Manny Pacquiao on his Fight with Oscar De La Hoya

"Ang bawat suntok na aking bibitawan ay may bigat ng 90 milyong Pilipino sa buong mundo, kasama na rin ang ilan pang milyong katao na sumusuporta sa akin bilang isang kampeon sa ibabaw ng ring.

Excited na ako na maipakita ko ang tapang, lakas at bilis ng isang mandirigmang Pilipino gaya ng ipinakita ng aking mga ninuno simula pa kay Lapu-Lapu ng Mactan. Maganda ang aking pakiramdam, maayos at malinaw ang aking pag-iisip at higit sa lahat, naniniwala ako na ang mahal na Panginoong Diyos ay nasa aking tabi palagi kaya Siya na ang magbibigay sa akin ng tagumpay sa araw na ito. Kasama ko sa araw na ito ang lahat ng mga magigiting na Pilipino na nagtanggol at lumaban upang lahat tayo ay lumaya at mamuhay ng tahimik. Kasabay ko ang lahat ng mga kababayan kong nagmamahal sa bayan."

"This is the fight of my life, this is the biggest challenge in my boxing career, and I know that if I emerge victorious in this battle, all of us will reap the blessings and we will share all the glory."

-Manny Pacquiao, December 6, 2008 on the day
of his big fight with Oscar De La Hoya

"From Now on, Call Them Expats, Not OFWs"

“One very, very well-known and well-paid Filipino working overseas says that we should begin to call our overseas Filipinos expatriates, because the nature of their job is increasingly more on skilled professions. And they should be called expatriates because expatriates usually get higher pay than if you just call them workers,”…

“The government and the people honor our overseas Filipinos, whether you call them OFWs, OCWs, or as Dante Ang likes to call them, Overseas Filipino Investors. And I agree that we should begin to call them expatriates rather than OFWs. But in any case, we honor them for their sacrifice and dedication to their work, their family and their nation.” …

“We welcome their contribution. But we are working towards the day when Filipinos no longer need to go abroad for a job. For the day that overseas work is just another career option and not the only choice they have to earn a living...”

- President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, Speech, October 7, 2008

What of Filipino Heroes for Filipinos and Fil-Ams in the United States?

Positively No Filipinos Allowed: Building Communities and Discourse (Asian American History & Culture)

"One hundred years later, Filipinos in the United States and Filipino Americans have every reason to ask what Rizal - along with the revolution he inadvertently inspired some seven thousand miles across the Pacific Ocean- has to do with student and academic communities in the United States today. They certainly won't appear in most classes on U.S. history, or Asian American OR U.S. ethnic studies for that matter. Why should Americans (even US minorities) concern themselves with FIlipino- or for that matter any extra- or anti- United States- nationalism? If anything, Filipino immigrants taking the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) exam might find more compelling reasons to know the importance of Abraham Lincoln and Martin Luther King, Jr. than the likes of Rizal, Marcelo H. del Pilar, or Graciano Lopez Jaena- three Filipino intellectuals and publicists who wrote mostly in Spanish, had conflicting loyalties between mother Spain and their native Filipinas, and didn't have much of an opinion on the United States by the time they died in 1896.

Even if thousands of US-based Filipinos and Filipino Americans continue to commemorate Rizal's execution on Rizal Day (December 30), celebrated with food and formal dress everywhere from Alexandria to Detroit, how many of us know or care that del Pilar and Lopez Jaena died of poverty and tuberculosis (the same year Rizal died), neglected and forgotten by everyone, as a new generation of Filipino thinkers and revolutionaries braced itself for a war against the past and future empires of the Western world? And if we did know the history of those who inspired an entire generation to go to war against the superior arms and resources of that vast and powerful North American country, would we care?"

Positively No Filipinos Allowed: Building Communities and Discourse (Asian American History & Culture) (Paperback) by Antonio Tiongson (Editor), Ricardo Gutierrez (Editor), Edgardo Gutierrez (Editor), January 2006

Trill and Mordent by Luisa Igloria

Trill & Mordent

Accidentals are symbols that change the pitch
with just the slightest touch of dissonance

in music— the flats, the sharps, the double
sharps’ spiked banners that appear sometimes once

on a page, sometimes in a series. Ascending or descending
they become appoggiatura— trills or mordents. The trills

are as random birdsong strewn over a field. The mordents
slip down, enough to remind me of their root in morbid

things, in falling, in death. The French, too, remind us
how even in pleasure the body dies a little: la petite mort.

The furtive kiss on the earlobe, the flick of a tongue
at the base of the throat— thin blade of a shudder that rises

to the heart and nicks it like a wound, that attaches
like a shadow. It takes so little to upset the mechanism

of everyday life, the rapid adjustment and tumbling of gears
from one set of teeth to another. As though the hand could choose

without error, the composer made these precise marks on sheets
of music. They bristle like little reports, like explosions

from the snout of a rifle angled through the window of a van,
aimed at any head smooth as the next one that steps

out on a veranda, out of a building; that stoops
momentarily to tie a shoelace, to fumble for car keys.

Now the news every day is filled with how little
it takes to ignite the blunt wick of fear.

Late in the year, the body’s fat thickens like tallow.
Ungathered fruit redden and fall in the yard,

and the afternoons descend a little faster toward night.
Who can blame the one who becomes tired of the brooding

darkness, who wants to open the window and move
toward the leaves’ quick gesturings, to see what voice

repeats her name in a way she has not heard
since childhood, to discover which room in her body

houses the accidental sound of a tuning fork
struck and echoing in the middle of her life.

- Trill and Mordent by Luisa Igloria, September 2005

On the 22nd Death Anniversary of Ninoy

"Alam nyo po, tuwing ginugunita ang kamatayan ni Ninoy, naghahalo sa loob ko ang sari-saring damdamin.

Sa isang dako, siyempre, nalulungkot ako, una, dahil wala na siya sa piling naming mag-anak at, pangalawa, dahil hanggang ngayon ay di pa natin natatanggap ang ganap na katarungan hinggil sa pagpaslang kay Ninoy.

Sa kabilang dako, napapangiti ako dahil, tuwing sumasapit ang araw na ito, may pagkakataon akong bulungan muli ang aking palabirong asawa: “Ninoy, naisahan mo talaga ako!” Basta umakyat na lamang siya sa langit at pinaubaya niya sa akin di lamang ang pagpapalaki ng aming mga anak kundi pati na rin ang kanyang di-natapos na misyon para sa ating bayan.

Higit sa lahat, napupuno ako ng galak at inspirasyon dahil sa araw na ito noong 1983 napukaw ang damdamin ng mga Pilipino—at ito’y unti-unting umuusbong bilang People Power."

"Moving forward, I appeal to banks, corporations and foundations, civic organizations, religious groups and civil society, and all patriotic Filipinos to invest in our people especially those who in spite of their poverty continue to pursue enterprising ventures to confront their problems and difficulties. In memory of Ninoy’s martyrdom, I pledge to continue to promote People Power and harness our collective support for this key strategic endeavor in our common fight to eventually conquer poverty."

- Speech delivered by former President Corazon Cojuangco Aquino,
Manila Memorial Park. August 21, 2005

Ninoy Aquino: A Hero For All Seasons

"The shot reverberated throughout the country but instead of scaring the people with the awesome display of martial law power, it freed them from their lethargic acceptance of martial rule and roused them to a fever-pitch revulsion of it.

At Ninoy’s wake, thousands of people from all segments of society – the rich, the poor, men, women, and children – paid him their last respects. And 10 days later, more two million people walked 12 hours from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. beside his bier to escort him to his final resting place or watched from the sidewalks more in anger than in sadness at what they thought was a senseless sacrifice of the life of a man who was destined for greatness."

"But was Ninoy a hero made or was he hero born?

The question may sound academic but it has a bearing on whether or not Ninoy deserves the accolades that he has been receiving from our people since 1986 when martial law was finally uprooted from the land.

Skeptics probably entertain the view that setting aside August 21 of every year is an example of an undue honor for the man who would be hero.

I beg to disagree. It is not the setting aside of August 21 to commemorate the day of Ninoy’s assassination every year that makes him a hero. To belabour the point, it is rather the sum of his selfless deeds that makes him so and gives meaning to August 21 as a celebratory occasion for the people to remind ourselves of the meaning of his life and especially of his epic death."

"Despite its inherently evil connotations, Ninoy’s assassination - as the Fates had decreed it – was, thus, a good thing for the Philippine society as a whole.

For as the philosopher Jean Baudrillard asked, “What is a society without a heroic dimension?”

Ninoy Aquino offered his life to answer the question and in the process proved the sceptics wrong. He also showed that he was right along with those of us who believed in our people: that indeed, the Filipino was worth dying for."

-Privilege Statement of Sen. Nene Pimentel at the Senate
August 13, 2008

The Filipino-American Kitchen: Traditional Recipes, Contemporary Flavors

The Filipino-American Kitchen: Traditional Recipes, Contemporary Flavors

"How do you prepare yourself and your kitchen for a Filipino meal? Naturally you start with the building blocks; the sauce, stocks, flavor bases that form the backbone of a cuisine... A Filipino meal is hardly complete without an array of potent and vibrant dipping sauces (sawsawan), which add zest and balance to each bite..."

"Filipinos are vinegar junkies, in fact,vinegar tops the seasoning hierarchy as number three, after salt (soy or fish sauce are salt equivalents) and black pepper as a way of simultaneously flavoring and preserving many cooked and uncooked foods..."

"With over seven thousand islands making up the Philippine Archipelago, the seas surrounding the islands are the veins through which the lifeblood of the Philippines flows. It is only natural that seafood plays a primary role in the Filipino diet and is enjoyed with zeal and creativity..."

- Jennifer M. Aranas (Author), Brian Briggs (Author), Michael Lande (Author)

Oscar B. Tan: "Like Wine in the River, Like Citizens of the World"

"As for me, I come from the Philippines , a former American colony best known for Imelda Marcos’s shoe collection. I remember being a six-year old watching my parents walk out of our house to join the crowds gathering to depose the dictator Ferdinand Marcos and form human walls against tanks. I remember being a twenty-year old in a different crowd deposing a different but equally corrupt president."

"I cannot deny that our generation’s issues will be complex, but I can guarantee that they will never be abstract, not after having a classmate who was an Israeli army drill sergeant, not after having a Chinese classmate with a Taiwanese girlfriend, nor after having a classmate chased by gunmen out of Afghanistan . In fact, when George W. Bush’s speechwriter visited, my Iranian classmate introduced himself, 'Hi, I’m from an Axis of Evil country.' "

"Friends, my most uplifting thought this year has been that the more we learn about each other, the more we realize that we are all alike, and the more we inspire each other to realize our most heartfelt yearnings."


"How do a mere 700 change the world, even with overpriced Harvard diplomas? Before a great battle in China ’s Spring and Autumn Period, the legendary King Gou Jian of Yue was presented with fine wine. He ordered his troops to stand beside a river, and poured the wine into it. He ordered them to drink from the river and share his gift. A bottle of wine cannot flavor a river, but the gesture so emboldened his army that they won a great victory. We of the Class of 2007 shall flavor this earth, whether we be vodka, wine, champagne, pisco sour, pina colada, caipirinha, tequila, sake, jagermeister, raki, Irish stout, Ugandan Warabi, or Philippine lambanog.

-Oscar Franklin Barcelona Tan,
Harvard Law School 2007 Student Commencement Address

[ Read the entire graduation speech. ]

Philippines: a Quick guide to Customs and Etiquette (Culture Smart)

Philippines - Culture Smart!: a quick guide to customs and etiquette (Culture Smart!)

"Filipinos don't need an excuse to have a party, but they welcome the opportunity to celebrate a variety of occassions, a number of which have come through American influence."

"A Filipino's sense of self is derived from his or her family: "I am who I am because of my family; their success is my success, and my shame is their shame..." The Family (pamilya) is the most important social unit in the Philippines, a core value, and the ultimate safety net. A Filipino would find it almost impossible to refuse family requests or ignore family obligations."

"Airports in the Philippines are always crowded with well-wishers so such extent that at Manila International Airport only passengers are allowed to enter the terminal. Employees prefer to incur the ire of their boss rather than miss going to the airport to say good-bye to a relative who is leaving the country to work abroad. it is a recognition of the sacrifice, a cementing of the relationship, a giving of face, and a tacit way of saying, "when I am in need, I may call on you."

-Philippines - Culture Smart!: a quick guide to customs and etiquette (Culture Smart!) by Graham Colin-Jones, Yvonne Colin-Jones, Published in 2004 in Great Britain by Kuperard

The Filipino Writer in English

(By the thirties) "The Filipino writer in English may be said to have mastered the language well enough to enable him to observe the life around him without the language interfering... he felt he had sufficient control of it to be able to look at his material with a clear vision, unobstructed by language only partially possessed."

"The writer is a writer exactly because he sees with language, not just with his eyes: only that has been which has been verbalized. The harsh truth is that the writer is a writer exactly because he lives with words: until experience is transfigured into words, it is not experience."

-Francisco Arcellana, Period of Emergence: The Short Story
Hailed as a National Artist of the Philippines for Literature in 1990.

This short biography is lifted from the: Philippine National Commission For Culture and the Arts (NCAA) website.

Francisco Arcellana, writer, poet, essayist, critic, journalist and teacher, is one of the most important progenitors of the modern Filipino short story in English. He pioneered the development of the short story as a lyrical prose-poetic form... Arcellana's published books are Selected Stories (1962), Poetry and Politics: The State of Original Writing in English in the Philippines Today (1977), The Francisco Arcellana Sampler (1990).

Some of his short stories are Frankie, The Man Who Would Be Poe, Death in a Factory, Lina, A Clown Remembers, Divided by Two, and his poems being The Other Woman, This Being the Third Poem This Poem is for Mathilda, To Touch You and I Touched Her, among others.

On Tubbataha Reef Marine Park

Photography by: Stewart Sy

"The Tubbataha Reef Marine Park covers 33,200 ha, including the North and South Reefs. It is a unique example of an atoll reef with a very high density of marine species; the North Islet serveing as a nesting site for birds and marine turtles. The site is an excellent example of a pristine coral reef with a spectacular 100-m perpendicular wall, extensive lagoons and two coral islands."

- UNESCO, 1993

In 7-07-2007, New Open World Foundation spearheaded a historic nature campaign to revive love of nature and heritage from all around the world and in doing so may bring forth peace in essence. The New 7 Wonder of the World has already been announced based from over 100 million votes worldwide.


The world is now looking for the New 7 Wonders of Nature (N7W). As of June 17, 2008- The Tubbataha Reef ranks number 2 in the nominations and three more Philippine sites are included on the Top 10 namely: Chocolate hills, Puerto Princesa Subterranean River National Park and Mayon Volcano. However, the voting is still ongoing thru December 31,2008. Until such time, the panel will announce the Top 21 finalists.

From January 2009 up to the Summer of 2010, a whole new voting will progress, then the announcement of the New 7 Wonders of Nature.

To be on the list isn't easy. It's a long arduous process and since it is a dynamic live ranking, we are never too secure that the Philippines will be included on the Final 21 and into the final 7. That's why we strongly encourage everyone, every Filipino and Filipino at heart to vote for Tubbataha reef and the three other sites that are already on the Top 10. Help us spread the word! Pitch in your vote today!

On Human Rights

"The Philippine human rights situation in 2005 can be characterized by the wanton use of repression and state terror by a scandal-rocked President desperately clinging to power in the face of the people's rejection."

- KARAPATAN

"Human rights are highly mutable, kaleidoscopic even, and they depend for their special character on the character of the community which recognizes, enforces, and needs them to remain visible."

- Carmen Guerrero-Nakpil

"In the Philippines, the concept of human rights can be said to be deeply rooted in its history and in the ever enriching and enriched culture of Filipino society."

- Andres Cristobal Cruz, Artist, Writer

The Tale of Juliet

The Tale of Juliet: You Have the Power to Change Your Life

"It's amazing what happens when we pay attention to the opportunities presented to us in life... People come and go in our lives, but they all bring gifts, insights and hints about our higher purpose here on earth."

"I am so grateful that I had a humbling experience as a child, so that I now know that the strength of vision, a power of prayer, a burning desire and unwavering determination can change the course of one’s life. I am able to proudly tell the world that dreams do come true. Mine did, and yours can too."

-Jhet Torcelino-van Ruyven, Author and motivational speaker

On Manila, Philippines

Philippines (Country Guide)

"It's a pity that Manila is often disparaged, as there's much more here to like. For one, all the adjectives often used to describe the Philippines- jovial, laid back, casual, corrupt, shambolic, earnest and more are on display here more than anywhere else in the country. It's a truly teeming metropolis that gets bigger each day, both in population, with people pouring in from the hinterlands, and size, as new developments in all directions swallow up villages and rice fields... Rather than seeing Manila as an amorphous mass, focus instead on enjoying its individual areas, and you will start to get a feel for the greater Manila which really is a sum of its parts."

- Philippines (Country Guide) a Lonely Planet Book by Chris Rowthorn, Greg Bloom, Michael Grosberg, Ryan Ver Berkmoes

Manila Population: about 14 million

Alex Tizon: On Being Prepared

"It pays to be prepared, to be as good as you can be in your field, because you never know when luck or opportunity or grace or whatever you want to call it may come knocking. It pays to be up to the task of answering the call in full riot gear -- that is, fully prepared."

-Tomas Alex Tizon, Filipino-American Journalist

"Tomas Alex Tizon, a national correspondent for the Los Angeles Times, a staff writer at The Seattle Times, a stringer for Newsweek and a contributor to "60 Minutes." At the Seattle Times, he and two colleagues won the 1997 Pulitzer Prize in investigative journalism for a five-part series on fraud in the federal Indian housing program. He worked as lead writer on a series about the Washington, D.C., sniper that was a 2003 Pulitzer finalist in deadline reporting."

-Nieman Narrative Digest

Banaue Rice Terraces: Eight Wonder of the World

"For 2,000 years, the high rice fields of the Ifugao have followed the contours of the mountains. The fruit of knowledge handed down from one generation to the next, and the expression of sacred traditions and a delicate social balance, they have helped to create a landscape of great beauty that expresses the harmony between humankind and the environment."

- United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) World Heritage, 1995

Update: Since 2001, it has been on the DANGER list of UNESCO.

On Returning "Home"

Scent of Apples: A Collection of Stories

"All exiles want to go home. Many of the old Filipinos in the United States, never return, but in their imagination they make the journey a thousand times, taking the slowest boats because in their dreamworld time is not as urgent as actual time passing, quicker than arrow, kneading their flesh, crying on their bones. Some fool themselves into thinking theirs is a voluntary exile, but it is not. The ones who stay here to die know this best."

-Bienvenido N. Santos, Author, (Preface: Scent of Apples, 1997)

With Emphasis on the Word "Foreign"

"It never fails. One minute I'm cruising along thinking everything in the Philippines is "normal." Normal as in, it's just like where I come from; the fancy cars, the cable TV, the modern malls, the English speaking populace, the English language newspapers, the proliferation of American schlock like fast food joints and cheesy Hollywood action movies. I'm lulled into a sense of complacency, of thinking that I'm back home living a life no different than I used to in the boring suburban bedroom community of Allentown, Pennsylvania where I grew up. Then, like a snap of the fingers, something comes up, bites me in the butt and says in a deep authoritative voice, "Yessiree son, you are definitely in a third world country, a very foreign land, with emphasis squarely on the word "foreign!"

- Ted Lerner, Columnist, media personality (an American who has made the Philippines his home since 1994)

Carlos P. Romulo: I Walk With Heroes

I Walked With Heroes

"Other lives may find their happiest moments infiltrated with tragedy, and their proudest touched with comedy."

------ o ------

"Let us teach our people again to be proud that they are Filipinos. Let us teach them to realize anew that being a Filipino means having as rich and noble a heritage of language, culture, patriotism and heroic deeds as any nation on earth. Let us teach a steadfast faith in Divine Providence, a stable family institution, the unhampered enjoyment of civil liberties, the advantages of constitutional government, the potentials of a rich and spacious land."

------ o ------

"A strengthened national spirit can provide the motive power to rise our people from the depths and... pour new life and vigor in the national system.

The reinvigoration of the national spirit must take place in the grass roots, in every city, town and barrio in the Philippines, and it must start among our own people... To be a worthy citizen of the world one must first prove himself to be a good Filipino."

------ o ------

"Our world is constantly in change and the great change is always toward freedom. When we speak of freedom we speak of equality. Nations will rise and fall but equality remains the ideal."

------ o ------

"I am a molecule adrift in a mighty ocean, but I see in my life the molecules struggling for its full place. I have seen my struggle duplicated a billion fold, not only in the Philippines, but in Asia and Africa, yes, even here in America. The universal aim is to achieve respect for the entire human race, not for the dominant few."

------ o ------

"We inch forward like worms dragging in the dust. But the spark is within us all. I have seen it everywhere in our world and I have seen its recognition increase. The worth of the human soul is undergoing a new evaluation, and not by color or creed... I have known heroes old and young, I have seen them live and die. I know more in the process of growing, and their young brave face are lifted in hope. When the world looks dark we must remember them, for we have need of them always, and by their lives they make the rest of our human race worth-while."

------ o ------

"There is always promise of the interesting tomorrow."

------ o ------

"All in all, it is a good life we are living, in a good world filled with good friends."

- Carlos P. Romulo (14 January 1899-15 December 1985), Filipino Diplomat, politician, author, Pulitzer Prize winner; excerpts from the autobiographical book I walked with Heroes, 1961

On Maximo M. Kalaw, The Case for the Filipinos

The Case for the Filipinos

"Maximo M. Kalaw was born at Lipa, Batangas Province, Philippine Islands, in 1891. He attended the public schools of his native town, and later came to Manila where he entered the University of the Philippines. He is distinctly a product of the American system of education established in the Islands. In his second year at the University of the Philippines, he became editor-in- chief of the " The College Folio "— the University magazine. His management of this journal exhibited such marked ability as to attract attention.

He came with the writer to Washington in 1911 as private secretary and manager of "The Filipino People" devoted to the cause of Philippine independence. He has, therefore, been connected with the Philippine independence movement in the United States for five years. He was graduated in law at Georgetown University in 1914.

In 1912 he addressed the annual session of the Lake Mohonk Conference of the Indian and Other Dependent Peoples, Mohonk Lake, New York, and his presentation of the cause of his people elicited such favorable attention as to call forth favorable comment even from the opposition newspapers.

The " Boston Transcript," one of the most persistent enemies of Philippine freedom, had this to say of Mr. Kalaw's speech:"

"This youth delivered an oration — it was not a speech — of such force and beauty of expression as has seldom fallen upon the ears of a Mohonk audience. He advocated independence for his people; he said they were all for it; he complimented our work and sacrifices, but he craved that boon of liberty. At the conclusion of his speech the applause was long continued. In contrast with the ' set speeches ' of many American travelers in the Islands this effort of the native orator carried refreshing frankness and force. Certainly, if the Islands can furnish such men to plead for them, the day of their liberty is not far distant."

- President Manuel L. Quezon, Introduction, The Case for the Filipinos, 1916

--------- 0 --------

To my comrades, the rising generation of Filipinos, who, though beneficiaries of an alien government, have nobly kept faith with their forefathers.

-Maximo M. Kalaw, Author and Lawyer,
(Dedication page) The Case for the Filipinos, 1916

On Nationalism

"We must transcend our petty selves, forget our hurts and bitterness, cast aside thought of revenge, and let sanity, reason, and above all, love of country prevail during our gravest hour."

- Benigno "Ninoy" Aquino, Jr., Senator and modern day Filipino hero (November 27, 1932 – August 21, 1983)

On Jeepneys

"You don't have to be long in the country to appreciate that the jeepney expresses the Filipino spirit: emotional, exuberant and celebratory, endearing and unwary."

- Michael Palin, English comedian, Travel Author, Actor, Writer

photo credit: View Images.com

On Poverty, America is in the Heart

"The revolt in Tayug made me aware of the circumscribed life of the peasants... I was determined to leave that environment and all its crushing forces, and if I were successful in escaping unscathed, I would go back someday to understand what it meant to be born of the peasantry. I would go back because I was part of it, because I could not really escape from it no matter where I went or what became of me. I would go back to give significance to all that was starved and thwarted in my life."

-Carlos Bulosan, Poet and Author (America is in the Heart, A personal History. 1946)

On Fiestas

"When I wrote the Fiesta everybody was against fiestas. Everybody wanted to eradicate it, they felt it was the greatest bond against progress…but I saw the fiesta as our highest community expression…that was the impression it made on me so I wanted to preserve it."

- Alejandro "Anding" Roces, National Artist of the Philippines for Literature (when asked to talk about his motivation for writing one of his famous books, "The Fiesta" that came out in 1980.)

On People and Humanity

"For the record, I love humanity, it's people I can't stand."

- Jessica Zafra, Author and Columnist (Twisted- The Night of the Living Twisted)

On the Filipino People

"Filipinos have lived 400 years in a convent and 50 years in Hollywood."

- Carmen Guerero Nakpil, Author

On National Independence

"Instead of aspiring to be a mere province, aspire to be a nation; develop an independent not colonial mentality; resignation is not always a virtue it is a crime when it encourages oppression. There are no tyrants where there are no slaves."

- Jose P. Rizal, Philippine National Hero

On Government

"I would prefer a government run like hell by Filipinos to one run like Heaven by Americans because no matter how bad a Filipino government might be, it can still be improved."

- Commonwealth President Manuel L. Quezon

On Believing in Yourself

"Don’t limit yourself. You’re bigger than you think you are. "

- Bo Sanchez, Author and International Speaker

On Change

"The time for change is well past due. This time let me say, let's just do it!"

- President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo (PGMA), SONA 2004

On Youth

"The youth is the hope of our future. "

- Jose P. Rizal, Philippine National Hero

On Manila Taxi Drivers

"Dealing with Manila taxi drivers is a more complex proposition. It requires persistence, persuasion, guile, and an unbendable will. I have long believed that there is a secret society of cabbies which formulates the rules for choosing passengers.

Cabbies may refuse a passenger on the grounds that her destination is too near, her destination is too far, traffic en route to her destination is too bad, and my personal favorite: he's not going that way."

- Jessica Zafra, "Twisted Travels", (Manila) 2007

12 Little Things Every Filipino Can Do to Help Our Country

1. Follow traffic rules. Follow the law.
2. Whenever you buy or pay for anything, always ask for an official receipt.
3. Don’t buy smuggled goods. Buy Local. Buy Filipino.
4. When you talk to others, especially foreigners, speak positively about us and our country.
5. Respect your traffic officer, policeman and soldier.
6. Do not litter. Dispose your garbage properly. Segregate. Recycle. Conserve.
7. Support your church.
8. During elections, do your solemn duty.
9. Pay your employees well.
10. Pay your taxes.
11. Adopt a scholar or a poor child.
12. Be a good parent. Teach your kids to follow the law and love our country.

- Alexander L. Lacson, Lawyer and Author

On Faith

"I return from exile and to an uncertain future with only determination and faith to offer -- faith in our people and faith in God."

- Benigno "Ninoy" S. Aquino Jr. ("A Testimony by Ninoy," a pamphlet published on September 1, 1983)

Rainbow

"There's a rainbow always after the rain."

- South Border, 2003 ("Rainbow") -