Does the Philippines have a future in a technology-driven world and will Filipinos survive in it?

Dear Filipino,

As someone who has worked in Silicon Valley and who researches on and lectures about IT issues, I sometimes wonder what the future holds for the Philippines. It seems like we are only supplying resources (e.g., IT skilled labor) but not really in the forefront and "making things happen," so to speak.

So my question is: Do you think Filipinos will survive in an increasingly high-tech and competitive world?

Nagmamahal,
The Filipina

P.S. By the way, I like love your new logo, too. But how come MuQ is in the logo while I’m not? Sob-sob-sob. :-(

To My Funny Brown Pinay,

First, I’m glad you like the new logo/banner.

Secondly, I’m really sorry that you’re not in the picture, but don’t you think it would look kinda silly if I were riding you instead of MuQ?

Thirdly, I feel bad not answering a lot of pending questions from readers, but I’m really super glad that you asked your question because it's of the kind I really want to write about.  Because if there’s one thing I am absolutely sure, it’s that Filipinos WILL survive. In fact, not only will Filipinos survive, we are on track to conquer the world!  Hah!

Yup, you heard that right! But don’t take my word for it – take instead the word of the former Secretary of Finance, Roberto de Ocampo, who, thanks to a reader who alerted me about it, has recently written about how Filipinos are really “The Chosen People.”

Consider that, according to some researchers, “in order for a culture to maintain itself for more than 25 years, there must be a fertility rate of 2.11 children per family. With anything less, the culture will decline. Historically, no culture has ever reversed a 1.9 fertility rate.”

The 2011 fertility rate estimate for Spain is 1.47, Italy 1.39, UK 1.91, France 1.96 and Germany 1.41, to name a select few. The average fertility rate of all Western Europe is about 1.5. In short, these nations are either on are perilously close to what population experts call an irreversible demographic decline. To put it more starkly, for example, by 2020 (or just nine years from now) more than half of all births in a country like, say, the Netherlands (1.66 fertility rate) will be of non-European Dutch origin. Furthermore, with the birth rate dropping below replacement, the population of such countries ages and the problems facing an aging population are numerous and startling enough to deserve a separate treatise.

Western Europe is not the only one experiencing this phenomenon. The US fertility rate is, at 2.0, just below replacement and Japan is at a worrisome level of 1.2. For Japan, this means a population decline of about 60 million in the next 30 years and an aging population that will have one out of every five Japanese at least 70 years old by 2020.

However, with the exception of Japan, the overall populations of the above-mentioned countries are not declining. The overwhelming reason for that is immigration (to which Japan is by comparison with others, still somewhat resistant). Guess who comprise one of the larger immigrant populations. Yes, dear—Filipinos!

De Ocampo concludes:

Now we have begun to creep into the world’s bloodlines. The 2010 World Series winning pitcher Tim Lincecum, 2011 best supporting actress Oscar nominee Hailee Steinfeld, head coach Erik Spoelstra of the Miami Heat, and R&B star Bruno Mars are all Fil-Ams. It may only be a matter of time before nearly every race on earth has some Filipino blood.

In other words, if you think all these advanced countries are going to go high-tech, Filipinos will at least be tagging along for the ride!

But actually, the truth is, if we play our cards right, we’re not just going to tag along – we can make things happen too, and to a certain extent, we have. In fact, we are really in the position to design our own “ride” – literally!

Now, what do I mean by that?

Well, what I mean is that we have the right ingredients already in place. We have, as you mentioned, the skilled laborers; we have creativity; and, believe it or not, we have years of experience in the transportation field too.

Let’s talk about these ingredients one by one.

First, the skilled laborers.

Many people think of the Philippines as this low-tech country exporting nothing but tropical fruits and basic natural commodities. But in fact, electronics exports accounted for a whopping 61% of the country’s merchandise exports in 2010 which totaled $31 billion. Of that figure, semiconductors comprised 71%!

And Filipinos are not just at the bottom of the high-tech totem pole either, for Silicon Valley has several Filipinos who have achieved substantial success in the field. Dado Banatao, of course, is just one of the more well-known figures, having co-founded Mostron, Chips & Technologies (acquired later by Intel), and S3 Graphics.

All these means, of course, that we have the knowledge capital.  And I strongly believe we also have the creative capital, which, as mentioned earlier, is the second ingredient. 

Kenneth Cobonpue's Phoenix
(Source: TopGear Blog)

In fact, just a few days ago, I read the Inquirer article about Kenneth Cobonpue, a well-known Filipino furniture designer. Apparently, he just outdid himself and designed “Phoenix” – a concept car made out of bamboo, rattan, steel and carbon fiber -- which has drawn raves in a Milan exhibit entitled “Imagination and Innovation.” I saw the picture and it looks awesome – indeed, “a bird posed to take flight.”

What I didn’t like about the Inquirer article is the lead sentence which says in part that “Cobonpue has designed what must be the first and only bamboo and rattan car in the world.”

Why?

Because it’s not true! And this brings me to the last ingredient I earlier mentioned: years of experience.

Actually, the honor of “first and only” bamboo ride rightly belongs to the – note the following adjective closely – out-of-school youth and the former mayor of the remote municipality of Tabontabon, Leyte who actually manufactured public taxis made out of bamboo!

Want a ride aboard the bamboo taxi of Tabontabon, Leyte?

And if you think it’s just superficially bamboo, you’re wrong: It’s 90% bamboo!

But wait, there’s more: According to John Voelker, Senior Editor of GreenCarReports.com:

The ECO taxis built by Tabontabon Organic Transport Industry [TOTI] come in two sizes: ECO1 seats 20, whereas ECO2 carries eight passengers. Each is said to run for eight hours on a gallon of biodiesel, which in this case is derived from coconut oil.

Did you read that? The thing actually runs on biodiesel! How about that, my dear Pinay?
Honestly, I was floored when I first read about it on Fast Company. I couldn’t believe it because Tabontabon, Leyte does not exactly exude high-tech. In fact, it’s a poor farming town and is considered a fifth-class municipality by Philippine standards!

I said though that the third ingredient is years of experience. Well, these ECO taxis were built in 2009, so a couple of years do not exactly years of experience make.

But by years of experience, I am referring also to our decades of churning out our very colorful jeepneys (a portmanteau of "jeep" and "jitney") which started when the American forces left us with hundreds of surplus jeeps used during the Second World War. We stripped them, elongated them, re-roofed them and made them culturally our own.  That should count for something, right?


FAAIE's enviable jeepney: The Ambassador

As you probably know also, the jeepney used to be notorious as a smoke-belcher, but it has since evolved over the years. Nowadays, there’s even a lot of interest in making them more environmentally friendly and high-tech by making them electric-powered. You better believe it -- e-jeepney is on the way!

In sum, I want to emphasize that we do have the ingredients to not just survive but to thrive in an increasingly high-tech world. All we need now is a cook, a really good chef.  And I hope purpose-driven businessmen will step forward to play that role. Additionally, I hope the government will also step up and at least play the role of sous-chef.  We really need them to up their game big time.

Because believe me, I strongly think that demand for Philippine-made rides will increase, especially from Pinoys abroad because, at least Stateside, I am really sensing a growing pride about their ethnic background among Filipino-Americans. For instance, the Filipino-American Association of the Inland Northwest, which is involved in various humanitarian and socio-cultural activities, has bought a club jeepney. So as a group, they now roll and roar aboard the machine they proudly call The Ambassador.

Good for them! And honestly, I envy them because I too want to roll with one -- and because MuQ has been wanting a break from carrying my heavy bum bum.  What do you think I should call it? (I meant the jeepney, not my bum bum.)

Got a question for The Filipino?  Email him now at askthepinoy@gmail.com.

For MuQ: Who are you really, how do you pronounce your name, why do you look lazy, etc.?

[Before "regular programming," I just want to say this: It's always a struggle to write something characterized by levity (even pettiness) in the wake of a disaster so horrific and so shocking like what happened in Japan last Friday when a massive earthquake, and the tsunami which it caused, destroyed entire cities and towns and claimed thousands of lives.  And to make things worse, the disaster appears to be far from over, what with the ongoing threat from the nuclear facilities which were badly damaged. I hope nobody will find this a cheap and crass shoutout, but I really have been very impressed so far by the way the Japanese people have reacted with unbelievable amount of collective calm, courage, dignity and discipline in the face of such great national suffering, destruction and death. And readers from Japan who chance upon this blog are probably thinking that, half a world away from the epicenter, I am really very fortunate that I can continue blogging about relatively silly matters, and I hope nobody takes it as my callous indifference to their plight.  My wife was an exchange student in Japan in the 1990s and she has "family" there -- even a loving "Japanese mother" she calls her "Okasan" for acting like one to her -- and  I too have extended family and friends there. That's why I do want to say in this blog, from the bottom of my heart, that our family's prayers and thoughts go out to the Japanese people affected by this continuing tragedy. -- The anonymous blogger behind AAF!, otherwise known as The Pinoy, The Filipino or TF.]

Dear MuQ,

For this time (and I hope, this time only), I want to be the questioner because since we changed the banner/logo of the blog, you've begun to upstage me, and I'm beginning to feel kinda jealous. I'm supposed to be the blogger here answering all sorts of Pinoy-related questions, but now, I'm getting asked questions about YOU!

The questions range from the metaphysical (who you are) to the practical (how your name is pronounced), et cetera. Maybe some chubby Midwestern buffaloes are probably just curious and want to flirt with you, but one prominent Filipino muralist is even openly challenging your Pinoy cred and claims you're actually Chinese!

While I respect his work, the same artist referred to your droopy eyes too!  He thinks you have the "Lazy Look" (knowing you, you probably love that alliteration!). And probably because of that look, he thought my reading pose while I was on top of you is, well, quite lazy-looking too (notwithstanding the fact that I was pictured busily reading a book). Thus, with the two of us appearing lazy to him, we supposedly perpetuate, according to him, the misguided stereotype that Filipinos are lazy!

So what say you, The Buffalo Gigolo?

Your BFF,
TF

Dear TF,

Wow, I feel important – very important! Imagine: I get to actually write my very own post in this blog and not just submit planted questions?

Thanks for this opportunity, but where do I start?

TF: Well, why don’t you start from the very beginning. First, introduce yourself.

That’s a good idea. Thanks, TF!

Well, you could say I was first conceived in January of this year because my Creator -- you, of course! -- wanted to write about a beautiful Ford supermodel, but no reader had submitted a question which he could answer and somehow discuss her success story.  Then you thought a planted, perfectly worded question would do the trick so you made up a fictional questioner, the Made-up Questioner, or MuQ in short – i.e., moi.

At that time though, except probably for cojones the size of humongous lansones, even in the mind of my Creator (you), I had no real attributes, no identity, no face, no character, no personality, no nothing -- except a name which happens to be a nice, short and sweet initialism or acronym. And, of course, a job: to ask the perfect questions at the most perfect times.

But I didn’t know if I needed to sound like a lowly vassal, a disciple, or a rap star wannabe. I didn’t even know if I had to speak collegiala Taglish or have a British accent, although I knew I would have hated it, like, if I had to, you know, speak like, you know, a Hollywood star or something.  In short, neither I nor you knew what I was going to end up as.

The previous logo and banner of the blog.

Luckily, you as my creator met a creative guy. He’s an artist who has served as art director for several top advertising companies in the world. He’s also active in the Filipino OFW community in Europe, organizing sporting events for the hyphenated Filipino youth. As a musician, he volunteers his talent, treasure and time to make sure that worthy fundraising projects, all aimed at helping less fortunate Filipinos back in the Philippines, are successful. His name is Peter Molina.

Peter's different AAF! logo studies.

Peter liked the AAF! blog so much that when he was approached about it, he decided that, for a token fee, he’d help upgrade the logo and banner of the blog. It took quite some time because of his busy schedule but he subsequently came up with several “studies” for the new logo, all of which were nice. Most revolved around Jose Rizal because the Philippine national hero is the original figure which graced the top banner of the blog. But the last of the studies actually ended up taking the prize because Peter did not just create a logo – he, probably inadvertently, also conceptualized the personification (or in my case, the "animalification") of a fictive character created solely for this “Ask blog”. And the character looks like someone who fits the name "MuQ"!

People ask: “Why would that name fit?” Well, because it is pronounced like “muck” which rhymes with buck or luck.

And “muck” is also perfect because it means “a moist sticky mixture, especially of mud and filth” or “dark fertile soil containing decaying vegetable matter.” In short, “dirt” – i.e., my favorite stomping grounds when I want to, as the Brits would say, “muck about” or “spend time idly.”

But then, by saying that last phrase, I guess I just confirmed that muralist’s very charge, huh? That is, that I’m lazy, right?

I hope not.  But if that’s what he thinks, who am I to ask him to think otherwise?

After all, I’m just a [fictive] carabao, a lowly beast of burden. I’m not a truck, a tractor or a car, even if my kind has been serving like those mechanical beasts many centuries before they were even invented. I don’t perform tricks like the dogs do, nor purr and act cute like the cats to get what I want.

But what that artist probably doesn’t realize is that as a carabao, I have no sweat glands, so I have to cool myself after long hours of working under the sun by lying in a filthy waterhole or mud or muck. That muck, caked on to my sexy body, protects me from bothersome tropical insects who can’t seem to get enough of tasty me.

I’m probably wasting my time saying all these things though because again, who am I really to argue with that famous muralist? Us carabaos are not even supposed to complain. We’re supposed to be docile and just work hard. We're supposed to just carry heavy burdens. We’re just supposed to plow hardened soil, rain or shine, to soften them for another round of planting. We’re [sniff] just supposed to provide milk and when really necessary [sniff], offer our meat and our hides for you guys. We’re just [sniff]…

TF: Hey, calm down, dude. Don’t cry because you’re going to make me cry, too!

I’m sorry but I can’t help but feel bad, TF. Why does this guy think I look lazy? It’s bad enough that the scientific community gave us a long, ugly and tongue-twister of a scientific name -- Bubalus bubalis carabanesis – but now I’m supposed to just accept additional abuse too because of my droopy-looking eyes?

Besides, he’s unfair and quite misguided in his anthropomorphizing because what applies to humans does not necessarily apply to the animal kingdom. Besides, has he ever thought that those droopy eyes were the result of tiredness, not laziness?  Besides, I happen to think those eyes are my best assets because they make me look approachable and harmless among the female members of our specie. And here's another more important besides: I have massive horns, you see, and I don’t want female carabaos to think, well, that I’m “horny”!

TF & MuQ: Happy together!

But it’s true, TF: I like my dreamy look in Peter's work because it makes me an enigmatic character. And truth be told, like you, I’m really a dreamer.

TF: But what about your Pinoyness? He questioned that too. He thinks you’re of Chinese origin.

So what? Just like millions of Filipinos, right? Should we strip those folks of their Pinoy kinship and connection too?

Let me remind you: Carabaos have been around since pre-Hispanic times in the Philippines and I have just as much right to be considered Filipino as he has. Doesn’t he consider himself Filipino too despite his Spanish name or, presumably, mixed ancestry?

Tell me this: How many centuries does it require to be considered native to a place? We’ve been the primary source of material for the armor of pre-colonial Filipino warriors. Some of my Filipino cousins were even exported to Guam in the late 17th century, and Guamanians considered my cousins Filipino, not Chinese!

And actually, do you know what else Guamanians did? You’re right -- they made the carabao their national symbol!

That’s called respect, bro. As in R-E-S-P-E-C-T!  And sadly, we don’t get it that much among Filipinos, nowadays. We’re seen as too provincial, too rural. We’re of the lower class.  No, make that lowest class.

That's why if somebody is ugly, he/she "looks like a carabao."  If somebody is a slowpoke, he/she is “as slow as a carabao.”  If somebody speaks broken English, he/she is said to speak “carabao English.”

It hurts, bro. We deserve better treatment. Besides, we’re supposed to be the country’s national animal – Ang Pambansang Hayop – right?  Believe me: I can't help but feel envious of my distant relatives -- those spoiled cows -- living in India.

But you know what?  It’s a good thing The Big Guy above gave us thick hides and even thicker hearts. So we are able to endure all the slings and all the slights.

Then, pretending as if we’re not tired or not hurting or not affected, with our characteristic pluck and poise, we plod along, plow ahead or plot a plan.

TF: Thanks, MuQ!  For a supposedly lazy creature, you answered my question quite non-stereotypically: i.e., quite thorough and in -- I apologize for saying this -- non-"carabao English".

You're welcome!  And you're forgiven this time (but this time only). ;-)

Got a question for MuQ The Filipino?  Email him now at askthepinoy@gmail.com.

Are Filipinos becoming the newest heartthrobs in the US of A?

Dear Filipino,

Big MuQ, TF's sidekick.

Did you see that HuffPo piece about Asians, including many Filipinos who were specifically named in the article, turning into America's newest heartthrobs? 

Sigh. I wonder when it's going to be my turn...

Wishing,
MuQ


Dear MuQ,

Keep dreaming, brother!  Keep dreaming -- nothing wrong with that at all!

Yes, I read it several days ago and I found it really fascinating.  I actually wanted to write about it but you weren't around to ask the planted question as my sidekick! Where were you anyway? (Okay, okay -- in fairness, I'm just making you my scapecarabao; I've been really too busy lately to do much writing.)

As I said, it was a fascinating article and I don't really know what to make of it.  I'm sure social scientists, and moreso the casual observers, would have tons to say about the article, or even just this paragraph alone:

Just when we start to feel envious about the Whiz Kids' superior academic and virtuosic abilities, we quickly console ourselves that the price they pay is social awkwardness and having no fun. Asian Whiz Kids and their Tiger Moms surely abound. But frankly, this model is rather old. The newer, more interesting strand of Asian American is... the Heartthrob Asian.

"We"?  Who's "we" in the article -- the white dudes?  And then, the article continues:

You may have seen cool Asians on MTV's America's Best Dance Crew and Fox's So You Think You Can Dance in dance crews such as JabbaWockeeZ, Kaba Modern, and SoReal Cru. Justin Bieber's backup band is the Filipino American R & B group Legaci. Sam Tsui, a Chinese American singer/pianist/songwriter and student at Yale who's amassed over 85 million views on YouTube, appeared on Oprah and ABC World News. 21-year-old Filipino American singer/guitarist Joseph Vincent Encarmacion appeared on the Ellen DeGeneres show.

Iyaz gave a shoutout on a Youtube video to 21-year-old Filipino American AJ Rafael and friends for covering his Billboard hit "Replay." And of course, there's Bruno Mars who's half Filipino. Harry Shum Jr. of League of Extraordinary Dancers is on Glee. In January, Billboard created a new chart for emerging artists in social media, which was topped by Traphik, a Thai American rapper, and was peppered with Asian Americans.

21-year-old Filipino American guitarist/pianist/singer and YouTube sensation AJ Rafael from Moreno Valley, Calif. received over 50 million views on YouTube; had become 29th most subscribed musician of all time; has over 11 million plays on MySpace; and when he came out with his EP on iTunes album charts, he debuted at 115. (This was on his own, without labels and millions to back him.) His iTunes sales pays his bills.

Talented and charismatic, Rafael performs regularly to packed concerts of screaming teens who know him from YouTube. Last summer, he toured Hawaii, Sydney, Melbourne, and Toronto.

The article's quite long and Filipino names are sprinkled all over it -- and they're new names too and not the more known ones like Arnel Pineda and the like. The article even opened with the story of 10-year old Filipino-Canadian Maria Aragon who just sang a duet with Lady Gaga in her Toronto concert.

The cool dudes of the Far East Movement.

And the other groups mentioned in the article, aside from Legaci, also have Filipino members -- including the most successful Asian American group, Far East Movement (also known as FM), which managed to break into the mainstream pop scene with the single, "Like a G6," which reached #1 in iTunes and Billboard Hot 100 charts. FM's DJ Virman is the only Filipino American but the rest of the group are "adopted Filipinos," at least food-wise.

Pretty amazing, no?  Considering a Jewish blogger, Ilana Angel, had also earlier gushed over Manny Pacquiao, her new "celebrity crush" (her words, not mine), maybe there really is a trend here. 

So who knows?  Maybe soon, you, MuQ, are going to be the next celebrity and buffalos from the American plains will soon be rampaging to get close to you!

MuQ:  Cool! Can't wait! But what took Americans so long to recognize our -- ahem! -- coolness and good looks?

"I love dogs too!  Wanna exchange recipes?"

I know -- makes you wonder, right?

But if you have forgotten your history, allow me to remind you.

After the Americans colonized the Philippines a little over a century ago, they had to showcase their newest subjects in a grand manner.  And what better way than to do so at the 1904 World's Fair held in St. Louis, Missouri?

According to Virgilio R. Pilapil of the Filipino American National Historical Society, "[t]he St. Louis World's Fair was the grandest of all Fairs and the Philippine Exhibit took the honor of being the largest and most popular one at this Fair."

And guess why? Because we were all supposedly head-hunting savages! And we ate dogs -- yum yum!

(Hmmm...I wonder what The Filipina is preparing for dinner tonight -- Adobong Bulldog, Great Dane stuffed with Kangkong, or the usual Chihuahua Curry?)

Oh, sorry, I was daydreaming about food again. Where was I? Yes, the history behind our coolness, of course!

Going back to the St. Louis Fair, the Igorot Village, in particular, was a huge hit because the Igorot appetite for dogs was supposedly insatiable, this despite the fact that Igorots ate dogs only occasionally and for ceremonial purposes. But there was no shock value there, so they were asked to butcher dogs and eat them daily.  And Pilapil adds:

The city of St. Louis provided them a supply of dogs at the agreed amount of 20 dogs a week, but this did not appear to be sufficient, as they had also encouraged local people to bring them dogs which they bought to supplement their daily needs.

So, as you can see, Filipinos used to be just "objects of curiosity" in 1904, to put it mildly, to be fed with dogs.  But fast forward to today, and if you believe HuffPo's article, hey, guess what?  We've now become "objects of desire" -- or at least, our Filipino music stars are.

Justice Tani, The Filipino's
newest celebrity crush.

Personally, I'm not going to be complaining, brother.  And neither should you.

But if you ask me, my newest "celebrity crush," to borrow Ilana's term, is the country's first Filipino chief of a State Supreme Court, Madame Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye of the California Supreme Court. 

Believe me, bro: She's pretty and she's smart! (I don't want to be accused of objectifying women, but I read a lot of comments on articles when news of her nomination broke last year and I happen to agree with many commenters: She's hot!)

But while her success story is truly inspiring, her parents' story is even moreso, for they were the ones who toiled the sugar cane and pineapple farms of Hawaii as well as the fields of California's Central Valley so she could get her education.

So here, I'll join you in dreaming: I hope that someday I'll find myself fortunate enough to be arguing a case in the august chamber of the Court with Chief Justice Tani presiding.  I'm sure my knees will be quivering, especially if she flashes me her signature smile.  And I know I better be prepared because I sure won't like her smile turning into something scary. Ay yay yay!

And MuQ, I expect you to be there to give me moral support -- okay? -- even if you, my fictive water buffalo, are already being revered as The Buffalo Gigolo.

Got a question for The Filipino?  Email him now at askthepinoy@gmail.com.

What was Manila like in the 1930s during the American Commonwealth regime?

Dear Filipino,

I know you are feeling a bit under the weather, but do you know what the Philippines was like during the American Commonwealth period?

I'm not making life easier for you, am I?

Your fictive sidekick,
MuQ

Dear MuQ,

Actually, you make my life much easier! Thanks, bro! 

You're right -- I'm really not feeling well at all, so I just want to leave you with a couple of short YouTube clips from that period.  Note that these clips were produced by Americans so the perspective is American.

Here's the first clip:



And here's the second:



Got a question for The Filipino?  Email him now at askthepinoy@gmail.com.

Do Filipinos hate -- and so won't date -- the Chinese?

Dear Filipino,

I find myself really attracted to this Filipino guy. I actually get along with him very well and I'm probably overthinking but...I was wondering if there was any chance for me to date him?

I guess I'm sort of young and naive, but the only stereotypes I know of Filipinos are that they are very peaceful, musically inclined, talented, and generally tanned. However, according to my Filipina friend, Filipinos tend to go after their own or go after whites in order to "marry up". She told me that's how she was raised, and that unless the person she dated was Catholic, Filipino or Caucasian, there would be no way she would be allowed to date. Furthermore, she told me that majority of Filipino people sort of hate Chinese people? So if I start a relationship with him, would I face a lot of prejudice from his family? Is it usually looked down upon to be of a different race?

Sincerely,
Love-stricken Chinese Girl

Dear LCG,

Hey, what can I say?  Filipino guys are simply irresistible! ;-)  And as regards the stereotypes you mentioned, I can hang with those -- no problem! 

Seriously though, first, I must apologize. You've written me this a while back and it's quite insensitive of me to have kept you waiting for an answer that must be quite important to you.  But unfortunately, I can only answer questions at my pace, and though I was born in the Year of the Tiger, I'm really a Turtle Blogger. 

I actually thought of delaying my answer to you until Valentine's, but I changed my mind because "Chinese" seems to be on everyone's lips these days.  Locally, in the Bay Area, Chinese empowerment is the buzzword, as the first Asian-American mayor of San Francisco, Edwin M. Lee, was sworn in last week.  Nationally, in the US, Chinese power is said to be really ascendant, as shown by the way China's president, Mr. Hu Jintao, is being treated as he visits his country's largest debtor this week.  But more importantly, globally, Chinese superiority is also now being touted -- even in an aspect erstwhile deemed to be so personal to everyone: parenting.

So assuming it's true that we Filipinos only want to "marry up" race-wise, surely we must be re-evaluating our stand with regards to the Chinese, right?

But here's the thing: The truth is, Filipinos don't look down upon the Chinese; Filipinos generally don't restrict marriage to Caucasians, Catholics or fellow Filipinos only; and while Filipinos often do prefer lighter-skinned folks as potential partners in marriage (although changing, that's still the reality of today's world), I think it's not a stretch to say Filipinos, especially when compared to other groups, are in fact equal-opportunity daters. 

I don't know why your Filipina friend said those things to you, but don't believe everything she says, in the same way that you shouldn't believe everything I say here.  None of us can speak definitively for millions of people.  But I think the evidence weighs in favor of my position.  And while statistics will bear out that most of us do end up dating and marrying within our group, that's just natural, because cultural compatibility is paramount to most people who want to avoid conflict.  I'd like to think this is just what her parents were driving at, too.

Besides, we're mutts, you see, and so historically, we've really intermarried a lot with all sorts of "breeds."  In fact, estimates show that while the "pure" ethnic Chinese only comprise about 2-3% of the country, as many as 20% of the Filipino people have some Chinese ancestry.  Personally, I think these figures are understated because the Chinese have been settling in the Philippines since time immemorial -- or as far back as the Ice Age when a now-submerged land bridge is believed to have enabled many people from South China to settle in what is now the archipelago called the Philippines, and continued non-stop even during the Spanish (when they were referred to as sangleys) and American regimes, up to present times.  The sitting President, the national hero, the former dictator Marcos -- they are just a few of the country's more famous Chinese mestizos, offspring of mixed marriages.

And I think it's wrong to say we hate the Chinese, for if that were the case, those famous Chinese mestizos would not have achieved their positions in life.  Majority of Filipinos do hate hateful and abusive people, Chinese or not.  In fact, anyone would, don't you agree?

That's why I now think Tiger Mother Amy Chua's observation in her 2003 essay, "Vengeful Majorities," unfairly depicts Filipinos.  In it, she related how her Chinese aunt was killed by her Filipino driver and how the police classified the killing as an act of revenge.  But she did more than that: She also suggested that the driver killed her aunt because her aunt was a member of a rich, market-dominant minority while the driver was a member of a "vengeful majority" in the Philippines.  By doing so, she elevated the incident to somehow be representative of an ethnicity-influenced tension between the ethnic Chinese and the ethnic Filipinos in the Philippines. 

But even if I were to concede that there is in fact some tension, I guarantee you that it is almost negligible and in no way -- no way! -- comparable to the other ethnic tensions she also mentioned in her essay: e.g., Croats vs. Serbs, Hutus vs. Tutsis, Jews vs. ethnic Russians, Chinese vs. ethnic Indonesians, etc. -- tensions which are more violent and widespread, much more societally disruptive, and much, much more gruesome because they had resulted in riots, outright war, ethnic cleansing, and genocide in the past.

To understand what I'm saying here, let's reverse the roles in Chua's aunt's case.  If her aunt had been an ethnic Filipina who was killed by her Chinese driver because the latter couldn't take the abuse and enslavement anymore, I think you'll also understand why the police would still be justified to put the same reason for the killing: "Revenge." In other words, the murder was an act of "revenge" because of Chua's abusive aunt, not because the ethnic Filipino majority is somehow "vengeful."

So, no, I'm not worried about you being looked down upon by the Filipino guy's family, and I'm not concerned at all that you would face any prejudice from the guy's side.  You won't.  The truth is, I'm more worried about your family looking down upon my fellow good-looking Filipino.  I know we're just talking about dating here and not marriage, but Chua herself recently admitted that she married an American Orthodox Jew as a form of rebellion because her once father told her: "You will marry a non-Chinese over my dead body!"  With respect to us Filipinos, she was upfront and didn't even mince words when she wrote in her 2003 book: "For the Chinese...marrying a Filipino...is shameful."

I happen to know this is quite true among many Chinese in the Philippines.  When I was in college, I had female Chinese friends who fell in love with Filipinos, and even if the guys were from decent families and were decent themselves, the Chinese parents still objected to the relationships, going as far as threatening their daughters with disownment.  One Chinese lady I know was indeed disowned and her parents did not even bother to attend her wedding.  I heard the parents and the daughter only reconciled after the latter delivered her first baby.

Now, are you sure you still want to date that Filipino guy?

Got a question for The Filipino?  Email him now at askthepinoy@gmail.com.

PNoy and the Porsche: What's the going rate for The Filipino's "investment"?

Dear Filipino,

I'm sure you've heard about the Philippine president buying a Porsche supposedly so he can use it to unwind.  What's your take on it?

Ingat,
Poorish Pinoy

Dear Poorish,

I supported PNoy's candidacy so I was really upset about this news.  By support, I mean I invested time (by attending US-based campaign events in support of his candidacy -- no matter how inconsequential my presence at these events may have been in the grand scheme of things); treasure (by spending and/or contributing a little bit at these campaign events -- no matter how miniscule the amount I could afford); and talent (by sharing some of my ideas with the folks who were more prominently campaigning for him -- no matter how superfluous, naive and/or worthless these ideas may have been).

More than the 3 T's, I also invested in PNoy my personal emotions and my hopes for the country.  And as you will probably agree, emotions and hopes are always arguably the most costly aspect of any form of investment whenever an investment ends up not panning out. 

Please don't get me wrong: I'm not writing off my "investment" yet.  But if I have to render a graphical representation, it would look something like this:

The data points in the x-axis (which represents the timeline) correspond to the following events:

1 = Senator Noynoy's conduct at ex-President Cory Aquino's wake;
2 = Senator Noynoy's decision to run and conduct during the campaign;
3 = Senator Noynoy's winning the election;
4 = PNoy's inauguration;
5 = PNoy's handling of the kidnapping incident at Luneta;
6 = PNoy's visit to the US when he met with Fil-Ams (I attended two events);
7 = PNoy's decision to keep DILG Undersecretary Puno;
8 = PNoy's dissing of DILG Secretary Robredo (the best member of his Cabinet);
9 = PNoy's snub of the Nobel Peace Prize awarding ceremonies in Norway in order not to anger China;
10 = PNoy's purchase of the Porsche car.

As you can see, I'm at 60, down 40% from the starting price of 100.  But it's not at zero yet, so there's still hope for a rebound.

Additionally, the Porsche purchase indicates one thing to me: Now, I know for sure, without a shadow of a doubt, that he's not getting good advice from the folks around him who should be giving him solid advice.  And I think that's the problem when you have friends (his closest advisers are supposedly his friends) who are scared to give you the right advice because they don't want to offend you and would rather ingratiate themselves to you to keep their positions.

But my take on this Porsche matter was actually captured perfectly in an Inquirer column written by someone I respect a lot, Attorney Ted Laguatan.  I think it's impossible for me to improve on what he wrote so I am just going to reproduce it here for your convenience, as follows:

PNoy's Porsche: The good, the bad, and the ugly

To the shock of many, staid, non-flashy supposedly simple living PNoy recently purchased a Porsche.

Malacanang-sourced reports state that it is not a new car. Even if the model is not specified, based on the indicated P4.5-million (about $92,000) price, I would guess that it's one of those powerful iconic 911 supercar models in the Carerra series.

A seller of such a car would advertise it as: "Pre-owned like new. Only 62,000 miles. Rich leather interiors. Iconic model. Absolutely stunning!" Whereas a PR man trying to downplay the purchase would describe the car as: "A highly depreciated used third-hand entry level model with already 10,000 plus kilometers. Nothing extraordinary."

Presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda did in fact used some of these PR speak. To further downplay the purchase, PNoy announced that he paid for the Porsche by selling his old BMW and taking a bank loan. He also claimed that he needed the car to relax so that he can make better decisions.

Let's take a good look at the situation.

The Good

Purchasing the Porsche with his own money shows a lack of guile and honesty. PNoy could easily have asked a millionaire supporter to buy him a new Porsche. He did not. If he were corrupt, he also could easily have a fleet of even more expensive cars by simply favoring certain government contractors who would overprice their bids and gladly give these to him as kickback.

It also shows that unlike the children of other presidents, he did not enjoy the luxury of having this kind of expensive cars when his mother was president—which speaks well of him and his mother.

Bongbong, Jinggoy, or Mikey are probably cracking up with the news of fifty-year-old PNoy still getting excited with a used Porsche. They already had their taste of all kinds of new luxury cars when they were barely out of their teens. They are now into helicopters, private jet planes, and yachts.

If he were dishonest, PNoy could already have bought this kind of car when he was a congressman or senator by simply using his pork barrel funds and utilizing all kinds of shadow transactions to acquire it—a common enough practice. Or better yet, he could easily have used a crony to buy the car for him so nobody knows.

Like a little boy wanting an expensive toy, when he became president and could afford to, he impulsively buys this pre-owned Porsche. He believed there was nothing wrong with his purchase as he was paying for it with money honestly earned.

As president, he has access to other types of vehicles which he could easily convert to become his private toys: airplanes, helicopters, tanks, boats, etc. He does not want to do that. Instead, he uses his own money to buy a car that he would enjoy and relax with. Purchasing the car, by itself, is really not a bad thing.

All these indicate a naïveté of sort—maybe even a showing of admirable honesty if interpreted along honesty criteria.

The Bad

However, even if there was no corruption involved in this car purchase and given that he could afford it— even his mother and father would most likely tell him that it was an improper thing to do and that he was acting like an impulsive kid. Aside from honesty, affordability, and his personal enjoyment, there are other issues.

As president, he needs to show a polite sensitivity to the plight and feelings of millions of desperately poor Filipinos. Nearly one-third of our countrymen live in quiet desperation barely surviving in slum communities and go to bed hungry at night. Mothers and fathers helplessly see their children every day deprived of proper food, shelter, health care and education—condemned to a life without a decent future. Some quietly shed tears at night knowing their sick children will die because they cannot afford to buy medicines or medical services.

The president of a country where this kind of mass poverty and misery thrives appears to show an utter lack of sensitivity to the plight and feelings of the desperately poor in buying a P4.5-million Porsche. Who doesn't want to drive a fine car? However, proper discretion dictates that even if in fact he can afford to honestly buy the Porsche or that he thinks driving it relaxes him, it doesn't necessarily mean he should have one.

It shows not only insensitivity but also immaturity and poor leadership. There are better ways to relax, less expensive, and far less dangerous than to drive a super power car in the Philippines' dangerous highways. PNoy ought to be aware that he owes it to the people who elected him to show sensitivity, take care of his safety, and be a true leader. The image he also presents to the world brings respect or disrespect to the country and its people

Being president is a great responsibility. He is either a servant to the people or a curse to them. If the president is to be a servant and a great president, he must be willing to sacrifice his own personal needs and idiosyncrasies for his people.

The Ugly

We have just seen the end of the presidency of one of the most unpopular presidents in the country's history, marked by persuasive evidence of mass corruption. A corrupt leader brings massive suffering to the people. PNoy inherited a bankrupt government where the culture of corruption is the norm rather than the exception. From the ruins of the past government, the new administration is struggling to build an honest efficient government responsive to the needs of the people, a very difficult task in which everyone of good faith should help.

PNoy was elected by an overwhelming majority, a landslide victory. All of us who supported him and even PNoy himself would be fooling ourselves if we believe in any way that he won because of charisma. He also did not even have any notable legislative record to speak of.

What catapulted him to the presidency was the people's hope: that he could bring real change to their lives. At least with him, there was this chance that their impossible dream of having a better, less corrupt, less poor Philippines might become a reality. He had a father who sacrificed his life for his people. He had a mother who sincerely and honestly tried under very difficult circumstances to be a good president. With these genes and legacy, millions placed their hopes on him rather than on the other candidates.

If he fails because he does not understand the real sacrifices demanded of him, he only has himself to blame. So many millions are behind him to help him succeed in this great endeavor. If when his term ends and the country is worse off than when he took over, it will be ugly for him and for all of us.

**

With all due respect, Mr. President, allow me this personal note. Get rid of that Porsche. Please. That's not too much of a sacrifice for you. It gives you a bad image: an insensitive wild playboy which you are not. I also doubt that driving a super fast sport car on bumpy trafficky, mostly narrow Philippine roads and highways is going to relax you and help you make better decisions. It is dangerous—which might even make you more tense. Instead, utilize proven ways to relax and to get rid of tensions: solitude, meditation, prayer, regular gym workouts. A healthy diet and breaking the chain smoking habit will also help.

So much of where the country goes depends on you. Your enemies would like to see you fail. They'll pick on every single issue they can use against you. You need to maintain the shine on your armor in the great sacred fight against corruption, poverty, and other national problems. While this Porsche issue is not going to bring you down as no corruption is involved, it weakens you as it touches on the issue of sensitivity and maybe even sincerity. It's like feasting on a thick Wagyu steak while everyone else around you eats galungong or tuyo. You cannot take this issue lightly.

We who support you because we want a better country want you to succeed. Success means repeatedly pulling one's self together, making sacrifices, getting up after every mistake or failure, being sensitive to people's feelings and having a clear vision of desired goals. Additionally for you, the chosen one, it’s being a true leader to your people—meaning truly loving them and being unconditionally committed to their welfare. Your father and mother expect that much from you. We, whom you claim to be your boss ("Kayo ang akin boss!"), expect the same.

Got a question for The Filipino?  Email him now at askthepinoy@gmail.com.

To chew or not to Chua? To know or not to Nora?

Dear Filipino,

Thanks for sharing your thoughts on various subjects and issues you discuss courageously in your blog.  I have shared your posts with some of my friends.  Those who have seen them have been impressed, and your readership I’m pretty sure has increased.  (You may want to start soliciting for advertisers – you deserve some income from this.) 

Anyway, I want to share my thoughts with you on some subjects you broached in your blog, and towards the end, ask you another "profound and complicated question."

Reading and chewing on your articles on Amy Chua have caused me mixed emotions and feelings – disgust and hatred, bordering on admiration and awe.  I have never heard of her previously, but Wikipedia has provided me enough general background about her, and it's quite impressive.  She graduated cum laude from Harvard Law School with a Doctor of Jurisprudence degree, worked as a corporate law associate, taught at Duke Law School, and currently is a distinguished professor of law at Yale Law School – all these perhaps a product of her own intellect and extreme conditioning from her Chinese Filipino parents.

Since she takes her maiden name, not unlike many Western professional women, and since she seems to be into parenting and perhaps not into women’s liberation, I am not sure I know how to address her properly.  Should it be "Miss Chua" -- but she’s not single?  Or "Mrs. Chua" -- but she is not her mother?  Or "Ms. Chua" -- but she may resent that?  Therefore, I have decided to just address her as Chua.  Tells you what I know about proper etiquette in addressing women; with men, it's simpler -- just call them "Mister."

On the Vengeful Majority

As much as I like to read, mostly mysteries, spy stories, lawyer stories, some classics and literature, some autobiographies, some histories, I have never read any of Chua’s books.  And she had written 3 books:  the first book is World on Fire: How Exporting Free Market Democracy Breeds Ethnic Hatred and Global Instability; the second book is Day of Empire: How Hyperpowers Rise to Global Dominance – and Why They Fall; and finally Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother, which is currently causing a lot of controversies due to its extreme parenting method, its comparison to Western and other parenting methods, and Chua’s claim that Chinese parenting method is superior to others.  Guess these books did not belong to my list of desired topics and stories, fiction or otherwise.

Through your blog, I was able to read her essay on “Vengeful Majorities,” apparently with excerpts from her World on Fire book.  Some say this essay has been sensationalized to gain readership for her book and therefore increase its profitability – just like any other effort or action by any company or corporation with the bottom line being dollars and cents.  My money will probably not be used to buy her books, though I heard most parts of the books were intellectually written and show her knowledge of globalization and the law.

As I read that essay, I was totally shocked when she wrote very early in the essay in regards to her aunt’s murder: “For the Chinese, luck is a moral attribute, and a lucky person would never be murdered.  Like having a birth defect, or marrying a Filipino, being murdered is shameful.”  I was appalled and totally surprised by this statement and was hoping she was only being satirical and that she would recant it later.  But no such ‘luck,’ and as a matter of fact, Chua seemed to have justified the killing by saying: “But poverty by itself does not make people kill.  To poverty must be added indignity, hopelessness and grievance.”  Nothing can justify a killing, neither can one justify rudeness.

She repeated many times how her family, which belonged to the market-dominant minority in the Philippines, lived in a very exclusive, all-Chinese, luxurious, gated and guarded enclave, walled off from the Filipino masses.  And how they have bank accounts in various places in the US and had safety deposit boxes full of gold bars.  (I hope they reported their income, both foreign and local, to the Philippine Bureau of Internal Revenue.)  But then she related about her aunt stuffing her Gucci purse with free packets of ketchup when they ate at McDonald’s – sounds like petty thievery to me at a place I would never guess they dined.
 
Also, I don’t understand why her family’s splendid hacienda-style house in Manila in this exclusive Chinese enclave has servants' quarters where the poor, ignorant, ethnic Filipino servants sleep on a dirt floor.  When I was growing up in the Philippines, we were not rich, not even remotely close to the Chua’s wealth, but we also had some helpers and they were provided with decent accommodations and, God forbid, they never slept on the dirt floor, not that we had any.  But I digress, and rightfully so, since I seem to have noticed too many inconsistencies on her story.  Considering how intelligent Chua is, I don’t understand the inconsistencies.  Maybe I misunderstood, or perhaps I’m just getting petty. 

But can one blame my pettiness if somebody compares being married to your compatriot similar to having a birth defect?  Which reminds me how beautiful Filipinos are, of course for both sexes.  Look at how many Filipinas have been Miss Universe -- two in the last count, and an additional five Miss Philippines have been semifinalists.  How many of Chua’s Chinese were Miss Universe?  None that I know of, not even as semifinalists -- but that’s of course a cruel thing to say since I know a lot of pretty Chinese women and good-hearted Chinese Filipinos.

On The Tiger Mother

And then finally, here is Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother, purporting how Chua’s Chinese method of parenting is superior to the Western method and, of course, to all other Asian countries.  Chua may be too smart to know that she may not be right the way she’s raising her children.  Reminds me of a Machiavellian pragmatism -- "the end justifies the means" -- though I don’t think I agree with it.  I cringed when her dad told her "to not ever disgrace him ever again" after she got only second prize in a national history competition, but she seemed to have justified that too.  She said she knew her father loved her and that he just wanted her to try her very best since he knew she was the best.  Imagine being the best among 6.8 billion people in the world: That’s such a prestigious honor, but really scary and so stressful – almost like Manny Pacquiao (yes, Chua, can you believe Pacquiao is an ethnic Filipino boxer?) being the greatest fighter ever in this world.

How does one maintain to be the best the world?  I’m realistic and I know I will never know.  I just want to be the best I can be.  But Chua certainly has a different outlook in life than most of us mortals.  That’s her family’s life philosophy and she certainly has the inalienable right to defend it – but then again it is her family and I’m glad not mine.  Life is too short to try to achieve perfection all the time – we need to aim for it but we should enjoy the trip.

On Our Filipino Way of Parenting

Briefly, allow me to tell you my own experience in raising two children here in America.  Like a lot of young engineers in the late 1960s, I immigrated to the US, met my future wife, got married, finished an advanced degree, and worked for a major US corporation.  We were blessed with a girl and a boy, and since we did not have extended family and since my new job moved us to a location where there was only one other Filipino family in town, we were left on our own to find the right methodology in parenting. 

Of course, we were neither experts nor very educated in parenting, but we used some of the lessons we learned from our own parents, picked up the good, and downplayed the ones we were not enthusiastic about.  Raising kids in America was more of a challenge relative to raising children in the old country.  This was a different culture and we did not have the presence of lots of relatives to provide some guidance and help.  What we tried to instill to our children was to do the best they could without threat of punishment.  We were not into extremism.  I was more like a "be happy and enjoy" guy and still am, although my wife was a little stricter but reasonable.  The way we raised our kids was to let them get into activities they liked, and we found out they excelled on things they wanted to do. Luckily, they were good kids and conscientious students too.  They also made mistakes along the way, but that was part of growing up and quite natural – and we were there to support them when they did, providing them with unconditional love, and just hoping that they would learn from their mistakes.

The girl excelled in dancing, gymnastics and piano, with no coercion from us but lots of support.  She was also an "A" student from the early stages of learning, garnered a BS in Sociology, then an MS in Medical Sciences, an MD degree, a residency, and finally a fellowship on her specialization – all at prestigious universities and institutions.  She is now a specialist surgeon in her field of expertise. 

The boy was a bit of a late bloomer, but also became an "A" student in high school through hard work.  He studied piano and saxophone but drifted to sports as he grew up.  He finished a BSME and an MBA degree also at prestigious universities, and now has a responsible job in a private corporation.  He married his college sweetheart who is also a lawyer and works for the federal government.  They have two little boys, our only two grandchildren – our pride and joy.

Our goals in raising our children were similar to those of Chua’s Chinese parents, but our approach was quite different.  Of course, we tried to instill in the kids when they were growing up to work to the best of their abilities.  Most of all, we thought we have to show that we love and will always support them and that was the most important thing in our lives and none of this ‘Chua’s Chinese disgrace’ nonsense.  In addition, since our ancestry came from a different culture and country, I urged them to be better than their American friends so they can feel equal with them (this was my own hang-up – I always knew I was just as good if not better than anybody else).  I’m not sure they understood that, but I know they are now doing well in their chosen professions and lives.

On The Philippine Economy

One has to remember that the United States really helped rebuild Japan after defeating it in World War II, while the Philippines which was an ally was not given the same treatment.  Despite this, the Philippines had the highest literacy rate in Southeast Asia during the mid-to-late 20th century.  It had an economy second only to Japan, ahead of Singapore and much better than South Korea and other neighboring countries.   It had prestigious universities where foreigners attended, taking advantage of their programs which could compete with the best of the best.  (Chua's essay reminded me of some Chinese classmates at the University of the Philippines; they did not speak Tagalog and they probably lived in the same enclave where the Chuas lived.  And though they were good students, they were not in the high percentile of our class.  I do digress again, but I’m just trying to show those critical intellectual ingrates that Filipinos can compete with anyone given the opportunity.)

In any case, as cronyism and corruption became rampant in the Philippines, perhaps fueled by briberies from the market-dominant minority to which Chua's Chinese family belong, the Philippine economy was fleeced bone-dry and the country fell to the bottom of the economic ladder in the region.  (By the way, another important point about the poor ethnic Filipinos that Chua always and relentlessly alluded to in her writings: Don't these impoverished people provide the clientele for the Chua companies to keep them reaping all those profits which make them market dominant or shamelessly rich?)

While things are beginning to change again with Pres. Aquino, all we can really do is just try to help in any way we can, pray, and hope fervently that the country will indeed recover and be what it once was -- and perhaps even better.  And I hope the market-dominant Chinese Filipinos will also do their part.

Finally: My Profound and Complicated Question

You know, I also just want to ask: Do you personally know, and are you really friends with, Nora Aunor?  :-)

Best regards to The Filipina and your family,

Pinoy na Inhenyerong Suya Sa Tsinitang Off-putting (aka "PISST OFF")

Dear PISST OFF,

(Source: Video48)

Thank you for your support for this blog and your comments.  Wow -- Chua must have rankled you real bad to write the above. ;-)

But to answer your question, of course, I know who Nora Aunor is!  I mean, who doesn't, right?  A true morena and Bicolana, she is an uragon actress who bested dragon ladies by topping the Ten Best Asian Actresses of the Decade poll for the 2010 Green Planet Movie Awards which was held in Los Angeles, California.  The other 9 Asian actresses who also made it to the elite list include Zhang Ziyi (China), Gong Li (China), Maggie Cheung (China), Nae Yuki (Japan), Angelica Lee (China), Hye-Soo Kim (Korea), Yaqing Jin (China), Yoon-jin Kim (Korea), and Rinko Kikuchi (Japan).

And you know what too?  Because she has made my mother and aunts very happy as her fans with her remarkable decades-long acting (and singing) career, I consider her a friend.  And until she unfriends me on Facebook, I'll proudly trumpet to the world that I'm her friend, too -- regardless if that profile of hers on FB is the real Nora or not. ;-)

Got a question for The Filipino?  Email him now at askthepinoy@gmail.com.

3-in-1: Are jeepney drivers stupid? Are Filipinos obsessed with skin whitening? Are Ilocanos Filipinos?

Question 1:

Dear Filipino,

AAF Rocks!

I am a Filipino and have lived in Metro Manila for the past 20 years. I have always hated public utility drivers. They're reckless, always breaking traffic laws, a lot of times discorteous among other bad descriptions that I try always not to be. And that is only with regards to how they earn their living. Is being poor a reason? Is it lack of education? Why are a lot of them stupid?

Regards,
Pikon Na

Question 2:

Dear Filipino,

Why are Filipinos obsessed with whitening their skin considering we are a tropical country (skin cancer, hello!), etc.?  Brown is beautiful!!!

Desert Pinay

Question 3:

Dear Filipino,

Why do most Ilocanos in the US of A especially those in Hawaii DENY being Filipinos and only speak their dialect and not Filipino (or Tagalog)?...I never believed this story when a friend of mine back home told me about it and we’re totally dumfounded when my brother and I witnessed it firsthand here in DMV California. When this American guy asked this mother and daughter if they’re Filipinos, they told the guy that they’re Ilocanas and it’s totally different.  What!? And why they would say those things?

Bert Perez

Dear Pikon, Desert and Bert,

First of all, happy New Year!

Here's a few tidbits re 2011: Did you know (and I'm pretending you care about the following factoids) that this year marks the 100th year of the arrival of the first De La Salle Brothers to the Philippines; the establishment of the University of the Philippines' College of Law, thanks in part to the YMCA; and (quite possibly) the birthday of Carlos Bulosan, labor activist, poet and author of America Is in the Heart, a must-read book for any serious student of Asian American history?  (And here's my bit about "tidbits": The Online Etymology Dictionary says tidbit "probably [came] from dialectal tid 'fond, solicitous, tender' + bit 'morsel,' but as in my usage here at least, I would submit that maybe tid was in fact borrowed from the Viking word for 'time.') 

Secondly, you're probably wondering why I decided to lump your questions in one blogpost.  There are really two reasons for that decision.  One is because I'm feeling a bit pressured to answer the mounting number of questions being lobbed at me and I needed to find a way to do it faster (sorry!); and two is because there's a theme that runs through your questions which I plan to explain more later (really!).

Thirdly, if you've read most of the previous blogposts here, you're also probably noticing a recurring thing on AAF!: i.e., that whoever this guy is -- i.e., me, a.k.a. "The Filipino" -- he does sound sometimes like he is some kind of "Chief Filipino Apologist" (CFA), if there's such a thing, right?  Well, I am not, and there is of course no such thing, although I now feel maybe there should be.

Fourthly, you probably also know this is just my third month as a blogger.  And I guess I'm not really complaining about the emails I get (keep them coming guys!), but look: I started this blog with the primary goal of answering mainly questions by non-Filipinos about Filipinos and the Philippines, and yet -- guess what? -- MOST of the questions I've received so far are from Filipinos!  Isn't that interesting?

And as to the kinds of questions I'm getting from Filipinos, both the answered and the pending?  Well, let's just say that, to me at least, several of the questions really reveal an underlying penchant for either self-flagellation and/or some form of disdain for the fellow Pinoy, thus confirming my long-held suspicion that we as a people -- whether based in the Philippines or abroad -- really are filled with so much socio-cultural baggage, so much unhealthy crap, and so much depressing BS, even in instances when we should be celebrating our colorful history, fascinating culture, and shared humanity.

I think this baggage, this crap, this BS, is the product of many factors, not least of which is not knowing who we are as a people, not knowing our history, not knowing facts, and feeling insecure about the Philippines' and our place in the fast-globalizing world.  And because we don't know ourselves, we live up to the stereotypes others have of us and then perpetuate them even further.

Now, I'm really not given to profanity when writing even with the anonymity afforded me by this Internet blog, but let me say this and let me say this clearly:

SCREW THOSE STEREOTYPES!

There, I said it.  And I hope you will forgive me (I actually wanted to use a stronger-sounding four-letter word that rhymes with buck but thought better of it).  I admit this is NOT a nice way to start the new year, but this is really the first time I'm intentionally cussing in this blog (my earlier post about "Milk!" doesn't count, of course) and I hope this is the last. 

You see, I am not really an angry brown man.  Believe me, I'm usually level-headed (relatively speaking at least) even when answering loaded and infuriating questions -- like where I had to:

     - explain why the Philippines does not really suck;

     - clearly imply that Filipino culture is not an impediment to success, as proven by the fact that as a group, Filipinos in the US are among the most affluent, best educated, and least poor; and

     - deny that Filipinos have a patent on crab mentality, a claim which is regularly being bandied about by Filipinos themselves.

Seriously, I am really getting frustrated by the amount of negativity about the Philippines and Filipinos out there, so much so that even without a related question posed, I felt the need to write a blogpost anyway arguing why we are not Somalia in the making.  I'm now glad I did because I just really found the very idea alarmist and way off the mark.

Let me repeat that: Philippines = Somalia in the making?  Way off the mark!

And that's what I also have to say about the underlying premises of the "Why?" questions posed by you guys -- Pikon, Desert and Bert:

Way off the mark!

Let me now go about your questions one by one.

Pikon's Question

Dear Pikon,

There are three question marks in your email but there is really only one question: "Why are a lot of [public utility drivers (let's call them PUDs for short)] stupid?"

Now, the two sentences preceding this question, while also punctuated by erotemes, are not real questions but are instead your proposed possible reasons for the "stupidity" of the PUDs : "being poor" and "lack of education."

So let's look deeper at the premise of your only real question: that PUDs are "stupid." 

Prior to the interrogative sentence, you wrote that "public utility drivers" are "reckless," "always breaking traffic laws," and "discorteous among other bad descriptions."  This statement also functions as the premise of your question, which is of course just your opinion, likely shaped by your limited experiences, observations and interactions with your subjects of inquiry, the PUDs.

But in "the premise to the premise" of your question, you revealed that you, sir, "have always hated" them.

Well, if that's the case, the premise to the premise of your question answers your question: As far as you are concerned, a lot of PUDs are "stupid" because you "have always hated them"!

Indeed, your question has lived up to the Latin etymology of the word premise -- i.e., praemittere, which means "to dispatch in advance," which is exactly what you did.  So why then did you even bother to email me your question? 

Oh, I know: Because you want someone like me to affirm your belief that "a lot of the PUDs are stupid." 

Well, I am sorry to disappoint you.  You won't get this affirmation from me, not even with more generous compliments about my blog.  In fact, I completely disagree with your belief and, truth be told, dislike you for it. 

And since it's the New Year, I hope you'll make it one of your resolutions to put a stop to your hatred of PUDs.  Seriously. 

For two reasons:

The first reason is because, contrary to your belief, a lot of them are actually very smart, just not lucky enough to get good breaks in life.  For sure, some of them are smarter than some of the folks in Congress right now, whether in the Philippines or the US.

Think about it: The quintessential PUD -- that is to say, the jeepney driver -- has to remember who has or hasn't paid yet; calculate and make change based on the distance travelled by every single passenger; listen to verbal commands to stop (para!); and watch the side streets for additional passengers (to be pursued), kotong cops (to be avoided, if possible) or angry girlfriends (also to be avoided, but impossible) -- all while driving in notoriously chaotic and crowded streets of cities like Manila. 

Frankly, it's a wonder to me that accidents don't happen more often involving jeepneys!

The second reason is because they are really just like you and I.  Most of them are nice and honest folks working as best as they can to raise a family and just survive with some modicum of decency intact.

I should know.  After all, I personally came to know several of these people, having personally washed and cleaned many of their vehicles for a living when I was much, much younger. 

Moreover, I know whereof I speak because I myself was also a "public utility driver" once.  With my two legs serving as the engine and my fear of hunger as the fuel, I was the "driver" of a kariton (pushcart) during my early teens, plying the roads of my small provincial city as a magbobote.  I fit the definition of a PUD because my business then, which involved buying and selling scrap metals and bottles for a couple of local junk yards, also definitely served a "public utility": i.e., to rid the sellers of their junk; promote commerce; and help the country's nascent recycling efforts (this, the poor do as a matter of survival, by the way, and not to be fashionable, unlike some of the holier-than-thou folks I know).

A certified promdi, I also remember getting lost one time some 20 years ago after falling asleep aboard a jeepney plying the Cubao-Marikina route.  I woke up, panicky but still groggy, somewhere in Marikina when I should have gotten off much earlier: at the Katipunan stop, where my dorm was most proximate.  The driver, bless his heart, allowed me back in for free (maybe you find this stupid?), and made sure to drop me at the right stop on the way back.

But why, you'll probably insist, do most of those PUDs drive like maniacs? 

Well, I'm not bulls-itting you, but it is at this juncture that I must call on the kindred spirits of Sitting Bull.  Because there is in fact an American Indian proverb which says: "Never criticize a man until you've walked a mile in his moccasins."

Well, in this case, I ask you: If you really want to understand PUDs, withhold your hatred of them first until you've had a turn at the wheel of a non-airconditioned jeepney, with pollution and smoke blowing in your face and all over on a hot and humid day, and you had to try with all your might to navigate Manila's mind-boggling traffic gridlocks as fast as practicable in order to cover miles and miles just to be able to pay for ever-increasing boundary fees and gasoline prices, and miles and miles more to eke out a pittance of a living just to feed and clothe your kids. 

That's all really.  Try it.  Then maybe you'll be able to answer your own question about PUDs -- or even just come up with a different one.

Desert's Question

Dear Desert,

I agree completely: Brown is indeed beautiful.  Very beautiful.

But obviously, the premise of your "Why?" question is this: that Filipinos are in fact obsessed with skin whitening.  It may or may not be true on an individual level (I'm voting for the latter), but it's really best to re-visit who exactly are obsessed with skin whitening and why.

But first, another confession: During my first year in college, when my face was getting attacked by a bad case of pimples while at the same time I was also feeling a bit insecure about my being very dark (blame genes and years of being under the sun) in a college environment where rich, good-looking mestizo Filipinos abound, I turned to cheap Eskinol products.  The ads said Eskinol would get rid of pimples and also have some whitening effect, so I bought it.  Why not -- it was "perfect" for a certified promdi like me, right?  I'm ashamed about it now but it's true -- I too bought into their hideous marketing claim.  In any case, Eskinol didn't really work, and since it's the only brand I could afford then, I stopped caring altogether, liberating me in the process and giving me that "ruggedly handsome" look. ;-)

Now, it's very easy to say that use of skin whitening products is just another manifestation of colonial mentality, of autophobia or self-hatred, of low self-esteem. (Of course, this can also just be a case of people wanting what they don't have, which should explain why white people spare no expense sometimes to get that "healthy tan" look.)  Any of these theories is intuitively correct and can likely be proven with empirical data.  In fact, it is common knowledge that people from countries and ethnic groups with a history of Western colonization and enslavement suffer from this desire to look like their white rulers.  Viewed in the prism of today's world, some now see this desire, which has come to mean to be literally whiter, as a mental illness (think Michael Jackson).

Can you imagine though if African empires had ruled the world?  What would things be like?  For this question, the so-called "Obama Effect" in fashion shows and runway castings provides a clue.

And this is why the premise of your question is way off:  Because I think Filipinos are not the ones obsessed with skin whitening.  It's big business -- encompassing the cosmetics and pharmaceutical industries, the TV industry, and the media in general -- that is obsessed with it.  In other words, it's capitalism that's obsessed with it.

Think about it.  Without big business pushing and marketing and advertising skin whiteners incessantly, Filipinos (and indeed many other ethnic groups) would not even be thinking about skin whitening; they would live with the characteristics they were born with.  Without big business obsessed with profits, there would be no revolting Glutathione craze gripping the Philippines and all its attendant problems, no MLM scammers promising another "unmatched business opportunity" to capitalize on some "medical breakthrough" and issuing other exaggerated statements which they know fully well have not even been evaluated by authorities like the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

That's why, you see, this obsession with skin whitening is not about Filipinos really.  It's purely about money.  Gobs of it.

And the Filipinos who get taken here are but the victims of an elaborate hoax -- the unwitting participants in a long-running subjugation of simpler minds. 

No, these victimized Filipinos are not obsessed: They've just been told over and over and over again that in order for them to succeed, to feel better about themselves, to look desirable, to improve themselves, they have to look whiter.  They've been told over and over and over again that not changing their skin color will consign them to poverty and more misery.

And for me, if there's one thing commendable about these poor Filipinos buying into this noxious propaganda hook, line and sinker, it is this: That these Filipinos have shown that they do want to better themselves so they're doing something about their perceived shortcomings.  In a way, one can argue that it's better than doing nothing.

The challenge of course is how to change these Filipinos' misguided thinking, but that's a question best left for another day.

Bert's Question

Dear Bert,

This is an amusing question because it's true: Many Ilocanos really consciously tell people they are Ilocanos, not Filipinos.  It's been their schtick for a while now.  I've heard this even from my esteemed college Philosophy professor, an Ilocano himself, who taught his course entirely in Tagalog. 

I think Ilocanos make that statement because they have a rich cultural and heritage identity.  They pride themselves on being an industrious and thrifty people, in much the same way that Bicolanos pride themselves on being uragon.

But you are off the mark because if you think about it, they are not really denying their Filipino-ness, for the simple reason that they can't.  In fact, by saying they're Ilocanos, they are admitting that they are Filipinos. 

You have to understand also that Ilocanos were really the first to migrate to the US as hired plantation hands in Hawaii a litttle over a century ago, which corresponds to the first decade of American occupation of the Philippines.  At that time, the Americans were still just in the initial stages of introducing a national Congress for the Philippines, universal education and national laws patterned after the US legal system.  The very concept of "Filipino" itself was fairly new, with most linguistic groups really unsure about what was happening outside their own.

Against that backdrop, this is how I choose to see these Ilocanos claiming they are not Filipinos: They are descendants of the first Ilocanos who had to migrate to the US and market themselves to employers in order to get hired.  And what they had to say goes something like this: "You've probably heard somewhere from your parents or grandparents or other relatives who went to the Philippines as a soldier, missionary or colonial official that in the Philippines, the locals don't have to work the fields much because food is abundant and they also love to spend all they have just to have fun, much like the Spanish do, causing all sorts of issues.  Well, I am not your typical Filipino.  I am the industrious and thrifty type because I am Ilocano.  So go ahead, hire me, and make my day." 

And in a way it's a good thing, even if the statement has a condescending ring to it, even if the statement reeks of misguided ethnocentricity.  Because what they are really saying is: "Don't you dare think that all Filipinos are of the same mental, emotional and constitutional makeup, because they are not."  And that statement is true because no group really is.

I'm sure though that most of these Ilocanos, like my professor, did not really mean to say they are not Filipinos.  As for those who do mean what they say, guess what?  Until and unless the Ilocos Region secedes from the Philippines, they can say they're not Filipinos all they want until they're blue in the face, but in the end, they'll still be Filipinos. 

In closing...

Hey, this is quite a long post now.  You've probably tuned me out already long before this line.  But if you're still reading this, I just want to (1) apologize for the profanity again, (2) thank you for reading this blog, and (3) wish you again Naragsac nga Baro nga Tawen (Happy New Year in Ilocano). 

Got a question for The Filipino? Email him now at askthepinoy@gmail.com.