Are you a lover, a hater, or a teacher?
Analysis and Opinion
By Joe America
Social media are undermining civility and sense. We are there, so we are parties to the creation of the data dirtstreams that give us nonsense instead of solutions.
My interactions with people on X, Facebook, Blue Sky, and this blog make clear that there are three types of people who engage with me.
- Lovers, such as Robredo followers
- Haters, such as Marcos haters
- Teachers such as MLQ3 and most commenters here at the blog
In my quest to learn by provoking ideas, my experience is that criticizing a lover’s idol will bring condemnation and spite. Praising a hater’s target will bring condemnation and spite. Saying anything at all to a teacher will bring a nod of comprehension, and new information if one has things wrong or mixed up.
So are you a lover, a hater, or a teacher?
And do you have the capacity to be honest about it? Can you see clearly now, or are obstacles in the way? It seems to me the most frequent obstacles to sense are beliefs, information filters, and rationalizations.
- Beliefs close the mind. They are conspiracy theories that thrive in the world of unknown knowledge. Beliefs are truths to the holder, causing them to utter untruths as justification. Lovers and haters BELIEVE, Lord, hallelujia.
- Information filters are the mind’s tendency to accept only data that prove one’s point while rejecting data that disprove it. Lovers and haters have strong filters.
- Rationalizations are the output a believer issues to explain that they are not really lovers or haters. They are being smart, sensible, and morally correct.
The interesting thing is that teachers can conclude honorably that Robredo would make a good president, and Marcos an untrustworthy president. But they argue with logic and information, not lies, rationalizations, and innuendo.
Entering a discussion with a lover or hater who leads with bias rather than data is like entering the futile zone, a place not unlike the twilight zone infested with aliens, ghouls, and termites. Not information, not respect.
The world is a nasty circus these days, is it not?
It will remain that way until we recognize the distributors of dirty data and sneers on social media, the lovers and the haters, and move toward the teachers.
_________________________
Cover Photo by Jire Carreon as published in the Human Rights Watch article “Philippines: Dangerous ‘Red Tagging’ of Labor Leaders”.
The Society of Honor by Joe America 
I try to be a teacher.
I am a lover of VP Inday Sara. and a hater of PBBM. but a teacher of love and hate, and how theres a really thin line between the two, karl.
I barely noticed. (J/K)
I don’t think there is a thin line between love and hate. Love is compassion and giving, hate is cruelty and greed. Certain circumstances can lead a lover into hate or a hater into love, but the acts are themselves starkly different. As for loving Sara Duterte and hating Bongbong Marcos, I suppose one finds what one is looking for if there is a hunt underway.
Obsession or cult-like adulation is sometimes mistaken for love but can turn into hate if, for instance, the idol, either political or in pop music, doesn’t fulfill one’s crazy expectations. Pop idols often have stalkers – or people who hate them when they find out they have partners.
Political idols often get hate when they disappoint those who “worshipped” them and notice their idols are just human or, in fact, actually incompetent.
Another kind of hate can exist for those who idolize and perceive ANOTHER idol as threatening the image of the idol they “love” because they have attached their self-esteem to that idol. That is a passing phase for teens who idolize pop stars and not that funny if it is about supposedly mature people attaching their ego to a political idol or sometimes even to a pop idol. The mostly older ones at TSOH will still remember Noranians vs Vilmanians, and in some things those attached to political idols of any kind hardly act different in a very collective society.
Good point and tends to confirm LCX’s view that there is a thin line between love and hate. I said not but might have to recalibrate. lol
Love and hate is same same with passion , Joe. its the driver of the engine that is the dialectic. thesis and antithesis. its the push and pull. but also in the lyrics of that Persuaders song. ps, its my old good and evil argument being the same thing with edgar. The illusion is that theyre separate. but its the driver.
Love can also turn to hatred in case of betrayal. This kind of passion stuff is neurologically speaking older than logic. It is what kept early human families and societies together and, of course, apart in case of conflict. Conflict research is a fascinating but somewhat weird field. Some of the worst conflicts can be between neighbors or in the Philippines between relatives when it comes to land. Or among our ape cousins between what used to be one group.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gombe_Chimpanzee_War
The word gigil BTW recently entered the English language, but only in its positive meaning.
Gigil, extracted from the Philippines’ Tagalog language, refers to what psychologists describe as cute aggression: “[a] feeling so intense that it gives us the irresistible urge to tightly clench our hands, grit our teeth, and pinch or squeeze whomever or whatever it is we find so adorable”
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2025/mar/27/gigil-word-describing-cute-aggression-among-new-entries-to-oxford-english-dictionary
It can also mean something like wanting to strangle someone, so it has duality.
Now I don’t know if Joe wants to strangle you at times, but I neither feel like pinching or strangling you, ever. That does relieve me a bit.
I know Joe loves me. but he hated chempo and Micha. that’s why they’re never coming back, lol. and Joe loves i7 too. edgar did come around to that evil/good as being the same. though that Persuaders song I think should be more popular in the Philippines. didn’t hear a lot of Motown in the Philippines, but lots of OPM are more like blues. lots of individualizing, motown was more about thesis/antithesis. i think. push pull give take love hate. re Gigil, i believe (and kb can verify) cebuano is minti, na-minti was what Mango ave girls used. not gigil. i remember it cuz „mint“. kb, is that correct usage? I don’t know what s the English equivalent of that word, but I know the feeling , Ireneo. and theres a cartoon character of that feeling too. Elmyra Duff.
I’ll pass, thanks.
Naminti means annoyed (as in twerp, loser, easily fooled, etc. you get my point lol). If I know anything about Visayan women, is that they can say the most cutting words with a glowing angelic smile on their faces. You may be amused to know how much crap the ladies of the night in Cebu talk on johns, sometimes unbeknownst to their faces, especially johns of the pinoy abroad variety. Though depending on the complexion of your skin, they may have said naputi, which has a completely different meaning 😂
I googled it too, cuz i wanted to make sure, Joey. and thats the wrong connotation am talking about. you might wanna verify with friends in Cebu. but naminti or minti is same as gigil. because usage wasn’t in terms of low flying pigeon work but in actual kids and infants as in what Ireneo was talking about to pinch or squeeze due to cuteness. sourcing was just Mango ave girls, not nothing to do with work 😉 . if you get my drift (like they werent trying to squeeze something cute of mine, lol, ewwww). Google’s bisaya dictionary is either wrong and or missing another meaning closer to gigil (per Ireneo’s). don’t rely on Google here, leverage your connections back in Cebu (verify). or kb can chime in too. minti = gigil
😂🤣😂 Yes, at times, or a 10th floor window, like the Russians do.
Thanks, Karl. I think you are a teacher. Are you one of those who can argue that Marcos is an untrustworthy president “with logic and information, not lies, rationalizations, and innuendo?”
Welcome.
I do have my biases, I would not pretend that I liked Marcos Jr before being president .
I am trusting but verifying or trusting with caution
I do not know if disagreements with Imee is all for show. I am hoping that is not the case.
Thanks, Karl….keep up the teaching and we all hope for the best for Inang Bayan.
ganyan din po ako, not trustful of bong marcos but after he passed his baptism of fire and become president, I have to give him credit for his sheer determination. so, it was a bag of polvoron then and not cocaine.
dealing in drugs is crime, being drug addict is not, ask dingong who was reportedly a fentanyl addict. a lifelong smoker, PNoy choice of poison was marlboro, and that did not make him a lesser president.
so on with the job then and business as usual; pbbm campaigning hard for his party’s success.
apparently senatorial candidates affiliated with digong are seemingly leading senatorial race, only maybe dds are spending big again and hugging the frontline, making so much white noise, trying their hardest to make other candidates feel disadvantaged. but as politicians, they should not feel disadvantaged and give up the fight. they can redouble their efforts, boost their stamina and sway voters their way, the final tally on polling day is yet to be decided.
Being a lawyer was one of the first jobs made available to Filipinos (not yet called Filipinos in Spanish times) is something my father said. MLQ3 said the first Filipinos to have posts in the colonial system were the sacristans.
So the “more mature” lovers in the Philippines can be both attorneys arguing a case and act sanctimonious as sacristans. Haters in the Philippines might be skilled prosecutors and send perceived sinners to hell in their rhetoric.
Even teachers have to guard against being a mix of judge and Padre Damaso. Being a learner while being a teacher is the best mix, I guess. Being aware of own imperfection yet always striving to improve one’s own horizons as well as other’s.
In my first iteration of the statement, I had lovers, haters, and analysts, but that seemed somehow not proactive enough. Introspection is an important tool, for sure, as is progress.
Interesting, Irineo….so in the context of Joe’s essay, what is it that you love? that you hate? that you teach?
Learner was not one of the those mentioned by Joe…but I would also like to know, again in the context of Joe’s essay, what have you learned?
This isn’t about me, but we all can love, hate, and SEEK (the common word for both teaching and learning) like monks or even warriors like https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Musha_shugy%C5%8D – or the Jedi.
Because it is human to be passionate, it is also human to love or hate. We can never be fully dispassionate for what we care for, so the ideals of monks or Jedi are hard to achieve. Even Confucius allegedly said that his passion only stopped conflicting with his virtue at age 80.
In martial arts, one is a master only when one has reached a black belt. Probably, I have almost a blue belt in Philippine history even without official certification. In Philippine politics, most of us veterans here are more like purple belts improving via sparring. The way to mastery is long.
Thanks.
I always love knowing the truth, fake news are not welcome in my world. What does that makes me Joeam?
I wasn’t asked, but you are probably an Acolyte by that definition.
Edgar Lores, of course, was Master Yoda or Apo Lakay Yoda. My perspective as a Star Wars fan who grew up close to the Ilocanosphere.
Acolyte… more things to learn. Thanks Ireneo.
Of my three groups, you would be the best teacher.
Yeay, thanks Joeam.
I’ve encountered the skeptic, the observer, the opportunist, the mediator, the innovator…and probably even those who fit none of the above.
yay! cv, I think, you got me there. I am an empty glass, sometimes a drunk, a heckler, troublemaker, a damn good worker and I like a bit challenge. though a path of less resistance is noble to me, easier too. a good damn catholic if I wanted to be, and can be trusted only up to a point. very soft spoken and timid, but can release a beast on stage, a wannabe rock chick with war paint.
I can be reckless and charitable to a fault. have healthy dislike of wasps and hornets and those big scary spiders, such uninvited guests that pop out of nowhere got six to eight legs when two would just be fine, them I refuse to share the planet with.
so what am I? not an extraterrestrial, I hope!
… reminds me of Blanche of Spain. 🙂 🙂
oh, emojis, that got me thinking. pet hate of my friends who have the misfortune of interviewing job applicants hated to see emojis in formal job applications.
in our day to day life, emojis are okay to use, it cut the chase and gets down to the point.
but use of emojis in job applications is summat clunky and dicey. applicants are supposed to show their knowledge, finesse, and mastery of subjects, not given to shortcuts and emojis. on the funny side, my friends said they would give the job to emojis, not to the applicant.
Ditch the emojis, then. I do mean well.
This was written of her when she died: “Thus, therefore, did the noble lady Blanche, a woman in sex, but a man in counsels, one worthy to be compared with Semiramis, bid farewell to the world, leaving the French kingdom comfortless and void of all consolation.”
Sorry about this, ksmbhay! Joe, pls expunge my reply. Thanks.
if joeam ever expunge your reply I will really be flooding with crying emojis!
emojis are okay among friends. I send copious of them with the greeting cards I sent to my friends here and overseas. only they are personalized, drawn manually and colored as well. like what school kids often do.
I never expunge when threatened with emojis. The horror! The horror!
a million thanks to you! quoting pilita’s song.
This is the Blanche of Spain I know:
Blessed Queen Blanche
great!
A Filipino Catholic priest we should know:
There’s a priest in the biology lab | News | Providence College
often, I think, there are bigots and zealots among us, been indoctrinated since cradle and set in their ways. and to think, some are academics with access to young minds, teaching the young to be ashamed of themselves because they got it easy, their parents are loving and not separated, have steady jobs and regular incomes, have houses with modcons, and have like minded friends that are equally nurturing. and so, young and impressive minds are maybe coerced by these academics, taught to become activists, to get out of their easy existence and aggressively take to the streets, sample for once what it is like to be under privileged and without. put to action what is preached so they can write about in social media and in their thousand words essays, and be graded accordingly. and those who cannot participate in the cause with totally of conviction, are given failing grades,
incidentally, one of the hamas brutal chief that got killed by isreal, has occupation as teacher in his passport under unwra.
Are there any intellectuals left below the age of 40? Precious few I’d imagine. They hit their adult learning years around 2005, thoroughly steeped in social media shallow intrigues and nonsense. Now when I go out for walks the main risk is other people walking with their dirt devices in front of their faces. That’s the environment into which I write articles.
The over-simplification of three choices is meant mainly for lovers who are also haters and would do a lot better for the Philippines if they became teachers, and able to display the intellectual capacity to stop hating long enough to build a winning coalition of thinkers and doers.
I don’t actually believe the world is black and white and red, it is mostly greys. But we should think about what we are doing occasionally, and measure it against what we COULD be doing to build a great nation.
ah, edu sec angara may have lot to answer for. he allows apparently timid teachers and those fearsome academics to go hand in hand and go overseas for study leave, where they rightly mingle with foreign educators who are maybe bigots, and zealots with fierce convictions, and thus learned by osmosis in their group discussions and forays into scenarios of modern curricula that are not yet taught in our schools for they bordered on the dark realm of human behavior and deep seated hate and activism. and had sec angara checked what courses he paid them to study for, and any changes they made along the way, he would maybe find out the state of education our young ones are hard pressed to to emulate.
really, angara should check the modules being taught in schools, universities and colleges, their contents may just surprise him! maybe angara might event find out the subject of ntf elcac are not really to red tag students but to go after an illusive cabal of near genius rogue educators in our campuses. harder to pin and much harder to control, afp cannot carry a torch for.
it is maybe ironic that education have young ones relate expertly to their phones, but are poor communicators of their fellow humans, prefer texting than actually phoning and hearing human voices, some panic on hearing human voices, insecure what to say and how respond. now maybe using their phones as shield to save them from embarrassing human interactions. and there is always AI ever helpful to stir them further away from nosy humans.
That’s an interesting profile of the Department of Education that I am factually ill-equipped to debate. My impression of Secretary Angara is that he is at least working hard, if not smart, on the many difficult issues facing Philippine students and parents. There is no question young adults seem vacuous or apathetic or distracted from political engagement, and I don’t know about jobs. Maybe they are well equipped to screw the little screws into electronic devices being manufactured, but not equipped to solve multi-dimensional problems like how to do quality lesson plans and content.
There seems to be a big generational divide between Filipinos of the pre-socmed world and the post-socmed world, with Millennials (1981-1996) being a bridge generation. It has been anecdotally observed that Filipino GenZ is more withdrawn behind their gadgets, immersing themselves in an online world that sometimes bleeds into reality, absorbing strange external causes that have little affect on them and the Philippines as a whole, with potential toxic effects. Sometimes I wonder that Filipino GenZ as a cohort seem to partake in the more toxic elements of the virtual world, ingesting but not fully understanding those who they follow, whether it be “hotboys”/“hotgirls,” a vlogger-lifestyle aspiration, or even diluted “limousine” communism.
Filipino Millennials, it seems to me, understand the benefits of both the online and offline world, but as of now the cohort is busy working abroad and in BPO. I’ve had many interesting conversations with BPO workers, both in person in the Philippines and when I call into customer service. My feeling is as the Millennial cohort builds personal wealth, they are increasingly annoyed at the limitations of the existing structures in the Philippines, and soon they will have the collective capital to do something about it. GenX Filipinos seem to have mostly given up after feeling let down by post-EDSA, while GenZ Filipinos have a hard time leaving the safety of home even into their late 20s.
I recall the countless children I observed in the 2010s, “young GenZ,” who were glued to their parents’ old cellphones first on Facebook, Instagram then on TikTok (after 2016). Quite a few had TikTok become their “babysitter.” Now there’s nothing wrong with finding entrepreneurial success as vlogger, but is it really right to have young minds become seduced by the notion that everything is easy and should be given without even cursory effort?
It’s easy enough to blame the educational lacking on COVID, which came a few years later, but the seeds of detriment were sown years before that. With what it seems quite a few passionate and dedicated teachers dropping out of the teaching profession or plying their trade abroad, this problem seems difficult to address. It is the job of government to meet the people where they are, and if the literacy rate and mental attentiveness has in fact gone down, then educational programs need to be adjusted to that baseline and a plan made to incrementally increase said baseline.
That seems to me to exactly nail what is going on. In defense of Gen Z, they seem like the smokers of the 1900s who had no idea they’d be dead young because of the addictive and toxic qualities of their enjoyment. Wholly ignorant and innocent for the addiction, which is real. Social media effects are also toxic to the ignorant, but it kills the rest of us along with themselves. Or certainly makes life ridiculous, and fills leadership with morons.
Thanks for the profiling work. Excellent.
It seems to me that GenZ, whose cohort are largely in the age of majority, also have realized by now that that social media is also toxic. To be fair, I know smoking is bad but the habit is hard to kick 🙂
I consider American Exceptionalism to have both good and bad sides. When harnessed for good, American Exceptionalism is the US’ true superpower powering the most economically and militarily powerful nation in the history of the world; but this trait also has negative downsides, let’s say at times misguided American attempts to spread democracy without considering the local culture.
A sometimes negative expression of American Exceptionalism is how the American discourse is often THE online discourse. Americans, of course, are their own star, and love being the main character in every drama (a trait shared with Filipinos, hah!). Now I might have concerns about TikTok’s addictive properties that exceed Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat, but Facebook pioneered engagement addiction. Algorithms are filtered through the code dancing off the fingertips of often-American, and now Chinese, software engineers upon direction of the business.
The recklessness of social media companies, starting with the genocide in Myanmar and the cultivation of online troll armies in the Philippines was due to the lack of localized moderation and local regulation. Of course, countries like Myanmar and the Philippines may lack the government resources to properly regulate a behemoth such as Facebook, especially with the proposition of “free internet” provided by Facebook on the table in countries with expensive internet access. As the saying goes on ad-subsidized internet, when the product is free, “you are the product.” The lack of government regulation combined with the lack of platform moderation in the local language created disastrous results in Myanmar where the genocide became a civil war, the Philippines where Russian and PRC funded trolls led to the rise of Duterte, Brexit’s folly, and the disaster of Trump in the US, not to mention numerous countries being slowly brainwashed by disinformation warfare in Africa and Southeast Asia.
The EU has started the process of regulation through GDPR, as has California with the CCPA. All good things that must be expanded. As an elder Millennial (sometimes Xennial), I lived through both sides of the analog and digital world. The early Internet “Wild West” seemed like a positive place, but to continue the wild west metaphor, the Wild West got much worst before the American West became civilized when citizens got fed up and appointed sheriffs and lawmen. The process may take a long time.
Good to know that intelligent governments see the problem. The Philippines is catching on, too. It helps when you have a Nobel Peace Prize winner broadcasting the problem all the time.
I have a love-hate relationship with Maria Ressa. On one hand, I admire her journalistic integrity and work in building Filipino New Media. On the other hand, though I consider myself about the same in terms of politics (both solidly left), I often feel disturbed by her soft sympathies with the farther left who I see as a threat to good order in building a left/center coalition. I was especially disturbed by Rappler’s sympathetic coverage of the Hamas-Israel War that conflated the rightful sympathy towards the Gazans with muddied waters towards who actually runs Gaza (Hamas). I sometimes wonder to what end Rappler’s editors choose to “both sides” the Russian invasion of Ukraine when the victimized party is clear. Of course, I won’t forget how PNoy was treated by Rappler, and how Leni Robredo got the “both sides” treatment as well, confusing readers. There is a way to report in an unbiased fashion while also having the clarity to point out what’s right and wrong. Well, nowadays I read Rappler quite a bit less.
This was my response to an article by Rappler giving VP Leni the both sides treatment, and of course, the editor who wrote it and Maria Ressa gave my actually tweeting it to them the dedma treatment, and Ninotchka Rosca did post that I put a lot of work into the article. Only Will Villanueva noticed one mistake, I kept it in the article like the one flaw in a Persian carpet and to see if anyone else reads stuff thoroughly in the Philippines, oh well..
Thanks for sharing your article again Irineo. Well to an completely unaware observer, among educated folks in the liberal arts during debates there may be a penchant for smugly admiring one’s own arguments rather than listening to the opposing argument and trying to win the opposition over with better points of debate. I find this to happen more frequently among liberal arts people who lack little real-world experience of their own, but somehow have a need to opine on everything. This behavior may or may not happen with greater frequency in the Philippines where there is often an unwritten competition amongst students in top universities. Well, de Leon’s defunct podcast being titled “I’ve Got an Opinion” sort of underlines my point here. It’s not always necessary to have an opinion about everything. Oftentimes it’s completely fine to allow those with more knowledge in that particular subject to take the lead. But then the professional opiners would be out of a job.
Totally agree. No angel or nun, this Maria.
Thanks, this explains two phenomena to me: that Filipino millennials often seem somewhere on the passive-aggressive to aggressive spectrum while Gen Zs there often seem helpless to the max. Maybe worst for those who had parents working abroad while they grew up raised by grandparents a bit and mostly by social media. As an old Gen X, I am quite aware of how our generation processed 1986 and after, some having given up on that and even gone full DDS in 2016 and maybe Marcos now, very few having “kept the faith”.
I wouldn’t place Filipino Millennials as passive aggressive or aggressive. Well, I could be biased, being (on the leading edge) of that global cohort. I think overall, Millennials, including Filipino, are a more empathetic generation who reacted differently to societal and economic pressures. On the Philippines side, Filipino Millennials faced the Asian Financial Crisis, watching internal strife by terrorist and communist groups in Mindanao, the Great Recession, the difficult years under Duterte and the Covid Pandemic. In a sense, I would compare Filipino Millennials to be more like the Filipino WWII Generation. I would not mistake silent hard work building capital and trying new things regardless of economic pressures and changing societal expectations to be a sign of passivity. Filipino Millennials are equipped with knowledge in new technologies, new ways to communicate and earn money, new methods of more effective management in multinational corporations, and have a quiet yet go-getter attitude that doesn’t accept defeatism. I still believe that Filipino Millennials will rise up to the moment with all they have learned and endured, to fashion a better Philippines, possibly sooner than we may think.
Filipino GenZ seem largely hopeless, just like GenZ in other countries. Perhaps to many the pursuit of ultra-materialism is a temporary pleasure, but like a drug one needs more and more to feel satisfied. Not to knock on a particular generation, but children are reflections of their parents, and GenZ are mostly the children of GenX. Being on the cusp, I have many GenX friends and I’ve always been bothered by the simmering resentment, sometimes unrealistic ideation, and expectations without putting in the requisite effort. Well many of my GenX friends became diehard DDS or MAGA as an avatar for their resentments of not achieving what their youthful selves expected. Life is hard, we need to learn to deal with what we are given to turn it into a slightly more advantageous position. I do wonder how that GenZ generation will cope once their parents and unmarried doting titas can no longer support them as they enter their 30s and their financial lifelines age out of the workforce. Well time may tell…
The Filipino older millennial sample I got on Twitter while I was still there until 2022 seemed to often be DDS, but it might be that they were the louder ones and not the silent ones you know. The kind who would be indeed, for instance, in BPO and building wealth, but for the Philippines being closer to China as they thought it meant wealth, or pro-Duterte because of how the TRAIN laws reduced middle-class tax burdens.
Those I mistook for Gen Zs, but I now realize were more young millennials (maybe some older Gen Zs) in my Twitter bubble around 2022 were often part of what I term Pink Starbucks wokes. Young professionals barely at the start, tweeting a lot about adulting and similar.
Some cut their teeth campaigning house to house for VP Leni and were shocked at the other Philippines they discovered, Some were with Angat Buhay, for example the Covid effort where a lot of young medical professionals were involved.
As for Gen X, a lot of my generation in the Philippines are or were DDS. Harry Roque would have been my batchmate in UP Integrated School if I hadn’t gone to Philippine Science High School. My impression when I noticed how wrong their viewpoints were was “guys did you expect to join the oligarchs, or why are you so frustrated?” but I went through harder knocks due to migration and may well have easily become like them. One term our Gen liked to use was “big time” and being that was an obsession. Even for me in my initial Munich years.
As for the millennials in Germany, the youngest millennials include the likes of Isar Aerospace founder and CEO Daniel Metzler. Dynamic people who are ready to build new things and have a very different view of life than those raised in a more abundant era like me.
Older Millennials, especially Xennials, often adopt younger GenX viewpoints. I did, until much to my dismay I realized during the height of media bashing on Millennials during the mid-aughts that I myself am a Millennial also. Most of my friends are GenXers.
If I reflect on my own journey in political thought, I started off quite conservative, with many libertarian views. I’m from Orange County, as Joe would know, which was the bastion of Reagan and Nixon. The modern Republican Party was birthed here. I was part of pretty much all the youth Republican organizations, and was a member of the College Republicans while attending lefty Berkeley. I had volunteered for a few Republican politicians, including a California Republican Party potentate whose wife recently lost her congressional seat. What fundamentally changed my view was that upon exposure to new ideas, my self-doubts were no longer excusable once I discovered formerly very conservative Prof. Elizabeth Warren’s (now senator) book, The Two-Income Trap. As they say, follow the money and one shall find the answers, and my conclusion that the Republican Party did not care one hoot about its constituents was the impetus needed.
But not many people are self-reflective enough to change, including many Xennials who were the major power-users of Twitter from Twitter’s inception. It’s hard to give up personal beliefs and adopt new ones. It’s usually easier to just double-down despite self-doubt. Xennials were also the ones immediately affected by 9/11 and the start of the GWOT, as many of my cohort enlisted or commissioned. Twitter also is a world unto itself; a world that feels like reality with engagements, but ultimately is a small group of people in the overall. Case in point is that Leftists and Far Leftists, a group that is very active on Twitter, are convinced through circular agreement on Twitter that there is a huge silent majority that agrees with radical collectivism, when in reality that is not the case. To use the Far Leftist example, they wall themselves off in an epistemic closure, turning into an echo machine that reinforced bad takes while dismissing even the slightest criticism by the majority as being a vocal minority trying to undermine their cause in a form of mental role-reversal (as they are the actual minute minority).
So yes, a lot of the Xennial cohort became DDS or MAGA just like their GenX kuyas and ates who they hung out with as children did. Probably other 3/4 of the Millennial generation are quite level headed though. Here in the US, Millennials have the benefit of incoming generational wealth transfer from the Boomers soon, though not to discount the hard work Millennials had to put in. I still recall my GenX kuyas pushing me to get into IT because of “golden handcuffs,” only to enter the field around the time of the dotcom crash that turned the golden handcuffs into lead ones and stagnant salaries for those who can’t be nimble. Filipino Millennials are quite the same hard workers, but have to be even more innovative as they won’t benefit from a generational wealth transfer from their Boomer parents for the large part. Those are the Filipinos working in BPO rising to be department managers and site managers, creating new small businesses that are not sari-saris, or getting into completely self-managed work like VA. To me that’s a sign of a go-getter attitude that is needed to operate in an environment of scarcity. I still have a lot of hope in Filipino Millennials starting to fix things when they have a chance to get into power, which may be soon.
RIP Pilita Corrales. Sharing again an interview with her from some years ago by London-based Venezuelan music reactors Waleska and Efra Herrera.
man, she was sooooo big in Cebu, Ireneo. crossing generations too, mid-2000s Mango ave girls would sing her songs, though Usahay was the only one i remember, Ireneo. RIP. looking at her discography now Matud Nila (according to them) and Bisan sa Damgo Lang (even if only in dreaming) kinda ring bells too.
Some excerpts from her obituary.. BTW, her granddaughter Janine Gutierrez is one of ABS-CBN’s mestiza actresses, and looks a lot like her grandmother looked in her youth.
https://www.abs-cbn.com/entertainment/showbiz/music/2025/4/12/pilita-corrales-and-her-legacy-that-will-live-forever-1316
..Pilita’s career boomed in Victoria, Australia after her single “Come Closer to Me” or “Acércate Más” became a big hit in 1959.
She eventually became the host of a Spanish radio show “La Taverna” upon her return to Manila in 1963, where she was remembered for her song performances with guitar accompaniment.
Her mesmerizing stage presence characterized by her fabulous looks and gowns made her a star at the Manila Grand Opera House.
Eventually, she had her spotlight on Philippine television with her own show An Evening with Pilita.
One of her biggest hits was “A Million Thanks to You,” which according to sources, paved the way for her signature backbend that lasted until the latter part of her career in the showbiz industry.
Pilita’s 1972 album Philippine Love Songs became a big hit as well, featuring heartfelt songs like “Dahil Sa’yo,” “Kapantay ang Langit,” and “Kay Hirap Umibig,” among others.
In 2005, Pilita achieved a great milestone after receiving the FAMAS Lifetime Achievement Award, which recognized her contribution to the industry.
In May 2024, Baby Ruth Villarama, an award-winning documentary maker announced that they were working on a documentary that will pay tribute to Pilita’s life story. Actress Janine Gutierrez, the legend’s granddaughter played a part in the conceptualization of the documentary..
..Having been raised in a very conservative time, Pilita’s journey was not without any challenge.
Born on August 22, 1939, to a family of Spanish descent, she was sent to Spain for her studies at Colegio Mayor de Padre Poveda, in preparation for her arranged union with a wealthy man.
But stars did not align with these plans and something else would determine her future. She later stepped into the industry that served as her home for the majority of her life.
In 2017, the late icon opened up about her experience being imprisoned in an abusive relationship with Carlos Lopez, a Paraguayan businessman, with whom she spent 16 years.
“What a big mistake that I did. That’s when the suffering started… Ang hirap to get out,” Pilita said in a 2017 interview with Boy Abunda, referring to her decision to leave the country to be with her partner..
..In Billboard Philippines’ 2023 issue, some veteran artists shared how the OPM icon influenced their careers in the music industry.
Gary Valenciano told Billboard Philippines that his first television guesting when he was just starting out as an artist was on Pilita’s show.
“One of the people who first saw me and who first believed in me was Tita Pilita,” he said.
Meanwhile, Megastar Sharon Cuneta revealed in an interview that she grew up listening to the songs of the OPM Icon.
Jaya, who is also an OPM legend, also recognized Pilita’s contribution to her career, recounting that she was given a “big break” performance by the OPM icon after noticing her performance abroad…
“Born on August 22, 1939, to a family of Spanish descent, she was sent to Spain for her studies at Born on August 22, 1939, to a family of Spanish descent, she was sent to Spain for her studies at Colegio Mayor de Padre Poveda, in preparation for her arranged union with a wealthy man., in preparation for her arranged union with a wealthy man.”
Oh , man. this is so interesting.
Says here Google maps, that this college is in Madrid. so I wonder if she ever visited El Sobrino de Botín restaurant whose lechoneros are from Cebu (don’t know about then though, pre-WWII… but according to youtube now they are). her college and the restaurant would only have been 3 miles. lechon every day! actual baby lechon. not the big ones. lol.
more on pilita corales in australia. there is even a street there named after her, the pilita street.
https://www.facebook.com/100088215896296/posts/629914669959057/?_rdr
Xiao Chua just told me the street is real. He isn’t so sure about the shipwreck story.
not a ship, a private yacht yata named seafox, wrecked by australia’s treacherous sea. to think that pilita was once a magician’s assistant was something to ponder about.
https://philtimes.com.au/pilita-a-musical-icon-to-filipinos-and-australians/
this is the 2nd time I posted the link. the 1st got shipwrecked yata, haha. but seriously, the ship was actually a private yacht called seafox owned by a magician. pilita used to work as the magician’s assistant then. the yacht was wrecked by australia’s treacherous sea just off arhnem land.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/john-calvert-master-wove-his-magic-on-a-gullible-public-20131117-2xopr.html
oooooops, my bad didnt catch that copy/paste repetition (or stutter), 1939 was when she was born, i read it as her going to college there. WP did that copy/paste all by itself. lol. am assuming 1950s was when she was in Madrid then?
When she went to Madrid is not in the article, but I assume that was more of a finishing school so she could have been in her teens. I knew a Filipina mestiza diplomat who also went to a Madrid finishing school for two years in her youth.
She was married to a Brazilian guy who died early. It was quite common for mestizas to marry Latinos or the likes of the Ayalas to marry South American ladies in the postwar period. And Madrid schools were for the GMRC, of course.
OT, there is a new PPop hit that fits the present election, video below:
😉
Sabi nga ni mama,
“Wag kang tanga-tanga” (Tanga)
Huwag magpapaloko sa gaya mong
magaling sa salita (Magaling sa salita)
🎶
LOL. totally relevant. magaling sa salita = cunning linguist. Wittgenstein was right, its all language games , so huwag magpapaloko.
Meanwhile, they helped sell Vietnamese cars today. So they have at least ONE brand deal:
https://x.com/Anonnym__/status/1910967471533871154
The nation’s girl group BINI has 31 brand deals to date and sells everything from Jolibee to Cornetto ice cream and Penshoppe discount fashion.
https://x.com/twixierosas/status/1911043190511292899
The boy group SB19 has half as many Spotify monthly listeners as BINI and around 15 brand deals, including Dunkin Donuts, McDonald’s I think, and definitely Acer. In a country where there are more able to afford concerts but still many who don’t, brand deals are important.
Somewhat OT, especially for LCPL_X. The video below of the Independence Day ceremony at the India-Pakistan border shows how territoriality and group mindset are in our genes.
Note that neither side steps one centimeter across the border line for all the ritual posturing.
thanks! posturing videos by primatologists on youtube are my favorite, Ireneo. but humans just do it with such panache. lol. well actually geladas are pretty dramatic too. come to think of it, interspecies posturing are interesting as well, eg. Philippine long tail macaques vs. Filipinos. ps.— not hearing much from the Hague of late.
another posturing from our neighbors in the far south, the new zealanders doing their traditional haka, the warriors dance, done before a big meet like the rugby world cup new zealand vs ireland. the haka’s footwork is easy enough, even I can do it!
filipinos dont have such tradition as the haka, other than the rendering of our national anthem before a meet.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TI93YHILSgk
there is a practice in eskrima. juego todo vs. juego sinyas, kb. juego todo is all out hitting (but not the head) whilst juego sinyas is controlled like you trap your opponent then give a sign like hey this hit would have rendered this part of your body inoperable, etc. this is done during fiestas and plenty of eskrimadors made money in these contests. juego means play. as to all out violence, the words are more like aaway or bahad. that’s individual violence, where as gubat is more synonymous to digma (Tagalog). what i really wanna know is if both juegos came from conquistadores. like if that was their thing. both juegos don’t appear in Spanish (from Spain) lexicon any more it seems , i’ve asked. maybe Pelita would have known. or even Rizal, and the Luna brothers.
Escrima in Spanish means fencing, and juego sinyas reminds me of touché in fencing sports. Yes, gubat means war, and mangubat means warrior in Bisaya.
Karl, I think, is quite familiar with MMA, where it is always like juego todo. That many words used in the Philippines are not in modern Spanish lexica isn’t surprising. There are a lot of slang words that differ even between Cuba and Mexico, or Venezuela and Chile etc etc.
My theory is that this came from the Spanish soldiers and or priests veterans of Latin American action. and theres bits and pieces that confirm via Juan LaCoste of Stockton (he’s from Cebu i think, but for sure the Visayas) who Dan Inosanto credits as his main teacher whilst growing up in Stockton (family friend). essentially Visayans were recruited to go to Mindanao to help Spaniards pacify them. this part i think you could match up historically. So the spaniards trained these Visayans using their old number system this part i think still matches with Spanish fencing. but on top of those „katas“ would be the juegos. sinyas makes sense with touche. todo is i agree more like play sparring but with hits to denote where one would be weak not proficient needing work welts/bruises as reminder where to focus remediation. i can see this in recent Historical European Swordsmanship or martial arts. but where theres considerable lack is the Filipino martial arts very sophisticated locking (with weapon) repertoire theres tons of techniques. too much to master. absent in Japanese even Gatka indian sword/stick arts. My theory is juego sinyas veered off into totally new territory due to the fiestas, which unlocked a totally new branch of evolution in the Philippines. cuz to win the prize you have to make the sinyas obvious, and the only way to do so is to lock your oponent and then sinyas to the head etc. etc. thus winning. re karl’s MMA i know theres a big underground fight club scene in Manila for money, in Cebu its more like boxing like stables. but ask karl about the over representation of Cordillera folks in that scene. cuz the stuff in Cordillera am hearing is or would be an interesting connection (eg, different strain of FMA evolutions) that’s closer to tribal stuff. cuz theres that too, but I don’t see it in lumads in Mindanao (caveat my search wasnt exhaustive ) but the war mongering culture i did see in Tausugs/Yakan, a bit in Maranaw (but you can see them chose real estate, etc. etc. instead) and its there in Maguindanao (but its more like gubat group stuff, not individual proficiency really more dependent on amok stuff). but theres something in Cordillera i was always curious about but never got to examine, Ireneo. But i would lump this stuff with your Ppop studies, as its about creativity. Filipino creativity. or artistic expression. only its via violence. or not, cuz fiestas.
That is definitely a topic for itself. I can imagine that Joey knows a bit about this as he has mentioned having done martial arts. I also have, but long ago and not that high level, especially not that much high contact. It is like Mexico showed me how little I can really speak Spanish..
BTW I asked Gemini AI to summarize the history of Filipino music on the global stage from Pilita to PPop, and this came out:
The journey of Filipino music on the international stage is a vibrant tapestry woven with diverse talents and evolving sounds. From the mid-20th century to the present day, Filipino artists have broken barriers and garnered recognition across the globe.
The Trailblazers:
Pilita Corrales: Dubbed “Asia’s Queen of Songs,” Pilita Corrales was one of the first Filipino artists to achieve significant international success in the late 1950s and early 1960s, particularly in Australia. Her multilingual abilities and captivating performances paved the way for future Filipino artists. She was the first Filipino to win at the Tokyo Music Festival in 1972.
The Ballad Era and Beyond:
Freddie Aguilar: In the late 1970s, Freddie Aguilar’s iconic song “Anak” became a global phenomenon, topping charts in Japan and gaining immense popularity worldwide. Its universal theme resonated with audiences across cultures, showcasing the power of Filipino songwriting.
Lea Salonga: The 1980s and 1990s saw the rise of Lea Salonga, whose powerful voice and theatrical talent earned her international acclaim. Her roles in “Miss Saigon” and “Les Misérables” on Broadway and in the West End garnered numerous awards and recognition, establishing her as a global theater icon. She also lent her voice to Disney characters, further expanding her international reach.
The Rise of Pop and Rock:
Eraserheads: In the 1990s, the band Eraserheads gained a massive following in the Philippines and also earned international recognition, particularly in Asia. Their unique blend of pop and rock influenced a generation of Filipino musicians.
The New Millennium and Global Reach:
Charice Pempengco (now Jake Zyrus): The early 2000s witnessed the sensational rise of Charice Pempengco, who gained international fame through YouTube and appearances on Oprah Winfrey’s show. Their powerful vocals led to chart-topping albums and collaborations with international artists, marking a new era of Filipino pop artists reaching global audiences.
Sarah Geronimo: While primarily a massive star in the Philippines, Sarah Geronimo has also gained recognition in international award shows, showcasing her impact as a performer and recording artist.
The PPop Revolution:
SB19: In recent years, PPop (Pinoy Pop) has emerged as a significant force on the international scene. Groups like SB19 have garnered global attention with their dynamic performances, catchy music, and dedicated fanbase (A’TIN). They have charted on Billboard and won international awards, demonstrating the global appeal of contemporary Filipino pop music.
BINI and HORI7ON: Following in SB19’s footsteps, other PPop groups like BINI and HORI7ON are also gaining international recognition, showcasing the diversity and growing popularity of the genre.
In Conclusion:
From the groundbreaking success of Pilita Corrales to the global phenomenon of PPop, Filipino music has steadily made its mark on the international stage. The journey reflects the talent, adaptability, and cultural richness of Filipino artists, who continue to break boundaries and share their music with the world. The future of Filipino music on the global scene looks bright, with PPop and other genres poised to reach even greater heights.
I also asked Gemini about the global prospects of PPop and got this:
While PPop (Pinoy Pop) has been gaining significant traction in the Philippines and parts of Southeast Asia, its prospects for global success are a complex interplay of opportunities and challenges.
Factors Favoring Global Success:
English Language Advantage: A significant portion of PPop songs incorporate English lyrics, which can lower the language barrier for international audiences compared to KPop, JPop, or CPop, where songs are primarily in their native languages.
Filipino Diaspora: The large number of Filipinos working and living abroad creates a built-in fanbase and acts as a cultural bridge to other countries. This diaspora actively supports PPop artists and helps in its dissemination.
High-Quality Production: Inspired by the success of KPop, PPop groups are increasingly investing in high-quality music videos, intricate choreography, and catchy songs with international appeal.
Social Media Savvy: PPop artists and their agencies effectively utilize platforms like YouTube, Spotify, TikTok, and other social media to reach global audiences and build international fanbases. The success of groups like SB19 demonstrates the power of these platforms.
Cultural Blend: PPop often blends Filipino cultural elements with contemporary global pop trends, creating a unique sound and identity that can stand out in the international market. The incorporation of local sounds and even languages within songs adds a distinct flavor.
Passionate Performances and Fan Service: Filipino artists are known for their passionate vocal delivery and engaging stage presence. They also tend to be very approachable to fans, fostering a strong sense of community.
Growing Global Interest in Diverse Music: The increasing global appetite for non-English language pop music creates an opportunity for PPop to carve out a niche by highlighting its unique cultural identity.
Challenges to Global Success:
Intense Industry Competition: The global music market is highly competitive, dominated by established players like KPop and Western pop. PPop needs to find a way to differentiate itself and compete for attention.
Management and Financial Constraints: Compared to the well-funded and highly organized KPop industry, the PPop scene might face limitations in terms of management expertise, infrastructure, and financial resources needed for large-scale global promotions.
Cultural Appropriation Concerns: As PPop draws inspiration from various global music trends, including KPop and Western pop, it needs to navigate cultural integration carefully to avoid accusations of cultural appropriation and maintain its unique Filipino identity.
Developing a Distinct Sound: While blending cultures can be an advantage, PPop needs to further cultivate a signature sound that is recognizably Filipino and not just seen as a derivative of other pop genres. Some argue that prioritizing local music producers and songwriters is crucial for developing this unique identity.
Media Support and Domestic Market Strength: Historically, Original Pilipino Music (OPM) has faced challenges with local media support. A strong domestic market that actively buys albums and supports local artists is vital for long-term sustainability and can provide a solid foundation for international expansion.
Logistical Challenges: Touring and promoting in distant markets can be expensive and logistically complex, especially for newer groups without established international infrastructure.
Overall Prospects:
The prospects for PPop to achieve global success are promising but will require a concerted effort from artists, agencies, and the broader Filipino music industry. Leveraging the English language advantage, the strong diaspora support, and the unique cultural blend are key opportunities. Overcoming challenges related to competition, funding, and developing a distinct sound will be crucial for sustained international growth.
The increasing visibility of groups like SB19 and BINI on the global stage indicates that PPop has the potential to break through. Continued investment in talent development, strategic international collaborations, and a focus on showcasing a unique Filipino musical identity will be vital in solidifying PPop’s place in the global music landscape.
the sky’s the limit for sure. just keep the bureaucrats and oligarchs out of it.
Bureaucrats, yes, oligarchs depends on what you mean by oligarch.
Can the boss of now-beleaguered ABS-CBN still be seen as an oligarch? They did invest in training the “Nation’s Girl Group” recruited out of mostly not that rich girls, sure there was a bit of a Hunger Games feel to how they conducted the auditions but they got a great group, financed them living in one house during their training period which was the pandemic, didn’t give up in them in the first 2 1/2 years where they were not yet profitable. No one else did that.
Sure SB19 managed to work their way up on the low budget of their originally Korean firm, then founded their own, but they were BOYS in their early to mid-20s, some doing call center work on the side. BINI started in their mid- to late teens, too young to be out on their own.
The other early PPop groups have somewhat better off youngsters, so usually the boys aren’t a bit irresponsible, typical for the Philippines, the girls are better and two of the more established girl groups are now taking off. But BINI had a head start as they connect well with the masa.
Viva is also a classic Philippine company. Basically, it owns Viva Records, Viva movies, the soft porn streaming channel Vivamax, the normal (new) streaming channel Viva One etc. The founder “Boss Vic” del Rosario is still very present even if his son Vicente now runs things.
The SB19 firm 1Z Entertainment is local but has strong Sony connections, just like the old Korean SB19 management firm SBTown, which has the girl group Kaia (latest hit, Tanga). Cornerstone is Singaporean and has the girl group G22. GKD Labels is American-owned. Because music firms in the Philippines can be foreign owned, at least to some extent, the likes of SB19 exist in the first place. ABS might not have left its comfort zone without seeing SB19 succeed, and this year has a run on the market with two world tours and many new releases.
Viva is debuting two new groups and marketing its groups with the new series on Viva One. GKD labels also is debuting a girl group soon. Housed and trained them similar to ABS..
„No one else did that.“
Good point. money has to come from somewhere. and its the oligarchs that have that now. but eventually you’ll folks like Don King and Dana White. success begets new oligarchs. like Pac-man, and so on and so forth.
Yep, there is now already an infrastructure rising with small producers like Underdog (owned by Morissette Amon who is not actually PPop, more on OPM and covers but with a lot of US connections, managing several bands) there is 1Z which has SB19 Pablo as CEO and COO “Kuya Yani” (Yani de Dios, elder brother of SB19 Justin) who is a Chinoy with real business experience prior to the music biz; small studios and performance venues like Cozy Cove in Baguio with world class sound systems; world class music video production outfits like YouMeUs MNL which has been tapped by both SB19 and BINI; and certainly a lot more. GKD Labels mentioned investors they pitch to. A winning industry will attract money, that’s for sure.
It’s not just PPop that is rising, OPM has renewed itself and doesn’t sound old school anymore with the likes of Dionela, Cup of Joe (first Filipino act to have 8 million monthly listeners) etc etc – CoJ had the leader of BINI in its recent MV and SB19 Justin directed the video.
Dionela is doing a small world tour. SB19 and BINI are doing big world tours this year..
Ireneo, if you’re in contact with any of them, please tell them to look into pgLang Kendrick Lamar’s company. to this day I still don’t know what it is , is it a production company an ads company, i dunno but seems like a smart move. an artist centric model of doing things. growing the industry typa process. but here , specifically for South LA.
I am not directly in contact but loosely observing. Underdog Music by Morissette (and her half-American husband Dave Lamar, who has Nashville connections, it seems) seems to be artist-centric, though she also might have made a truce with ABS-CBN Star Music now.
GKD Labels, the American producers, say they want to be fair to artists, though it seems they unwittingly stepped on the toes of Viva, just a conjecture based on some indications.
Star Music owns maybe 30% and Viva 60% of Filipino songs. They are the big guys there.
1Z had to make a deal with SBTown to get the name rights for SB19, however that deal was. Well, at least stuff is going more legal there nowadays. In the long run, that is better.
Though it seems Gigi got copyright struck due to one of her covers. Didn’t check the details.
During my youthful escapades among the Tausug, I sometimes had a friendly bout of silat/kuntaw here and there. What fascinates me is the fighting system in Tausug silat and kuntaw incorporates and indigenizes many foreign concepts that were transmitted to the Nusantara. Silat has an Indian origin, while kuntaw has a mainland SEA origin via the Yue peoples.
On Mainland SEA, Southern China, and the Indian subcontinent, there are two main forms of fighting systems: One derived from Indian forms (Hindu-Buddhist), the other derived from Daoist forms (mountain ascetics).
The Indian forms originated in peasant self-defense, and so emphasize bare-handed or stick fighting. One can look at pictures of eskrima artists and compare it to Tamil Silambam or Keralan Kalaripayattu for example and understand immediately where eskrima forms originated from.
Weapon arts were probably introduced by refugees of the Dong Son (Lac Viet) of Northern Vietnam, as the Yue Dongsonians were displaced by the greater breakup of the Baiyue confederation due to the beginnings of Han Chinese incursion (around first century AD). To this day there are clear distinctions between Northern and Southern Chinese martial arts style between the Nothern Hans and the Southern Yue and Tai who were forced to assimilate (as well as cuisine, language, culture, etc. See “China North-South Divide”). The Dongsonians introduced jurus (martial arts forms), edged weapon arts via the bronze casting technology the Dongsonians transmitted (as well as other technologies like paddy rice). The Nusantara previously used stone axes, bow and arrow, spears. Most Indo-Malay and Philippines native edged weapons likely had some origin traced back to Dongsonian weapons, aside from the Javanese weapons which have a Tamil origin.
„Silat has an Indian origin, while kuntaw has a mainland SEA origin via the Yue peoples.“
I do see eskrima styles usually under the umbrella term as kali thats more similar to Gatka, Joey. lots of twirling footwork–explained as footwork geared for multiple opponents. whereas the Visayan styles are more akin to fencing, very linear footwork one on one. but your point about there being something older makes sense. either the Spaniards built on top of that, or these strains just evolved separate. as to the locks and stuff, I do see that coming from silat. i think in Tagalog silat is known more as panuntukan , pangamot in Visayan. so it survived just rebranded. Now kuntaw i’ve always thought as the recent comer from Chinese emigres who infiltrated muslim Mindanao. lots of kung-fu too in Cebu, and Manila. that i never really delved into. maybe karl knows.
Generally eskrima, kali, and arnis are interchangeable terms. My understanding that more traditional eskrima is mostly stick fighting or open hand technique. The bladed weapon component is most likely an influence from kuntaw. Tamil silambam and Keralan kalaripayattu which both emphasize footwork and acrobatics influenced Nusantara martial arts, which later influenced the Filipino derivatives. As for kuntaw, yes the Hokkien-origin Chinoys brought more refined kuntaw later on, but Hokkiens are also a Yue people like the more ancient Dongsonians so there is a continuum.
There is undoubtedly a Peninsular influence as well, as there is an Iberian tradition of stick fighting called juego de palo/jogo do pau (“stick game”). A more ritualized form of stick-based martial arts from Catalonia is called ball de bastons (“stick dance”). Check out videos of both juego de palo and ball de bastons, then compare to the eskrima dances prevalent in modern fiesta processions and you may find similarities.
I saw/heard Pentjak Silat in the movie THE ACCOUNTANT.
Yes, Americans have always been mesmerized by the “foreign.” For most of the 2000s there was a resurgence in interest for Asian martial arts, prominently displayed by the importation of Hong Kong “bullet time” fight sequencing. I thought Affleck’s pencak silat scenes were excellent. He must have had a lot of training for those fight sequences.
This juego de palo is interesting. theres a 1976 youtube video am watching now. its almost like Chinese staff and Japanese kendo combined. the algorithm also showed sheepherding in Canaries with long stick, to hop from rock to rock (like pole vaulting). those guys love their sticks. i don’t see the use of the empty hand/alive hand at all. though the way they leverage pry each others sticks is interesting. there is something like that in Cebuano/Visayan eskrima, that i don’t see anywhere else. will check more of these videos out. thanks, Joey. i’ve heard of Canary islands but never new where they were. lol. had to Google map ‚em.
Ball de bastons of Catalonia is more like tinikling but with shorter sticks. lol. its somewhat synchronicity cuz i’ve been watching Spanish youtube all day, specifically Andalusian sufism, a lot on Ricote valley order Hermetics. In Murcia district. which fruited via algorithm Liana Saif and her work on Sufis opening the way to occult sciences. Loving this Spain stuff today, Joey.
maybe it is too late for us to have a single cultural representation during international sports meets or events as in basketball philippines vs taiwan, or some other competitive world games that philippines take part of, like football that philippines seems to be always losing vs japan and south korea.
at international sports games, we mostly sing our national anthem, no pre game eskrimas or such exhibitions done by our basketballers themselves. nothing so onerous a representation of our culture like the very distinctive traditional maori haka. spectators always look forward to the haka. no extra accoutrements are needed, no sticks, swords, and other props, etc, just the players themselves taking their pace, in their sports uniform and exhibiting pure and unadulterated energy.
our eskrima is good, but not all filipino sports players master it good enough for them to make some sort of filipino haka; and not against fellow filipino players, but against the opposing team which they are strictly not allowed to touch or tap pre game. besides, players are not supposed to come armed to sports arena, be they sticks or any props that can be construed as weapons, security is quite tight at sports events and people are frisked, sometimes electronically.
I’d like to see juego sinyas type competition revived in fiestas and encouraged by the national gov’t, kb. i’m not a fan of boxing or MMA type competitions, they have their own niche am sure, but eskrima via juego sinyas competition would be more akin to chess or go. but physical. though mental also cuz you gotta set up to get to that lock or other specific moves, there baiting feigning etc. it ‚d be in short quick bursts, but if you have say rounds of it and scoring it’d be interesting to watch for sure. Sen. Zubiri was really into this stuff, but never really had a vision. it was more like summits that never got anywhere. so just go-around the various schools and groups and put out the prize, eg. barangay level to national. but yeah it would be like tennis, one on one; mano y mano, with various opens or competitions that lead to bigger national competitions.
And merge it to Ireneo’s PPop to enliven passion. But yeah tennis is the closest sport as analogy to juego sinyas. the current competition not verypopular model is lots of padding and helmet (ala Kendo) and just whacking with stick no finesse. very boring to watch. but with control and skill (no violence or less), i’m sure it’ll be interesting. like fencing as sport now, but also with use of unarmed hand. <<<
This is what I gathered thru Gemini
Philippines Case Studies: * Arnis and Health-Related Fitness: Studies show that Arnis training improves overall health-related fitness, particularly for females, enhancing cardiovascular endurance, strength, and body composition. * Arnis and Cultural Pride: Integrating Arnis into physical education fosters cultural pride, resilience, personal growth, confidence, discipline, community involvement, and strengthens cultural identity among educators and students. * Historical Significance of Filipino Martial Arts: Filipino martial arts have deep historical roots, influenced by cultural and linguistic mixtures and adapted through various historical periods, emphasizing blade fighting techniques and resourcefulness in combat.
digging deeper.
Juego Todo in the context of Philippine Eskrima (Arnis/Kali) refers to the “full-contact, no-holds-barred” style or mentality of fighting — literally meaning “play all” or “everything goes.” What is Juego Todo in Eskrima?
Historical Combat Context:Juego Todo was practiced when disputes or duels were settled through real combat, often with live blades or heavy sticks, without protective gear or rules — essentially a fight to first blood or even death.
Mindset and Application:It embodies the concept of total commitment in combat — using all techniques and weapons available, with adaptability and survival as the goal.
Techniques Involved:
Stick, knife, and sword techniques
Empty-hand strikes, locks, throws
Grappling and ground fighting
Disarms and weapon transitions
Psychological tactics and deception
Not a Sport Format:Unlike modern sport Arnis with point-based systems and safety gear, Juego Todo is raw and realistic — close to how Eskrima was originally used in warfare or self-defense.
Cultural and Modern Influence:
Some traditional schools still preserve Juego Todo training for advanced practitioners, often in secret or controlled environments.
It influenced the “Real-World” self-defense systems and combatives used by Filipino martial artists and even military units today.
Would you like to explore legendary Juego Todo fighters, training methods, or its philosophical aspects?
“Juego Sinyas Arnis” refers to a traditional Filipino martial arts practice, particularly within the Arnis system, that focuses on non-verbal communication during combat or training through the use of hand signals (“sinyas”). Here’s a breakdown: What is Juego Sinyas in Arnis?
Key Features:
Would you like a visual guide or examples of specific sinyas used in a Juego Sinyas routine?