I am Filipino

I finally got my IC early this week. My permanent residence application in Singapore was approved and I had to do the needful to complete all the tests and paperwork for the IC.

When I approached counter 36, the immigration officer told me that the ladies at the back were playing a guessing game as to what my nationality was based on the name on my folder. Apparently the entire list of the United Nations had been recited and no one guessed that I was Filipino until they noticed my middle name: Aquino. (Thank you, Cory, for making the name known.

I am Filipino and proudly so. I remember that in high school a friend of mine, Eileen, said that she'd like to be an extraordinary Filipino rather than just an ordinary Filipino. Another friend had just said the he was just an ordinary Pinoy when asked to describe himself.

What Eileen said that day has stayed with me since. I try to be the best that I can be everyday, in everything that I do. I do this, too, because I live outside the Philippines where Filipinos are stereotyped.

I first "represented" the Philippines in a cultural exchange program sponsored by the Lions Club of France in 1991 for French-speaking youth from all over the world. I was the first Pinoy that the Lions Club had ever invited and I knew this having been told by my professors at Alliance Francaise where I had been taking French for close to 4 years. I was so proud of the accomplishment. In Paris, I was hosted by the mayor of a small town. In this little village in the South of France called Hyeres, a family with a fantastic house and an awesome yacht listened to me sing in Tagalog.

Taking on a regional role out of Hong Kong in 2000, I had to manage a multicultural staff and agencies. I had to show them work in the Philippines can translate and be used as a measure regionally and implemented in local markets.

I took it upon myself to do good and show something different. I didn't want to be stereotyped. And that holds true until today in Singapore. You know how it is, rightly or not, one major mistake and you're dismissed as just another Filipino. I think am on the right track having had my work acknowledged not just regionally but globally as well. I have trophies to prove this claim. :-)

Am dark but not pango (thanks to the Quesada bloodline, my lola on my mother's side). Growing up I was always conscious of my skin tone. So, hello Eskinol. It was only when I moved to Hong Kong that I started to appreciate the color of my skin as more and more people were giving me compliments. Kasi naman sa Pilipinas the general measure of beauty is that of being maputi. Now I call that maputla. So now, I don't have a concern with the color of my skin. I embrace my ethnic exotic color.

Having to travel for work, am often mistaken for Japanese when am in Taiwan and Japan. Thai when in Bangkok and in Jakarta. Vietnamese when when in HCM or Hanoi and during one trip to Vegas. And a band singer in Hong Kong (a taxi asked me that once). In Singapore, the immigration officer asked me if my family were originally from Greece. She wasn't the first one to think that. I remember taking my California driving test in the late 80's when the instructor asked me if I were from Greece after looking at my last name on the record.

Am a big fan of OPM. My favorite song is Ambon by True Faith. And I have Tina Paner's original version of Tamis Ng Unang Halik in my iPod. I eagerly follow Philippine Idol and check YouTube everyday for updates. I like Pow and Mau.

I kinda lost the plot here with the rambling. I guess my point is that though I live elsewhere and have experienced travel and been exposed to many different cultures, my sensitivities are still truly Filipino.