Beautiful Philippines

   

(The following article was earlier published in the News Record in Jan 2011)

Many summers ago, when I was a young captain in the Philippine Army, the Philippine Government sent me to the United States Army John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center in Fort Bragg, North Carolina for a five month military training. It was my first time to travel abroad. While taking the Civil Affairs Officers’ Advance Course there, I happen to meet an American who was himself a captain in the United States Army. Being both “second class” students (he being of American Indian ancestry and me being a Filipino and Bisaya pa jud) we hanged out together and developed a close friendship. In the many occasions that we exchanged ideas and experiences, mostly over a few bottles of beer, he told me of his fascination of the Philippines. He happened to visit our country for about ten days in the course of his rest and recreation (R and R) when he was stationed in Okinawa, Japan as part of a US Special Forces contingent there. He saw the primitive engineering wonder of the Banaue Rice Terraces, the imposing beauty of Mayon Volcano, the historic Corregidor Island and Fort Santiago. He observed the rich cultural heritage of the Filipino which he noted during his visits to the Ayala and the National Museums, among others. He also told me of his appreciation of the Filipino style of hospitality and friendship, the warm smiles of our kababayans, not to mention the few beautiful Filipinas he had the opportunity of getting acquainted with during his short stay. It was probably this reason why among the American students, he was the first one who befriended me.

The exchanges that I had with this American were eye openers to me of some sort. There I was, a Filipino who lived in the Philippines all his life, being told by a non-Filipino who was only in the Philippines for a few days, the beauty of this country. I was ashamed of myself and more ashamed still to admit to him that, except for Mayon Volcano which I see from a distance when I travel by land from Manila to Samar via the Bicol Region, I haven’t seen most of the places he has visited. There I was - a Filipino admiring the beauty in far-away lands not realizing the beauty that abounds in his native land.

There are so many who were like me. Many Filipinos have climbed the Statue of Liberty and the Eiffel Tower but most of them do not even know where the “Bantayog ng Kagitingan” or the Mac Arthur Park are, or even know that such monuments exist. We strolled the beaches of Bondi in Sydney but have never been to Boracay or Panglao Beach. We toured the Pyramids of Giza in Egypt ad the Great Wall of China but saw only our own Banaue Rice Terraces in the post cards at the National Bookstore. We know that Baltimore is the capital of Maryland but will say that Cagayan de Oro City is in the Visayas when asked in a quiz in a local television noon time show.

We criticize most of our kababayans who see other places first before seeing their own country. However, we will observe that this phenomenon of seeing other places ahead of one’s own country - is not only true to us Filipinos. I climbed the Statue of Liberty for the first time together with this American friend of mine who was telling me about the places he visited in the Philippines. It was also his first time to see this marvelous landmark of the United States. Out of curiosity I asked my American classmates and to my surprise four out of five admitted that they have not climbed the Statue of Liberty much more even been to New York themselves.

I tried to rationalize why this is so, at least in the Filipino context. Travel is a luxury that many Filipinos could not afford. These Filipinos who had the opportunity of seeing other places were there to work and were just enjoying the fruits of their labor. While working in a foreign country they earn enough money to travel and hence they can go to other places to entertain themselves and to escape from the loneliness of being away from friends and family. In short, most of them were accidental tourists. Later, they invite their families to visit them and they bring them to the same places they discovered earlier as worthwhile destinations.

There is another group of Filipinos, rather small, who also become accidental tourists. These are the government scholars; or representatives of private corporations or government agencies that are sent to another country in furtherance of their company’s or agency’s objectives. In addition to the seminars/conferences, business transactions, and training are tour packages organized and scheduled by their hosts. These are done as part of their company’s or agency’s strategy to facilitate their company business interests, increase cooperation in their joint undertakings and optimize the learning experience of their students. Over and above that, most governments encourage these programs as part of their tourism strategy.

There is still another group that travels to other countries, this time primarily as tourists. These are the people who can afford and can therefore choose where they would like to go. Instead of seeing their own country, they chose foreign destinations instead. I have a friend who belongs to this group. He earned his millions in the Philippines and when he was comfortable enough to travel, he went to Australia first then to China, among the other foreign places he went to later on. I know for a fact that he has not been to Boracay or Baguio or Davao before his foreign travels because I invited him in a number of instances to these places. However, for whatever reasons I didn’t bother ask, he traveled to Boracay, Tagaytay and Davao after having been abroad. He also went to Baguio with other friends, accordingly to play golf.

One can only realize the beauty of his country when he gets a chance to look at it from a distance or when he makes a comparison after visiting another country. He learns to patronize his own after a supposedly enriching experience in a foreign land. I talked to a lot of Filipinos who made it good in another country. In planning their vacation to the Philippines, they normally include visits to places they have not been to before they went abroad.

The best things that I got from my travels abroad were not the first class military training that I had; nor the chance to meet people of another culture; nor the extra dollars that I save from my travel allowance. What I value the most was the opportunity to visit different places that gave me a basis for comparison. It allowed me to see my country in another perspective and made me realize that I have a beautiful country, more beautiful than any place in the whole world and a country that I can be proud of – my native Philippines.