It
has long been an issue whether the Filipinos have their own identity.
This is precisely the topic of the hoax email, supposed to have come
from Mr. Art Bell, called “Filipinos make me puke.” This has long been
explained by Mr. Art Bell that the email did not come from him. In
fact he lived in the Philippines for a very short period and has
married two Filipinas. Nonetheless, the email was full of
discrimination; saying that we do not have the right to call ourselves
Asians, we do not have our own culture and that nothing good has ever
come from our country.
Cebu, Philippines(photo: turistua.com)
Filipino Culture
If
there is one word that will best describe our culture, it’s
‘diversity.’ The Philippine culture is a mix of the cultures of the
countries that colonized us. With over 150 dialects, scattered in over
7,000 islands, it makes each regions cultural elements unique to their
area. Before Ferdinand Magellan, who re-discovered the islands, the
Indo-Malays and Chinese merchants have already settled in the country.
The indigenous tribes, who largely came from the Malay race, already
have their own culture. The 2000 year old rice terraces of the Banaue
region, carved into the mountains of Ifugao by the Batad tribe, is a
testimony to the remarkable cultures of the indigenous people of our
country.
Three centuries of the Spanish colonization of the
Philippines influenced literature, folk music, folk dance, language,
food, art and religion. Philippines is the only country in Asia where
majority of the peoples religion is Catholic. The influence of the
church on politics is also evident to this day. The
Philippines being the third largest English speaking country in the
world is attributed to the American colony of the country for almost 4
decades. They also had an influence on contemporary pop culture such
as fast food, music, movies and basketball. The Muslim Filipinos and the Chinese Filipinos follow their own customs and traditions.
Filipino Contributions
Palawan, Philippines (photo: turistua.com)
Nothing
good has ever come from the Philippines. This is what most people think
of our country especially those who are ignorant to the fact that the
Moon Buggy, the car used by Neil Armstrong when they first explored the
moon, was conceptualized by Eduardo San Juan; That the Karaoke is an
invention of Roberto del Rosario; That the antibiotic Erythromycin was
discovered by Dr. Abelardo Aguilar from Iloilo creating the brand
"Ilosone"; The fluorescent lamp was invented by Agapito Flores and that
the Americans helped in developing it for worldwide commerce.
Diosdado
Banatao is credited for eight major contributions to the Information
Technology; the first single-chip graphical user interface accelerator
that made computers work a lot faster, he helped develop the Ethernet
controller chip that made Internet possible, he pioneered the local bus
concept for personal computers and in the following year developed the
First Windows accelerator chip. Intel is now using the chips and
technologies developed by Banatao. Fe Del Mundo is also credited for her studies that led to the invention of the incubator and jaundice relieving device.
The
list goes on and on. These contributions are not acknowledged. Most
people only see that the Philippines is a third world country, a poor
country filled with corrupt officials. Claire Danes was once quoted in
Vogue, saying that Manila was a "ghastly and weird city" and in
Premiere she said that Manila “smelled of cockroaches, with rats all
over and that there is no sewage system and the people do not have
anything -- no arms, no legs, no eyes.”
The Philippines tainted
with malice, corruption, and poverty has gone through a lot all
throughout history but nonetheless, we are still here - survivors of
very testing times. While a lot of people may have doubts of whether
we have an identity of our own, I say that our identity stems from our
anonymity. We are who we are; silently contributing towards the
progress of the world. We are not a perfect race but we are a race
blessed with so much talents and intelligence. The beautiful places in
the Philippines, the hospitality of the people, the warm smiles is
enough to make me proud of who I am – a Filipino.
