Pinoy Blog Machine (Beta)

I never thought I’d be asked and I’d be answering this meme, “3 Reasons Why It Feels Great to be Pinoy”. To think that, almost everyday of our lives, we come up with reasons to put Filipinos down, from the worst traffic in EDSA to the red tape in government. At first I thought it would have been easier if the question was “3 Reasons Why Being Filipino Sucks”. That’s a pessimist for you. But lately I’ve learned I must look on the brighter side of things more often (because I’m getting older). No use living life down and out.

So, thanks for the tag, Jhay of The Four-eyed Journal and Beejing of Get a Life! This is my chance to meditate on the why I should feel great being Filipino.

Three Reasons Why It Feels Great To Be Pinoy

1) We tend to be more compassionate and loving towards our elderly than our Western brothers. This is true. We live as extended families: mother, father, the in-laws, siblings, nieces and nephews, grandparents, and the househelp all in the same house. We just don’t seem to entertain the idea that we’ll let our old parents or grandparents live on their own in a house where nobody can take care of their needs. More often than not, we’d rather invite them to our own home, suffer the extra hungry mouths to feed and to take care of and the occasional (or frequent) fights with the spouse or the in-laws regarding them, than to spend countless nights thinking if they’re all right living alone in the house, if they’ve eaten well, or if the house is still intact and not burned down to the ground because Grandpa forgot to turn off the stove or put out the candle. To leave our old parents under the care of nursing homes is not an idea we entertain. For as long as we have the means and the energy, we’d rather take care of them rather than pay strangers to take care of them for us.

This is often not the case in the West. At the age of eighteen, the young adult leaves home, work on one, two, or three jobs, earning money so that he could study, and settle on his own, single or married. What happens to his parents? Parents, finding the nest empty because all of their sons/daughters have already fled, live out their lives as if they never had children at all. Kids aren’t expected that they ought to care for their parents. When they get too old to take care of themselves, either they enroll themselves in nursing homes or the kids do it for them.

I do not criticize Westerners for doing such things. It’s their culture and it’s their way of life. But it’s not something that I think I’d do. I’d rather take care of my own folks, be it that they drive me crazy most of the time. And I don’t expect my future kids to be taking care of me when I grow old. But it would be an easier and happier life if I were to grow old with all my little grandchildren around me than spending it in a nursing home.

2) We are a poor country, but still we can smile. We may be poor, unlike our Asian neighbors like Singapore and Japan. But, at least, despite the poverty, we remain, generally, a happy people. Unlike those rich countries, where people can spend all they want for what they want and still they feel unhappy and depressed. I think this trait of the Filipinos is a measure of strength, as long as we don’t overdo it. How to overdo it? Lose your job and get drunk every afternoon and every night while your children starve. I’ve seen some folks like that here in my town. I see that their houses are almost in shambles, and yet they spend every afternoon out of their little shanties, their rickety table spread out with bottles and bottles of gin and pulutan, which I don’t know how they were able to acquire since they are jobless, and laughing and cajoling with their drunken friends while their poor wives are at wits’ end trying to find food for the kids. But I hope they’re just a minority. I still want to believe that majority of our people are hardworking despite being poor.

3) We can be transplanted anywhere without losing our Pinoy identity. How do I know? Plant a pinoy in the United States and after some time, you’ll see that pinoy happily living, comfortable with eating Uncle Sam’s food or donning the American accent to fit in his surroundings. And yet when he’s in his own clique of kapwa pinoys, he’s still the same Pedro who left the Philippines. Plant a pinoy in Germany and he’d soon look, talk, and walk like a German (or close enough to be able to blend in). Yet when he comes home, he’d still be cooking his adobo. My point is, when we do leave our country and get to live somewhere, we may undergo changes because we have to survive in that place but still, we keep in ourselves our distinct Pinoy traits.

Ten people I’m tagging to do this meme:

Ann of Fighting Gravity

Bluepanjeet of On The Wings Of My Dreams

Benj of Atheista

L.A. of Artworks | Blog of An Uber Virgin Queer

Poell of Nestle Poell’s Recipe For a Chocolatey Life

Ade of Noisy, Noisy Man | Your Daily Dose of Retard

Yna of XXX - Your Daily Dose of Porn

Paolo of The Philosophical Bastard

Maki of noneed4ink

JJ of Unsent: Notes To and From My Former Self

Tags: why it feels great to be pinoy, pinoy, philippines

I was the merchandising voice for this radio station from 04 - 06. Roughly eighteen months. An occupational hazard of my career is that when stations re-format or change their look, merch voices are oftentimes the first to go. These plugs are fro...

Read and post comments | Send to a friend

I didn't expect that Riyo Mori of Japan will win the Miss Universe 2007 title. Yup she is beautiful and all but there are also very stunning candidates - even Miss Philippines, not to be bias is also beautiful. She is however very pretty and sexy too. It's quite good to see that Asians are getting a place in Miss Universe titles. Even Miss Korea is one of the Top 5. This victory is good news

This is for you. Sometimes being a friend means mastering the art of timing. There is a time for silence. A time to let go and allow people to hurl themselves into their own destiny. And a time to prepare to pick up the pieces when it's all over. - Gloria NaylorSo tell me when it's over. I'm just here ready to help you.

With the canvassing of the election results remains chaotic and bloody, are we seeing more threats against journalists covering it? Journalists -- whether they are based in the provinces or in Manila like Ricky Carandang -- remain under attack for only doing their work.

I was able to catch ANC (ABS-CBN News Channel) reporting about the threat against two of their journalists. The two journalists were in the studio talking about the threat. While ANC and ABS-CBN have been reporting about these media threats and attacks in the past, I hope they would also give cases involving other journalists who might not be connected with their network the same airtime they gave to Carandang and their radio reporter Noel Alamar.

Having that said, ABS-CBN is right to quickly report, and condemn, the incident. When a journalist gets a threat, he or she should quickly report it -- nay, shout it out -- to media organizations and authorities.

Reporter receives death threat after exposing election anomalies
Source: Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility

A television and a radio reporter for the ABS-CBN network received death threats in Lanao del Norte, a province located in the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), after reporting election irregularities in the province. ARMM is in Mindanao, the second largest and southernmost island of the Philippines.

ABS-CBN television news program TV Patrol World reported on 28 May 2007 the threats received by reporters Ricky Carandang and Noel Alamar, which came after they reported election anomalies in Lanao. Carandang is a television reporter/anchor while Alamar reports for DZMM, the flagship AM station of the ABS-CBN broadcasting corporation.

ABS-CBN news and current affairs head Maria Ressa released a statement on the 29 May 2007 episode of TV Patrol World condemning the incident.

“ABS-CBN News and Current Affairs condemns in the strongest possible terms, these attempts to intimidate the members of our newsgathering team. We would like to warn those involved that their identities are known to us,” Ressa said.

Ressa also added that they are “prepared to take legal action should these threats continue or should any harm come to Mr. Carandang, Mr. Alamar, or any member of ABS-CBN News and Current Affairs.”

Read more here.

I was the merchandising voice for this radio station from 04 - 06. Roughly eighteen months. An occupational hazard of my career is that when stations re-format or change their look, merch voices are oftentimes the first to go.

These plugs are from a show that they used to air and are some of my best work. They were directed and produced by one of the best and one of the most talented and creative persons in the business - Gerry Magnaye of Adfarm.

He made me sound like a rock goddess - tall, thin, blonde, and blue-eyed in a leather jacket on a Harley-Davidson. Of course, in real life I'm the total opposite.

So my beloved obsession came to a temporary halt when I lost my pedometer one morning. In the aftermath, I was too sad to keep up my 10,000 steps per day routine seeing that I didn't know exactly how many steps I was making! The sadness led to laz...

Read and post comments | Send to a friend

I was  recently tagged by LJ Serrano . Here’s how this goes: 1. Answer the question: What are the 3 signs you see happening now that make you say, “it feels great to be Pinoy?” 2. Tag 10 people. 3. Even if you’re not tagged, go ahead and join the fun! ———————————  3 Signs why it feels great to be Pinoy: #1: [...]