Publisher's Note

Publisher’s Note
It was 22 years ago when I arrived in Canada and chose Calgary, Alberta to be my home. Leaving my family and friends behind, it was a new adventure for me to be in a new country without knowing anyone. That was the time I looked for a Filipino community paper and never found any, [...]
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Page added on September 20, 2011

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SA AKING PANANAW……..Hindi Namumunga ng Santol ang Mangga

By: Glynn Galla

“Hindi namumunga ng santol ang mangga”. I’m not sure if all of you are familiar with this quote. Filipinos had gone a long way in terms of migration; many of our early ancestors had gone abroad either to work or live there. Whenever there’s job opportunity, for sure Filipinos are present anywhere in the globe. Some of us migrated in Europe, in Middle East, in United States, in Canada and many other places.

Many of us had already adopted the customs and lifestyles of places where we at now. I just want to point out of who we really are, and how we acknowledge the influence of the foreign culture.

It is always nice to welcome such new customs, culture and way of living, we are always eager to learn and discover new things, after all Filipinos are the race that could easily adopt changes. We are capable to adjust such circumstances like political views, weather conditions, religious belief and many others.

Some of our kababayans were influenced and practiced the kind of life they have now. There are some for example; wants to get white because of the thought that it’s better when you’re brighter when you are with white friends. Whitening pill, whitening lotion, whitening cream are just some of what our kababayans use just to get whiter. They just don’t realize that the white people around the world love our skin tone; they even have tanning center just to get the perfect brown skin they are wishing for. Filipinos are blessed to have great brown skin. Be proud of what you are.

Filipinos are known to speak English fluently throughout the world, the biggest number of business outsourcing companies are now based in the Philippines, and call center industry puts our country to the top list. Excellent customer service, while speaking to fluent agents back home are some of many commendations that clients tells about our race. It is nice to know that Filipinos can compete internationally. But on the contrary as many of our fellowmen speak the language well, there are some who are trying hard to speak English. We truly understand that since we are in a foreign land we must blend in and using their language is a part of it.

On my point of view it’s a nice feeling when you see a Filipino in a different land would greet you in your native tongue, you feel comfortable and at home having small talks of how things are going. But there’s one incident that I cannot forget, I was on the train and I approached one Filipino asking about the time in our dialect, he replied but in English, it was fine but when I ask what bus will I take to go to a certain mall, to my surprise he replied in English but it’s broken. He is having hard time explaining to me what route I will take just to get there. Stuttering and still thinking of the right words in English to tell me, I asked myself why can’t he just tell me in our own language in that way he can explain it better. In order not to be rude to the person I just say, Ok po Salamat po. And I went back to my seat. I just want to stress out that when you are not comfortable of speaking English especially if you’re talking to your kababayan better say it in Filipino. No matter how you try to coat yourself or pretend to be somebody it won’t work hence it will come out naturally.

With regards to our values we are known to be respectful, hospitable and polite but like other race we have some negative attitudes too. And crab mentality is one of it. It is very common in our culture that if someone is on the top and grasping the fruits of labor, there were always be side comments more so bad comments about the success of the others, telling pessimistic things, saying not good attributes about the person are just few to mention acts they do because of their personal interest. Tearing once reputation became their hobby as they love to do dirty tactics just to get to the top.

We Filipinos are nice in nature, Let us show to them that we only bear good fruits, let us show the world what our true colors are, let us show the world how we can express ourselves, and let us show the world that is more “US” and “I”. Let us help one another rather than destroy. Let us adopt the good traits of this foreign land, and leave those bad once behind. Let us show to them that we Filipinos are race of values, in thoughts, in words and in acts.

SA AKING PANANAW……..Hindi Namumunga ng Santol ang Mangga

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