Pinoy Facts

Juan Luna [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons Love teams are staples of Filipino culture. Some fans would go to great lengths to support their favorite love teams even to the point of violent confrontations against detractors. This article talks about a different sort of love team which had as much effect on the historical events that led to the Philippines of today I was planning to write and publish this post for Valentine's day, unfortunately life interfered again and it didn't make it (as it always does when it comes to my writing). I wanted to write about the most enduring love teams in Philippine history to celebrate the "love" month. While browsing around the web though, I came across an article at filipiknow.net called "The Real Life Fairy Tale That Changed Philippine History Forever". The article talked about the love story of the future Spanish king and queen who met in secret, got married and united the kingdoms of Aragon and Cas...

Rice is to the Philippines as corn is to the Mexicans. It is our most important food source, and ironically the most imported commodity in the Philippines. Acres of rice fields lay waste and idle. Some completely abandoned, waiting for the next suburban development. And we wonder why we have to constantly import metric tons of rice. The rice farming situation in the Philippines is getting closer to dire and almost non-existent. We used to be the largest rice producer in southeast Asia but has now become one of the largest importers in the region. More and more farmers are forgoing the fields in search of better alternatives or selling their lands to land developers converting the much needed planting fields into housing developments. Farmers who quit the lands are usually those with little to gain and much to loose. Farming in the Philippines is still pretty much dependent on manual labor and other outdated means that seemed to have survived us since the times of the Spanish ...

  The Philippine culture is rife with mystical creatures and scray monsters. And the most fun part is that some of them actually do exist. Most believe that the aswangs are one of those. When it´s full moon and the dogs start howling a scary and lonely tune, take care not to stray too far into the dark. Last week Grimm featured a Wesen (pronounced vesen) called the aswang . For those of you who are not familiar with Grimm, it's a US series featuring a detective who also moonlights as the Grimm. The Grimm is a human with supernatural strength whose main purpose in life is to hunt down Wesens-- supernatural creatures who walk among us like normal human beings. According to Inquirer.net, last week´s episode of the aswang was due to its Sgt. Wu character who in real life is Reggie Valdez, a Filipino born native of Quezon City. What Are the Aswangs Really? In the Grimm episode "Mother Dearest", the aswang was featured as a gray-shape-shifting monster that eats ...

While the rest of the world travel to seek themselves and find adventure, the Filipinos leave home to find a better life. Or at least we hope. While most of the world can easily come home when they get tired of traveling, most Filipinos banish themselves, sometimes for life. I have yet to visit a country where I won't run into any fellow Filipino. A few months back, one Saturday after work my friends and I decided to pack our backpacks and buy ourselves two-way bus tickets to Singapore. Living in Kuala Lumpur, that was a very easy thing to do as the tiny island country is only about 5 - 6 hours away depending on how long the bus drivers decide to stay on each stop, and how long the traffic and queue is to pass through the immigration gates both from the Malaysian side to the Singapore border. It was going to be my first time in Singapore. As the bus rolled off the modern highways of Malaysia I thought of Manila and what my brother would probably be doing at that moment....

  It's always fun reminiscing about Christmas in the Philippines, especially of Christmas for children in the Philippines. There is probably no place else in the world where it's more fun to celebrate Christmas than in the Philippines. Of course, I could be biased. I'm talking about Christmas from home after all. If you want to get at least an idea of what I'm talking about, let Mikey Bustos tell you all about it. For us Filipinos spending Christmas away from our homes, it's a bit different of course. Especially Filipinos working in non-Christian countries. Although Christmas might be celebrated, the real spirit is just not there. To none Christians the only aspect captured is the material part, which is well, material gifts. And there is no carolling, no christmas songs repeatedly playing in the radios. No christmas trees and no blinking christmas lights in front of homes to light our ways. To Filipinos celebrating their Christmases at home, rem...

    WARNING: Might contain corny and green jokes. If you have aversion to corny jokes please do not read. If you have strong aversion to green jokes please do not read. If symptom persists consult a psychiatrist. *** Filipinos have a propensity to make light of anything and everything. Even in times of great distress we always find ways to make a joke out of things. Please don't get us wrong, we do not mean to appear apathetic or insensitive. It just makes it easier for us to take and survive difficult situations. Here is a list of pinoy quote jokes which I blatantly and unabashedly plagiarized from other pinoys on the net. I hope they don't mind. Pinoy Quote Jokes “oo na, maganda na ang kutis mo! Ikaw kaya dito sa pwesto ko. Tingnan ko lang kung hindi ka magkutis matanda! Hmp!” ~ bayag “Subukan mo kaya na kalimutan na ako at wag ng puntahan. Di naman sa pagyayabang. Lalapit ka pa rin sa akin.” ~ inodoro “Sana naisip mo lahat ng sakripisyo ko! Hindi ak...