Amorsolo painted in his works. I spent my childhood and adolescence in the province. I played patintero, taguan, sipa, sungka, trumpo, and siato with classmates and childhood friends even when it was raining hard outside. There was no acid rain back then. LOL! I even swam in nearby rivers. While a good portion of what I knew then has now been replaced with buildings and restaurants, my good memories of how beautiful it was remains with me. Whenever I go back, old friends greet me like family.

Because I do not think our heroes were fools. Rizal, Bonifacio, Jacinto, Abad Santos, Magsaysay, Aquino and a host of other famous people we call "heroes" did not sacrifice their lives to see a horrible future for this country. These were intelligent people who saw the value and beauty of the Philippines. Their sacrifices shouldn't be wasted. They saw something worth dying for, and I believe that as a true Filipino, I should endeavor to give something back to honor what the heroes died for...even in my own little ways.

Because the 3Fs are here. The 3Fs are family, friends, and food. In the US and Europe, if you wanted rice or calamansi or patis or bagoong, you still have to go to an Asian store or Filipino store to get these items. You will always be surprised also how expensive they are there. Here, as long as people know you, they treat you like family. In case you have not noticed it yet, Filipinos are very personal on all matters, because of its family-oriented society. Once someone is a friend, he/she automatically becomes a Tito, Tita, Ate, Kuya, Nanay and Tatay --- all terms of endearment addressed to family members. Here, laws are not enforced fully because everyone thinks that since we are one big family, there's no need to be so serious about enforcing it. Hence, one can always cross the street even if there's no pedestrian lane, or one can always park anywhere even if there's a No Parking sign planted nearby. There are negative consequences, of course, and all of us know all about them, but as long as they do not immediately endanger any person, most of these are ignored and charged to a simple, "Ganyan dito, eh. Pilipinas ito." [It is like this here. This is the Philippines.] Then, this is either followed an authentic Filipino joke, and everone who hears it end up laughing. Another Filipino trait -- we have a unique kind of humor that makes every burden and heartache seem light.

I must admit there is a need --- no, make that a great need --- to improve. We do still lag behind our neighbors. We have soooo many problems. But progress here is defined in another way unlike how the rest of the world defines it. It is difficult to explain this to a non-Filipino, but for a Filipino like me, it is easy to digest. We are one big family. Sure, we have problems. But we manage, and we always try our best to survive.

7 reactions:

MerryCherry said...

3Fs! Hahaha, right, what more can you ask for with the 3Fs. :)

the philippine daily idiot said...

Akala ko this country needs a chole. On second thought, yes. Hehehe. Anyway, we always end up saying it's the people, whether they're friends, family, co-workers, patients, etc.. Sila ang pinaka-yaman natin.

mesiamd said...

It's good to know that there are compelling reasons why we love the country. But if many of us truly love her, how come Inang Bayan is increasingly suffering. What kind of love do we really have for her? How come at least a third of us wants to leave her?

There are those who say that a country can't survive without true love.

Anonymous said...

Nice post, Doc Emer.
I like the reasoning behind why we break rules sometimes, hehehe...
I love Batangas, too, although I'm not Batanguena (Am still half Tagalog though, dad's from Laguna). I'm willing to be adopted by your great province though. I just put up a post about Bauan, and am a frequent visitor to Nasugbu and Mabini. ;)

ice9web said...

very informative post in dealing with our Philippines' negative feedback ^_^ all over the world

anyway, in our country we are most likely to have 3F's than foreign land... meaning we take good care of our elders, and not just put them in "home for the aged" or whatever organization like Americans do

but hopefully and I'm wishing our government will improve... if corruption may NOT be eradicated at least minimize.

Anonymous said...

Thank You for that wonderful post. I was deeply impressed and I totally agree on what you said. but sadly many of the Filipinos want to leave the country to go and work abroad, which is a very sad news for us. I still believe theres still hope for all of us and even though we have many problems known to the entire world, still its happy to see its people glad and able to smile even if bombarded with problems while people in the developed countries cant. galing ng pinoy!

Anonymous said...

i like the post, but i'm concerned with the reason why we break our own rules.

everyone needs discipline. even in a big family. if i will have my own family, i'll tell them that rules are there because we need to follow them.

i will not approve my parents cheating on our family. i will not approve the head of our government cheating on us.

family is the root of everything. we need to have discipline, even if we consider ourselves one big family.

thank you and mabuhay!