An Open Letter to Richard J. Heydarian from LCPL_X of TSOH
By Lance Corporal X
Dear Sir Richard,
You do not know me, but I have been a loyal follower of your tweets. In addition to your youtube videos. And a big fan.
I know you have had your differences with Joe Am, but I assure you he and I do not share the same world view. As a matter of fact, I am now under moderation (many times I have been banned entirely from his blog). This letter serves as my way out of the dog house. But I digress. I am writing because I fear you may be going astray in your rabid hatred for the Dutertes. Thus inadvertently, throwing your full support to the Marcoses.
Sir, Mindanao is not Sub-Saharan Africa. You are falling into the liberal woke mind virus when you say this. I’m sure you already know that Sub-Saharan this or that as epithet or euphemism is conservative dog whistle for the N-word these days. And all the colonial baggage that implies. Thus racism comes full circle with wokeism. That’s what you’re doing.
Using Sub-Saharan as a dig at the Dutertes directly and indirectly towards DDS and Mindanaoans in general is generally not cool. Please refrain from using Sub-Saharan from here on out.
Provincial is sufficient. Its both literal and insulting, but passes for professional and polite.
I plead with you to please visit Mindanao. Don’t go to Davao. Don’t go to Cotabato. Go straight to Kabacan. And straight in to University of Southern Mindanao (MIT). Their Hotel and Restaurant Management folks run several guest homes and hostels on campus. So stay on campus.
But I want you to go there to do further research on Ahmed ibn Parfahn. You see, I think he is the Philippines’ Malcolm X.
The impetus of this letter addressed to you, sir, was because I posted a quote by Malcolm X on Joe’s recent article titled “WHEN WHITE MEN RULE THE WORLD, WHAT CAN FILIPINOS EXPECT?”
In attempt to suggest that we both may be thinking of two entirely different WHITE MEN, I quoted Malcolm X’s views on liberal White Men:
Then in crafting this letter, I asked myself who the Philippines’ Malcolm X was. And I realized it was none other than Ahmed ibn Parfahn. Whom Ireneo’s father Dr. Zeus A. Salazar wrote about here:
Now Ireneo’s father doesn’t really think too highly of ibn Parfahn. Kinda like how you don’t think too highly of the Dutertes, and from your Sub-Saharan comments maybe also of Mindanaoans. Which is fine. I hope to change your mind on both or all three.
To be clear, I am not from Mindanao. Nor am I from the Philippines even. But I listen to stories and accounts closely. And remember a great deal. When it’s time to do penance for TSOH or to Joe specifically, I reach in my bag of tricks and pull out new content.
This is one of them. It’s a story about ibn Parfahn and about USM (which was called Mindanao Institute of Technology or MIT when Parfahn was there in the 1960s). and it’s a story about Mindanao. My purpose here is to not only inspire you to visit MSU in Kabacan. But to really embody the Philippines’ Malcolm X within your world view going forward, especially towards 2028. and have a better appreciation of Mindanao. Because you are in the perfect spot to mend both North and South, thus unifying the Philippines.
1960s Mindanao is a turning point of sorts for the Philippines. I don’t know how Parfahn ended up at USM, or where he went after. But while he was at USM or MIT, he was an artist in residence. He was an accomplished sculptor. Mostly he did statues of local herons and other birds. The amphitheatre used to be littered with herons. He worked directly under the School of Trade & Industrial Education, where he was given a studio from which to work. It was here also that the lively meetings of his Pan-Malayan Club conferred. at any given time, more than 50 students would be in attendance.
I’m not sure if the students and some faculty in attendance bought his Pan-Malayan theories, but many of them attended because in a quiet college campus in the middle of nowhere, his meetings were a cross between Dead Poets Society and Fight Club. Even though Parfahn never finished high school, he had charisma and the gift of gab. Students enjoyed his company. And they were from everywhere, both settlers and locals. Christians and Muslims. as well as lumads. All there because they wanted to see themselves as sharing an identity together. They were Malay.
You see Parfahn himself was Tagalog, maybe from Manila or NCR. He spoke only Tagalog. but when Tagalog was not viable, he’d speak to people in English. his club meetings were mostly done in English, adding to its popularity on campus. But he was accepted by local moros as a fellow Muslim. he was non political, either local provincial politics or national. He only cared about Pan-Malay unity. with that said, Parfahn did get into hot water with the College president for staging protests to change Philippine independence day to June 12, instead of July 4th. That was his only political act. And when GMA’s dad did change it to June 12, his Pan-Malayan club had a little parade around campus to the chagrin of the president.
He was certainly a character, but more than that, Parfahn had a vision for the Philippines. and a bunch of people at MIT during his stay there wanted to share in that vision. But the macro- and micro- reality of Mindanao just wasn’t having any of it. This I’m sure eventually chipped away at his dream of Pan-Malaysianism.
At the micro- level, there was Pacifico Solomon aka Manong Pikong. who was a transplant himself from Ilocos. He was the welding instructor, an actual faculty member unlike Parfahn who was more of a contract worker under the School of Trades. But they were colleagues and indeed worked together. Manong Pikong was a guerilla during WWII, the same age as Parfahn. They would’ve been in their late 30s to early 40s. but what Parfahn did during WWII is a mystery. Manong Pikong’s claim to fame at MIT was that he generated a red alert campus-wide lock down, in which the School of Trades got ready for what they thought was an impending war with Datu Udtug Matalam.
You see Manong Pikong was an avid tennis player. as well as a big shit talker. one day during his match with one Prof. Fred Manlangit of the English Dept. who had just returned from the US having earned his masters degree in the subject, just had enough of Manong Pikong’s talk. The English professor whacked Mr. Solomon from behind with his racket drawing first blood, but apparently unbeknownst to him Manong Pikong was a legit battle tested eskrimador. With a series of well placed quick blows, rendered Professor Manlangit bloodied and senseless.
Unbeknownst to Manong Pikong, Mr. Manlangit tucked tail and ran to his patron, literally his father-in-law Datu Udtug Matalam. MIT faculty and administrators, already familiar with how Strong Man datus operated, went into full lock down. Thankfully, Datu Udtug Matalam decided to chastise his son-in-law instead as a weakling and MIT campus sighed in collective relief. Mr. ibn Parfahn would have been there for that episode as well. But I bring this story up because it outlines how precarious these Datus and Strong Men were in Mindanao. But not only that , also the hierarchy between the English and Trades departments, wherein a man of letters really thought he would have been able to best a man who uses his hands for work day in and day since WWII.
But also how weakness and strength are weighed by Strong Men and Datus in Mindanao. Had circumstances been different, Datu Udtug could have responded with an army of his men. In order to right the slight. Thankfully that didn’t happen.
So that’s the micro- level of 1960s Mindanao. The macro- level is that in 1965, MIT’s ROTC program thus armory were already given a red alert or more accurately DEFCON 3 yellow to be wary. This same year the weapons ROTC used which were remnants of WWII had all their firing pins taken out. eventually later on, the armory would be raided and much of the weapons taken by Maguindanaos. That was when Ilagas and Barracudas, essentially gangs, ramped up their fighting. but in 1965, it was mostly just random acts of violence. mainly due to settlers vs. locals conflict.
At the macro- national level was all the Liberalistas vs. Nacionalistas spat. which translated to provincial marco-level of personalities in the form of Almendras and Salipada Pendatun. this part you can read in Patricio “Jojo” Abinales book “Making Mindanao”. But at the micro- level is Datu Udtug Matalam’s creation of Mindanao Independence Movement (MIM). by the time this happened, Ahmed ibn Parfahn had already left MIT.
This is the context, though I concede its not the full context, of Parfahn’s Pan-Malaysianism.
But this was the milieu. And how his club, which met inside his humble art studio in the Trades Department on campus attempted to offer another path for Mindanao. One that transcended tribes, ethnolinguistic groups and religions. Eventually Jabidah massacre would occur. Marcos would prop up the Sinsuats and Ampatuans, which would become partly the impetus for MIM. and MIM would later be the template that young Moros who had been educated in Cairo or Khartoum, with others from US or UP Diliman. would form their separate separatist movements. Although Matalam was never really serious within MIM, even extending his support eventually to Marcos. it was under MIM, that Salamat (a Maguindanao) and Misuari (a Tausug) and Lucman (a Maranao) would train troops in Malaysia.
As a bit of trivia, the son of the MIT president who couldn’t stand ibn Parfahn, well he would end up playing a very important role in bringing Misuari back into the fold much later on. They were roommates at UP Diliman and remained close friends. When he worked as go between to Misuari he was working under the Sec. of Education’s office who himself was a product of MIT.
The connection to Malcolm X and ibn Parfahn, is that half a world away, after having been booted out by the Nation of Islam’s “messenger” Elijah Mohammed, Malcolm X was also doing something akin to Pan-Malaysianism in the form of Pan-Africanism. Its origins of course predate Malcolm X, but the gist of it I think is what ibn Parfahn’s Pan-Malaysianism echoed. As Ireneo’s father outlined Pan-Malaysianism predates ibn Parfahn as well, but I think he was the closest of any Filipino to actually actualize it. at MIT through his Pan Malayan Club.
So, Sir Richard… (and I do apologize for the length of this letter now, but I promise to wrap it up soon) if you insist on using Sub-Saharan to describe Mindanao then at least make a nod to Malcolm X. And give Ahmed ibn Parfahn his due. If you can visit that library in which Prof. Zeus Salazar found his books. Read them. Maybe do an article or two on his work. But I really hope you visit MIT. Find those Pan-Malayan Club members, there should still be some who stayed in the area, or retired from abroad and returned to the area. They would be in their late 70s or early 80s now, so time is of the essence.
Now for liberal vs. conservative and why Malcolm X thought the White liberal was more “deceitful” and “hypocritical”. I’m sure the parallels of Mindanaoans thinking similarly of their Luzon brethren is apt. And I’m sure you would consider yourself a liberal. I think you are representative of Filipino liberalism ngl. So I offer you two books, one written by a Film and Media Studies professor at UC Irvine, Catherine Liu and Rebecca Allensworth a Vanderbilt Law School professor teaching Contracts and Antitrust Law focused on Big Tech. As an academic, you’ll be able to parse through them much better than I can ever do. So, I won’t even try.
Essentially, it’s what happens when liberals abandon the working class to focus on white collar work. They export manufacturing. They do NAFTA. and then when they’re done with dismantling everything else, they roll out language games and trauma studies to keep the masses entertained. Basically, that’s Catherine Liu’s criticism. Rebecca Allensworth’s criticisms of liberal America I’m less familiar, but her work on professional licensing boards gatekeeping workers fit perfect with Liu’s case against the Professional Managerial Class. And succinctly represented by the fight between Manong Pikong and Prof. Manlangit at the MIT tennis courts that day. blue collar vs. white collar.
I know this issue is a lot more complex, Richard. And I won’t take up any more of your time. If you got this far, thank you for reading.
But to tie all this up in a nice red bow, I think Malcolm X distrusted White liberals because they would eventually— and to Malcolm X’s credit prophetically— abandon the working class. And your Sub-Saharan quip although based on a legit study with graphs and all I know, is the similar unfolding of that abandonment that Malcolm X forecasted for black Americans. What I am trying to say, Richard, is that you are the White liberal, only Filipino. So listen to Bob Marley’s “Redemption Song”, take a trip to UP Diliman’s library and dig up Ahmed ibn Parfahn’s books. Look for solutions there, and then go to Kabacan to attempt to locate his former acolytes. You have less than three years to save the Philippines from itself.
Your mission , should you choose to accept it, is to revive Pan-Malaysianism and unite the Philippines. Before 2028.
God speed and good luck,
LCPL_X
( p.s.ย — I hope to see you inย joeam.com‘s comments section, there’s so much more to discuss here.ย But I think that’s where Filipino liberalism is headed.)
_________________________
Cover Photo from You Tube video titled “Richard Heydarian | Philippines Under Duterte“. A profile brief and recent writings of Heydarian are provided by IPS “Richard Heydarian“.
The Society of Honor by Joe America 
University of Southern Mindanao , so all MSU acronym’s should be USM. thats my bad.
But there is an MSU, Mindanao State University, though USM predates MSU. 1954 and 1961, so by 5 years. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domocao_Alonto ‘s kids attended USM.
Booooooom!!!
Well rats, did I miss some of the little buggers? Every time I read it a few more popped out, like cockroaches in the pantry.
I’m probably dyslexic, Joe. or was attempting to add stories of the Alontos because they were hanging out with Tausugs there, but didn’t quite know how to tie that together.
Missed another one, MIM should be Muslim Independence Movement.
heto, mindanao will soon be boosting newer crime fighters. all the examinees from university of southern mindanao passed their exam and gained licensure as recently as february 2025. mindanao’s human development index must now jump!
https://www.usm.edu.ph/usm-marks-another-100-passing-rate-in-licensure-examination-for-criminologists/
That is good news, kb. lack of policing also added to the whole screw up in Marawi, eg. AFP w/ several battalions involved trying to quelch 400 or so terrorists. and they leveled the whole city. more cops doing good policing would’ve preempted all that. the good in good policing being the operant word here.
In this 20th anniversary zoom presentation of Making Mindanao, Dr. Patricio Abinales mentioned that was one of the issues preventing Mindanao’s development the lack of policing, his American advisers key inquiry was that. where’s the cops?!!
good talk to about the process of getting a dissertation started.
I will transfer here the chatgpt analysis of KB’s analysis. Pardon the formatting.(I was not able to fix it in the previous article)
Your observations highlight deep-rooted governance and socio-economic issues in Mindanao that cannot simply be attributed to โManilaโ alone. While national policies and historical neglect have played a role, local leadership, weak institutions, and informal economies also contribute significantly to the regionโs challenges.
Key Issues in Mindanaoโs Governance and Economy
:1. Local Governance and Political DynastiesDespite Mindanao having its own elected local governments, governance remains heavily influenced by political dynasties. Families like the Tans in Sulu and others in different provinces control local politics, limiting real democratic competition and development efforts.The presence of warlordism and private armies weakens governance and allows corruption, lawlessness, and inefficiency to persist.
2. Land Ownership IssuesMany Mindanaoans distrust the land titling system, leading to widespread informal ownership. This was evident after the Marawi Siege, where the lack of proper land records complicated rebuilding efforts.The reluctance to register land and pay land taxes weakens the local revenue base, making it harder for LGUs to fund development projects.
3. Informal Economy and Cash HoardingThe preference for keeping money at home instead of in banks reflects both distrust in financial institutions and fears of instability.The discovery of large sums of money hidden in Marawi homes after the siege underscores how informal economies thrive outside the formal banking system, making financial regulation difficult
.4. Security Issues and Porous BordersKidnappings for ransom, piracy, and smuggling have been persistent problems due to weak enforcement and geography. Terrorist groups exploit these conditions, creating long-standing security threats.Local government units often turn a blind eye, either out of fear or because of hidden alliances with armed groups.
Accountability:
Who is to Blame?While it is easy to blame โManila,โ Mindanaoโs problems are just as much the result of local governance failures, political patronage, and weak institutional structures.National government policies must be reformed, but local leaders and communities must also take responsibility for strengthening governance, formalizing land ownership, and integrating with the national economy
.Possible Solutions:
Land Reform and Digital Land Titling: Establishing a transparent, accessible land registry to formalize ownership.
Financial Inclusion Programs: Encouraging banking participation to reduce reliance on informal cash holdings.
Stronger Local Governance Reforms: Breaking dynastic control and promoting accountable leadership
.Border and Security Cooperation: Strengthening regional security ties, particularly with Indonesia and Malaysia, to combat cross-border criminal activities.Would you like to explore specific case studies or policy recommendations on these topics?
Good overview and set of recommendations. Land reform seems like it ought to be doable. Financial inclusion is underway, but if people have little money, it’s hard to get included. Dynasty control is a tough one to break. National policies (pork) seem to promote it. Border and security cooperation is done now. More boats would help.
If Hope is for Harnessing Only Positive Events then at most many are doable. That is a good thing. Dynasties can only be cracked if they volunteer to change their last names except through marriage or any ties to the dynast.
There is a HOPE article in this blog, of course:
Welcome to the dedma club, Heydarian’s response reminds me of what I got when I made a reaction to a Rappler article and tagged both Maria Ressa and the editor who wrote it:
The elitism of Filipino thought and opinion leaders is huge, and I don’t know if my access to historians was due to my father’s name as I have no credentials in that subject, just my own work on it similar to your present research, props to that. You might try answering this tweet:
https://x.com/RichHeydarian/status/1901370108477681966
More on the contents of the article when I am back from work this evening. Thanks again.
I think his initial point was just that, that DU30 didn’t really do anything for Mindanao (even Davao). and the numbers show. which makes sense. but politics is all optics. and like Nietzsche said there’s no truth just interpretations. so of course my boy Heydarian is correct it is Sub-Saharan levels. how Mindanaoans interpret that or spin it, is more politics or Filipinos delicadeza than anything.
But to go back to Malcolm X, i read awhile back where the 1960s riots in Watts, South LA never recovered really from that. then 1990s Rodney King Riots, put it further back down. so its like a deep hole you can never get out of. like i said to kb, good policing is one big part to ensure stability. but the other thing that Dr. Abinales covered was the land grabbing, with speculators and illegal stuff re real estate, very much like the stuff i shared on southern Negros in my article with hacienderos and low land elites: https://joeam.com/2024/11/21/the-return-of-philippine-monasticism-the-catholic-church-and-origens-sacrifice-for-god/
this is where Kendrick Lamar and Nipsey Hussle (RIP) comes in, their model is to inject money back into South LA. the opposite happened during GWOT Philippines, much of the money that went to bangsamoro ended up in Macao or HK, or EU or the USA. like WTF over? where DU30 (and his generation) is more like Elijah Mohammed and those fleecing black pastors; i think Inday Sara sees the light and is more like Kendrick Lamar, and she has the support as well. so this ICC spat is interesting. lets see where she takes it. but for sure a boost.
But Mindanao is bigger than her. of course.
Well, yes, but let’s take it a few steps further. A FB share I linked showed what Mindanao is: corporations, churches, clans, weak institutions, and also marginalized people. Actually, the Philippines in a nutshell except that in Mindanao, the institutions are the weakest and the marginalized the most marginalized as per Karl’s AI summary above. If Mindanao has settler colonialists from Visayas, Baguio where Heydarian is from has Ilocanos like him (and sonny, hey we aren’t to blame for our histories, my folks too were partly Tagalogs who came to Bikol for the abaca) as settler colonialists with the Cordillerans in the mountains and the Ibanag and Itawis in the Cagayan valley playing a similar not same role as the Lumads in Mindanao.
If Mindanao has its clans, warlords were a thing in Ilocos until the 1970s with Crisologo. His nephew Chavit Singson still is around. It is just that institutions are less fluid in the center of the Republic than at its fringes. And center includes rich towns like Baguio, Cebu, and Iloilo.
Heydarian is stickler for strong institutions BTW and so am I.
I think where you and Heydarian agree, is where I and gian differ from you and Heydarian. namely, to forego the state and instead focus on Filipinos. by-pass the state. we’ve talked about policing (good policing) and keeping money within Mindanao. the most do-able solution i think that can be done right now is similar to that Commission on Nat’l Integration scholarship (8,000 or so Muslims between 1957-1968 were recipients , Nur Misuari was product of this he was at UP Diliman political science dept as teacher when Jabidah happened).
So similar to CNI scholarship funding, pay schools to generate contents via youtube and/or TikTok. first layer of this though has to be that FREE Starlink connection. encourage recipients of funds to create their channels and a niche (but has to do with Mindanao or specific subjects found therein, like the rubber industry etc.). the gov’t funds is just means to jumpstart people’s channels/blogs/podcasts etc. it’ll have an expiration date. The idea here is to flood the rest of the Philippines with Mindanao content (not just the Philippines but the world).
theres a youtube channel i used to watch now titled Natasha’s Adventures (it use to be called Ya Russia), she’s from Siberia and went to school in Kabarovsk (Far East Russia) so her content was just stuff around where she lived and went to school, like just her walking around town and talking about life there. then she went to the mid west USA for like a summer English program i think and her English got better. really eye opening content, and she was generating an income from that coming from outside Russia. then Ukraine happened , she left Russia and people gave her more money, then her content was more about politics and expat life etc.
So going back to institutions, I would submit Natasha’s example as possible means to by-pass the Philippine gov’t. that the gov’t should encourage Filipinos to by-pass it, encourage Filipinos to take the reigns and propel the Philippines forward. in essence i’m putting the horse in front of the carriage here, Ireneo. cuz carriage not going anywhere in front. Let Filipinos push the envelope then the institutions can follow. like how Nur Misuari and Hashim Salamats (he was not CNI put part of Nasser’s program which took Moros students to Egypt, etc.) supplanted the datus educated by the Americans.
Schools i think are a dead end now. eventually it’ll be obsolete but for now it can distribute funds for youtube channels etc.
Still looking for policing stats that compare/contrast all the Philippines, as well as investments whether or not money gets recycled enough in Mindanao before it leaves to Manila or abroad. my Googling isn’t fruiting anything, probably stats are behind paywalls or non accessible websites.
But something that is easy to do and can be done now is that. gian was looking into AI generated movies.
oh and transport too:
Under Transport.
The “Zamboanga Canal” refers to a proposed canal project to connect Panguil and Pagadian Bays on the Zamboanga Peninsula in the Philippines, potentially shortening travel times and boosting economic development.
Here’s a more detailed explanation:
This is what Joe wrote about transport in Mindanao:
Bypassing already exists in the Philippines. In essence, bypassing is what fuels โsoft corruptionโ by greasing the blocks in the system in order to โbypassโ the red tape of requirements. Encouraging more bypassing would only ingrain the bad habit, and entrench corruption. Rather, reducing useless requirements is the more correct course of action. Much of the requirements and clearance process in the Philippines is a type of OA: a kabuki theatre of performative official ritual. So government reform should reduce as many unnecessary barriers as possible, not encourage bypassing necessary procedures.
On the Mindanao Rail Project. Well, the study has been ongoing for nearly 90 years. Perhaps in another 90 years the study will be completed ๐
by by-passing I meant what gian meant awhile back, essentially being less dependent from the gov’t. by doing so, the Philippine gov’t has to prove its own worth. so more Filipinos should by-pass, eg. instead of waiting for fast internet get Starlink. by pass. similar also to P-Pop advice given to Filipinos shared by Ireneo, meaning less dependency on state apparatus, through music, arts, other endeavors. and why I mentioned youtube tiktok, etc. as solution, and Joe’s
certification, licensure, documentation issues, by pass all that. by pass is good strategy and philosophy,
when dealing with weak governance.
Yes, with PPop, I am against Korean style government backing like with KPop.
But that is because politicians would have too much control over creatives.
Don’t believe the Philippines is capable yet of neutral institutions in such matters.
LOL. kinda like how theres only 3 athletes sent to the olympics usually, but theres like 200 Filipinos in the parade, Ireneo.
There were 22 Filipino athletes last time, but yeah about the procession. Hey itโs the Philippines, all the neighbors will join the handa, invite or not (I had no idea who half of the people were eating the last lechon I bought lol).
Well, there was the ASAP Milano concert by ABS-CBN in Milan, Italy in late 2023 and they had some artists in the show just for a few minutes, an obvious junket by ABS-CBN to reward some of their most popular stars. Milan hotels are NOT that cheap.
By contrast, SB19, “the boys,” went on their Pagtatag World Tour with just 15 people max, including themselves, and the five shared two hotel rooms. Very Pinoy that in a vlog, they talked about how many briefs they had packed for their foreign trip.
The “nation’s girl group” BINI, which is managed by ABS-CBN, always has lots of managers in the hierarchy in the credits of each music video. SB19’s own company 1Z has just 40-50 people as per LinkedIn. This is classic corporate versus startup competition.
Concertgoers were a bit annoyed by the ad segment of the BINI Concerts, but hey, the sponsors from Jolibee onwards funded the high-end stuff. The videos above and below give an idea of what the world of around 30-odd ad sponsors look like for the 8 girls.
I have seen snippets somewhere of the LA studio recording of BINI’s latest MV release Blink Twice where the CEO of ABS-CBN was there, the exact same person I somewhat pitied when he had to face Congress franchise hearings 5 years ago, but yeah I am sure he was needed in LA.
Fans of the girl group have criticized recent marketing of the groups coming US tour as low effort, though it improved recently. ABS-CBN calls itself Kapamilya. Are the 8 young ladies of BINI sometimes like the breadwinners of Filipino families made to do most of the work? If a for profit (and now struggling to pay debts incurred as they lost their franchise etc) company like ABS can be like that, imagine huge PPop concerts in LA with major groups where half of the VIP seats are Liza Marcos and friends. Seems that was the case with the BINI February 15 Philippine Arena concert when it came to the ad sponsors, and probably will also be with SB19 on May 31 with their “ninangs” who are roughly a dozen. But neither group will have too much ballast in their US tours. Last year, BINI in Canada had tailors with them but no makeup staff.
Both idol groups can’t afford to bring bands and backup dancers as US entertainer visas got very expensive from mid-2024, which is probably why Gigi and her band including her producer/fiancee, all in all 6 people, went on full blast US and Canada tour before that cost got higher.
Morissette Amon, when she had her concert in Frankfurt, Germany with Darren Espanto last May, relied on a local Filipina for hairdo and makeup, while their two backup dancers who were local were so very OA during the show as that was their 15 minutes of fame, actually more.
So have government involvement in movies and in other culture stuff like the Frankfurt book fair this autumn where the Philippines is the guest country and Filipino publishers are trying to find German translators for their books. I wonder how many sabits will be in Frankfurt. But in big money stuff like PPop, sure have collabs like SB19 has with Sentro Rizal and BINI had with the Department of Tourism (and Morissette recently sang their latest theme song) and all. But keep them out of the music itself as they are a guarantee for patronage and mediocrity.
I really liked the Kendrick Lamar halftime show and the resulting conversations that followed from said performance. with MAGA going nuts then folks like Alex Jones et al did more research and they were all like hey this Drake vs. Kendrick stuff is actually related to Epstein/PDiddy stuff, then like 80% of MAGA became Kendrick Lamar fans within a week. it was really weird to see, Ireneo.
but the most interesting part was pgLang (for program Language) which is his ad company, or whatever type of company it is cuz a lot of people are confused is it a label or an ad company, what?
essentially its an artist collective, ensure artist get paid. so wondering now if PPop is getting hip to all this too. another form of bypassing. the system.
good behind the scenes look at the performance.
There is an OG Pinoy rapper who tried to start a kind of Lamar-Drake diss between him and SB19 but was ignored. EZ Mil, the Fil-Am rapper who works with Eminem, also ignored him, though Abra saying he looked like a chick was funny. Video below:
There is an interesting place in Baguio where Heydarian lives, a pretty high-end place for live gigs including a small recording studio upstairs. Video below shows the place:
Dionela, with his new take on Filipino R&B, is going on world tour as well.. lots going on.
Well if that’s how you define bypassing, then plenty of (rich) Filipinos already “bypass” the government or even private services. But this is not a great strategy or advice to the Filipino public because let’s take the Starlink example: Starlink is very expensive, and it is not accessible to most Filipinos, and even in smaller provincial towns, the fiber-backed cellular data connection is sufficient while in major cities 5G data is commonplace.
Yes, many Filipino jobs demand too many requirements in the form of university degrees, certifications, clearances of all forms including medical and NBI, etc. But that is a function of Filipino private businesses having high requirements because: a.) in the absence of great OJT it covers the manager’s ass from hiring an unqualified worker b.) Filipinos love official-seeming document theater. Unless those two core problems are changed, one cannot bypass the system in order to get the job in this scenario.
The greatest form of bypassing already exists by the way. It’s in BPO where a senior high school graduate can rise up to management without even having a college degree, or Millennial Filipinos becoming online sellers/hustlers with many becoming decently successful.
That A and B and some C Filipinos by-pass the gov’t is a given, Joey. such is Oligarchy. the question is can we get C, D and E Filipinos to do the same without going the NPA or Moro secessionist route. Ireneo’s PPop is informative, gian’s blockchain and AI films (essentially anything gian is looking at) looks like a great strategy and direction.
As to Starlink, again the DE Filipinos will be getting Starlink form DepED or from churches, they don’t pay for it. the principle here is just to give them internet access, thus by-passing the system. both gov’t and private sector inaction.
by them.
BPO i agree is the greatest form of bypassing, but remember this work sucks (at least thats what karl says) plus the writing on the wall now is that AI will take over. So looking ahead any prognosticating has to account for BPO being gone soon.
Thus bypass BPO too (virtual assist seems AI vulnerable too). that’s why am also curious about the Philippine made phones if maybe they shouldn’t be making phones but something akin in principle to Playdate, up creativity factor, lower tech requirement.
Letโs agree to disagree on this Starlink fixation. I urge you to subscribe to Starlink and compare it to your home internet. For sure the physical ISP is going to be much more reliable and expandable. Starlink only exists due to US military needs and US government investment. Itโs expensive, crap and slow, with high latency, however that doesnโt matter for the applications the military needs it for. And PH churches and DepEd donโt have the funds to do such things.
https://palawan-news.com/ppc-govt-donates-54-starlink-units-to-deped-schools/
that’s from Sept. 2024, so curious how that’s coming along. but theres a test case at least.
As to me getting Starlink , as Luddite I try to be behind on purpose. whatever the opposite of manufactured obsolescence is. that’s me. so no Starlink for me, but those videos of Starlink in around Manila seem to be doing good, and its suppose to be better outside of cities.
“For sure the physical ISP is going to be much more reliable and expandable.ย “
Remember the proposal was for those with really bad slow to zero internet connection in the Philippines.
Metro Manila already has some of the best fiber internet and 5G coverage in the Philippines. So I consider Starlink in Manila to be the toys of rich kids, which is a bit foolish when letโs say PLDT Fiber can hit 10 Gbps plus with sub-2ms latency, an impossibility for Starlink, and do it for much cheaper than Starlink. Even Smart/Globe/DITO 5G offers higher speeds with lower latency than Starlink. For areas that have slow to zero internet connection, itโs likely those areas are so poor and sparsely populated that they wonโt be able to afford Starlink to begin with so thatโs a nonstarter.
I think a balance is needed between institutions and people, and that is civic society. Otherwise, the danger is that other players act like mini states.
In Mindanao, it can be corporations like mines or plantations, Quiboloy or similar, or clans.
There is little true freedom if one is a simple citizen facing such forces. That is probably the main flaw of libertarianism that kind of romanticizes the Wild West.
Oh, that’s a good point.
At first i thought this was about liberalism vs. conservatism in the Philippines and what prompted Joe’s interest in that Malcolm X statement (one he’s made numerous times).
But upon Googling, i never found him talk about conservatism vis a vis liberalism. only that White liberals are bad. which got me thinking about Prof Catharine Liu’s position which on further watching of her videos I think she’s critiqueing neolibs more than libs– which returns us back to Micha’s stuff on neolibs.
but like the good liberal that she was, like you and Heydarian, Micha was also very pro strong gov’t. she bit my head off re Bitcoin. that was fun.
So I think liberalism as gas pedal and neoliberal progressivism or leftism simply first gear, then 2nd, and so on… but conservatism simply as the brakes. means they are apples and oranges. not to be compared.
Has to be libertarianism vs. liberalism, so i would have to argue from the anarchist perspective to get to the logical end of this position, Ireneo. and found this:
https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/simoun-magsalin-towards-an-anarchism-in-the-philippine-archipelago
In Abinales’ Making Mindanao, he does describe how Americans attempted to tame Davao via rubber, abaca, etc. but they couldn’t get workers. the lumads who did work for them weren’t consistent they would just up and walk away and go hunting or trading with other tribes instead.
Which reminded me of attempts to “domesticate” Bushmen in southern Africa, where they would just leave their farms and go back to hunting. same with that shit knife Eskimo story where Canadian authorities brought natives into the fold but grandpa wanted to go back out, so they imprisoned him (his family) taking away his gear and he was all like Fuck this!!! and took a shit , then froze it and and formed it into a sharp knife . so he escaped. killed a caribou with his knife then made the carcass into his sled.
Maybe all this is also romanticizing of hunting/gathering or noblizing of savage, but there is something about not needing institutions, but since there is already institutions, maybe the wisdom for said institutions to give way to people who don’t need them. good policing and fair judges, is the main focus i want re institutions.
so a middle ground if you will. identify prioritize which institutions to focus on. thus we return to my point in https://joeam.com/2024/11/04/maritime-policing-in-the-philippines-with-cap-marines-international-affairs-and-civil-affairs-combined-with-some-psyops-too/ On Mindanao and badjaos specifically. but also lumads and negritos in general. they would be the most anarchist expression of libertarianism in the Philippines. but since Filipinos have curtailed their range so much, there has to be a debt paid to them for having done that. maybe reservations?
but that youtube tiktok idea can also be extended to Philippine natives, the world can learn from hunting and gathering lifestyle plus conservationism of that important resource/skill and sharing it to the rest of the Philippines and the world, Ireneo.
Schools certify rudimentary levels of achievement, allowing one to move to the next step. I don’t see how You Tube issues diplomas. Although on-line schools can.
it’s Manong Pikong vs. Prof. Manlangit, Joe.
trades vs. humanities.
But more importantly, the assumption that AI/robots will render all that “levels of achievement” or simply documentation thereof, obsolete.
Everyone can be Manlangit (heavenly man is my interpretation, lol) but not everyone can be Manong Pikong (for Pacifico) cuz thats hands on, which serendipitously or synchronicitily is this meme which has become popular of late (Pacifico vs. Manlangit):
So i ‘m thinking students are gonna still get churned out of schools, but eventually they’ll realize that it wasn’t needed. And i think that’s what Malcolm X meant, the education system there as well as over here, but here first I’m sure, promoted book learning and artificially propped it up as the standard. i don’t know when those horticulture and wood shop and welding and mechanics classes were taken out. but now the trend is a bunch of kids here are opting for trades (Manong Pikong) again instead of humanities (Manlangit).
The question now is do you have to go to school for trades? especially now with the advent of youtube? Lots of DIY and learning of trades, eg. plumbing, mechanics, carpentry etc. all via youtube , Joe. no need for documenting or certification neither cuz proof of the pudding is in the tasting meaning your work is your fruit and people can actually buy or not. that’s trades. unlike English degrees.
DIY will be the trend IMHO.
I think employers will make the decisions on how to filter applicants. I’m all for unregimented education and fitting people to jobs well. That’s why I tell my son to become a rock band guitarist. It’s his highest skill. He has been plying for a few months and I can’t distinguish his Stairway to Heaven from Page’s. But businesses will have to concoct new screening devices. Tests prior to interviews perhaps.
First step I think is to stop requiring college degree as standard. Interview should go straight to skills and how people are value added. same with PhDs being necessary for managerial gov’t positions, I think that’s one of the things Trump is dismantling. gatekeeping via documentation, Joe.
https://freakonomics.com/podcast/is-professional-licensing-a-racket/
Power over rules. Can that promote competence? Jury is out, but looking at dictatorial countries, one has to be skeptical. But CAN they? Yes, if they are smart and not insecure.
We just want a critical mass of Filipinos by-passing or pushing back against the broken system to see what the system does in response.
“Thatโs why I tell my son to become a rock band guitarist. Itโs his highest skill. He has been plying for a few months and I canโt distinguish his Stairway to Heaven from Pageโs.”
Does he know about Eddie Veder, Joe?
###
“His mother and brothers moved back to the Chicago area, but Vedder remained with his stepfather in California so he did not have to change schools.
After the divorce, Vedder learned the truth about his parentage and that Mueller was really his stepfather, not his father, an incident that later inspired the song “Alive”. Vedder met his biological father briefly as a child, but was led to believe that Severson was merely an old friend of his parents. By the time Vedder learned the truth, Severson had died of multiple sclerosis. During his senior year at San Dieguito High School, Vedder moved out to live in an apartment and supported himself with a nightly job at a drug store in Encinitas. Because of the pressure of work and school, Vedder dropped out of high school. He joined the rest of his family in the Chicago area, and changed his last name to Vedder, his mother’s maiden name.
In the early 1980s, while working as a waiter, Vedder earned his high school GED from Oakton Community College.”
###
(this song and this shape of songs stuff on Howard stern with Vedder trying to describe how he finds songs in his head reminds me of Vonnegut’s shape of stories. good videos.)
That is about the best description of Mindanao ever. “corporations, churches, clans, weak institutions, and also marginalized people.” And, yes, the whole of the Philippines if averaged out.
An old reddit dicussion about Sub Sahara. I am still confused.
I find the use of this phrase vague, confusing and vacuous at best. I’m aware of the dictionary definition, but why is there a need to delineate countries “south of the Sahara” or “non-Mediterranean” as a distinct bloc? What ties all these countries together meaningfully? How is South Africa closer to Niger than Niger is to Libya? Take for example this IMF article that someone just posted. Why would they exclude Sudan, Egypt, Libya, etc from that analysis? On what basis does it make sense to put Ethiopia, Gambia, and Lesotho in the same bloc but not Egypt? Togo is no more dissimilar to Lesotho than Tunisia, unless you’re using skin color as a meaningful distinction.
This is an extremely large, diverse continent, and I find such simplifications meaningless and suspiciously nefarious. Let me know if I’m the only one who finds this phrase absurd, and if so – what does it invoke for you?
I’m with your, Karl. I could not see the point. I’m glad I am not the only one. I didn’t even bother to check on the definition of Sub Sahara.
Glad not the only one as well.
CD
My go-to person for insights on Africa is sociologist Thomas Sowell of Stanford University.
The discussion widens to include..
https://opinion.inquirer.net/181631/bisaya
—– start of full quote
Do you know what I think of when I hear the word โbisayaโ? I think of that time in my childhood when I was hungry during a bus trip with my mom, and a woman Iโd never met before, a total stranger, offered me some bread.
I think of Super Typhoon โYolandaโ which destroyed our house when I was 12, but my book collection survived because my family made sure to store them in a waterproof bag knowing how much those books meant to me.
I think of my dear friend, Leanne, surprising me with a jar filled with sweet messages in Bisaya from her and our other friends shortly before I moved out of our hometown.
When I hear the word bisaya, these things come to mind: kindness, comfort, joy, and acts of love big and small alike, in all its different forms.
But to many Filipinos, bisaya is a pejorative. They use โmukhang bisayaโ to insult othersโ appearance. If a Filipino wants to call someone cheap, stupid, violent, or worthless, chances are their word of choice will be โbisaya,โ or even worse, โbisakol.โ In the media, Bisaya people are typically either servants or monstersโโaswangโ or scary witches.
Even in the 2020s, local shows and films still reinforce stereotypes about Bisaya people. For example, in the 2023 figure-skating teleserye โHearts on Ice,โ Shuvee Etrata played one of the protagonistโs friends, Kring-Kring, with her natural Cebuana accent.
There was a scene where the whole punchline was how Kring-Kring couldnโt pronounce the word โtiramisu,โ and another where she scared off some bullies by saying that she came from a family of witches.
The stereotyping even extends to real Bisaya people in the public eye. For instance, many Filipinos refer to Colet Vergara from the girl group BINI as Anger, the personified emotion from the โInside Outโ films. Despite Vergaraโs efforts to push back against the nickname, repeatedly telling the public that she isnโt constantly angry, fans and haters alike continue to paint her as angry and aggressive.
Of course, I canโt speak for her. But as an observer, I find it dehumanizing.
Itโs pretty obvious why the nickname wonโt die. As her fellow BINI member Aiah Arceta explained on the talk show โKuan on One,โ Bisaya speakers might sound โangryโ to non-speakersโ ears, but weโre not. Bisaya people are so much more than just one feeling.
We are multifaceted human beings who experience a full spectrum of emotions, not just anger, and deserve to be seen as such. Denying a person this spectrum of feeling strips them of their humanity.
Progress has been painfully slow. In 2018, Viva Films bought the rights to โMagbuwag Ta Kay (MTK),โ the first Bisaya romance-comedy. A big company housing MTK seemed like a watershed moment for Bisaya cinema.
Almost seven years after MTK came out, it remains the only full-length Bisaya rom-com in existence. Media focusing on Bisaya characters is still hard to come by.
But I try to find glimmers of hope. Although Vivoree Esclitoโs Cebuana character Penelope only appeared in a few episodes of the 2022 teleserye โThe Iron Heart,โ I appreciated that she was a young scientist whose mother and boyfriend loved her deeply.
Her morena skin and languageโwith Bisaya lines delivered flawlessly by Esclito, whose mother tongue is Bisaya in real lifeโwerenโt used as punchlines.
At night, I put on my Vispop playlist on Spotify or Bisaya radio stations on my tablet as I try to fall asleep. As a Gen Z kid, I used to cringe at our local radio dramas, but now I appreciate how they offer fiction stories fully written in Bisaya, showing off the melodic and mellifluous qualities of our language, dispelling the notion that Bisaya sounds ugly, harsh, or โbarok.โ
When a song with Bisaya lyrics hits the mainstream, it becomes a part of my life, and I try to introduce it to other people too. For example, โFreeโ by Dom Guyot is in my morning playlist. Iโve introduced songs like โPalayoโ by Felip, โCebuanaโ by Karencitta, and even the original Bisaya version of the classic โRosas Pandanโ to my schoolmates. I have asked for โDay and Nightโ by Alamat at parties. Iโve written about โTsada Mahigugmaโ by Maymay Etrata and โKasing Kasingโ by Juan Karlos and Kyle Echarri academically.
Most recently, Alamatโs Bisaya member, Alas, released the hip-hop song โDonโt Play.โ Its lyrics were penned by Alas himself, using a mix of Bisaya, Tagalog, and English. With the narrator deciding to love a girl even though she doesnโt care about him, the song serves as a celebration of raw emotion.
Things like that give me hope. For my part, I write. Maybe one of these days, Iโll write the worldโs next Bisaya rom-com. After all, a director who was born in the 1980s recently told me that change happens with young people like me. I donโt believe in destiny, but I was born in 2001โnot just a new decade, but a new millennium, too.
Somehow, that seems significant.
The road to progress is steep, yet I persevere. At the root of this is love: love for the Bisaya community, our language, and the amazing Bisaya people in my life, namely my family and friends. Iโve come to realize that in a world where many still fail to see Bisaya people beyond one-dimensional stereotypes, our love and joy are acts of resistance.
—— end of full quote
I’ve found Visayan people to have lovely cultures, just like I found Ilokanos, Bikolanos, and Tausugs lovely. I enjoyed this thoughtful piece by this young person.
I’ve had many debates with Cebuano friends as well, about who Cebuanos can tend to monopolize the definition of Visayan/Bisaya as meaning “Cebuano” That can make Warays, Ilonggos, Tausugs, Sorsogonons feel less as well, to name a few of the numerous Visayan sub-groups.
In my travels across Mindanao, Cebuano has become the defacto lingua franca of the southern island in just a few generations after the first waves of internal migration sponsored by Marcos Sr. arrived. Even Tagalogs and Ilokanos who had also been part of those internal migrations adopted Cebuano as it’s just easier in Mindanao. Native Mindanoan languages like Surigaonon and Butuanon are all but about to be extinct, with fewer and fewer native speakers. Almost anywhere in Caraga, I’ve been told just 2-3 generations ago most people spoke Butuanon, yet now hardly any GenZ or Gen Alpha Butuanons understand, much less speak Butuanon. The Cebuano ingress has gone as far as the remote mountain barangays in the Caraga region, for example in the mountains of Angusan del Norte where the local population may just be a handful of thousands.
It’s true though that “Bisaya” people (ahem, Cebuanos) have much to feel resentful about when it comes to the seemingly distant Manila sending directives in Tagalog down. I happen to one to think “what if” Quezon had not made a badly disguised Tagalog the national language; if the Philippines would experience less fighting between large ethnic groups. But it’s also true that even those who live in Luzon have other resentments. Many of these resentments seem to have stemmed from a cultural and societal narrative, let’s call it the “Philippine myth,” or “Cebuano Myth” or “Tagalog Myth” (and etc.). Just like how sometimes Filipino historians seem to try to ret-con a glorious past, even if that past is impossible to validate. When the myth doesn’t match reality, resentments can be an expression of an inability to accept reality. But without accepting reality, one cannot plan for the next steps with a full understanding of the situation.
I was surprise to learn that Prof. Zeus Salazar was actually very amenable to ibn Parfahn’s pan-Malayan perspective, i guess he was just against the revisionism or out right making shit up , the crazier stuff eg. Alexander the Great was pan-Malayan, might just be same same as how blacks have black Santa and black Jesus as forms of physical expressions. more symbolic to black is beautiful notion.
As to Bisaya, just rewind back to Sri Visaya and you got your consolidation supplanting other ethno linguistic groups. or take ibn Parfahn’s line of thinking but instead of pan-Malayan make it pan-Austronesian and also claim eastern Africa all the way to California, lots of Hawaiin artifacts found amongst the Chumash here.
I guess this is why am such a fan of ibn Parfahn and the Pan-Malayan club, more so the club than the guy actually. from all indications that was the club to be at in USM/MIT during the 1960s before all the secessionist stuff developed unfolded. i imagine the Muslim students who attended, would have later become field officers and or generals for MNLF then MILF. i imagine also the Christian settlers, ie. Cebuanos, Kapampangan (Huks), Ilokanos, Ilongos, etc. would end up standing oppose to them. with lumad students caught in the middle.
But they all came together in that Pan-Malayan club. for a brief moment.
So a counter factual would be What IF what ibn Parfahn attempted to do was successful? the most obvious answer would be that the Philippines would be turned upside down, like literally.
Davao/Cotabato would be cultural centers and the main focus of trade/culture exchange would be around Sulawesi sea and Sulu sea. then from there extend then expand outward similar to how original Austronesians did.
Other Filipinos have a negative notion of non-Tagalogs/non-Ilocanos, Visayan Mindanao residents cuz the entertainment industry there make it a habit not to cover them in a complete light. Why i’m thinking youtube tiktok scholarship can make a dent in that. but instead its all these foreigners from Russia EU the US making these videos. if you encouraged badjaos to create social media content (at sea, not the ones diving for pennies in the wharf) still plying the Sulawesi you’d get one step closer to Ahmed ibn Parfahn and Dr. Zeus Salazar’s dream of Pan-Malaya centered Philippines.
Every Mindanao policy or principle should focus on that dream. re-think the Philippines. turn it up-side down. that should be the direction you wanna take Mindanao, not to get “seen” or “respected” by Tagalogs— like some sort of affirmation whore. just do an about face. completely. turn to Sulu/Sulawesi seas and surrounding regions therein. Luzon can catch up.
“That can make Warays, Ilonggos, Tausugs, Sorsogonons feel less as well, to name a few of the numerous Visayan sub-groups.”
There’s “VISAYAS” on the map, but that doesn’t make everyone within that region delineated therein as VISAYANS like actually visayans, Joey. same way Ilokanos or Bicolanos don’t call themselves LUZONyans(?). people calling themselves Mindanaoans is understandable like how people say Californian or Arizonan here. its not really an identity more like i live here typa deal.
So i think Bisaya is very specific includes Bohol, etc. but not really Waray or Ilongo those are completely different languages not even dialect to Bisaya, like Bohalano is Bisayan dialect. same with Tausug, not even a dialect of Bisaya though sure same linguistic tree etc. so Bisaya = Cebuano, if your ethno-linguistic group has only words and phrases then its a completely different language all together.
Like saying Indians and or Pakistanis are Asians or even Arabs are Asians. Asia is just a map name placement not an identity. sure makes for easier lumping of people. but people shouldn’t just accept those labels and apply to themselves unquestioningly. like how “Black American” is literally considered a slur in Canada.
I don’t think Muslim Filipinos call themselves Mindanaoans, though lumads have adopted it. i guess easier to say than their respective tribe names which many will not know of. but Moros will claim Maranao or Maguindanao or Tausug, etc. i guess it also depends on how big or well known said identity is, like I tell people I’m from Los Angeles but i live closer to Kern county in the desert where UFOs ply.
Calling Cebuano Bisaya is like calling Tagalog Filipino as per the one who runs the Becoming Filipino FB page, and he is right in a way.
Certain groups benefitted more from Spanish rule, like the Tagalogs who weren’t originally in Bataan and Zambales, or the Ilocanos who settled the Cagayan Valley, or Cebuanos settling in Western Leyte and Bohol is what also seems to have happened.
American rule had Ilocanos moving up the Cordilleras, including Baguio, where Heydarian is. It also had Cebuanos and other groups settling in Mindanao, a process the Republic continued. Bikol abaca planters were often either mestizos or Tagalogs or Pampangans except that they were assimilated by those they lived with and eventually intermarried with, different from what happened in the Cagayan valley, Bohol, Western Leyte or much of Mindanao. These are things that happen, just like the Anglo-Saxons drove the Celts (Cornish, Welsh, Scots) uphill. Same as the Rhaetian Romans were driven up the Inn valley by newcomers after the Roman empire..
Doesn’t matter that much what happened what matters is what is made of it now, how to live together as a nation and that is what the Philippines is still working out.
Of course dominance and underdog posturing are also as old as humanity itself. Or older.
that’s a good point about when an identity becomes an identity.
I was basing it off of linguistic identity, but i when does a linguistic group branch out form dialect to an actual separate language thus culture? like German or French or English post Roman empire.
So there was definitely a Sri Visaya empire that got as far as Philippines, whether or not that Visaya is synonymous to Cebuano, you’re right no one’s gonna know. only that Enrique of Malacca (Magellan’s slave) only became instrumental upon contact with them. but we’d have to know Enrique’s origins to make that jibe.
But based on my dealings with Mango Ave. girls, Waray and Ilongos don’t say they are Bisaya. Tausugs for sure don’t. so within the people that call themselves Bisaya, there are vocal folks that don’t. why i’m interpreting that as Cebuano = Bisaya, Ireneo.
I’d like to know now who decided to name it Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao. kinda like who decided to call it Asia. but heres the etymology:
All cartography.
Thus whom ever is going around telling people they are Asians are in fact saying they are Hittites. lol. reminds me of Hurricane, Typhoon and Cyclones for the same exact thing. arbitrary naming of things. and who gets to name them. and where it sticks and where it doesn’t.
“Calling Cebuano Bisaya is like calling Tagalog Filipino as per the one who runs the Becoming Filipino FB page, and he is right in a way.”
So I’m thinking Cebuano and Tagalog are actual identities. whereas Filipino/Pilipino and Asia/Asian are not, thus Visaya too. to your point. but if Ilongos and Waray etc. are distancing themselves from being called Bisaya but Cebuanos take ownership of it. unlike Filipino which all Filipinos can or should take ownership of, in the case of Bisaya … Cebuanos should take it. since they’re the only ones claiming it.
Joe’s wife is Waray, what does she say?
She doesn’t care. She just drifts from language to language depending on who she is speaking with. She has no particular pride in being Waray, which is like the chili in the Visayan salad.
that’s the perfect mind-set for the Pan-Malayan club, Joe. drifts from language to language.
Well in Mindanao when someone refers to themselves as “Bisaya,” most likely the term is used as a synonymous ethnonym for “Cebuano.” This is well known in Mindanao, and often causes conflict with the other major ethnic group that was originally not from Mindanao, the Ilonggo who are concentrated in Soccsksargen Region (South Cotabato, Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat, Sarangani and General Santos). Then of course Cebuanos from Cebu-proper tend to think of Cebuanos from Mindanao as a bit backward country folk. Heck, Boholanos are considered backward by many Sugbuanons. There are many assumptions and stereotypes in the Philippines. It is very complicated there when local loyalties are taken into account, which some have described as a “barangay mindset.”
“Tausug not even (being a dialect of) Bisaya” is another way that Cebuanos separate themselves from Visayan groups that refused to be subsumed into Cebuano regional cultural superiority. Tausug is definitely a Visayan (Bisaya) language, and Tausug people are Visayan people. Tausugs just never converted to Christianity, unlike Humabon who had converted to Christianity from the local syncretization of Hindu-Buddhism, or Lapu-lapu who whose religion was probably the native Visayan animism. Just like there is tension between Christian vs Muslim groups now in Mindanao, expressed through “everyone is Bisaya, except those Tausugs,” during the time of Humabon and Lapu-lapu there was tension between Humabon’s Hindu-Buddhism then Catholicism vs his rival Lapu-lapu’s animism.
I mostly associate with Cebuanos and I’ve raised the irony from time to time of just like Cebuanos feel resentment to Tagalog superiority (both actual official policy, and alleged slights), Cebuanos all but erased major native ethnic groups in Mindanao so how would native Mindanaon groups feel about Cebuano encroachment? Of course, I often received just as intense pushback from some Cebuanos as if I had committed a major affront along the lines of how they feel about Tagalogs “pushing views on Bisaya people.” What did Jesus say again about the “splinter in your brother’s eye?” It takes a lot of personal accountability to realize the hypocrisy of one’s positions and beliefs, as it goes directly against one’s personal narrative and worldview; a problem that is not at all unique to “pan-Bisaya” Cebuanos. As I said, in Caraga they don’t really speak Butuanon anymore, in Surigao younger people cannot speak Surigaonon, in Davao one needs to go far out into the bukid outskirts to encounter the original Dabawenyo as Davao Cebuano has taken over the term “Dabawenyo,” Chavacano is dwindling everywhere much to my shock even in Zamboanga where 20 years ago I encountered many more Chavacano speakers than now. By the way, Tausug, Butuanon and Surigaonon are much more related to each other linguistically than to Cebuano. Butuanons and Surigaonons were erased because being Christians they were able to be subsumed by the numerically superior culture of Cebuanos, while Tausugs retreated and resisted being ethnically erased.
“By the way, Tausug, Butuanon and Surigaonon are much more related to each other linguistically than to Cebuano.”
This makes sense, Joey. this i think was where Enrique of Malacca made his bones as interpreter.
Most likely Enrique de Malacca was a Malay who spoke Bahasa. I don’t subscribe to Quirino’s assertion that Enrique de Malacca was a Cebuano-speaking Visayan. There is a tendency in earlier Filipino academic works to try to ret-con history to somehow “prove Filipino greatness” along the line of European narratives, while ignoring what makes Filipinos actually great. Bahasa was the lingua franca of the Maritime SEA trade networks, not Cebuano. It would seem likely that larger polities like Butuan or Cebu had leaders who could speak Bahasa. Lapu-lapu himself was probably a Malay from what is now Borneo.
I think it was Xiao Chua who considered it more likely as well that he was a speaker of Bahasa because, as per Pigafetta, Enrique only spoke to the chiefs and not to the people. The chiefs could be presumed to speak Bahasa.
Fortunately, the retconning of Philippine history is no longer that common. Only a few people still insist that Cebuano is a dialect of Filipino as well, something that was taught in school in the 1970s. Datu Puti, the code of Kalantiaw and yes, the wishful thinking that the Philippines had in any way been part of Sri-Vijaya or Majapahit – both didn’t reach Sabah even – are not taught anymore, and Tallano gold or Ophir are believed only by the gullible or crazy. I find the FB page title Becoming Filipino interesting BTW as that is where stuff is at now.
Ret-conning Philippine history may no longer be commonplace in Philippine academia, but the stories have long filtered down into common knowledge where I’ve heard regular folks repeat these tales with full confidence, then be very offended if they are told their belief is not true. Some of the damage has already been done, and only reinforces an inferiority complex in my opinion.
The much better course, I think, is to create new narratives based on truth that will replace these old narratives that at once were attempts of being adjacent to colonial overlords and feelings of inferiority. And for those new narratives there are so many great and amazing things that Filipinos can do, and have done, to base off of. Filipinos just need to be their true, authentic selves and build upon it.
What would be an example of a new Philippine narrative? Pan-Malaysianism? or Filipino Futurism (ala Wakanda).
Why go towards constructed (fake) narratives like Pan-Malaysianism or fantastical (unlikely) narratives like Filipino Futurism? Going that direction only sets one up for failure as it ignores the reality of the NOW. In essence both assume no effort is needed on identifying good traits then improving on it, because the future will magically be better.
A better way is to recognize core strengths of the Filipino, then building on it:
1.) strong family units, and strong local community (barangay)
2.) a sense of helping oneโs neighbors in the barangay
3.) ability to work incredibly hard if given direction and explained the โwhyโ
4.) inherent capability of intense empathy, if sources of envy and scarcity are removed
5.) natural ingenuity to create new solutions. Like native bangka, custom jeeps, homemade tricycles. This just needs to be expanded with imported technical knowledge to fit a modern age
โฆ those are just a few off the top of my head.
The crucial point missing is the Filipino tendency towards autarky, which was a theme during the Commonwealth and Third Republic. Autarky didnโt work back then (as the Philippines didnโt have most of the necessary resources or technical knowledge), and it surely doesnโt work now in a much more technologically advanced connected world. Pride might be lowered a bit and outside expertise imported in, learning as fast as possible from outside experts when building up industry. This also requires a coordinated governmental approach to support and provide stability for continued local and foreign investment.
Joey, what is the unifying narrative in Vietnam? Aside from history. cuz they don’t seem to be doing the Japan/S. Korea narrative, eg. corporate Shogunate. with USA backing of course, same same with Taiwan.
Vietnamโs national narrative is one of self-resilience in the face of domination for over 1,000 years by a far bigger neighbor. At many points along the โdominationโ timeline, Vietnam was defacto independent but only paid lip service acknowledgement of Han domination. The times Vietnam was actually invaded, or as the Han historical texts say โto punishโ Vietnam, Vietnam strategically crushed the invaders. Koreaโs national narrative is very much the same, being the other small country being dominated by China on the other end.
I would not describe Japanese narrative is one of corporate Shogunate. The Japanese narrative is akin to basically โmaking everyone a neo-samurai class,โ or in other words, thatโs how they flattened the societal order. One would be hard pressed to find any Japanese who described their national identity as one of shogunism, as shogunism was rejected a long time ago in the Meiji Restoration. Shogunism is in fact the system that stratified society, and goes against the fire of flattening societal classes. Koreans probably would be quite offended to be described as anything Japanese, so corporate shogunate doesnโt describe them either.
Taiwanโs narrative is one of the original republican ideals of the Chinese First Republic, which was in part inspired by the American founding documents. Taiwan was under dictatorship for a time with single party rule, but has since become quite democratic.
You got that right. My father does want to stick to facts as an academic, while Parfahn is indeed like those African-Americans who insist on Black Cleopatra. It reminds me also of how Will mentioned not being fond of Valentin Delos Santos of https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lapiang_Malaya – a Bikolano whose group marched against Marcos Sr. bearing anting-anting – but his group has been regularly on the street since 2018. They do pray instead of using anting-anting and certainly don’t believe they are immune against bullets like the Lapiang Malaya who got shot up in the late 1960s.
My father, I think, still does see the founding moment of the Republic with Bonifacio, and his group writes in Tagalog. They did write with some regional histories like Palawan in the 1980s.
Nonetheless, there is the narrative of common Austronesian cultural roots, which Prof. Chua also propagates. My father’s school of thought now often uses Tagalog, Bisaya, and Ilokano terms in their writings, so they have adjusted a bit to the dynamics of the Philippines.
Are there Moro academics in that group, Ireneo? would you have their names, would love to read on Moro part in all that above you’ve described. whether say Maranao or Tausug etc. are also used as official academic languages as well.
I wonder if there are even Visayans in my father’s circle. Xiao is Kapampangan. In academe, politics and even PPop (big fanwars!) the Philippines is tribal. I think my father had a bad feud with Abinales. One part of his old group split off and made their own group, though I wonder if they still exist. Half of the intro of one of my father’s books around Y2K was a rant against them. There was another spat with others in 2018 where Xiao got caught in the middle.
I did try to tell my father and his group to try dialog back in 2018, but some of those in his group even told me I shouldn’t be carrying his surname. He himself told me hell the Italians had assassinations, and the French had duels, so don’t tell me they did it better. Oh well..
I like your dad, Ireneo. he reminds me of eskrimadors there. they have the same issues too. lots of in fighting. passion. Sen. Zubiri at one time tried to do a peace convention of eskrimadors, very much similar to what Kendrick Lamar is doing in South Central, but at least he knows to distance himself, like Jesus. lol. Zubiri never got anything done but lots of photo ops and catered dinners happened at least . lol. you want fighters to fight but cannot expect fighters to be diplomats. those are different folks.
https://www.academia.edu/33774856/Privileging_Roots_and_Routes_Filipino_Intellectuals_and_the_Contest_over_Epistemic_Power_and_Authority this is about the feuds of Filipino intellectuals by Prof. Caroline S. Hau. S = Sy BTW
Dr. Xiao Chua is the diplomat. Seems the Chinoys aren’t to obsessed with being datus.
My point with Italians and French was that they were at least productive and created Renaissance and Enlightenment. Filipinos waste too much energy on infighting.
Lots of small wannabe datus like Parfahn, medium-sized lakans like Heydarian and old rajahs like my father are the Balkanized Philippine intellectual landscape. Dr. Xiao at least tries to educate the people. I also tried it here for the liberal crowd, especially in 2020-21.
ย “Filipinos waste too much energy on infighting.”
or the opposite, Ireneo. maybe they need to actually start killing each other, like A vs. A or B vs. B , instead of A vs D and E (EJKs), or proxy killing of DEs. Like what First Lady did to that Rustan’s scion. lol. i kid.
That Muhammad Ali and Malcolm X is good watching re too many chiefs not enough indians. but I think in the case of the Philippines more friction is needed, not less. to burn things down, get a whole Phoenix process going maybe.
so your dad is onto something, i think. Elijah Muhammad just had Malcolm X killed. one less dude to worry about. but Malcolm X became like Jesus too. so assassination was productive. he was martyred. win-win.
There are also conflicts and hierarchies of ethnic groups in Indonesia in spite of them having Bahasa as “Common Tongue.” I have been told that the Batak dominate the military, the Javanese the government especially in the center (not ONE President of the Republic was NOT Javanese), and the Sumatrans settled everywhere during what was called Transmigrasi. Pretty similar to the Land of Promise Mindanao program the USA started, and Magsaysay continued, for the latter, it was a safety valve to quell peasant unrest in Luzon.
BUT it seems at least on the surface the cultural politics of Indonesia has more representation, as the Sacred Nusantara music video below though not an official production shows, it has it all from indigenous stuff to singing contest winners singing folk songs to rock. And they don’t have the idea that they themselves are pangit like Filipinos often do, this looking down on some while feeling underdog towards others is very much the colonial complex Filipinos retain.
That makes a lot of sense, Ireneo. cuz the Dutch didn’t spread as much but more importantly cuz they never interfaced w/ locals since they were focused on just trade.
maybe aside from language, we must also base these identities in music and dance. now wondering if Kulintang got as far up north?
Cuz these below aren’t metal right, they’re more akin to african drums?
I found it interesting that Chinese Indonesians were included in that music video as well. The production value was pretty good, evoking emotion even if I don’t understand Bahasa, and doesn’t seem OA at all.
Since Indonesia and Malaysia was nearby the Philippines during my time living in Northeast Asia, I had visited from time to time friends there as well (mostly educated Indo-Malays and Chinese Indo-Malays). What I can say is that in the case of Indonesians, regardless of ethnic group, they carry themselves with at least basic confidence. There is a way to know someone’s position in society but still have dignity. I don’t think I’ve ever encountered excessive shows of performative subservience or superiority in either Indonesia or Malaysia.
The complex of looking down on some while feeling underdog to others can also cause one to suddenly lash out, depending on the social factors of the time. That’s what I got from Heydarian’s “sub-Saharan Africa” comment, then his double-downing on it, which has become a meme across Cebuano-language socmed at the moment. Not to mention that the “sub-Saharan African” descriptor is a colonial relict that has heavy racist overtones as a euphemism for “dark black” Africa in contrast to Northern Africa or the Sahel. Seems ironic that I’ve heard too many times from Filipinos who had never met a Black person immediately identify African with dumb and poor… despite many of those Black African countries having been great empires back in the days, and are now rapidly developing. Perhaps in a decade or two, there will be Filipino think-tankers who will ask “How was it possible that the Africans also bypassed the Philippines?” just like they had asked how South Korea, Indonesia, Malaysia and Vietnam had passed by.
I think it was Ireneo that shared this documentary when we were discussing EJKs awhile back:
“The Act of Killing”. Could’ve been a Filipino documentary. same same culture-wise.
my bad, I thought there were English subtitle (can’t find any with English).
So here’s a Vice interview:
That lashing out is exactly the somewhat unpredictable aspect of some Filipinos, like the historically documented fact that many suddenly were emboldened to insult Spanish priests just after 1896 whose hands they probably had kissed before that. DDS behavior towards perceived elitists during the Duterte Presidency was similar somehow. Or the hair trigger some Filipinos in uniform might have, even if Cpl Nuezca, as described below, was extreme:
Or again, the oscillation of some ilustrados like Juan Luna from admiring Europeans to being resentful and eventually killing his creole wife, Pardo de Tavera’s sister. Or half-American Alan Cayetano going for a pro-China President like Duterte.
One has the feeling that the inferiority complex of some Filipinos will wait for an excuse to suddenly lash out, as if they had seen for instance someone like me as an arrogant halfbreed all along.
Sure, Indonesians are similar to Filipinos as LCPL_X noted. At the Indonesian cultural center in Berlin, the young employees reminded me of UP students in their mannerisms. Two things were not there though: that nervous smile many Filipinos can have and the head-scratching.
Those two mannerisms are red flags for me, I don’t really trust people who do that for a reason. They feel they have to defer and at the same time resent it. Not that easy to explain.
Of course, OA or KSP is usually also due to lack of self-esteem.
“Two things were not there though: that nervous smile many Filipinos can have and the head-scratching.”
LOL! they can learn a thing or two from Armenians. that’s for sure.
I agree on all points, and these are really bad habits in general across Filipino culture. I don’t think these bad habits can be discounted as some out of touch educated elites seem to try to do sometimes, as the bad habits are more than rare.
However, these cultural tendencies also took hundreds of years to form into an undercurrent that threatens to drag Filipinos away from time to time, and at other times lurks below still surface waters menacingly. It would take a long time to change, though in today’s connected world (or just the Philippines being more connected in itself), leaders can bring in good ideas or good habits of other cultures to introduce back home to accelerate the process greatly. That’s what the Japanese did to shake off their backwardness following the Meiji industrial revolution, to the world’s shock when the Japanese Empire defeated the Russian Empire.
Sometimes I feel exasperated by the Filipino educated elites I know when they tout the nativist “Filipino = best” (but what is “Filipino?”) which trickles down to common folk as misguided instances of “Pinoy Pride.” There are so many great things about Filipinos and the Philippines already, so trying to masquerade as something one is not is not at all helpful to fostering change. Not everything that’s home grown is good, nor should everything occurring within one’s culture “the best.” In order for society to evolve, society needs to either invent new paradigms on its own, or import new paradigms from abroad. The latter is much easier to do than “reinventing the wheel.”
I dunno, Joey, American exceptionalism Manifest destiny Democracy is best IN GOD WE TRUST worked for the US, why can’t others take the same path. like fake it to make it typa process?
Hmm, well firstly the concepts above have little relation to each other, so itโs a bit hard to pull a thread from it.
1.) Manifest Destiny was the concept underlying American expansionism across to the Pacific Ocean, and as the Philippines isnโt expanding anywhere, this doesnโt apply.
2.) In God We Trust is not referring to a Christian god literally, but referring to the Civic Religion aka ceremonial deism. Here God is used as an old-timey generic term for โhigher power.โ After all, most of the US Founders were not Christian, rather they were humanists, deists, or agnostics, which were core Enlightenment themes.
3.) Filipinos also have Filipino Exceptionalism that appeared to exist in a form even before the Spanish conquest. However the contrast with American Exceptionalism is that it seems to me that the American version has a capability for self-correction and self-introspection when overreach burns the American nation, whereas the Filipino version seems a bit more stubborn even when proven wrong.
Fake it til making it works I guess, but only if one continues to improve so that one day one doesnโt need to fake it anymore. That takes a lot of self (or in the sense of a nation, collective) effort. When I was a young IT and business consultant I faked it to get my foot in the door but spent countless hours poring over thousands page manuals (no easy Googling back in those days) to catch up on knowledge. If one doesnโt catch up fast enough soon others figure out the BS, but there are some who donโt put much effort and continually insist that everything is great the way it is.
“this is about the feuds of Filipino intellectuals by Prof. Caroline S. Hau. S = Sy “
re feuds between intellectuals or even between experts and amateurs, cuz the Pyramids have been source of much debates between egyptologists quibbling over this and that; and amateurs vs. experts with amateurs saying the Pyramids is a power plant.
well looks like amateurs may have been right, Ireneo. this is whats under the Pyramids apparently. lol. big on hashtag UFO twitter right now. relevant to what we’re talking about re who is the expert , do expertise have to be documenting officially or can reading/watching stuff more that book expertise and school house knowledge, and thinking outside the box, and not relying on experts and echo chambers and what occams razor really means, etc. then infighting too. all very interesting.
but we’ll see if they actually dig these things up, so far the evidence is just radar. but looks cool though.
Hmm.. just let me show you this video by Orion Perez on Heydarian.
Orion Perez that self-taught guy versus Heydarian the public intellectual..
This guy has charisma! is he coming from entertainment? what’s his background?
I still don’t quite see much useful stuff coming out of most Philippine debates..
mostly, gotcha! stuff. but still fun. kinda like Humancentipede, Ireneo. its either be a monk in the mtns and commune directly to God and not consume this crap, or just enjoy and trust the process. and try to be in the front. not the back. lol.
Leni will NEVER abandon the working class.
We hope she runs for the presidency.
She can always be mayor after like what Erap did. Or Congress person like what Arroyo did.
Ireneo, what’s your take on this?
Tancoco was part of Liza Marcoโs entourage to promote Filipino films in the US. A lot of conspiracies swirling around in DDS Twitter and FB currently, but this death occurred in Los Angeles, where there are competent coroners unlike in the Philippines. The truth will come out if there is any abnormality. People die at 44 from undiagnosed health complications all the time. A week ago I saw some posts that speculated that Tancoco may have been โinjected with synthetic mRNAโ aka COVID vaccine. I stopped reading them. The absence of official reasons doesnโt mean there is a conspiracy. Usually the coroner does not share details about a death unless there is an ongoing criminal investigation, which at this point there is none. Absent of suspected criminality, the cause of death is a private matter for the family, not for the public to know, regardless of Tancoco being a tycoon scion or not.
Ah. got it. thanks, Joey.
Rustan’s , i remember. interesting case. My twitter feed’s just now returning from UFO to Philippine stuff.
a common cause of death for men under 50yrs is apparently unintentional injury like suicide, drug overdose?
How close was he supposed to be with the First Lady, kb?
professional, not personal, and he was allegedly in her orbit for business and promotional reasons. most likely, the first lady might have been asked by law enforcers, and had given statement about what she had observed regarding his behavior prior whether he was distracted, inattentive or looked troubled, who he associated mostly with, and whether he had said anything that might point to his state of mind at the time. the same questions might have been asked of people in the entourage and statements also taken from them. they were most probly asked singly, so they cannot concoct their story together. some questions are for elimination purposes, and once eliminated, people were then free to go. not suspects and might have nothing to do with his death.
toxicology report usually takes about 3 months. until then.
I think I saw something in his body language but I’d rather not say a word. our little family here might kill me.
Spill it , kb. I know you know more!
Are we thinking Eyes Wide Shut?
This is just in general, but “deferred” status for Cause of Death AND the body being released to the family means the official cause of death is pending a toxicology or biological test based on samples taken. If there was criminality, the cadaver is usually held for longer. So in other words, no nefarious reasons are suspected thus far, and nothing nefarious probably ever happened. Tancoco may have had an overdose (one can overdose accidentally on legal medications as well), or have had a medical emergency that resulted in his death.
on Twitter, they’re saying the First Lady was with him. is this true? were they in fact traveling together?
Iโm not clued in as Iโm mostly not interested in these sorts of things. Iโm only saying here what Iโve seen trending on pinoy socmed, filtered through common sense. I doubt there are any conspiracies happening here, and unless there was criminality involved that is in the public interest the decedentโs family deserves privacy.
OT: โVietnamโs First Wafer Fab Set to Begin Constructionโ
โAccording to Vu Tu Thanh, Director of the Vietnam office of the US-ASEAN Business Council, Vietnam had held discussions with six U.S. chip companies, including factory operators. However, due to ongoing negotiations, company names were not disclosed. Another anonymous Vietnamese official revealed that discussions involved U.S. company GlobalFoundries and Taiwanโs Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp. (PSMC) as potential investors.
In September 2024, Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh signed Decision No. 1018/QD-TTg, announcing Vietnamโs Semiconductor Industry Development Strategy and Vision for 2030-2050. The strategy outlines a three-phase roadmap to establish Vietnam as a global semiconductor hub.
In the first phase from 2024 to 2030, Vietnam will leverage its geographical and human resource advantages to attract foreign investment and build foundational capabilities. The country aims to establish at least 100 chip design companies, one semiconductor manufacturing plant, and 10 packaging and testing facilities.
In the second phase from 2030 to 2040, Vietnam seeks to become one of the global centers for electronics and semiconductors by expanding to at least 200 design companies, two semiconductor chip manufacturing plants, and 15 semiconductor product packaging and testing facilities. The country will gradually develop independent semiconductor product design and production capabilities.
In the third phase from 2040 to 2050, Vietnam aims to become one of the worldโs leading semiconductor and electronics nations, mastering semiconductor and electronics R&D.โ
https://www.trendforce.com/news/2025/03/18/news-vietnams-first-wafer-fab-set-to-begin-construction/
$500 million initial investment with a coordinated governmental approach to attract FDI and expertise combined with leveraging local university research. Taiwan also took baby steps that many established industry players in the 1990s laughed at. Now Taiwan is a semiconductor powerhouse and those who laughed no longer exist. Malaysia, Thailand and Singapore are also notable countries that implemented similar aggressive plans previously. Filipino tycoons and government policy, where art thou?
There’s supposed to be apple parts manufacturing on Mactan and Davao that’s highly technical, i think karl or gian mentioned this awhile back. whats the chances of scaling that?
WH Office of Shipbuilding, i’m sure some of that can trickle into Philippine ship building. right , karl?
Cebu is dominant in shop building there should be more.
will double check on apple manufacturing.
I know even pinoy cell phone is outsourced to China.
Apple does not operate its own manufacturing plants in the Philippines. However, several suppliers and partners contribute to Apple’s global supply chain within the country. Notably:
Additionally, while not directly involved in manufacturing, Iridium Technologies, Inc. serves as the sole distributor of iPhones in the Philippines, playing a crucial role in the distribution of Apple products across the country.
These collaborations highlight the Philippines’ role in supporting Apple’s global operations through component manufacturing and product distribution.
As to Philippines cell phones offshore to China.
Several Philippine-branded cell phones have been offshored to China for manufacturing, as the country lacks large-scale smartphone production facilities. These brands typically design their phones in the Philippines but outsource production to Chinese manufacturers to reduce costs while leveraging China’s well-established supply chains and advanced manufacturing capabilities.Examples of Philippine-Branded Phones Manufactured in China:
These brands primarily focus on affordable smartphones and budget devices, targeting the mass market in the Philippines. Despite being Filipino brands, they do not have their own manufacturing plants, which is why they rely on Chinese facilities for production.
Thanks, karl! Now i’m curious what kind of operation those are and if they can in fact be scaled up. cock block Vietnam!!!
Filipino cell phones aren’t really “Filipino” though…
All the Filipino “home grown” brands actually are rebranders who buy from Original Design Manufacturers (ODMs) and rebrand/reskin Android the Chinese phone. This is quite different from let’s say Apple or Google who design their own phones, chips, most components and outsources the mass production to an Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM). I don’t have an updated list, but Yugatech had pointed out which Cherry/MyPhone/CloudFone cell phones were rebrands of which Chinese phones on numerous occasions back around 2017-2020ish.
Personally I think the “home grown” brands have quite crappy phones, and rebranding usually costs more than just buying the actual original phone to begin with as the rebrander charges an upcharge. After sales support is also spotty or nonexistent, which is why very few Filipinos buy these rebrands anymore. The major Chinese brands have all brought their budget sub-brands to the Philippines now, such as Xiaomi’s Redmi and POCO.
What do you think of Playdate and this type of gaming infrastructure. can Philippines do something similar like low end tech but get community buy-in wherein they make games for themselves?
low tech but interesting , is this doable in Philippines?
Playdate is an indie console running indie games. I have one on order. It was also delayed multiple times despite being designed by Panic, a well known indie designer with a fan following. Designing a mobile console is not โlow techโ by any means.
There is very little set top console or mobile console gaming in the Philippines. Very little programmer community, much less indie developers. Most gaming in then Philippines is on mobile phone, with Mobile Legends being the most popular game.
The issue is that most Filipinos are consumers, with little educational or professional expertise to actually design something new. When China is next door and the Philippines being a dumping ground for cheap Chinese goods via Shopee, TikTok Store, and salaries of Filipinos not allowing for much disposable income, things wonโt change for quite some time.
Mactan is a small island. Quite familiar as this is where I usually stay in Lapu-Lapu City. There aren’t any major manufacturing activities of note there. Lapu-Lapu is, however, known for a large concentration of guitar craftsmen who produce really good handmade acoustic guitars. Many of the Visrock and Vispop singers got their start as children playing on guitar made right there in Lapu-Lapu.
karl, is it possible that Apple parts manufacturing is kept in the down low? like proprietary stuff, or corporate espionage? cuz I did hear and this was before Apple so maybe that there were clean room type manufacturing both in Mactan and Davao back in 2000s. am Googling the companies you’ve provided and although theres factories named in Batangas etc. no Mactan. or Davao.
Joey, are you familiar with clean room manufacturing in Mactan? i remember theres Timex there, but that’s not really clean room operation. what other possibilities in current operation on Mactan thats close to clean room and can that be scaled up. maybe gian, would know as well. thanks.
A factory would be quite hard to hide anywhere, much less tiny Mactan island. The only major electronics factory in Cebu is the Mitsumi plant in Danao, quite a ways from Cebu City. Danao Mitsumi manufactures basic electronic components and connectors, nothing major, and the plant hasnโt been expanded in years. It is not a clean room environment.
The video below is 5 days old and on the official YT channel of Lanao del Norte:
I won’t post all the Duterte channels now riding on the sub-Saharan wave.
https://www.facebook.com/share/p/16JNQ4WjCq/
Heydarian posted on FB that he has the latest HDI data and stands corrected.
I hope Mindanao never forgives him for that Sub-Saharan stunt. lol.