For those who've lived in the Philippines, what are some things...

 outsiders don't understand about Filipino culture?

By: Selwyn Clyde M. Alojipan

 · 

Filipino, resident of Quezon City, collector of trivial information

Filipinos like to be inclusive. If they see a stranger, they will say hello and ask him to eat with them or ask him questions where he’s from and where he’s going. Then they’ll try to help him with tips and directions. They will feel happy that their small community has been visited by a foreigner who had to come so far to see their place.

A foreigner with Filipino roots, one who has spent some time in the country, knows how to speak a few words in the local language or dialect, or has a Filipino spouse is automatically considered an “honorary Filipino.”

Any celebrity or VIP with Filipino ancestry who has made a successful career abroad will be the target of the phenomenon known as “Filipino Pride” or “Pinoy Pride” in which Filipinos from all over the globe and in the country will feel proud of him for being a part of the global Filipino community and for enhancing the Filipino identity.

People with Filipino ancestry who grew up overseas without learning about Filipino culture and who may have considered themselves Americans, Australians, Canadians, British, French, Italian, etc., will be curious why they are being automatically included in this all-inclusive and ever-growing Filipino community.

They don’t understand why they automatically belong to a club that they may not have known about in their entire lives. It will take them some time of living in the Philippines or among a group of Filipino expats abroad to get an inkling why they are considered members of a vast extended family.

There’s no particular reason why this happens. Filipinos just like to belong in a group and like expanding the size of that group. They will feel sad if a person goes away for a while and they will be happy if they see that person again. That’s just how it is among Filipinos.

What country do the Filipinos feel more close culturally?

Joseph Solis Alcayde Alberici

political scientist; political and economic analyst; and historical buff

Freelance Columnist at SunStar Cebu2013–present

B.A in Political Science & Political Theory, University of San CarlosGraduated 2015

Lives in Cebu City, Philippines2010–present

Most Filipinos feel cultural affinity with the United States and white Anglophone countries like Canada and Australia but Americans, Canadians, and Australians don’t reciprocate them much because core Filipino cultural values and Anglo-Saxon values are fundamentally different from each other and most Filipinos in the Philippines are in fact not capable of adopting many traits of white Anglophones like individualism, self-accountability, sense of guilt, representative democracy, and others.

The core cultural values of the Filipino people are mostly laid down by Spanish colonizers and most of cultural, ideological, political, and religious aspects of Filipino society have had been derived from Spain and Mexico. The preexisting family oriented values of the Filipino people before Spanish colonization was further strengthened and institutionalized by the Spaniards and may remain such in the foreseeable future.

Lufthansa-Piloten beschließen zweiten Streik

 

Fünf Tage nach dem Letzten: Lufthansa-Piloten beschließen zweiten Streik. Hunderte Flüge fielen dem Streik der Lufthansa zum Opfer. Mittwoch droht das gleiche Schicksal. Die Piloten haben einen weiteren Streik bei der Airline beschlossen. Das Unternehmen könne den für Mittwoch geplanten zweitägigen Ausstand aber noch mit einem „ernstzunehmenden“ Angebot abwenden, teilte die Gewerkschaft Vereinigung Cockpit in Frankfurt mit. Dazu sei für den Dienstag ein weiterer Verhandlungstermin angeboten worden.

Fire hits ABS-CBN, ANC, Teleradyo stop programming

BREAKING NEWS

By Francis Earl Cueto, Manila Times

September 6, 2022

BROADCAST company ABS-CBN temporarily ceased airing of their programs in ANC and Teleradyo after their employees were vacated due to a fire that broke out within the compound in Quezon City on Tuesday.

According to the ABS-CBN website, employees inside the main building were asked to evacuate after smoke was seen coming out of the 3rd floor at about 7 a.m.

South Korea braces for Hinnamnor's onslaught

NO FLYING TODAY An electronic signboard shows canceled flights as Typhoon 'Hinnamnor' travels toward the Korean Peninsula at Jeju International Airport on Jeju Island, South Korea on Monday, Sept. 5, 2022. YONHAP NEWS AGENCY PHOTO VIA AP

By Associated Press

SEOUL: Hundreds of flights were grounded and more than 200 people evacuated in South Korea on Monday as Typhoon "Hinnamnor" approached its southern region with heavy rains and winds of up to 290 kilometers (180 miles) an hour, putting the East Asian nation on alert for its worst storm in decades.

South Korea's weather agency said the country would start to feel the full force of Hinnamnor, the strongest global storm this year, by Tuesday morning when it is forecast to graze the southern resort island of Jeju before making landfall near the mainland city of Busan.

Government officials raised concern about potentially huge damage from flooding, landslides and tidal waves triggered by the typhoon, which comes just weeks after the capital Seoul and nearby regions were hit with heavy rainfall that unleashed flash floods and killed at least 14 people.

President Yoon Suk Yeol, who said he would stay at his office overnight to monitor the typhoon, urged maximum effort to prevent casualties during an emergency response meeting on Monday. Prime Minister Han Duk-soo called for proactive efforts to evacuate residents in areas vulnerable to flooding.

Officials say Hinnamnor could bring more powerful winds than 2003's Typhoon "Maemi," which left 117 people dead and was the strongest storm to make landfall in the country since the start of record keeping in 1904.

As of Monday night, Hinnamnor was over the open sea 240 km (149 mi) southwest of Jeju. It has dumped more than 50 centimeters (20 inches) of rain on the island's central part since Sunday and winds were blowing at a maximum speed of 124 km per hour (77 mph) and were picking up.

South Korea's Ministry of the Interior and Safety said there were no immediate reports of casualties. At least 11 homes and buildings were flooded in Jeju while more than 200 people were forced to evacuate in Busan and nearby cities because of safety concerns.

More than 360 domestic flights and 66 ferry services were grounded nationwide as of Monday afternoon while thousands of fishing boats returned to port.

Kindergarten and elementary schools in Seoul and all schools in Busan and nearby southern regions are scheduled to be closed or shift to online classes Tuesday.

Peso hits another record low

By Tiziana Celine Piatos

THE Philippine peso sank on Monday to another record low — P56.999 against the United States dollar — after hitting P56.985 during intraday trading.

The Bankers Association of the Philippines (BAP) said the peso lost another 22 centavos on Monday, passing the previous record of P56.77 posted at the Philippine Dealing System (PDS) last Friday.

The BAP said Monday's weighted average exchange rate was P56.94.

The lowest rate the peso has ever been against the dollar before the Monday rate was P56.45 in 2004.

The local currency has shed more than P6 (11.8 percent) in value since the start of the year. It closed at P50.999 to the dollar on January 3, the first trading day of 2022.

Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. chief economist Michael Ricafort warned that the currency could continue to slip in the coming days.

"The expected seasonal increase in importation in third quarter (July-September), in preparation for the expected increase in sales during the holiday season in the fourth quarter (especially the US Thanksgiving in November; Christmas/Yuletide in December until New Year celebrations) [is a catalyst]," Ricafort said in a September 3 report.

He said he hopes the seasonal rise in remittances from overseas Filipinos and export sales revenues converted to pesos, particularly during Christmas, could prop up the peso in the fourth quarter of this year, or from October to December.

The peso depreciated after the US Federal Reserve maintained a hawkish stance, with Chairman Jerome Powell suggesting a tight monetary policy "for some time" until inflation is under control.

Peso plunges to record low: P56.98 vs US dollar

In a September 2 tweet, ING Bank Manila's senior economist Nicholas Mapa said the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) will likely keep a similar hawkish position and bring the interest rate to 4.5 percent by the end of the year.

Despite the BSP's aggressive rate hikes, the peso has remained weak this year versus the dollar.

BSP Governor Felipe Medalla earlier said the bank has done enough to stabilize the currency, and even told The Manila Times that it is not inclined to take any more steps to defend the peso.

"We can say we have done enough. This is not a peso problem; it's a dollar problem," he said.

Harz ruft wegen Waldbrand Katastrophenalarm aus

Rund 200 Feuerwehrleute kämpfen im Nationalpark Harz weiter gegen einen Waldbrand. Das Feuer sei nach wie vor nicht unter Kontrolle, teilte das Landratsamt des Landkreises Harz im sachsen-anhaltischen Halberstadt mit. Der Landkreis rief zudem den Katastrophenfall aus. Insgesamt brennen rund 150 Hektar Wald. Die Feuerwehr war auch in der Nacht im Einsatz. Der Brand habe sich über Nacht nicht weiter ausgebreitet. Das Feuer war am Samstag in einem schwer zugänglichen Gebiet unterhalb des Brockens ausgebrochen. Wanderer und Besucher wurden in Sicherheit gebracht, das Brockenplateau und der unmittelbare Bereich um den Berg wurden gesperrt. Die Flammen griffen auch auf ein Moorgebiet über.

The way to know and love properly

 

By Fr. Roy Cimagala *

SINCE God is the creator of all things, and the original and ultimate lawgiver, he should know all things and love them in the proper way. As a corollary to that, we can also say that we can only know and love all things properly if we base our knowing and loving on God himself. Otherwise, we would just put ourselves along the paths of error and impropriety.

Somehow we are reminded of this point in that gospel episode where the leading Jews of the time of Christ were always suspicious of him and at one time watched if he would cure somebody with a withered hand on a Sabbath. (cfr. Lk 6,6-11) That was when Christ made his point when he asked: “Is it lawful to do good on the sabbath rather than to do evil, to save life rather than to destroy it?”

We have to realize then that we cannot simply depend on our human estimation of things based simply on our sciences and technologies, on our feelings and passions, on our different social, political and cultural consensus, etc., though they too are important, but as secondary means of our way of knowing the truth and of loving everyone and everything.

We should try our best to know God which should lead us to love him also. By so doing, we would know everybody and everything else properly and to love them properly as well, as a consequence.

And knowing and loving God, the pattern of our own knowing and loving, should not be that difficult because these have been shown to us by Christ, the fullness of God’s revelation to us. And Christ continues not only to reveal them to us but also to enable us to do them because of the many instrumentalities he has left behind.

He founded the Church in which we can have his living teaching, the doctrine of our faith, his presence and continuing work of redemption through the sacraments, especially the Holy Eucharist. And we are helped by the effective witness and intercession of the saints, especially that of our Lady, the Mother of God and our Mother.

We should just do our part of sitting down and spending time and effort to study the life and teaching of Christ and of the Church, and to develop a working plan of a life of piety that would help us to nourish our relation with God through prayers and sacrifices, ascetical struggles, recourse to the sacraments, development of virtues, etc.

We have to remember that our life ought to be always a life with God through Christ in the Holy Spirit. We have to adapt ourselves to this basic truth of faith about ourselves, because we are notorious in believing that our life is simply our own, and relying only on our own estimation of things.

We really need to humble ourselves to accept this truth of our faith, because it is usually our pride that prevents us from realizing this truth. We need to work on our faith in order to keep it alive, vibrant and functional, especially in some difficult if not impossible occasions. 

We should not be surprised that life and all the challenges and trials we are going to face in it will always demand from us things beyond our powers and resources. And that’s simply because we are meant to go to God for all our needs, without neglecting any effort we can give along the way.

Only through God can we know and love everybody and everything else properly.

* Chaplain Center for Industrial Technology and Enterprise (CITE),Talamban, Cebu City

Email: roycimagala@gmail.com

Educational Tablets Turn Over

 DAP sa Mindanao turns over educational tablets for UKP beneficiaries in DdO.

Three hundred (300) educational tablets were officially handed by the Development Academy (DAP) sa Mindanao to the Provincial Government of Davao de Oro thru Governor Dorothy Montejo-Gonzaga on September 1, 2022, in support of the Unlad Kabataan Project (UKP) learners' pre-identified by the Alternative Learning System of the Department of Education.

Governor Gonzaga welcomed and thanked the personnel from DAP sa Mindanao for the provisions granted by the agency to bolster education among the youth in the province. Each tablet has a sim card with free loads and a  learning material from DAP named “Linang Version 2,” which will be used by the learners during their education.

PLGU Davao de Oro is among the fourteen (14) LGUs and the only provincial government that became a beneficiary of DAP’s Alternative Learning System-Education and Skills Training (ALS-EST). Through the program, 300 out-of-school youths (OSYs) were given a chance to continue chasing their dreams through alternative learning modalities.

DAP sa Mindanao, in collaboration with the Youth Development Division of PSWDO-DdO, targets to officially hand off the units to the identified beneficiaries at the end of September this year. Further, DAP will soon offer varied skills training to the UKP beneficiaries.

During the turn-over ceremony, Executive Assistant Dennis B. Anduyan, PSWDO Head Josephine Frasco, YDD OIC-Division Head Alexis Micutuan, and a representative from DepEd-DdO graced the event. 

(JA, PAO-IPRD DdO, photos by A. Dayao)

In the line of duty

 

SPEAKING OUT

Ignacio R. Bunye

The first text message I received early on Aug. 31 asked if I have heard about Rey Samson. “He died yesterday,” the texter said. I was so shocked because I knew that Rey, one of earliest graduates of the Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Muntinlupa was young and relatively in good health. Subsequent text messages disclosed that Police Lieutenant Rey Samson, who was chief of police of Ampatuan town, and one of his men were killed in an ambush, around 9:40 a.m. of Aug. 30, along the road in Barangay Kapinpilan, Ampatuan, Maguindanao. Samson and his men were on their way to serve a warrant of arrest when waylaid by still unidentified gunmen.

Immediately there was an outpouring of messages of condolence from friends, former students, former teaching colleagues at the Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Muntinlupa, former mistahs, Masonic brothers as well as a condemnation from the PNP hierarchy of the deadly ambush.

I remember Rey as one of the pioneer students in the Muntinlupa Polytechnic College (MPC) which I, as then Muntinlupa mayor, founded in 1991. The MPC has since been upgraded to university status and renamed Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Muntinlupa (PLMUN). After finishing a bachelor’s degree course, Rey never stopped studying. He has been conferred masters degrees in public administration, education and later a PhD in education. He taught at PLMUN, Philippine Public Safety College of Calamba, Laguna and Laguna Northwestern on a subject close to his heart– Security Administration. He sat in the PLMUN board of regents as alumni representative. At the same time, Rey enlisted in the Philippine National Police where he felt he could make a difference.

In a fairly recent Facebook post, Rey described himself as a teacher at heart. I understand that even after he was assigned in Ampatuan, Rey continued to give online lectures. “God put me in the teaching profession, to be a positive influence of change … for the sake of my students’ development and to prepare them for a better future. Salamat oh aking Panginoon sapagkat ako’y ginawa mong guro… guro ng pagbabago para saaking kapwa tao.”

So long Rey. You will be sadly missed.

I received this bit of good news from my good friend BPI Foundation Executive Director Owen Cammayo. Just two weeks ago, the first BPI Bayanihan Center in the country was unveiled in simple ceremonies in Barangay Malainin, Ibaan, Batangas.

The BPI Bayanihan Center consists of a new two-story building which will provide not only a safe shelter for the people of Batangas in times of calamity but also a health care facility, a livelihood center and a multi-purpose hall for activities that bring the community together.

The 528-square-meter BPI Bayanihan Center can accommodate around 300 evacuees and is accessible to persons with disabilities. It is also equipped with a breastfeeding station and a kitchen.

Cammayo said the structure was developed by BPI, BPI Foundation with the Philippine Disaster Resilience Foundation (PDRF)’s Project Safe Shelters. The facility was built with funds from BPI Foundation and donations from the bank’s clients and employees who wanted to help those affected by Taal Volcano eruptions since 2020.

Batangas Governor Hermilando Mandanas, BPI President and CEO TG Limcaoco, Owen Cammayo, PDRF Executive Director Veronica Gabaldon, PDRF Chief Resilience Office Bill Luz, and PDRF President Butch Meily formally opened the center.

“BPI’s success as a long-standing institution, especially highlighted now on our 171st anniversary, ties back to the success of our nation,” said Limcaoco. “It is our belief that more than growing our business, it is equally important to help build and grow the communities around us, especially when unexpected tragedies strike (… ) Let the BPI Bayanihan Center be a reminder for all of us to help each other especially during hard times, so that as we work towards recovery and progress, no Filipino gets left behind.”

Just recently, BPI Foundation turned over pre-owned computers and laptops to four schools in Muntinlupa, namely, Poblacion Elementary School, Itaas Elementary School, Muntinlupa National High School and Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Muntinlupa (PLMUN). Indeed, Bayanihan matters.