Filipina Soul

Not quite.
But almost! It’s December tomorrow, and that means it’s been Christmas season in the Philippines for several weeks already. Traditionally, the lead-up to this most wondrous season starts when the months begin to end in “ber”. So, September was when Christmas songs began playing on the radio. Christmas decorations have been up for weeks. Carolling in the streets have begun in earnest.
I hope and pray, especially with the arrival of typhoon Reming, that this season will be a safe and happy one for everyone.

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Supertyphoon ‘Reming’ (international name Durian) hit the Bicol region early morning Thursday, with winds capable of upstaging the damage caused by ‘Milenyo’ last September. The tropical storm was earlier forecasted to hit Metro Manila and northern Luzon on Friday but it changed directions instead.

With maximum sustained winds as high as 195 km per hour and gusts up to 230 kph, PAGASA officials raised the signal to No. 4 over Catanduanes, Albay and Camarines provinces, and Signal No. 3 (100-185 kph winds) over Sorsogon, Burias Island, Quezon, Polillo Island and Marinduque.
Warnings have also been issued of extreme damages to plantation, trees …read more

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One of the ways that immigrants can and do impart the Filipino culture to their foreign-born children is through language and of course, food. Our home is no exception.
Tonight, we had longaniza for dinner. It’s one of my son’s favorite dishes. There is no problem getting him to eat rice. In fact, there are times when he’d eat just rice, if he had his way. And yes, he does want to eat with his hands, foregoing the more cumbersome spoon.
I know someone whose kids are so used to eating Pinoy food that they even ask for sinigang and rice as …read more

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The Jesuit Gourmet presents three mouth-watering recipes he calls the “Italian-Pinoy Fusion“… taste these -

Linguini with longaniza
Adobo salad
and a Deconstructed Turon with cashews, whipped cream and ice cream.

It’s time I get out of here and cook these at home.
Ciao!
Tags: Italian-Pinoy fusion, cooking, recipes

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So, who’s it going to be?

Mau Marcelo
Jan Nieto
Gian Magdangal

If you wanna answer, drop by our POLL on the right sidebar and CLICK your choice!
I haven’t been following the Idols craze so much, but I have the feeling half the country is. It’s been a controversial top ten finals showdown.
The finals will be on December 9 and 10 at the Araneta Coliseum. It’s been a long 6-months journey since the July launching . So why a two-night finale show, your guess is as good as mine. Maybe they’ll vote off one the first night and have the remaining contenders at it …read more

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Such a “rapid decline in the English competency of Filipinos would eventually erode the competitiveness of the country’s human resources, both here and abroad”… A quote attributed to Senator Edgardo J. Angara.
This was in reference to a bill that passed last month restoring English as the primary language of instruction from high school onwards. The bill was created as Congress’ response to the declining proficiency on the use of the English language in communications. (The Education Department adopted a bilingual program in 1987 to promote the use of Tagalog, the other official language.)

According to a recent government study, only 7 …read more

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Several weeks ago, an acquaintance asked my email group about possible money-making gigs that she can do as an at-home mom. I mentioned the possibility of blogging professionally, and got private emails from several others who wanted to know more. Some of them admitted they didn’t even think that money could be earned through blogging. One said that she’s been blogging for years yet never looked at it as a possible source of income.
With Abe Olandres celebrating his first full year as a fulltime problogger, I realized that blogging, the new media, could be a great alternative career for Filipinos. …read more

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We’ve all heard about it, or seen it with our own eyes, and wondered as this author did… is our country really poor?
I went through some blogs tonight and came across this intriguing post by Val Abelgas of the Philippine Post:

They say inflation rate is high, and yet the malls are always full. Filipinos never seem to tire shopping. While Americans tend to do their shopping on weekends or during holidays, Filipinos do theirs any time of the day, any day of the week, sale or no sale
They say many Filipinos are forever trapped in minimum wage, and yet you …read more

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“It is imperative that we find his relatives so we could bring Mr. (Bernabe) Vicarmehome.”
Mr. Vicarme was one of the passengers of a United Nations Aircraft that was shot down seven years ago in Angola. The UN wants to bring his body home so the UN is requesting the public’s assistance in locating his next of kin. “We would appreciate any leads that the public and the media could provide to help us find the family of Mr. Vicarme,” said Ambassador Lauro L. Baja Jr., Permanent Representative of the Philippines to the United Nations . The UN is looking for …read more

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The latest survey shows that 200,000 Filipino children are living on the streets “exposed to unsavory influences. As many as 60,000 are vulnerable to sexual exploitation. At least 66 per cent under the age of six do not have any childcare. And more than 6 million children are malnourished.
Grim statistics and just heartwrenching to see the Philippines’ future generation thought of this way. I don’t even have to show pictures. We all have a mental image of our country’s “poorest of the poor”.

“If the villages do not act within the next ten years, the Philippines will lose another generation of …read more

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