This is probably the very reason why the Philippines has not yet risen to reach her potential. Yes, Filipinos are creative, intelligent, hardworking and very talented people and yet our beloved country is still being left behind by our Asian neighbors. Why? don't tell me its completely because of the government. There is corruption EVERYWHERE, in ALL countries, in EVERY shape and form.
I believe the real reason here is the Filipinos themselves. Filipinos are inherently selfish and a bit of a complainer. That might not sit well with a lot of you that might read this. But from what I saw that is the truth. Take this "the country owes us" statement. If you asked every OFW the reason why they chose to go abroad, their answer would be to give their family or themselves a better life. So what they do is go to another country and send money home. Mind you that most of this money goes into their families, not into charitable institutions, government agencies or infrastructure projects. True that some of it goes to the government as taxes, but that wasn't really the intention on the sender's part was it? And still we think that the country "owes us".
We Filipinos have a habit of pointing our fingers to other people or other things to explain the misfortunes that come into our lives. I don't really know where this came from nor do I really care. But it's just plain stupid. If something bad happened to you, like say, you fell on a muddy ditch, don't go throwing mud on other people's faces. Instead, stand up and wash yourself. It's really that simple.
The late U.S. President Kennedy said "ask not what your country can do for you - ask what you can do for your country". This pretty much sums it up. We may never live to see a corrupt-free Philippine government, but we can sure as hell do something to make the Philippines a better place.
One last thought, if instead of writing the Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo, Jose Rizal thought "I have studied in the great universities in Europe and made quite a name for myself, I would surely want to come home and see the grand welcome in store for me". Would he still be remembered as the great man that he is?
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
A lash out from an OFW
I encountered a post from an OFW who was clearly distraught about how the Philippine government is running the country. Then he asked the question about how the OFWs will get something from the country because of being and working somewhere else. I just had to reply. This was how it went.
Monday, July 7, 2008
Pinoy Artistic renaissance
Before the start of every year, it has been a custom for psychics and fortune tellers to come out with their predictions for the coming year. 2008 was no different. All sorts of these statements came out. It can sometimes be fun just listening to them and waiting if they would ever come true.
One time, I read a 2008 prediction for the Philippines in a website. The item that struck me the most was that according to this, there was going to be a Filipino scientific renaissance. Well for a moment, I was lost in my thoughts of having Filipino scientists and engineers gracing the covers of scientific publications, making their presence felt in their fields of research. Then I read at the bottom of the page that this was just a prediction may or may not come true. I thought to myself, of course. That would be too good to be true, but I've been crossing my fingers ever since. Who wouldn't want the brilliant Filipino mind to be finally recognized internationally.
Well, half of the year has passed already. There was still no barrage of Filipino names on leading journals or publications. Although I must admit I came across some Filipinos making a mark in their fields. 6 more months to go, and my fingers are still crossed.
However, if you looked the on the other side, there are a lot of Filipinos making waves at the performing arts scene. This should actually come as no surprise since we already have a multitude of world class talents. However, the pinoys that have come out this year has just been phenomenal and deserve some praise.
First of which is a pinoy born of both pinoy parents. He grew up in Austria though. He sings and he dances, very well indeed. He joined the Austrian TV show Musical: Die show, much like any talent show except they only perform songs from well known musicals. Surprise, surprise he won the grand prize. Here is a clip of my favorite performance of his. I must tell you that you should see all his performances. All of which are superb.
The next pinoy performer is a young girl, not even old enough to vote. But she has been asked to perform in TV shows and programs in different countries. Her name is Charice Pempengco. Interestingly, her rise to fame started when a video of her was uploaded in Youtube. From then on, she has performed in Korea, UK and the USA. Here is the video of her performing in StarKing Tv show in South Korea.
It's just funny how the jaws of the guests on the show drop when they hear her start singing.
Another pinoy who was catapulted to fame by a video posted in youtube is Arnel Pineda. Arnel was a lead singer of a local band called the The Zoo. The band performed cover songs, some of which were songs by the American band Journey. Now by some coincidence, one of Journey's members was looking through Youtube in search of a lead singer for his band. Then he chanced upon The Zoo's video and was blown away by Arnel's performance. So much so that he immediately contacted Arnel for a meeting. At present, they already released an album and performed in various places. Here is a clip of the band performing in Chile with their brand new frontman.
Like I said, half of the year has passed. And I'm hoping more pinoys would be recognized for their talent and work. Some would argue that we shouldn't be too proud of these people just because they're pinoy. I beg to differ, we should be in a constant lookout for people like these and set them as examples and ambassadors of the Philippines. We have, as a nation, a responsibility to make our presence felt in the world. And with pinoys like them, we can truly say we are proud to be pinoy!
One time, I read a 2008 prediction for the Philippines in a website. The item that struck me the most was that according to this, there was going to be a Filipino scientific renaissance. Well for a moment, I was lost in my thoughts of having Filipino scientists and engineers gracing the covers of scientific publications, making their presence felt in their fields of research. Then I read at the bottom of the page that this was just a prediction may or may not come true. I thought to myself, of course. That would be too good to be true, but I've been crossing my fingers ever since. Who wouldn't want the brilliant Filipino mind to be finally recognized internationally.
Well, half of the year has passed already. There was still no barrage of Filipino names on leading journals or publications. Although I must admit I came across some Filipinos making a mark in their fields. 6 more months to go, and my fingers are still crossed.
However, if you looked the on the other side, there are a lot of Filipinos making waves at the performing arts scene. This should actually come as no surprise since we already have a multitude of world class talents. However, the pinoys that have come out this year has just been phenomenal and deserve some praise.
First of which is a pinoy born of both pinoy parents. He grew up in Austria though. He sings and he dances, very well indeed. He joined the Austrian TV show Musical: Die show, much like any talent show except they only perform songs from well known musicals. Surprise, surprise he won the grand prize. Here is a clip of my favorite performance of his. I must tell you that you should see all his performances. All of which are superb.
The next pinoy performer is a young girl, not even old enough to vote. But she has been asked to perform in TV shows and programs in different countries. Her name is Charice Pempengco. Interestingly, her rise to fame started when a video of her was uploaded in Youtube. From then on, she has performed in Korea, UK and the USA. Here is the video of her performing in StarKing Tv show in South Korea.
It's just funny how the jaws of the guests on the show drop when they hear her start singing.
Another pinoy who was catapulted to fame by a video posted in youtube is Arnel Pineda. Arnel was a lead singer of a local band called the The Zoo. The band performed cover songs, some of which were songs by the American band Journey. Now by some coincidence, one of Journey's members was looking through Youtube in search of a lead singer for his band. Then he chanced upon The Zoo's video and was blown away by Arnel's performance. So much so that he immediately contacted Arnel for a meeting. At present, they already released an album and performed in various places. Here is a clip of the band performing in Chile with their brand new frontman.
Like I said, half of the year has passed. And I'm hoping more pinoys would be recognized for their talent and work. Some would argue that we shouldn't be too proud of these people just because they're pinoy. I beg to differ, we should be in a constant lookout for people like these and set them as examples and ambassadors of the Philippines. We have, as a nation, a responsibility to make our presence felt in the world. And with pinoys like them, we can truly say we are proud to be pinoy!
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
Ancient Philippine Golden Society
Some weeks ago I happened to watch this video documentary by the Probe team.
This is just the first segment of the 8-part documentary. If you want to watch the whole video you could look for it in www.probetv.com . It's worth the time, I'm telling you.
This documentary was really an eye-opener for me. I knew from school that the Philippines had a lot of minerals and precious metals spread out in its 7,107 islands. But it completely blew my mind to know that ancient Filipinos had been mining and crafting gold way before Magellan even got to our shores.
What was more surprising was the amount of testimonies that proved this was the case. Pigafetta, one of Magellan's crew, observed that Filipinos during that time were wearing gold jewellery according to their status in the society. The datus and rajas, for example, had gold sashes, swords and even on their teeth. The common people on the other hand, had gold earrings or bracelets. What this showed was the abundance of this metal in the ancient Philippine society. It has even been said that all you had to do to find gold then was to go out into the river and sift through the waterbed.
The quality of the gold pieces shown on the documentary was another surprise for me. I was expecting very crudely made pieces, like slabs of hammered gold ores. But when they actually showed the stuff, I had to take a second look. They looked nothing like uncivilized chunks of metal. They were intricate works of art! One of the pieces there was called the sacred thread. And it was a mind-blowing 4 layers of woven golden thread, put together to form a 4-kg metal sash. I mean that is impressive if they made one today, which the documentary explicitly says they don't do it anymore. What drives me crazy is that they made it even before the Spanish settlers came.
One of the experts who spoke on that documentary explained that the detail and craftsmanship of the pieces on the exhibit were completely top-notch. He even goes to say that it would be very difficult if not impossible to recreate those pieces even with present-day technology. For the Filipinos then to come up such great craftsmanship must only mean that they have been practicing such techniques for hundreds of years before that.
This only strengthens the belief that ancient Filipinos had a vibrant and progressive culture. And that is something to be proud of as a Filipino.
This is just the first segment of the 8-part documentary. If you want to watch the whole video you could look for it in www.probetv.com . It's worth the time, I'm telling you.
This documentary was really an eye-opener for me. I knew from school that the Philippines had a lot of minerals and precious metals spread out in its 7,107 islands. But it completely blew my mind to know that ancient Filipinos had been mining and crafting gold way before Magellan even got to our shores.
What was more surprising was the amount of testimonies that proved this was the case. Pigafetta, one of Magellan's crew, observed that Filipinos during that time were wearing gold jewellery according to their status in the society. The datus and rajas, for example, had gold sashes, swords and even on their teeth. The common people on the other hand, had gold earrings or bracelets. What this showed was the abundance of this metal in the ancient Philippine society. It has even been said that all you had to do to find gold then was to go out into the river and sift through the waterbed.
The quality of the gold pieces shown on the documentary was another surprise for me. I was expecting very crudely made pieces, like slabs of hammered gold ores. But when they actually showed the stuff, I had to take a second look. They looked nothing like uncivilized chunks of metal. They were intricate works of art! One of the pieces there was called the sacred thread. And it was a mind-blowing 4 layers of woven golden thread, put together to form a 4-kg metal sash. I mean that is impressive if they made one today, which the documentary explicitly says they don't do it anymore. What drives me crazy is that they made it even before the Spanish settlers came.
One of the experts who spoke on that documentary explained that the detail and craftsmanship of the pieces on the exhibit were completely top-notch. He even goes to say that it would be very difficult if not impossible to recreate those pieces even with present-day technology. For the Filipinos then to come up such great craftsmanship must only mean that they have been practicing such techniques for hundreds of years before that.
This only strengthens the belief that ancient Filipinos had a vibrant and progressive culture. And that is something to be proud of as a Filipino.
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