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 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

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)

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

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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 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)