babble mix: February 2006

2.25.2006

NOT Only in Da Philippines

Kala nyo ba, mga Pilipino lang ang nababayaran para mag-rally? WRONG.

Check out this article I read from the Reader's Digest US Edition.

Difference lang nila sa Pinoy, sila naka-rubber shoes (or what they call sneakers - ang equivalent ng spartan tsinelas sa atin, hindi yung flip-flops ha, sosyal connotation nun eh), naka-bonnet at makapal na jacket dahil maginaw. Saka yung iba sa kanila, blonde at red-head, saka maputi. Yun lang.

2.24.2006

Random Thoughts

What is pechay in English?

Bok choy.

I discovered that last Sunday when I was buying this tiny, pechay-looking piece of vegetable in the grocery. The cashier asked me what it was called, because she had to punch the code in. “I don’t know, some green veggie thing.” Malay ko ba kasi what that was called in English. So she asked the cashier next to us and said “bok choy” that sounded more like “batchoy”. Pechay pala talaga. Nice. Finally I can cook the real nilaga. Yey!

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Inspired by my bok choy discovery, I just thought I’d share my gulay translation discoveries here in the US.

Chicharo – sweet peas
Baguio beans – green beans (bat nga ba kasi baguio beans ang tawag dito? Kala ko dati because it was grown only in baguio)
Sweet potato – kamote, pero hindi sya yung kamote that we know. Weird ng kulay ng kamote dito.
Labanos – white radish (I haven’t seen this in groceries here, though)
Melon – if you’re referring to our ordinary orange melon, it’s cantaloupe melon. Meron pa kasing "honeydew melon" at syempre, "watermelon".
Singkamas – jicama (and not turnip as I originally thought it was, dahil kasi yun sa three little pigs na picture book ko, mukhang singkamas yung tinatanim ni 2nd little pig, eh.)

Yun lang muna. Basta happy ako, my nilaga finally had pechay and not spinach (blech). Kay saya!

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Is there such thing as overwhelming peace? Because that’s the only way I can describe my birthday gift from God last week.

It felt really weird in a good way, because I’ve never felt that kind of peace before. All my worries for the future, my wants, my plans that haven’t pushed through, my homesickness -- everything that has been occupying my mind for months (even years) just didn’t matter for one full day. I was just thankful for being born 27 years ago, thankful for everything and everyone I had, thankful for everything I had to go through for 27 years.

I received a truly unique gift for my birthday – peace. Not a lot of people get to experience that, even for a day. Salamat po, Lord.

2.13.2006

Call For Positive News

We pay dearly for calling attention to our ugly side
POSTSCRIPT By Federico D. Pascual, Jr.
The Philippine Star 02/12/2006

This e-mail, written Oct. 26, 2004, by Bess of Sta. Clara, Calif., has been circulating mostly in the US. I boiled it down to fit our limited space.

Hello there... I am a Filipino living in the Bay Area in California. We have a big Filipino community here so we get to watch Filipino TV shows daily. Those who have TFC (The Filipino Channel) can watch 24 hours a day, but those who, like me, don't subscribe to TFC can only watch Philippines Tonight on Channel 69 from 5 to 5:30 p.m. and TV Patrol on Channel 8 from 6 to 7 p.m.

Like many others, I am deeply disturbed by their news handling. Everyday the TV networks bombard their audience with negative news from the Philippines.

They should realize that Filipinos are not the only ones watching in the States, Europe, the Middle East and Asia.

The networks have the duty to report the news to us. But why must they always focus on the negative? Why must they keep showing old footages of Abu Sayyaf rebels raising their guns, soldiers fighting Muslim rebels and NPA guerrillas, old films of bombings, coup attempts, military tanks, demonstrations, assassinations and kidnappings while reporting the news.

Is that trash really necessary? If they don't have any new pictures to show, they should not show any.

Imagine this scenario: You are an American who just came home from work. To relax, you watch TV. You flip the channels from Channel 2, to 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and what do you see? Philippine soldiers fighting rebels or another bombing in Manila! We Filipinos watching Filipino news programs daily know that those are old film clips, but an American who is just scanning would think that there's another bombing going on!

Every country has its own problems, but they are mostly talked about mainly among the native population. We Filipinos speak English, we report the news in English - PLUS we show those ugly images on TV. Even if you cannot understand English (TFC is also aired in Europe, the Middle East and Asia) when you see those images on your screen, you would think there's another bombing in Manila. TV Patrol reports the news complete with sound effects like in an action movie, so one would think and feel that the Philippines is on the brink of war!

Here in the Bay Area, we have a TV station called International Channel on Channel 69. I watch news programs from such countries as Korea, Greece, Italy, Iran, Germany, France and Russia for comparison. I don't understand what they are saying and I don't get the feeling that something gruesome just happened in those countries. India has the same rebellion problem like ours and it is duly reported on TV - but they don't show their military battling their rebels. The anchorman would just read the news.

Our tourism department spends millions to promote our country abroad. I have seen some of its expensive TV commercials. And here are Filipino news programs neutralizing that costly promo effort 24 hours a day for free! For instance, they keep showing old footages on the slums. Filipinos know how the slums look, so why parade them on TV? The shots project to the whole world the Philippines as one big waste dump, which is not true!

Ask anyone abroad his impression of the Philippines and he would likely say it's teeming with shanty towns and go-go bars. Show him pictures of our modern skyscrapers, shopping malls or beach resorts and he would likely say those shots were taken in Singapore, Malaysia or Thailand.

How can we convince foreigners that the Philippines is a safe and beautiful place if all they see and hear on TV is its ugly, violent side? Colombia and Mexico have more kidnappings than the Philippines and yet they have more tourist arrivals. Search the Internet for Mexican kidnappings and you learn that Mexico has the second highest number of kidnappings in the world - but tourists still flock there. American tourists have been kidnapped and killed there, but Americans don't know this because it does not jump out of their TV screens. Indonesia has more corruption than us, aside from its share of bombing incidents, yet it boasts of more tourist arrivals.

I found this website nationmaster.com which listed USA as having the highest crime rate in the world. The Philippines is not even on the list of 60 countries. Living in the States is more dangerous because of the serial killers roaming around, snipers, campus shootings, gang wars, perverts, serial rapists and mental patients loose in the streets. But we feel safe here because the US media do not constantly scare us with lurid reports of the violence in our midst.

One time TV Patrol showed a newspaper headline "RP 11TH MOST CORRUPT COUNTRY." All Filipinos know about our corrupt officials, so why the need to show it to them again on TV? That only made the whole world think that all Filipino officials are corrupt. The 2004 Corruption Perception Index report wasn't even shown or discussed on TV or in the newspapers here, and then this Filipino news program went to town with it. India scored just a little better than us, but you don't see India announcing that on TV.

Search the Internet for corruption in India and you will see that they have the same corruption problem like ours, and yet they get almost all the outsourcing jobs from here. Filipinos are just as talented and creative, maybe even more so. American companies know this. Our literacy rate is 95 percent compared to India's 65 percent. We have the cultural advantage because of our long historical ties with the US. We have the edge over China, Thailand, Malaysia and Viet Nam because we speak English. We are the third largest English-speaking country in the world. We even have the religious connection with the US and Europe, because we are Christians like them.

So what is keeping the Philippines from being recognized as a top outsourcing destination? According to Computerworld and Offshoring Digest, "the bad media image" of the Philippines is the single biggest challenge the local software developers have to overcome.

I'm not saying that Philippine media should stop reporting the bad news. Philippine newspapers can print all the mudslinging and the graphic pictures of victims of violence they want. I just would insist that Philippine television be more responsible, because it reaches the farthest ends of the earth. TV Patrol has been voted the best in Philippine news reporting. I can only imagine how much worse the other news programs are. Philippines Tonight and ANC Business News, which cater to the more sophisticated Filipino, are also guilty of unnecessarily showing negative images on TV.

Why can't the networks focus on the good side of the Filipino? Why would they bother to show even petty crimes like cell phone snatching. Italy has more pickpockets and tourists going there are aware of it. You don't see Italy broadcasting that on TV. If the Philippine news programs have nothing more to report, why don't they just use the time to feature the many beautiful places in the Philippines and its charming people, and help the government save millions of pesos. Shows like Good Morning America and NBC Today often feature tourist spots in the US or ordinary Americans who have excelled in their jobs. It doesn't hurt their ratings.

The networks should create good role models for Filipino youths, certainly not by focusing on crooked politicians and criminals. They can feature our software engineers or people working in call centers, people in science, the arts and medical fields. Some doctors pledged never to leave the Philippines and practice abroad. We want to know more about them. They can feature our nurses still serving back home. They can feature the best teachers and professionals we have. I think these people who have chosen to stay are the real heroes.

There must be a lot of good news from and about the Philippines, but we hardly hear about it. Certainly not on TV programs beamed to us here and to the rest of the world. Sometimes we do stumble on some good news, buried in the inside pages of some newspapers. But how many Filipinos can afford to buy a newspaper these days? It seems that in the Philippines, "all bad news is good news" for the commercial media obsessed with making money.

Give a child all the freedom he wants and he grows up wild, delinquent and irresponsible. Just as our parents had the power and the right to discipline us when we were children, I think that the Filipino people also should exercise their power and right to discipline Philippine media.

We Filipinos often say "huwag kang maingay, nakakahiya sa kapitbahay." Well, certainly not this time. We let Philippine television shout and wave our dirtiest tattered laundry for all the neighbors to see - and we are not doing anything about it.

02/2006 White Out

New York City just experienced its record-breaking blizzard. 26.9 inches of snowfall in Central Park, falling 2-5” per hour, broke the highest snowfall record in 1947. Our car parked out on the street was literally buried in snow. Up until now, the day after the snow storm, it’s still all over the news.

It feels good knowing I was here when it happened, that I experienced a record-breaker.

Feels better knowing we were comfortable and warm in our apartment, knowing we didn’t have to shovel snow out of the sidewalk because the building management is responsible for that, and knowing that right after the snow falls, the world transforms into such a pretty white winter wonderland.

Nino and I decided to play in the snow while it was still soft, because once it freezes, it becomes a big chunk of ice. Don’t even think of throwing a snowball like that, it can definitely knock somebody out.

Siguro ito na ang huling hirit ng snow sa buhay ko, since we’re planning to move to CA soon. I do appreciate it. What a New York send off.

2.02.2006

Don't You Care?

One of my good friends here in the US asked me if I know of a company who sponsors H1 visas. Para daw sa brother niya. Gusto na daw niya kasing kunin, kasi daw “sayang ang talino” sa Pinas.

Sayang ang talino?! Bakit, dahil hindi siya nasuswelduhan ng dollar equivalent ng sweldo dito sa US? Does he even care about our country’s brain drain?!

Kumulo talaga ang dugo ko. I guess it’s just really hard for me to accept that a lot of my good friends just really don’t care about their country anymore. Kung lahat ng Pilipino ganyan mag-isip, that all educated Filipinos don’t belong in the Philippines and are wasting their talents and skills at home, wala na talagang mangyayari sa Pilipinas.

My poor country. Don’t you worry. I cherish “wasting” my skills and talents for you and your citizens, para kahit papano may nagawa ako para mapabuti ka. Intay ka lang sandali. I am coming back.

babble mix