Home is where your roots are

Last month, I journeyed back to Los Angeles to pack up my entire household, knowing well that it wouldn’t be easy. With two young children and stuff accumulated over the course of several years, I was faced with the daunting task of deciding what would go to the balikbayan boxes, the trash, the donation pile or simply be left on the curb.

I realized that moving can, in fact, be a very stressful event in a person’s life comparable to life-altering moments such as death. And buti na lang I moved around a lot growing up, I’m not fazed by the process of having to reassess your entire life and material possessions over the course of a few weeks. With eight checked-in luggages, two carseats, six carry-ons and 65 balikbayan boxes on the way, I’m finally back in the Philippines and yes, this time with a vengeance! (A vengeance to create original creative content to inspire positive changes in healthy doses.)               

Sure, I’ve been known to be overbearing sometimes when it comes to my ideas and this I admit to. Luckily, I have enough friends to tell me to quit my relentless optimism when I get too passionate about my convictions about how Philippine showbiz needs to become a professionalized industry where artists are protected and have rights. Lalim ba masyado? Hay…

So together with the Walters family, we made the 16-hour travel over the Pacific Ocean back to my beloved country. There are many reasons why my family and I should have stayed in L.A. but I’d rather recount why moving back outweighed all the pros of an American life. It’s an exciting time for me to return to my homeland after being an OFW all these years. Imagine over a decade of being away! Everyone keeps asking me, when I tell them that I have decided to move bases back to Manila, how my husband is handling the transition. I guess it’s natural for people to speculate on a looming divorce or separation. Well, sorry to burst your bubble folks, but Tim and I are very much together and ecstatic about being back in the Philippines with our two children who in no time will become native Tagalog speakers.

When immersed in another language below the age of seven, children in fact become fluent as if it’s their first language — courtesy of my communications Prof. Greg Bryant and author Noam Chomsky. This was a huge deciding factor for us, that the children really learn Tagalog. So as much as the international schools here are plenty, we have opted to have the children enrolled in a school that encourages the Filipino language as opposed to restrict it because other international children will feel out of place. It seems a lot of my friends who have children in the international schools don’t speak Tagalog because it is associated with a lower strata since only the househelp speak this way. Tsk, tsk tsk… Kawawa ang mga anak ninyo kung hindi sila marunong mag-Tagalog sa sarili nilang bansa!

Living in the US for the past 12 years, I realized the lack of creative content geared towards the second generation of Filipino-Americans. I decided to leave Manila because I was unfulfilled with a career only in front of the camera. I come back with more knowledge and a deeper perspective on the responsibilities that creators of media have in shaping a culture. Therefore, it is my hope that I will be able to utilize my education and experience abroad to create original creative content as opposed to relying on formulaic forms of entertainment.

I am personally motivated to produce my first feature-length documentary titled the Basco Balikbayan Project because I am eager to showcase the country I consider home to millions of Fil-Ams who are searching to find their identity. It is also a way for me to solidify my evolvement, not just as a film and TV personality but also as a producer. Viewers will expect to witness tourism destinations from the perspective of people who like my subjects are also second-generation Fil-Ams. The Bascos will also be spending a lot of time with each other as they journey around the archipelago, which in turn will definitely involve conflict as each of them searches to find meaning in their cultural experience.

The Department of Tourism (DOT) has graciously partnered with our production so that the Bascos can find out if it certainly is “more fun in the Philippines.” The DOT has also made it possible to showcase the places in the Philippines that every balikbayan should visit such as Davao, Palawan, Boracay and Naga. Air Philippines has “taken the lead” to bring the Bascos to all our island destinations. The Picasso Makati, where art and passion live, is the official residence of the Bascos while in the metropolis.

In the documentary, my role as a producer is to have the Bascos not only in fun and touristy destinations but in uncompromising situations as well so that the viewers can get a chance to experience the Philippines in its full spectrum. The Bascos will also get a chance to have discussions with local artists who are creating Philippine culture as the hope of the documentary is to bridge the gap between local artists and Fil-Ams actively working in Hollywood.

The meet-and-greet happens when we send the Bascos back to L.A. at the end of the month. Please add our Twitter on the Basco Balikbayan Project account to get more updates on the making of the documentary.