yup i guess, video shoot about the ideas shared here on the thread... looks promising :D

video shoot for your study of this topic? cool...basta weekend.

answer to number 1:

most common thing ive heard:

-manila is dirty, remember this american actress that told the press that manila is a dirty, roach ridden city? turns out that she've heard it from someone else too.(i stopped watching her films, but then i forgot who she was)claire danes?ewan

-metro manila is a slum, full of hooligans and "masasamang loob" <- this i heard from the country side. just like my lola in samar use to say.

-philippines is so damn hot.  - i saw this one in an interview in japan, almost all says its hellhot here.uhm.. hindi naman lahat.baguio, abra, batanes...etc

-that the philippines is a country of no original ancestry. this came from my history professor back in highschool and i think mentioned in bob ong's book. pero i cant quite answer this one for myself.

number two:

thats easy.. balot! man! if your a western dude, how often do you eat duck embryoes by hand?? =) i mean, its nothing to us really, but even Dave Batista has second thoughts.

three:

practically: low cost-of-living, great variety of food (unlike in india), tropical weather

good people,good place,good culture.

tiangge all around district 1. just dont go there late in the night

- i think ill add more in the future

-- Edited by polskie at 20:05, 2008-05-10

ooh... everything's answering =)

1. i'm basing this all on Family Guy. That this country is full of transvestites, whores, and whatnots.

2. Dinuguan.

3. Nature, Tiangge, and food. When my aunt and uncle came from Canada they bilged on Goldilocks food (imagine???? Goldilocks??? yuck. hahaha. E red ribbon nga ko e. e wala sa kanila nun e). C'mon we have Cam Sur, Bohol, Bora (na sobrang passe na), Ilocos, etc. And our tiangge's are cheap too (of course hindi tayo uubra sa China though.)

yup. our entepreneur's here buy them in bulk sa china.

anti-piracy daw ang pinas e.

1. Manila is a haven of crime and prostitution. And then the Philippines is not a safe place. And that Filipinos can be bought.

2. Pinuneg (Cordilleran blood sausage). Or maybe pinikpikan (it's not the dish that would scare them, but the way the chicken is killed).

3. The people, the surroundings (laging may bagong madidiskubre), and the food.

s2chard wrote:

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Polskie, the actress was Claire Danes. She played the role of Juliet togther wither with Leonardo Di Caprio in Romeo and Juliet. It was around 1998-1999 whe she said that.

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thanks for the verification!
i heard she was banned back then.

I think we should consider what foreigners think of our doctors now. Sira na tayo sa kanila. Pagkatapos nga naman nating awayin si Teri Hatcher 'yun pala may kableepan nang ginagawa ang mga doktor at nars natin. Di pa kasama ang quack doctors doon ha.

psychoCOW wrote:

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Aside from the fact that most of our tiangge stuff come from China. Hay.

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and i think most of the sellers tends to be chinese or chinoys.

@ Cow: Good point, though I remember that we have a lot of foreigners who come to the country to indulge in "medical tourism." I'm no longer updated with this, but it boggles the mind that our doctors abroad rank as some of the best, while ours here apparently goof off.

1. It's a haven of terrorists
2. any food na may palaka, or insects like salagubang, and the one i saw sa palawan ata yun (basta sa provinces) yung tree worms (i forgot what its called) basta kulay white na nasa loob ng bark ng puno
3. To see me.. :p Seriously.. if you want to know more about the philippines and prove or disprove whatever you have heard about it, then visit manila! you'll definitely enjoy it. Everything is cheap and the people are extra friendly.

For once it's because of the black market for organ donors here. Despite the government crackdown on these operations, the practice still persists, and such practitioners somehow elude the scrutiny of health officials, much more the media.

Also, the fact that we can treat foreign patients and make them comfortable while our local patients literally rot without good medical personnel looking after them still says something.

I agree though with the "show me the money" policy. My cousin (a caregiver, incidentally) came home recently for a vacation and to have an operation (I can't remember why). She said she had to pay upfront to get confined. Tapos ang mga nakapaligid sa kanyang nurse ay nagkataong mga bopol pa. Isa lang daw ang matinong tumingin sa kanya.

Then there is this story of a guy who had a heart attack in another hospital here in Manila. Matagal daw siyang naghintay sa emergency room at walang nagasikaso sa kanya. Why? Wala daw siyang maibayad. I hear noong may pumunta sa kanyang doktor (sa wakas) sinabi niyang hintayin na lang daw niyang mamatay siya dahil wala siyang maibayad sa ospital.

1. What's the biggest misconception about Manila? The Philippines?
2. If you had to feed a foreigner a "scary" Pinoy dish, what would it be? (You can name more than one)
3. Pretend you're talking to a foreigner. Give me reasons why s/he should visit Manila


Answers:

1. That everyone can be bought off by money.
2. Igado, Sinigang na palaka (yummy!!), Adobong Palos, Papaitan.
3. We have great beaches, warm and accommodating people, delicious and tasty food. There are so many things to do here in the Philippines. :)

Sorry for the late late reply... :D

Q 1: Rizal Monument

Q 2: Depende siguro. I mean, nakikipagtalo si Lapulapu kay Rizal eh, LOL. XD not that I love Lapulapu more than the monument, it's just...what the hell, what is a HUGE statue of Lapulapu doing in Rizal Park? @.@;; It's so huge that it even overshadows Rizal? Um....hello?

Q 3: Depende rin siguro. It's not that hard for a foreigner to not know something about the Rizal monument, that would be because the monument itself is one of the major things about the Philippines that is always photographed and shown in postcards. :D Unless of course, if the photographers or postcard makers find other points of historical value much more interesting than the monument or something.

I have always been an avid admirer of our country and our national heritage. I feel quite proud when sa mga sinehan na last full show, ung Lupang Hinirang it plays, then I see all those good things about the Philippines. But the problem lies with the Philippines itself...it's like we get treated here more shabbily than our foreign visitors. Like just recently, our messenger boy in the office went to somewhere in Makati, bank yata, and he was just wearing shorts. I mean, understandable un, you're in Makati eh, sinabihan nya ung accountant namin na baka di sya papasukin, but well, he really had to go there. Pero foreigners wearing shorts, OK lang pumasok dun. @.@;; We also get treated by some Filipinos too, pag kunyari shabby ung damit mo, ay sorry na lang, di ka papansinin, they will cater to other patrons who look like they have the money. It kinda doubles the impact if they see foreigners wearing shorts na ganun din ang pagdamit, pero mas papansinin nila un. Double standards, anyone? Then some call center agents na na meet ko, it was kinda like they feel that they're superior to other people. Sorry sa pwede ma offend ko, but I said that SOME di naman lahat. Crap, I will never forget that girl when I applied for a certain call center company in Commonwealth...ask nya daw kung anu kagalingan or worth ng English capabilities ko, sabi ko 10 in a scale of 1 to 10, di naman sa pagmamayabang, I mean, confident ako na medyo me sense ung English ko, but she LAUGHED and told me ung pwede lang daw nya bigyan ng grade na ganun eh ung me Masteral sa English at ung mga native English speakers. Seriously, WTH? Talagang napanganga ako nun. I asked her excuse me, pero sorry, hanggang ganun talaga kakitiran ng utak nya. Saka di ko naman sinabing 10 kasi nagmamayabang ako, I was thinking of other things entirely when I said 10. Pero naman po, tawanan ka and sabihin in a patriotizing tone na ganun na nga. Hello, kahit anu gawin mo, you'll never be a foreigner, you'll always remain a Filipino by heart, by looks or whatever pa. Siguro kasi I graduated from PWU? So what? It saddens me because they get superiority complex just from speaking in American twang, and they believe that they're better than everyone else. And Fiulipinos who speak English na ung normal pakikipagusap nila...please. I understand that English is considered the "it" language right now, but if you can express yourself better in Tagalog, then do not murder the English. X____X You wouldn't want other foreigners to murder the Tagalog right? It's an insult to them in a way, ganun din sa atin.

Then when I tried applying for a tutorial job sa me Commonwealth, kwento sa akin ng nag test sa akin, ung subdivision na un, di na nagpapasok ng Koreans to live in the said subdivision, kasi magagaling modus operandi ng mga Koreans. One day, sila mga neighbors mo, maya maya lang, iba iba na mga Koreans nakatira sa flat na un. What they do daw kasi is that they rent the place, then they will tell their relatives to come over to the Philippines kasi me lugar na daw, kaya ayun, iba iba na ung mga nakatira dun, lol. XD tapos ung sulputan ng Korean goods/surplus...heck, the Chinese have been part of our country's heritage for as long as we could remember, but they never resort to building "home comforts" over the metropolis....at least andun lang sila sa Chinatown or Binondo. And they don't like neutral accents if you want to apply for their online teaching jobs, they want AMERICAN ACCENTS~~~!!! Also, lol sa paggawa ng hotel nila sa gitna ng Subic, what the hell, di ba nila alam na ecological zone ung ginagawan nila dun, etc. and the Filipinos who got involved with it, parang ala lang, kesa daw naaprubahan ung environmental certificates nila churva. Eh di ibig sabihin pala nun, if Inquirer didn't get a hold of that story, it would just continue as planned!

I must admit I am not a supporter of GMA. I didn't really want to vote for anyone in the last presidential elections, but then again, mabibiktima ako ng dagdag bawas eh, lol, so I used the voting rights that I have. I mean, her son's candidacy and victory in Bicol...um, hello, last time I checked taga Pampanga mga Arroyo at Macapagal, why did they manage to get a seat in Bicol? @.@;; And all the scandals...she keeps saying that everything is cool, we're suddenly on the road of recovery, but it didn't let the Philippines off the corruption list, in fact we are already number 1 in Asia for corruption. The Hello Garci controversy, it wasn't resolved, even if she admitted that she was sort of "implicated " with the scandal, then the ZTE broadband deal. Then she pulls the rug off of her staunchest ally, Jose de Venecia, lol. XD Food crisis we have right now? Gosh, we used to be the number 1 exporter of rice in Asia, nagpunta dito Vietnam at Thailand to study, because we had the best schools that taught agriculture ata pa nun, and we have IRRI in our midst sa Los Banos...pero nasan na ung Vietnam at Thailand ngaun, at tau na ngaun nag aangkat ng rice sa ibang mga bansa? >.>;; It hasn't happened before, as far as I could remember, na pumipila mga mahihirap para makakuha ng bigas sa NFA, kasi kahit papanu nun, nakakasurvive sila, but this is too much. Well, we could be better off than all the other not so lucky countries din, and at least di pa tau pumipila for cooking oil tulad sa Burma. But we also have the same problems as these countries, pero di pa naman kasing lala. There are far off barrios with no electricity pa rin ngaun, or even the most basic necessities. Our teachers, farmers...they always get the bad end of the deal, di ganun kalaki mga kita nila, so what recourse do they have?

Our best teachers and other professionals go to other countries for jobs, kasi dito, maliliit na nga kita nila, dinudugasan pa sila minsan ng kung anu anung kaltas. What service that they could provide for our country, best service that they could give, minsan pakiramdam nila take for granted sila ng Pinas so they go look for work elsewhere. The economic prosperity we enjoy right now is not GMA's work, it's mostly the OFWs work, if there are no OFWs around, di sya pwede magmalaki ng ganun. If the situation in our country would be resolved, they wouldn't have to go to other countries to look for jobs. The doctor/nurse drain is taking toll na sa ibang provinces, marami nang nagsasarado na mga hospitals ngaun kasi kulang sa mga doctors at nurses, there will come a time na baka lahat ng hospitals magsara na kasi ganun nga nangyayari. The best teachers are also looking for other jobs abroad din, it wouldn't be too long na baka mga schools magsara na rin dahil sa kakulangan ng teachers. Continuous revamps on education wouldn't do anything if ganun pa rin mangyayari, all the best teachers go to other countries to earn dollars. At dagdag pahirap na rin sa mga magulang at estudyante ngaun, dagdag units, tuition, di naman gumaganda education. Sa ibang bansa din, ung pinakamalupit na kaaway mo sariling Pinoy din, because of the crab mentality, and sometimes these actions are also the things that turn off foreign visitors to our country, because of what we do in those countries. We could also be proud of ourselves because we are multi-lingual, and we have accents that call center operators love, but it's mostly because we are a cheap source of labor and because Americans didn't want Indians to take their calls because of the accents that they have. This was what my former trainer told us during training, lol, so...yeah. XD Pero take note, they still find Indians >>>>>>>> our IT expertise, so the bulk of technical calls are still always routed to the Indian call centers. With the current strength of the peso, baka dumating din panahon na iwan tau ng mga call centers and look for other cheap sources of labor somewhere kasi di na profitable mag invest sa Pinas.

As for the historical heritage...andun na nga ung wanton destruction ng mga ito. Ung hotel ba un sa me Taft, ung tinayuan ata ng mall un or something or commercial center....it was the best design of an art form in those years, pero sinira nila all for the sake of development. Ditto with Mehan Garden, na sinira para lang magkarun ng Park and Ride. Un nga si Lapulapu sa Rizal Park...what in the world did they think of?? Ung wanton destruction diin ng mga lumang bahay sa Tondo, Binondo...di rin kasi inaalagaan mabuti ng mga naiwan eh, kaya ayun, naging firetraps na so it had to be demolished. Other buildings with artistic or historical merit ganun din, baka condemn na din para sirain, etc., kasi nga eyesores na sila, not edifices of historical value, di kasi inaalagaan. One of the reasons why I want to go to Japan and other countries is because of the fact that they really take care of their heritage and historical points of interest /value to their country, which we could find very rare sa Pinas. Also, my social science major prof nun sa Benitez Hall, he also saw Rizal as something who was just put in place by the Americans para lang daw magkarun tau ng national hero. I don't know if he's just being too activist for his tastes, but well...after putting so many reasons why it could be and quoting from this book from wherein he proudly mentions Conrado De Quiros hasn't criticized as of yet, I found my belief in Rizal shattered. Si Bonifacio daw talaga dapat ung hero natin di si Rizal, lol. XD the book even points to Aguinaldo as a traitor! Also, we don't really have a national identity we could speak of...we have taken in a lot of Spanish, Chinese, American and some Japanese culture concepts that we don't even recognize ourselves anymore. Kaya siguro me identity crisis din mga Pinoy. The real Filipinos were the ones who have lived before the first foreigners came. Kaso we sadly treat our indigenous tribes like we treat lower lifeforms! This is the ultimate irony of it all.

So it all boils down to Filipinos murdering other Filipinos why the country seems to be taken in as something not worth mentioning, or viewed with slight disgust by other Filipinos. It could be something to do with the educational system, and other points that were said by other people in this thread, but it really HAS to start with ourselves. Of course, as Dorothy said, "there's no place like home." I love the Philippines for all its quirks, and I am just very saddened by the fact that politicians are being hypocrites, and even our own Filipino countrymen are being hypocrites as well (*coughBALIKBAYANTWANGSICAN'TSPEAKTAGALOGcough*, and the infamous editorial by the Filipina who didn't want to be in the same flight with balikbayans because of their cheap perfume = RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGE). I mean, if this country is to be the great country that we should be,let's just stop fooling ourselves and try to make it better without using other Western ideas or something as an excuse not to love it.