Top 10 Lies About the Philippines

I admit this is not an original post and was inspired by this video which is pretty stupid. It's got to be one of the most insulting top 10 videos about the Philippines I have seen. Take numbers 9 and 8 respectively, The Philippines is one land mass and They don't speak English. Does anyone really believe Filipinos do not speak English or that the Philippines is not an island nation? My goodness! There are in fact many lies and misconceptions about the Philippines and Filipinos and that video does not even begin to scratch the surface. Let me offer an alternative list of the top 10 lies about the Philippines.

Lie #10 The Philippines Smells Good

One might think that living on a tropical island is paradise and that there will always be a lovely sea breeze but unless you are in Boracay that is not the case. Elsewhere the air constantly stinks. The scent is a mixture of rotting trash, burning trash, and vehicle pollution. Mostly the air is breathable. Mostly.

I had to close my window while typing this because someone started using a smoky open pit to cook their breakfast. 

Lie #9 Filipinos Love Peace and Quiet

Wow. This one is just a huge NO-NO!  Filipinos love to party. They will in fact party until 5am and even longer using HUGE speakers to pump out that BOOM-BOOM-BOOM to the surrounding countryside. If you are unlucky enough to live near a Church then count out sleeping in on Sundays or any day for that matter as the bells will start clanging around 5am. Time to wake up and pray to the Virgin that they shut off all that noise, noise, noise!

Lie #8 Filipinos are Helpful

This might be a matter of perspective but when I am shopping I sure do not want a store clerk following me around like I am a thief. If I need your help I will ask for it. Leave me alone and let me shop!

Lie #7 Filipinos are Stupid

Now this is a nasty stereotype we have all heard before. It probably stems from the fact that the average Filipino IQ is 81.64. 

https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/average-iq-by-country

It also probably comes from the fact that Filipinos continue to elect leaders who don't care about them at all and brazenly deny their family's destructive role between 1965 and 1986.

Lie #6 Filipinos Eat Cats

This is simply not true. Many Filipinos actually hate cats. In fact, I found my favorite cat tied up in a bag and tossed onto the side of the road. As I was running past on my morning route I heard her cries and saved her. I named her Baggie and she is only one of many kittens I have rescued from the garbage. 

Lie #5 The Philippines is the Most Beautiful Place in the World

This is not even close. Harpers Bazaar recently disclosed the top 50 most beautiful places in the world and the Philippines did not make the cut. 

https://www.harpersbazaar.com/culture/travel-dining/g7171/most-beautiful-places-in-the-world/

Lie #4 Filipinos Live in Shanties or Huts

Nope. Not true. Not this time. It's false. While the poorest of the poor do live like animals in dangerous warrens of shanties and some used to live in the garbage heaps known as Smokey Mountain the fact is many Filipinos live in large houses made out of concrete and bricks. Just check out the barbed wire topped fence surrounding this house. In the rest of the world a man's house is his castle but in the Philippines a man's house is his own prison. 

https://philippinefails.blogspot.com/2017/03/a-typical-filipino-house.html

Lie #3 The Weather is always Nice in the Philippines

Are you kidding? Massive typhoons wreck this nation every year. The monsoon season always brings floods. It's a good thing Filipinos are smart enough to build cities and homes that mitigate these annual disasters or there would be a lot of destruction.

https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1641841/cebu-city-hit-by-worst-flood-since-typhoon-odette

Lie #2 The Philippines is Safe

Define safe. Simply because you can go to the mall or Jollibee with no hassle does not mean this nation is safe. Filipinos are regularly gunned down or stabbed or hacked to death because the perpetrator was drunk or getting revenge or just wanted to rob him. The PNP are known to actually extort their fellow countrymen, beat to death their own comrades, and kidnap and murder foreigners. The Philippines is not safe at all especially if you are politician. Every single politician in this nation has a target on his back and he knows it.

https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1641155/21-policemen-face-criminal-administrative-charges-over-death-of-fellow-cop-in-masbate

https://cebudailynews.inquirer.net/457347/scholar-16-robbed-killed-in-cebu-city-on-his-fathers-birthday

https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1177521

Lie #1 The Philippines Exists

This is definitely the biggest lie of them all. Does the Philippines exist? Well, yes it is a political designation on the map and it has a seat in the UN. But the fact is the Philippines is the figment of the world's collective imagination. It is 7,000 unique islands and hundreds of distinct people groups forcibly united by first the Spanish and second the Americans. To this day the Muslims in Mindanao do not want to be Filipinos. 

https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/996061/house-oks-bbl-bill-but-senate-introduces-contentious-changes

Drilon successfully moved for the inclusion of a provision reiterating “that the Bangsamoro people are citizens of the Republic of the Philippines.” Majority Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri, the bill sponsor, said this was opposed by the Bangsamoro Transition Commission.

The fact is the Philippines is a collection of various people groups who, against their will, have been forged into one political entity but otherwise maintain their distinct cultures be it Visayan, Cebuano, Illocano, Tagalog, or Igorot. The Philippines only exists as a political fiction.