New tourism slogan: “It’s the Philippines, deal with it!”
Analysis and Opinion
By Joe America
The Philippines is different. Dilapidated in a modern era, rustic in the jungles, special express lanes for carabao, an adventure in the making as soon as you exit the airplane into the sweltering heat and taste the grit between your teeth. I once rode in a taxi whose prior passenger was several bags of charcoal. I arrived at the airport with charcoal pants on the backside. A wandering stewardess was kind enough to explain my condition, and so I made my way to the dilapidated restroom to scrub my trousers as best I could, which was not very good.
I love the Philippines, I really do. The Department of Tourism should explain to tourists that the beach is not the adventure. Getting there is.
Tourists complain a lot, I think, because their expectations are set up all wrong. More fun in the Philippines? There is no fun being ripped off by a taxi driver who takes the long way. But there is, oddly enough. My wife and I still giggle about the time we flew into Cebu and the taxi driver came off the bridge and turned right to get to the Waterfront Hotel. Earned him an extra 100 pesos probably.
Fun is found in mastering rocky paths, not stepping forth on flat level cement.
The Philippines is rough. It’s clammy. It’s jammed bumper to bumper or blasting 100 down a national highway with telephone poles in the right lane. It’s laughing with cab drivers and getting gobsmacked by festival street dancing. It’s finding food, some divine, some dilapidated, always a surprise. My first authentic meal in the Philippines was pancit from a town market stall in San Felipe, Zambales. That’s the Huntington Beach of Luzon, hidden and unknown then, better known now. There are rustic resorts all over town today. The waves are big blue-green rollers, warm and perfect, and surfing is good down the road a ways where the shoreline curves to crank up long breakers.
There are luxury resorts all over the Philippines, designed to please the well-heeled. Casinos for gamblers. Old standards like the Waterfront or Manila Hotel for a night or two in history. The Philippines does history well come to think about it. We live in the remains.
Filipinos explore the Philippines a lot, too. Our week in Palawan found us bumping into a lot of locals. Which reminds me. I never tire of traveling on water, whether it be big ferries or tourist bancas dropping us off at this isle or that for a picnic or snorkel adventure. DOT should feature sea travel in ads, for sure. You don’t get that at Yellowstone, and our volcanoes shoot molten rocks not hot water.
Our home town of Naval, Biliran is as authentic as Filipino living gets. You don’t need a car, although there seem to be plenty of them. A motorcycle taxi will get you into town, and pedicabs will get you around town. In San Felipe, we rode jeepneys and Victory Liner into Olongapo or Manila. Nice rides, all. One of my fonder recollections is the big blue bus careening down the highway to Olongapo as the conductor poured water through the floorboard to keep the equipment from blowing up.
I wish I could get that ride into a tourism ad.
The Philippines is the Philippines. It should not pretend to be more than what it is, nor should we think it is less than what it is because gripers gonna gripe.
The Philippines is wonderful.
It’s rich, it’s soulful, it’s gritty, it’s delicious. It’s honest in the cheating, all God’s children gotta eat. It’s simple and beautiful in its style, that of smile.
Y’all are very blessed to live here.
Me too.
The Society of Honor by Joe America 
Taxi drivers taking advantage of newcomers can happen in many parts of the world, in so many different ways. There also can be very interesting conversations with taxi drivers, who can be from all walks of life.
But there is indeed a masters of chaos aspect to the Philippines that probably always will exist. Of the Metro Manila of 2200 images I asked Bing to generate based on a mix of sci-fi prompts and real Metro Manila, this is what I like best. Of course, I might be AI myself. This is not just something LCPL_X has asked, I have asked myself that at times. A new idea is that I might be straight out of that future, trying to warn of paths to avoid. but well. Here we are.. 😉
As I reflected on our complaints and expectations it seem like most want the Philippines to become an idealized little US, and I say “No no no!” The Philippines is perfect, in its peculiarly imperfect ways, and is doing a slow morph to modernity. We get to ride along. Whether sense, honesty, and competence are required is out for judgment. We nudgers can continue our work happy rather than grouchy.
It doesn’t have to be like the USA – or Spain like some of the old guard were inspired by – or like Japan, Korea, or Singapore for many younger ones. Every place has its own way to modernity. I remember talking to Xiao about the Laptop und Lederhosen motto of Bavaria. Over here we are very reticent about tall buildings, nobody wants the cities here to look “like Frankfurt”, probably the most Americanized city in Germany in terms of appearance, parts of it might be Philly. We love our Oktoberfest but also the jobs Meta AI and other companies bring.
The Philippine has malls but they are a different creature from American malls altogether. Pinoy Pop has KPop inspirations but far deeper roots in Filipino pop of the 1970s and 1990s. Filipino governance is a crazy mix of a state that evolved out of Spanish and American colonial foundations and the towns, provinces, and islands that always ran themselves somehow. Many Pinks just now aren’t happy with Atty. Leni endorsing Pacquiao, but I get why she does.
Ah, she endorsed Manny? Probably because he is serious about writing some laws and is not corrupt. A good fellow, prays for the people he pounds not to get hurt too bad. Goodfellow.
A lot of cities are doing projects to get cars out, and transportation styles cities. Los Angeles is freeways, New York Trains, and Santiago, Chile busses. Manila is hodgepodge and fun, if you survive to laugh about it.
I don’t know about her present reasons, but even before she said that Manny really cares for the people. Of course, the usual Pinks think he knows too little about modern governance, and that he was at some point a lazy Senator.
But his understanding of the Senate is about as good or bad as that of MOST Filipinos, who will still see laws as something lawyers there use as they wish to, not something to protect them by creating a framework of predictable rules to govern things.
And, of course, the Philippines always was about survival. My father told two key stories of the end of WW2 – one was where someone pretending to help them stole all their luggage, don’t know if they could still take the train to Bikol, or maybe that was the reason some stayed in Manila and got caught in the horrors of the last WW2 battle there, AND him looting as a ten year old, getting help from some older guys who he managed to convince they would get a “cut” if they helped him bring “his mother’s stuff” home from a warehouse – pure diskarte”. I don’t get the prissy kind of Pinks who act as if their grandparents had been born with a silver spoon and low-key look down on someone like Manny who sees things from the pragmatic side. Atty Leni has understood the divide between elite and masses best and is trying to bridge it.
https://www.gmanetwork.com/news/topstories/nation/819122/robredo-will-vote-for-pacquiao-if-she-is-not-a-candidate-in-eleksyon-2022/story/ from 2022..
https://cebudailynews.inquirer.net/634424/leni-robredo-supports-pacquiao-abalos-in-their-senate-bid – today
The freaking moral purists are freaking out again..
I know sonny’s talked about Cardinal Tagle here, and i know Tagle’s on the short list.
but if they let random dudes (who may or may not be AI) take part in that conclave, Ireneo. This A.I. (me), would totally vote for https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pablo_Virgilio_David this guy knows the masses and will apply it to the Catholic world. Very much LCPL_X approved. fast track this guy, this is the Pope the Catholic church deserves.
He happens to be Randy David’s brother AND is also the favorite candidate of the Filipino leftists, many of whom don’t like Tagle at all.
I’d really want him to open of the Knights of Malta as his first order of business , Ireneo.
Tuitio fidei et obsequium pauperum (“Defence of the faith and assistance to the poor”)
He’d be the type to do so too.
here are some reasons why people dont like manny pacquiao:
https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2015/05/manny-pacquiao-is-a-terrible-congressman-good-thing-he-never-shows-up-for-work.html
PiE, for the good of the world, the three Filipino cardinals Tagle, David & Advincula will vote & be voted on for consideration to the Chair of St Peter the Apostle. They are to my mind the best products of the Catholic tradition & culture: orthodox in doctrine and morality, one pastorally trained in the Dominican (Advincula), the 2 others (Tagle & David) in the Jesuit traditions. All three are historically & academically & pastorally well prepared to face challenges and opportunities of the world and boots on the ground navigation of the human soul and spirit. Filipinos have much to be proud of in them.
I just watched that Veritasium episode above on the Citicorp center
and St. Peter’s Church architecture and structural engineering problem that presented itself way after construction was completed and the ethical considerations taken in remedying the problem. Auspiciously blacked out or covered by a Newspaper strike in NYC during its retrofittings.
to solve the problem.
Well its a structural engineering issue, but the architectural design was needed because the church refused to leave, asking instead to not only stay but to grant easement only if Citicorp builds them a new church on site. necesssitating said awkward design.
Couldn’t help but see the two, your “orthodox in doctrine and morality, … & pastorally well prepared to face challenges and opportunities ” and Citicorp Center engineer Bill LeMessurier’s plight as similar, as well as his structural design then attempts to fix flaws in said design that he underwent balancing not only the building but potential total collapse.
of that building.
That Hyatt Regency Skywalk collapse is also good video of what couldve been (in Kansas City, Missouri), but imagine a whole skyscraper falling in NYC which woulda undoubtedly felled other surrounding buildings like dominos surrounding it. why I have no desire to visit Manhattan like ever.
add to all that the Prophecy of the Popes by St. Malachi. it’ll definitely be a balancing act, sonny.
Will my cast the first stone mantra be applicable to those purists.
Before when we had a new parish priest one neighbor of mine opened all worm cans she had on him and shamed only her self.
I found it harder to stomach Gordon campaigning beside Leila de Lima’s standee in 2022 but I thought a) politics isn’t always that simple especially in the Philippines and b) one doesn’t break ranks in battle which is what a campaign is, sometimes ego has to take a back seat. What is happening now has the distinct feel of that boxer can’t sit with us, especially from those silent about Gordon back then.
I dont know if the said woman was sane, but if she was, I admire her courage, said her piece and took a risk. no one should be made to feel ashamed for standing their ground. if she was in the wrong, the parish priest as true servant of god would have forgiven her. correct her mistake and welcome her into the fold.
I sometimes throw the 1st stone, rightly or wrongly. if god is against it, he should not have given me an arm, or a beating heart that feels for the moment. and he should not have given me a mouth to speak. amen.
Thanks K
That seems spot on to me. I’d vote for Manny over most of the top poll performers.
Joe…have you considered the moniker “Pepe Pilipinas” instead of “Joe America?” Pepe is the nickname of José, a common first name in the Philippines. And “Pilipinas” seems better suited to your tastes than “America.” At the end of WW2, the locals would wave at American servicemen (who were usually Caucasian) shouting “Victory Joe!”
If they met one in downtown Avenida Rizal Manila they would say “Wanna buy watch, Joe?”
My father, who experienced the battle of Manila firsthand, said that the joke when the Americans returned was that they worshipped San Amagan.
My uncle & aunt who were maybe 11 & 10 yrs old at the time (1945) watched air battles & dogfights at nearby Poro Point from an elevated hillside at Bacnotan, La Union as the US Navy landed men & war materiel at Lingayen Gulf; on a previous night, USS Stingray submarine landed quartermaster materials at Darigayos Cove in nearby Luna municipality aided by Ilocano guerillas led by Col Volkmann, USMA. These were the narratives that became local lore of the town.
Oh, man. this guy’s badass, sonny!
I think the Americans who lead the guerillas in Cebu were mostly drunkards, local Cebuano guerillas had to by-pass their “leadership” mostly. I’m wondering now how consistent good guerilla leadership (American) was across the archipelago. And where the Alamo Scouts focused vis a vis said quality of leadership by location or region, against the Japanese.
Col Volckmann was one among the USAFFE leadership to accept the official surrender of Gen Yamashita in Baguio, Sep,1945.
No, I’m happy with the moniker and people’s acceptance of it. It’s “Hey Joe!” from kids in the provinces that got me the first name, and the America because I wanted to be explicit about my context on comments when I started doing a lot of comments here and there. Now its a well established tag so I have equity in the name.
Too late for a name change.
unless you are a pro wrestler.
🤣😂🤣
Haha. Too funny. Ever think about a YouTube channel? I’d subscribe. And it would be a refreshing change to a lot of the nonsense i see from expats living here trying to earn a living off their fantastic tales of the Philippines! From over hyped to slightly racist rants, it is something I look at occasionally to give me inspiration (or discouragement) for my own vlog. At least I don’t lie. Maybe I should interview you…
I thought about it for 10 seconds and concluded it would be too much work, work being anxieties. That’s why I don’t do interviews and rarely meet people. I like peace and quiet.
I wasn’t very comfortable doing the one interview I did even though we looked like we could have been the next Abbott and Costello in the Philippines. Good writing takes thoughtfulness. Blabbering in front of a camera is not for everyone. It’s why I took two years off afterwards. But now I’m living in the province and while settling in has been an effort (worthwhile), I still feel like I can make some good vlogs. I’ll think on it while I sip a cold one. Meanwhile, continue with your peace and quiet. If you’re curious and want to check out the channel, it’s Where Else Philippines on YouTube. No politics. Just my personal experiences. Cheers 🍺
I’ll definitely check it out this evening. Thanks! 🍻
Well, I tell you, Stephen, we are either brothers or following the same space time path. I watched #28 and was nodding at the parallels, issues with water runoff, paperwork (our title took a year and multiple 500 peso spiffs), watching for construction shortcuts (I eventually passed construction management to my wife), and the importance of a wife who will not run off with the assets (I don’t even have a bank account here, it’s all hers). You and I even wear exactly the same beard, but my uniform says Dodgers. I can definitely relate to your weighing things and decisions. I missed the beer I was expecting, but you do seem to be a judicious soul. I’ll start through your other videos one at a time. Perfect for my evening wind-down. Thanks for the smiles.
Thanks for watching. It’s best before you go off to sleep, haha.
Liked your description of JoeAm’s blog, Stephen.
My favorite part of the Philippines were the folks that woke up at dawn and swept around their homes and the street in front directly with those frond stick brooms… sssshhhhkkk ssssshhhhhkkkk… cleaning up after the stand-bys who stay up til 2am talking about very important stuff leaving behind cigarrette butts and other trash. these implements below should be part of any tourism ads, eg.
“We’ll deal with it in the morning… just enjoy!!!”
That is uniquely Filipino, for sure. One of the accents that make it cool, great mention.
Walis ting ting at daspan.
I woke up many a neighbor if I started early. So I no longer do it myself and let the help sweep in the hot morning sun.
The law to allow for a digital nomad visa was signed by the President today. Thailand and Indonesia have similar visas, and they all want to benefit from people working remotely.
Astute observation as usual, Irineo. Thanks for sharing. I have watched a handful of the vlog podcasts and am impressed by their “techno” dexterity and content. I watched videos about Culion, kasoy industry in Coron, swimming in the lagoons at El Nido with vicarious interest & delight.