Happy New Year to all Pinoys and Pinoy friends around the world!
January 1, 2010
December 22, 2009
Dear Everyone,
May the blessings of Christmas fill you with peace and joy!
May the coming New Year bring you happiness and success!
Lots of love and all the best to you!
December 1, 2009
This article was sent to me through an email by a good friend, Mimi. It’s written by Scott M. Allford, an Australian who has traveled in various parts of Asia. He has fallen in love with the Philippines and has decided to write this article. I’m reproducing the whole thing here verbatim.
“Viewing The Philippines In A Different Light …..
by Scott Allford
October 18, 2009
If you live outside of the Philippines and you watch or read the news you may feel very justified in believing that the Philippines is a very dangerous country, savaged by typhoons, earthquakes, volcanoes, floods, and terrorist attacks. You may also be assured in your belief that it is a poor country with images of children picking through garbage, slums, and corruption scandals broadcast in most international news reports. I am not going to deny that these things are true, however, they are not all that the country contains. Not every person in the Philippines is poor, a terrorist or a victim of terror. In fact other countries around the world suffer from these same problems yet they do not become iconic images of those nations.
The Common View of the Philippines
A few months ago I was at a roof-top birthday party in Makati filled with socialites and expats. Whilst there I was introduced to a German ‘journalist’, and my friend asked him why the Philippines is portrayed in such a negative light in the foreign media. His response was in two parts; Firstly because in his experience he could not sell stories about the Philippines in Germany if they were not about poverty, violence or corruption. Secondly, he said that because there is so much poverty, violence, and corruption, there is nothing else to report on. After saying this, he sipped his glass of red wine and was whisked away into a group of Filipino socialites.
Perhaps the red wine was ‘poor’ in taste, or the fact that that particular roof-top was one of the few in Makati which doesn’t have a swimming pool made him focus on the poverty in the Philippines, or maybe the sounds of merrymaking were ‘violent’ on his ears. I think that it was none of these things. Germany, a developed country, has slums. But if the focus can be moved away from the poverty in the developed countries and put on some islands way out in the Pacific Ocean, then people in developed countries can feel a little bit better.
I remember growing up in Australia, taking garbage out to the dump after cleaning up the garden. I would see Aboriginals picking through the garbage for food. Yet that has never been an iconic image of Australia. I went to ‘water villages’ in Malaysia and Brunei and thought how similar they look to slums in Manila. Yet ‘water villages’ are tourist attractions and the slums here are not. I lived in South Korea a few hundred kilometres away from the DMZ, with jets and helicopters flying overhead all the time it felt like a war zone. In the spring I would have 40 tanks facing in the direction of my apartment. Yet South Korea is generally not viewed or branded as a dangerous country. And South Korea has slums too. Perhaps the time will come when people outside the Philippines will come to realize that the branded image of the Philippines portrayed in the media is only a small piece of the full picture of this country.
A Different View
Since the Philippines was settled by people 30,000 years ago, this country has blossomed into a mix of over 180 indigenous ethnic groups, over half of which also represent unique linguistic groups. This array of cultures, languages and cultural artifacts cannot be matched by most nations of the world. From the Ilocano, Pangasinense, Kapampangan, Tagalog, Bicolano, and Visayans to the Binukid, Moros, Ati, Igorot, and the T’boli, just to name a few. These cultures are rich, strong and proud and in most cases the people that make up these cultures are very friendly and welcoming to outsiders. On a trip to Sagada I was welcomed into a very warm and friendly Kankanaey family. They showed us around Sagada and told us stories of Kankanaey cultural practices. They even taught me how to wear a traditional bahag (a hand-loomed loin cloth or G-string).
Neighbouring Sagada is Ifugao, with vast rice terraces that shape the mountains of the region. The oldest rice terraces are 6,000 years old, which is 1,000 years older than the oldest pyramid in Egypt. If put end to end the rice terraces dwarf the Great Wall of China, and the rice terraces were not made by using slave labor like most other ancient wonders of the world.
The Banaue Rice Terraces are a UNESCO World Heritage site. But they are not alone. The Philippines have numerous UNESCO world heritage sites including the Baroque churches of San Agustin Church in Manila, Nuestra Señora de la Asuncion in Santa Maria, Ilocos Sur, San Agustin Church in Paoay, Ilocos Norte, and Sto. Tomas de Villanueva Church in Miag-ao, Iloilo. There is also the beautiful and historic town of Vigan in Ilocos Sur. Furthermore, there are the natural UNESCO World Heritage sites of the Puerto-Princesa Subterranean River National Park and the Tubbataha Reefs Natural Park.
Lastly, the Philippines consists of 7,107 beautiful islands. These islands contain remote beaches and amazing rock formations as well as other natural wonders like the Chocolate Hills in Bohol, the perfectly conical Mt. Mayon volcano or the stunning Bacuit Bay in El Nido, Palawan. But also on these islands is a range of bio diversity not seen in most other places on the planet. In Romblon, Sibuyan Island is known as the Galapagos of Asia as it contains such a diverse range of species which can be found nowhere else on the planet. If you get off these islands and dive into the cool blue-turquoise waters of the Philippines, you may also see some of the richest bio diversity in the world’s seas. The Verde Island Passage has been named as the ‘centre of the centre’ of marine bio diversity in the world. It has over 300 species of corals as well as vast numbers of fish that you will not find anywhere else.
With all that this country has to offer, I am baffled as to why it has been branded in such a negative way by the international media. However, I think that more and more people are starting to discover that there is a different side to the Philippines to the one they have been bombarded with for the past few decades. Those who come to the Philippines to seek out the beauty of this country will not be disappointed. However, first time travelers to the Philippines should beware, just like me and many other foreigners, this amazing country may compel you to stay quite a bit longer than you initially planned.
Scott M. Allford <http://tourism- Philippines. com/author/ scottallford/> has lived and worked in Australia and South Korea and has traveled extensively throughout Asia – Mongolia, China, Tibet, Cambodia, Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan, Indonesia and Japan – fell in love with the Philippines and decided to allocate at least two years to comprehensively cover the country.”
November 23, 2009
Efren Penaflorida, a Filipino, is declared CNN Hero of the Year!
Efren bested 9 other nominees from various parts of the world for the Hero of the Year Award. He is now known around the world as the one who started the “Kariton Klasrum” program.
Through this program Efren and his group, the “Dynamic Teen Company”, go to various areas in their province carrying books and other educational materials in a cart or “kariton”. They teach children how to read and write. He started this group when he was still a teenager, thus the name of the group. Efren is now 28 years old.
For more stories about Efren an his heroic efforts, please click on the links below.
http://edition.cnn.com/2009/LIVING/11/16/cnnheroes.tribute.show/index.html
http://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx?articleId=525973&publicationSubCategoryId=63
Efren Penaflorida, we are so proud of you!
November 16, 2009
We are all so proud of the accomplishment of Manny “Pacman” Pacquiao. He got his 7th world title in 7 different boxing categories by beating Miguel Cotto of Puerto Rico yesterday! Nobody has ever done this before, so Manny really made history yesterday!
Congratulations Manny! You really deserve to be called the greatest boxer of all time!
October 20, 2009
Hey everyone,
Have you heard about akosiChris? He is American (from New Jersey), but he loves to sing Pinoy OPM like the music of; Eraserheads or Bamboo, etc. Isn’t this nice for a change? Check out some of his videos in youtube.
October 5, 2009
Typhoon Ondoy Stories – Little Children are Heroes Too
Posted by pinoyyellowbug under UncategorizedLeave a Comment
My friend Nanding shared this story about how his grandchildren helped in the relief operation for victims of typhoon Ondoy. I thought that it’s a very heartwarming and inspiring story, so I’m sharing it here verbatim.
“Yesterday, I got another huge load of donation-several boxes containing maybe a total of 1000 little bags of cookies of different flavors. Today, being Sunday and therefore, family day, I thought of involving only the little members of our family, my 8 grandchildren, ages 4 to 10 maybe (maxine, gian,pempen,ciala,laura,jeremy,wapee, RJ,} in the distribution of the goods. we opened the boxes, rehearsed the process-each one of them getting 2 different types of bags of cookies each time, lining up to hand the goods to each imaginary kid-recipient,going back to the boxes to get another pair, going back to the line to wait for his/her turn to give it to another kid. When we thought they were ready, my nephews and nieces contacted the barangay tanod and ask him to send only the children in front of our gate. In less than a minute, there was a long line of little kids by the little door of our gate and my grandchildren awkwardly started their version of relief work. It was a sight to behold, my grandchildren, some also affected by the floods, but that time eagerly, and responsibly making sure that each kid outside the door gets his/her share. My sharp-eyed grandkid wapee was a good monitor. i heard him say a couple of times to some kids, “hoy nakakuha ka na kanina, kawawa yung iba,” or “hoy pumila ka,hindi tama yan,” There was even a time when i felt he was just about to lose his patience. He was already screaming, red-faced, ” pag hindi ka pumila, hindi kita bibigyan !” pero sabay abot din ng cookies, kasabay ng buntung-hininga, “hay naku, ang titigas ng ulo ! “
Gian, my other grandkid, 4 yrs old would slow down the process because after giving the bags, he would first watch the reaction of the recipient, and would not move until his other cousins irritatingly get to push him aside, and that’s the only time he would run to get his supply and go back to the line behind his cousins. RJ and pempen are the most excited. They could not stay in the line. After getting the goods, they would overtake thir cousins, go right in front and throw the bags to their recipients.
The little girls, ah the little girls, maxine, ciala and laura were prim and proper, always waiting for their turn to get the goods, they stayed in the line, never overtaking the others and they gave the goods to the hungry kids , with a smile on their faces. Jeremy, 6, gave away, I think 2 pairs of bags of cookies and then rested in a corner, saying, he’s tired already. He got one bag of cookies, opened it, and quietly ate to his heart’s delight. I forgot to tell you and I must explain that his other cousins were so focused on the actual distribution because earlier, after opening the boxes, and before the rehearsals, I already told them, Okey get your own bags first, put them aside and you can eat them after the distribution. Jeremy, was not there at that time, because he was running after his mother and blaming her for his being the only one not wearing a red shirt. I was told that their parents were supposed to make all their children-”social workers” wear red shirts. Sarah, Jeremy’s mother forgot about it. So, jeremy was “absent” during the ” serve yourself” pre-distribution phase. Sigurista din ang apo kong yon. Hindi yan magugutom.
Anyway, we adults, especially, I, the oldest, had fun watching the little ones and their relief operations. What can i say? Even in disasters, we can have little joys and little acts of goodness from the little ones”.
nanding
September 30, 2009
The recent typhoon Ondoy that devastated a large part of Metro Manila and neighboring provinces brought out the best in most of the Filipinos. Stories about heroes/heroines and heroic deeds prevailed throughout the typhoon days and even until now.
Our family also experienced for the first time having flood (knee-deep) inside the house. This is nothing compared to what many of our countrymen experienced though. Many of our things were destroyed but those are just things and can be replaced. Lives lost cannot be replaced. I am just thankful that we are safe and did not have to climb our roof.
Well, as I said, times like this brings out the best in majority of our countrymen. Soldiers, workers, stars, ordinary people became heroes during the last few days. I’m really proud we are a people with strong compassion and bayanihan spirit. Mabuhay ang Pilipino!
September 24, 2009
I love adobo and I was intrigued when I read in the paper (Philippine Star) today that a healthy adobo was conconcted by a Filipina during the Healthy and Tasty Challenge 2009 Filipino Recipe Competition in Blacktown, NSW, Australia. The Filipina’s name is Neria Soliman and below is her Adobo recipe. According to her, the secret is in the vinegar she used, Mama Sita’s Cococnut Nectar Vinegar. I don’t know if the contest was sponsored by Mama Sita but here is her adobo recipe.
Adobo Supreme
Ingredients
- 1 k mixed chicken without skin
- 3/4 cup Mama Sita Native Coconut Nectar Vinegar
- 1/4 cup soy sauce
- 1/2 tsp cracked peppercorn
- 2 pcs small bay leaf
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 1/4 cup vegetable oil
- 1 cup pineapple juice the the tin of crushed pineapple
- 2 cups crushed pineapple
- 2 slices fresh pineapple rings as sidings
- 1/4 cup pineapple chunks for garnish
- toasted garlic
Procedure
- Prepare and measure all ingredients and mix together the first 6 ingredients. Let stand for 10 minutes
- Cook in a pan, cover and simmer
- Drain the chicken but set aside the sauce
- Fry the chicken briefly in small amount of oil until golden brown
- Add the fried chicken to the sauce where the chicken was simmered
- Add juice from the crushed pineapple (optional), continue to simmer until chicken is tender
- Add crushed pineapple
- Continue cooking until sauce is thick. Add additional soy sauce to taste
- When cooked, put pineapple chunks as garnish. Sprinkle with toasted garlic
Put adobo on top of 1/2 cup rice. Put 2 – 3 slices of pineapple rings and green onion stems as sidings. Serve with grilled eggplant salad in lemon dressing. Makes four to six servings.
So there you are, enjoy your adobo!
September 22, 2009
When was the last time you sang “Bayan Ko”? If it has been a while, I invite all of you to sing with Lea Salonga as she sang during the funeral mass for our beloved Tita Cory. Her version is one of the most soulful renditions I have ever heard lately.
Bayan Ko
Original Tagalog lyrics by Jose Corazon de Jesus
Melody by Constancio de Guzman.
Ang bayan kong Pilipinas
Lupain ng ginto’t bulaklak
Pag-ibig ang sa kanyang palad
Nag-alay ng ganda’t dilag.
At sa kanyang yumi at ganda
Dayuhan ay nahalina
Bayan ko, binihag ka
Nasadlak sa dusa.
Ibon mang may layang lumipad
Kulungin mo at umiiyak
Bayan pa kayang sakdal dilag
Ang di magnasang makaalpas!
Pilipinas kong minumutya
Pugad ng luha ko’t dalita
Aking adhika,
Makita kang sakdal laya!
