Aquino, Corazon C., 1933-2009

Click on the covers to see the larger versions and read the stories.

"How do you measure the life of a woman or a man?" (from "Seasons of Love")

Cory Aquino was on the cover of Time magazine more than any other President of the Philippines—or any Filipino, for that matter—and was on the covers of other magazines as well. But editors put her on their covers not because her picture would sell magazines. Perhaps the tributes that are now being printed and aired around the world will be a better measure of this woman who is quite possibly the greatest Filipina who ever lived:

ABS-CBN - 'People Power' icon Cory Aquino dies (w/ video)
Al Jazeera - Ex-Philippine president Aquino dies (w/ video)
BBC - Philippines ex-leader Aquino dies (w/ video)
China View - Former Philippine president Corazon Aquino passes away
Chosun IIbo (Korea) - Corazon Aquino, Former Philippine President, Dies
CNN - Former Philippine President Corazon Aquino dead at 76 (w/ video)
GMA - Former President Corazon Aquino, people power icon, passes away (w/ video)
Guardian (UK) - Ex-Philippines president Corazon Aquino dies
Los Angeles Times - Corazon Aquino dies at 76; restored democracy to the Philippines
Manila Bulletin - Goodbye, Tita Cory
New York Times - Corazon Aquino, Ex-Leader of Philippines, Is Dead
Philippine Daily Inquirer - Cory Aquino dies
Philippine Star - Former Philippine President Cory Aquino dead at 76
San Francisco Chronicle - From housewife to "people power," Aquino kept the faith
Time - People Power's Philippine Saint: Corazon Aquino, 1933-2009
Toronto Star - Corazon Aquino, 76: Former president of Philippines
Wall Street Journal - Cory Aquino, Who Led Revolt in Manila, Dies at 76
Washington Post - 'People Power' Leader Toppled Philippine Dictator

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Filipinos in Canada

The conference on the "Filipino Community and Beyond," sponsored by the National Alliance of Philippine Women in Canada ended last Sunday. Aside from being enlightening, the conference was also very refreshing because it was focused on community—not academic—research. Perhaps the most concrete sign that it was not like the other conferences I've been to were the proliferation of baby strollers at the venue.

It was an eye-opening experience for me because while I personally know some Filipinos in Canada who are having difficulty integrating into their new community, I did not realize just how deeply-rooted the problems are or that the multicultural Toronto that I like so much also conceals systemic racism. The only thing I found puzzling, which I think some misunderstood when I expressed it at the end, was that I heard so much about the cases of Jomar Lanot, Charle Dalde and Jeffrey Reodica—all men—but the victims in the cases involving the gender around which much of the conference revolved remained nameless. I know it was not intentional, but I couldn't help but think that this sends a signal that Filipinas like Jocelyn Dulnuan and Juana Tejada are not as important as the men.

The groups at the conference—Kalayaan Centre (Vancouver), Magkaisa Centre (Toronto), and Kabataang Montreal—are identified with the Left, however their members did not seem to be as militant as activists in the Philippines. But I suppose their links with the Left have had an effect on their relationships with other groups in the Filipino community. I have, in fact, avoided going to certain events in the past because I perceived them to be supporting armed revolution in the Philippines. But I think I'll be getting more involved with the Magkaisa Centre.

If you are thinking of migrating to Canada or would just like to know more about the state of Filipinos in Canada today, take a look at the following websites, reports and blog posts:

2006 Census - Visible minority groups
Statistics Canada

A Profile of Filipinos in Canada (2001)
Human Resources and Social Development Canada

"Filipinos"
Encyclopedia of Canada's Peoples

"Filipinos"
The Canadian Encyclopedia

Seeking a Better Life Abroad: A Study of Filipinos in Canada 1957-2007 (2008; order online)
Eleanor del Rio-Laquian and Aprodicio A. Laquian

"Deskilling across the Generations: Reunification among Transnational Filipino Families in Vancouver" (2008; pdf)
Geraldine Pratt, UBC and the Phillippine Women Centre of BC

"Between Homes: Displacement and Belonging for Second Generation Filipino-Canadian Youths" (2002; pdf)
Geraldine Pratt, University of British Columbia

"Canada: The New Frontier for Filipino Mail-Order Brides" (2000)
Philippine Women Centre of British Columbia

"What's Happening, Canadian Dollar?" (2008)
An Adobo Lover In Canada

"Personal view of Filipinos in Canada" (2008)
The nth Time

"Filipinos in Canada" (2008)
alex felipe photography

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Proudly Filipino in Vancouver

This is a bit late for Independence Day, but it's finally here =)

The photos above include some of the evidence that I saw of the growing influence of the Filipino community in Vancouver. The photos of the restaurant and remittance centers were taken not in some suburb, but on one of the busiest streets in Vancouver.

Two non-Filipinos are included in the album for reasons that will be made clear below. And just in case you're wondering, I did meet Filipino librarians in Vancouver, but you won't see them here because I'll be devoting a separate post to them.

Ayeza is the pseudonym of a Filipina who migrated to Canada with her parents in the 1990s and got her nursing degree here. She is the owner of Balikbayan Box and was one of my very first friends in the Pinoy blogosphere. One of the most remarkable things I learned about her when we finally met in person was that she usually doesn't bring much with her when she goes to the Philippines, but she does bring a balikbayan box full of Filipino goods with her when she goes back to Vancouver. Yan ang Filipina!

Pamela Dent is Canadian, not Filipino, but she enjoyed working so much as an intern at a Davao school library a few years ago that she went back recently and visited other libraries, too (see her photos here). We began corresponding via email last year while she was doing her masters and thinking of going back to the Philippines. The most memorable thing she said to me was, "I love the Philippines," which is not really something Filipinos normally say. It helped, I think, that she met the man who's now her boyfriend when she was in the Philippines =)

Edgar Wickberg is best known today as the American who rescued the Chinese in the Philippines from the relative obscurity to which they had been relegated by historians before he came along in the 1960s. I thought he turned his back on the Philippines afterward and moved on to doing research on the Chinese in Canada, but I was pleasantly surprised to learn that he merely "took a holiday for twenty years," and still knows what's going on in the Philippines. He's now 81 years old, retired, and is dealing with prostate cancer, but still strong enough to drive his car to meet with a PhD student who wants to talk to him about his work on the Philippines.

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Gilda Cordero Fernando: Filipina

From left: Tara FT Sering, Gilda Cordero Fernando, and Andrea Pasion-Flores

Gilda Cordero Fernando is, so far, the only Filipina who has told me, "Wanna kiss me? You're cute."

This was not, of course, said in private, but in front of those who attended the National Book Development Board's monthly book club meeting at Circle Cafe last December 1, as she was saying her goodbyes after our discussion of her autobiography, The Last Full Moon (Quezon City: UP Press, 2005). So lower your eyebrows and forget your dirty thoughts. She just happened to find me... cute =)

She is described on the back cover of her book as a "writer, editor, publisher, artist, art patron, theater producer and national cultural visionary." But it is interesting to find out that someone who is perceived this way was once not quite sure of her "mission in life." I will not attempt to describe her. Instead, allow me to let her speak to you directly:

For some time now I've been obsessed about finding out my mission in life. Usually, when we're asked what our mission is, we name our talent. We say, "to write" or "to sing" or "to act" or "to paint." Or we name our occupation—"to heal" or "to educate" or "to enforce law and order." And the insight I got was that "mission" and "talent" are two different things, although, of course, with some, mission and talent or occupation may be one and the same. Mission in life, it seems, is something so deep, in fact, that it requires an objective view of all the paths we have taken, how they are connected, and where they led. Is it consistent still with what we are doing now?

We recognize our mission because we never tire doing it, no matter how many obstacles there are and it makes us happy. Mission has something to do with our contribution to the world and its evolution. Quite obviously a God-given task.

Talents are given to us only to help along our mission. So what was mine?

She then relates how she "started out as a fiction writer in the 1950s... turned into a full-blown publisher... became a theater producer," and how she even ended up on "a billboard with two bare-chested hunks." She continues:

Of course I liked that but what did it do to clarify my mission? Was I supposed to be the bridge to the young or something?

Why did I change interests so many times? Was I perchance a dilettante? I looked at the dictionary—"an amateur or trifler at art." I was not an amateur, much less a "trifler" at anything. I was serious about everything I did, completely focused on working hard to produce worthwhile results. Nope, dilettantism wasn't for me.

So what was my mission? What was the common denominator of all the things that I had gotten into? How did they connect? All of them had ventured into untrodden ground, all of them were Pinoy. Just recently, Fr. Miguel Bernad, S.J. reminded me that Ateneo broke tradition when they asked me, in 1974, to be its first female commencement speaker for the high school. Indirectly and unknowingly I had opened something new.

The role of an active door opener is actually not a pleasant one. After many years you may be praised for it but for now you are just "too advanced," "too avant garde," "too weird" or too foolish for words. But you know you are on the right path because ten or twenty years later everybody wants to do what you had such a tough time introducing. Your role is to be a kind of bomb disposal unit. Or a trailblazer. (I like that).

"Looking for my destiny," in The Last Full Moon , pp. 206-207.

I have quoted extensively from her book because there's a part of me that hopes that maybe someday, when I'm 75 years old—her age when she wrote the book—I'll figure out my mission in life, too.

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Lea Salonga: Filipina

Aside from being the best known Filipina performing on Broadway today, Lea Salonga is also a sexy mom. And in case you didn't know, she's also on Friendster, MySpace and Multiply. Plus, she blogs, too! Read about how she prepares to go onstage in "My Pre-show" and what she thinks about people who think they can record performances without anyone noticing in "Say Cheese... NOT!!!"

When I first saw Les Miserables in 1994, I think I must have been jetlagged because I distinctly recall feeling sleepy. But I was very much awake this time, especially because I've never had the chance to see Lea perform live in a musical before. So awake, in fact, that I even saw her in some crowd scenes after Fantine's death, even though she mostly kept her back to the audience and had dark makeup on her face to, I suppose, look more masculine. Anyway, Lea was excellent as Fantine, especially when she sang "I Dreamed a Dream," parts of which are shown in the video below.



And, of course, she was very accommodating when I took her photo after the show, the same way she dealt with everyone outside the stage door, most of whom were waiting for her.

The following isn't quite about Lea anymore, but since I don't think I'll be doing a separate post on Les Miserables, let me just say that having a student ID once again makes it easier to get cheap tickets. The seats I got for Rickey and myself weren't so good—we were lucky if we could see performers' legs when they were on top of the barricades—but considering that I paid $26.50 for a ticket that normally sells for $111.50, I guess I really shouldn't complain =)

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Filipina: Yan ang Pinay!

It's possible that Google's new algorithm, which minimizes the impact of Googlebombing, has had an effect on the Yan ang Pinay (YAP) campaign. But my guess is that after the initial success, YAP fell off the radar of many bloggers. And that's why search results for "filipina" on Google are pretty much back to where they used to be.

Well, it seems that Filipinas like Zarah ("Yan Ang Pinay! Resurrected") and Grace ("Resurrecting the image of a true Filipina") are not about to give up. So I suppose the men shouldn't give up either.

What can be done? Check out my previous posts (including blocking undesirable ads) and the techniques enumerated at Fabulous Filipinas. But to put it very simply, Filipino women need to identify themselves as Filipina—not just Filipino—and turn the word into a link.

Why? Because the ones who are actively using the word "Filipina" online and turning it into a link—very likely men who view Filipinas as sex objects—are the ones who are causing search engine results to paint an unflattering picture of the Filipina.

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Lulu Barnachea: Filipina

In March 2003, I sent an email to the Newlib-L listserv, "a discussion list for librarians new to the profession... those who are considering becoming librarians, and to those established in the profession who might wish to mentor newcomers":

Hi! I'm new to the list. It's my first semester taking a Masters in Library and Information Science at the University of the Philippines. I'd be interested to know if there are any Filipinos on this list (whether inside or outside the Philippines). Thanks.

I got three replies, two of them from Filipinas. One of them was Lulu Barnachea at University of Maryland.

Lulu and I exchanged a few emails, but it would be more than 18 months later, when I got another email from Lulu, that I realized just how much the world had changed—and hadn't:

Hopefully your email address is still active. I just got a copy of the ILS newsletter which is a few months old and noted that there is a recent graduate of MLS with your namesake. I thought it was you. So I thought of emailing you and extend my congratulations...

And so, while we found each other via email, it was a newsletter that she received via snail mail that revived our online friendship.

To make a long story short, I finally met her three months ago—on her birthday. She took me around the University of Maryland campus, and told me about her work as a coordinator for the technical services division at the McKeldin Library. By the way, Lulu is rubbing the nose of Testudo, the university's mascot, in the photo above. It's supposed to bring good luck.

More than three years after we first "met" online, I got to meet Lulu in person. I've encountered other librarians online then met them offline, but the email-snail mail combination—and the fact that I never thought I'd ever be in the Maryland area to meet her in person—made this meeting very memorable.


Categories: Filipina, Librarians

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Filipina: Black Eyed Peas' Bebot Videos

Bebot is slang for babae, a Filipino word that may be translated into English as "woman" or "female." Or "hot chick," as the writer told MTV News.

The video above, aka "Generation One," is only one of two videos for "Bebot" by the Black Eyed Peas, one of whom happens to be Filipino. The other video, "Generation Two," features Jasmine Trias, Camile Velasco, and many more. Other videos regarding the making of the Bebot videos are available here.

It is, perhaps, appropriate that "Generation One" appeared on the 100th anniversary of the arrival of the first group of Filipino sakadas in Hawaii (see "Singgalot and the Fourth of July"). To find out why the video was set in Stockton in 1936, read "Little Manila comes alive" by Ian Hill (Stockton Record, 4 August 2006). For more information on Stockton then and now, see Little Manila.

Finally, in celebration of Buwan ng Wika, I have translated the lyrics into English for the benefit of those who don't speak Tagalog. I know that doesn't quite make sense, but never mind =)

Bebot Ikaw ang aking bebot Ikaw ay Filipino Hoy, pare, pakinggan niyo 'ko Eto nang tunay na Filipino Galing sa Barrio Sapangbato Pumunta ng L.A., nagtrabaho Para makatulong sa nanay Dahil sa hirap ng buhay Pero masaya pa rin ang kulay Pag kumain nagkakamay Yung kanin, chicken adobo Yung balut, binebenta sa kanto Tagay mo na nga ang baso Pare ko, inuman na tayo Masdan mo ang magagandang dalaga Nakakagigil ang beauty mo talaga Lambingin, di nakakasawa Ikaw lang ang gustong makasama Yung bahay o kubo Pag-ibig mo ay totoo Puso ko'y laging kumikibo Wala kang katulad sa mundo ko Pinoy ka, sigaw na, sige Kung maganda ka, sigaw na, sige Kung buhay mo'y mahalaga, sige Salamat sa iyong suporta

Bebot You are my woman You are Filipino Hey buddy, listen to me Here’s a true Filipino From Barrio Sapang Bato Moved to L.A., and worked To help out my mom Because of the hard times But I'm still happy with my color I use my hands to eat Rice and chicken adobo Balut is sold at the street corner Pass me a glass Buddy, let’s start drinking Watch the beautiful women Your beauty is irresistible I can't romance you enough You're the only one I want to be with Whether house or hut Your love is true My heart is always saying You're the only one in my world You're Pinoy, shout it out If you're beautiful, shout it out If your life is important Thanks for your support

Category: Filipina

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Filipina: Do You Want to "Purchase" a Wife?

This is from "Got porn? Check out the library" by Patrick Meighan (Nashua Telegraph, 3 August 2006):

...what might be pornographic to one patron might be valid research to another.

Case in point: Dionne recalls walking past a patron and seeing what he thought was pornography on a computer screen.

Dionne said he whacked the guy in the back of the head and told him, "Knock it off!"

The patron explained that he wasn’t looking at pornography, but was on a site where he could purchase a wife from the Philippines.

"I didn’t know what to say at that point," Dionne said. "Being an old Catholic, I was unfamiliar with the whole concept of purchasing a wife."

Catholic or not, I wouldn't have known what to say, either. I don't think religion has anything to do with this at all.


Category: Filipina

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Sacha Chua: My Body is My Billboard

The title is kinda suggestive, but hey, I just picked it up from Sacha Chua:

I'm Filipina, and I want people to know it. I want people to think of Filipinas as not just domestic helpers or nurses or potential wives... My body is my billboard, and I want to be a walking advertisement for what is beautiful about my home.

She's actually very consistent. She stood out in her Filipiniana-inspired outfit the first time I met her last year among casually-dressed iblog participants. That was why I used her photo in "Sacha Chua: Filipina."


Category: Filipina

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Sol Angala: Filipina

That's Teacher Sol, Filipina, in front of the school where she teaches in Washington, DC. Her husband, who has a degree in library and information science, took a photo of us, which she then posted in "I Met The 'Filipino Librarian'." What else did we do besides catch up with each other like old friends? Like all good Filipinos, we ate. She and her husband treated me to a lunch buffet.

I don't quite remember anymore how we "met" online, but it was definitely in April or May 2005. Soon after, I made a suggestion regarding one of the blogs she set up, and woke up one day as the Links Moderator of Pinoy Teachers Network! That's how she operates =)


Category: Filipina

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Filipino Mothers for Export

It's Mother's Day tomorrow. Check out everything that will be written about mothers on Google News, Yahoo! News and Topix.net (news and blogs).

But please consider "Global mamas" by Michael L. Tan (Philippine Daily Inquirer, 13 May 2006) and the report he discusses in his column: Save the Children’s "State of the World’s Mothers 2006" (press release, full report [pdf]). (Note: One big difference between bloggers and newspaper columnists is that the former can provide links that the latter forget or choose not to include.)

According to Tan, "Many Filipinas aren’t just global nannies, they’re now global 'nanay' [mothers], global mamas, often at great cost to their own children back home." Much has been made of the exodus of nurses, doctors and teachers, but what of the mothers among this group? And then there are the domestic helpers, entertainers, etc. They are very likely mothers, too. We haven't just been exporting skilled or unskilled Filipino workers; I'm willing to bet that we've exported more mothers than fathers.

And then there's Salary.com's "What Is Mom's Job Worth?," which quantifies the actual and potential salaries of Working and Stay-at-Home Moms. The figures are in dollars, of course, but it makes me wonder what mothers are really worth, and just how much we really owe them. I'm sure they did it all for love, and that they don't expect anything in return, but quantifying what they've done in pesos and centavos just makes it that much clearer how much we've taken our mothers for granted. Or maybe I should just speak for myself.

Anyway, to all the mothers reading this: Happy Mother's Day!


Categories: Events, Filipina

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Ghee Horie: Filipina

Ghee Horie is a Filipina who lives in Japan with her Japanese husband and two kids. She is a certified English teacher and holds classes for her Japanese students—from 3 to 50 years old—in her living room.

I have not met most of those who comment on my posts. The few I have met are those whom I already knew even before they started leaving comments. Ghee is, I believe, the first commenter whom I have met through this blog. We had lunch when she arrived last month and visited Aklatang Pambata.


Category: Filipina

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The Filipina and "Yan ang Pinay": Six Months Later

It's been six months since I wrote "Yan ang Pinay." Others had already written about the negative image of the Filipina online before that, but it was this post that got singled out as having "launched" the movement, even though I was actually just one of many bloggers who wrote about "Yan ang Pinay" on that day.

If there is one objective that all those who joined the movement wish to achieve, I think it would be to make sure that the top ten search results on Google for the word "Filipina" lead to websites that portray a positive image of the Filipina today. Right now, there are still quite a few in the top ten that tend to objectify the Filipina. And while many of the sites that we've linked to in the past have made it to the top ten, I think we need many more links to the following sites so that they can be ranked higher:

Bagong Pinay (New Filipina)
Filipina Webring
Definition of Filipina (Merriam-Webster)
Filipina on Wikipedia
Definition of Filipina (American Heritage)

And then there are the "Yan ang Pinay" posts that have also made it into the top search results:

"Filipina!" (Drakulita)
"'Filipina' as a keyword" (Blah!)
"Filipina" (Rickey)
"What is a Filipina?" (Sassy Lawyer)
"Filipina ko, kay ngano man diay?"(Balikbayan Box)

If you decide to link to the sites listed above, please make sure that the word "Filipina" appears in the link and not some other word.

For other ways to improve the Filipina's online presence, please see the nine techniques enumerated at Fabulous Filipinas or check out all my other posts on the Filipina.

For newer images that you can use, there is a Filipina digital painting by Joel Chua (via Jonas Diego) and Filipina buttons by Audienceone.

If you would like to know more about the objectives of "Yan ang Pinay"—including what it is and what it isn't—please see "The Filipina and 'Yan ang Pinay'."


Category: Filipina

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Grace Avellana Villamora: Filipina

Grace Avellana Villamora is a Filipina information professional. In "Proudly Filipino," I promised to write about her because she is someone Filipinos can be proud of.

Villamora is the author of Super Searchers on Madison Avenue (Medford, NJ: CyberAge Books/Information Today, 2003), for which she interviewed advertising librarians, market research consultants, and other advertising professionals across the United States. The book's bibliography is available online. You may wish to read the review by Chris Sherman of Search Engine Watch.

Before becoming an information professional, she worked in advertising agencies in Manila and Chicago, and that's why she has had experience in advertising, public relations and market research. She is currently the principal of brightresearch llc, which provides just-in-time research on just about any business topic.

Villamora has been an active member of the Special Libraries Association (SLA) since 1977, even though she is not a trained librarian, and has taken on many roles including that of speaker (2004) and moderator (2005) at annual conferences. She is probably the best-known Filipina in SLA today.


Categories: Filipina, Librarians

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FO: Beauty Queens

Precious Lara Quigaman is the fourth Filipina ever to win the Miss International title and the first in more than two decades to win a major title. Check out her photos at the Binibining Pilipinas website.

But if you, like many Filipinos, are a beauty queen fan, visit Veestar's galleries devoted to the Philippine representatives to the Miss Universe, Miss World and Miss International pageants. Each page has all the names, photos and distinctions garnered by Filipinas. Clicking on a photo will lead to a page with the list of that year's winners, semifinalists, special awards and more photos.


Categories: Filipiniana Online, Filipina

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Filipina: Google AdSense

If you use Google AdSense for your website or blog and have joined the Yan ang Pinay Googlebombing campaign, then you may have noticed that ads "selling" Filipinas appear on your site, especially if you have a new post about the Filipina. This, of course, is unacceptable for those of us who wish to promote a more balanced image of the Filipina online.

What can we do? It's been suggested that we should click on these ads so that advertisers will lose money because we're not interested in availing of their services, anyway. And maybe they'll stop advertising because they see that it's not working... but I sincerely doubt that this will happen.

Some have also removed ads altogether or accepted that it's a fact of life. Well, don't despair, AdSense has competitive ad filters, which you can use to "ban" the ads that you don't want to appear on your site. If you can set up an AdSense account, then I'm sure you can figure out how to use the filters. See "Competitive Ad Filters" and "Filtering Ads" for more information.

Once you've figured out how it's done, you can start blocking ads. You can do this by identifying the ads as they appear, or you can start by copying the list of ads I've already blocked on my blog:

filipinaheart.com
maniladating.com
cupidbay.com
couple-me.com
12meetSenior.com

Please let me know if you find other ads that I should block.


Category: Filipina

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Filipina: Mail-Order Brides

"'E-brides' seek to escape poverty" by Ambika Bhushan (Reuters) explains why some Filipinas wish to marry foreigners.

If you'd like to know more about the situation, check out "Human Trafficking: Mail Order Bride Abuses," which provides links to the testimonies (pdf) of expert witnesses who testified before the U.S. Senate's Committee on Foreign Relations, and the recently-filed bill (note: not yet a law) entitled "International Marriage Broker Regulation Act of 2005."

In "Mail-order Bride," Feel-good Librarian agrees that "Love can survive against the odds," but asks specifically about the customer she assisted from first email to talk of meeting at the airport, "Is what they have, after four days, love?"

And then there's the side that we hardly ever read about: the man's side. In Jason's Beach Resort, Jason, an American, refers to the Philippines as his future home country, arrives in Manila and gets married, feels betrayed (part 1 and part 2), and finally decides to divorce his Filipina wife after less than a year of marriage.

Finally, I'd just like to say that I am not making any judgments about either the Filipina who marries a foreigner, or the foreigner who seeks a Filipina wife. This post is for those who would like to understand the situation better. Remember, not all Filipinas who marry foreigners are desperate, and not all foreigners who marry Filipinas are abusive.


Category: Filipina

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The Filipina and "Yan ang Pinay"

"Yan ang Pinay" is the de facto name of an informal campaign to change the top search engine results for the word "Filipina." This is being done because the top results do not reflect the many diverse facets of the modern Filipina. Incidentally, this movement is not limited to women. After all, the one who got the ball rolling (Milky Soft), the designer of the first logo (Jonas Diego) and this blogger are men.

Googlebombing is the method being employed because Google is the most visible search engine nowadays. However, it is hoped that if this effort is successful, then it will be easier to replicate with other search engines.

But it must be noted that search engines are not the enemy. These search engines, after all, only reflect the prevailing reality in cyberspace. The Filipina who is a mail-order bride, date seeker, or sex worker is not the enemy, either. They are every bit as worthy of being called Filipinas as other Filipinas.

The enemy, if you could call it that, is complacency. Many Filipinas do not identify themselves as Filipina—perhaps for fear of being told that "Filipina" is a non-word or that it's not a politically correct term. But another reason, I believe, is that the Filipina does not feel it is necessary to identify herself as a Filipina. And that, I think, is how those who "buy" or "sell" the Filipina online came to "own" the word "Filipina" in cyberspace. After all, if the only ones using the term are looking for sex, then we should not be surprised if the word "Filipina" and "sex" show up at the top of search engine results.

If you would like to join this movement, please do one or all of the following:

1. If you are a woman of Filipino descent, identify yourself as a Filipina—not just as a "Filipino" or "Filipino woman"—on your blog or website. Or, if you have neither, urge those with blogs or websites to join this campaign.

2. If you are not a woman or are not of Filipino descent, whenever you refer to female officemates and friends who are Filipino in your blog or website, please identify them as Filipina. Or, again, urge those who have blogs or websites to join this campaign.

3. Link. This is the most important thing you can do. If you have time, turn every mention of the word "Filipina" into a link. If you don't have time, just put a link anywhere on your blog or website, preferably on the sidebar. And it doesn't have to be the word itself. Any image or photo that represents a Filipina may be turned into a link. And no, being a non-techie is not an excuse because if you have a blog or website, then you can cut and paste the following code into your template:

<a href="http://www.ffwn.org/"><img src="http://photos13.flickr.com/15739923_de334d9871_t.jpg" width="67" height="100" alt="Filipina Women's Network"></a><br />Logo by <a href="http://jonasdiego.blogspot.com/2005/05/yan-ang-pinay.html">Jonas Diego</a>

<a href="http://www.newfilipina.com/"><img src="http://photos9.flickr.com/16126455_eb9e9a998a_t.jpg" width="84" height="100" alt="Bagong Pinay"></a><br />Logo by <a href="http://drakulita.fil.ph/2005/05/filipina.html">Drakulita</a>

Filipina: Wikipedia

<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Filipina" rel="tag">Filipina</a>: Wikipedia

Filipina: Merriam-Webster

<a href="http://www.m-w.com/cgi-bin/dictionary?book=Dictionary&va=Filipina" rel="tag">Filipina</a>: Merriam-Webster

Filipina: American Heritage

<a href="http://www.bartleby.com/61/93/F0119350.html" rel="tag">Filipina</a>: American Heritage

Filipina: Filipina Women's Network

<a href="http://www.ffwn.org/" rel="tag">Filipina</a>: Filipina Women's Network

Filipina: Gabriela Network

<a href="http://www.gabnet.org/" rel="tag">Filipina</a>: Gabriela Network

Filipina: Bagong Pinay

<a href="http://www.newfilipina.com/" rel="tag">Filipina</a>: Bagong Pinay

Filipina: Purple Rose Campaign

<a href="http://www.purplerosecampaign.org/" rel="tag">Filipina</a>: Purple Rose Campaign

4. Tag. We need to know who has joined the campaign so we can link to one another. If you use the code above, then the links will automatically be tagged. But if you would like to tag previous posts, then just copy and paste the following into your blog or website:

Tags: Filipina, Filipinas

Tags: <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/Filipina" rel="tag">Filipina</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/Filipinas" rel="tag">Filipinas</a>

And finally, to understand why we need to do this—instead of just asking or pressuring search engines to ignore websites we don't like (there's a clue right there)—see Google's "An explanation of our search results."


Related posts:

Filipina: The Filipina in Cyberspace
Filipina: Images of the Filipina Online
Filipina: Sacha Chua: Filipina
Filipina: Yan ang Pinay

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Yan ang Pinay

Please feel free to right-click on any of the "Yan ang Pinay" logos above, save it to your computer (preferably with the word "filipina" in the filename, e.g., filipina.jpg), and upload to your website or blog. (Logo by Jonas Diego.)

It all started with an email from Clair, who learned about it from Ramil's "Filipina," who got the idea from Ergoe's "Result-Oriented," who picked it up from Milky Soft's "Filipina and the Philippines," the one that started it all.

And now it has become a movement. With its own logo! Even Global Voices Online has taken note of the effort in its "Monday World Blog Roundup." The following are the blogs that I know of that have entries on the results that appear when the word "Filipina" is Googled:

• Blah!: "Google for the word “Filipina” and see what turns up" and "Thoughts on being a Filipina"
• Iblog: "The Google Zeitgeist on 'Filipina'"
  W3O: "What is a Filipina?"
• To the Tale: "Stereotypically Speaking..."
• Sassy Lawyer: "What is a Filipina?"
• Drakulita: "Filipina!"

[Update: Additional posts and logos as of May 29.]

• Jardine Davies' Every Other Rambling: "Google Keyword: Filipina"
• Tigastitig: "Filipina"
• Information Narcosis: "The Truth About the Filipina"
• Snarkmarket: "Electronic Wars of Self-Representation"
• Global Voices Online: "Thursday World Blog Roundup"
• Teacher Sol: "I am a Filipina teacher" and "Yan ang Pinay"
• Milky Soft: "Small Steps"
• Balay ni Bambit: See sidebar
• Beth's Blog: "Google Bombing Campaign: Filipina"
• The Ignatian Perspective: "Using 'Filipina' Not A Dilemma"
• Ergoe: "Yan ang Pinay!"

Please feel free to right-click on any of the "Pinay!" logos above, save it to your computer (preferably with the word "filipina" in the filename, e.g., filipina.jpg), and upload to your website or blog. (Logo by Drakulita.)

I have also written "The Filipina in Cyberspace," "Images of the Filipina Online," and "Sacha Chua: Filipina."

So why am I doing all of this? I owe a lot to Filipinas, especially Filipina librarians, and my mom!


Tags: Filipina, Filipinas

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