Who's racist?

Editorial MINDANAO DAILY MIRROR from Saturday, October 5, 2013 with friendly permission by Marietta F. Siongco, publisher and editor-in-chief

"A lot of Filipinos were incensed at the Facebook post of a certain "Devina Dediva" who had expressed incredulity that a candidate from a coun try where "filthy maids" come from could win the Miss World crown. Racist, Devina Dediva was called, and rightly so: her remarks certainly betrayed a mind that is narrow and uneducated, one that cannot look beyond a few feet from her own nose to see that the world does not in fact revolve around her. Her myopic view is that Filipinas are maids who clean toilets, quite forgetting the fact that cleaning toilets is an honorable job. That such one would win an international beauty title was simply incomprehensible to her.

But as abhorrent as Devina Dediva's comments were, we must as Filipinos take this as an opportunity to look at ourselves and see if we are not guilty of the same kind of racism. If we were to be really honest, we would say that yes, Filipinos can be as cruelly racist as Devina Dediva, and perhaps even more so. We are, after all, a country that values skin color above all oher physical traits: dark skin is considered unattractive, as shown by the numerous skin whitening products being sold and advertised. Dark-skinned people are made fun of, turned into laughing stocks and derided in public. Actors with screen names like Whitney Houston and Mang Tem-i become butts of jokes on television and the movies, and no one thinks there is anything wrong with it.

A recent incident also showed how racist we can be. Last August, the Philippines came close to winning the FIBA Asia Championship, beaten only by Iran in the final game. What came after the game was positively embarrassing: Filipinos took to social networking sites to call the Iranian players all sorts of names based on their nationality, how they looked, and even how they supposedly smelled. A country that thinks nothing of doing this does not deserve to protest when a foreigner derides us."

It's Christmas in The Air...

It's known already: The Philippines got the longest Christmas Season worldwide.

It's October, and Christmas is also already in the air. I found a very wonderful album:

Inspirational Diva Jamie Rivera shares her newest composition in her first ever Christmas album with some of the best-selling artists in the country. Her song "Christmas Around The World" features among many others Toni Gonzaga, Bugoy Drilon, Erik Santos and Janella Salvador. Find also a special renditions of classic Christmas songs like "Pasko Na Sinta Ko", "I'll Be Home For Christmas", "Joy To The World", "Gloria in Excelsis Deo" and many more.

The wonderfulo album is avalaible at all record bars in the Philippines or can be downloaded via amazon.com.

LONG LIVE PHILIPPINE CINEMA !

Local Film Development Council for Davao City Eyed

Davao City Councilor and friend Leo Leonardo Avila is proposing through an ordinance the creation of the Film Development Council of Davao City. The resolution was inroduced by first by him during the October 1 City Council Session.

According to the resolution of Councilor Avila,there is already a thriving film industry in Davao City which has become a favourite destination  for location shoots, both for national and international films.

According to Avila, there is a need for the local government to support film industry and harness its potentials. One of the guests yesterday at the Council Session was film director Brillante Mendoza, the only Filipino director to win the best director prize in the prestigious Cannes Film Festival. Mendoza is currently on tour among Davao City schools.

Availa's proposal which was treated as the resolution's first reading was given to the City's Council's Committee on Education, Science and Technology, Culture and Arts chaired by Councilor Maria Belen Acosta for further hearings.

PIA/with RG Alma

It's never too late!

Re-published from Mindanao Daily Mirror, Opinion Section, my column dated September 20, 2013 with friendly permission of my publisher Marietta F. Siongco.

I know a lot of pension expatriates living in the Philippines for good. Many of them get a big problem after staying here for only a couple of months: they get bored.

Having a vacation all day, all week, all month and all year long is really not an egg's yellow. I experienced the same in 1999 after moving to Davao City. At that time I justed turned 46.

I remember my last days in an international publishing house in Berlin (with branch offices in New York and Amsterdam. I packed up my things after signing my resignation letter. Of course, I hadn't reach my final pension age yet, but I got a lot of ideas on how to shape and organize my "new" life in the Philippines. I never forgot some office mates smiling at me: "We can't cross such bridges before we come to them!" Of course guys, you have been right!

Anyway, age doesn't matter - you can enjoy the second half of your life residing in the Philippines. As many of you know already: I stayed in many countries worldwide. I could have migrated to the U.S. I didn't. I choosed the Philippines.

Most important thing: Keep yourself busy... .

Sure, there is always a time, when we should rest and really enjoy life. Sure, we brought our savings and many of us enjoy the monthly pension in Euro or Dollar. Several weeks ago, I read a good idea in an U.S. business weekly: "Partner up with entrepreneurs who have long been in the business, or those who have just retired as well!" Worth to think about it!

Getting bored, means also for some to start grumbling and complaining about everything and everybody in the Philippines. I always keep my distance to such negative people. We are not here to change this country and its people. Why? What for? Filipinos are also not planning to change our home countries or us!

I really don't get more stressed than in my home country before. Critics reproach and accused me of living a life as expatriate while wearing pink tinted glasses. Sorry, but my conscience is very clear.

I keep myself busy, too busy sometimes: Teaching, translating, writing, in the radio, and many more things. It's never too late. It's your life! Take your chance and enjoy life in the Philippines. And stay away from grumblers and grousing people... .

Noli me tangere - Ruehr' mich nicht an... - Don't Touch me...

Ich war schon immer fasziniert von Jose Rizal, dem philippinischen Nationalhelden.

1887 erschien in Berlin ein spanisch geschriebenes Buch mit dem lateinischen Titel NOLI ME TANGERE (Ruehr' mich nicht an!). Autor war der junge philippinische Schriftsteller Jose Rizal. Er hatte nach seinem Studium in Madrid und einem Aufenthalt in Paris 1886 Deutschland bereist und in Heidelberg die Niederschrift seines Romans beendet.

Der Erscheinungsort Berlin ist kein Kuriosum. Wie so viele wache und begeisterungsfaehige Koepfe jener Zeit suchte Rizal die Verbindung von wissenschaftlicher Erklaerung und "deutschem Idealismus". Sein Roman, der von der spanischen Kolonialherrschaft der Philippinen als politisch brisant betrachtet werden musste, war "mit Herzblut geschrieben", wie Rizal's oesterreichischer Freund, der Gelehrte F. Blumentritt, schrieb: Er wollte ebenso aufklaererisch wie aufruettelnd wirken.

Die spanische Kolonialmacht erkannte sofort die subversive Kraft des Romans: nicht in den manchmal karikaturartigen Einzelgestalten, sondern darin, dass die Fremdherrschaft eben als FREMDherrschaft ad absurdum gefuehrt wird. Noch im Erscheinungsjahr 1887 wird der Roman verboten. Am 30.12.1986 wird Rizal als geistiger Urheber der nicht laenger zu unterdrueckenden philippinischen Freiheitsbewegung exekutiert. Zwei Jahre spaeter endet die spanische Herrschaft auf den Philippinen, ebenso auf Kuba, wo Jose Marti eine aehnliche revolutionaer-literarische Rolle gespielt hat.

Noch heute teilt sich die leidenschaftlich politisch-ethische Kraft dieses wirkungsreichen  Romans dem Leser unmittelbar mit.

Ich besitze die spanische, englische und deutsche Ausgabe (aus dem philippinisch Spanisch uebersetzt von Annemarie del Cueto-Moerth, 1. Auflage 1987, Insel Verlag, Frankfurt/Main).