Page 2 - Single Mans survival guide to Philippines

Introduction to the Culture of the Filipino

Who is the Filipino ? what is his culture ? why is he different ? Why do Filipina's behave in a certain way ? why is the Filipino way of looking at things totally illogical to the Western visitor ? these questions and many like them continue from day to day to be a never ending source of frustration for any foreigner visitor to the Republic of Philippines, in this section of our website we will try to answer some of them for you, and give the reader some invaluable insights into life as a Filipino, it is then hoped that you can apply some of the things you have learned when you come into contact with Filipinos at home and abroad

So who are the Filipinos ?

The Filiipinos themeselves are not always sure how to answer that question, sometimes I think they would rather be somone else than be a Filipino, its funny really because whilst you might think my opinons are subjective, i.e. biased, especially if you are a Filipina or Filipino reading my site, buts that how it comes over to us, in my experience, Filipinos always seem to clamour for something else, and I am not talking about the mass exodus of Filipinos to work in foreign lands, thats accepted and expected, its something else I see in them, in many ways, Filipinos are the one race of people who have a link to the Western world, there heritage is certainly Western in parts, sharing with the peoples of the Americas and Europe its christian ethics and moral guidelines, and yet in other areas, with regard to inter-dependancy their social structure seems to be upside down to ours, I'm not sure sometimes what their identity really is, but can we blame them for that, since Britishness for the indigenous English is also pretty hard to define, what does it mean to be British these days, I would have a hard time answering that one, thats if of course I would be allowed to tell you.

The national identity of the Filipino is a pretty hard thing to define, I have travelled to the Capital city of the Philippines Manila, and also to the provinces, paticularly Visayas, and I wonder sometimes if the Filipino identity does not extend past his province, there are those that believe that identity is more to do with family or extended family than nationality, although the government champions the patriotic cause of the Filipino, I simply do not see that the Filipino is too concerned with his national identity, he is more concerned about his family and how best he can serve their interests, what about the past ? the chinese had a major influence on the Philippines, and in my view they still do today, the Spanish then came and that had a major influence, the Americans then came and you dont have to look too far to see the influences they had on this great nation, so in effect the Filipino is perhaps the Pacific bridge between the Asian cultures and Western Cultures, if you look carefully at the Filipino, he could be all things to all peoples, he certainly can fit in just about anywhere, but why is he so complex and so illogical ?

Before we can answer that, perhaps it would be good to look into the social structure of Filipino society, in the Philippines over 90 different languages are spoken, the government wanted to impose one language on society which is Filipino, no points for you or prizes if you got that right !, Filipino is taken from the mainly Tagalog speaking regions, naturally those around the capital city, during the Ferdinand Marcos era, Filipino was thought to be the bench mark for a national language, it was thought that a national language, that which would be needed to study in public schools would in some way go towards creating the great and patriotic Filipino identity, as with all things when government tries to interviene in social experimentation, it failed, Tagalog is understood widely by about 50 per cent of the population, local and regional languages are much more widely spoken, and don't be suprised if I told you that the Republic of Philippines has the worlds third largest english speaking population after the U.S.A. and the U.K.

English is established worldwide as the International language of Business, and Aviation, its not suprising that English in the Philippines is the de facto language of business, law, Government and Commerce, interestingly it is also the language of the Manila upper classes, and of the wealthy and the political elite of Makati.

Foreigners who speak english and visit the Philippines always seem to have the same question when hearing news casters or celebrities speaking or Government ministers, or officials, the question is this " Why do they start their conversation in Tagalog or a Regional language and then suddenly break into english mid sentence"? this is also common in Filipino-Western relationships, it is a continual source of frustration when a conversation is taking place in one language, and then is broken by the odd phrase or sentence in English, one wonders why this is happening ? the answer is simple, Filipinos feel better in groups, when they are talking, they may seek to change their conversation with a sprinkling of english words when vocabulary becomes a problem, the use of english is considered 'SOSYAL" and the educated may break into to it to over emphasise the importance of a conversation or topic, or they may feel that they can be more precise with their meaning, this is of course little understood by the innocent english speaking western bystander.

Sometimes you may experience Filipino relatives who can speak english, but will not do so in your company, often this is because their fear of mispronunciation or inadequacy in expression may prevent them from joining a conversation, one simply cannot presume that a Filipino's comprehension of the English language is the same as their spoken word, very often this is the cause of an embarassing pause in silence, again another key to the identity of the Filipino

Filipino languages are not as detailed as English and are thought to be fairly rudimentary, for example, their is no genda difference beween 'he' or 'she' a constant cause for amusement for British husbands who irritate their wives by constantly having to remind them, that they are not a mind reader, and would love to know if they are talking about the female of the species or the male version, to the Filipino speaker they fail to see what the big fuss is about, to the Western English speaker it makes all the difference in the world, and simply has to be corrected immediately there is a gramtical offence comitted.

What if yes means maybe and maybe means no ?

Anthropologist's often remark that Western cultures are very low context and that Eastern cultures see them as 'uncouth' 'impersonal' 'abrasive' 'aggressive" this is because responses appear to be direct and unfeeling, as opposed to the Asian cultures paticularly the Filipino culture which is more high context, communication is more inter-personal instead of personal, the feelings of the other is often taken into consideration when responses are made, for example, you ask a Filipino to attend a party, whatever they are thinking, there could be a number of reasons why they would not be able to attend, whatever the reasons are, they would be relucant to say No to your invitation, this is because the Filipino's internalize you within their own feelings, in other words, they will want to protect your feelings as much the same as their own, by simply replying yes if they are going to think about it, or maybe, if they probably wont attend, but at the same time, this prevents the host from being rejected

What if a certain Filiipino wants to borrow money from another ? its unlikely that the borrower will get an outright rejection, if the request for money sits well with the one who is lending, they will probably give a positive decisions, however, if it doesn't sit well, the prospective lender would want to soften the blow of an outright refusal, they then would use the phrase 'Maybe' because again we are talking about a high context culture, very often tone of voice, body language and idiosyncracies of persons in conversation often carry a subliminal message, the Filipino uses these to convey their state of mind without saying anything, for example, Filipinas are often known moving their lips, raising their eyebrows, these can convey messages only known to those around them, sometimes, they will want to diffuse a situation if not always agreeing in the affirmative with another, they will avoid direct confrontation at all times, the smile is very important, sometimes a Filipina will smile at you, even though they may be dissaproving of the very subject you raised.

The Filipino does not wish to loose face in any given social situation, and he will go to extraordinary lengths to make amends for any loss of face, you only have to research into Filipino history to realize that they always make amends when it comes to loss of face, even if it takes years to achieve that end.

Directness in social surroundings is not the polite form of behavior, for example, we all know its hot in the Philippines most of the time, a visiting Filipino will often be in-direct if they are thirsty, they may remark on how hot it is today, that you may feel is obvious, but the correct response from a host if visited at their house, would be to offer the visitor a cold drink, often indirect speech is a way of conveying ones desire or state of mind, remember Filipino's will by nature always avoid loss of face, this is also the same in a Filipino courtship ritual, that is why a Filipino who wishes to gain the attentions of a paticular young woman will do so by indirect behaviour at first, this is shown by what is known as 'teasers' if the lady shows no interest or is unresponsive to the teasers, then he can withdraw his interest without actually being outright rejected, here again we see the demonstration of loss of face.

Home is always where the Filipino hangs his hat !

Go into any barangay and you will be suprised if you meet a Filipino who does not have at least one relative who lives abroad, Filipino's are to be found in all corners of the planet, it is thought they descended from the Austronesian race who moved from place to place like nomads, wherever the fishing was good, the Austronesians would roam, it maybe has something to do with their malay ancestors who used their superb boats to travel to distant shores, Filipino's throughout the world have integrated into many societies, for example they have settled in the middle east as labourers, in Hong Kong, Singapore and Western Europe as domestic helpers, in the U.S.A. Canada and Australia as professionals, and the world merchant fleet is staffed mainly by Filipino's and yet even though they go through a process of cultural integration, they still retain their own 'Filipino' identity

Whenever Filipino's meeet each other, you see a smile, a raised eyebrow "What province are you from" who are you related to ? Filipino's always migrated as families, thats why when they move to a foreign land, this appears as painless to them as moving from sub division to sub division in their local city, Filipino's will always seek out each other when in foreign lands, they will congregate together in larger groups, they feel safer and more comfortable that way, they also enjoy each others company, its very rare to see a Filipino on their own, a sense of belonging to a group, i.e. a surrogate family is very important. Filipino's also love to catch up on the latest gossip, conversation sometimes seems very mundane to the Western bystander, Filipino's will talk for hours about what they did, who they saw !, where they shopped, what they purchased, who is going abroad, who bought a house, how much it was, this is process of social integration with peers that seems to act as a protection from being alone, wherever a Filipino settles in any part of the world, they will be sure to link up with like minded others, its not long before they have entered their own peer group.

National Pride

Its not easy to quantify the status of national pride in the identity of the Filipino, since one can never be sure which way they will jump when push comes to shove, its well known that the Republic of Philippines is considered to be a member of the 'Third World', before we go forward to quantify exactly what it is that makes the Philippines still appear to be in the third world, lest we not forget, that unlike many other Asian countries in the region, the Philippines is still a full fledged and functioning democracy.

Its independant legal system is one that actually works and gets things done, if one was arrested in the Philippines and had to go to court, one would fair much better in the Philippines than say in Thailand or Vietnam, lets also look at the media in the Philippines, it has to be one of the most independant media anywhere in South East Asia, Filipino journalists are of the highest educational standard and write some of the most critical articles of any country in the Third world.

If any democracy can be measured, probably the best way to measure its effectiveness is by a) How it treats its ethnic minorities and b) how free its press and media are to criticise the form of government, in that regard the Philippines is pretty good, but with all the acolades I just gave it, if its that good, why do the majority of Filipino's who get the chance of it, strive to leave the country in thousands every year, the reason is simple, abstract poverty !

No matter which party gets into power, and the choices are pretty poor, this nation seems to enjoy electing movie actors to positions of supreme power without considering just how much experience they would bing to the job, at least the current head of state Glora Macapagal Arroyo has a masters degree in Economics, thats something I guess ! but no matter how many initiatives are started, and no matter how much the current government projects its 10 point plan, this country simply does not progress anywhere, it only seems to go in one direction - backwards !.

Filipino Identity - Politics and "none of the above" syndrome !

To examine the Filipino identity we could take a look back into the not so distant history of politics to gain insight into the Filipino's often seen "shrug shoulder" mentality, when it comes to National Pride, after all this is a country where the Marcos family often remarked that there wasn't much in the country that they (The Marcos's) did not own ! this statement taken from Mrs Imelda Romualdez Marcos former self styled first lady of the nation and of late, also 'Mother' of the nation perhaps this may help in unlocking the door to understanding why today's Filipino elector is demoralized, with a latent desire to get 'out' of his nowhere country and take up a much needed passport to a better life elsewhere, looking at recent years, who could blame him ?"

The 2nd Way -The Rise and fall of the Marcos dynasty !

Perhaps the best place to start is to look back through the era of President Ferdinand Marcos and the Marcos dynasty, because to look into the marcos legacy is more to do with one family controlling 80 Million people, than it is to look at one politician who managed to run a country single handed for 25 years.

President Ferdinand Marcos 1917-1989

Ferdinand Emmanuel Edralin Marcos 10th President of the Republic of Philippines served from 1965 to 1986, he hailed from Ilocos Norte, the son of an assemblyman and Josefa Edralin a teacher, in his early life he was indicted for murder and found guilty of the assassination of Congressman Julio Nalundasan, one of his fathers political rivals, he was convicted of the murder in 1939, he was later offered a pardon by President Manuel Quezon, but at the time he turned it down and voluntarily returned to Laoag provincial jail, where he spent his time studying to take the bar examination, he was admitted to the bar, and argued his own case convincingly before the Philippine supreme court, he was later acquitted.

In 1954, after a whirlwind 11 day romance, he married beauty queen Imelda Romualdez who later helped him in his successful campaigns for the presidency. They had 4 children: Imee Marcos (Ilocos Norte congresswoman), Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos, Jr. (Ilocos Norte governor), Irene Marcos (socialite) and adopted daughter, Aimee Marcos (entrepreneur and musician).

In 2004, a Sydney newspaper alleged Marcos and a swimwear model had a daughter born in 1971, He is reputed to have 17 illegitimate children, but thoughout his marriage to his wife he has never been known to have been unfaithful to his beloved Imelda, if he did so, nothing has ever been recorded to that effect.

From 1946 to 1947, Marcos was a technical assistant to President Manuel Roxas. In the 1949, national elections, Marcos famously declared "Elect me as your congressman today, and I promise an Ilocano president in twenty years." He served for three consecutive terms in the House of Representatives (1949-59) and a term in the Senate (1959-65).

He also became the president of the Senate from 1962 to 1965. Marcos spent most of his early career as a member of the Liberal Party. He sought the Liberal nomination for president in 1965, but the party nominated incumbent Diosdado Macapagal instead. Marcos switched allegiance, joined the Nacionalista Party and gained their nomination. He and his running mate, Fernando Lopez, defeated Macapagal and Gerardo Roxas in a landslide victory.

Marcos' first term in office showed a lot of promise, building on the relatively robust economy by developing the country's infrastructure and intensifying tax collection. The unemployment rate shrank from 7.20% in 1966 to just 5.20% in 1971. He liberalized trade with the free world, hastening the industrialization of the Philippines.

His claim for being responsible for the country's self-sufficiency in rice is highly disputed; however, there is little doubt that rice production was at its peak during his administration. Marcos also tried to strengthen the foreign relations of the Philippines. He hosted a seven-nation summit conference on the crisis in South Vietnam in October 1966. In support for the U.S. military efforts in South Vietnam, he agreed to send Filipino troops to that war.

Throughout his 21-year tenure, Marcos maintained a close alliance with the United States and was a close friend of Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan and Lyndon Johnson. He launched major military campaigns against Communist New People's Army and Moro insurgents. He was an outspoken critic of communism. He sent forces to Vietnam to help the Americans, as well as medical teams to do humanitarian work. He and Lopez were re-elected in 1969.

In 1971, Marcos called for a Constitutional Convention for the purpose of revising the 1935 Constitution. The Convention was composed of 321 elected delegates headed by former Presidents Carlos P. Garcia and Diosdado Macapagal. However, the Convention's image was tarnished by scandals which included the bribing of some delegates to "vote" against a proposal to prohibit Marcos from staying in power under a new constitution. Marcos himself advocated switching to a parliamentary system, which would allow him to remain in power as prime minister.

Marcos' second term was marked by increasing civil strife known as the "First Quarter Storm." After a series of bombings in Manila which he alleged to have been carried out by the New People's Army of the Communist Party of the Philippines, the interception of a ship containing large amounts of firearms from the People's Republic of China to be used by the New People's Army and an ambush attempt on Defense Secretary Juan Ponce Enrile, Marcos warned of an imminent Communist takeover.

On September 21, 1972, by virtue of Proclamation No. 1081, he declared martial law over the entire country. This proclamation effectively suspended the 1935 Constitution, allowing Marcos to remain in power for the duration of martial law. He soon became a virtual dictator. Defending his right to rule by decree, if he chose, he asserted that otherwise "you will have Communists going back and forth, causing the dastardly ruin of our country, the killing of people and the rape of women."

In 1973, Marcos proclaimed a new constitution that instituted a parliamentary system. It allowed him to serve as both president and prime minister for the duration of martial law. In 1976, Marcos amended the constitution further, allowing himself to hold conccurent posts until the election of an interim National Assembly.

Mrs Imelda Romualdez Marcos - Mother of the Nation.

Imelda Romualdez Marcos was born on July 2, 1929 in San Juan de Dios Hospital in Manila. Her parents were Vicente Orestes Romualdez and Dona Remedios Trinidad. Her ancestors founded the town of Tolosa.

Her own branch of the family, however, was not political. Her father was a scholarly man more interested in music and culture than in public life. On her mother's side, she is a Trinidad from the town of Baliuag, Bulacan, famed for the charm of its women. Imelda spent her childhood in the shadow of the Malacanang Palace, since her family then lived near San Miguel Church. After his wife died, however, Vicente moved his family back to Leyte, where Imelda earned a bachelor's degree in education at St Paul's College.

She also became a beauty queen. At the age of 18, she was crowned the "Rose of Tacloban," became "Miss Leyte", went to Manila in 1953, and was named the "Muse of Manila", a title bestowed upon her by the Manila Mayor, Arsenio Lacson, after she bitterly complained to him about her recent loss in the "Miss Manila" pageant. In 1954, Imelda met then-Congressman Ferdinand Marcos. After a whirlwind courtship in Baguio during Holy Week, they were married in May of that year at the Manila Pro-Cathedral Church with President Ramon Magsaysay as principal sponsor. They have three children Maria Imelda "Imee" Marcos; Ferdinand Marcos II, and Irene Marcos; and one adopted daughter, Aimee. In 1965, Ferdinand Marcos became the 10th President of the Philippines. Together with Imelda, he would rule the Philippines for more than 20 years.

As a Special Envoy, Mrs. Imelda Marcos was instrumental in the opening of Philippine diplomatic relations with China, the Soviet Union, and the Soviet satellite states in Eastern Europe (Romania, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, etc.), Middle East, Libya, and Cuba, in the securing of a cheap supply of oil from China and Libya; and in the signing of the Tripoli Agreement.

Sitting atop his mighty mountain of transferred public funds, Ferdinand sent Imelda shopping for New York real estate in the 1980s. After rejecting the Empire State Building (which was going for $750 million) as "too ostentatious," Imelda bought the $51-million Crown Building, the $60-million Herald Centre and two more prime slabs of Manhattan. All were subsequently seized and sold, as were much of her jewels and the bulk of the art she had collected over the years. She still has a glossy catalogue of what was taken 175 pieces: so-called Michelangelos, Botticellis, and Canalettos.

Imelda was instrumental in securing the 1974 Miss Universe Pageant for Manila, the first time that the pageant was held in a Third World Country. Imelda also organized the Kasaysayan ng Lahi, a festival showcasing the colorful and rich history of the Philippines, along with a Green Revolution that encouraged Filipinos to plant vegetables and fruits in their gardens. She also launched a massive family-planning program to reduce population growth, despite opposition from the country's powerful Catholic Church.

Her other projects include: the Cultural Center of the Philippines; Philippine Heart Center; Lung Center of the Philippines; Kidney Institute of the Philippines, Nayong Pilipino; Philippine International Convention Center; Folk Arts Theater; and the infamous Manila Film Center.

On February 25, 1986, Ferdinand Marcos and his family fled to Hawaii (via Guam) after his regime was toppled by a four-day People Power Revolution in EDSA. Marcos was succeeded by Corazon Cojuangco Aquino, widow of the slain former Senator Benigno S. Aquino, Jr. Upon assuming office, President Aquino issued Executive Order No. 1, creating the Presidential Commission on Good Government to investigate and sequester the alleged unexplained wealth of the Marcoses.

President Aquino abolished the Batasang Pambansa (Philippine Parliament) and the Ministry of Human Settlements, Imelda's former ministry. Imelda dismisses criticisms of her extravagance, saying it was her "duty" to be a star for the poor. "You have to be some kind of light, a star to give them guidelines," she once said.

She is adamant that there was nothing ill-gotten about her wealth. "My husband was rich before I met him," she protests, dismissing claims that she raided the treasury, squeezed businesses and pilfered World Bank loans to finance her lifestyle. "He was a gold trader. He had a mountain of gold when he entered politics in 1949." By the late 1950s, she claims, Marcos had a personal fortune of 7,500 tons of gold, and in the 1970s, after gold prices climbed to 800 dollars an ounce, the Marcos family was worth a staggering 35 billion dollars, solely as a result of investments in gold, according to Imelda.

However, the origins of that mind-boggling wealth in a country where 8 out of 10 people live in grinding, $2-a-day poverty remain a matter of legitimate curiosity and investigation. Tales of Imelda's bacchanalian extravagance are well known: her five-million-dollar shopping tours in New York, Rome and Copenhagen in 1983; the fact that she once dispatched a plane to pick up Australian white sand for the opening of a new beach resort; her reputation as the world's largest collector of gems.

In the final Marie Antoinette moment, when joyous Filipinos raided her palace closets after she had fled the country, they found not only bullet-proof bras and gallons of perfume, but also circa 3,000 pairs of shoes. In 1987 Imelda reportedly defended herself by stating : "I did not have 3,000 pairs of shoes, I had 1,060."

Ousted President Marcos died in exile on September 29, 1989. President Aquino refused to permit the repatriation of his remains for national security reasons. The Supreme Court upheld the decision of the government in Marcos vs. Manglapus. However, in 1991, Imelda Marcos was finally allowed to return home.

In 1992, Mrs. Marcos ran and finished fifth in the seven-way presidential race. ( Note: the Marcos vote was split between her (with 2,338,294 votes) and Ambassador Eduardo Cojuangco, a Marcos crony, who had 4,116,376 votes. Fidel Ramos, Aquinos anointed candidate , received 5.3 million.). In 1995, she was elected Congresswoman of Leyte, representing the first district of her home province. Her son Ferdinand, Jr., on the other hand, was elected congressman, representing the second congressional district of Ilocos Norte province.

In 1998, she made another bid for the presidency but later backed out of the race and supported, instead, the candidacy of then Vice President Joseph Ejercito Estrada. In spite of her withdrawal, Imelda Marcos finished 9th among 11 candidates vying for the Philippine government's top post.

During the administration of President Joseph Estrada, many of the cases filed by the Aquino government were dismissed by Ombudsman Aniano Desierto, owing to technicalities (lapse of the prescriptive period for filing cases). On June 29, 1998, the Sandiganbayan (Philippine anti-corruption court) convicted the Former First Lady of the charge that she had entered into an agreement disadvantageous to the government. On appeal, the Supreme Court reversed the decision and cited Sandiganbayan Justice Francis Gatchitorena for his alleged bias against Mrs. Marcos.

Presently, Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. and Imee R. Marcos are in their last terms as Governor and Congresswoman of Ilocos Norte, respectively. Recently, Imee Marcos announced that her mother Imelda might run for mayor of Manila in the 2007 elections. On the other hand, numerous civil and criminal cases filed against her are still pending in the Sandiganbayan.

Imelda recently launched the bling-bling accessories line, announced in late 2006 by Reuters. She also inspired the name of ChezImelda.com, believed to be the world's largest online women's shoe store.

Martial Law and the New Society the beginning of the end of the Marcos era

Marcos had a vision of a "Bagong Lipunan (New Society)" similar to the "New Order" that was imposed in Indonesia under dictator Suharto. He used the martial law years to implement this vision. According to Marcos' book, "Notes on the New Society", it was a movement urging the poor and the privileged to work as one for the common goals of society, and to achieve the liberation of the Filipino people through self-realization.

Marcos confiscated businesses owned by the oligarchy. More often than not, they were taken over by Marcos' family members and close personal friends, who used them as fronts to launder proceeds from institutionalized graft and corruption in the different national governmental agencies. In the end, some of Marcos' cronies used them as 'cash cows'. "Crony capitalism" was the term used to describe this phenomenon.

This phenomenon was intended to have genuinely nationalistic motives by redistributing monopolies that were traditionally owned by Chinese and Mestizo oligarchs to Filipino businessmen. In practice, it led to graft and corruption via bribery, racketeering, and embezzlement. By waging an ideological war against the oligarchy, Marcos gained the support of the masses. Marcos also silenced the free press, making the state press the only legal one. He also seized privately owned lands and distributed them to farmers. By doing this, Marcos abolished the old oligarchy, only to create a new one in its place. Marcos, now free from day-to-day governance (which was left mostly to Enrile), also used his power to settle old scores against old rivals, such as the Lopezes, who were always opposed to the Marcos administration.

Leading oppositionists such as Senators Benigno Aquino, Jose Diokno, Jovito Salonga and many others were imprisoned for months or years. This practice considerably alienated the support of the old social and economic elite and the media who criticized the Marcos administration endlessly.

The declaration of martial law was initially very well received, given the social turmoil the Philippines was experiencing. The rest of the world was surprised at how the Filipinos accepted his self-imposed dictatorship. Soon after Marcos declared martial law, one American high-ranking official described the Philippines as a country composed "of 40 million cowards and one son of a bitch", otherwise, he reasoned they should have risen against the destroyer of their freedom.

Crime rates plunged dramatically after dusk curfews were implemented. The country would enjoy economic prosperity throughout the 1970's in the midst of growing dissent to his strong-willed rule towards the end of martial law. Political opponents were given the opportunity or forced to go into exile. However, public dissent on the streets was not tolerated and leaders of such protests were promptly arrested, detained, tortured, or never heard from again.

Communist leaders, as well as sympathizers, were forced to flee from the cities to the countrysides, where they multiplied. Lim Seng, a feared drug lord, was arrested and executed in Luneta in 1972. As martial law dragged on for the next nine years, human rights violations went unchecked, and graft and corruption by the military and the administration became widespread, as made manifest by the Rolex 12.

Over the years, Marcos' hand was strengthened by the support of the armed forces, whose size he tripled, to 230,000 troops, after declaring martial law in 1972. The forces included some first-rate units as well as thousands of unruly and ill-equipped personnel of the civilian home defense forces and other paramilitary organizations.

Defense Minister Juan Ponce Enrile, Chief of Staff of the Philippine Constabulary Fidel Ramos, and Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces of the Philippines Fabian Ver, were the chief administrators of martial law from 1972 to 1981, and the three remained President Marcos' closest advisors until he was ousted in 1986. Enrile and Ramos would later abandon Marcos' 'sinking ship' and seek protection behind the 1986 People Power revolution. The Catholic hierarchy and Manila's middle class were crucial to the success of the massive crusade.

The Philippines Economy during the Marcos era

To help finance a number of economic development projects, such as infrastructure, the Marcos government engaged in borrowing money. Foreign capital was invited to invest in certain industrial projects. They were offered incentives including tax exemption privileges and the privilege of bringing out their profits in foreign currencies.

One of the most important economic programs in the 1980s was the Kilusang Kabuhayan at Kaunlaran (Movement for Livelihood and Progress). This program was started in September 1981. Its aim was to promote the economic development of the barangays by encouraging the barangay residents to engage in their own livelihood projects. The government's efforts resulted in the increase of the nation's economic growth rate to an average of six percent to seven percent from 1970 to 1980.

The rate was only less than 5% in the previous decade. The Gross National Product rose from P55 billion in 1972 to P193 billion in 1980. Tourism rose, contributing to the economy's growth. Most of these "tourists" were Filipino balikbayans (returnees) who came under the Ministry of Tourism's Balikbayan Program, launched in 1973.

The huge economic growth was largely financed, however, by U.S. economic aid and several loans made by the Marcos government. The country's foreign debts were less than US$1billion when Marcos assumed the presidency in 1965, and more than US$28billion when he left office in 1986. A sizable amount of these monies went to Marcos family and friends in the form of behest loans. These loans were assumed by the government and still being serviced by taxpayers Today, more than half of the country's revenues are outlayed for the payments on the interests of loans alone.

Another major source of economic growth was the remittances of overseas Filipino workers. Thousands of Filipino workers, unable to find jobs locally, sought and found employment in the Middle East, Singapore and Hong Kong. These overseas Filipino workers not only helped ease the country's unemployment problem but also earned much-needed foreign exchange for the Philippines.

The Philippine economy suffered a great decline after the Aquino assassination in August 1983. The wave of anti-Marcos demonstrations in the country that followed scared off tourists. The political troubles also hindered the entry of foreign investments, and foreign banks stopped granting loans to the Philippine government.

In an attempt to launch a national economic recovery program, Marcos negotiated with foreign creditors including the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, World Bank, and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), for a restructuring of the country's foreign debts � to give the Philippines more time to pay the loans. Marcos ordered a cut in government expenditures and used a portion of the savings to finance the Sariling Sikap (Self-Reliance), a livelihood program he established in 1984.

However, the economy experienced negative economic growth beginning in 1984 and continued to decline despite the government's recovery efforts. The recovery program's failure was caused by civil unrest, rampant graft and corruption within the government and by Marcos' lack of credibility. Marcos himself diverted large sums of government money to his party's campaign funds. The unemployment rate ballooned from 6.30% in 1972 to 12.55% in 1985.

The Marcos downfall

During these years, his regime was marred by rampant corruption and political mismanagement by his relatives and cronies, which culminated with the assassination of Benigno Aquino Jr.. Marcos can be considered the quintessential kleptocrat, having looted billions of dollars from the Filipino treasury. Much of the lost sum has yet to be accounted for. He was also a notorious nepotist, appointing family members and close friends to high positions in his cabinet.

This practice led to even more widespread mishandling of government, especially during the 1980s when Marcos was mortally ill with lupus and was in and out of office. Perhaps the most prominent example is the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant, a multi-billion dollar project that turned out to be a white elephant which allegedly provided huge kickbacks to Marcos and his businessman-friend, Herminio Disini, who spearheaded the project. The reactor, which turned out to be based on old, costly designs and built on an earthquake fault, has still to produce a single watt of electricity.

The Philippine government today is still paying interests on more than US$28 billion public debts incurred during his administration. It was reported that when Marcos fled, U.S. Customs agents discovered 24 suitcases of gold bricks and diamond jewelry hidden in diaper bags; in addition, certificates for gold bullion valued in the billions of dollars are allegedly among the personal properties he, his family, his cronies and business partners had surreptitiously taken with them when the Reagan administration provided them safe passage to Hawaii.

During his third term, Marcos's health deteriorated rapidly due to kidney ailments. He was absent for weeks at a time for treatment, with no one to assume command. Many people questioned whether he still had capacity to govern, due to his grave illness and the ballooning political unrest. With Marcos ailing, his equally powerful wife, Imelda, emerged as the government's main public figure. Marcos dismissed speculations of his ailing health--he used to be an avid golfer and fitness buff who liked showing off his physique. In light of these growing problems, the assassination of Aquino in 1983 would later prove to be the catalyst that led to his overthrow.

Many Filipinos came to believe that Marcos, a shrewd political tactician, had no hand in the murder of Aquino but that he was involved in cover-up measures. However, the opposition blamed Marcos directly for the assassination while others blamed the military and his wife, Imelda. The 1985 acquittals of Gen. Fabian Ver as well as other high-ranking military officers for the crime were widely seen as a miscarriage of justice.

By 1984, his close personal ally, U.S. President Ronald Reagan, started distancing himself from the Marcos regime that he and previous American presidents had strongly supported even after Marcos declared martial law. The United States, which had provided hundreds of millions of dollars in aid, was crucial in buttressing Marcos' rule over the years. During the Carter administration the relation with the U.S. soured somewhat when President Jimmy Carter targeted the Philippines in his human rights campaign. In 1981 Vice President George Bush seemed to signal a different approach when in his visit to Manila he told Marcos, "We love your adherence to democratic principles and to democratic processes."

In the face of escalating public discontent and under pressure from foreign allies, Marcos called a snap presidential election for 1986, with more than a year left in his term. He selected Arturo Tolentino as his running mate. The opposition united behind Aquino's widow, Corazon and her running mate, Salvador Laurel. The final tally of the National Movement for Free Elections, an accredited poll watcher, showed Aquino winning by almost 800,000 votes. However, the government tally showed Marcos winning by almost 1.6 million votes. This appearance of blatant fraud by Marcos led the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines and the United States Senate to condemn the elections.

Both Marcos and Aquino traded accusations of vote-rigging. Popular sentiment in Metro Manila sided with Aquino, leading to a massive, multisectoral congregation of protesters, and the gradual defection of the military to Aquino led by Marcos' cronies, Enrile and Ramos. It must be noted that prior to his defection, Enrile's arrest warrant, having been charged for graft and corruption, was about to be served. This so-called "People Power movement" drove Marcos into exile, and installed Corazon Aquino as the new president. At the height of the revolution, Enrile revealed that his ambush was faked in order for Marcos to have a pretext for imposing martial law.

However, Marcos maintained that he was the duly-elected and proclaimed President of the Philippines for a fourth term. The Marcos family and their associates went into exile in Hawaii and were later indicted for embezzlement in the United States. Marcos died in Honolulu on September 28, 1989 of kidney, heart and lung ailments. He was interred in a private mausoleum at Byodo-In Temple on the island of Oahu, visited daily by the Marcos family, political allies and friends.

The late strongman's remains are currently interred inside a refrigerated crypt in Ilocos Norte, where his son, Ferdinand, Jr., and eldest daughter, Imee, have since become the local governor and representative, respectively. A Mount Rushmore-esque bust of Ferdinand Marcos, commissioned by Tourism Minister Jose Aspiras, was carved into a hillside in Benguet. It was subsequently destroyed by suspects that include left-wing activists, members of a local tribe who have been displaced by its construction, and looters hunting for the Marcos legendary hidden treasure.[14] Imelda Marcos was acquitted of embezzlement by a U.S. court in 1990, but is still facing a few hundred additional graft charges in Philippine courts in 2006.

The Legacy of President Ferdinand Marcos

Prior to Marcos, Philippine presidents had followed the path of "traditional politics" by using their position to help along friends and allies before stepping down for the next "player." Marcos essentially destroyed this setup through military rule, which allowed him to rewrite the rules of the game so they favored the Marcoses and their allies, clever when you think about it.

His practice of using the politics of patronage in his desire to be the "amo" or godfather of not just the people, but the judiciary, legislature and administrative branches of the government ensured his downfall, no matter how Marcos justified it according to his own philosophy of the "politics of achievement". This practice entailed bribery, racketeering, and embezzlement to gain the support of the aforementioned sectors. The 14 years of his dictatorship, according to critics, have warped the legislative, judiciary and the military.

Another allegation was that his family and cronies looted so much wealth from the country that to this day investigators have difficulty determining precisely how many billions of dollars have been salted away. The Swiss government has also returned US$684 million in allegedly ill-gotten Marcos wealth.

According to staunch Marcos critic Jovito Salonga, author of the book "Presidential Plunder: the Quest for the Marcos Ill-Gotten Wealth," monopolies in several vital industries have been created and placed under the control of Marcos cronies, such as coconut (under Eduardo Cojuangco Jr. and Juan Ponce Enrile), tobacco (under Lucio Tan), banana (under Antonio Floirendo), manufacturing (under Herminio Disini and Ricardo Silverio), and sugar (under Roberto Benedicto).

The Marcos and Romualdez families became owners, directly or indirectly, of the nation's largest corporations, such as the Philippine Long Distance Company (PLDT), the Philippine Airlines (PAL), Meralco (a national electric company), Fortune Tobacco, the San Miguel Corporation (Asia's largest beer and bottling company), numerous newspapers, radio and tv broadcasting companies, several banks, real estate properties in New York, California and Hawaii. It was no exaggeration when Imelda Marcos declared in an interview, that her family "own practically everything in the Philippines.". The Aquino government also accused them of skimming off foreign aid and international assistance. This is a clear example of the aforementioned "crony capitalism" that Marcos introduced during the New Society.

His apologists claim Marcos was a good president gone bad and that he was a man of rare gifts--a brilliant lawyer, a shrewd politician and keen legal analyst with a ruthless streak and a flair for leadership. Having been in power for more than 20 years, Marcos also had the very rare opportunity to lead the Philippines toward prosperity, with massive infrastructure he put in place as well as an economy on the rise.

However, he put these talents to work by building a regime that he apparently intended to perpetuate as a dynasty. A former aide of Marcos said that "Nobody will ever know what a remarkable president he could have made. That's the saddest part". Among the many documents he left behind in the Palace, after he fled in 1986, was one appointing his wife as his successor.

Opponents state that the evidence suggests that he used the communist threat as a pretext for seizing power. However, the communist insurgency was at its peak during the late 1960's to early 1970's when it was found out that the People's Republic of China was shipping arms to support the communist cause in the Philippines after the interception of a vessel containing loads of firearms. After he was overthrown, former Defense Minister Juan Ponce Enrile stated that certain incidents had been contrived to justify the imposition of Martial Law and , such as Enrile's ambush.

The Martial Law dictatorship may have helped boost the communist insurgency's strength and numbers, but not to the point that could have led to the overthrow of the elected government. Marcos' regime was crucial in the United States' fight against communism and its influences, with Marcos himself being a staunch anti-communist. Marcos however had an ironically mild streak to his "strongman" image, and as much as possible avoided bloodshed and confrontation.

His most ardent supporters claim Marcos was serious about Martial Law and had genuine concern for reforming the society as evidenced by his actions during the period, up until his cronies, whom he entirely trusted, had firmly entrenched themselves in the government. By then, they say he was too ill and too dependent on them to do something about it. The same has been said about his relationship with his wife Imelda, who became the government's main public figure in light of his illness, by then wielding perhaps more power than Marcos himself.

It is incredible that many laws written by Marcos are still in force and in effect. Out of thousands of proclamations, decrees and executive orders, only a few were repealed, revoked, modified or amended. Few credit Marcos for promoting Filipino culture and nationalism. His 21 years in power with the help of U.S. massive economic aid and foreign loans enabled Marcos to build more schools, hospitals and infrastructure than any of his predecessors combined.

Due to his iron rule, he was able to impose order and reduce crime by strict implementation of the law. The relative economic success that the Philippines enjoyed during the initial part of his presidency is hard to dispel. Many of Marcos' accomplishments were overlooked after the so-called "People Power" EDSA Revolution, but the Marcos era definitely had its own accomplishments in its own right.

A journalist said that "The Marcoses were the best of us, and they were the worst of us. That's why we say we hate them so much."

According to Transparency International, Marcos is the second most corrupt head of government ever, after Suharto. Even so, according to a recent survey, some Filipinos prefer Marcos' rule due to the shape of the country in administrations succeeding his. Many admire his autocratic, strong-arm rule, saying that his style of leadership is sorely missed and needed in the post-EDSA Philippines where too much democracy has ruined the body politic, with fractious standoffs in Congress, endless so-called "People Power" demonstrations, deadlocks in the Senate and movie actors as well as traditional politicians being elected into public office.

A few are nostalgic for the Marcos era, where the government was well-organized and laws were strictly followed by civilians, leading to a relatively disciplined populace.

On the other hand, many despise his regime, his silencing the free press, his curtailing of civil liberties such as the right to peaceably assemble, his dictatorial control, the imprisonment, torture, murder and disappearance of thousands of his oppositionists, and his supposed shameless plunder of the nation's treasury. There is no middle ground.

It is quite evident that the EDSA Revolution left the Philippine society polarized, perhaps beyond repair. Nostalgia remains high in parts of the populace for the Marcos era due to the downward spiral the Philippines fell into after his departure. It can be said that his public image has been significantly rehabilitated after worsening political and economic problems that have hounded his successors. The irony is that these economic troubles are largely due to the country's massive debts incurred during his administration. The Marcos Era's legacy, polarizing as it is, remains deeply embedded in the Philippines today.

Filipino Identity - Polarized but is their a third way ?

Now that the Filipino is polarized between the authoritarian Marcos era and the present era of Senate and congressional deadlock under Corazon Aquino, Joseph Estrada and Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, its little wonder that he simply shrugs his shoulder and says "Bahala na" (come what may), its true that the Philippines has slid slowly backwards, its not suprising that Filipinos live on hope, hope of a third way, its sad to say that the only hope of a third way, is the opt out option, that is to opt out of the Philippines all together, just look at the facts:

The Third way !

Manila the capital city has to be the most apalling principal city in any country in South East Asia, the situation continues to deteriorate year by year with no end in sight ! just look at the facts, Manila has over 200,000 street children, just think of that, 200,000 children roaming the cities suburbs begging, with nowhere to sleep at night, when you question Filipino's they simply shrug their shoulders and say " Oh they won't go home to the parents, or 'they are sniffing glue and they beg and steal' it beggars belief as to why there is such an indifference to their fellow man, yet their continues to be alarming rises in the number of beggars, in Pasay City, squatters live in card board box shanties under the skyway overpass, they have no sanitary facilities, they defacate in plastic bags they scavenge from landfill sites and throw human faeces and other waste products in other peoples backyards or into the Pasig river which runs through Manila.

Parts of Metro Manila flood instantly whenever there is the slightest rainfall, its electricity infastructure is so backward, that its breaksdown consantly on a daily basis, Filipino's become used to brownouts as they are called, massive sector power grid failures, organized gangs dig up trunk cables for telephone lines to sell, and householders find themselves with no access to basic communications for days on end.

The road network is dogged by civil servant corruption with many roads full of potholes for months on end, local authorities lack the funds necessary to fix them because the funds have been embezzled or misappropriated by officials Manila has the worst congestion problem in the whole world, it has rude taxi drivers who seek to extort petty amounts of increased fares from foreign tourists simply because they are foreign, rich and over there ! they stop in the middle of transporting passengers to urinate in public places they regularly refuse to take passengers because they are relucant to travel through congested areas, and who could blame them ? Manila as the rest of the country is at gridlock with its gigantic force of jeepneys which ply the roads every day like a surrogate public transport system belching out some of the highest levels of carbon based emissions anywhere in the world.

Government programmes for school children are a chronic falure, shortages of desks force young schoolchildren to sit on the floor while government ministers are chauferred around whilst talking for hours on their latest Nokia computer phones, this is a country where college lecturers and public school teachers are paid salaries that are a national disgrace, one would wonder why they even bother going into such a profession when their salary is little more than unemployment benefit in the Western countries

In the middle of all this it has a government who regularly appeases an ongoing insurgency which has cost thousands of lives being fought in the Southern Island of Mindanao, and yet the Government negotiates a ceasefire at Christmas so that the insurgents can go home to their families and have Christmas dinner !

50 per cent of the countries population live on less than one us dollar a day, over 100,000 indigenous farmers in Davao City have no WC faciltities whatsoever, there is little wonder that the European Tourist delegation to that city declined to allow the European Union to recommend that European tourists agencies should start advertising package holidays to the Philippines, they found beaches polluted with human, industrial, and animal waste, the majority of Filipino's have no understanding of the environmental damage they are causing to their country, by urinating and defacting on arable land or in freshwater rivers, they simply do not care, or have no choice or concern of the effect in the eco-structure of their beloved country, and yet these sames ones can be reported to the thought police for not showing respect for Lupang Hinirang as it is religiously played every morning for schoolchildren at registration and in shopping malls and cinemas.

I could of course go on further but my endeavours to do so fills me with a sadness of the futility of doing so, because in spite of writing as I do, I love the Philippines, I love the Filipino, they are my freinds, they are my family, they are my people, sa mahal kong pilipinas, what gets to me so much is that the Filipino is educated, he is smart, he is capable, so what is it that prevents him from cleaning up this great country, what is it that prevents him from saying "No we will not accept this, we will not allow our country to be like this" it cant simply be a matter of national pride, if it is, then we need more than a few good government initiatives, we need a whole new way of thinking and we need a 30 year educational programme of national pride !

I heard a story once, that some Filipinos will refuse to enter the cinema when the national anthem is being played ? I was never told why that was, I can only assume reading between the lines that its because they dont want to bother honouring their country, or that being a Filipino was not such a great thing, from my extensive travels to the Philippines I have noted that the average Filipino seems to love everything that is foreign ! if you send them Pasalubong ( gifts) it wouldnt matter if it was M&M's chocolate buttons, as long as they came from London or New York, as long as it wasnt purchased down at Robinsons food outlet, whats the problem with it being Filipino ? if its foreign, its certainly got to be better than what is Filipino, that is what occured to me.

From what I experienced most Filipinos and by the way this is the educated too, seem to have this incessant desire to go anywhere apart from the Philippines, when confronted with the obvious evidence that they live in the 11th most corrupt country in the world, something of which they are subjected to almost daily, and which is transmitted into their living rooms through tv patrol, they simply continue to shrug their shoulders and say 'Bahala na' and let the matter go at that, is it suprising then, that Filipinos have no national pride in being a Filipino, if they continue to apologize and make excuses for all of their countries endemic problems by saying 'come what may !' their is an old saying "The apathetic have surrendered" oh well if the shoe fits ?

If you look around Manila, many of the architectural examples of great buildings were left during the occupations of other foreign settlers, and yet many of these buildings have never been restored to their former glory, they have been simply left to rot and deteriorate, what about the history of this great nation ? when I recently went downtown to Gaisano mall to get a book about Filipino history, I was amazed at the depth of historical facts about the Filipino and his heritage, I could not put the book down all afternoon, I read it from cover to cover, I was dazzled by the geat sacrifices of the Filipino, but on discussing the subject with locals in my hotel, they simply looked in my direction like I was high on drugs, the average Filipino seems to know nothing or very little about his own national history, and of course thanks to 50 years of Americanization, with its megamalls, and multitudes of fast food outlets, seems to be par for the course that a country with only less than 200 years of history seeks to impose its way of life on another country who has little or no desire to discover its own history, but is happy to have someone elses imposed on it.

Can we be suprised then that your average Filipino thinks only of personal survival in a poverty stricken country of which the remedy is to 'Go West young man" take thy self and hit the streets of anytown U.S.A. because you can make life better there !, anywhere there is better than anywhere here, can we be suprised that when he has no faith in his political institutions, no faith in his elected leaders, who have syphoned off most of the country's wealth into their own pockets, is it not incredible that the children of a once military dictator still continue to flourish in positions of grandeur, and that his widow still continues to exert high political influence and courts hundreds of thousands of followers, and yet is under investigation still 20 years on for alledged abuses of power, embezzlement of state funds, racketeering, bribery, and corruption at levels never seen before in world history, only surpassed by the Suharto regime of Indonesia.

it only goes on to show that a people who have no sense of their own history, no sense of collective responsibility for the past, and no sense of doing what is right, can never have a sense of national pride, thus a collective desire as one people to face up to the many problems that can be changed given the desire and will to succeed, and to say as one people, No! we will not tolerate these abuses, what has happened to these once proud and brave fighters, the Filipino is welcomed througout the world as an industrious worker, a proud citizen, so what has gone wrong ? could it be perhaps the Filipino of today has simply lost his own link with his past, and until he finds it again, and realizes who he was, and who he is now, he will not have any national pride that can make the required changes to make the Philippines a great country to live in once again, I fear for him, for he has lost his way, but for the time being he will continue to look the other way and think to himself "Bahala na" !

The Food Culture of the Philippines

I have now been visiting and living in the Philippines for two years, and consider myself in most respects well-assimilated, well almost ! However, there is one key step on the road to full assimilation which I have yet to take, and that's to eat BALUT.
The day anyone sees me eating balut, please call immigration and ask them to issue me a Filipino passport, because at that point there will be no turning back. BALUT, for those still blissfully ignorant non-Pinoys out there, is a fertilized duck egg. It is commonly sold with salt in a piece of newspaper, much like English fish and chips, by street vendors usually after dark, presumably so you can't see how gross it is.
It's meant to be an aphrodisiac, although I can't imagine anything more likely to dispel sexual desire than crunching on a partially- formed baby duck swimming in noxious fluid. The embryo in the egg comes in varying stages of development, but basically it is not considered macho to eat one without fully discernable feathers, beak, and claws.
Some say these crunchy bits are the best. Others prefer just to drink the so-called 'soup', the vile, pungent liquid that surrounds the aforementioned feathery fetus...excuse me, I have to go and throw up now. I'll be back in a minute.
Food dominates the life of the Filipino. People in the Philippines just love to eat. They eat at least eight times a day. These eight official meals are called, in order: breakfast, snacks, lunch, merienda, pica-pica, pulutan, dinner, and no-one-saw-me-take-that-cookie-from-the-fridge- so-it-doesn't-count.
The short gaps in between these mealtimes are spent eating Sky Flakes from the open packet that sits on every desktop. You're never far from food in the Philippines.
If you doubt this, next time you're in a taxi travelling around the Philippines, try this game. See how long you can go without seeing food and I don't mean a distant restaurant, or a picture of food. I mean a man on the sidewalk frying fish balls, or a man walking through the traffic selling nuts or candy. I bet it's less than one minute.
Here are some other things I've noticed about food in the Philippines. Firstly, a meal is not a meal without rice-even breakfast. In the UK, I could go a whole year without eating rice.
Second, it's impossible to drink without eating. A bottle of San Miguel just isn't the same without gambas or beef tapa. Third, no one ventures more than two paces from their house without baon and a container of something cold to drink.
You might as well ask a Filipino to leave home without his pants on.
And lastly, where I come from, you eat with a knife and fork. Here, you eat with a spoon and fork. You try eating rice swimming in fish sauce with a knife. One really nice thing about Filipino food culture is that people always ask you to share their food. Filipinos wil always say " KAIN TAYO!" ("Let's eat!"). This confused me, until I realized that they didn't actually expect me to sit down and start munching on their boneless bangus. In fact, the polite response is something like, "No thanks, I just ate." But the principle is sound if you have food on your plate you are expected to share it, however hungry you are, with those who may be even hungrier.
In fact, this is frequently even taken one step further. Many Filipinos use "Have you eaten yet?" ("KUMAIN KA NA?") as a general greeting, irrespective of time of day or location. Some foreigners think Filipino food is fairly dull compared to other Asian cuisines. Actually lots of it is very good: Spicy dishes like Bicol Express (strange, a dish named after a train); anything cooked with coconut milk; anything KINILAW; and anything ADOBO.
And it's hard to beat the sheer wanton, cholesterholic frenzy of a good old- fashioned LECHON de leche feast. Dig a pit, light a fire, add 50 pounds of animal fat on a stick, and cook until crisp. Mmm, mmm... you can actually feel your arteries constricting with each successive mouthful.
Filipinos eating anything sweet ! sweet bread, sweet burgers, sweet spaghetti, sweet banana ketchup, and so on. Try it! It's the weird food you want to avoid.
In addition to duck fetus in the half-shell, items to avoid in the Philippines include pig's blood soup (DINUGUAN); bull 's testicle soup, the strangely-named "SOUP NUMBER FIVE" (I dread to think what numbers one to four are); and the ubiquitous, stinky shrimp paste, BAGOONG, and it's equally stinky sister, PATIS.
Filipinos are so addicted to these latter items that they will even risk arrest or deportation trying to smuggle them into countries like Australia and the USA, which wisely ban the importation of items you can smell from more than 100 paces. Then there's the small matter of the blue ice cream. I have never been able to get my brain around eating blue food; the ubiquitous UBE leaves ube cold. And lastly on the subject of weird food, beware: that KALDERETANG KAMBING (goat) could well be KALDERETANG ASO (dog)... The Filipino, of course, has a well-developed sense of food. Here's a typical Pinoy food joke: "I'm on a seafood diet "What's a seafood diet?" "When I see food, I eat it!" Filipinos also eat strange bits of animals --- the feet, the head, the guts, etc., usually barbecued on a stick. These have been given witty names, like "ADIDAS" (chicken's feet); "KURBATA" (either just chicken's neck, or "neck and thigh" as in "neck-tie"); "WALKMAN" (pigs ears); "PAL" (chicken wings); "HELMET" (chicken head); "IUD" (chicken intestines), and BETAMAX" (video-cassette-like blocks of animal blood). Yum yum. Bon appetit.

Just beware in the Philippines food is not so much a matter of life or death, actually its much more important than that !

Whats in a name ? Filipino style.

"A good name is rather to be chosen than great riches" -- (Proverbs 22:1) When I arrived in the Philippines from the UK just under 3 years ago, one of the first cultural differences to strike me was names. The subject has provided a continuing source of amazement and amusement ever since. The first unusual thing, from an English perspective, is that everyone here has nickname. In the staid and boring United Kingdom, we have nicknames in kindergarten, but when we move into adulthood we tend, I am glad to say, to lose them.
The second thing that struck me is that Philippine names for both girls and boys tend to be what we in the UK would regard as overbearingly cutesy for anyone over about five. Where I come from, a boy with a nickname like Boy Blue or Honey Boy would be beaten to death at school by pre-adolescent bullies, and never make it to adulthood. So, probably, would girls with names like Babes, Lovely, Precious, Peachy or Apples. Yuk, ech ech. Here, however, no one bats an eyelid.
Then I noticed how many people have what I have come to call "doorbell names". These are nicknames that sound like - well, door-bells. There are millions of them. Bing, Bong, Ding, and Dong are some of the more common. They can be, and frequently are, used in even more door-bell-like combinations such as Bing-Bong, Ding-Dong, Ting-Ting, and so on. Even one of the Senators and became Presidential Candidate has a doorbell named Ping.
None of these door-bell names exist where I come from, and hence sound unusually amusing to my untutored foreign ear. Someone once told me that one of the Bings, when asked why he was called Bing, replied "because my brother is called Bong". Faultless logic. Dong, of course, is a particularly funny one for me, as where I come from "dong" is a slang word of well, perhaps "talong" is the best Tagalog equivalent. Repeating names was another novelty to me, having never before encountered people with names like Len-Len, Let-Let, Mai-Mai, or Ning-Ning. Such names are then frequently further refined by using the "squared" symbol, as in Len2 or Mai2. This had me very confused for a while.
Then there is the trend for parents to stick to a theme when naming their children. This can be as simple as making them all begin with the same letter, as in Jun, Jimmy, Janice, and Joy. More imaginative parents shoot for more sophisticated forms of assonance or rhyme, as in Biboy, Boboy, Buboy, Baboy (notice the names get worse the more kids there are-best to be born early or you could end up being a Baboy). Even better, parents can create whole families of, say, desserts (Apple Pie, Cherry Pie, Honey Pie) or flowers (Rose, Daffodil, Tulip).
The main advantage of such combinations is that they look great painted across your trunk if you're a cab driver.
That's another thing I'd never seen before coming to Manila -- taxis with the driver's kids' names on the trunk. Another whole eye-opening field for the foreign visitor is the phenomenon of the "composite" name. This includes names like Jejomar (for Jesus, Joseph and Mary), and the remarkable Luzviminda (for Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao, believe it or not). That's a bit like me being called something like "Engscowani" (for England, Scotland, Walesand Northern Ireland). Between you and me, I'm glad I'm not. And how could I forget to mention the fabulous concept of the randomly inserted letter 'h'. Quite what this device is supposed to achieve, I have not yet figured out, but I think it is designed to give a touch of class to an otherwise only averagely weird name. It results in creations like Jhun, Lhenn, Ghemma, and Jhimmy. Or how about Jhun-Jhun (Jhun2)? How boring to come from a country like the UK full of people with names like John Smith. How wonderful to come from a country where imagination and exoticism rule the world of names. Even the towns here have weird names; my favorite is the unbelieveably-named town of Sexmoan(ironically close to Olongapo and Angeles). Where else in the world could that really be true? Where else in the world could the head of the Church really be called Cardinal Sin? Where else but the Philippines! Note: Philippines has a senator named Joker, and it is his legal name.

Introduction to the Filipinos as People.

Filipino's are very gentle, wonderful and most of all a complex people. It is sometimes very difficult for a foreigner to rationalize on the Filipino behaviour, for every incredible event, strange, oddball, confusing and totally illogical thing that seems to happen in the Philippines, Philippine regular travellers simply have on explanation for it " Its the Filipino factor ! now that you are in class, here are your first lessons about this country you want to visit, read and learn !

Lesson 1 - Nationalism.

Filipinos are extremely proud of being a Filipino and their cultural arts, and all things Filipino, The Philippines has been occupied several times during its colourful hisotry, First by the Spanish, then the British, then the Japanese, then the Americans, Filipino politics has in some way polarized the Filipino, and national identity which has been discussed in preceding paragraphs, has been eroded,in the last few years, the emergence of people power after the 1986 EDSA 'people power' revolution, Filipinos have resisted interference from foreign powers, and whilst generally the Filipinos welcome foreigners, they generally do not take kindly to foreigners sticking their nose into their own political affairs, being a freindly foreigner in the Philippines certainly helps as foreigners are so much liked, be polite you will be left alone to go about your business.

So how does this have anything to do with your holiday in the Philippines, well for one thing, you will enjoy a much easier time and get on so much more better if you can understand that Filipino's are very nationalistic and don't care very much for being continually criticized for the state of the roads, the crappy looking shanty towns, with toilets over the river, they already know all of this, and don't take too kindly to some fresh faced Joe in country for a 2 week vacation telling them the bleeding obvious, Filipino's are not unaware of the problems they face every day, they are fully conversant with the constant corruption that takes place daily, they need a hand up in life, not a handout, something to look foward to not, a daily diet of foreigners coming in telling them how to suck an egg, and if only they did it this way, to a Filipino, all life is about survival, and they live from day to day, so be use discernment when travelling around the 7000 plus Islands of the Philippines.
Don't take things personally, but Filipinos love everything that is Filipino, they love their own food, culture, music, they embrace many other cultures as well, it is always best not to meddle in business matters with a Filipino, or a group of Filipinos, don't pass comments during a Filipino family argument or discussion, please please remember one thing if you forget everything else you read at this site, if you do happen to make contact and maintain a Filipino Girlfreind, just remember one thing, that beautiful rose petal, you have on your arm, the one who keeps smiling at you, and has managed to capture your heart, no matter where you take her, what you give her, or how she speaks of you, she is 100 per cent, and always will be a Filipino, she will remain so forever, and to think otherwise, will be costly mistake for you, Filipino's are very inter-dependant and family close, in a way the exact oppposite to the Western countries, this would be something youu would be wise to note.

Lesson 2 - Smiling !

So much has been written in the past by other people about the famous Filipino smile and disposition, that smile is something to be seen, the most important thing to realize is, that a Filipino smile may not always indicate the same thing as when you and I were to smile

When we smile here in UK, its because we are so happy to meet you ! happy about our situation, just generally happy, A Filipino smile can mean many things, it could mean please, thank you, goodbye, Im sorry, or simply yes, it can sometimes be used to convey a calming aroma to a heated situation, it sometimes eases the tension if a situation appears to be getting too heated, Filipinos by nature do not like direct confrontation, but it is more important to note that they do not like to loose face, sometimes a Filipino will smile to ease a situation, they would rather do this, than have a direct confrontation.

Lesson 3 - Reasoning and Logic

The Filipino way of reasoning and logic is very hard to understand, they will tend to do things that can irritate the Western visitor, Filipinos as a people are very inter-dependant, you will always see them together in groups rather than on their own, thats why the sight of a Western tourist on his own, wandering around Makati is rather strange, since not to have a companion or be in a group is pretty bad luck, and considered very sad, almost as one without family.

The European way of thinking about things does not work in the Philippines the reasoning when addressing problems is foreign to the western visitor, Filipina's (female) are very smart and intelligent, and can ease themselves out of many hard situations if they want to, they have very imaginative ways of extorting what they want from you without too much trouble, Filipina's (female) appear to be totally illogical to the Western tourist, if you propose a plan of action to a Filipina, don't give her too much time to think about it, because if you do, she will consult with a whole host of Tita's Tito's freinds and relatives who appear from nowhere as pebbles on a beach, and then together they will decided on what is best to do, the longer you give her the longer she consults, this narrows down the chance of the response being in your favour.

Lesson 4 - Promises

All Filipina's regardless of who they are, where they work, have the most amazing selective total recall in their memories, because ( this is worth a laugh at) anything that is to their benefit, trust me, they will remember, and if you don't do as you have promised, they will remind you.

Anecdote

A British met a Filipina on Asianeuro.com, he chatted with her for 3 months, during the 2nd month, he told her, that he would like to buy her a freindship ring when he 1st visited the Philippines, she said "Oh that is so sweet of you, and had a nice big bright smile" 3 months later, (now 6 months had gone by) the British guy shows up in Manila and is met by the bright smiling Filipina, by this time the British Guy had forgotten all about his generous offer of the freindship ring, when they went out for the 1st day to Glorietta shopping, the FIlipina promptly marched him to the Gold shop where she got the sales assistant to show her Boyfriend the ring she had picked out over the last 6 months, he was then embarassed into forking out 850 US Dollars for a ring he had not planned to buy

Tip

Do not make promises to Filipina's that you have no intention of keeping, do not promise to buy rings, necklaces, chains or anything to do with tangible objects unless you can afford it, and have every intention of doing so, do not promise to send allowances you cannot afford to spare, do not promise to send goods or other items you never send, do not promise anything in jest, or when you have had too much to drink, a Filipina has a selective memory and will never forget.

Lesson 5 - Sentimentality

To the Filipino the practicalities of personal survival mean that Filipinos tend to be more practical than sentimental, remember this is a country that has terrible poverty so they cant really afford to be as sentimental as you might be, if a Filipino can't spend it, sell it, eat it, wear it, live in it, or ride in it, they don't want it, that 50 year keepsake, that your mum gave you, passed down to her, i'snt much good to them, unless of course it has a real value in the world markets, such as Gold, forget about things of historical value, or sentimental value.

Sentimental momentos of your ex wives, girlfreinds are a strange sight to a Filipina and suggest you never bring them with you, don't store them at home, she will never understand why you have them, since now you have her why would you want them ?

Lesson 6 - Borrowing

In the Philippines, the word 'borrow' isnt much different from the word 'give' if you hear requests for borrowing in the Phlippines dont expect to get it back, if a Filipina borrows anything from you, (most genuine nice girls will be reluctant to do this unless you are their partner, or future marriage partner), you wont get it back either, if you give anything to a Filipino, its exactly that, a non-returnable gift, if you do atempt to ask for it back, you will be derided by her, her freinds and relatives as Kuripot, (Stingy ! ).
Lesson 7 - Here and Now

Generally speaking most Filipinos are todays people, they live on what they make today, and take each day as it comes, they don't think very far into the future, unless they are saving for a house, short term gain is very important to them, thats why this is much better for them, than future promises, the old english phrase ' A Bird in the hand is worth 2 in the bush' seem very poignant here, Filipinos will take you at your word, until you prove otherwise, and thats easy to brake their faith in your word, Filipinas will listen carefully to what you promise to do "If you promise to fly and dont do it, promise to send money and dont do it, they wont believe much else you say from that moment on, remember they live for today, and money is no 1 in the Philippines, they will only look at 1 thing ! what you are doing and what you are delivering for them now.

Lesson 8 - Eating

It wont take you very long to discover that Filipino's have a general obsession with eating, when a Filipina is hungry, that is the main pre-occupation on her mind, and she will be gradually irritated if you don't attend to this within the next 5 minutes, its not much point in saying " Can you wait until tonight" she most definately cannot !, Whilst a Western man is used to getting by on 2 to 3 main meals per day, a Filipina cannot work that way, they will tend to eat smaller portions, but more of them, they will eat just about anytime they get hungry, which is quite often during the day, it is considered to be a very healthy way of life, look at your Filipina GF, she probably isnt fat, whereas look at most Western 40 somethings, they are generally overweight, a Filipina can go into a child like whine if she is not fed at the right time, the right time is any time she is hungry, if she is not immedeatly fed and watered, she can make your day intolerable, and you will be seen as Kuripot (stingy) and not very nice

Lesson 9 - Sleeping

Filipinos can seem to go for some long periods without sleep, sometimes they rise at obscene hours of the morning to get into Manila, having said that, they can fall alseep just about anywhere, some Filipinos amaze me, in that they can go to the cinema just to fall asleep, if a Filipina is asleep, dont fret, she is not spending any money, and she is helping you to minimize your losses whilst on Holiday ( Am I being kuripot or thrifty ?)

Anecdote

A British guy once told me that his Filipina Girlfriend was either wanting to go to the Cinema, eating snacks or sleeping in the room, I replied your lucky, mine is either shopping at Glorietta's (Expensive designer shopping mall in Makati ! ), eating at Illongo grill, or shopping for jewellry, bags, or shoes.

Tip

Its not a bad thing to let your Filipina companion sleep, eat or watch t.v, when she sleeps she is happy, when she eats she is happy, and when she shops she is happy, do you want to be around her, if she is unhappy ? that is something of which can be very irritating for you !

Lesson 10 - Losing Face

Money can often be said to be the Root of all evil, but in the Philippines Loss of Face can be the cause of evil behaviour, to loose face means to loose ones respect for ones self, being shamed or looked down on by others while 'gaining face' means gaining prestige or status in the eyes of others.

Prestige and status is very important to the Filipino, Filipinas will often show the wealth of their respective foreign partners, they will sometimes fabricate the real thing to make it appear more prestigious, the worst thing you can do is allow your Filipina GF to loose face in front of her family, freinds and neighbours

Anecdote

A Certain Filipina who had a American Boyfriend gave her the money to buy a brand new PC, it cost P30,000, another Filipina had a Danish Boyfreind, he bought her a new PC which cost P32,000, another Certain Australian man was in the Philippines visiting his Girlfreind, his GF asked him for money to buy a computer, he went to the store and bought a refurbished computer costing P30,000 with an exceptionally high specification.

His Girlfreind was chatting with her other freinds and was heard to say, Tita Nengs Boyfreind comes from Chicago USA and he buy her a brand new PC he is rich and so nice, Manang Nings Boyfreind is from Denmark and he is so gwapo, he buy her a new PC, he is so nice, my boyfriend went downtown and came back with a second hand one for me, he is Kuripot !

Tip

The lady who got the used computer has lost face in front of her 2 freinds and nothing short of a major purchase of the latest computer system would get it back for her, the worse and possibly the most unfeeling thing you can do to a Filipina is allow her to loose face because you got it wrong

Oh Lord please will you buy me a Mercedez-Benz: My Friends all have porches I must make amends.

Lesson 11 - Agressive Movements and Pointing

I'm sure that most people have heard about aggressive behavour in the Far East, the Philippines is a place where aggressive behaviour is not liked, strong sudden movements, pointing is considered Bastos, (rude) discussing sexual matters openly is also considered to be Bastos, getting pissed in a bar is ok, but coming out and picking a fight with everyone is not, in any case, dont pick a fight with Filipino's they will follow you later if you make them loose face, and next time, it will either be a machete they chop you with, or you will get shot, as has happened before, gentlemanly behaviour is the best policy even when you stagger out of a P Burgos night club.

Whenever 2 opposite races become intimate and alchohol is involved there is bound to be trouble, there doesnt have to be too much violence or trouble if you as the Western Visitor don't get involved in any, if you witness an altercation, avoid it, especially arguments involving Filipinos, dont try and wade in and break it up, or act as a peacemaker, you cannot win in any situation, Let the Filipinos sort out their own problems, the less you have to do with Filipinos when they have too much alcohol in them the better, they are unpredictable, never try and get 'tough' with a Filipino man, even if you know you can throttle him, whilst you might think you have won the 1st round, a Filipino may return later with 'freinds' and try and even up the score a little, walk away, there is no embarassment in walking away.

Lesson 12 - Language

Most Filipinos are bi-lingual so language its not really a problem, those who are not fluent english speakers are like that because they are not used to conversing in english at home, why should they, since they would speak their own language at home, English is the language of business, its good to learn a few words and is appreciated however, dont be suprised if you ask something in Tagalog, and get a reply in English, its common for Filipinos to go into a conversation amongst themselves, and you tend to feel left out, this is not to be taken as rude, in fact, its second nature for Filipinos to break into their own language just as you would speak English in UK, if they were the foreigner and didnt speak a word of english.

Its a fairly easy language to pick up, if you take the time to learn, and its fun too, because its even funnier if you do not let on, that you can speak a few words some of the Filipinos conversation is quite interesting especially if you can read what they are saying, however, most Filipino conversation appears to the Western guy as mundane, Filipina's can talk for hours about what they ate, where they shopped, what they saw, what they did, what they would like to buy, etc, this is also known as chismis (pronounced) Cheeezmeez

If your Girlfreind has friends with her, and they are chatting away in Tagalog, then let her do it, and don't appear to be impatient, because you are expected to wait, a Filipina loves to chat with other Filipina's, don't spoil her joy, she is going finish when the time is right, A Filipina who is on the phone, can talk for hours, but at the end if you asked them to summarize what was said, they would say " Oh they didnt say much" thats generally because the conversation was a general natter, and they didnt want to bore you with inns and outs of everything that was said

We hope you have enjoyed this section of the Single Mans Rough Guide to the Philippines - Money Still Number 1, Now please Link to the next section. The Bar Girls of the Philippines A Discussion for the Single Male traveller in the Philippines.