#1funinthephilippines--reasons and in defense of the new DOT slogan

Someone posted a nineteen fiftish promo poster suggesting that the tagline for the DOT campaign " It's more fun in the Philippines" is similar with Switzerland's. Tourism secretary Ramon Jimenez says "so what?", suggesting that no one has a monopoly of the words or phrase that uses the word "fun" in it.


Jimenez is right but his response is wrong. There is still a gulf of difference between how we used this slogan than what the Swiss intended several decades ago. In terms of usage, the two countries used the same concept differently.

"sun tanning is not the monopoly
of the Swiss people. You can get a tan
anywhere in the world."

Switzerland's slogan is far too different than the Philippines'. The reason the Swiss says that theirs is "more fun" is the fact that you can snow ski and get a tan.


In our concept of fun, it involves Pinoys in it. Meaning, we are not just promoting a place--we are promoting a people's culture. The Swiss have their alps, we have our Pinoys. Snow skiing and getting a tan are activities not necessarily cultural acts.


What's so special about the Pinoy? Well, for one thing, we are somewhere out there in the top 30 list of most happy countries. (Switzerland, by the way, landed second. Maybe because they used this slogan decades ago, that it made a great impact on the way they think about themselves and their country).


Manila placed top 21st in the city's list with the most courteous of people (again faring badly with that of Zurich which is number 2 in the list). That's what the Reader's Digest survey says. Meaning, 20 other countries fare better in this department than the Pinoys. That being said, the  rank is still far better than, Mumbay's or Hongkong or Kuala Lumpur.

Now, what's so special about Pinoy culture? Ours is a spectacular species which sprang from Western ways and Asian thought. See this site to understand what I mean click link.


For a Westerner looking in, we are still predominantly an Asian inspired culture. For a neighbouring Asian looking in, we are heavily Westernized. It takes a Filipino to explain the delicious confusion. :-)


In all honestly, that confusion is simply order in chaos, symmetry in discordance. That's what makes it real fun to be in the Philippines. 


We are far better than Hongkong because our myriad of places to go more than rival theirs. If they have streets that seem too confusing to tread, we have our divisoria that goes practically no where.


Macau prides itself of being Portuguese inspired, while we have so many places that are Iberian inspired too. 


Think of heavenly beaches and isolated islands and ours are far too pristine than Indonesia's, Malaysia's or Thailand's.


Yes, we are still building our monumental skycrapers, and about two to three years from now, we will have our landmark buildings. While waiting for it, our Makati and the Fort skyliners are making their own mark in the world. 


Having said that, our concept of fun, which is deeply rooted in our culture, is acceptable in both Western and Asian tastes. We are the first cosmopolitan place in Asia, mind you. Centuries before China and Japan opened themselves up for Western influence, the Philippines have lorded it over like Singapore did in the Modern Century. Getting that back in is what this slogan intends to do.


Yes, our cities are far apart and really, in a confused state. We have been like that since we suffered World War devastation some sixty decades ago. 


Our culture, I dare say, is the most open thing in the world. You can fashion it the way you see it, simply because it is something which reflects life in this planet. 


Our culture can be likened to an organism, simply trying to survive in this harsh planet. As it tries to survive and do things for survival, it spins a beautiful web in its tracks, catching influences here and there, past and present, and projecting images of crystal clear resonance that shows what life really is, and what it will be sometime soon.


Who spuns this web but us, Pinoy? We are the world's first integrators. We integrate both the best and the worst things in the world, and interpret it the way we see it. 


The good thing is, when we integrate and make things our own, we do these excellently in the fields of art and sciences, never in politics. Even in religion, hundreds of us built our own churches, interpreting and reinterpreting biblical passages, leading these passages to the right and to the Left, up or down, depending on whichever way we want. 


In politics, we have a very poor understanding of it that we misinterpret the Greeks' concept of democracy and make it an anarchy pretending to be a democracy. 


We suck in politics and philosophical thought. Yet, we excel in integrating our own concepts with those of others in the arts, sciences and technologies.


This culture is ingrained in all of us. Having said that, every Filipino's task therefore, is to show the world, in its simpliest terms, how we see or perceive this planet, this world.


The good thing about us is that we see this world differently. And we have this trait of sharing these things to other people. This even explains why 30 million of us sign in with Facebook and millions of Tweets go out virally every, single day. 


Why not be part of this sharing? Share the fun, inspite of our confusion. Fact is, share this delicious confusion which every single human, Western or not, understands.


PS: FOR THOSE NEGATRONS (AS WHAT YAM DELA CRUZ DESCRIBES THEM) OUT THERE, THERE IS SIMPLY NOTHING ORIGINAL IN THIS WORLD. 


AS WHAT THESE PEOPLE SAID:


"There are no original ideas. There are only original people."
Eleanor Roosevelt
Barbara Grizzuti Harrison
Zora Neale Hurston

Read more:http://www.brainyquote.com/whosaidthat/whosaidthat_126375.html#ixzz1ijjXeDlD

The Culture of Impunity is not of the Filipino People--it is the culture of the elites

To fight corruption, Inquirer columnist De Quiros wrote, we must re-introduce our traditional cultural values. He uses the Japanese as an example. They are punishing a college kid for alleging cheating his way to an exam. The fine? US$ 6,000 and three years incarceration.


De Quiros wrote that it's different here in the Philippines--we tolerate those who cheat their way to power and those who steal our monies from the public coffers. Had "Hello Garci" happened in Japan, the Japanese would have howled and hauled the perpetuators to jail.


Well, that was the intention of several Pinoys when they militated against Arroyo at the height of Hello Garci. That was why several soldiers went out of their barracks and stormed a ritzy hotel (?). That's why several people, including this writer, went home to fight the scourge of corruption.


I disagree with De Quiros. He always blame us for having a damaged culture. Unknown to De Quiros, our culture is even BETTER than the Japanese. 


We do not, as a people, tolerate graft and corruption. It is those in power who does that.


The culture of corruption is being practised by the elites of this country, not the ordinary people who continue to remain honest. 


WHO TOLERATED ARROYO BUT THE ELITES IN HER MIDST--THOSE WHO FATTENED THEIR STOMACHS WITH FOOD AND WEALTH THAT WERE ILL-GOTTEN?


WHO TOLERATED THE MERCIS, THE GARCILLANOS, THE CHINKOES AND THE TANS IN OUR MIDSTS---THEY ARE THOSE WHO OCCUPIED SENSITIVE POSTS IN GOVERNMENT WHO SHARED THESE PEOPLE'S BELIEFS OF STEALING NOT JUST OUR MONIES BUT THE FUTURE OF OUR CHILDREN AS WELL.


It is not the fault of the people that we have a corrupt government--it is the monumental SIN of those who want to lead us. The People have expressed their disgusts over the system and wanted to change it several times. BUT it is the ELITES of this COUNTRY WHO SABOTAGED THE LEGITIMATE PEOPLE'S EXPRESSION AGAINST GRAFT AND CORRUPTION BY OWNING THE SPIRIT OF EDSA AND TRADEMARKING IT AS AN ENTERPRISE OF A FEW, NOT OF THE MANY.


WHY BLAME THE PEOPLE FOR OUR CURRENT STATE OF AFFAIRS WHEN THESE ELITES ARE THE TRUE MOVERS AND SHAKERS OF THE SYSTEM?


Is it our sin that we have an Executive Secretary who now has to explain to the public how in the world did he get a 60 million plus house when his assets are just at 12 million?


Is it our fault that government officials in this "new" administration continually steal our monies, by bits and pieces, and allow Big Business to raise their prices in wanton fashion?


Even if the people do little acts of Patriotism every single day, but the elites continue on their sinning ways, there is no hope left for us. Eradicate these scums from our country, and expect to live more comfortably shortly thereafter.