PHILIPPINES.

[teddytennisfan]

I COULDN'T DECIDE where to place this -- but since Billie, Mastoor , others i am not familiar with and of course Britbox have been so kind to share creating their threads about their countries or related things to learn about ...i thought i should do the same. whatever interest it generates...

lots of problems and challenges there -- but never mind that - i just wanted to give a little better idea (for me too since i have also have to learn more , lol) - of what the country is.

some youtubes are probably a nice start just randomly stumbled onto while i was curious what's going on as there seems to have been a bombing right in front of my hometown's catholic church..whew..that' just 2 blocks from my family's house...reportedly drug lords making revenge on the police and the new president's ''harsh - non-humanitarian" crackdown on the EPIDEMIC of drug addiction.

anyway -- the more bright side also:

what is in the youtube clip i found seems to be a more current state of MY own hometown which is in a very rich agricultural , very large valley region with beautiful hills and mountains everywhere and around it.. and a generally gentle rain and sun weather throughout the year....it's always been one of the most important towns called 'MIDSAYAP" in a large southern province of many, many different tribes and dialects and religions...and people might notice that muslims (who can be seen wearing their head scarves) and christians and indigenous beliefs people basically get along quite well...which is what the philippines is really about. ...

i was surprised to see a very large ''gymnasium" still well-kept, improved even, i thought, since i was there years ago - which i grew up with -- in the school we attended...

that gym is basically fr decades the ''main culture" events center as well as sports and all sorts of important civic meetings, or people from outside bring themselves, foreigners or other places in the country...presentations, election nights.. things like that.

and it belongs to the school -- and the funds earned over many, many school years through college stage presentations -- were put together to build that gym ..probably a decade or more of those presentations in the 1960's when i was a boy...

and i think i could be proud (nobody that i am) - to say that there completely earned by the stage productions that were ALL created and planned, directed - music parts, acting, dancing, costume design, stage design, planning of tickets and promotion, acting, scripts, everything...

by my dear mother who died almost 20 years ago now...and before she died as she was getting sick -- the school and town rededicated the gym to her name..so her name is somewhere up there on the stage - because as people would say until today, from what i hear from reports:

"this is the gym, the culture, the town that YOUR mother built,, it is because of her that people dedicate themselves to education and improving our lives in peace"....

so - it is my way to letting others here know why i am what i am -- really not good enough for what I think my mother would have still wanted me to be..but always remembering her love of cultures, art, people, peace, justice, truth, learning, learning, learning...

of course the modern times now are different - generations have their own ways of doing things -- but in genearl -- all these things or many that you will see in THAT town -- the gatherings of different peoples from villages with the town, the idea of ''common efforts" -- were all a legacy my mother was known for in that town..

last i heard the past year -- there has grown a kind of national trend that is now a kind of tradition of towns inviting villagers - and all their different tribes -- to come to a common very, very large - all-week celebration or 'fiesta' of some kind where the peoples come together to improve and deepen their unity as one people of many different tribes...in enormous dance festivals, parades, showcasing of exotic and unique cultures from the villages into the towns...and all that thing..and it is now ''a national movement" of some kind - other towns and cities adopting it over the past 2 decades...again -- i was told by old friends in e mail"

"'your mother started that too - in our town -- encouraging our different tribes and peoples to understand and know and appreciate one another even better..another of Ma'am'S creations".
i just realize now that even back then -- she did seem to be like someone ''ahead of her time" ..and her work always gained great respect from everywhere in the whole province and other provinces -- that i didn't even realize how much until her last days in my last visit when complete strangers -- including the ''dreaded" muslim chieftains from far away villages -- would come visit at nights to our house and reveal to us ''the great good and friendship your mother brought to our neglected villages and communities...and that is why IF there will be trouble -- your family will NEVER be touched..your family's name is far and wide in respect among the tribes because of your mother".

so - i hope it's something some might find fascinating enough.

so -- some ''philippines" .
=======================

 

[teddytennisfan]

if i got the correct clip -- it starts with the title "road to midsayap" which is my hometown _of course it is much bigger now, they say - what with very important highways from the other big cities from all four directions all somehow ''meeting" at my hometown -- which of course was established 80-90 years ago from a small village to what it is now..

then that clip also says ''dance festival" - although 11th - as it says

it was originally an idea started by my mom in the town in her very last years before she died in 1999. -- it is now nationwide much bigger festive occasion adopted by the rest of the country -- called "HALAD"
"celebration" (of the different tribes and cultures coming together" -

and they usually take a whole week according to different province's or town's own local customs, i guess.

 

[teddytennisfan]

one of the popular beaches in one of the 7,000 islands..the beach itself is called BORACAY -- reputed to have very fine white sand - never been there, lol -

i'm glad these two girls seem to have liked it. i hope the people were nice to them.
incidentally -according to that amazing documentary series of PLANET EARTH and its sipin-offs by ATTENBOROUGH...in the philippines -- are a tribe of 'sea-living' people (i know whee they are are, in a big island called palawan considered to be one of the most virgin forest islands left in the world)
who practically live out on the sea -- building floating villages and live off the sea almost entirely - and only go to land to sell what they catch or dive out..and that these people have ''evolved" such that they can stay under water continuously for up to 5 -7 minutes...basically walking in the shallow sea floor just outside the coasts to catch fish or collect shells or whatever they can..and that their children have evolved such that their EYES see better in water than in air...lol

and when ono land -- they get 'land-sick" -- the opposite of seasick.

 

[Billie]

Thank you Teddy. I loved reading your stories about your home country, especially about your mom. It seems she was a special lady.

I love beaches, and I can imagine how many beautiful ones you have, considering Philippines have more than 7000 islands. How many of them (approximately) are populated? Can't be all of them? Still can't wrap my mind around that fact. Although with that come typhoons and hurricanes, I think? This is so different from where I grew up or live now. But some of the markets do look somewhat like the ones in my former country, with different fruits and veggies on display, of course. What would you say are the main dishes? How about languages? Which is the official one and how many are there?

Whenever you have time and thank you!!

 

[teddytennisfan]

Thank you Teddy. I loved reading your stories about your home country, especially about your mom. It seems she was a special lady.

I love beaches, and I can imagine how many beautiful ones you have, considering Philippines have more than 7000 islands. How many of them (approximately) are populated? Can't be all of them? Still can't wrap my mind around that fact. Although with that come typhoons and hurricanes, I think? This is so different from where I grew up or live now. But some of the markets do look somewhat like the ones in my former country, with different fruits and veggies on display, of course. What would you say are the main dishes? How about languages? Which is the official one and how many are there?

Whenever you have time and thank you!!

i appreciate your interest, Billie.

true enough that although the archipelago has about 7,100 islands...it's of course mostly small ones...so it ranges from small to large. this range of course is within the comparative context of the archipelago itself...

australia is practically a continent, so is greenland, but they are islands.
britain is centered around an island. and so forth...

the largest is in the north - luzon - where the capital is - and something about the size of england and slightly smaller in second is the southern island of mindanao where i come from - similarly sized...
in between these extreme big islands are more mid-level but still quite sizable islands something like 20 of them more or less close to each other in size...and then more smaller islands between them in the seas, and so on .

you can easily see that in the map.

the philippines is generally ''divided" into these 3 main collections..

LUZON, VISAYAS (middle area) , MINDANAO ..
and within these different big regions depending on the size of the islands are the different provinces - around 50 provinces..so luzon and mindanao can have several provinces of pretty big size inside them - and some islands are provinces by themselves..and the others re jst too small of course to be bothered to provinces and just fall together into the region of an island big enough to called a province by itself.

but put together - the philippines is certainly larger by land area then the entire caribbean - and from what i keep learning about is far richer in resources, water life, terrain, etc...

a certain USA senator recently gave a long interview about the philippines (i don't know why ) -- but he said "the phlippines -- without compare has the best ports waters in the world..that is one reason why it is extremely important to the USA or any country that can access it - as a real gateway to and from asia..." - he did add something that surprised me actually:

"'what duterte is saying that we criticize about -- he may be over-the-top ion rhetoric -- but he is correct. we indeed have treated the philippines shamefully...it is we that have to change our attitude -- but it's typical of us..we keep doing the same thing, over and over and over again everywhere...and this time the new president has said enough and called us out on it...let's not be surprised that he is courting relations with China and Russia..and although we won't lose the relation because of historical and deeply established reasons -- it's not going to get better if we don't change our approach -- to step back more and show some respect".


the large ones are probably , by my count as their own respective ''centers" probably around only

i really don't know exctly how many dialects or languages we have...and what IS a language? and difference from dialect?
italy has many dialects -- they definitely re ALL italian or roman origin...and may have differences in word usage here and there but generally they will understand each other -- love is ''amore" - ETC...

in the philippines we have many dialects according to their particular tribe or island or pvoince or area inside a province -- whatever the population of that grouping is -- where particular dialects are the main language --

and to ME -- they are completely unintelligible, as alien to me as slovak would be. and would simply not undrstand them...so -- filipinos generally can speak 2-3 other languages or dialects that the whole country generally can understand and that's how people can get by - wherever they go from their regional origins...

these 3 languages we call "tagalog -- adopted by everyone out of common usage and officiated as the official national language.

there's Cebuano (from one of the big MID-REGION , VISAYAS island of Cebu)
and ILONG-GO (from another of the big visayas region islands of Panay -which is big enough it can contain 4 different provinces inside it , each with their particular language dominants apart FROM ILONG-GO itself )

FOR SOME reason as people traveled to and fro and re-established themselves -- as towns and cities grew -- these 3 languages were adopted in most cases by the general public - such as in public and social engagement..

while the people can then switch to their particular tribe's or dialect's language in the house or among relatives ...

but in NO case were any of these languages ever ''forced" on others -- it's just that people would somehow adopt one language or another , probably depending on who were the groups that somehow were more prominent or dominant in number or in enterprises in particular towns or provinces..

and then the rest just had to either learn them or use any of th eother 3 or evne 4 language to sort of ''talk" across their different tribes...

tagalog for example as the official language we REALLY have to study in school or else we wouldn't quite be so fluent nless we also used it in public in our particular towns...- in most cases we would learn it by hearing - and then adopting -- ro as children - practicing by reading children's comics in 'tagalog" ...

i can only speak 3 actually -- TAGALOG the national language..CEBUANO which seems to be adopted by many provinces (and is a common language in the new president dutertes' southern province and city of davao in the far south - maybe becuse many from his original CEBU in the visayas settled south there)...

and My own family's and ''tribe's" ILONGGO from that other province...

YET AS A group we call both these quite distinct dialects CEBUANO AND ILONG-GO THE WAY we call the mid-region islands and provicnes colledctively as ''visayan languages"

in themselves they are distinct from each other or similar depending on what their history is -- the far WEST is so different , totally alien from the far east facing the pacific -- as languages --

i can't even undestand the language of my first cousins who grew up in the 'far west" facing the pacific -- from their dad's own language there -- so they have to talk to ME in my ILONGGO as they are better in both languages -- or

we switch together to cebuano which is NOT our common ''/native" dialects -- which is ILONG-GO - OR swithc to the natio;nal language because tha'ts what we hear on tv or news or with friends most of th etime...

so -- it depends.

but generally filipinos can speak in 2-3 different languages -- often with very separate vocabularies of their own.

as to TRIBES - and these languages/dialects (there are around 70 ) --
i don't even know how many -- i just know that even today i hear or read from someone about this or that tribe and i never heard of THAT. lol. just too many to remember...

i guess one small example of the ''differences/smilarities" between languages/dialects is by a few items:

for exmple: taking the 3 ''MOST POPULAR" usage
tagalog, cebuan and ILonggo ..
the word for 'WHY"

tagalog: 'bakit'.
cebuano; 'ngano'.
ilonggo ; nga-a

for ''heart"
tagalog : puso
cebuano : ---- i forgot alreadyl lol.
ilonggo -- dughan...

i can not even imagine what the words are in those other tribes or languages i can't even talk about because i don't know about htem at all. ;lol.

and then in a number of these same langauges -- the SPANISH influence is also alive..so that in MY own family language where our 'tribe' or province or origin island before the clan moved south among more 'cebuanos" -

has probably a good number of spanish-origin words
so i ONLY know certain objects in their spanish name but with a localized pronunciation , like:

table -- mesa
door -- puerta
kitchen - cucina
dining room - comedor

mixed into the more original - deeper ilong-go or more pure version HILIGAYNON...which i absolutly can not speak ...or understand...all these languages are alive however...or at least most of them unless their tribes may have disappeared forever over time in terms of maintaining their languages and customs from being absorbed into the general ''national identity" through any of the 3 most prominent languages i mentioned.

then there are still the very different more muslim tribes - who speak naturally arabic of some sort -- but also THEIR tribal original languages..none of them i know even the slightest thing from.

but to all of us -- we are all filipinos. we understand that while we have influences and cross-blood from neighboring countries or even the colonialists - especially the spaniards of course like with many families still - like mine -

we are NOT spaniards, we are NOT indians, we are NOT chinese. but these have mixed in with us over the centuries. especially the chinese.

my best friend in town to this day - is chinese father , filipina mother and he is as filipino as me but , like his chinese father from the mainland china long ago who settle there in our town - he is good in business and is now the richest in the town (oh my god - when i visited 15 years ago - he had bodyguards due to kidnappings at that time -- which duterte is really cracking down on now and whatever i wanted -- he paid for it, like when we were kids lol) ...

if you ever visited the philippines while you will of course see generally ''malay'' brown people - or similar to indonesians, vietnamese, indochinese...
there are quite plenty of filipinos who are very ''spanish" looking especially in the big towns or cities ..or what we would call in north america ''latino whites" or something like that. or some sort of that mix...some mixture of malay/chinese - mediterranean , southern europe - latinate peoples obviously.
even i can get confused as 'what' they are. lol. but i shouldn'/t really because it was quite strong in my mother's side of the family as her grandfather was himself a pure spaniard from spain..

most others are more truly ''malay'' - or even more idigenous .

as for beaches -- forget it -- they are just beautiful. althought in those growing up years long ago -- one big school trips of several buses every summer vacation - we'd go to the beach that were hours away from our land-locked town..but enough time to be on the beach all day -- i can remember fondly how heavenly the beaches were -- just corals -in the shallow parts - with trees and branches and roots reaching down to the water from which we would jump to the water among the corals and sometimes get really wounded if we were not careful in jumping, lol...that is quite common in the philippines actually.

some waters are very dangerous with big surfs depending on whcih provinces or location - some arevery gentle..

where i come from -- the island of mindanao - we generally have VERY good - gentle weather all year - regular rains that are gentle but strong too..nice wind...NO typhoons reach that island really. that is very , ver rare...

so we feel bad for those ''far east" islanders and coasts facing the pacific -- that is th eone you hear about -- like a diagonal wide slash of horrible storms from the pacific that travels south-east origins then swings north-west to the east coasts of north island luzon and then dissipates as it crossed over the inland - and then goes dead after that - so the philippines basically absorbes the worst before it reaches china or vietnam..

but tah'ts NOT everywhere - just a kind of ''regular highway" somewhere in the mid-region's east coasts facing the pacific -- like florida does -

but in my island -- or in my big province more towards the china sea and indonesia/? oh no - the weather there is NICE!! lovely weather. for crops for plants, - just nice.

and THAT'S why the AMERICANS want that island very much -- we've always known that ..and also because it's still very, very ''underdeveloped" but with deep , good stable coast harbor and ports locations (another reason the americans ''established" a ''naval presence' right there facing the south china sea and as importantly -- facing straigh to indonesia, borneo, southeast asia, straits of mallacca -- the

famous ancient "'MARITIME SILK ROADS" -- that's EXACTLY where that ''road' starts once it leaves south china sea -- from our mindanao island - an dfrom my province...control THAT island and you control a huge, huge swatch of maritima resources and passage from australia all the way to indian ocean .

and filipinos ''know" what foreigners and americans want. that's for sure.

u know what is so surprising to me - this was last year when i stumbled on it online -- after just being curious as to what's going on back home and my hometown...and when i looke dat my hometown website -- or following links..

there was this BLOG?

it was BY A YOUNG - SERBIAN girl - She made the blog for her travels in the philippines -- with her album of really beautiful photos --and she said something about how she was always fascinated with that 'far-away' country and decided to go for it -- and she traveled to different parts (MORE than ME , that's for sure, lol) - beaches, towns, hotels, dancing, eating local food, being at the market, schools, at the highway in her trips...that kind of thing

i was SO touched. i learned more about my country from HER! oh my.
unfortunately i can't remember how to even find it -

right now - from what i hear -- the country is actually the fastest growing economy in asia -- - as china sort of settles down to a more ''moderate" growth typical of a country that is reaching ''middle class '' mass..

the philippines has been consistently experiencing a 7 percent growth rate...and in certain few regions -- like that big DAVAO city nd province in the south -- where the president was mayor and 'fixed it' from the days of ''wildness' -

stands at 9 percent growth. no wonder i was so shocked to see photos and videos and blogs of really gorgeous homes, beaches, and all that. i got so jealous , lol.

 

[teddytennisfan]

Thank you Teddy. I loved reading your stories about your home country, especially about your mom. It seems she was a special lady.

I love beaches, and I can imagine how many beautiful ones you have, considering Philippines have more than 7000 islands. How many of them (approximately) are populated? Can't be all of them? Still can't wrap my mind around that fact. Although with that come typhoons and hurricanes, I think? This is so different from where I grew up or live now. But some of the markets do look somewhat like the ones in my former country, with different fruits and veggies on display, of course. What would you say are the main dishes? How about languages? Which is the official one and how many are there?

Whenever you have time and thank you!!

i have no exact idea how they go about having these resorts -- - mostly i just heard from others , relatives back home or when the few times i managed to visit home - and cousins or others would plan if we should go to this or that island but i never had time as i hd to be straight-back-home ..lol..

but apparently there are all sorts of places -- some the old ones, many the newer, more ''up to modern time" types...small , big islands, whatever..just that it's of course big FOR the filipinos themselves since if a growing middle class is up to such things -- they probably know resorts are 'just around the corner" so to say...

eve in my hometown -- i was shocked they have those now -- probably just outside the town where it used to be ''jungle , waterfalls and rock" like sometimes my childhood friends and our families would go on some of those 'jungle, waterfalls" trips - lol -- back in the ''not so tourist quality" times. haha.

but nowadays -- i think if i managed to get home -- i would feel LOST, and maybe even backward as they have all the amenities in general. i mean filipinos - even in the villages are very ''into" that kind of thing, the latest this and that - ..lol

but maybe some random finds..i wish my cousins and brothers will bring me there whenever i go home, lol...

but i remember when i last went home -- 15 years now really --
as the plane flew over the archipelago from manila in the north after a short stay there with relatives -- and on the way south to my mindanao isaldn -- and i finally had the chance to once more look from above -- i really cried - because i realized how beautiful the archipelago was...like a jewel of green and colors of all kinds floating on a many shades of blue from dark to light blue and around the coasts such clear water -- and fleets of fishing boats and fences made by the villagers in the sea to ''herd" fish in for square miles of it...and rivers sending out the colored mud water to the sea before it merged --

and then -- i saw red/orange/yellow ugly colors of pollution flowing from some foreign industrial factories in mining and lumber..i realized what a paradise it really was where i was born...

 

[teddytennisfan]

i think that now that the new president duterte (if the CIA and george soros don't get him first ) - has been serious about having more extensive relations with china(which is established already anyway as a part of our cultural history, really) - but more tellingly -- Russia -- then i hope time will come when not just trade and other matters are firmed up -- but since i know people are fond of traveling to nice places -- then maybe russians and your people in the balkans will also come and hopefully have a nice time in the country.

==========================

 

[mrzz]

i really don't know exctly how many dialects or languages we have...and what IS a language? and difference from dialect?
italy has many dialects -- they definitely re ALL italian or roman origin...and may have differences in word usage here and there but generally they will understand each other -- love is ''amore" - ETC...

In fact a dialect is basicaly a distinct language, the main difference is that it is spoken/written by a small number of people, so you don´t have the formal structure a language has (with a multitude of dictionaries, grammars, cult norm, written language, spoken language, etc). The Italian example is a good one, the dialects reflect mostly foreign influence: Milanese, for example, is much closer to French than it is from Italian itself. Of course some have similarities with Italian too, but that´s not the norm. There are subtitles on Italian TV when they interview someone speaking dialect.

 

[teddytennisfan]

Thank you Teddy. I loved reading your stories about your home country, especially about your mom. It seems she was a special lady.

I love beaches, and I can imagine how many beautiful ones you have, considering Philippines have more than 7000 islands. How many of them (approximately) are populated? Can't be all of them? Still can't wrap my mind around that fact. Although with that come typhoons and hurricanes, I think? This is so different from where I grew up or live now. But some of the markets do look somewhat like the ones in my former country, with different fruits and veggies on display, of course. What would you say are the main dishes? How about languages? Which is the official one and how many are there?

Whenever you have time and thank you!!

below - a few things about the big southern island of mindanao..which is wherei come from...it is also the least developed or even 'explored" and there were still a few mountain or forest tribes discovered in the 1980's by national geographic that had never known modern civilization as mindanao - with a large concentration of the much earlier muslim converted tribes were the fiercest to repel western colonization by the spaniards, or americans -- and also the japanese...

if you are able to get through some of the video -- the beginning shows the highest peak in the southern province - a big one -- davao..which is an active volcano - and the tallest and biggest one in all of asia, i believe..
i have sad memories of that becuse right near the top - from an all day trek to cllimb it (a gentle slope they say) my brother after me died at the night of their hike - and his friends just couldnt save him..it was the last of his yearly treks to that volcano with his friends...
but it's a beautiful place they say - so big that its feet touch 3 different surrounding big provinces and the land is so rich because of the volcanic soil..but it has never really ''exploded" - just a gentle smoke..

around 3:50 a very quick clip is a bit of the vegetation or landscape of where I actually come from or at lest the surrounding area which can be seen from the highways..this is ''NORTH COTABATO" Province ...

below a seemingly regular traveler there -- to mindanao -- and he is russian , or ukrainian? i'm glad he seems to have liked it.

 

[teddytennisfan]

In fact a dialect is basicaly a distinct language, the main difference is that it is spoken/written by a small number of people, so you don´t have the formal structure a language has (with a multitude of dictionaries, grammars, cult norm, written language, spoken language, etc). The Italian example is a good one, the dialects reflect mostly foreign influence: Milanese, for example, is much closer to French than it is from Italian itself. Of course some have similarities with Italian too, but that´s not the norm. There are subtitles on Italian TV when they interview someone speaking dialect.

thanks for that. i never quite read up on the exact definitions or norms about ''language and dialects "

and only thought about them when i would hear or read remarks about the philippines - by foreigners -- who would say "they're all related - dialects as subgroups of one or few languages"

but it always made me pause - since , being filipino -- i know there are many tribes and ''dialects" -- and i could only speak 3 basically...knowing there are plenty others that are completely alien to me. and the same goes for the others from other ''dialects".

there;s actually this youtube series by a RUSSIAN young woman -- very pretty too -- and for some reason -- she was working and living in the philippines -- and she fell in love with a filipino and they are married now -- but she says in her videos - as a sid e'passion' that she developed since before she went to the philippines -- she was always fascinated and so she made some kind of hobby or project ot ''learn as many filipino songs in every dialect" - lol.
and she does that -- she learns them, she sings them she even has a music partner from the USA -- WHO ALSO writes his original songs and lyrics, but in filipino languages -

i don't know how come they had that ''strange" hobby - but it's nice..so they go and do some shows now and then - visit villages, clubs, towns. whatever...doing ''filipino stuff" that is quite popular there, i am told...because when i aske in e mail from relatives back home they say "ah - yes -- they are popular and well-known here...they've been doing that for years".

so when i listend to some of the folk songs or arrangements they made from different provinces -- i realized SHE knows those other dialects and i DON't ! lol. and i have to follow the translation on the video just to undertsand what the song was about, haha.

i think an analogy would be.

IF a country that is generally , more or less, ONE main unit -- say ITALY ...

AND geologically it was instead spread apart into 'islands" separated by water where it is not as easilyconnected - then the islanders or those separated by mountains etc...would develop their more or less separated or unique languages...
milanese would be even more distant from calabrese as from siciliano...and roman would be the ''national language" by 'consensus" or something of the sort or because - so long as the different 'islands' acknowledged the rule of rome - and DANTE ALIGHIERI's reconstruction into a formal, classic form -- then it becomes the 'main language" through which the more distanced dialects or language speakers can communicate.

to me - something analogous is with an archipelago but put together as one country like the philippines.

OR say -- jamaica (english and pidgin extraction) - DOMINICAN republic (spanish extraction) - HAITI -- french extraction -- were put together as ONE nationality -- theyhave their distinct languages 'within" a nation. .

i think something like that is the philippines.

and in many ways -- many countries are like tht too. but definitely the dozens of other languages or dialects -- i can not speak nor undetstand at all from the philippines.

just 3 - and then the basic studies in highschool and college in Spanish added to the other ''national language" of english itself. both of which are required curriculum as well as Tagalog (but this, with spanish is usually only one or 2 years in high school and then also in college) /.

 

[Billie]

Great videos, Teddy. thank you so much!!! I am sad to hear about your brother.

There is something so beautiful about clear water, whether it is an ocean, a river or a lake. Unfortunately pollution is a big problem in every country. And it seems that travelling is a bit of hazard in these troubling times. I am happy that I got to learn a bit of your country and you. If only governments and big powers decide to work with each other a little bit better, for the benefit of all humankind. Mindanao - I'll remember that.

 

[teddytennisfan]

Great videos, Teddy. thank you so much!!! I am sad to hear about your brother.

There is something so beautiful about clear water, whether it is an ocean, a river or a lake. Unfortunately pollution is a big problem in every country. And it seems that travelling is a bit of hazard in these troubling times. I am happy that I got to learn a bit of your country and you. If only governments and big powers decide to work with each other a little bit better, for the benefit of all humankind. Mindanao - I'll remember that.

YOU'RE welcome Billie.

i wish i could remmeber how i got to that blog with photo albums made by that young lady from Serbia. she went all over the country and had a special liking for the big southern island and showed off the photos , dozens and dozens and dozens of them -- i never even know it looked like that, lol. something like 2 years ago only..so ....very recent. but i cant remember ...


those waterfalls -- i was not even aware of them -- i mean never seen them - mainly because those days long ago -- tourism stuff wasn't that important after all -- i mean when' it's just in the next town or the mountains in the area -- it's all just passing mention . lol.

but there was a mountain forest area i remember our family and 2 others went to on a few summers -- just beyond the farm location of one of the families...and my goodness..

you walk and trek half the morning and under the huge tall forest and jungle trees and vegetation - following a stream -- and suddenly -- the SKY opens up between the trees -- and your'e all a big higher along the mountain slopes...still thick , always thick with trees..and a wide pool of clear flowing water is right there - just like a magical scene..i could never forget that..and up the mountain rock which is now exposed to the sun -- you see a waterfalls, maybe 200 feet tall that is sloping down flowing down on the surface of the bare rock45 degrees? so it's not 'free-falling water" but flowing ON the rock surface itself about 50 feet wide or so?

that was angled from the top maybe


- and if we had courage - would climb up the side of the water or even in it (my brothers, not MEL, lol) until we reached the top -- and THERE more POOLS of clear, clear water...small ones, some bigger ones, a pond, small ones again, some like your own big Bathtub to lie down in with the shallow water flowing around you all under that sun and the treetops leaves over you -- oh my god///////!

philippines has a lot of ''secret" locations like that -- . lol.

but every country has great beauties of their own, you know. in the case of the philippines it is of course all about ''tropical" places.

 

[Billie]

YOU'RE welcome Billie.

i wish i could remmeber how i got to that blog with photo albums made by that young lady from Serbia. she went all over the country and had a special liking for the big southern island and showed off the photos , dozens and dozens and dozens of them -- i never even know it looked like that, lol. something like 2 years ago only..so ....very recent. but i cant remember ...

I tried to search for it, but I wasn't successful. I'll try more some other day. There are some people that love to travel and will explore some countries better than their natives. I had to take a peak at the map of Phillippines, as I like to see it visually as well.

 

[teddytennisfan]

I tried to search for it, but I wasn't successful. I'll try more some other day. There are some people that love to travel and will explore some countries better than their natives. I had to take a peak at the map of Phillippines, as I like to see it visually as well.

i also try still from time to time - i'ts just one of those that are like personal 'albums' among lots of others like in travel group blogs or something like that. mainly i just clicked on links and links at some point when i was curious as to what was going on in the region -- then follow one link that looks curious , then another . i think was just checking out first what ''property'' industry was like - how much were prices of land nowadays - in commercial areas, compared to 'outside the town' - things like that -- and mixing in with checking out the 'electric' energy development..and i was curious about 'solar power' etc...and reading a bit about what people were talking about nowadays from this or that town or barrio -- people saying 'hi' - and it was among these kinds of ''travel by computer" so i was so SHOCKED to find her album and the reason of course is also because -= of course -- NOLE - AND I thought :"wow - how courageous she must be -- saying she was fascinated about the place and really went?"

i think i probably even put a 'hello" and thank you comment on her comment section, i don't really remember. but definitely she's serb.

and the other thing is -- it was around that time - - or shortly after that (this was 2015) that i discovered on youtube that russian girl who married a local (her work-mate she became close to, they said) - who also had that fascination - sings local dialect songs - and has her whole family spend some months every year in the philippines and they learn songs like that as well as sing russian folk songs with her dad playhing the guitar. lol. weird almost - but still amazing to me of course.

and then i found another one just the other day - maybe a russian or ukrainian? also making a 'return' tri to this mindanao - i think it's one of those youtubes i posted..and i've begun to think :

"the slavs seem to be more in tune with exploring cultures far far away" than the usual tourist spots. i mean -- it's probably just coincidence that the geography and interesting locations of the country also happens to have people - i mean mine - that can be characterised as ''sentimental" but also maybe a bit 'shy' in the outset..

 

[teddytennisfan]

I tried to search for it, but I wasn't successful. I'll try more some other day. There are some people that love to travel and will explore some countries better than their natives. I had to take a peak at the map of Phillippines, as I like to see it visually as well.

funny -- i know i had said that the philippines or ''filipinos" are like a mix and match kind of people really -- mongrels , lol.
but just having a 'dominant' form based on the 'indo-malay' - i think.

yet the range really is from the very dark - african-type - very short aborigines that are said to be the very first to land there as descendants of the exploring africans of course. today they are quite few and onloy in some islands or locations. but separately other migration also arrived from mainland asia..and other islands like in indonesia.

but the DNA mix that spread out across the islands BEFORE the spaniards 500 years ago ALREADY contained mixes from countries as diverse and far away , believe it or not;;

as india of course (that is well-known) - iran, the middle east, and as far NORTH as GREECE and something of the balkans? can you believe?

and in the asia-pacific area -- it turns out not just the Chinese themselves already were settling especially in the northern area , nd the physical features actually reflect it -- but from as far NORTH as Korea and the russian fr east and mongolia...

i can hardly believe it myself -- but apparently, long before the spaniards came -- the archipelago was a natural ''end point' of many different peoples as the migrations across the continents moved from africa -- to populate the asian landmass and eventually make jumps into the archipelago -- sort of like a ''last stop" before jumping to the pacific islands.

and in this archipelago with its man close islands -=- it does look a natural region in which to settle and then co-mingle some more. and so - out of that - with later infusion of spaniards - and of course any other modern times infusions - is the filipino.

maybe that's why even for me - i can ''identy' many enough as 'filipino' BUT still be SURPRISED that someone IS filipino that i never thought IS because that person has features that are more ''foreign" to me than i have been used to...it's funny really.

in recent years -- i've noticed they have these mixes of ''american" in some - maybe the result of the recent generations of the close relation as 'ally" - so i see 'pinoys" with ''african american" or ''white american" or 'hispanic american" features mixed with the more ''local" filipino with ITS own very mixed background. and it just keeps evolving, it seems.

but this has always been a natural trait among filipinos actually. we have 'prejudices' like anywhere -- but generally consider ''mixtures" as a very, very natural thing really.

and it goes back a long way -=- i remember in the 1960's with basketball being a popular sport -- one of the best and most popular talents was actually a guy of mixed heritage...and looked like that -- someone with a famiolyname

JAWORSKI -- i mean how did a slavic , probabl polish, man find himself IN the philippines generation back? lol

on the other ha nd -- a current very popular tv , movie starlet is a ''pure chinese" blood girl - but she's as 'filipina as it gets" as far as everyone is concerned. lol...

we're like that basically - if the person acts and behaves in some way filipino - then she's filipino -- that's all there is to it. lol.

 

[teddytennisfan]

a little history of the philippines -- and the american imperialism and how it began...

======================================================================

 

[britbox]

Any plans to visit in the near future?

I worked with a couple of Filipinos up until recently in Oz. Both real characters with a playful sense of humour.

 

[teddytennisfan]

Any plans to visit in the near future?

I worked with a couple of Filipinos up until recently in Oz. Both real characters with a playful sense of humour.

haha. you beraated me before for ''not doing something about it" about being poor here in NYC. disallowing me to just up and go. and of course you HAVE a point.

but with that in mind -- of course i have ''plans' -- or more like ''hope" which takes planning - seeing how i can ge ttogether money to do that and so and so on...but we'll see.

but were it to actually be able to do so -- it's not to ''retire" but find some way ot making myself useful where-ever i land -- hometown, look into the old farm left - wha'ts happening to that land..maybe the big house my paretns left us - no ones there really -- and i managed to send a little money a couple of years ago to my bros there to fix up some of it-- maybe open it for rooms or rental or whatever? that the youngest one finally seems open to the idea and make some money out of the big place...as the town is getting so ''in the crossroads" of the accelerating development and likely eventhe oncoming developments...that kind of ''rough outlines" kind of .
i mean -im' still poor anywhere - and benefits from ''social security" in the USA are never going o be enough (like where are they ever? based in their local currency based costs of living?) -

but without those considerations even -- it's basically just thinking of possibilities there , really. something can be done, i'm pretty sure as there are still in face a few ''physical assets" - as i mentioned that could be turned into something if my brothers there (2) really set our minds to it.

maybe what is needed - for lack of money -- is if i go home and lay out everything on the table -- get my brothers (and sister in canada) to agree to consider putting up SOME of our family's land just outside the town (it keeps expanding commercially - so you can imagine the meaning in terms of growth) - and offer a partnership in exchange for their cahs investment to old friends, or something of hat sort...

i've been thinking at times of my best friend from childhood and still is even after all these years -- who's today the richest man in town continuing his late dad's hardware store from long ago - and he's part chinese and maybe ask him - this is how he could help and develop that land some way - like maybe open up a hectare or more worth for easily accessible ''resort" style area? that way capturing more of the local population for ''weekend" trips rahter than far away - and of course regular days just outside the town proper --

as this -- tourism/picnics, (that kind of stuff) - is becoming a booming industry as the southern island develops -- and clearly becoming a major part of foreign interest.

so - i figured -- why NOT ?

OR AS the foreign investment comes in - they'll want access to land , points for infrastructure building , opening up land for agriculture/export quality improvements..and one of my late brothers long ago put down 600 or so mango trees that are now perfect age for their best years of fruiting with the best quality mangos..just never had enough money to really take care of them and 'wake up' the trees, u know?

i mean -- it's one of the little heart-aches i have - from my own stupidity really. just like you said. because that's a pretty big mango farm really - a mango tree the size of what he planted by now would be - with proper care -- be international quality mangos giving 1,000 beautiful juicy sweet silkyu mangos per tree...so sad. but there they are -- his deream and my mom's dream just standing there ...

but even that little financing for a few workers , or their potassium, smoking on a regular basis to encourage the trees , bagging the young green fruits to protect them - ladders, harvest - i have been too stupid to not understand being the ''struggling musician" over HERE. LOL.

BUT for a couple of years now --i've been dreaming about it -- studying online the agriculture, the different kinds of crops and fruits (and other trees and produce besides just mango) - irrigation, how much seedlings cost (outside of mango , like in new seedlings for crops or smaller trees planted on the big open spaces between the mango trees for ''mixed farming" - vegetable varieties that complement each other that are in demand in local markets between mango seasons - that kind of thing..

it's so fascinating -- and i really want to get my fingers 'dirty" -- imagine that -- ME - a CLASSICAL pianist all my life -- dreaming of framing what little is left of my family's land that is just waiting for some chance to be cared for...

i mean our land - especially in my province and my town and the land around it -- is SO rich - so beautiful and such beautiful - steady weather to grow anything you want...with such access to just about any direction in the big island - the main highway right on the high hill entrance of the town connecting the imortant cities to the coasts...it's just beautiful -- now that i look 'behind' what i left...

and surely real estate keeps going UP - the bigger the town proper expands especially on the ''highway'' side..while in its ''back'' end are my family's farmland and all other farmland with the other highway in the center of th etown propr passing through towards the huge city to the western coast of the SULU sea and southern philippine sea and on to straights of mallacca and indian ocean with its deep harbors..(no wonder the americans want a permanent port presence there -- and now -- i am CERTAIN the russians and chinese too, lol)

since my brothers are just basic living too - naturally they can't really put up the financing -- although for a brief season - i was hoping to send a few hundred dollars to somehow get the ''potassium" and most basic things put together - to get the trees to be ready for fruiting -- you do have to 'wake ' them up so they fruit really full ..for it to be profiatble naturally.

but i just coulnd't put up enough to really support it until real harvest time after which it should suport itself from the harvest..but ..tha'ts life, i guess.

anyway -- tha'ts just a penniless man's dream. u know?

it would be nice - at this poiint - when - as the economics minsiter of the philppines recently explained about all the ''shocking" mouth-offs of duterte (who when he explains addressing filipinos directly -- actually knows exactly what needs to be done, far more detailed than in his english talk and he seems very, very aware of just about everything going on ) - the country is having all the ''right elements" falling together for it to FINALLY -- ''fly -- instead of perpetually, for a long time always on the runway and running endlessly but never taking off -- we've been ready for a long, long time " (duterte says)

but governance has neglected where the country really needs it -- the small, poor , less develped regions -- and isntead acted like Imperial MANILA for the rich few and monopolists ...

so -- THIS time around -- this is what his ''pivots" to other countries are about..'''bring in more competition - but absolutely no corruption allowed -- or else why would foreigners bother to invest here? we have to provide foreigners the conditions :

safety, security, order, accountability - clarity of what is expected of THEM TO bring what we need for development in partnerships but in exchange they make good profits without government intrusion and unnecessary bureaucratic rules and pointless fees and taxes...we have to create conditions so that they who invest or build projects or businesses here know that their investments are secure , safe, profitable = and that's why it's another reason tha tI WILL KILL the DRUG LORDS I WILL KILL THE TERRORISTS , I WILL KILL THE CRIMINAL GANGS AND KIDNAPPERS FOR RANSOM because theya re destroying our country , our future"

'id love to be part of htat, frankly. not to mention i do miss the country and the people.

did you know ?NEW ZEALAND actually hs started to be one of the serious investors ? they're really keen on investing to expand their businesses especially in cattle/meat growing and already have some farms - i think in mindanao or the central islands regions of visayas..

but compared to the more northern areas -- my island mindanao is the REAL prize -- just like that video shows.

it turns out also -- that the philippines which - according to NON-WTO-,IMF, WORLD BANK analysts (i forgot what website that was last week in its updated analysis)

which is about 7-800 billion dollars worth as an economy (so making it something like in the 30s in global standing) -
divided of course between its domestic market -- and its foreign trade and export -

just based on agriculture - i mean farm -- and raw material mostly - the country's MAIN engine of its global earnings is actully THIS same southern island? ididn't evgenknow that.

and yet -- it is actually the LEAST developed..mostly still 'virgin forest' basically.

so i can just imagine what it would be like when the chinese/rusisan/ASEAN, and i just learned SWEDES come to enter the 'market"?"

housing industry would certainly explode - real estate and all that - as well as other infrstructure and industries.

i don't know if you knew from older decades -- maybe not since you are from UK -- but in the 1960's when i was growing up -- the philippines was actually the ''bread basket" of ALL southeast asia - especially in rice , corn, and fruits - and somehow that collapsed from lack of proper support --

and even at that status -- the breadbasket was based mostly in just ONE or TWO provinces -- mine - which is cotabato as i described - and duterte's province of davao..
how much more if the entire island's potential was tapped in theproper way? such as with better highways criss crossing highways, ?

now i have heard from the ministers after their discussions with the chinese, japanese and russians -- each with their competing ''offers of assistance and partnership" as their businesses are very eager -- according to the russian ambassador - to get started with partnerships and ''entry" -

that high speed transport, super-highways etc...are in the works -- to lay down the infrastructure tha tmakes commerce become possible -.

even i am quite shocked, frankly, at how intense their interest is.

so - clearly duterte is preparing the country to be a magnet for such investments and partnerships.

 

[teddytennisfan]

Any plans to visit in the near future?

I worked with a couple of Filipinos up until recently in Oz. Both real characters with a playful sense of humour.

you know i found out the other day -- i am so grateful to them --

THREE retired australian police offcers -- probably they had visited the philipines in their vacations - --

anyway - one of them has a daughter who showed him (she's a lawyer) about the plight of ''SEX SLAVES" in the philippines who are pimped out by their own parents or kidnapped - so much poverty will push people to do horrible things, --

around the american bases like SUBIC BAY - AND FOREIGNERS who are of course the ''SEX TOURISTS" -- from europe and ameria and western countries mostly - who 'buy' underage girls for sex - and sometimes mudrder them or make them pregnant and then leave them - for what really? even less than 5 dollars ?

and the police officer was so incensed by it all -- 800 ,000 living this way -
that he contacted the irish priest who has lived in the philippines with his little group of volunteers and social workers (some of them from australia actually, young guys who care enough) -

and this priest opened a safe house -- for the girls to have a chance inlife, go back to school, have good regular meals, have their babies taken care of --

and the polie officer contacted somehow 2 others - and they resolved to do something about it...catch the pimps, make sting operations - bring them to the law in australia or philippines - force the agencies to pay attention -

and they'd spend weeks working on an operation -- even if as one of the officeres said:

"if i can only save a few -- tha'ts worth something -- becuse when i'd look at my daughter years ago when she was a teen -- i realized those girls bought and sold like that could have been my own daughter".
it's amazing what they did -- in a documentary made by an australian young lady that followed them in their operations --

they should be blessed forever. and their families.

the police officer that started his 3 man group actually said he left the polkice force when the AUSTRALIAN POLICE MINISTRY CLOSED HIS particular project to catch ssexual predators from australia ..and that's how he took his early retirement . before he found out about the priest and then they began to work together.

i want people like that to come to my country -- they should be rewarded with their own nice vacation resort to enjoy for the rest of their lives and their family. lol.

 

[teddytennisfan]

RT 15 MINUTE interview of DUTERTE.

=========================