I first read about the harassment of a Filipina by EDSA Shangrila Hotel security at Marcelle’s blog before he removed it (Fortunately, I got a Google cache and you can read the full entry below the cut). You can read the comments that still continue to come in.

I recalled my sister who experienced the same harassment twenty years ago when she visited my father in Manila Garden. At that time, we were still building a house in Manila since our main home was Cebu. Before she could enter the elevator, she was stopped. In the same manner as Cleo, she spoke in English (being a Cebuano) because she was not fluent in Tagalog. My sister was very humiliated and insulted while my father raised hell with the hotel staff.

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This is an email from a reader of the FilipinaImages.com reader.

Steve Schertzer, esl_steve@excite.com
October 15, 2009

Disclaimer: The following is an opinion piece based on fact.

— “The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing; to know in their hearts and see the evils going on around them, but to sit back and let it unfold whether out of fear, apathy or both.”

—Edmund Burke, Irish Political Philosopher. (1730-1797.)

I so want to be wrong about this. I want to be wrong because I feel vindicated and it doesn’t feel good. It’s not because of the Filipino mothers or the foreign fathers. It’s because of the children. I feel vindicated because of the children. In a response to a letter I wrote for www.filipinaimages.com on March 27th, 2009, titled “The Image of the Modern Filipina”, I said this:

“If the Philippines keeps on importing less than stellar foreign men to marry their women, in 10 years this once beautiful country will have tens of thousands of half-breeds running around looking for their foreign fathers, who will have awoken one morning to realize that marrying an uneducated, dirt-poor Filipina was not to their liking after all.”

Yes I did say that, but I was wrong. It’s not “tens of thousands” of children looking for their non-Filipino fathers. It’s hundreds of thousands. And it’s not “in 10 years.” It’s now. And, (if I may correct myself again), it’s not as if these non-Filipinos are marrying any of these “uneducated, dirt-poor Filipinas.” Most are not. So I apologize for my errors. You see, this problem of abandoned half-Filipino half-whatever children is far worse than I originally thought.

Here are three questions that I would like answered by Filipinos, men and women, after you have read and contemplated this well enough to respond intellectually and wisely.

1) Is there a “sperm war” involving foreign men in the Philippines?
2) Is this who Filipinas truly are?
3) Where is the outrage?

There is a seismic shift in Filipino society. It’s been happening for a long time. It’s not an earthquake, although it may feel like one. It’s not a series of typhoons, although millions of lives are being ruined by it. This seismic shift is not geological. Neither is it a product of mother nature’s wrath. This seismic shift in Filipino society is value based. It is a huge shift in personal morality and social ethics. It is a fall from grace. A huge fall from what once was to what is now.

The quotes I use from articles, newspaper columns, and websites will enlighten and inform, but I doubt if it will shock. That’s the real tragedy. Here is the full article from the October 5, 2009 edition of the Korea Times under the headline “Kopinos Search for Korean Dads.”
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Experiences make you realize. Believing makes you value. Marikenya

My family, my friends, and I, are still in awe and in great trauma from what we experienced from Ondoy and his wrath. There are so many stories, mostly, unpleasant ones. But now that all my family and friends are safe from the flood, I wanted to focus on the lessons I learned from the calamity that stunned the whole Metro Manila.

Realizations from the Water:

I had the opportunity to interview Secretary Ace Durano during the “Take me to the Philippines Campaign” in Singapore. In the video below, he greets everyone and also visitors to the Philippines. The campaign focuses not only on the young MTV generation, but also on the global traveler and culture connoisseur.

Listen to his video