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Published: January 14th 2008
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monitoring the situation
Monitor lizards are common in some areas of the Philippines A few facts and observations on The Philippines.....
1. Filipinos are the world's biggest users of text messages per capita. Close to 300 million text messages are sent each day. Text messages are used in the most unlikely situations. On the island of Mindanao, Muslim insurgents texted insults to the government soldiers during a lull in hostilities. The soldiers texted insults right back. Another example is where disgruntled soldiers took over a shopping mall, sealed it off and threatened to blow it up. The mothers of the soldiers heard about it on the news and texted their sons. Some mothers asked them to give themselves up, whereas other mothers texted to ask if they needed any food bringing down
2. To get attention in a shop, restaurant or bar, it is perfectly acceptable to hiss
3. 94% of Filipinos are Christians, a mixture of Roman Catholics, Seventh Day Adventists, Baptists, Salvatorians and other branches of belief. Muslims account for less than 5%
4. Cock fighting is very popular in the Philippines. But on the island of Mindanao, the Royal sport of HORSE fighting is still practiced. The horses are stallions, and are bred in a similar vein
a welcoming sign in a bar
Firearms are freely available for sale in some villages. But guns and Jack Daniels do not mix to pit bulls or cocks. The two competing stallions are allowed to sniff a mare that is in season, and this gets them in the fighting mood. Teeth and hooves are the weapons available, and the fight is over when a horse either runs away or refuses to fight further. This is a cruel sport, fuelled by gambling, and made even crueller by injecting the same mare with hormones to ensure she is continually in season. The promoters sometimes use the same stallions again and again, with old wounds and scars that get reopened during battle.
5. The Philippines is a series of 7,107 islands, and has a population of 90 million. One in eight people live in Manila. Many people don't know where the Philippines is on the world map. It is East of Vietnam and North of Borneo
6. I'm sure you've all been wrong-changed at some point, and given change for a ten pound note when you actually gave a twenty. This is rare in the Philippines. When taking your money in a shop, Filipinos use the phrase of "I receive..." when they take your money. For example, give a 500 Peso note and they
A Karibou
Usually known as a Water Buffalo, strangely they prefer wallowing in mud to water will say loudly "I receive five hundred". This avoids any confusion over what note was given
7. Toilets are called "Comfort Rooms." Whilst most toilets are usually Western rather than squat ones, they are far from comfortable!
8. Many video arcades operate a "Study Now, Play Later" scheme. Basically, the kids will get free arcade game tokens based on their high school grades. The better your results are, the more free tokens you get
9. Filipinos love their food, and will typically eat 5 meals a day. As well as breakfast, lunch and dinner, they will eat two more meals called "Merienda". These are meals taken mid-morning and mid-afternoon, but are not always snacks. Sometimes they can be a plate of noodles or fried rice.
10. English is widely spoken in the Philippines, but the national language is called Tagalog. It is similar to Indonesian and Malay languages, but roughly 5% of the words are derived from English, and a further 15% are derived from Spanish. These words are called loan words. Examples of English loan words are "Keyk" (cake), Lider (leader), and "Eksport" (export). Spanish loan words include "Cerbesa" (cervesa), "Letse" (leche) and "Keso" (queso).
hogging the pallet
this pig is actually asleep, but is tied down ready for market 11. The Philippine Mouse Deer can be found on the island of Balanbac. It stands only 40cm high, and is the world's smallest hoofed mammal
12. For some bizarre reason, the timezone on Apo Island is fifteen minutes ahead of everywhere else in the Philippines
13. Filipinos believe in making the most of the festive season. The warm-up actually starts in September. The "festive months" are known as the "ber months". ie months ending in "ber" (September, October, November, December)
14. Filipino familes are very large indeed. The average number of kids is 9 or 10, and I met a taxi driver who was one of EIGHTEEN children
15. At San Fernando in North Luzon, some Christians take part in a crucifixion ceremony on Good Friday. Volunteers are nailed to wooden crosses and whipped until they bleed
16. Sometimes a Filiino translation into English makes for a funny phrase. I saw a sign stating what the maximum number of people allowed in a pool was. The term was "Bathing Load" This just tickled me
17. Pigs are moved around in a remarkable number of ways. I have seen pigs on the roof of
Bohol Sunset
the numerous sunsets over here give plenty of good excuses for cocktails! a jeepney, slung in the luggage compartment of buses and strapped into the sidecar of a tricycle
18. In the city of Tagbilaran, the city council passed a resolution forcing tricycle drivers to display quotations from the Bible on the back of the sidecar. Initially, the quotes were strictly taken from the Bible, but with time, drivers started writing their own. Some are surreal, such as "one who walks with Christ is a walking sermon". Others are funny, such as "lead me not into temptation. I can find it myself"
19. Customer service in the Philippines is terrible. You can have five members of staff behind a counter, and four of them will be just milling around doing nothing, while a queue of people wait to be served. You feel like shouting "what are you people DOING behind there?"
20. The Philippines is one of the least visited countries in the world. It receives only 65,000 visitors each year. It is also one of the most underated countries. The people are friendly and the scenery is beautiful, yet hardly anyone goes. It has mountains, forests, volcanoes, beaches and beautiful blue seas. Go!!! Visit The Philippines
21. Some of the folklore and tribal beliefs are very bizarre. Here are some examples of supernatural creatures
- TIKBALANG: this creature has the head of a nag and the body of a man, and abducts virgins. The only defense is to snatch three hairs from his mane, wrap them around your finger and then climb onto his back. Instead of harming you, he will take you flying
- ENGKANTO: this being hides in trees and throws a magical dust at people, which gives them permanently twisted lips
- ASWANG: takes the form of a beautiful woman with red eyes. Visits villages at night and slips her long tongue between the slats in the floor. The tongue enters a victims orifice, and sucks out his internal organs
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Excellent Report on Philippines BUT.........
Good report on the Philippines and in partuclar about their TEXTING appetite. It is monstrous. Price dicates of course as using a Cell Phone is expensive but what I like is the innovative uses Texting has been used for. As to the rest of the dialogue I agree over all and add that the Philippines is highly underated. It is truely a fabulous group of islands and a country in change. About those islands, well they probably have more than listed at low tide but with oceans rising I am aware some islands are likely to dissappear. I love the Philippines. Why? Mostly because the people are genuinely friendly. Sure the odd case and the insurgents bent on their idiology and religions spoil the broth but generally speaking I would visit the Philippines anytime.