Being Filipino

I attended the 20th anniversary of TFC (The Filipino Channel) in Los Angeles in October. It was a spectacular success with more than 12,000 people attending — filling the place to the rafters.

ASAP came in full force and played out what would have been two Sundays’ worth of entertainment. The entertainment lineup was packed, to say the least. While the show was going on, I felt what a service this channel has been to Filipinos living overseas. It continues to bring “Filipino heartness” via music and dance.

I reflected on the uniqueness of being Filipino. Wherever I go, if there is a Filipino, to me, at least there is an immediate heart connection that I don’t see existing in other nationalities. For example on an ocean cruise my family took together years ago, when Daddy was still alive and when he found out that the majority of the crew was Filipino, he got his Filipino food. Wherever I went they treated us with smiles and Filipino heartness. I felt I was “home.”

That happens everywhere. When I land in the San Francisco airport, if there are Filipinos there — and invariably there are many — I feel so well taken care of. I was told once that 80 percent of the workforce in the airport are Filipinos! There is a comfort that comes in me when I know I am dealing with a Filipino. It’s a heart connection.

It’s a carryover from my days in Africa. I was a missionary there for 11 years. There were a few Filipino missionaries. That’s where I was able to practice my Tagalog. There was a comfort in being able to converse in a language that was ours, like our own private world exclusive to us even if we were in the midst of many.

Heartness. It is something intrinsic to the Filipino race. It is a thread that is found across all classes... albeit in different levels, in different manifestations. 

There is also sensitivity involved — a distinct sentimentality. This was so clear to me when, during a segment of ASAP, celebrities sang the songs connected to current teleseryes. 

And boy, can we sing! From England, to America to Israel, wherever there are Filipinos, we top the charts in terms of voice ability. Just look at The Voice Kids. I watched the other Voice Kids in other countries. It doesn’t come anywhere close to how our kids can sing. Right now, 15-year-old Marlisa Punzalan, of pure Filipino descent, won the grand prize in X Factor Australia 2014! A Filipino won the X Factor in Israel. Another Filipino won the grand prize in Austria this year. Everywhere else we make it to the upper segment of the charts. From the President to Cabinet secretaries to my hagad — even my security — there is a musicality in our being. Before coming home my mother had invited Filipino seminarians to the house just to let them relax. Guess what they did? Sing! Of course — what else?

The fact that most Filipinos can sing says something about our race. The consciousness is sentimental and the preferred mode of expression is through music.

We are also a people that “age” well. Look at these pictures. The first one is Carmen Garcia, mother of Rose Ann Garcia Belmonte, the balae of Rep. Sonny Belmonte. Rose Ann is a dear friend and unless Carmen gave birth at the age 10, she must be not less than a decade older than me, yet look at her!

I remember Gabby, my brother, when he was in New York. Even at the age of 50 he would be asked for his ID whenever entering bars to drink. Well, at over 60, he still looks smashingly young.

Look at Charo Santos — the list goes on. Just look around you. Yes, the weather has something to do with it. But I also feel it has something to do with consciousness. We think young, feel young — so we also look much younger than our years.

I consider it a blessing to be born a Filipino. My soul feels at home.

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I can be reached at regina_lopez@abs-cbn.com.