The So-called Hyphenated Filipinos

Dear Mouse,

One Bernardo Subido of Paranaque criticized the Inquirer for featuring news about FIL-AMS or FIL-FOREIGNERS. Ano ba ang problema niya ? Bakit galit siya sa mga Fil- foreigners?

I rather read the Entertainment Section of the newspapers than the headlines and breaking news especially about politics. At least there is something good to read. Between the antics of the politicians and the gossips about the movie starts, I will take the latter if only to avoid burnout and feeling of hopeless ness about the country with the kind of leaders many have elected.

I am not from Hawaii and I am not an Ilocano but many Fil-ams in that state are beneficiaries of the petitions of their pioneering grandparents, the manongs from the North who endured the life in a foreign country when racism equaled them to dogs.

They may be called Americans and cannot speak Tagalog but their national language is ILOCANO. They did not abandon the ship.

They worked to make the ship afloat despite the storms that tried to sink it down the Pacific Ocean.

While some local Filipinos whined and complained about the sorry state of the counry and blamed everyone except themselves, these hardworking Filipinos labored hard; holding at least two jobs not only to support the family but also the extended families in the Philippines.

The use of OFW and OCW remittances is WRONG. It should be written as Overseas Filipinos' Remittances Period. OFW refers to Overseas Foreign Workers while OCW refers to Overseas Contract Workers. They have to realize that dollar remittances include the padala- ng-mga-kamag-anak na permanent resident or citizen sa mga kamag-anak na nasa Pilipinas pa at nangangailangan ng tulong. Even the poor Filam veterans who are receiving measly pensions are sending a portion of their money to their children, grandchildren, nephews and nieces while they live like LIGO Sardines in an accesoria-type-house sharing rent with some other oldies in a 12 x 12 room.

Competition is always tough but it is tougher in the country that is not your own by birth. To be able to prove that you are their equal, you must have worked hard so recognition is really in order.

Working hard is a virtue that does not come with the citizenship they award the Filipinos--rather it is from the heritage... from the bloodlines of hardworking Filipinos.

The solution is not for a broadsheet like Inquirer not to publish anything that extol the achievement of the so-called hyphenated Filipinos. The solution is to publish the triumphs of the Filipinos wherever they are. The achievements of the debate team, Patricia Evangelista, and the high school students (see my previous blog), never landed in the front page of our newspapers.

It's the cybercitizens who circulate to the Filipino communities them thru e-mail, blogs and instant messages.

Galit ako.Huwag kayong hahara diyan sa daan. Kung hindi pa kayo nakaranas na nasa isang airport at nagwiwish na may makitang isang kababayan, hindi ninyo alam ang mapalayo sa bayan.

Tanong ninyo bakit di umuwi. Ang pagka Pilipino ay hindi kung nasaan ka kung hindi kung nasaan ang iyong pag-iisip at pagmamahal. Sandali, para na akong si Patricia.

The CA t