Summer Party Filipino Style

Summer Party Filipino Style in Green Bay, WI

Two good Filipino friends, mom and daughter, hosted a summer party yesterday in classic Filipino style.  The food was central, plentiful (covering a long counter and a large table) and varied.  As usual I unfortunatley neglected to take down the names of my favorite dishes, but here goes a Taglish attempt.  My perrenial favorite is pancit, and this occasion reminded me why.  Plentiful noodles (vermicelli-like), in this case with lots of veggies and chunks of chicken, and light seasonings.  There are, of course, almost endless variations of Filipino pancit.  My wife's favorite dish of the evening was a soup (mang.......) with a lentil-like base, fish-infused tofu (usually pork rinds), veggies, medium peppers and spices.  Of course, basic to the fun is the take-away at the end, where everyone is loading up on each others dishes.  We made off with plates filled with pancit (naturally) and one of the hostesses's specialties, meat kabobs (today's dinner), two different sweets (one a Wisconsin flan), and a piece of birthday cake (one ot two celebrated).  Oh, yes, and a bowl of the soup.

As always the key ingredients were the friendly people, parents and children (mostly very sophisticated-looking teenagers); the conversation often in slightly different accents and sometimes languages, flavored with jokes, laughter, and exchanges of interesting facts (I did take some notes) for future reference; friendships renewed and affirmed; very likey the most diverse group of partiers in town. 

Catching Up on Philippine Politics

I recently filled in one of the many gaps in my understanding of Philippine Politics, the relationship between the President and the two legislative branches, Senate and House.  It seems that the House members are beholden to the President for national funding of "projects in their districts."  As a consequence, the administration has "considerable leverage over the body."  (Floyd Whaley, New York Times, May 15, 2013)  By contrast the 20 members of the Senate are not financially beholden to the administration and thus are much more independent.  The Philippine Senate is thus in much more of a position to support, oppose, and modify the administration's agenda.

I came across this interesting political tid-bit when catching up on the stack of old newspapers that pile up until my wife deposits them on the dining-room table, at my place for eating.  The source is an article reporting on the mid-term election in the Philippines this past May.  "Mid-term" refers to the half-way point in the six-year term of President Benigno Aquino (Philippine Presidents serve a single term).  The ballots had not all been counted, but it looked quite clear that the majority in the Senate was going to swing to Aquino's allies.  Since he has had a quite successful first three years, it looks as though he will have an even smoother way for the next three.  The Philippine economy is the fastest-growing Asian economy, and to his credit President Aquino pledged that he would work to extend "the benefits of ecnomic prosperity to the country's poor" and "to crack down on corruption."   

George W. Bush, a Nigerian, and a Filipino:: Great Photo in NYTimes

You won't want to miss the photo on the front page of the Thursday, July 11 New York Times.  It shows former president George W. Bush standing proudly between two freshly naturalized U.S. citizens.  One is a Nigerian in his U.S. Army dress uniform.  The other is a Filipino in his U.S. Marine dress uniform.  The message is clear.  We are a nation of immigrants, a nation made great by  immigrants.  Ironically one of the headlines next to the photo reads, "G,O.P. In House Resists Overhaul For Immigration."  It's as though Former President Bush is saying, "So what's the hold-up?"

I had numerous reflections about the two young immigrants pictured.  The young Filipino U.S. Marine, now American citizen, put me in mind of the famous all-Filipino unit in the U.S. Army that distinguished itself in the Battle of Bataan in late January to early April of 1942.  They were called "The Scouts."  They were MacArthur's prize soldiers, and they were regarded as the "best soldiers" on Bataan--on either side.  One anecdote tells of a group of Scouts relieving U.S. soldiers with some friendly ribbing: "It's OK, Joe, we're here now."

The young Nigerian reminded me of my 1993 visit to Ghana, the next-door neighbor to Nigeria and also a former British colony.  I visited the Ashanti area of Ghana, inland from the capital, Accra.  One of my memorable discoveries was the World War Two museum, a sturdy bamboo structure filled with pictures of Ashantis in British uniform, but with the focus on the face.  Tribal markings and no smiles.  I thought, "how would I react if I were to face one of these soldiers in the jungles of Burma, as the Japanese had to do?"

So, Mr. Bush, I agree.  What's the hold-up?

Filipinos of Mixed Heritages (Briefly)

My nephew has been to the Philippines twice in the last six months.  He recently shared his observation that he did not see much racial diversity there.  Here is an excerpt from my reply.

 

In the chapter about my teaching at UP Diliman in Sundays in Manila, I talk about how over the four or five months of that experience, I recognized the varieties of Filipino mixed heritages. I was pleased when I was able to recognize the differences among Filipinos of mixed heritages, including Korean, Chinese, Japanese, Spanish, American and Indigenous. Still, your point is well taken. The majority of Filipinos are still primarily of Malay extract, although this is gradually changing.

 

An interesting (partly) related anecdote.  A Filipina friend once told me that I should identify myself as Irish-American rather than American because my mother was 100% Irish, with both her parents immigrating from the old sod.  My friend is definitely viewing the maternal line as defining. She is also suggesting, I think, that "American" is too general and perhaps inaccurate as a designation.

Happy Philippine-American Friendship Day

On July 4, 1946, the United States formally recognized Philippine independence.  For a few years thereafter, the Philippines celebrated its Independence Day on July 4.  The country subsequntly went back to its original Independence Day, June 12, the date in 1898 when the Philippines declared its independence from Spain and signed its first constitution.  July 4 was then established as Philippine-American Friendship Day.

Happy Friendship Day, RP and US