ANAK NG LUPANG SINILANGAN!
(Children of the Native Land )
Five hundred years ago, the Filipino race was made up of only three cultures: Indonesian, Malay and Aeta.Aetas are the PURE Filipinos. ( But the name Filipino was coined only after the arrival of the Spaniards after King Philip of Spain ) Then in the 16 century we were civilized and christianized by Spain. Then the US came in around 1889 for the Spanish-American War.
US Commodore George Dewey arrived in Manila Bay for this war. It is said he never fired a single shot. Spain surrendered without much fuss. But history writers said, she already sold our country to the US before the alleged "surrender"
Americans had a number of goals for occupying the Philippines. One was to create a military presence, then to access the markets of the Orient ( China & Japan ). Another was to utilize the Philippine raw materials for US industry.
US President William McKinley described another aim. After praying to "Almighty God", McKinley said that a message came to him that Americans were in the Philippines to "uplift and civilize and christianize Filipinos". He was obviously not aware of the fact that the Filipinos had been "Christianized" for 400 years by Spanish colonizers, against whom they had consistently rebelled.
On my last vacation, I stayed at the Shangri la Hotel. The Hotel is teeming with Koreans I see one each time I turned my head. So I thought and tried to figure out what the Korean people want from our country and what they can do for us.
Our government accepted them to come and stay in our country because they have money to invest.
Our Government were looking around the world for investors but nobody was interested Finally the Koreans came and tried until they learned that our country has a big potential .
In just four years, Korean have already established themselves in our country. They are the second to the Chinese I think in Entrepreneurship.Maybe someday they will be surpassing the Chinese. A Korean friend of mine, is a businessman here in the US. He owns buildings. I can’t believe when he told me that Philippines is his 2nd home, and therefore his parents are living there in one of the prominent places called "WHITE PLAIN." It’s cheaper for him, he said to hire someone from Philippines to take care of his parents.
The Korean Senior Citizens are very much spoiled and enjoying the very affordable labor of "KATULONG" and now they’re staying to our country for retirement. Their children go to our schools particularly in college because everything is inexpensive compared to their country. They can speak our language and believe it or not we have now Korean thespians and maybe someday they will have their own movie production outfits.
Many Filipinos are now abroad particularly in the US, Canada and Europe. Are we fulfilled in where we are now? I know it’s hard to decide to go back home for good when our family is already esstablished somewhere. Wherever we are we are still the children of our native land Pilipinas. We are still the beneficiaries to all good things from our country.
In our country today, many things changed. Businesses are booming, particularly Real Estate. It’s skyrocketing and houses are selling like hot cakes. Check out your property and maybe it has gone 20x its original value.
We could be like the Koreans in Entrepreneurship. We just try to go back home and look for any opportunities just like what the Koreans had done. I am sure this could be the start in rediscovering our "LUPANG SINILANGAN" which many of us have already given up.
We are the "missing pieces" that our native land have been looking for. Now and then, our young people like our engineers, IT technologists, Nurses etc. are going away to find their opportunities. One of the reasons why our country is weakening is because of this brain drain.. I guess. It has been like this for a long time. I think it’s about time for some of us to go back home particularly our "kabayans" had already accumulated enough wealth.
We are the "ONE" who might be able to change the face of the Philippines particularly the Political front. We had been given a very good opportunity by the Philippines Government to have "DUAL CITIZENSHIP". this can give us mean a lot of chances to help our country.
We are the "ONE" who could be the role model and inspiration to our countrymen. Think back the last time you went home.Think of the respect you got from friends and relatives, they listen to you and so on. How about a strong united association of Balikbayans?
Take a holiday in the Philippines and check the new life now that they have there.
Next time you go there perhaps there’s already a Korean last name in your family tree.
I am not against them. I am just using them as a good example to our country and also they are also the wake up call to all Filipinos around the world.
Archie Macanas
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Literally translated, LUPANG SINILANGAN means Land of Birth..If you add CHILDREN to form CHILDREN OF THE LAND OF BIRTH, it won't sound very pleasant..Thus, I used instead the translation on top of the page...
1 comment:
Hi Archie, thanks for this wake up call. I know a lot of Koreans who intend to spend their retirement in the Philippines. And I know a lot of Kababayan who do likewise which was not the case few years back.
I myself would like to spend more time in the Philippines which was not the case few yers back. I made a little investment in which allows me to go home more often than before. So this is rather a positive move that I can contribute in my own little way. It`s not only for me and my children to get reconnected to my own roots but also to enjoy the unique hospitality that we Pinoys could offer. Remember, there`s no place like the original "home sweet home".
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