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Citizenship, identity and global Filipinos

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This week, on June 12, we celebrate Independence Day in the country. It’s been 119 years since Emilio Aguinaldo declared our separation from Spain and we still debate about what makes us one country.

Down south, in the heartland of Mindanao, war is raging in the streets of the iconic city of Marawi, among others on the idea that what makes us different is greater than what unites us.

In this article, we look at another phenomenon that has divided this country from its foundational days, the concept of citizenship and who deserves that recognition. We look particularly at recent controversies to highlight the debate and point to ways forward in the interest of national unity.

The controversies around the citizenship status of former Foreign Affairs Secretary Perfecto Yasay Jr, Senator Alan Cayetano, and Senator Grace Poe emphasize again the reality that our country still needs to come to grips with how we accommodate global Filipinos into our society. The criticism against dual Filipinos like Loida Nicolas Lewis engaging in Philippine politics, is also an indication of this.

In particular, should global Filipinos be treated the same way as other citizens, or should they have less rights, particularly in political and governance matters? How restrictive should we be? Should Filipinos, who have some kind of foreign link by birth or through migration, be treated differently than other Filipinos? Or should we be liberal about this, including, for example, abandoning the natural-born citizenship requirement for many government positions, from as high as the President to ordinary workers in government?

When former senator Cayetano was appointed foreign affairs secretary a month ago, there was once again a small outcry about his citizenship. Thankfully, that died down quickly as it is a non-issue. Certainly, Secretary Cayetano’s legal status cannot be compared to his predecessor’s, Perfecto Yasay Jr. But the fact that some tried to make it an issue proves again that we have yet to come to terms with how we should accommodate global Filipinos into our society. 

Grace Poe and Loida Nicolas Lewis

We saw this question of the role of global Filipinos in the case of Grace Poe when, together with the issue of foundlings being natural born citizens, her reacquisition of Philippine citizenship and years of residence in the country were questioned. Thankfully, the Supreme Court decided these issues decisively in her favor, applying a liberal standard of interpretation to conclude that she has reacquired Philippine citizenship properly and had accumulated the required 10 years of residence to run for president. A contrary decision would have been disastrous for the Philippines.

Another global Filipino that has been attacked recently is the lawyer and philanthropist Loida Nicolas Lewis. Perceived to be critical of President Duterte and a supporter of Mar Roxas/Leni Robredo and the Liberal Party, Lewis has been attacked in the press and in social media as a foreigner interfering in Philippine domestic matters. She and other prominent Filipino-Americans have been linked to Robredo in so-called destabilization plots against Duterte. 

This is of course laughable and completely untrue. Loida Nicolas Lewis is a good woman who cares deeply about the country. Her philanthrophy has helped many Filipinos, particularly in her home province Sorsogon where she has invested heavily in improving education. Most of all, Lewis has been a leader in galvanizing Filipino Americans to support the Philippines on its territorial disputes with China and to promote good governance in the country. I am not politically aligned with Lewis but I appreciate and welcome her involvement in the Philippines. I am particularly grateful to Lewis for her sterling leadership in the advocacy to get global Filipinos the right to become dual citizens and to get all such Filipinos, OFWs and dual citizens, the right to vote.

As to the claim that Lewis is a foreigner intervening in local matters, that too does not pass the laugh test (it’s so absurd that one has to burst out laughing) and is definitely untrue. Lewis is as Filipino as you and me. It does not matter that she left the country decades ago. It does not matter that she married a lawyer and entrepreneur, the late Reginald Lewis. It does not matter that she became a US citizen after that marriage. The fact is she reacquired her citizenship properly under the Dual Citizenship Act. 

Reacquisition restored to Lewis her Filipino citizenship in all totality, except going into government, which requires her to renounce her American citizenship. Lewis is a dual citizen, holding both Filipino and American citizenship, which is allowed by law. But since dual allegiance is prohibited, Lewis cannot run for or be appointed to office unless she renounces her foreign citizenship. This is what Grace Poe did and she did it by the book. There is no doubt now that Grace Poe is a natural-born citizen, that she reacquired Philippine citizenship properly, that she became a resident of the Philippines again starting 2005, and that she has abandoned her American citizenship both under Philippine and United States laws.

Yasay is stateless

The Yasay case is perplexing. Why did he not do a Grace Poe and take the steps to reacquire his Philippine citizenship once the Dual Citizenship Act was enacted? He did do the renunciation in the United States Embassy in June 2016 before his appointment to the Duterte Cabinet. He could also have reacquired his citizenship before the renunciation and taking office. Perhaps, he truly believed that he never became an American citizen since he claims he never had the intention of staying in the United States thus negating, rendering it null and void from the beginning, the oath of office he had taken to become an American citizen.

Subjective belief aside, the facts are quite clear on Yasay’s citizenship. Born Filipino, he lost his Philippine citizenship when he took an oath as an American. He never became a Filipino citizen again, which could only be done through either repatriation or by reacquition, with the latter conferring on Yasay the status of dual citizenship. When he renounced American citizenship in 2016, in my view, Yasay clearly became stateless. The good news though is that he can easily reacquire Philippine citizenship. It does not take rocket science for him to determine what steps to take to do that. But it requires humility and an admission that you have made a mistake.

Alan Cayetano is a natural-born Filipino

It is as clear as day: Senator Cayetano is a natural-born Filipino. Having renounced properly his American citizenship (I would argue that dual citizens by birth do not have to do this), he is qualified to be senator and to run for or be appointed to any position that required natural-born citizenship.

Alan, Pia and their siblings are all Filipino citizens by birth. They were also all dual citizens when born because of their American mother. None of them had to choose Filipino citizenship at the age of majority. It was not necessary to do so. Whether it’s the 1935, 1973 or 1987 constitutions, all persons born of Filipino fathers are natural-born Filipino citizens. Under the 1935 constitution, children born of Filipino mothers and foreign fathers had to elect Filipino citizenship when they reached the age of majority. That requirement was retained in the 1973 Constitution but only for persons born before January 17, 1973, the effectivity date of the 1973 Constitution. All those born of Filipino parents after that date are automatically Filipino citizens.

For the record, even as we might have differences with the Cayetanos on some issues, we respect their record of service. We remember certainly the contribution of their father, the Senator and Attorney Rene Cayetano, to our national life.

Raising a bogus issue of citizenship against Alan Cayetano is alarming. It reopens again the debate on how global Filipinos should be accommodated in our society. Its time to put a stop to this.

Who are global Filipinos?

What does it mean to be a Filipino? In an attempt to strengthen a unified national identity amid strong regionalism, education policymakers of the Commonwealth period tried to push various markers of Filipino identity: a Filipino language; a Filipino “race” of kayumanggi-skinned people; a common historical national narrative of freedom-loving heroes who fought colonial rule.

This push for a common identity might have hastened the development of a shared Filipino identity. But it also had the unfortunate effect of creating a limited, narrow concept of “Filipino-ness,” prioritizing those with “pure” Filipino ethnicity who have never set foot outside the Philippines, whose roots and identity are exclusively Filipino. 

Yet there are many ways of being Filipino. Simply look at its legal definition – anyone who has Filipino citizenship – and we immediately see that Filipinos are not just kayumanggi-skinned people, but also Filipinos of many different ethnicities: Chinese-Filipinos, Indian-Filipinos, Australian-Filipinos, and so forth. It includes not only those whose ancestors have lived on Philippine soil since time immemorial, but also those whose families have only been Filipino for 3 or 4 generations, as well as those who have been naturalized in their lifetimes.

The distinction among Filipinos in our law is only between naturalized and natural-born Filipinos. Our law does not create a hierarchy of Filipino-ness based on language, skin color, or religion. The word “Filipino” fully includes, therefore, those who are Filipino by accident as well as those who are Filipino by choice. It fully includes those whose ancestors are part of the national narrative of Filipino history as well as those who identify with alternative narratives of migration: both immigration and emigration.

More and more of us are global Filipinos. For some of us, it is our family history that made us “global”: Filipinos with non-Filipino ancestry; naturalized Filipinos who were formerly foreigners; and dual citizens from birth. For others, it is the choices we have made in our lifetimes that have made us “global”: these are the documented and undocumented OFWs; permanent residents of another country; former Filipinos who renounced but subsequently reacquired Filipino citizenships.

As we become more global, we must learn to challenge our own narrow conceptions of Filipino-ness, and learn to fully embrace each and every Filipino.

Beyond the legalistic definition of Filipino, we can also speak of Filipino identity, which is even broader and more inclusive, as it includes even more global Filipinos: the American child with Filipino parents who goes to Tagalog school on Saturdays to learn his parents’ language; the young European mestiza with a Filipino mother who visits the Philippines to learn more about her roots; the Japanese husband who has lived in the Philippines for decades, building his life here with his Filipina spouse: as long as they identify as such, they are Filipinos too.

Moving forward with liberal approach

In trying to define the nation, Benedict Anderson described nations as “imagined communities”: referring to our capacity to imagine a kinship and shared identity with people we have never met before, and with whom we have no blood relations. Those of us who have met or been global Filipinos know this well: the smile of recognition we give to a stranger in an American supermarket when we hear her speaking in a Philippine language to her children, or being called the familiar “Ate” or “Kuya” by a stranger on a European train. Global Filipino-ness does not detract from our identity; it enriches it, stretching the boundaries of our nation.

In a world where Filipinos are everywhere, where our diaspora has no boundaries, it is time to take a liberal approach on Filipino citizenship.

We might want to consider abandoning the natural-born citizenship requirement for most government positions, keeping it only for the President and Vice President and abolish it for everyone else. In the case of dual citizens, we might want to abandon the requirement of renunciation of foreign citizenship to take on most government positions, perhaps again retaining it only for the highest offices.

We need our global Filipinos to engage with the country. Let us make sure we give them the opportunity to do that. – Rappler.com

Tony La Viña is former dean of the Ateneo School of Government. Rowena Azada-Palacios is an assistant professor of philosophy at Ateneo de Manila University .

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Global Filipinos: A sleeping giant

FILIPINOS, in general, have always excelled wherever they are.

One such Filipino was our national hero, Dr. Jose Protacio Rizal, who obtained his Doctor of Medicine degree in Madrid, Spain, in 1885. He was a European-trained ophthalmologist, one of very few specialists at the time, when specialization was not even popular.

Rizal, believing in the brilliance of his people, exhorted the Filipinos to regain their pride in themselves and in their race.

Some say the history of the Filipinos in the United States dates back to 1763, when the Manilamen, as Filipinos were called then, all sailors on the Manila Spanish Galleons, jumped ship and settled in the bayous and villages at St. Malo and Barrataria Bay, Louisiana, just outside New Orleans.

However, other records show that Filipinos, then known as “Luzonians,” first set foot in 1587 on Morro Bay San Obispo, now known as California—13 years before the British arrived in the 1600 in what we now call America.

To set the record straight, they were Filipinos, and not British or American Indians, who first set foot in America, some 426 years ago. Technically, the Filipinos are not foreigners in the United States!

Today, there are more than 3 million Filipinos in America and about 11 million overseas, approximating 14 percent of the total population of the Philippines, which is at present almost 99 million.

Remittances from Filipinos abroad this year are expected to reach 22.5 billion US dollars. Without this infusion of money to the Philippine economy, the government would literally be in a grave crisis. The global Filipinos are indeed a vital and powerful lifeline for the Philippines, its government, and its people.

Filipinos have a literacy rate of 96-98 percent and the majority are fluent in English, a great advantage. No less than 47.9 percent of Filipinos in the United States have at least a Bachelor’s Degree. Twenty percent of the world’s seafarers are Filipinos. There are 1.2 million

Filipino cruise employees around the world.

In the USA alone, there are 22,000 Filipino physicians and more than 50,000 Registered Nurses and other allied caregivers, thousands in businesses, electronics, media, law, art and sciences … the rest in stores, restaurants, casinos, and in almost every facet of the economic and social infrastructure of the states they live in, serving their communities.

So, imagine a world without Filipinos!

Most hospitals and clinics, factories, casinos in America would be handicapped severely, if not paralyzed and closed, without Filipinos.

Filipinos at home and abroad are indeed a Sleeping Giant, and we have every reason to be proud as Filipinos.

All the global Filipinos need to do today is to wake up from our slumber, unite and claim the glory of a people long victimized and dominated, no longer by past foreign powers and conquerors, but by our own fellow Filipinos, our very own elected officials in the government, whose plunder of our nation, through pork barrel scams and other despicable means of robbing our national treasury, has disenfranchised, marginalized and neglected our people, more than 30 percent of them now languishing in the gutters of poverty, robbed not only of clothing, food, and shelter, but of their dignity, honor, pride and a future.

As these corrupt officials fill up their pockets and bank accounts, the poorest of the poor Filipinos go to bed (or, often as not, on sidewalks) at night hungry, not only with empty stomach but with empty hope and empty dreams.

Fortunately, in 2010, the Filipinos at home and abroad have elected by an impressive landslide a man of integrity and honor.

While the progress of fighting the deeply-rooted culture of corruption is slower than we all would like to see, there are many encouraging signs of the change we all dream and hope for.

The ongoing investigation of former president Gloria Arroyo, the impeached and expelled Chief Justice Renato Corona, the “Pork Barrel” scam mastermind Janet Napoles and those legislators implicated, and other corruption investigations, are all healthy omens of the Filipino people’s earnest battle against corruption.

The impressive economic boom in the Philippines and the excellent international credit rating of the country today are the fruits of an honest and transparent leadership from the top.

I only hope and pray that the one who succeeds Noynoy Aquino in 2016 is equally a leader of integrity, honesty, and transparency. Otherwise, we shall be back to square one and squander all the changes and progress achieved so far.

Filipinos around the world, at home and abroad, must come together, even in our diversity, even without unanimity, and unite for a common cause, and inspire our people towards responsible citizenship, and our nation, towards good governance and ethical leadership. When united, this sleeping giant could harness super power and clout.

Just think about it: If each of the 14 million Filipinos outside the Philippines contributes just one single dollar, we could easily and painlessly have $14 million war chest overnight, to help in our fight against poverty in our country. Not to mention the people power potentials of our Filipinos back home!

What we, Filipinos, need is a revolution … not a revolution of arms where blood shall be shed and stain our soil, but a revolution of principles, priorities, attitude and discipline, where sweat and tears instead shall be shed to bathe our nation clean.

The miracles and providential signs developing in our country and among Filipinos around the world today are a manifestation of positive things to come.

All decent and law-abiding Filipinos embolden my sustained faith in the Filipino people. They represent what is best in humankind, and their nobility and compassion towards our fellowmen, regardless of race, color, creed and religion, ensure the Filipino a rightful place in history.

The Filipinos are not only the source of hope for our people but the foundation of dignity and pride for the Philippines. I have an abiding faith that the Filipinos are destined for greatness.

Leaving this world after this life is not a tragedy.

Dying without making a difference, without significance, without leaving an inspiring legacy behind for the future generation to cherish, is.

I am, therefore, making this clarion call to all of you within the reach of my voice today, and to all within the reach of yours tomorrow, to unite and join the crusade, the revolution and come together for a noble cause, to serve our poor, to renounce corruption and recapture our dignity, honor and pride as a people and as a nation.

Let us come together now as our brothers’ keepers, as our nation’s loving patriots, to serve a cause nobler and greater than our individual selves, and, someday soon, make OUR appointment … with destiny.

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500 Years of Christianity and the Global Filipino/a

Postcolonial Perspectives

• © 2024
• Cristina Lledo Gomez 0 ,
• Agnes M. Brazal 1 ,
• Ma. Marilou S. Ibita 2

BBI-The Australian Institute of Theological Education, Pennant Hills, Australia

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Department of Theology and Religious Education, De La Salle University, Manila, Philippines

• Includes theologians around the world examining Christianity in the Philippines with a postcolonial theological lens
• Focuses on introducing the context of Christianity’s arrival in the islands and its effect on its peoples
• Celebrates the ways Christianity as a gift has been critically and creatively reimagined

Part of the book series: Pathways for Ecumenical and Interreligious Dialogue (PEID)

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Table of contents (16 chapters)

Front matter, philippine christianity: 500 years of resistance and accommodation.

• Agnes M. Brazal, Cristina Lledo Gomez, Ma. Marilou S. Ibita

Rethinking the Encounters

Indigenization as appropriation (what being baptized could have meant for the natives of cebu in 1521).

• Pablo Virgilio S. David, Ma. Maricel S. Ibita

The Double Truth of (Colonial) Mission

• Daniel Franklin E. Pilario

Rethinking Encounters and Re-imagining Muslim-Christian Relations in Post-colonial Philippines

• Vivienne S. M. Angeles

The Glocal Filipin@s and the Pasyon Through the Lens of Ethnicity

• Ma. Marilou S. Ibita

An Independent Catholic, Nationalist People’s Movement: The Iglesia Filipina Independiente (Philippine Independent Church)

• Eleuterio J. Revollido

Philippine, Independent and International: The Relationship Between— the Iglesia Filipina Independiente and the Old Catholic Churches

• Peter-Ben Smit

Reappropriation, Resistance & Decolonization

Reappropriation, resistance & decolonization, indigenous inculturation: a hermeneutics of serendipity.

• Antonio D. Sison CPPS

Decolonizing the Diaspora through the Center for Babaylan Studies

• Leny M. Strobel

Back from the Crocodile’s Belly: Christian Formation Meets Indigenous Resurrection Redux

• S. Lily Mendoza

The Ygollotes’ Pudong and the Insurrection of the Reeds In the Post-Human Commune

• Ferdinand Anno

Introducing Jeepney Hermeneutics: Reading the Bible as Canaanites

• Revelation Enriquez Velunta

Inang Diyos, Inang Bayan: The Virgin Mary and Filipino Identity

• Jamina Vesta M. Jugo

Bangon Na, Pinays Rise Up: Reclaiming Pinay Power Dismantled by a Christian Colonial Past and Present

Cristina Lledo Gomez

Re-Baptizing Spirit in Land and Ancestry: An Approach for Un-Doing Christian Colonialism

• James W. Perkinson

Toward Reclaiming the Wisdom of our Forebears: Nature and Environment from a Filipino Perspective

• Ma. Florina Orillos-Juan

Back Matter

• Antonio Pigafetta
• Patronato Real
• Iglesia Filipina Independiente

About this book

"In this illuminating volume, discover a celebrative commemoration of the arrival of Christianity in the Philippines. The different contributors offer a postcolonial and feminist critique, and a global perspective, especially within the Filipino diaspora. Uncover the extraordinary influence of the Philippine Catholic Church on national history, from independence struggles, survival under MartialLaw to environmental preservation.  However, this collection does not shy away from revealing the shadows behind the light, highlighting cultural erasure, the rise of alternative faiths, and interreligious challenges. This comprehensive exploration of Philippine Christianity offers a rich understanding of its complex history."

— Mary John Mananzan OSB , Activist, Theologian, and Superior of the Missionary Benedictine Sisters in Manila,  Author of “Shadows of Light: Philippine Church History Under Spain, A People’s Perspective”

"Owing to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Philippines failed to fully celebrate the significance and meaning of the 500 th  year anniversary of the arrival of in 2021. Fortunately, there are ongoing attempts to revisit and rethink our ancestors’ encounters with the colonizers as well as to determine how we can pursue the tasks of decolonization and resistance. This book – a collection of 16 essays written from aFilipino-centric point of view while adopting postcolonial and feminist perspectives – provides the reader with a detailed assessment of what I have labelled as the chauvinist Christianity handed down to the present generations. Bravo to this book’s writers and editors for this must-read book which will certainly hold a pride of place in  Filipiniana  collections."

— Karl Gaspar CSsR, Anthropologist, Theologian, Artist, and Professor of Philippine Studies, Ateneo De Davao University,  Author of “Handuman (Remembrance): Digging for the Indigenous Wellspring”

" 500 Years of Christianity and the Global Filipino/a: Postcolonial Perspectives  challenges a great deal of what many of us have learned and taught in church history about Christianity in the Philippines.  It also affirms a great deal of what we have learned and taught.  The book does this by consistently engaging both colonizing and decolonizing historical experiences and forms of knowledge over the past five centuries in the Philippines, in all of their complexity.  Along the way it provides us with access to multiple and competing colonial and indigenous narratives, experiences, epistemologies, and people.  The compelling goal of the effort is decolonizing the Philippine nation and Filipino peoples globally, a moral imperative that guides the entire project.  I consider it one of the most important books on Christianity in the Philippines to have been published in the last half-century."

— Dale T. Irvin , Professor of World Christianity, New School of Biblical Theology, Co-Editor, Journal of World Christianity

Editors and Affiliations

Agnes M. Brazal, Ma. Marilou S. Ibita

About the editors

Cristina Lledo Gomez  is the Presentation Sisters Lecturer at BBI-The Australian Institute of Theological Education (BBI-TAITE) and a Research Fellow for the Australian Centre for Christianity and Culture, Charles Sturt University, Australia. Her role at BBI-TAITE is directed toward promoting women’s spiritualities, feminist theologies, and ecotheologies.  

Agnes M. Brazal  is a Full Professor in the Department of Theology and Religious Education at De La Salle University Manila, The Philippines, former President of DaKaTeo (Catholic Theological Society of the Philippines), and author/editor of eleven books that include  A Theology of Southeast Asia: Liberation-Postcolonial Ethics in the Philippines  (2019). 

Ma. Marilou S. Ibita  is an Associate Professor in the Department of Theology and Religious Education at De La Salle University, The Philippines, and a Visiting Professor in the Faculty of Theology and Religious Studies at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium. Her research centers around biblical literature and Jewish-Christian dialogue.

Bibliographic Information

Book Title : 500 Years of Christianity and the Global Filipino/a

Book Subtitle : Postcolonial Perspectives

Editors : Cristina Lledo Gomez, Agnes M. Brazal, Ma. Marilou S. Ibita

Series Title : Pathways for Ecumenical and Interreligious Dialogue

DOI : https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-47500-9

Publisher : Palgrave Macmillan Cham

eBook Packages : Religion and Philosophy , Philosophy and Religion (R0)

Copyright Information : The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2024

Hardcover ISBN : 978-3-031-47499-6 Published: 30 January 2024

Softcover ISBN : 978-3-031-47502-3 Due: 01 March 2024

eBook ISBN : 978-3-031-47500-9 Published: 29 January 2024

Series ISSN : 2634-6591

Series E-ISSN : 2634-6605

Edition Number : 1

Number of Pages : XXV, 317

Number of Illustrations : 4 b/w illustrations

Topics : Christian Theology , Comparative Religion , History of Religion , Asian Culture , History of Southeast Asia

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Tracing the Filipino Diaspora in the Arc of the Global Age: A Reading List

Albert samaha recommends books on the sprawling history of the philippines and the immigrant experience.

Over the five years I worked on Concepcion: An Immigrant Family’s Fortunes I probably spent more hours reading other books than writing my own. While extensive interviews supplied a vast collection of scenes, characters, and narrative turns, I needed guidance for discerning what overarching ideas my family’s story reflected. How did we fit into the arc of the global age? Which aspects of our journey were representative and which were unique, and why? I aspired to excavate the political and social forces that led to our exodus from the Philippines and shaped our experience in the States. For that historical research, literary inspiration, and contextual understanding, I had a deep pool to draw from.

Roberto Vallangca, Pinoy: The First Wave

Caridad Concepcion Vallangca, The Second Wave: Pinay and Pinoy ; The Third Wave: Quo Vadis

Tomas Concepcion, The Stranger

I was fortunate that many Filipino and Filipino American writers have already explored the subjects I aimed to dive into—all the more so that three of them were kin of mine who were central characters in my book: Writing a family history is much easier when your elders have recorded their experiences. My great auntie Caridad and her husband Roberto published a trilogy of oral histories chronicling three waves of Filipino immigrants in the 20th century. My granduncle Tomas, who moved to Rome in 1960, wrote a memoir, and though he published it in Italian, I helped him rewrite the English translation, which we nearly finished before he died.

Elaine Castillo, America Is Not the Heart

Growing up in the US, I didn’t encounter a single author of Filipino descent at any point in my schooling. It wasn’t until adulthood that I began to read writers who captured stories that reflected my family’s.

Elaine Castillo’s novel America Is Not the Heart , whose protagonist flees the political instability of the Philippines to start anew in turn-of-the-millennium Bay Area, was the first book I read that presented the contemporary diaspora I was most familiar with, a suburban landscape of souped-up imports, hole-in-the-wall family restaurants, and frequent use of the word “hella.” The protagonist’s love interest, Rosalyn, with her loose hoodies, California chill, and proximity to DJs and graffiti artists, could have been one of my cousins.

Carlos Bulosan, America Is In the Heart

Castillo’s title plays off of Carlos Bulosan’s 1946 classic, America Is In the Heart , a memoir of his years as a migrant worker in California, where he came to wonder: “Why was America so kind and yet so cruel?” Despite the racist violence and discrimination he faced, he maintained his hope that he was better off in his new land than his old one, where opportunities for a living wage were too scarce to pull him back and the American dollars he sent home went a long way.

By the time Castillo’s characters were in the States, there were fewer lynchings and more civil rights laws in the US, and Filipinos had become the fourth largest diaspora. But they arrived in America at a time of widening inequalities, and with their professional credentials invalid in the new country, they started fresh in the lower-paid service work that dominates the economy. In both books, memories of the old country hover over the bumpy landings. Nearly a century after Bulosan expressed tempered optimism in what America had to offer, Castillo cast light on the disillusionment among the Filipinos and Filipino Americans who wondered why the exodus had seemed so necessary.

From the unprofitable farm Bulosan’s family owned in the 1920s to the communist guerilla insurgency Castillo’s heroine joined in the 1980s, the conditions that drove both protagonists from the Islands traced to centuries of imperial occupation that left the Philippines underdeveloped and economically dependent on western powers. A rich tradition of Filipino literature details the ground-level consequences of imperial exploitation, together forming a vivid panorama of a colonized nation navigating the global age.

José Rizal, Noli Me Tangere

José Rizal’s Noli Me Tangere , a staple of the Philippine curriculum, had been banned by Spanish colonial authorities for its depictions of their brutality and corruption.

F. Sionil Jose, Dusk

In F. Sionil José’s Dusk , the final novel in a five-part saga, a tenant farmer found momentary peace when the Philippines declared independence from Spain in 1898, only for the US to seize the archipelago, inspiring him to join the armed resistance against the new invaders.

Jessica Hagedorn, Dogeaters

By the time the States granted the Islands independence in the years after World War II, American influence shaped Philippine culture and politics, and the starlets, generals, and executives in Jessica Hagedorn’s Dogeaters aspired to assimilate into the empire underwriting their oppressive government.

Mia Alvar, In the Country

Mia Alvar’s short story collection In the Country lays out the consequences of the monopolies, embezzlement, and cronyism under US-backed dictator Ferdinand Marcos: a cratered economy that left many too poor to afford daily meals and compelled people to find work overseas, where they lived away from their families for months and often endured abuses as housekeepers, drivers, nurses, and deckhands around the world.

Gina Apostol, Insurrecto

Gina Apostol’s Insurrecto casts its eyes across that turbulent history, contrasting the Filipino version of events with the one America tells.

Cesar Adib Majul, Muslims in the Philippines

The conquerors keep the records—on the Islands, Spain erased traditions that had lasted thousands of years and America wrote the textbooks that educated schoolchildren. In recent decades, though, Filipino and Filipino American historians have centralized the Philippine perspective.

Cesar Adib Majul’s Muslims in the Philippines offers a comprehensively researched account of the sultanate dynasties that ruled the archipelago’s southern island and resisted Spanish conquest for three centuries.

Teodoro A. Agoncillo, Milagros Guerrero, and Oscar

Alfonso,  History of the Filipino People

In History of the Filipino People , a book that has been used in many Philippine schools, Teodoro Agoncillo, Milagros Guerrero, and Oscar Alfonso don’t shy from calling Spanish officials “crooked,” capturing the nationalist spirit rising at the time it was written, less than two decades after independence.

Luis H. Francia, A History of the Philippines: From Indios Bravos to Filipinos

For a more straightforward and more recent survey of the archipelago, Luis H. Francia’s A History of the Philippines: From Indios Bravos to Filipinos spans from pre-colonial history to the early 21st century, stitching together the characters who resisted and collaborated, framing their motives through the conditions that produced them.

Dawn Bohulano Mabalon, Little Manila Is In the Heart

For a glimpse of the early Filipino immigrant experience, Dawn Bohulano Mabalon’s Little Manila Is In the Heart presents a granular account of the Filipino community in Stockton, California, from its formation as a sanctuary in an era of “No Filipinos or dogs allowed” signs to its displacement during the urban redevelopment projects of the post-war decades.

Ambeth R. Ocampo, Rizal Without the Overcoat

To help frame how history is remembered, Ambeth R. Ocampo’s writing collections, notably Rizal Without the Overcoat, humanizes the nation’s larger-than-life figures, slicing through the mythology that tends to harden with time.

Catherine Ceniza Choy, Empire of Care

A growing field of social scientists has sharpened the collective understanding of how the Filipino diaspora has spread and adapted to new environments—and answered questions I’d long pondered.

Why are there so many Filipino nurses in the US? From the country’s years as an American territory, they spoke English and attended American-built training programs, and as Catherine Ceniza Choy’s Empire of Care details, those colonial years established an economic dependency that compelled waves of medical professionals to decamp for a distant land where they faced discrimination while their homeland’s health care system sputtered.

E.J.R. David, Brown Skin, White Minds

Why was Filipino culture so absent from the American landscape even though we comprise the fourth-largest immigrant diaspora? Navigating three centuries under colonial authority, our ancestors mastered the art of assimilation, and over time that survival tactic birthed a mentality that elevated western traditions over ancestral ones, a collective psyche that helps perpetuate the imperial hierarchy upholding colonial caste systems, as E.J.R. David unpacks in Brown Skin, White Minds .

Anthony Christian Ocampo, The Latinos of Asia

Why did my family shop in grocery stores filled with Chinese people but worship in churches filled with Mexican people? As Anthony Christian Ocampo’s The Latinos of Asia explains, the archipelago’s history at the nexus of eastern commerce and western colonization created a layered ethnic identity that left many in our US-raised diaspora well-equipped to blend into the social ecosystems around us but unsure what defined our Filipino identity, what collective experiences distinguished us from the communities we assimilated into.

Matt Ortile, The Groom Will Keep His Name

While our diaspora traces to a shared history, it contains countless strands veering off in many directions. The story I chronicle in Concepcion is one thread in a vast tapestry. Other writers of Filipino descent have unspooled their own stories, an expanding canon showing the wide-ranging experiences within our communities.

In his essay collection The Groom Will Keep His Name , Matt Ortile examines the social dynamics and model minority fallacies he stepped into upon landing in the US as a child.

Meredith Talusan, Fairest

In her memoir, Fairest , Meredith Talusan interrogates the colorism and gender conventions she encountered on her journey from child star in the Philippines to Ivy League graduate in America.

Jia Tolentino, Trick Mirror

Jia Tolentino’s essay collection, Trick Mirror , presents a second-generation narrator grappling with the deluding culture of a country where perception outweighs reality.

Cinelle Barnes, Monsoon Mansion

In Monsoon Mansion , Cinelle Barnes recounts her family’s efforts to maintain their dwindling wealth in the Philippines at a time when more and more Filipinos were looking for opportunities overseas.

Jose Antonio Vargas, Dear America

Jose Antonio Vargas’s Dear America details the indignities and absurdities of living as an undocumented immigrant in the US.

Grace Talusan, The Body Papers

In The Body Papers , Grace Talusan traces the generational traumas weighing on her immigrant childhood but left unspoken in a diaspora accustomed to keeping silent about our troubles.

__________________________________

Concepcion: An Immigrant Family’s Fortunes is available from Riverhead Books, an imprint of Penguin Random House LLC. Copyright © 2021 by Albert Samaha.

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500 Years of Christianity in the Philippines and the Global Filipino/a: Postcolonial Perspectives

• Australian Centre for Christianity and Culture
• De La Salle University

Research output : Book/Report › Edited book › peer-review

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• https://link.springer.com/book/9783031474996

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T1 - 500 Years of Christianity in the Philippines and the Global Filipino/a

T2 - Postcolonial Perspectives

A2 - Lledo Gomez, Cristina

A2 - Brazal, Agnes

A2 - Ibita, Ma. Marilou

PY - 2024/3/9

Y1 - 2024/3/9

N2 - The year 2021 marked the five-hundredth anniversary of Christianity in the Philippines. With over 90% of the Filipin@s (Filipino/as) in the country and more than eight million around the world identifying as Christian, they are a significant force reshaping global Christianity. The fifth centenary called for celebration, reflection, and critique. This book represents the voices of theologians in the Philippines, the United States, Australia, and around the world examining Christianity in the Philippines through a postcolonial theological lens that suggests the desire to go beyond the colonial in all its contemporary manifestations. Part 1, “Rethinking the Encounters,” focuses on introducing the context of Christianity’s arrival in the archipelago and its effect on its peoples. Part 2, “Reappropriation, Resistance, and Decolonization,” grapples with the enduring presence of coloniality in Filipin@ religious practices. It also celebrates the ways Christianity has been critically and creatively reimagined.

AB - The year 2021 marked the five-hundredth anniversary of Christianity in the Philippines. With over 90% of the Filipin@s (Filipino/as) in the country and more than eight million around the world identifying as Christian, they are a significant force reshaping global Christianity. The fifth centenary called for celebration, reflection, and critique. This book represents the voices of theologians in the Philippines, the United States, Australia, and around the world examining Christianity in the Philippines through a postcolonial theological lens that suggests the desire to go beyond the colonial in all its contemporary manifestations. Part 1, “Rethinking the Encounters,” focuses on introducing the context of Christianity’s arrival in the archipelago and its effect on its peoples. Part 2, “Reappropriation, Resistance, and Decolonization,” grapples with the enduring presence of coloniality in Filipin@ religious practices. It also celebrates the ways Christianity has been critically and creatively reimagined.

UR - https://link.springer.com/book/9783031474996

M3 - Edited book

SN - 978-3-031-47499-6

SN - 978-3-031-47502-3

T3 - Pathways for Ecumenical and Interreligious Dialogue

BT - 500 Years of Christianity in the Philippines and the Global Filipino/a

PB - Palgrave Macmillan

CY - London, UK

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Be proud of being a Filipino (even if it’s not easy)

Editor’s Note: In celebration of the Philippines’ 117th Independence Day, INQUIRER.net is publishing short essays submitted by our readers.

Gemma Louise Heaton, a teacher at The Lord of Grace Christian School, asked students under her History and Social Studies classes to answer our question: “What’s the best that you have done for our country?” Here are their responses.

‘Be proud of being a Filipino’

What is the best the thing I have done for my country? I actually don’t know because at my age, it is impossible to do something big. Then I realized it isn’t important on how big it is. I think the best thing I’ve done for my country is to be proud that I am a Filipino.

Being proud that I am a Filipino is not quite easy. Sometimes, I even doubt it because of our government. The people have to rally on the streets to get what they want. I feel like it is telling me that we have to go to war first before we can gain peace. When I was in Grade 7, we studied Philippine history. I then appreciated peace. It was not just about the Filipinos fighting the Spanish but how we fought for our independence.

Now, if someone will ask me what is the best thing that I have done for our country, I will tell him or her that I am proud to be a Filipino.

–  Jen Denielle R. Hernandez, Grade 9

‘Give respect’

There are many heroes and heroines who have done big things for the Philippines: Andres Bonifacio, who sacrificed and gave everything for the sake of the Philippines; Melchora Aquino, who risked her life to help the Katipuneros; Dr. Jose Rizal, who is our national hero, and others who sacrificed their lives.

But what is the best thing a 13-year-old girl has done and can do for her country? I am not a mother who is a hero for neither her child nor a father who is a hero for his son. I am just a sophomore student, a girl who knows nothing but to eat, sleep, surf the Internet, watch television and fan-girl over Daniel Padilla. The things I have done for my country so far are to make my parents proud and to give respect. I study to make my parents, as well as my teachers, proud. It is not easy to make a person proud and, at the same time, happy.

I gave relief items to the victims of Supertyphoon “Yolanda” before. Yes, it is a big thing, but for me, giving respect is bigger. It is the biggest thing a 13-year-old girl can do and give. Giving respect, for me, is the sister of loving and loving is the root of caring.

Giving respect is the best thing I have done for my country and for the people around me.

–  Maureen Omanito, Grade 8

‘Study our history, teach it to others’

What’s the best that I have done for my beautiful, loving country? Even if I can’t die for my country like Andres Bonifacio and Dr. Jose Rizal, here are best things that I have done for my country and I will continue to do for my country: In our house, we separate biodegradable, degradable and recyclable trash. For that, I contribute to saving our environment. I also use “ po” and “ opo” because it is one of our Filipino traits well-known by people around the world.

But really, what is the best that I have done for our country? It is to study about its history so that I can teach it to the future young Filipino kids, that they will never forget where they belong. It doesn’t matter if what you’ve done for your country is big or small. Small things can become big things.

You don’t have to die for your country; you can simply do small things that will help the future of the Philippines.

 –  Marie Gold Vivien M. Totanes, Grade 8

‘Do good in school’

When people ask that question, the answer really depends on who you are asking. When you ask an adult, he/she would probably answer something like: “I have donated to charity” or “I have beggars on the street.” But as a sophomore student, and not a financially fortunate one at that, there is only so much I can do.

A lot of people say it doesn’t matter how old you are and stuff like that, “you can do anything if you put your mind to it.” But in my perspective, I am just a little girl who is lost in a big world. What is there for a 14-year-old to do that will improve our country? After all the ups and downs in my 14 years of existence, I guess the best I can do is to do good in school, succeed as a student and be an obedient daughter to my family.

If I am an honor student, I can graduate with honors, and graduating with a scholarship is my goal. If I can make to the Dean’s List, I will succeed in the career I want to pursue. If I am going to be a film director in the future, as an adult I can change or improve the country by directing inspirational or motivational films.

– Anna Maria Mikaela Almirez, Grade 8

‘Pray for the nation, embrace our culture’

Praying for our nation is the best I can contribute to our country. When we had our field trip at Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, we were told not to fold the bills. By not folding our monetary bills, I am helping our economy. Embracing our culture is one of the best things I can do for our country.

–  Jean Lalaine F. Rubio, Grade 9

‘Help victims of calamities’

I, with my dad and sister, participated in the “World Wide Walk” fund run to help the people who were affected by a typhoon in the Visayas, a run that broke the Guinness World Record for having a huge number of participants. This event helped the victims of the typhoon in Samar and Leyte. If there are more events like this in the future, I’ll be there to participate and help.

–  VJ Bagani R. Villan, Grade 9

‘Save electricity’

I think the best thing I have done for my country is to save electricity since the Philippines has a power supply problem.   By simply turning off appliances when not in use, we are helping the country.

–  Aira Joy L. Bercero, Grade 10

‘Pick up litter’

As a student, the simple things I can do for my country will snowball to bigger things.   Something as simple as picking up candy wrappers affects us all. This should not be taken lightly, as throwing small things can lead to throwing bigger things. By picking up litter, if done little by little, we are also influencing others to do the same.

– Reimart C. Sarmiento, Grade 10

‘Grow up!’

Being a citizen is a little difficult for the reason that you have to follow the rules implemented by your country. We know that people hate to follow them; if you don’t you, could be sent to jail or you will have to pay the price. You have to submit to the authorities. You have to be responsible and you need to contribute in the simplest way that you can do for your country. Actually, as a citizen, you need to be aware and remember a few things or rules.

As a student, I believe the things that I can do for my country are limitless, as long as I believe in myself. Honestly, when I’m at home, I dislike following the house rules; sometimes, even when I am in school. When I’m outside, I throw garbage anywhere. But when I entered high school, I realized I have to stop these practices because it is childish. I need to grow up in order to contribute to my country. So, I started following the rules, regardless of where I am.

Therefore, I conclude that our society has a lot of problems right now and I’m aware there will be a lot more as time goes by. So stop being a burden in our society: Follow rules and submit to our authorities. Our society has a lot to face they may not be able to help you right now. Grow up!

–  Lois Corliss Q. Rivera, Grade 9

‘Make the right decisions’

Choosing what course to take up in college and which school to apply for are the main thoughts of a Grade 10 student like me, taking up exams in the University of the Philippines, Ateneo de Manila University, De La Salle University and the University of Santo Tomas. Once we make the right decisions, we are doing the best we can do for our country.

–  Joan Ellaine F. Rubio, Grade 10

OTHER ESSAYS:

There is hope for Manila in Escolta

A nurse’s duty: Service and compassion above all else

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Overseas Filipino Workers: The Modern-Day Heroes of the Philippines

Bayani is the Tagalog term for “hero.” In the Philippines, a bayani is someone who is courageous, humble, and selfless. They pursue causes that are greater than themselves, such as those impacting a community, a nation, or the environment. Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) is a term referring to Filipino migrant workers, individuals who have left their homes to work abroad and provide comfortable lives for their families. Referring to these workers, former President Corazon Aquino coined the phrase ‘Bagong-Bayani’ in 1988. OFWs are the country’s modern-day heroes because they not only boost the Philippines’ economy through remittances but are figures of resilience. OFWs endure homesickness, personal sacrifices, and horrible working conditions in order to support their families back home.

By the Numbers

The Philippine Statistic Authority estimates that about 1.83 million OFWs worked abroad from April to September 2021. The same data reveal that about “four in every ten” OFWs work low-status or ‘ elementary ’ jobs, such as street vendors, construction and factory workers, cleaners, domestic helpers, and agriculture laborers. A majority of OFWs work in Asia, specifically Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Hong Kong, Kuwait, Singapore, and Qatar.

Because of their major contribution to the growth and development of the Philippine economy, OFWs are revered as the nation's economic heroes. According to data released by the Central Bank of the Philippines, remittances from OFWs reached a record high in December of last year: from the previous all-time high of US$34.88 billion, it rose by 3.6 percent to a record high US$36.14 billion in 2022.

“OFW remittances, at new record highs on a monthly basis, are a bright spot for the Philippine economy in terms of spurring consumer spending, which accounts for at least 75 percent of the economy, and in turn, support faster economic growth,” Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. Chief economist Michael Ricafort said .

Furthermore, most OFWs are Filipina women. The numbers clearly show that women dominate the workforce, accounting for approximately 60 percent of OFWs. According to data from the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration, at least 18,002, or 75.05 percent of the 23,986 cases of abuse and other incidents involving workers in the Gulf Cooperation Council that were reported last year included female OFWs. On the other hand, male OFWs were involved in only 5,984 cases, or 24.95 percent of all cases.

These women are disproportionately more likely to suffer from terrible working conditions, as they are often subjected to abuse, excessive work, little pay, rape, or worse, being killed by their foreign employers. The International Labour Office published a working paper titled Philippines: Good Practices for the Protection of Filipino Women Migrant Workers in Vulnerable Jobs explaining that “Gender-based discrimination intersects with discrimination based on other forms of  ‘otherness’ – such as non-national status, race, ethnicity, religion, economic status – placing women migrants in situations of double, triple or even fourfold discrimination, disadvantage or vulnerability to exploitation and abuse.”

In 2020, there were 23,714 documented cases of contract violations involving the maltreatment of OFWs, according to data provided by the Philippine Overseas Labor Offices, and approximately 5,000 of these cases were reported from Middle Eastern countries. According to the Philippine Information Agency, Filipina women who work in the Middle East are subjected to the “ kafala ” system, which ties foreign workers to their employers. Under this framework, employers could easily lock domestic workers inside their houses and seize their phones, passports, and visas until the expiration of their contracts.

The Human Rights Watch (HRW) published a comprehensive report titled “ ‘I Already Bought You’ Abuse and Exploitation of Female Migrant Domestic Workers in the United Arab Emirates,” which explains real-world examples of how the UAE’s kafala system of visa sponsorship binds migrant employees to their employers and how the exclusion of domestic workers from labor law protections exposes them to abuse.

The report included interviews with 99 female domestic workers in the UAE between November and December 2013. 22 of the 99 domestic helpers questioned by HRW claimed to have experienced physical abuse at the hands of their sponsors.

“They slap me in the face and kick me. They have a stick for you. If I make a small mistake they would hit parts of my body—back legs, back, and head. Sir would slap or punch me in the face. If they come back from the mall and I am not finished they would beat me,” Shelly A., a 30-year-old Filipina worker said. “They would say, ‘If you had done work then we won’t hit you.’ ”

Injustices in Kuwait

Currently, there are over 268,000 OFWs who live and work in Kuwait with 88 percent of them working as domestic helpers and 73 percent of them being female. According to the Philippine Department of Migrant Workers (DMW), there were over 24,000 cases of abuse and violation against OFWs in 2022—a significant rise from 6,500 in 2016.

It is a significant sacrifice to work abroad. Being physically and emotionally thousands of miles away from one’s family for an indefinite period is challenging, isolating, and suffocating. Rowena, a 54-year-old Filipina worker in Bahrain found herself feeling “trapped” due to canceled flights to the Philippines because of the COVID-19 pandemic as well as being underpaid by her employer. “I don’t want to make trouble. I want to go home,” Rowena said .

Beyond this, many OFWs also work abroad without knowledge of the future or the dangers they may encounter in a foreign country. Even worse, a harsh truth of working abroad is that a number of OFWs return home as dead bodies.

In January of 2023, Jullebee Ranara , a Filipina domestic helper living in Kuwait, confided in her family over the phone that she was terrified of her employer's 17-year-old son. The 35-year-old appeared to have vanished by the next day, which prompted her friends in the Gulf state to share their worries about her disappearance on social media.

Less than 24 hours later, on Jan. 21, 2023, her body was found dead, with burnt remains and a smashed skull found beside a desert near Al-Salmi Road.

Ranara was discovered to be pregnant after an autopsy, and DNA samples taken from the unborn child were confirmed to match the accused, who is the 17-year-old son of Ranara’s boss. After being apprehended, the 17-year-old perpetrator confessed to his crime.

Since 2018, there have been at least four murders of OFWs in Kuwait that have garnered national attention, including the case of 29-year-old Joanna Demafelis , whose body was kept secret in a freezer in an abandoned apartment for nearly two years. Her employers, a Syrian and a Lebanese couple, received death sentences for the murder of the victim.

In 2019, 47-year-old Constancia Lago Dayag was discovered dead after being sexually abused and beaten to death by her boss. The same year, 26-year-old Jeanelyn Villavende passed away from serious injuries inflicted by her boss, who was ultimately given a death sentence for the murder.

“These are only the high-profile ones,” Migrante International chairperson Joanna Concepcion told VICE World News. “There are other cases that are not visible. The public is not made aware of the real gravity of the rampant abuses faced by Filipino domestic helpers in Kuwait.”

Actions taken by the Philippine Government

A week after the discovery of Jullebee’s body, her remains were returned to her grieving family in Las Piñas, Philippines. Without delay, Philippine President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. attended Jullebee’s wake and promised to provide the deceased’s family with all aid possible.

“I just wanted to offer my sympathies to the family and to assure them that all the assistance that they might need for the family and for whatever else, that is my promise to them,” Marcos Jr. remarked . “Their child made that sacrifice to work abroad because she has dreams for her family here.”

Recently, the DMW issued a deployment ban on new and aspiring OFWs in Kuwait, following the increasing reports of work mistreatment, including the horrific murder of Ranara.

“In order to strengthen the protection of the rights of Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) in Kuwait, particularly workers who are most vulnerable to abuse and exploitation, action on the applications of first-time agency-hire domestic workers bound for Kuwait is temporarily deferred effective immediately,” the DMWs said in a statement on Feb. 8, 2023.

Senator and Committee on Migrant Workers Chairperson Raffy Tulfo proposed a total deployment ban in Kuwait. “We can enter into bilateral agreements but our terms should be clear and unequivocal. If there are violators to such agreements, we have to prioritize the welfare of our overseas Filipino workers and act at the soonest possible time. Make these violators accountable and liable without concession and pursuant to our laws and international conventions,” Tulfo said in a senate inquiry.

The DMW was also tasked with working with the Department of Foreign Affairs to communicate to the Kuwaiti government the "sentiments and concerns" of the Filipino people regarding all recurrent incidents of physical and financial abuse, failure to pay monetary benefits, as well as murder committed against OFWs after the deployment ban went into effect.

The deployment ban was not well received by migrant advocacy groups, who claimed it would not provide a permanent solution to the issues surrounding labor migration. They claimed that placing bans for an extended period of time would encourage OFWs to turn to illicit means and consequently put themselves at risk for human trafficking in their desperation to find jobs abroad.

“What about the already-deployed Filipinos? Are there any steps being taken to protect them and make sure they do not suffer the same fate as Julleebee and the others?” Concepcion said to Maritime Fairtrade News. “These problems cannot be resolved with a deployment ban. The Philippine government has imposed bans many times before, but lifted them soon after when the particular cases of abuse or murder had been resolved by the courts and the perpetrators punished by death penalty or long-term imprisonment. When the deployment restarts, the abuses also start all over again.”

Much Needed Reform

OFWs often serve as the backbone of their families back home. Based on the results of a survey published by the Social Weather Stations , they found that 7 percent of Filipino households have an OFW who helps support the family. In addition, seventy-five percent of households frequently receive money from their OFW family members.

It would be difficult and inconsiderate to discourage or ban OFWs from going abroad for work. To promote a better quality of life for OFWs, the Philippine government must enact concrete policies aimed at protecting the welfare of Filipino workers. Advocacy groups, such as Migrante International are urging for reforms, including the abolition of the kafala system, which has resulted in complete employer control over domestic workers and OFWs.

For Concepcion, the country’s over-reliance on OFWs remittances is equivalent to the perpetuation of the violation and murder of Filipino workers. She believes that a viable solution to this issue involves ending the government’s labor export program and creating decent jobs domestically through meaningful land reform and national industrialization.

“The government’s determination to continue its labor export policy is totally misguided. What it should do is implement immediate measures to protect our domestic workers and OFWs abroad and long-term measures to generate decent jobs in the Philippines,” Concepcion said . “We need to end the government’s Labor Export Program and instead ensure that more jobs are created at home. Filipinos won’t have to leave the country and their families to risk their lives abroad if they have gainful and secure employment here.”

It is clear that OFWs live up to the definition of a bayani and are now considered heroes of the Philippines. However, under the shiny title of ‘bagong bayani’ lies a dark and unfortunate reality. Numerous Filipino workers suffer from various injustices including being overworked, underpaid, abused, raped, and even worse, murdered. The only way OFWs can truly be safeguarded is if the Philippine government enforces concrete and actionable policies. With this, OFWs could avoid the potential death sentence of working abroad and have the chance to be treated as they deserve to be: as modern-day heroes.

Laurinne Jamie Eugenio

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500 Years of Christianity and the Global Filipin@: Reappropriation, Resistance, and Decolonization

500 years of christianity and the global filipin@: rethinking the encounters.

February 8- 9, 2022 Location: Online Zoom Webinar

The year 2021 marked the five-hundredth anniversary of Christianity’s entry into the Philippines. With over 90% in the country identifying as Christian and with more than eight million Filipin@s all over the world, Filipin@s are a significant force reshaping global Christianity. This anniversary thus not only calls for celebration but also reflection and critique. This two-day conference gathered theologians in the Philippines, United States, Australia, and around the world to examine Christianity in the Philippines through a postcolonial theological lens. The “post” here is not used in the temporal sense, as if colonialism has ended, but rather, suggests the desire to go beyond the colonial in all its contemporary manifestations. 

The first panel, “Rethinking Encounters,” focused on introducing the context of Christianity’s arrival in the islands and its effect on its peoples. The second panel, “Reappropriation, Resistance, and Decolonization,” grappled with the enduring presence of coloniality in Filipin@ religious practices as well as celebrate the ways Christianity as a gift has been critically and creatively reimagined.

This event was co-sponsored by the Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs at Georgetown University; the Department of Theology and Religious Education at De La Salle University; and BBI-The Australian Institute of Theological Education.

It was supported by:

• Catholic Studies Program, Georgetown University
• Department of Theology and Religious Studies, Georgetown University
• Southeast Asian Research Center and Hub, De La Salle University
• Ecclesiological Investigations Network
• Department of Theological Studies, Loyola Marymount University
• Religious Educators Association of the Philippines
• Lode Wostyn Webinar Series, Maryhill School of Theology Alumni
• San Carlos Major Seminary
• Pacific School of Religion and Graduate Theological Union 
• University of San Francisco
• Union Theological Seminary
• The Filipinx and Philippine Studies Working Group at UC Berkeley

Tuesday, February 8

Rethinking the Encounters 7:00-9:00 p.m. EST | 4:00-6:00 p.m. PST

Agnes M. Brazal, De La Salle University, Philippines (Chair) Vivienne Angeles​, De La Salle University, USA Daniel Franklin Pilario, CM, St. John's University, USA Ma. Marilou Ibita, De La Salle University, Philippines Albert Alejo, S.J., Pontifical Gregorian University, Rome

Wednesday, February 9

Reappropriation, Resistance, and Decolonization 7:00-9:00 p.m. EST | 4:00-6:00 p.m. PST

Cristina Lledo Gomez, BBI-The Australian Institute of Theological Education, Australia (Chair) Leny M. Strobel, Sonoma State University, USA Rev. Ferdinand Anno, Union Christian College, Philippines Rev. Revelation Velunta, Union Theological Seminary, Philippines Antonio Sison, CPPS, Catholic Theological Union, USA

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Participants

Albert Alejo Toggle

About Albert Alejo

Rev. Albert Alejo, S.J., teaches at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome. He is also co-founder of Apo Governance and Indigenous Leadership Academy, in partnership with the Tagabawa-Bagobo Tribe in Makilala, Cotabato, and the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples and Development Academy of the Philippines. Among his notable publications are his book Generating Energies in Mount Apo (2003).

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Vivienne Angeles Toggle

About Vivienne Angeles

Vivienne Angeles is a retired associate professor at the De La Salle University, Philadelphia, USA. She has published on the subjects of Muslim movements, Muslim women, visual expressions of Islam, and Islam in the Philippines and Southeast Asia. As a Fulbright scholar in Malaysia, she researched how Muslim identity is expressed visually through material culture. She co-edited Identity in Crossroad Civilizations: Ethnicity, Nationalism and Globalism in Asia (2009) and Gender, Religion and Migration: Pathways of Integration (2009).

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Ferdinand Anno Toggle

About Ferdinand Anno

Rev. Ferdinand Anno is president of of the Union Christian College, La Union, and of STEP (Samahan ng Teolohikal na Edukasyon ng Pilipinas), an association of Theological Schools in the Philippines. He previously taught theology and worship at the Union Theological Seminary, Philippines, and was the past director of its Doctor in Ministry program. As an indigenous pastor of the United Church of Christ in the Philippines, he has served parishes in the south-western fringes of the Cordillera region.

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Agnes M. Brazal Toggle

About Agnes M. Brazal

Dr. Agnes M. Brazal is a full professor at the Department of Theology and Religious Education at the De La Salle University, Philippines. She is author of A Theology of Southeast Asia: Liberation-Postcolonial Ethics in the Philippines (2019), co-author of Intercultural Church: Bridge of Solidarity in the Migration Context (2015), and editor of eight anthologies on the topic of feminism, migration, cyber ethics, and social ethics in Asia.

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Cristina Lledo Gomez Toggle

About Cristina Lledo Gomez

​Dr. Cristina Lledo Gomez is Senior Lecturer at BBI-The Australian Institute of Theological Education and Research Fellow at the Australian Centre for Christianity and Culture. She has various publications including in Ecclesiology, Vatican II, Feminist theologies, Post-Colonialism, and Sexual Abuse. She is author of The Church as Woman and Mother (2018) and co-editor of 500 Years of Christianity and the Global Filipino/a (2024).

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Ma. Marilou Ibita Toggle

About Ma. Marilou Ibita

Dr. Ma. Marilou Ibita is an associate professor at the Department of Theology and Religious Education at the De La Salle University in Manila, Philippines. She is also visiting professor of contextual hermeneutical approaches to the Bible at the Faculty of Theology and Religious Studies at Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (FTRS KU Leuven) in Belgium. Her primary research centers around biblical literature and Jewish-Christian dialogue.

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Daniel Franklin Pilario Toggle

About Daniel Franklin Pilario

Rev. Daniel Franklin Pilario, C.M., is a member of the Congregation of the Mission (Vincentians) in the Philippines. He is the present Vincentian Chair of Social Justice at St. John’s University in New York, and a professor and former dean of St. Vincent School of Theology at Adamson University in the Philippines.

Daniel Franklin Pilario's Profile

Antonio D. Sison Toggle

About Antonio D. Sison

Br. Antonio D. Sison, CPPS, is the Vatican II Chair of Theology and professor of systematic theology at Catholic Theological Union in Chicago, Illinois. His research centers around contextual, intercultural, and aesthetic approaches to systematic theology, and his works include The Art of Indigenous Inculturation: Grace on the Edge of Genius (2021).

Antonio D. Sison's Profile

The World is Our Playground and We Will Always be Home: Why Filipinos are in the Forefront of Global Citizenship

Why Filipinos are in the Forefront of Global Citizenship? The Filipino Diaspora was happening long before the term was even coined during the height of Overseas Filipino Workers’ deployment in the late 1970s and early 1980s.  From the pre-Spanish times where, navigational pilots helped traders from China to navigate through Southeast Asia, up to today’s welders in Riyadh or Eastern Siberia, the Filipinos have made a mark as one of true global citizen.

According to the results of the 2016 Survey on Overseas Filipino Workers conducted by The Philippine Statistics Authority, there are 2.2 million Filipinos working outside the country as contract workers. This is a headcount exclusive of those Filipinos who have chosen to migrate to another country – but all the same becoming ambassadors of goodwill in their adopted lands and making the Filipino professional and skilled workers known as a people of exceptional skill.

This has led to a vibrant overseas recruitment industry –  the keepers of the doorsteps to the Filipino job market.  The Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) is the main government agency tasked to regulate the recruitment industry in the country.  This means that all foreign employers are required to be accredited at the POEA, all candidates are to be certified, and all recruitment agencies must bear a legitimate license.  The POEA ensures that as we send our compatriots to foreign countries that we bring nothing but the best of our people.

It can be argued that this has really left that indelible mark among human resources professionals that when it comes to staff augmentation, the best recourse if the local population will not be able to supply the needs, is to look towards the Philippines.  Overall, it has become beneficial to all concerned – the host country gained the skills that Filipinos brought with them, the employers met their objectives, and the contracted Filipino workers were able to gain experience and pursue greater heights for their own careers.

If we can sum up, why Filipinos are in the forefront of Global Citizenship, we can say the following:

1.           Filipinos have an educational system that thinks global.  This has generated student graduates who know that the horizon ahead of them is not limited to the shores of the archipelago, but the world is their playground.  This has also made most Filipinos to be bilingual speakers.

2.           Filipinos are highly skilled.  Be it the aviation industry or hospitality industry, Filipinos are known to have been on the leading edge of the talent pool.

3.           Filipinos are very adaptive.  You visit Filipinos in Germany, Saudi Arabia, or Japan, and you will find them assimilating easily into the local culture.  Filipinos never have a mentality of “Us vs. Them.”

4.           Filipinos are hardy.  Whether they are in a 50-degree Celsius project site in the middle of the desert, or in freezing temperatures in Siberia, they stick to the job.

5.           Filipinos are naturally service oriented.  This is truly a trait that Filipinos are proud of.  We take care of our customers as if they are guests at our own home.

Now that you know why Filipinos are in the cutting-edge of global citizenship, hire one now with Rensol Recruitment. Be our partner!

For more information on how to conduct a recruitment campaign in the Philippines, please connect with our Business Development Team at [email protected] . We will be ready to sit down with you and understand your concerns and configure a recruitment plan to ensure better success.

ABOUT THE COMPANY: Rensol Recruitment and Consulting, Inc. is the fastest growing recruitment agency in The Philippines. A career consultant that aims to go above and beyond the level of expectations of both the aspirations of the candidates and the dream team standards of employers through providing exceptional opportunities and unparalleled quality-driven recruitment services.

Karlo is the resident chief revenue and brand strategist. He is passionate about making a difference in people’s lives. Whether it is in the workplace or in his community, he believes that we are always given an opportunity to impact others for the better. He brings with him 16 years of Business Development and Operations experience from the engineering, design, and international recruitment industries.

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500 Years of Christianity and the Global Filipino/a, 1st ed. 2024 Postcolonial Perspectives Pathways for Ecumenical and Interreligious Dialogue Series

Commentaire

Cristina Lledo Gomez  is the Presentation Sisters Lecturer at BBI-The Australian Institute of Theological Education (BBI-TAITE) and a Research Fellow for the Australian Centre for Christianity and Culture, Charles Sturt University, Australia. Her role at BBI-TAITE is directed toward promoting women’s spiritualities, feminist theologies, and ecotheologies.  

Agnes M. Brazal  is a Full Professor in the Department of Theology and Religious Education at De La Salle University Manila, The Philippines, former President of DaKaTeo (Catholic Theological Society of the Philippines), and author/editor of eleven books that include  A Theology of Southeast Asia: Liberation-Postcolonial Ethics in the Philippines  (2019). 

Ma. Marilou S. Ibita  is an Associate Professor in the Department of Theology and Religious Education at De La Salle University, The Philippines, and a Visiting Professor in the Faculty of Theology and Religious Studies at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium. Her research centers around biblical literature and Jewish-Christian dialogue.

Includes theologians around the world examining Christianity in the Philippines with a postcolonial theological lens

Focuses on introducing the context of Christianity’s arrival in the islands and its effect on its peoples

Celebrates the ways Christianity as a gift has been critically and creatively reimagined

Date de parution : 01-2024

Ouvrage de 317  p.

14.8x21 cm

Disponible chez l'éditeur (délai d'approvisionnement : 15 jours).

126,59 €

Thème de 500 Years of Christianity and the Global Filipino/a  :

• Philosophie / Religion

Mots-clés :

Filipin@ ; Antonio Pigafetta ; Patronato Real ; Judio ; Iglesia Filipina Independiente

Ces ouvrages sont susceptibles de vous intéresser

Home — Essay Samples — Geography & Travel — Philippines — A Look at Philippine Popular Culture and Customs: Uniquely Filipino Identity

A Look at Philippine Popular Culture and Customs: a Unique Filipino Identity

• Categories: Philippines Tradition

About this sample

Words: 2347 |

12 min read

Published: May 17, 2022

Words: 2347 | Pages: 5 | 12 min read

Table of contents

Introduction: philippine popular culture, filipino traditions, religion and beliefs.

• Philippine Culture. (2016, Aug 15). Retrieved from https://studymoose.com/philippine-culture-essay
• Filipino Culture and Traditions. Retrieved from https://family.lovetoknow.com/cultural-heritage-symbols/filipino-culture-traditions
• Department of Education, Culture and Sports. Fact Sheet, 2000.
• Europa World Factbook, 1999.
• Goodno, James R. Philippines: The Land of Broken Promises, 1991.
• Karnow, Stanley. In our Image: America's Empire in the Philippines, 1989.
• Oleksy, Walter. The Philippines, 2000.

Should follow an “upside down” triangle format, meaning, the writer should start off broad and introduce the text and author or topic being discussed, and then get more specific to the thesis statement.

Provides a foundational overview, outlining the historical context and introducing key information that will be further explored in the essay, setting the stage for the argument to follow.

Cornerstone of the essay, presenting the central argument that will be elaborated upon and supported with evidence and analysis throughout the rest of the paper.

The topic sentence serves as the main point or focus of a paragraph in an essay, summarizing the key idea that will be discussed in that paragraph.

The body of each paragraph builds an argument in support of the topic sentence, citing information from sources as evidence.

After each piece of evidence is provided, the author should explain HOW and WHY the evidence supports the claim.

Should follow a right side up triangle format, meaning, specifics should be mentioned first such as restating the thesis, and then get more broad about the topic at hand. Lastly, leave the reader with something to think about and ponder once they are done reading.

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Globalizing corporate Philippines

For the longest time, the Philippines has been stereotyped as a principal source of cheap labor. Indeed, we have exported many of our people to greener pastures abroad.

But as the country shed its “sick man of Asia” status in recent years, the Philippines is now much better appreciated as a vibrant consumer market given a steadily growing economy and a sizeable population of more than 100 million, mostly young people.

It’s the same economy that has nurtured enterprises that have grown big enough, and confident enough, to compete in a regional, if not global, marketplace. Over the last three decades, we have seen more of these Filipino conglomerates and companies spread their wings. Thus, we are becoming an exporter of capital as well.

Gone are the colonial days of the East. These days, it’s not surprising to hear about an Asian company taking over long-standing companies in the West. Or building a new business from scratch. Or bagging a much-sought big-ticket contract. Sure, most of them are Chinese, but some may just involve Philippine companies.

It’s not exactly like landing on the moon for the first time but it’s a big deal because in an increasingly borderless world—even as protectionism is on the rise in some places at this time—these local companies have set the bar higher. They gain valuable experience in running businesses across multiple markets, in dealing with regulators in various jurisdictions and collaborating with their foreign counterparts. So while they are fiercely guarding their home turf in emerging markets, they are also expanding their overseas footprint and blazing the trail for other local companies who aspire to go global.

Based on a 2017 survey conducted by PwC/Isla Lipana for the Management Association of the Philippines, 45 percent of chief executive officers in the Philippines said they were keen on expanding to overseas markets, particularly in Southeast Asia. Most tend to expand to neighboring emerging markets first but some have gained a foothold even in the most challenging places.

As we celebrate the Inquirer’s 33rd anniversary, we feature 33 Philippine companies that are making inroads into the global stage.

SM City mall in Chengdu, China —CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

1. SM PRIME HOLDINGS It was in the Philippines that tycoon Henry Sy found his fortune, but he never forgot about the land of his birth. Perhaps it’s both for sentimental and practical reasons, but after building a shopping mall empire in the Philippines, SM Prime found an opportunity to set up shops in mainland China as well.

When the SM group started investing in mainland China at the turn of the millennium, the strategy was to be there for the long haul. If China is 10 times bigger than the Philippines in terms of consumer base, then there’s big room to set up new malls, but the group’s strategy has been to target third-tier cities rather than slug it out in the biggest ones.

The first SM mall in China opened in Xiamen in 2001, then privately owned by the Sy family, with a gross floor area of 128,000 square meters, almost similar in size to SM City Sta. Mesa. By 2007, there were three malls in China—Xiamen, Jinjiang and Chengdu—and the China business has become mature enough for the Sy family to fold the business into SM Prime.

These days, SM Prime has 72 shopping malls in the Philippines and seven shopping malls in China. The malls in China are located in the cities of Xiamen, Jinjiang, Chengdu, Zibo, Chongqing, Tianjin and Suzhou.

SM pioneered shopping mall development in Jinjiang. Not coincidentally, the home city of the founder of SM or Shoemart group has become a major global supplier of shoes—sometimes referred to as the “shoe capital” due to a yearly international shoe expo that has successfully attracted a lot of international attention.

“We don’t do things six months, one year ahead. We always look at where will be and what can we be five years from now,” SM Prime chair Jose Sio said.

Andrew Tan’s Emperador, with Fundador in its portfolio, now the biggest brandy maker in the world —CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

2. EMPERADOR INC. When real estate tycoon Andrew Tan goes to Europe for shopping, he shops for companies and assets. He has a special affinity for Spain, whose Fundador brandy inspired him to set up his own brandy business, Emperador. Decades later, Emperador would end up buying Fundador to become the biggest brandy maker in the world.

Emperador debuted in Europe in 2013 with the acquisition of Bodega San Bruno S.A., a brandy company based in Jerez, Spain, from González Byass S.A., one of the largest and oldest liquor and wine conglomerates in Spain. The deal includes the acquisition of the San Bruno trademark, which has been registered since 1942, as well as vineyards, alongside a sizeable inventory of high-quality and well-matured brandy, now being stored and aged in sherry casks in the bodegas, or wineries. Afterwards, Emperador acquired 409 hectares of additional vineyard land in Madrid, then bringing close to 1,000 ha its vineyard land bank in Spain.

Emperador also invested P3.7 billion in acquiring a 50-percent stake in integrated brandy producer Bodega Las Copas S.L., a unit of Spain’s popular sherry bodega González Byass (same group that sold San Bruno) in early 2014. Las Copas’ operations in brandy-making run the full scale with its vineyard near Toledo, its distillery plant in Tomelloso, Ciudad Real, and its Las Copas brandy production premises all in Jerez. The 275-ha specialized vineyard project of Bodega Las Copas near Toledo is the first of its kind in Spain to grow the finest grapes dedicated exclusively for brandy distillation and production.

These initial deals boosted Emperador’s profile and prepared it for even bigger deals in the beverage space. In 2014, it outbid a number of global consumer powerhouses to bag a 430-million pound deal to take over iconic Scottish whisky-maker Whyte &Mackay, the fifth largest maker of Scotch whisky in the world with a history of more than 160 years. It owns some of the most iconic Scotch brands in the industry, including the British luxury brand The Dalmore Single Highland Malt, Jura Premium Single Malt and Whyte & Mackay Blended Scotch whiskies. It holds one of the world’s largest stock of aged whisky.

But Emperador’s purchase of Bodegas Fundador, Spain’s most iconic, largest and oldest Spanish brandy maker, was the one most memorable to Tan. With Fundador now under its wings, Emperador controls almost 1,500 ha of vineyard land, around 1 million sqm of cellar and bottling facilities and four distilleries in Spain.

Emperador portfolio of beverages can now be found in over a hundred countries around the world.

Jollibee Manhattan —Contributed photo

3. JOLLIBEE FOODS CORP. The joy of eating is something that Tony Tan Caktiong and his siblings enjoyed growing up as their father was a chef. Together with Grace, the classmate who became his better half, he started two Magnolia ice cream houses after they graduated in 1975 and founded Jollibee in 1978. Capturing the Filipino preference for tasty meat and sweet spaghetti, Jollibee Foods Corp. (JFC) has become a multibrand multinational company.

Jollibee is now the most valuable Asian restaurant chain. Tony Tan Caktiong’s dream is to become one of the five most valuable restaurant chains in the world. Before, Jollibee’s offshore expansion followed where the overseas Filipinos were, but these days, Jollibee is a company that can go local by acquiring homegrown chains—as what it did in China, Vietnam and the United States.

As of end-September 2018, Jollibee operates the biggest food service network in the Philippines with 3,003 restaurant outlets, close to a third of which are Jollibee stores while the rest are Chowking, Greenwich, Red Ribbon, Mang Inasal, Burger King and Pho24.

Overseas, it was operating 1,350 stores. Its largest markets are mainland China, Vietnam and the United States.

In China, it has 314 stores of Yonghe King and 42 stores of Hong Zhuang Yuan and 14 Dunkin Donut branches. In Vietnam, it operates 253 Highlands Coffee shops, 107 Jollibee restaurants, two Hard Rock Cafes and 17 Pho24. In the United States, it has 347 stores under the Smashburger brand plus 37 Jollibee stores, 32 Red Ribbon stores and 15 Chowking outlets.

The Jollibee brand is also present in Brunei (with 16 stores), Hong Kong (8), Singapore (6), Macau (1), Canada (4), Saudi Arabia (13), UAE (14), Qatar (7), Kuwait (6), Bahrain (1), Oman (1) and Italy (1).

Jollibee entered Macau and Italy earlier this year and likewise debuted in London in October. It plans to enter Malaysia and Guam. Jollibee has a total of 222 stores overseas. The JFC group’s worldwide store network reached 4,353 stores. To date, Jollibee is one of the most recognizable Filipino brands.

Most recently, Jollibee entered the Mexican restaurant space in the United States by investing in the Tortas Frontera business founded by Chef Rick Bayless. This partnership was formalized through an investment by JFC of $12.4 million in Tortas Frontera LLC, in exchange for a 47-percent stake. The remaining 53 percent will be held by Bayless and other shareholders.

Mexican food is a rapidly growing and very popular segment in the US restaurant industry with estimated sales of as much as $45 billion in 2017.

Liwayway facilities in South Africa —CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

4. LIWAYWAY MARKETING CORP. Business tycoon Carlos Chan, who leads the company that produces the “Oishi” snack food brand, anticipated the opening of China to the global economy decades ago. Being an early mover, Liwayway has thus become one of the most successful Philippine companies to do business in China, where it has 15 factories. It is among the top five snackfood producers in China in the sweet and savory category.

Currently, Liwayway operates a total of 29 production facilities across nine countries: the Philippines, China, Vietnam, Indonesia, Thailand, Myanmar, Cambodia, India and South Africa.

Next to China, Liwayway’s large overseas markets are Vietnam, where it has four factories, and populous Indonesia, where it has one factory.

Liwayway currently derives about 70 percent of its business from its overseas sites.

“Our South Africa operation has begun and we are eyeing a possible entry into Bangladesh, provided opportunities and conditions are right,” said Heinrich Cochien, assistant vice president for corporate affairs.

URC Vietnam CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

5. UNIVERSAL ROBINA CORP. Not content with being one of the largest agro-industrial and commodity foods in the Philippines, the group of tycoon John Gokongwei Jr. had long envisioned to grow the business empire across the region. The group started sowing its seeds across the region even before the creation of the Asean Economic Community became a reality. In recent years, the group widened its horizon to Oceania by acquiring market-leading players in Australia and New Zealand.

In 2014, it acquired Griffin, New Zealand’s leading biscuits company with a 150-year baking heritage, producing over 300 products from its two manufacturing sites in Auckland. This was followed by its acquisition in 2016 of Snackbrands Australia, the second largest player in salty snacks in Australia.

In Asia, Universal Robina Corp. (URC) is present in 13 markets. It has production sites in China, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia and Indonesia, exclusive distributor presence in Laos and Cambodia, as well as sales offices in Hong Kong and Singapore. In the Philippines, it has 19 production sites, two of which are for packaging and 17 are for branded consumer foods.

URC is the No. 1 player in the Philippines in snacks, candies, chocolates, ready to drink tea, noodles and sugar, while it’s No. 3 in coffee, biscuits and pasta categories.

In Thailand, it is the No. 1 producer of biscuits and wafer, while in Vietnam, it’s the third biggest player in the ready-to-drink business.

It’s the No. 1 player in sweet biscuits in New Zealand and No. 2 in crackers and salty snacks.

San Miguel’s Ramon S. Ang —file photo

6. SAN MIGUEL FOOD  AND BEVERAGE The newly consolidated consumer powerhouse of storied conglomerate San Miguel Corp. has long been expanding its traditional businesses outside the Philippines long before the parent firm decided to diversify into new businesses.

San Miguel, to date, is still among the most well-known Philippine brands.

For the beer business under San Miguel Brewery, the group has six breweries in the Philippines and six overseas: Two in China, one in Hong Kong, one in Thailand, one in Vietnam and another in Indonesia. Plans are underway to invest up to $150 million in setting up a new beer brewery in Los Angeles, California, to cater to growing demand for its beer products in North America.

For the food group, San Miguel has 22 production facilities, 20 of which are located in the Philippines and two are overseas—in Vietnam and in Indonesia, along with 15 company-owned farms in the Philippines. It also uses more than 60 tolled production facilities.

For the hard liquor business under Ginebra San Miguel, the group has a bottling and distillery plant in Kanchanaburi, Thailand, on top of five bottling plants and one distillery in the Philippines.

Outside the food and beverage business, San Miguel’s packaging business has likewise gone regional. In China, this business operates in three sites, one for glass, another for plastics and one for paper packaging. In Vietnam, the group has one glass and one metal packaging site. In Australia, the group has grown through a series of acquisitions and now operates a plastic packaging site, a trading site and a wine closure and bottling hub. The group also has a plastics and trading hub in New Zealand and a flexible packaging hub in Malaysia.

ICTSI Poland —CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

7. INTERNATIONAL CONTAINER TERMINAL SERVICES INC. In the early 2000s, tycoon Enrique Razon Jr. sold the overseas business of International Container Terminal Services Inc. (ICTSI) Hutchison Whampoa of Hong Kong to pare down debt in the aftermath of the Asian currency crisis. Since then, he has rebuilt the overseas portfolio of ICTSI and has entered the most number of foreign markets among globalizing Philippine companies.

As of Nov. 7, 2018, ICTSI has a footprint in 18 countries worldwide, operating 31 terminal concessions. It also has the most exotic markets in its overseas portfolio. It operates in two sites in Indonesia and one each in China, Ecuador, Brazil, Poland, Georgia, Madagascar, Croatia, Pakistan, Mexico, Honduras, Iraq, Argentina, Colombia, Democratic Republic of Congo, Australia and, recently, Lae and Motukea in Papua New Guinea.

It also has an existing concession to construct and operate a port in Tuxpan, Mexico.

It previously operated the Muara Container Terminal in Brunei Darussalam and likewise operated in Oregon, Portland, but the respective contracts on these facilities ended.

Suffice to say, ICTSI knows its way around global markets.

8. DEL MONTE PACIFIC LTD. It’s not often that a company gets to buy another company bigger than itself. Even rarer is a company that buys its American parent brand. The Campos family-led Del Monte Pacific Ltd. (DMPL) did just that in 2014 when it acquired the US consumer food business of Del Monte Foods Inc. (DMFI), which has since become its subsidiary.

Its subsidiaries are principally engaged in growing, processing and selling canned and fresh pineapples, pineapple juice concentrate, tropical mixed fruit, canned peaches and pears, canned vegetables, tomato-based products and other food and beverage products mainly under the brand names of “Del Monte,” “S&W,” “Today’s,” “Contadina” and “College Inn,” among others. The group also produces and distributes private label food products.

DMFI generated sales of $1.7 billion or 75.3 percent of group sales in the fiscal year ended April 2018. This US subsidiary has been focused on strengthening its leading share positions amid canned vegetable and fruit industry contraction.

Sales at FieldFresh Foods, DMPL’s Indian joint venture (where equity is accounted and not consolidated) amounted to $72.9 million in the last fiscal year.

Apart from its main manufacturing sites in India, the United States and the Philippines, the group has manufacturing presence in selected Latin American countries such as Venezuela, Colombia and Mexico, alongside distribution units in Peru and Ecuador.

Unilab —CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

9. UNITED LABORATORIES Unknown to many, homegrown pharmaceutical giant United Laboratories (Unilab) has grown to be the biggest pharmaceutical company in Southeast Asia. Whether wholly owned or through affiliates, the Unilab group now has six factories in the Philippines, two in Indonesia and one each in Vietnam and Thailand. Some of its manufacturing facilities overseas are operated by affiliates. It had acquired a local company to gain a foothold in Indonesia but for the rest of its overseas markets, it has built its business from scratch. Products made in Vietnam are now being exported to other countries such as Myanmar and Singapore.

The group also manufactures medicine in Shanghai, China, and has been working to make inroads into the Middle East in recent years.

Monde Nissin’s Lucky Me! in Thailand —contributed photo

10. MONDE NISSIN “Noodle” queen Betty Ang-led Monde Nissin is best known in the Philippines for the “Lucky Me!” instant noodles. In recent years, it has been expanding its overseas production capability through a string of acquisitions. In recent years, it has acquired three companies in Australia and one in the United Kingdom as part of its goal to build a global branded food business.

In 2015, Monde Nissin bought Quorn Foods from Exponent Private Equity and Intermediate Capital Group for the amount of 550 million pounds. Quorn is an international meat alternatives business, with market leading position in 15 countries. It has around 620 employees in three UK sites, in Germany, and in the United States. This acquisition marked Monde Nissin’s diversification into healthy food production.

In 2014, Monde Nissin acquired Black Swan, the leading brand of chilled dips in Australia. Aside from chilled dips, Black Swan is also a manufacturer of Greek yogurt. The following year, it acquired Nudie, a manufacturer, marketer and distributor of pure premium juices in Australia. Nudie has a line of fruit juices without preservatives, without colorings, without additives, without concentrates or added sugar. Nudie also owns one of the leading coconut water brands in Australia. More recently, the company launched a range of carbonated beverages made with 50-percent real fruit, and likewise without preservatives, colors, concentrates or artificial flavors added.

Furthermore, Monde Nissin acquired Menora Foods, one of Australia’s biggest and most innovative food marketers and distributors. It sells dips, condiments, pasta, beverages, confectionery, cakes, snack foods, and general merchandise, among others. The company also carries homegrown brands Wattle Valley dips and Peckish rice crackers, which are leaders in their respective product categories, alongside international consumer brands including Phillips, Chobani, Bonne Maman and Maille.

IMI Serbia —CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

11. INTEGRATED MICRO-ELECTRONICS INC. One of the world’s largest electronic manufacturing service providers (EMS) is domiciled in the Philippines. We’re talking about Ayala-led Integrated Micro-Electronics Inc. (IMI), which specializes in highly reliable and quality electronics for long product life cycle segments such as automotive, industrial electronics and more recently, the aerospace market.

Only recently, IMI opened in Serbia’s City of Niš the 21st factory in its growing global network. This newest hub in Serbia is seen to complement IMI’s production facilities elsewhere in the world—in the Philippines, China, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Germany, Japan, Mexico, the United Kingdom, and the United States. These are on top of the production facilities of other AC Industrials companies in Germany, Thailand, United States, and the Philippines.

IMI ranks 18th in the list of top 50 EMS providers in the world, based on the research of Manufacturing Market Insider (March 2018 edition). In the automotive market, it is now the fifth largest EMS provider in the world per New Venture Research.

MPIC in Indonesia —contributed photo

12. METRO PACIFIC INVESTMENTS CORP. With its growing investments in toll roads across the region, the infrastructure holding firm led by businessman Manuel Pangilinan now operates the road network with the biggest vehicular traffic volume in the region.

Locally, Metro Pacific Investments Corp.’s (MPIC) toll road business through subsidiary Metro Pacific Tollways Corp. (MPTC) includes operation and maintenance of the North Luzon Expressway, Cavite Expressway and Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway. Average daily vehicle entries for all three of MPTC’s domestic tollways system rose by 7 percent to 471,634 compared with 438,861 in the first nine months of 2017. Including its overseas toll roads, system-wide vehicle entries rose by 55 percent year-on-year to an average of 916,169 a day in the first nine months due mainly to the traffic contribution from its investment in PT Nusantara Infrastructure Tbk in Indonesia. “Our presence in the Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam and Indonesia means we are well on the way to establishing the first-ever Pan-Asean (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) tollways group,” parent conglomerate MPIC said in its latest quarterly report.

Apart from PT Nusantara, MPTC’s foreign investees include CII Bridges and Roads Investment Joint Stock Co. (CII B&R) in Vietnam and Don Muang Tollway Public Ltd. in Thailand. PT Nusantara has become subsidiary in July 2018 as MPTC increased its interest in the company from 48.3 percent to 53.3 percent. This step-up acquisition triggered the need for a tender offer, which further increased MPTC’s ownership to 77.94 percent. Meanwhile, MPIC acquired 49 percent of Tuan Loc Water Resources Investment Joint Stock Co. (TLW), one of the largest water companies in Vietnam, for P1.99 billion. The deal was done through wholly owned subsidiary MetroPac Water Investments Corp. TLW is one of the leading water companies in Vietnam, with 310 million liters per day (MLD) of installed capacity and a billed volume of around 87 MLD as of year-end 2017. Majority of TLW’s operating capacity targets industrial parks.

Manila Water Co. expands footprint across Southeast Asia CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

13. MANILA WATER CO. Manila Water Co.’s (MWC) overseas expansion started in Vietnam 10 years ago, and has since then invested $120 million in this market. It has also invested $170 million in Thailand with the acquisition of 18 percent of East Water. It also debuted in Indonesia with a 20-percent stake in bulk water supply company PT Sarana Tirta Ungaran. It all started when MWC was contracted in Vietnam’s Ho Chi Minh City in the mid 2000s to plug pipeline leaks. This was followed by investments in a couple of water treatment plants and water distribution business in that country. This company is now the largest foreign direct investor in Vietnam’s water space with over $120 million in investments. In 2012, it spent $21 million to acquire 49 percent of CII Water while its parent, Ayala Corp., invested $14 million for a 10-percent direct equity in CII. MWC is now scouting for new bulk water projects in Indonesia and Vietnam, in line with plans to expand its footprint across Southeast Asia and grow its overseas business to account for 10 percent of total business.

Petron Malaysia —CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

14. PETRON CORP. Petron Corp., the country’s largest oil refiner and distributor, took a big step toward regionalization in 2011 with the acquisition of the downstream petroleum businesses of American multinational oil and gas company Exxon Mobil Corp. in Malaysia for about $600 million. Exxon, through subsidiary Esso Malaysia Berhad, had at that time a refinery in Port Dickson that processed an average of 45,000 barrels of crude oil per day. It also managed a major portion of ExxonMobil’s network of 560 Esso and Mobil service stations in Malaysia. These days, Petron operates over 2,400 service stations in the Philippines and 600 in Malaysia. ExxonMobil’s network had been rebranded as Petron Malaysia. The refinery at Port Dickson had likewise been expanded since then and now has a refining capacity of 88,000 barrels per day. This complements the 180,000-barrel-per-day capacity of Petron’s integrated refining capacity in Bataan, the largest and most advanced petroleum refinery complex in the Philippines. Furthermore, Petron has about 10 product terminals in Malaysia alongside its 30 depot terminals in the Philippines.

15. AC ENERGY After building a critical mass of energy portfolio in the Philippines, AC Energy sees a lot of opportunity to invest in regional markets given strong demand for energy in selected markets. Of the first $1 billion of AC Energy’s committed capital, 20 percent had been invested overseas, particularly Vietnam and Indonesia. Of the next $1 billion that AC Energy will invest, more than half will likely go to overseas projects, EC Energy president Eric Francia had estimated. In Indonesia, AC Energy is part of a group that operates Salak & Darajat in West Java. This 637-megawatt project is the largest geothermal energy asset registered under the CDM program in 2007. AC Energy has a 20-percent stake and an attributable capacity of 126 MW. This is operated by Star Energy Geothermal, a joint venture of AC Energy, Star Energy Group and Electricity Generating Public Co. The project cost is $170 million. Another operating asset in Indonesia is the 75-MW Sidrap Wind project in Sulawesi, where AC Energy has an economic stake of 75 percent and an attributable capacity of 56 MW. This is the first utility-scale wind farm project in Indonesia and the first offshore greenfield investment of AC Energy. This wind farm, operated by a joint venture firm set up by AC Energy and UPC Renewables, started operations in March 2018. AC Energy has likewise provided funding for the development of UPC Renewables’ power generation projects with generation capacity of less than 50 MW. In Vietnam, AC Energy has taken a 50-percent stake in the 80-MW solar farm of AMI/AC Renewables in Khan Hoa and Dak Lak. To be built at an estimated cost of $83 million, it is expected to start operations in time for the June 2019 solar feed-in tariff deadline. Through AMI/AC Renewables, the group also holds a 50-percent stake in the 250-MW wind farm project at Quang Binh Province in Vietnam. This $463-million project is targeted to be completed by the second half of 2021. In Australia, AC Energy invested $30 million for a 50-percent stake in UPC Renewables’ Australian business. It also earmarked $200 million to fund project equity. UPC is developing the 1,000-MW Robbins Island and Jims Plain projects in northwest Tasmania and the 600-MW New England Solar Farm located near Uralla in New South Wales (NSW). UPC and AC Renewables have also mapped out a development portfolio of another 3,000 MW in NSW, Tasmania and Victoria. AC Energy has also acquired a 25-percent stake in The Blue Circle (TBC) alongside coinvestment rights in TBC projects. AC Energy and TBC will jointly develop, construct, own and operate TBC’s pipeline of around 1,500 MW of wind projects across Southeast Asia, including 700 MW in Vietnam. TBC pioneered wind farm development in Vietnam. The joint venture with TBC is expected to start construction of around 200 MW of wind farms in Vietnam in 2019.

16. ABOITIZ EQUITY  VENTURES

The Aboitiz Group is fairly newer in overseas investing compared to other big local conglomerates, but it is moving quite fast. Its first platform into the regional markets is Pilmico Foods Corp., which is into commodities and food business.

In 2014, Pilmico set up its first Southeast Asian representative office in Jakarta, followed by the creation of another representative office in Ho Chi Minh City in March 2015. Pilmico was thus able to build its export market, successfully distributing its flour products to Hong Kong, Vietnam, Myanmar, Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia.

In 2014, Aboitiz Equity Ventures (AEV) also created Pilmico International Pte. Ltd., marking its foray into the overseas feeds business. This unit acquired a 70-percent equity interest in Pilmico VHF Joint Stock Co. (Pilmico VHF), operator of an aqua feed mill at Dong Thap province in Vietnam.

That same year, Pilmico International also acquired a 70- percent equity stake in feed mill operator, VIN Hoan 1 Feed JSC (VHF), from its parent company, Vinh-Hoan Corp. (VHC) and is set to purchase the remaining shares within five years.

VHF has since then been officially renamed Pilmico VHF Joint Stock Co. It is the fourth largest “pangasius” aqua feeds producer in Vietnam, with a capacity of 165,000 metric tons per year. Pilmico VHF’s capacity was ramped up to 270,000 MT in April 2016.

Recently, Pilmico International acquired a 70-percent stake in feeds company Eurofeed for $3.2 million.

The investment in Pilmico VHF is expected to pave the way for investments in other Southeast Asian countries like Thailand, Laos and Cambodia.

In July 2018, AEV signed a $334-million deal to acquire a 75-percent stake in Singapore-based Gold Coin Management Holdings Ltd., a major producer of animal feeds and operator of 20 livestock and aqua feed mills across 11 countries in Asia. This is the largest investment made by AEV’s Pilmico International in Asia Pacific to date.

Established in Singapore in 1953, Gold Coin is a pioneer in animal nutrition and the manufacturing of scientifically balanced animal feed within Asia. It is one of the largest privately owned agribusinesses in the region, employing over 3,000 people throughout 20 production facilities. Gold Coin serves both the livestock and the aqua industries, including young animals and hatchery feed, premixes, concentrates and compound feed. Through its alliance partner, the group is also in the distribution of pharmaceutical products. In 2017, it generated net revenues of $751 million.

Indonesia is next on the Aboitiz Group’s expansion program, particularly for its flagship business of power generation.

17. AYALA LAND Property giant Ayala Land Inc. (ALI) has dabbled in various overseas investments in previous years, but recently, it decided to focus its offshore activities closer to home in Southeast Asia.

ALI had invested in Tianjin Eco-City in China, a 3,000-hectare collaboration between the Chinese and Singaporean governments to showcase advanced urban planning and sustainable development. It decided to unwind this investment.

Meanwhile, ALI’s-66.25 percent investment in MCT Bhd, a Malaysian development and construction firm, is seen to become its vehicle to expand across the region. MCT recently invested P2 billion to acquire a 9.8-ha land bank in Klang Valley in Malaysia where its investment is expected to double in the next two to three years.

18. ENERGY DEVELOPMENT CORP. Energy Development Corp. (EDC), which recently went back to public hands, is the Philippines’ largest vertically integrated geothermal developer, delivering 1,457.8 MW of clean and renewable energy to the country. It is also diversifying its renewable energy portfolio through investments in solar, hydropower and wind power projects in the Philippines. With almost 40 years of geothermal mastery, EDC now seeks to export its geothermal expertise to communities around the world. It has set up offices in Indonesia, Chile and Peru because it has early-stage geothermal projects in these countries.

With EDC’s portfolio, the Philippines is the third largest geothermal producer globally. Only the United States and Indonesia have more installed capacity.

Robinsons Land in China —contributed photo

19. ROBINSONS LAND CORP. The Gokongwei group is no stranger to property development in mainland China. Its property development arm Robinsons Land Corp. (RLC), however, has just debuted in this market through its ongoing 8.5-ha project in southwest Chengdu. Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan Province, or the “Heavenly State,” is well-known as the natural habitat of the adorable giant pandas.

The project brings 1.8 billion Chinese renminbi (P13.2 billion) worth of new residential property inventory to Chengdu. The entire condominium project will create around 315,000 sqm of living space for “upper middle-class” homebuyers.

The project in Chengdu has drawn strong momentum from the Gokongwei group’s earlier real estate projects in the city outside RLC. The group is familiar with the environment and regulations and has a team that can hit the ground running.

Eton Hotel in Shanghai CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

20. ETON/LUCIO TAN GROUP Tycoon Lucio Tan’s privately held Eton Property Group, which is incorporated in Hong Kong, has millions of square meters of land bank in Hong Kong and China. In the mainland, it has created new urban landmarks in Hong Kong, Shanghai, Xiamen, Dalian, Shengyang, Beijing and Shenzhen.

In Hong Kong, among Eton’s projects are Queen’s Garden, Carmen’s Garden, Dragon Centre, King’s Court and Eton Tower. It has become one of the largest unlisted private real estate businesses in Hong Kong with a value of HK$20 billion.

The tycoon has also been investing in shopping malls in Guam and was at one time recognized as the biggest investor in this territory.

21. MAX’S GROUP INC. The country’s leading casual dining chain started out as a Filipino restaurant chain operating Max’s but the group’s acquisition of Pancake House Inc. in 2014 not only gave it a backdoor listing platform but also widened its restaurant offerings. And some of these brands—such as pizza-maker Yellow Cab and Pancake House—are easy to pitch to a broader audience.

As of end-November, Max’s Group Inc. (MGI) was operating a total of 58 restaurants overseas in addition to its network of over 600 stores in the Philippines. Of its overseas stores, 13 are in Asia, 29 in the Middle East and 16 in North America.

In Asia, MGI operates in five overseas markets—Brunei, China, Singapore, Vietnam and Malaysia. Except for Malaysia, which has four Pancake House outlets to date, Yellow Cab serves the rest of the Asian markets. There are three Yellow Cab outlets each in Vietnam and China, two in Brunei and one in Singapore.

In the Middle East, the biggest market is the United Arab Emirates, where there are seven Max’s restaurants, three Yellow Cab and Pancake House outlets each, one Teriyaki Boy and one Sizzlin’ Steak. The brand Max’s has one outlet in Kuwait and two in Qatar. Yellow Cab has eight outlets in Qatar, one in Jordan and two in Saudi Arabia.

In North America, there are 11 Max’s outlets in mainland United States and five in Canada.

Bench in 34 locations in China —CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

22. BENCH Fashion retailer Bench started in 1987 as a small retailer of men’s T-shirts. Over the years, the business has expanded to include a ladies’ line, underwear, fragrances, housewares, snacks, and a wide array of other lifestyle products. The brand has likewise expanded to overseas territories, setting up shops in the United States, the Middle East and China.

Based on its website, Bench has set up shops in 34 locations in China, including some of the SM malls. Outside of China, it has one shop in Myanmar and two each in Singapore and the United States.

Figaro Qatar —contributed photo

23. FIGARO Businessman Jerry Liu’s food retailing business under Figaro Systems operates 68 Figaro coffee shops in the Philippines. The group has started to bring this coffee shop brand to other markets. Figaro now has one store in Qatar, three in Saudi Arabia and more overseas stores in the pipeline. The Figaro outlet in Dubai, for instance, has become a favorite meeting place of overseas Filipino workers.

In Asia, Figaro has attracted potential franchisees who want to set up shops in Malaysia, China and Singapore. Moving forward, Figaro Systems expects to grow through acquisition and fast-track expansion by bringing in institutional investors.

The listing of Figaro Systems on the local stock exchange is also a possibility in the next three years.

24. SHAKEY’S PIZZA ASIA VENTURES INC. While Shakey’s is an American brand, the Philippine-listed Shakey’s Pizza Asia Ventures Inc. (Spavi), which is now led by the Po family, is completely independent from its US “mother” entity. Spavi earlier acquired the trademark and the intellectual property and does not pay royalty or licensing fees to the US counterpart, resulting in good margins.

Apart from the Philippines, Spavi owns perpetual rights to use the Shakey’s brand for the Middle East, Asia excluding Japan and Malaysia, China, India, Australia and New Zealand.

As such, Spavi has now started to bring Shakey’s to new markets, starting in the Middle East. Shakey’s has so far entered Kuwait and Dubai.

Spavi expects to sign up development deals in two more countries in the next few weeks. It is targeting to open five new overseas stores next year.

Everything on the menu is halal-certified, in line with Islamic culture. However, the key features and flavors that make for a Shakey’s trademark experience are meticulously kept intact. Marinade, breading, dough blends and spice mix for the pizzas, chicken and spaghetti are all flown in from the Philippines.

25. GOLDILOCKS The country’s leading bakeshop chain Goldilocks operates 673 stores in the Philippines. Led by the Yee family, this food retailer also operates a network of 11 stores in the United States.

Conglomerate SM Investments Corp. recently revived a deal to invest in Goldilocks but instead of taking the majority control as earlier expected, it is now willing to buy just 34 percent of the company.

Golden ABC Inc.’s businessman Bernie Liu —CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

26. GOLDEN ABC INC. Fashion house Golden ABC Inc., led by businessman Bernie Liu, is the company behind proprietary brands Penshoppe, Oxygen, ForMe, Memo, Regatta and Tyler. It also operates Red Logo, a wholly owned direct selling subsidiary. The group has a network of more than 900 stores, which are complemented by its online platform.

The group has also brought its brand Penshoppe to overseas markets. The clothing brand is now present in 13 territories outside the Philippines: Indonesia, Brunei, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Bahrain, Myanmar, Taiwan, Singapore, Macau, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam and Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The top three biggest overseas markets for Penshoppe are: Myanmar, Vietnam and Cambodia.

27. PHINMA EDUCATION Phinma Education, which operates a network of universities in the Philippines, teamed up with Victoria Hospital, one of Myanmar’s leading private medical facilities, to open Phinma Training Center in Yangon. The center—which offers courses on child caregiving, elderly caregiving and special care assistance—was in response to the shortage of healthcare professionals. It is expected to create more job opportunities for Myanmar’s young people.

The Phinma Group now plans to scale up its footprint in Southeast Asia’s education space by transforming this pilot nursing and healthcare training center in Myanmar into a full college. It is also scouting for expansion opportunities in Vietnam and Indonesia.

The Yangon center started offering short nursing and healthcare programs for nursing assistants in 2017. Although enrollment was initially modest at around 160 students, the program provided Phinma with valuable insights into the Yangon market, bringing it closer to its goal of eventually offering full-degree programs. Phinma, however, still has to wait for Myanmar to enact a law to open up education to foreign investment.

Once Phinma is able to upgrade the training center in Yangon into a full college, nursing will still be a focus given strong demand for nurses. “But we want it to be a general college, offering things like Business, Education, Engineering, similar to our model here. We think we’ll be successful doing it in other countries,” Phinma president Ramon del Rosario Jr. said.

28. CIRTEK HOLDINGS  PHILIPPINES CORP. This Laguna-based electronics manufacturer debuted into Silicon Valley in 2017 and moved up the value chain with a $77-million deal to acquire US-based Quintel, a leading supplier of antenna solutions to North America’s telecom carriers. While already strong in the United States with a market share of 15 percent, Quintel is expanding to Latin America. The existing marketing office in the United Kingdom is likewise used as a jumping board to promote and market products to Europe. Quintel is a leading innovator of spectrum and space-efficient base station antennas for wireless networks. Among its major customers include two of the top five telecom carriers in North America. It is a company with rich intellectual property and strong R&D (research and development) capabilities. The transaction gave Cirtek a significant presence in the large and rapidly growing base station antenna market, estimated to be more than $14 billion by 2020.

29. BOUNTY FRESH Bounty Fresh is one of the largest poultry companies in the Philippines. It is engaged in breeding, raising, processing and retailing, both locally and via export to other parts of Asia. The company recently announced that it had built a chicken farm in Indonesia. Its takeover bid for Tegel Group, New Zealand’s largest poultry processor, has likewise been approved by the Overseas Investment Office of New Zealand. Tegel, which operates out of Auckland, Christchurch and New Plymouth, processes 58 million birds a year destined for food service outlets and retailers. Apart from the Tegel brand, its portfolio includes other brands like Top Hat and Rangitikei.

Bloomberry’s Jeju Sun Hotel & Casino Korea —contributed photo

30. BLOOMBERRY RESORTS If tycoon Enrique Razon Jr. had been able to globalize ICTSI, there’s no stopping him from bringing his integrated gaming operations to new territories. Bloomberry is the owner and operator of Solaire Resort & Casino (Solaire), the first integrated resort at the Entertainment City in Parañaque City, Metro Manila. It also owns and operates the Jeju Sun Hotel & Casino in Jeju Island, Korea. The company has marketing presence in Korea, Macau, Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Taiwan and Japan. Aside from the Jeju casino, Bloomberry has also acquired land bank in Korea’s Muui and Silmi islands for future developments.

Potato Corner goes overseas —contributed photo

31. POTATO CORNER Potato Corner, which began operations in 1992, is a food retailer that has grown rapidly through franchising. From operating small carts to in-line stores, Potato Corner can be found anywhere from shopping malls, schools, hospitals, bus stations, amusement parks and tourist destinations. The brand has also forayed to overseas locations such as Indonesia, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, Singapore, Kuwait, Hong Kong, Australia, the United States and Panama.

32. PHILIPPINE NATIONAL BANK Philippine National Bank was once the country’s largest bank. But while other banks have grown bigger, it has remained to be the Philippine bank with the most extensive international footprint with more than 70 overseas branches, representative offices, remittance centers, and subsidiaries across Asia, Europe, the Middle East and North America. In the Philippines, it has 707 branches.

The bank has a 100-percent owned subsidiary in China called Allied Commercial Bank (ACB). This unit has a license from China’s banking regulators to do local currency business. This unit is seen to benefit from the growing trade between the Philippines and China. Founded in 1993 and based in Xiamen, ACB has a branch in Chongjin.

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33. XURPAS INC. Since going public in 2014, Xurpas Inc. has been investing in a number of ventures that would benefit its consumer and enterprise businesses. In 2016, Xurpas took over Singapore-based Art of Click Pte. Ltd., a fast-growing mobile advertising network in Asia-Pacific. Art of Click has created a proprietary, next generation ad optimization platform for advertisers. Its platform supports both client brands and global and regional communication agencies in the development and execution of mobile strategies in markets such as South Korea, Japan, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Southeast Asia, North America and Europe. Xurpas also gained access to populous China by buying 23 percent of Micro Benefits Ltd., a Hong Kong-based company providing innovative human resources solutions to topnotch companies in the mainland. Xurpas also incorporated in Singapore a new subsidiary, ODX Pte Ltd., which is now raising as much as $100 million from a token sale that will fund the rollout of free internet service in emerging markets. ODX, which stands for the Open Data Exchange, intends to allow consumers in emerging markets to access the internet for free through sponsored data packages.

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Today’s front page, Wednesday, May 15, 2024

Filipino teachers as world-class educators

• BusinessMirror
• March 13, 2018
• 3 minute read

Teachers play a significant part in the lives of children, especially during their formative years. They are integral in molding students to become responsible citizens of the country.

They are at our side when we needed guidance, they discipline us when we go astray, they give moral support and encourage us to do more, and to learn more.  They teach us not to give up when we are about to surrender.

There is no proper word to fully describe our caring and dedicated teachers, and there is no career more fulfilling than teaching. No wonder we have the best teachers in the world. Filipino teachers have become so good in their career that some of our educators are now recognized worldwide as the best in their field.

For example, Dr. Jesus Insilada, the principal of Caninguan National High School in Lambunao, Iloilo, who pioneered the culture-based approach in teaching was recently chosen as one of the top 10 finalists of the Global Teacher Prize from over 30,000 nominations from 173 countries.

Insilada explained that culture-based approach is all about incorporating indigenous and local forms of art such as dances, songs, epics, local games, and crafts to engage the students and help them learn better.

Insilada shared how his approach has changed his school: “It is amazing how culture-based teaching is really keeping the children to stay in school. We have decreased our dropout rate from 5 percent to 1 percent. We even would like to make it to zero percent this school year.”

The Global Teacher Prize is a $1- million award presented annually to an exceptional teacher who has made an outstanding contribution to the teaching profession. The prize serves to underline the importance of educators and the fact that, throughout the world, their efforts deserve to be recognized and celebrated. It seeks to acknowledge the impacts of the very best teachers —not only on their students but also on the communities around them.

Sabrina Ongkiko, a 2016 Ten Outstanding Women of the Nation awardee, initially wanted to become a doctor so she studied biology at the Ateneo de Manila University. Today she teaches science and English to Grade 6 students at Culiat Elementary School in Quezon City.

When asked how she became a teacher, Ongkiko said it is a result of several factors that combined her passion for service, her discovery of her skills, and the need of the country for teachers.

Ongkiko has always been passionate to serve others. Growing up, she heard stories from her dad’s meaningful work for those who have less, including building bridges in hard-to-reach areas.

She can afford any vehicle model she wanted, but every afternoon  when classes are dismissed, she is usually seen walking with her pupils from Culiat to Commonwealth Avenue, a good kilometer walk where she spends the time to give the kids additional pep talk. That’s how dedicated this Ateneo graduate is, who takes pride in seeing her former pupils succeed in life. For her, seeing her pupils succeed in life is the best fulfillment a teacher can get.

In 2014 a Filipino teacher who braves hours of daily travel in order to provide basic education to children of the Matigsalog tribe in a remote village in Davao City was chosen as one of the six awardees of the prestigious Ramon Magsaysay Award, considered as Asia’s Nobel Prize.

The organizers said  Randy Halasan , 31, was recognized for his “purposeful dedication in nurturing both his Matigsalog students and their community to transform their lives through quality education and sustainable livelihoods, in ways that respect their uniqueness and preserve their integrity as indigenous peoples in a modernizing Philippines.”

These are just a few of the country’s outstanding educators who represent the millions of Filipino teachers who never get tired making lesson plans and improving the lives of millions of children. They are the teachers who have made a significant difference in their students’ lives, and they deserve all the honor and recognition being showered them.

The author is Teacher 3 in Ubong Elementary School in Solana, Cagayan.

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Morning Briefing: Asia Pacific Edition

Thursday briefing: slovakia’s leader was shot.

Also, mixed reviews for King Charles’s portrait.

By Amelia Nierenberg

Shooting left Slovakia’s leader in ‘life-threatening’ condition

Robert Fico, Slovakia’s prime minister, was shot five times and critically wounded yesterday. Officials said the attack appeared to be an assassination attempt and was politically motivated. Police said a suspect had been detained.

The interior minister said Fico was still in surgery hours after the shooting and remained in critical condition. Here’s the latest .

Videos from the scene showed the gunman shooting Fico in Banikov Square, in the center of the town of Handlova. The attacker is seen standing with other people behind a barrier before shooting Fico at close range when he came to greet them.

Who is Robert Fico? The 59-year-old politician is serving his third term. He has aligned with the Hungarian prime minister, Viktor Orban, in opposing aid to Ukraine , and has strong ties to Russia’s leader, Vladimir Putin.

China sent dozens of ships to confront Filipino fishing boats

China has deployed dozens of coast guard and maritime militia ships toward Scarborough Shoal, a disputed atoll in the South China Sea, to block a fleet of about 100 small Filipino fishing boats. While such confrontations have become commonplace as Beijing tries to assert control over a region far from its borders, this was an escalation.

“What we’re seeing this time, I would say, is definitely of another order,” said the director of SeaLight, a group that monitors the sea. He called China’s response a show of “overwhelming force.”

Background: The Filipino group organizing the flotilla of fishing boats said it wanted to assert the Philippines’ claims to Scarborough Shoal. The shoal, which Beijing calls Huangyan Island, has been under Chinese control since 2012. Filipino fishermen had long worked there, but since then their access has been restricted and sporadic.

Russia’s momentum in Ukraine has the U.S. worried

The White House is watching as Russia’s new offensive picks up speed in Ukraine’s northeast. U.S. officials are privately concerned that it could change the trajectory of the war , perhaps even reversing Russia’s once-bleak prospects.

Moscow’s electronic warfare techniques — which came to the battlefield late — have taken out artillery and drones provided by the U.S. and NATO. And the delay in U.S. aid allowed Russia to gain a huge artillery advantage. Ukraine’s lack of air defense ammunition meant Russia could use its air power with more impunity.

Analysis: Some experts say that Moscow’s true goal in taking territory around Kharkiv is to force Ukraine to reinforce the city, weakening the front lines elsewhere. A thinly spread Ukrainian military could give Russia the chance for another push in June.

For more: These maps show Russia’s advances .

WAR IN GAZA

Rafah: Israel directed many Palestinians to a “humanitarian zone.” Satellite imagery shows an overcrowded area that is damaged by strikes and lacking medical care.

Arms: The Biden administration told Congress that it intended to sell Israel more than $1 billion in new weapons .

Military: The leaders of Israel’s armed forces are frustrated with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu because he has yet to develop a plan to govern Gaza after the war.

MORE TOP NEWS

Singapore: The prime minister, Lee Hsien Loong, stepped down after 20 years . He oversaw a rise in prosperity — and discontent.

Hong Kong: YouTube said it would block the access of Hong Kong users to the protest anthem “Glory to Hong Kong,” complying with a court order.

New Caledonia: After deadly riots broke out, France moved to declare a state of emergency in the South Pacific territory, which has long tried to gain independence.

U.S. election: President Biden and Donald Trump have agreed to debates in June and September, which would be their first onstage clashes in more than three years.

Orcas: The whales sank another boat near the Strait of Gibraltar.

MORNING READ

Kei Kobayashi was the first Japanese chef to earn three Michelin stars in Paris. Now, he has come back to Japan to try to build an empire .

Lives lived: A.T. Ariyaratne, a Sri Lankan who fought to alleviate poverty in his country, has died at 92 .

CONVERSATION STARTERS

Talk about Bumbling: The dating app Bumble apologized after an ad campaign enraged women, its target audience.

The Bridgerton glow-up: Characters receive makeovers as they move from the sidelines of the plot into the spotlight.

Real estate: Some luxury buildings in the U.S. are offering at-home IV drips as an amenity.

ARTS AND IDEAS

King charles iii’s red portrait.

Royal portraits tend to be fairly staid, with symbols of state, of office, of pomp and lineage.

Which is why the new official portrait of King Charles III, painted by Jonathan Yeo, has created such a controversy . Some said he looked as if he were “burning in hell” or “bathing in blood.” A reference to “colonial bloodshed” rounded out the theme. Others compared it to a possessed portrait in “Ghostbusters II.”

This is not the first polarizing royal portrait. Take a spin through some other surprising or contentious paintings of royals .

RECOMMENDATIONS

Cook: Make a light coconut-miso salmon curry .

Read: In “ Chasing Hope ,” Nicholas Kristof recounts the highs and lows of his career as a Times correspondent.

Listen: This year marks the 50th anniversary of Cass Elliot’s death. This playlist highlights her range as a vocalist .

Block: Stop buying citronella candles. Try these effective mosquito repellers instead.

Heal: I was prescribed a long-term antibiotic. Is that safe ?

Play: Spelling Bee , the Mini Crossword , Wordle and Sudoku . Find all our games here .

P.S. My colleague David Pierson, who covers China, shared five things he’s enjoyed in Hong Kong .

That’s it for today. See you tomorrow. — Amelia

Email us at [email protected] .

Amelia Nierenberg writes the Asia Pacific Morning Briefing , a global newsletter. More about Amelia Nierenberg