The PH government is dropping China loans for Japan loans to fund big infrastructure projects amid worsening disputes in the West Philippine Sea. JICA loans are cheaper than Chinese loans.
Why would you borrow money from a hostile state? It doesn't make sense.
Never leave the Philippines without eating these fruits, and taking a bunch with you when you fly home.
Mangosteen
While popular in Southeast Asia, the Mangosteen in the Philippines is the best variant in the world. Mangosteen is plenty and cheap in the country. You can find it anywhere, from wet markets to supermarkets to street stalls.
There are also many other products made from Mangosteen, from coffee to juice to daily supplements, even a candy and cookies!
Banana (local: saging)
Like Mangosteen, Philippine bananas are the best in the world. There was even a joke how a Philippine banana was exported in the West, and a local restaurant bought banana supplies from those countries and used it, hence, their very simple banana dish (that is ₱20 elsewhere) is worth a Big Mac (₱200). Without them realising the banana they imported originated from their neighbour.
Of course it's a joke. Or maybe not. (We did have an incident like this decades ago, for shoes. Marikina-made shoes were exported. Branded. And then that brand sold it here. 🤣)
Trivia: An endemic banana, "abaca", is also used to produce "Manila Hemp", which is expensive.
Mangoes (local: mangga)
Yes, the best in the world too! Some of our Asian neighbours visit the Philippines just to eat Philippine mangoes, because it's very expensive in their country.
Pineapple (local: pinya)
The best? Well, some of those popular foreign pineapple brands actually have farms here in the Philippines because they found that Philippine-produced pineapples are better.
Trivia: Pineapple was brought here during the colonial era. It's not endemic.
Trivia: Pineapple fibres are used to make clothes, and are usually expensive. It's the most common Philippine linen. Filipinos were the first to create clothes from Pineapple fibres. In fact, like the Coconut, Filipinos found use to everything Pineapple, generally, nothing goes to waste.
Yes, you guessed it right again! The best coconut in the world. It's also exported as well. Ask a Filipino how to properly eat a coconut. Most foreigners only drink the juice. You should eat the "white" part, that's the actual coconut. Never ever throw it!
After eating, you can use the coconut case for various things. One such is what we call "bunot", it helps shine flat wooden floors after putting floor wax on it.
No part of a coconut goes to waste in the Philippines. It is also used in a lot of Filipino foods!
Durian
No comment on this one. Just look for it. 😉 It's sweet, promise.
Jackfruit (local: langka)
A must! It is also part of the famous "halo-halo" summer crushed ice drink/food. A halo-halo without langka is incomplete.
Papaya
If you haven't tried Papaya, you definitely should. Usually included in dishes to give a dish a different taste, but eating Papaya by itself is better because you'll be able to taste it fully.
Special mention: Calamansi
Usually called Philippine lemon. Calamansi is small. This is endemic as well. According to foreigners, it is better than the regular lemon.
You'll often see this in restaurants. We use this in almost every food, either as part of the ingredients, or as a condiment. For example, combine soy sauce + calamansi and you get an exotic dip for your chicken, pork, fish, and so on.
We use it for pansit (Filipino noodles) like in pancit canton and pancit palabok. Also in goto and lugaw (porridge). Once you've tasted calamansi in various ways, you'll replace your regular lemon, and other ingredients, with it.
You can now hire a driver to DriveYourCar on the Grab app. "This innovative offering allows customers to hire a professional driver to navigate their own vehicle through the city." Initially available in Metro Manila.
So, in PH TV, noontime show "Eat Bulaga," which used to be shown on GMA 7, has been broadcasting on TV 5 for several months. TIL, that GMA 7 will now air ABS-CBN-produced "It's Showtime!"
There's a new ride hailing app in the PH called Peek Up. I hope it, together with InDrive, Maxim and Owto, can compete with monopolistic Grab in the 4-wheeled vehicle category. Initially, "the service is available in Metro Manila, Laguna, Cavite, Rizal, and Bulacan."
Today in Labor History March 17, 1966: 100 striking Mexican American and Filipino farmworkers marched from Delano, California to Sacramento to pressure the growers and the state government to answer their demands for better working conditions and higher wages, which were, at the time, below the federal minimum wage. By the time the marchers arrived, on Easter Sunday, April 11, the crowd had grown to 10,000 protesters and their supporters. A few months later, the two unions that represented them, the National Farm Workers Association, led by César Chávez, and the Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee, joined to form the United Farm Workers. The strike was launched on September 8, 1965, by Filipino grape pickers. Mexicans were initially hired as scabs. So, Filipino strike leader Larry Itliong approached Cesar Chavez to get the support of the National Farm Workers Association, and on September 16, 1965, the Mexican farm workers joined the strike. During the strike, the growers and their vigilantes would physically assault the workers and drive their cars and trucks into the picket lines. They also sprayed strikers with pesticides. The strikers persevered nonviolently. They went to the Oakland docks and convinced the longshore workers to support them by refusing to load grapes. This resulted in the spoilage of 1,000 ten-ton cases of grapes. The success of this tactic led to the decision to launch a national grape boycott, which would ultimately help them win the struggle against the growers.
Asher likes to hold my hand 😻
He usually puts a paw in one of my hands & stares at me til he falls asleep. He moves paw from my hand, when he gets deeper into the snooze zone.
PH Congress orders arrest of religious leader for snubbing hearings. Pastor Apollo Quiboloy of the Kingdom of Jesus Christ (KOJC) refused "to cooperate in a Senate probe on allegations of sex trafficking, rape and other abuses leveled against him by former followers." Quiboloy is a wanted man in the United States and is a friend of former president Duterte.
Those "9 out of 10 #Filipinos" are very gullible then. The #AFP is very incompetent at militarily resolving the #communist#rebellion, and it shows in the repetitive #brokenpromises of "ending the CPP-NPA-NDF by the end of [insert year here]".
Here's another thing most are not aware of: Mainland Chinese were an important factor, if not crucial, in the #Philippines fight against colonial invaders.
Andres Bonifacio, the father of Philippine revolution, and one of the founders of the #KKK , is often depicted as a poor farmer. This is very far from the truth.
Andres Bonifacio came from a rich, if not wealthy, family with a lot of connections. If I remember correctly, he hailed from a "Royal Class" clan, and his family was one of those who kept communication lines intact before and after they started the revolution.
Secondly. Starting a revolution requires a continuous flow of funds. Farmers cannot support a revolution. In addition, farmers will not even think of a revolution by themselves, family comes first. However, a rich or wealthy person is capable of thinking about it and starting it.
So, Andres Bonifacio a "farmer"? Not at all.
Third. What schoolbooks don't tell us (they refuse to update it too) is that mainland Chinese (meaning, pure Chinese from mainland China) were also involved. They mainly provided funds and armaments. The Chinese in the Philippines and Chinese from China, were in constant communication. They send funds and arms. Which then are channeled to support the KKK.
Yet during the 80s and 90s, Chinese-Filipinos, or #Tsinoy , were targeted for kidnappings and hate. To this day, discrimination still happens just because they're Chinese, even though they have nothing whatsoever to do with Communist China.
"62km north-east of the capital Manila, Daraitan village, Rizal is home to the Dumagat-Remontado indigenous people who consider vast hectares of the mountain range as part of their ancestral domain.
But the village may soon disappear once the PH government finishes building the Kaliwa Dam – one of 16 flagship infrastructure projects of former president Rodrigo Duterte that is being funded by China."
#Israel has said it has informed the families of 31 people held in the territory since 7 October that their relatives are dead. The news came as the Qatari prime minister said #Hamas had given a “generally positive” response to proposals for a deal trading a break in the fighting and release of #Palestinian prisoners for the return of more #hostages.