How Far The Philippines Has Come

Traveling around the Philippines through this study abroad program has opened my eyes to the different cultures, languages, and people within one country. I saw the influence America brought to the Philippines through the educational system, government rulings, and daily life. “The task then was not only to establish colonial authority over a large, formidably inaccessible territory but to use that authority over ‘tribes’ unsullied by ‘any Western civilizing influence’ as a means of bringing about their actual integration into the colonial body politic” (Abinales, 2002, pg. 91). As we went on our last field trip to the Visayas, I saw the effects of tourism in the Philippines as we visited Boracay, Cebu, and Bohol. We saw tourism in the form of the Boracay beach and strip; the tarsiers and Chocolate Hills in Bohol; and Lapu Lapu Shrine, the Magellan Cross, and Philippine Taoist Temple in Cebu. Seeing the Chocolate Hills showed me the power of Mother Nature in the Philippines as Ate Geraldine explained how the tourist spots were affected by the earthquake a few months ago. Visiting the different religious places in Cebu gave me new view on not only different religious practices but a new outlook on my own religion. Through these new experiences, I was still able to see the power of American assimilation in the Philippines. Some factors that was brought up into the last week of the program that relates back to the influence of the United States in the Philippines is tourism, business, language, government power, and beauty.

The biggest influence that the United States seems to have within the people in their daily lives is the need to have lighter skin. "The hierarchy of color, introduced during the Spaniards' reign, was institutionalized under the Americans. Bleaching creams and skin whiteners continue to be top-selling items in present-day Manila and other cities" (Ontal, 2002, pg. 130). Through my group project, my group mates and I learned about the presence of skin whitening in almost all beauty products in the Philippines and the difficulty of finding products without it. We learned about the power skin whitening has over the local people and how unaware they are of the health effects, as long as they have light skin. It’s interesting to see how far people will go just to have light skin like people in America while there are people in the United States who want to become tan. Going to the beach in Boracay, I noticed that not many people were really trying to tan except for maybe people who could have been of Caucasian descent.

During the trip to Boracay, I saw the transformation tourism brought to the place. Talking to the locals on the strip and at the club, I learned about the history of Boracay and how just three to five years ago the place was very simple and different from what it is now. Before the idea of tourism came into mind, Boracay was filled with huts, people’s homes. Someone I met was telling me that when his family first came to Boracay to start a new life, they experienced firsthand the simplicity of the island and was present when it went through the dramatic change of the new vacation spot in the Philippines. Boracay is only one way in which the Philippines is able to receive opportunity for business from people all around the world.

In Cebu, we went to Megaworld and learned about the business of creating new communities within the different towns and cities in the Philippines. Looking at the models of the buildings and the homes that Megaworld designs made me think about who would actually buy the studio apartments. The women mentioned that a lot of people from America buy property so that they could have a place to stay when they visit the Philippines. Other people use it to rent out to people for money. After learning about this, I feel like Megaworld has a marketing strategy that directs to either upper class people or people from other countries such as the United States to buy property in order to make business.

Meeting Ate Geraldine in Bohol and talking to her about the language barriers the people in the Philippines gave me a different perspective on how language is used in the Philippines. She talked to me about growing up in Zamboanga and learning how to speak Chavacano but then having to adapt to the Cebuano dialect when she moved to Cebu at the age of fourteen. She told me stories of getting lost in translation with her friends because they would say a word that would mean two different things; one thing in Cebuano, another thing in Chavacano. It gave me another perspective on miscommunication between two people because it is interesting to see how people from the same country have the ability to misunderstand one another. I can only imagine how difficult it can be for students to comprehend class lectures if they are taught in English.

Learning about Migrante’s mission and purpose gave me a better perspective of how the government system works in the Philippines and the power it has over the people and problems that occur. Migrante is a rescue organization that goes out and helps OFWs in need whenever they receive a call. Hearing about the OFWs working abroad and being abused by their employers was already sad enough but to hear how they were abused and the fact that the Philippine government keeps the reasoning behind a worker’s death is unimaginable.

The last week of the program has been very impactful and I was able to open my mind to learn more about the Philippines in ways I did not imagine possible. Seeing the effects of the United States’ power in the Philippines is disappointing because I feel like I am not able to fully see what my culture is without having some kind of influence from America. Regardless, visiting all the different locations in the Visayas and listening and learning about Migrante makes me appreciate how far the Philippines and its people have come from where it started in the beginning.

Works Cited:

• Abinales, P. (2002) An American colonial state: Authority and structure in Southern Mindanao. In A.V. Shaw & L.H Francia, Vestiges of war. (pp. 89-117). New York: New York Press.
• Ontal, R.G., (2002). Fagen and other ghosts: African-Americans and the Philippine-American war. In A.V. Shaw & L.H Francia, Vestiges of war. (pp. 118-133). New York: New York Press.