Here we go again with these Filipino intellectuals. More specifically, the Filipino intellectuals who are serving as the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) propagandists. They’ve been recently trying to gaslight their countrymen about the CCP’s belligerence in the West Philippine Sea (WPS) after a Chinese ship water cannoned a Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) vessel that was on a resupply mission to the Philippines’ BRP Sierra Madre on the Ayungin Shoal. These intellectuals have also been accusing their fellow Filipinos of war-mongering because we’re strengthening our alliances with other liberal democracies to protect ourselves from China.
Naturally, Filipinos got mad. Why shouldn’t we? The PCG was merely sailing on international waters. It was only going to bring food and supplies to our coast guard on the Ayungin Shoal, which is in the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone (EEZ). Despite that, and in spite of all of China’s previous aggressive acts towards us, we never advocated for other nations to wage war against China on our behalf the way Ukraine has in its conflict with Russia.
Besides, we are completely entitled to develop partnerships with other countries (including the United States, with whom we have a defense treaty) in order to build up our defense capabilities. But that doesn’t mean that we are pro-war! Bakit, China lang ba ang kalaban ng Pilipinas? Hindi ba’t may conflict din tayo sa Malaysia? Hindi ba maraming mga terorista at kriminal sa loob mismo ng bansang ito kaya kailangan nating palakasin ang Hukbong Sandatahan?
A Nation of TCKs
Yet if one will look at the social media posts of these CCP propagandists, you’d think that their fellow Filipinos are salivating for a war with China due to our alleged blind allegiance to the US. Now they’re also resorting to that tired, old tactic of guilt-tripping Filipinos about how Westernized we are when we’re supposed to side with China because, you know, “Asians”.
That gaslighting playbook isn’t going to work. Why? Because most Filipinos are third culture kids (TCKs). Many of us are international TCKs, which are either children or adults who have spent a significant period of their childhood living abroad and not just staying there for vacation purposes. On the other hand, most Filipinos are likely to be domestic TCKs: they were immersed in cultures that are different from those of their parents’ by living in various Philippine provinces, which have different cultural practices.
Because of our early exposure to multiculturalism, Filipinos know that there’s more than one way to live a good life. There’s more than one way to love your country, and you can even love many countries! Hence, we don’t have a lot of angst about “not being Asian enough” according to the myopic standards of certain ivory tower academicians.
As TCKs, Filipinos are generally comfortable with combining different local as well as international cultural practices and then calling that resulting hodgepodge “Philippine culture”. And why shouldn’t we? Culture was never meant to be static! How boring would it be if it were. Besides, no one has the monopoly of what Asian culture is supposed to be like.
More importantly, not everything that is Eastern is good. And not everything that is Western is bad. Yet these CCP propagandists keep on harping that we must swear off the good things that we learned from the West to go back to our Asian roots. Unfortunately, “going back to our Asian roots” would mean that the Philippines will have to splinter again into tiny warring tribes of cannibals.
Plus, what do they mean by becoming more Asian, exactly? Does it mean that the Philippines should have a caste system? Should Filipinos start meting out capital punishment against homosexuals? Are we supposed to repress religious practices so that every Filipino will worship the state? Or are these CCP propagandists expecting Filipinos to harvest organs from our enemies while they're still alive — the way the CCP has?
Westernized and Pro-Philippines at the Same Time
Don’t get me wrong: there are many evil Western practices such as abortion, euthanasia, pedophilia, and endless war-mongering. Not to mention that the Biden regime is corrupt to the core. I’m also not denying the fact that the West committed many atrocities against the Philippines.
But because of our history, our cross-cultural experiences, and collective temperament, Filipinos know that there’s no shame in adopting good things from both the East and the West, and considering the resulting hybrid as part of Philippine culture. So rather than being ashamed of being Westernized, we should be proud of it! After all, Spain united us into one country and converted us out of cannibalism. Many of the things that we Filipinos enjoy about our culture were adapted from Spain. On the other hand, the Americans democratized education for Filipinos. Because of the US, ordinary Filipinos benefited from the public school system, learned English, became globalized, and got out of poverty. We also learned to participate in democratic processes because the Americans taught us how.
My grandpa even has many fond memories of the American colonial period. They could pretty much do anything that they wanted at that time — except rebel against the US, that is. But that actually explains why Filipinos are so attached to Americans: historically, they were overall quite nice to us, especially when you compare their contributions to the hell that the Philippines plunged into because of Imperial Japan and her recruits from Taiwan and Korea.
Yet, are Filipinos still angry at Japan and her Asian enablers? Nope! We are on very good terms with Japan, Taiwan, and South Korea. They made being Asian cool for us Filipinos. They succeeded in Asianizing us after World War II by sharing edifying aspects of their cultures that resonate with us. And to a great extent, Taiwan and South Korea owe their liberty to the Philippines.
Filipinos also happen to enjoy Chinese culture. They like siomai, siopao, noodles, Chinese martial arts movies, and Chinese festivals. I personally love studying Mandarin! We also admire the Chinese for their perseverance in their endeavors. Besides, many Filipinos are partly Chinese — including me! My Filipino-Chinese guerilla ancestors even fought for Philippine independence during World War II. Hence, we Filipinos have nothing personal against the Chinese people. They’re the primary victims of the CCP, which is why our hearts go out to them.
But China and its propagandists will never succeed in making us Filipinos feel ashamed about being TCKs. Our TCK ways are our version of Asian culture. For me, being a country of TCKs is a great privilege because it gives Filipinos the open-mindedness to learn from different ethnic groups in an era wherein multilateralism is crucial to the success of any nation.
Anyway, here's a song that we can dedicate to the brave Philippine Coast Guard! This is also for all our brave Filipino men in uniform both past and present who have faithfully protected the Philippines:
(Photo by Rolands Varsbergs)
😍I enjoyed the punches you delivered very well done! I remembered when I was still in the university and a student activist; I was part of the " U.G." or underground communist student movement. We would march down the streets to protest about the US bases and US imperialism. But look at the rubber shoes we wore- Adidas from the US and our maong pants are Levis -made from the US and we loved them. Many of us are here in the US now enjoying the oppressive imperialistic America.🙄😁 So much for the ' makibaka' movement.