6 Myths, Rumors, And Untruths About Jose Rizal, The National Hero Of The Philippines

"Ang hindi magmahal sa sariling wika, daig pa ang hayop at malansang isda." This is a quote often attributed to Jose Rizal, the national hero of the Philippines. It's a line from the poem Sa Aking Mga Kababata which is being taught in schools all over the archipelago as a piece written by the celebrated hero when he was just 8 years old.

However, there's very little evidence proving that Rizal wrote the poem. In fact, evidence shows that he didn't pen it. In his book Rizal Without the Overcoat, historian and essayist Ambeth Ocampo made a convincing case that the poem was written by someone not named Jose Rizal. This and other myths, Jose Rizal rumours, and untruths about the national hero are discussed below.

1) Rizal is the father of Adolf Hitler.

If you put alongside each other photos of Rizal and Hitler, it's not that difficult to see bits of resemblance. They're both small of stature. They have dark hair and dark eyes. Rizal also did a stint studying at the Heidelberg University in Germany. Maximo Viola, a friend of Rizal, once wrote about an encounter between Rizal and an Austrian woman and theorists claim that their union may have produced Hitler. These are just some of the instances that are causing people to believe that Rizal fathered Hitler.

However, as Ambeth Ocampo pointed out in his book Rizal Without the Overcoat, Hitler was born in 1889 and Rizal left Germany for good in 1887. Babies are born only 9 months after conception. You do the math.

2) Rizal is the dreaded Jack the Ripper.

Source: thedungeons.com

Rizal was in London from May 1888 to January 1889. Jack the Ripper was planting fear and havoc in the streets of London around this time. According to believers of the connection between the two, the killings suddenly stopped when Rizal left the city.

Furthermore, Jack the Ripper is known for his surgical precision in murdering his victims which suggested that he had medical training. It so happened that Rizal was a doctor. Also, Jose Rizal's initials J.R. match those of Jack the Ripper. But, aside from these dismissible evidence, there's absolutely no reason to believe that Rizal was the Ripper.

3) Rizal wrote the poem Sa Aking Mga Kababata when he was eight years old.

Filipino students are being taught that Rizal wrote the poem in Calamba when he was merely eight years old. However, there is enough evidence to suggest that this is not the case. The poem was first published 10 years after Rizal's execution. Herminigildo Cruz, the man who published the poem said he got it from a certain Gabriel Beato Francisco who in turn got the poem from a certain Saturnino Raselis. Raselis allegedly received the poem from Rizal himself. This claim has been completely debunked by Ambeth Ocampo in his essay Rizal Did Not Write Sa Aking Mga Kabata.

In Ocampo's words, "No original manuscript, in Rizal's own hand, exists for "Sa Aking Mga Kabata" traditionally believed to be his first poem. Rizal had 35 years to publish or assert authorship but he did not." A popular quote from the poem in question goes, "Ang hindi marunong magmahal sa sariling wika, masahol pa sa hayop at malansang isda." Well, based on evidence, it's highly unlikely that Rizal ever said this.

4) Rizal is alive and divine.

Source: faithology.com

There are people who believe that Rizal is alive and well. Majority of these people are members of the Rizalista movement, a religious group who believes that Rizal has turned divine and would come in glory to the Philippines after the end of the world. Why do these people think that Rizal is alive? It seems that they took their cues from a report written by an agent of the Spanish governor-general three months after Rizal's execution.

According to the report, soldiers who loaded Rizal's body into a carriage, upon reaching the gates of the cemetery, discovered that the body has disappeared. Even more unbelievable, there was reportedly a white cock that has taken the place of Rizal's body. These were all nothing but rumors of course.

5) Rizal is a psychic and has prophetic abilities.

Source: filipiknow.net

The irony of this myth is that it grew because of the writings of Ambeth Ocampo, the go-to guy when it comes to topics related to Rizal. It's ironic because Ocampo has debunked a lot of the myths and misconceptions about Rizal, yet he is the culprit when it comes to the growing popularity of the suggestion that Rizal has psychic powers. Although Ocampo has taken his cues from the writings of Austin Coates, Leon Ma. Guerrero, and Guillermo Tolentino with regards to Rizal's psychic powers, his own writings are the ones that are most accessible to people. So it was Ocampo who propagated to the greater public the myth that Rizal is a psychic.

The growth of the myth aside, is there evidence to suggest that Rizal is a psychic? There's absolutely none. If you are to look into the writings of Ocampo, Coates, Guerrero and Tolentino that allude to such psychic gifts, these can be satisfactorily explained by good reasoning and logic without having to bring out the psychic card.

6) Rizal wrote his famous poem Ultimo Adios on the eve of his execution.

Source: Wikimedia Commons.

Students in the country are often taught that the night before he was executed, Rizal penned his masterful poem Ultimo Adios. Although this sounds very dramatic, it's simply difficult to believe because Rizal couldn't have written the poem on the night before he was shot. According to the account being taught in schools, Rizal handed the poem to his sister Trinidad on the day before he was executed.

If Rizal gave the poem to Trinidad on December 29, how could he have written it on the eve of his execution. The most logical explanation is that Rizal wrote the poem much earlier than the night of December 29. Rizal scholar Ambeth Ocampo doubts the popular account. So does Gregorio C. Brillantes, N.V.M. Gonzales, Austin Craig, Jaime C. de Veyra and Nick Joaquin.

These myths and rumors about Jose Rizal will likely continue to circulate in the coming years. Hopefully, this article will help in dispelling such misleading claims. If you have anything to add to what we discussed above, feel free to leave your comments, reactions, and suggestions in the comments section below.

3 Reasons Why You Should Never Deface Or Write On Philippine Currency Bills And Coins

Not many Filipinos are aware of the fact that writing on or defacing Philippine peso bills and coins is illegal. And because it's illegal, there's either a fine or jail time awaiting those unfortunate enough to do the act. So the next time you think about drawing a pair of horns on Manuel L. Quezon's forehead or a mustache above Sergio Osmena's lips, you better think again.

The prohibition and penalization of Philippine currency defacement and mutilation was put into law on July 18, 1973 when then Philippine president Ferdinand Marcos signed Presidential Decree No. 247. The decree imposes a penalty on anyone caught defacing, mutilating, tearing, destroying, or burning Philippine notes and coins.

The decree states that "it shall be unlawful for any person to willfully deface, mutilate, tear, burn, or destroy, in any manner whatsoever, the currency notes and coins issued by the Central Bank of the Philippines". Allow us to tell you more why you should never deface nor write on Philippine peso bills.

1) You might find yourself poorer by a whooping 20,000 pesos.
If you are caught and then convicted for violating the decree, you might be fined with an amount that can run up to 20,000 pesos. That's a very steep price to pay for merely writing on money. Imagine the value of this amount when the decree was signed by Marcos in 1973.

So if you can't fight the urge to put your name or phone number on paper bills, it's highly recommended that you find "play money" and subject them to your defacement urges instead. You lose nothing and you save yourself from the risk of having to give away 20,000 pesos.

Photo: ffemagazine.com

2) You might find yourself languishing in a cold prison cell for up to five years.
Violators of the decree can be imprisoned for not more than five years. We don't have to remind you how nasty it can be to spend time in prison. We're talking about Philippine prisons here. We are a third world country so we also have third world prison cells. It's free board and lodging alright but wait till you see the roaches on your bed and the bad food you have to dutifully force down your throats every day.

And to state the obvious, spending time in jail for putting marks on a piece of paper is rather embarrassing. You are going to sleep with roaches (or rats) every night and eat bad food every day. For what? Doodling on Corazon Aquino's face. So don't do it.

3) You might get both poisons. That is you pay the fine and spend some time in jail.
Yes, it's possible that you can get both ends of the stick. Allow us to quote a section from the decree, "That any person who shall violate this Decree shall, upon conviction, be punished by a fine of not more than twenty thousand pesos and/or by imprisonment of not more than five years."

Take note of the double conjunction "and/or". That means you can possibly pay the 20,000 pesos fine and spend five years in prison. It's rather harsh you might say. But it's the law.

5 Annoying Habits Of Pinoy Network Marketers That They Should Stop Doing

Network marketing is alive and well in the Philippines. Want proof? Just log into Facebook and scroll through your news feed. Chances are there's a post or two there by a friend or friends about some business opportunity wherein you get to earn loads of cash "gamit lang ang iyong laptop at internet". The heavenly promises are often accompanied by photos of people flashing their fancy cars, posing in front of their brand new homes, or simply waving wads of "kulay ube" peso bills.

They want you to believe that they came up with all the wealth "gamit lang ang kanilang laptop at internet". Of course, there's nothing wrong in bragging about something you earned. As they say, if you got it and worked hard for it, why not tell the world about it. Unfortunately, in the world of network marketing, most of the cash and cars you see are not real. Sure the money is real and the car works fine but in most cases, these are only used for photo-ops.

Not all people involved in network marketing operate in shady ways. There are great and legit networking companies out there who offer valuable products and valuable services for both their clients and distributors. And they encourage their affiliates to engage new customers using ethical and sustainable marketing practices.

However, looking at the network marketing industry in the Philippines today, the bad apples outnumber the good ones. And in some cases, making matters worse, great networking companies are being tainted if not ruined by the shady practices of their distributors.

With that said, we give you some of the most annoying habits that we often find among Filipino network marketers. Needless to say, these are habits they should stop doing because they are hurting an industry that's already reeling from so much bad press.

1. Spamming people on Facebook and other social media sites.

Photo from huffingtonpost.com.

Facebook is an awesome marketing tool but some Pinoy network marketers have gone over-the-top with their aggressive and spamming techniques. It's very annoying. It's fine if they post their stuff on their own profiles but the thing is they go around posting their links everywhere. In pages, in groups, everywhere.

They also don't care if what they are posting is relevant or not to the topic of the page or group they're posting to. This is why you see "business opportunities" being aggressively and regularly posted in pages where they don't belong. And they don't read the rules. Even if a rule directly states that no business-related posts are allowed, they post anyway. Yes, they often ask for permission to post but it's meaningless because they post their stuff anyway, permission granted or otherwise. Network marketers are probably the most banned people in Facebook groups and pages.

2. Misleading people.

Sawyer, a character on the TV show Lost mislead people into investing in his fake business opportunities. Photo by ABC.

A lot of networking companies in the Philippines sell products related to health and beauty. These include herbal products, dietary supplements, energy drinks, makeup kits, etc. Almost all of these products carry the tag "No approved therapeutic claims." This is just one of the red flags you need not to trust any product or service. Therapeutic is defined as "of or relating to the healing of disease".

The problem with network marketers is that they often mislead customers into believing that their products have been tested or proven to be effective in treating or alleviating certain illnesses and conditions. They claim that their products can cure cancer, prevent heart diseases, improve sexual drives, etc. And they proclaim these without batting an eye. This practice can be very dangerous as it can keep ill-informed people from seeking real medical treatment.

3. Inviting people to dinners then ambushing them with business opportunities.

Photo via Wikimedia Commons.

This is a common tactic among Filipino network marketers. They'll message you on Facebook, text you, or call you, informing you that they missed you and for that they're treating you to dinner or a cup of coffee. You go to the appointed place expecting a nice chat over good food while reminiscing the good old times. Then the person drops the "business bomb" on you.

What makes this worse is the awkwardness of it all. You feel duped but you often don't have the courage to tell it to the person who invited you. Worse, you might even buy into the business fearing you might hurt his/her feelings. Network marketers are aware of this and this is why they do it. It's easier for them to get sign-ups this way. They do something for you, make you feel like you are indebted to them, and then they drop the business offer on you.

4. Posting pictures of random people drowning in cash, cars, and houses.

Photo from the movie Zombieland.

This is very rampant on Facebook. And you can't blame the people who does it. They signed up with a business after seeing a photo of an 18-year old kid making tons of cash. The tactic worked on them so they have this thinking that it will also work when they use it on others. The thing snowballs and now we have hundreds of people posting the same photos over and over again. It's annoying.

What's worse is that they are usually unethical when posting the photos accompanied by their links. As we mentioned earlier, they post their stuff on almost empty space that they can find. In short, they love to spam.

5. Defending the unethical practices of some network marketing company owners and staff.

Photo from spyonstocks.com.

Let's face it, many networking companies in the Philippines, especially the ones selling info and training products that are often delivered online, engage in shady and unethical marketing practices. When you confront their distributors about such practices, they get angry and start spouting irrelevant stuff.

They'll start showing you registration forms from the Securities and Exchange Commission as if this is sole proof that the business is legit. They'll start telling you how awesome or reputable or successful the founders are that they can't do wrong. And it goes on. One thing they don't do however is address the criticisms you have of the company's practices.

So if you are a network marketer, please don't engage in any of the annoying habits discussed above. It's understandable that we all need to make a living. But we should do it without spamming and misleading people.

And to people out there who want to enter the network marketing industry, be careful where you invest your resources. Only invest in networking companies who engage in ethical marketing practices and who have good track records when it comes to delivering high-quality products and services.

Get To Know The 5 Boxers Who Defeated The Great Manny Pacquiao

No other Filipino athlete has attained or even came close to reaching the status and influence that Manny Pacquiao has built for himself during his boxing career which as of this writing has run for nearly nineteen years. Pacquiao's career as a professional boxer is still running and this coming May 2 at the historic MGM Grand, he will once again step into the squared ring to face his most dangerous opponent to date, the extremely talented and yet to be defeated Floyd Mayweather Jr.

In most of his 64 previous fights, Pacquaio had been a favorite to win. In his upcoming encounter with Mayweather, Pacquiao is an underdog. More people subscribe to the idea that Mayweather's defense and ring-savvy will lead him to an easy victory. This is not the first time that Pacquiao is installed as an underdog going into a fight. In some of his previous bouts, he was an underdog but he proceeded to dispose of his opponents quite easily. But then again, these opponents were not Floyd Mayweather Jr. You could say that their skills combined can't even equal those of Mayweather.

HBO Boxing

In the instance that Mayweather will defeat Pacquiao, he won't be the first to do so. Pacquiao have been defeated five times by five different boxers. Three of these five losses were via brutal knockouts. Let's take a look into these five men and what happened to them after defeating the great Manny Pacquiao.

1) Rustico Torrecampo (knocked Pacquiao with a punch to the jaw)
Rustico Torrecampo will always be known as the first man to ever defeat Pacquiao. And he did it in a brutal fashion by crumpling Pacquiao in the third round with a straight punch to the face. Pacquiao just turned pro the year before and has notched 11 straight wins. With his confidence high, he got into the ring with Torrecampo and immediately engaged him in a slugfest.

It was a wild fight. Torrecampo and Pacquiao were throwing wild punches and not thinking even for a little about defense. In the exchanges, Pacquiao was landing more meaningful shots. The end came in the third round when Torrecampo caught Pacquiao flush in the jaw as the latter lunged in to attack.

The win over Pacquiao was a meaningful victory but Torrecampo's career sort of tanked after it. He lost most of his fights then retired in 1997. He made a successful comeback in 2011 by knocking out Jovanie Bualan. He stopped fighting after that. Rumors has it that Torrecampo is now running a mamihan business.

2) Medgoen Singsurat (knocked Pacquiao with a nasty body shot)
After the loss to Torrecampo, Pacquiao got back on the right track and blazed his way through 15 opponents. He knocked out most of them and in the process winning several belts including the OPBF flyweight belt and the WBC flyweight belt.

For his second defense of his WBC flyweight title, Pacquiao flew all the way to Thailand to fight his challenger - an undefeated and heavy-punching Thai named Medgoen Singsurat. It turned out to be a disaster as Pacquiao got flattened by a body shot in the third round.

It was an uneventful fight as Pacquiao, looking frail and weak, backtracked most of the fight. Then the body shot landed and it was all over. Pacquiao's team said that their fighter wasn't 100% during the fight as he struggled to make weight. He lost his WBC belt at the scales because he went over the 112 pounds weight limit.

Singsurat's career after the Pacquiao victory was a very colorful one. He went on to win several world championship belts in his weight division. He retired in 2011 leaving a fight record of 74 wins and only 6 losses. 51 of his victories came by knockouts.

3) Erik Morales (schooled Pacquiao with his technical boxing skills)

Photo from boxing.com.

When Erik Morales and Pacquiao met in 2005 in front of a raucous crowd at the MGM Grand, Morales has slid a bit from his peak while Pacquiao was starting to get there. Both fighters have two losses in their records but Morales has lost to a single man - Marco Antonio Barrera.

Pacquiao was a slight favorite to win the fight but when fight night came and ended, it was the underdog who had his hands raised. Morales boxed his way towards a unanimous decision victory. It was a very clear win. Morales schooled Pacquiao, period.

Morales and Pacquiao went on to fight each other two more times to complete a memorable trilogy. The outcomes were very different from the first. In the second and third fights, Pacquiao handily won via knockouts.

After the back-to-back losses to Pacquiao, it was downhill from there for Morales. He won a few fights but lost to higher-level fighters like David Diaz and Marcos Rene Maidana. He finally retired in 2012 after losing twice to Danny Garcia who currently reigns as the king of the light welterweight division.

4) Timothy Bradley (humbled Pacquiao with a split decision victory)

Photo from bigstickcombat.com.

After redeeming his loss to Erik Morales, Pacquiao went on to break world records by easily moving from division to division knocking out high-level boxers in the process. He beat the likes of Oscar dela Hoya, Ricky Hatton, David Diaz, Miguel Cotto, Joshua Clottey, Antonio Margarito and Shane Mosley.

When the undefeated Timothy Bradley signed on to fight Pacquiao in 2012, not many people gave him the chance to win. Yes, he was undefeated. Yes, he has beat great fighters like Devon Alexander, Junior Witter, Lamont Peterson, and Kendall Holt. However, most people believed he didn't have the quickness and punching power of Pacquiao.

When fight night came, it was more competitive than what most people expected. Bradley and Pacquiao engaged in a technical battle for the whole twelve rounds. Although most observers thought Pacquiao won, Bradley was awarded the victory via a split decision verdict.

Bradley may have gotten a gift decision during the first Pacquiao fight but he proved that he was a true champion by winning his next fights against Ruslan Provodnikov and Juan Manuel Marquez. The irony here is that Bradley handily defeated Marquez, a fighter whom Pacquiao never decisively defeated. As everyone knows, Bradley and Pacquiao fought in a rematch which Pacquiao won this time via unanimous decision.

5) Juan Manuel Marquez (knocked Pacquiao cold with a counter punch)

Photo by Chris Farina of Top Rank.

Juan Manuel Marquez will always be remembered as the Mexican warrior who fought Pacquiao four times. Maybe five times if the two decide to fight again. When they first fought in 2004, Marquez survived three knockdowns in the first round in a fight that ended up as a draw. In their second and third fights, Pacquiao was given decision victories but there are a lot of people contesting said decisions including Marquez himself.

The first three fights were all very close. The victories could've gone to either fighter. When Marquez and Pacquiao fought for the fourth time in 2012, the outcome was clear and no controversy was needed. Marquez knocked Pacquiao cold.

It was a very competitive fight and for six rounds, the two fighters battled like they always do. Marquez took control of the early rounds and even scored a flash knockdown. However, Pacquiao got more aggressive and turned the fight to his favor. He bloodied Marquez, broke his nose, and got him wobbling in the ring. But it was the same aggressiveness that caused his downfall. Marquez timed a perfect counter punch which landed flush on the jaw of the rushing Pacquiao. Kenny Bayless waved off the fight when he realized that Pacquiao was unconscious and unfit to continue.

Will Mayweather be the sixth man to defeat Pacquiao?
We will find out when the two finally meet in the ring come May 2. There are five Manny Pacquiao losses and if there's anyone who can increase that number, that would be Floyd Mayweather Jr.

10 Great Reasons Why You Should Eat Sayote Fruits And Shoots

Among crops grown in the Philippines, the sayote is often looked upon as one of those with the least commercial value. In a way, this is true because sayote crops usually carry price tags that are way below other well-known crops such as cauliflowers, cabbages, potatoes, celery, and carrots, among others.

Another reason why sayote is not that lucrative here is the fact that it has a rather bland taste. To many people, this can be off-putting. But as a well-known chef once said, "Sayote tastes bland because you cooked it bland." In other words, there are ways around such blandness like exploring recipes other than the ginisa cooking style that Filipinos often use when serving up sayote.

The bland taste and the low commercial value aside, the sayote is green gold as far as its benefits are concerned. There are dozens of reasons why you should include it in your diet. Below are 10 of these reasons. After reading these, you will never look at a sayote fruit or plant the same way again. Without further ado, here are the many benefits of sayote.

1) It's a great source of amino acids and vitamin C.
What the sayote lacks in taste, it makes up for in nutritional value. According to Purdue University, the sayote fruit especially its seeds contain highly essential amino acids like aspartic acid, alanine, cysteine, glycine, isoleucine, methionine, glutamic acid, arginine, and tyrosine. A lot of these can be found in the seeds. With that said, throwing out the hard seeds when peeling a sayote fruit is a bad idea as it contains a lot of nutrients.

Sayote also contains significant amounts of vitamin C. Your body needs this particular vitamin to regrow and repair tissues. Vitamin C assists the body in creating collagen, a protein that the body uses to make cartilage, ligaments, skin and blood vessels.

Photo by Dao Nguyen (Wikimedia Commons).

2) Almost every part of the sayote plant is edible. 
Yes, you can eat its fruits, roots, stems, shoots, and leaves. Not many Filipinos are aware of this, but you can dig up the roots and tubers of the sayote plant and boil it then it eat the way you eat a sweet potato. The tubers are starchy and in some countries, these are fried and eaten like yam.

In the Philippines, sayote fruits and shoots are commonly stir-fried or added as ingredient to soup dishes. It's also a very common ingredient in several dishes like tinolang manok, chop suey and pinakbet. In Latin American countries like Brazil, sayote fruits are also breaded and fried.

3) It's very affordable.
 Sayote fruits are cheap because the supply is always high. They are sold either per piece or per kilo. When sold on a per kilo basis, the price often range from 5 to 30 pesos. There even instances wherein the price goes below 5 pesos. Sayote shoots are usually more expensive than the fruits.

Aside from being very affordable, sayote fruits also don't spoil that easily. You can leave them at your kitchen table for weeks and they still remain fresh. Of course, it's highly recommended that you refrigerate them for longevity.

4) It helps in preventing or treating certain illnesses.
This is because sayote fruits and shoots have diuretic, cardiovascular, and anti-inflammatory properties. With that said, the plant has several medicinal purposes. For instance, tea made from sayote plants can be very helpful in dissolving kidney stones. Same tea is also used to assist in the treatment of people suffering from hypertension and arteriosclerosis.

Additionally, infusions made from sayote fruits can be quite helpful in alleviating urine retention. Modern scientific studies have confirmed a lot of these medicinal capabilities of the sayote plant and fruit.

5) It can be used as an ingredient in almost all soup-based and vegetable-based dishes.
It doesn't matter if what you have are the fruits or the shoots. Simply chop them up and add them into the boiling pot. Because of their almost neutral taste, sayote fruits and shoots don't substantially change the overall taste of dishes.

You can add them to noodles, boiled meat recipes, soups, sinigang, boiled fish recipes, etc. They're always great alternatives if you don't have a particular vegetable in your ingredients list.

6. You can eat it raw.
Yes, it may not be a common practice here in the Philippines but in some countries, sayote fruits are eaten raw. They are usually added into salad-based dishes. They are commonly used as raw ingredients in particular recipes.

A very popular way of consuming raw sayote is by using it to make juice or shake. Using a blender to turn the sayote fruit into drinkable matter and then adding other ingredients to give it some taste, a sayote fruit can be turned into a really tasty glass of healthy juice or shake.

7. It's easy to grow. 
As long as you live in an area wherein the climate is conducive to growing sayote plants, there's not much barriers to producing all the fruits and shoots that you need. Several square meters of land is all you need. Just build some sort of a trellis and you are good to go.

Sayote plants don't need a lot of attention either. As long as you provide them adequate water and fertilizer, they'll grow and produce their fleshy fruits on their own. And they grow really fast. You can harvest your first sayote fruits in a matter of just a few months.

8. It can be used to make jams and other sweets.
 In Mexico, enterprising people there have found ways to dry sayote fruits and then use these as ingredients in making sayote jams, candies and other sweets. It does seem to be quite a process but hey as long as you have time, making sayote candies is something you might want to spend it on. Especially if you have quite a supply of sayote fruits in your backyard.

9. It can help you lose some weight.
There's a reason why sayote juices and shakes are growing in popularity among weight-conscious individuals. This is because sayote fruits are low on calories. Because the fruit's water and fiber content is high, a person can feel fuller for much longer without having to take in a lot of calories.

10. The leaves and stems can be used as feed for livestock like pigs and cattle and even chickens.
If you have a farm, big or small, you can use every part of the sayote plant. You can eat the fruits, the shoots, and the tuberous roots. As to the fibrous stems and hardened leaves, you can use these as feed for your livestock. These are not only organic, they are nutritious as well.

So the next time you go to the public market to buy your vegetable supply for the week, don't forget to include sayote in your shopping list. They are affordable, they are nutritious, and they have long shelf value.

The 5 Most Common Filipino Misconceptions About Atheists In The Philippines

Majority of the more than 100 million people who call the Philippines home adhere to a religion. Most of them are Christians. A sizable chunk of them are Muslims. Then there are the minorities like Buddhists, Hindus, etc. In other words, the Philippines is a nation of believers. Most Filipinos subscribe to the notion that there is a higher power, a supreme being. They believe that they were created by a Creator. That they were put on Earth to live out a purpose. That there is life after death. That this post-death affair will be either of two things - eternal damnation or eternal bliss.

Filipinos who are religious strongly cling to their beliefs. This is not at all surprising given the fact that most Filipinos grow up in communities wherein almost every aspect of life is affected in one way or another by religion. A great example is the immense influence of religion on the country's educational system. This rings true whether a school is a public institution or a private one. From kindergarten to college, students are exposed to religious influence. Most private schools in the country are run by or are connected to religious organizations so their curriculum often include religious teachings.

Even public schools that are not supposed to be endorsing a particular brand of religion in accordance to the separation of church and state law often subject students to the trappings of religious belief. Displaying Christian crosses in public classrooms is an all too common practice in the country. This is of course a violation of the Philippine Constitution but you don't see people questioning or protesting it. This speaks a lot of how embedded religion is in Filipino society.

With all of that said, if you are an atheist in the Philippines, consider yourself to be in the lion's den. This is not the Netherlands. Don't expect to receive a pat on the back when you out yourself as an unbeliever. The truth is that coming out as godless in this country carries with it a lot of risks that can be quite serious. You might be disowned by your family. Your lover might break up with you. You might not get that job, or that promotion. You might lose friends. You can kiss your political ambitions goodbye. In short, you are entering a world of possible turbulence that can turn your life upside down.

This begs the question "How did it come to this?" Why the negative reaction when you come out as an atheist in this country? A major driver of this negativity are the rampant misconceptions that a lot of Filipinos harbor about atheists. Below is an overview of five of such common misconceptions.

1) Atheists worship Satan.

Satan from the series The Bible on the History Channel.

Many religious Filipinos consider atheists to be on equal footing with devil-worshipers. This often stems from the line of thinking that goes "If you don't worship God, then who do you worship? If you are not on the side of God, then you are on the side of his enemy Satan." Needless to say, this line of thinking is borderline wrong and grossly misinformed. Atheists don't worship any supernatural being. Not believing in God includes not believing in everything connected to him like the Devil and angels and demons and the concept of heaven and hell. How can you worship something that you believe is non-existent. To not believe in God but believe in the Devil is bollocks.

2) Atheists are communists.

In the Philippines, atheism has become almost synonymous to communism. Proclaim yourself an atheist here and some people will picture you waving the hammer and sickle flag or donning a beige-colored hat with a big red star in the front. However, atheists don't like being equated with communists as much as communists don't like being equated with atheists. And rightly so. Atheism is rejection of a deity while communism is a system of government. There's no glue connecting the two.

The idea that atheists are communists stemmed from the efforts of religious apologists who used the barbaric acts of well-known communists like Joseph Stalin, Pol Pot and Mao Zedong to discredit atheism. These apologists often make the argument that the atrocities done by these communists were due to their not adhering to a god. This is of course a lie. These men being atheists isn't the reason why they murdered millions of people. They committed atrocities because of their dogmatic Marxism and communist ideas. For a detailed debunking of this myth being perpetuated by Christian apologists, read this and this or this.

3) Atheists are rebelling against God.

Savages from the film King Athur.

Religious people think that atheists believe that God exists but because of their hard-headedness they want to rebel against him. Like teenagers rebelling against their strict and over-protective parents. Atheism is looked upon by religious people as a mere phase, one that atheists will eventually get over with. Like teenagers getting over their rebellious ways. This is of course wrong thinking. Atheists aren't rebelling against anybody. Again, how can you be rebellious against someone you believe do not exist. Not believing in the Tooth Fairy does not mean that you are rebelling against the Tooth Fairy.

4) Atheists are sinners who don't want to accept responsibility over their wrong-doings.

Al Pacino as the sin-loving Tony Montana in the film Scarface.

In other words, religious people think that atheists reject God as an excuse to keep on sinning. With that said, they imply that selfishness is the sole reason why atheists don't believe in God. Atheists just love stealing that they reject God to escape their self-guilt. This paints atheists as the most shallow and selfish kinds of people. Needless to say, the idea that atheists don't believe in God because they are enjoying their sins too much is bollocks. In contrary, people turn to atheism because they don't see substantial evidence that a supreme being exists. That's all. Sinning has nothing to do with it.

5) Atheists believe they came from monkeys.

Orangutan mother and child in Borneo. Photo by Hadi Zaher via Flickr.

This is a classic one. If you come out as an atheist, expect people to be asking you if you believe that you came from monkeys. Then a debate on the evolutionary theory will possibly commence. And your theist friends will ask you, "If we came from monkeys, why are there still monkeys?" Why are there still orangutans in the jungles of Borneo? Why are there still gorillas in the mountains of Africa?

Of course, anyone who is familiar with the real tenets of the evolutionary theory knows that we did not come from monkeys. Instead, we humans and monkeys evolved from a common ape-like ancestor. Majority of Filipinos are not aware of this simple fact.

So there you have it. Five of the most common misconceptions by Filipinos about atheists and atheism in general. If you have anything to add, feel free to chime in on the comments section below.

13 English Words And Phrases That Have Different Meanings When Used In The Philippines

The Philippines is often touted (mostly by Filipinos) as the third largest English-speaking country in the world, next only to the United States and the United Kingdom. It's a rather dubious claim because the statistics don't seem to support it at all. However, third largest English-speaking country or not, the fact remains that Filipinos are more adept in speaking English compared to most nationalities whose first language is not English. There's a reason why call centers that cater to English-speaking countries have been sprouting all over the archipelago in the last decade or so.

Filipinos are also known for hijacking English words and phrases. They hijack these words in the sense that they use them with new meanings. English-speaking visitors in the country often find themselves scratching their heads in trying to figure out what the word or phrase meant.

Below is a list of some of the English words and phrases that have new meanings when used in the Philippines. For sure, these just compose the tip of the iceberg. So if you have anything to add, feel free to chime in on the comments section.

1) Salvage - Outside of the Philippines, the word salvage is commonly used to describe the act of saving something from destruction or protecting it from further decay. For example, you salvage furniture from a burning building. Or you salvage precious metals from a ship that has sunk in the ocean. In short, to salvage is to save or protect. The word gets a whole new meaning when used in the Philippines wherein it has become synonymous to murder. To salvage is to kill. The word is often used by the media in referring to murder cases wherein the victims were put to death for being criminals. The victims are aptly called salvage victims.

So if you are reading this and you happen to be a non-Filipino, consider yourself warned. When a Filipino says he's going to salvage you, he's not going to save you, he's going to do just the opposite.

>>> 5 Foreigners Who Have Exposed The Philippines As A Nation Of Pikon People

2) Duster - When you say duster in the Philippines, it's to refer to a simple house dress or a sun dress. You know those loose-fitting dresses often featuring floral designs that's a favorite house-wear for nanay or ate? Those are what they call in the Philippines as dusters. In the US, a duster can mean either of two things - a long Western coat (that has now went out of fashion) or an item used to remove dust and is often made of feathers.

3) Ref - Filipinos are rather fond of abbreviating words. Probably tired of pronouncing the whole five syllables of the word refrigerator, they cut it down to just one syllable so that it's now called a ref. When used in the outside world, ref has a different meaning. It's also an abbreviation of a word but that word is not refrigerator, it's referee. So when a Filipino asks you to go get a bottle of beer from the ref, don't go bothering a person. Bother the buzzing rectangular machine in the corner instead.

4) Gimmick - Gimik tayo mamayang gabi! This is something you'll often hear from Filipinos who love to party. Gimmick has become synonymous to saying "let's go party", or "let's go clubbing" or "let's go for a night-out". Or if you frequent the foot bridges in Quezon City, you'll often meet ladies asking you if "gusto mong gumimik". In the English world, gimmick refers to a trick or an item used to attract attention or publicity. For instance, an actor proposes to his co-star a week before their movie is released. This can be called a gimmick to bolster the publicity for their upcoming movie. It has a completely different meaning when compared to the Filipino version of the word.

5) Bold - Si Juan, mahilig manood ng bold!!! When you use the word "bold" in the Philippines, don't be surprised if you get laughs or giggles. The word after all is often used to refer to movies directed to a mature demographic. In America, they say "adult movie". In the Philippines, they say "bold movie". In the US and other English-speaking countries, usage of the word of course entails describing someone or something who is unafraid, full of confidence, or adventurous.

6) Busted - In the US, you've been busted if the police had you arrested or you were caught red-handed doing something wrong or otherwise. In the Philippines, you're busted if you've been rejected romance-wise. It's the same as "getting dumped" by somebody or having your romantic advances totally rejected by the one you're courting. When used in written form in the Philippines, the word is often spelled as basted.

7) High blood - This phrase is commonly used in the Philippines to describe a person who has anger management issues. One who gets angry or irritated so easily. It's often used to describe people in position like teachers, politicians, or professors whose feathers get ruffled even with the most minute things. In other countries, the phrase is merely used to refer to patients with high blood pressures. It has nothing to do with people's inability to contain their emotions.

8) Chancing - In America, this word would usually mean a chance encounter, a meeting by coincidence. In the Philippines, it's a mild form of sexual harassment. It describes an act wherein a person slyly tries to touch another person's restricted body parts without the latter's consent. The act is often done in places or in circumstances wherein if the culprit is caught touching someone, he/she can blame the place or the circumstance. A great example is the MRT in Manila. The trains get so packed that a man may find his arms in touching distance of a woman's breasts. So he does the tsansing act. When confronted, he has the chance of getting away with the act by exclaiming, "Ikaw naman ate. Masyado kang judging. I mean, look at this place. It's sardinas in here. Blame the train, not me."

9) Dirty ice cream - In the US, this phrase is used by a woman to refer to a guy whom she dated but isn't interested in dating again because he can't stop calling her. A partially related phrase would be "a turn-off". The girl is turned off by the fact that the guy keeps on calling her on the phone every minute of every day. In the Philippines, dirty ice cream actually refers to real ice cream. These are the ice cream products being sold in the streets by vendors with their movable karitons.

An ice cream vendor in the Philippines. Photo by Patrick Jude Ilagan via Flickr.

10) Bedspace - In the US, bedspace means bed space. A space in the bed. For example, if a wife sleeps on the right side of the bed, then that's her bed space. The left side of the bed would be her husband's bed space. In the Philippines, bedspace is synonymous to a room. It's a very common term among property owners who are renting out rooms. A bedspace room is different from other rental units in that it's occupied by several people sleeping on several bunk beds. The occupants are called bedspacers. The rooms are also often cheap so bedspacers are usually students studying in nearby colleges or universities.

11) Dirty kitchen - Again, in the US, you need to take this phrase literally. It's just a kitchen that is dirty. In the Philippines, however, it has a rather different meaning. In fact, it's used in different instances. One, it's used to refer to a common kitchen in any rental establishment who has several rooms and occupants but a single kitchen. For example, a boarding house may have only one kitchen which the boarders use. This is referred to as the dirty kitchen. The phrase is also used to refer to makeshift kitchens like the ones set up in road construction sites. The particular area where the workers cook and eat is called a dirty kitchen.

12) Kinder - If you read or hear this word outside of the Philippines, it's used as an adjective to describe a person who is generous, humane, warm-hearted, charitable, etc. To be fair, it has two meanings in the Philippines and the first one is the same as the adjective just described. However, the word is also commonly used by Filipinos to refer to a class or school of very young children - the kindergarten class. So it's an abbreviation and as far as we know, it's only here in the Philippines that the word kindergarten is being abbreviated to kinder. To an outsider who is unaware of this, he'll be scratching his head trying to figure out what a Filipino means when he says he attended kinder when he was a kid.

13) Arbor - According to the Merriam-Webster online dictionary, the word "arbor" has three possible meanings. It's either a shelter of vines, a spindle of a wheel, or a branching anatomical structure resembling a tree. All three meanings have zero hint of relevance to how the word is used in the Philippines. The word "arbor" is used by Filipinos to refer to the act of getting an item from someone for free. You could ask nicely or you could grab the item. It's often done among friends, families, or co-workers so usually there's no harm done. For instance, a man may ask a friend, "Ayos yang sombrero mo ah, pa-arbor naman niyan." The origin of the word and how it came to be used as such is still unknown.

So there you go. Thirteen English words and phrases that have very different meanings when used in the Philippines. Did we miss something? If you have anything to add, feel free to drop us a message in the comments section below. Thanks.

Sources:

1. Philippine English Vocabulary: A Semantic Study, Louise Anne P. Porciuncula: (http://www.academia.edu/3997144/Philippine_English_Vocabulary_A_Semantic_Study)

2. Wikipedia Talk Page on Philippine English: (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk%3APhilippine_English)

3. BBC News, The Philippines: The World's Budget Teacher, Kate McGeown: (http://www.bbc.com/news/business-20066890)

4. Urban Dictionay, online repository of definitions that are often funny: (http://www.urbandictionary.com/)

5 Foreigners Who Have Exposed The Philippines As A Nation Of Pikon People

It was the author Norman Vincent Peale who said, "The trouble with most of us is that we would rather be ruined by praise than saved by criticism." This quote perfectly describes most Filipinos that you'd think Peale had us in mind when he wrote it. We love compliments being thrown at us so much that we often exaggerate them. Some guy at a reality talent show in Siberia wowed the judges with his amazing pipes. Because the guy has a trickle of Filipino blood in him, we flooded his YouTube videos with proud-to-be-Pinoy comments complete with hashtags and excited emoticons.

But when someone either criticizes us or says something not too nice about us, holy Mary and Joseph, all hell breaks loose. We start typing tirades in Caps Lock. We watch as our Facebook news feeds roll endlessly with the tirades of our friends. Of course, they've also written theirs in Caps Lock. As icing on the cake, our government officials compete with each other as to who would be the first to file a resolution calling for the declaration of the critic as a persona non grata, an unwelcome person.

We Filipinos are also adept in criticizing other people. For sure, we can dish it. But we are lacking when it comes to taking it. Take for instance our rather enthusiastic fascination with declaring people as persona non grata. It has become our weapon of choice in trying to address people who have negative things to say about us.

>>> Related article: 13 English Words And Phrases That Have Very Different Meanings When Used In The Philippines

Our government officials declare individuals as persona non grata as if it's the most common thing to do. Gloria Diaz quipped that Cebuanas can hardly speak English and Tagalog. She was condemned and declared unwelcome in the province of Cebu. Just recently, comedian Ramon Bautista joked that there are so many hipons in Davao City. For those not in the loop, hipon is a slang term used to refer to a woman with an attractive body but an unattractive face. The charge that ensued to declare Bautista as an unwelcome person in the city was led by no other than Davao City vice-mayor Paolo Duterte himself.

We are even more passionate in voicing out our anger when the person who negatively criticizes us is a foreigner. Nobody outrages us more than a person from another race and another country calling us a no-good bunch of people. Even more woe to the critic if he/she happens to be a celebrity. The five people listed below have learned this the hard way.

5) Adam Carolla (comedian, radio host, actor)

Filipinos are passionately proud of their countrymen who make it big beyond the borders of the archipelago and they'll defend them to the ends of the earth if someone makes the mistake of saying something negative about them. American comedian and radio personality Adam Carolla made this mistake in 2010 when he lambasted boxer Manny Pacquiao (who is a national treasure in the Philippines) in an episode of a podcast that he hosts.

Carolla didn't hold back when he referred to the celebrated athlete as an illiterate, an idiot, having brain damage, and someone who worships chicken bones. He continued his rant by saying that the Philippines only got two things to be proud of - Manny Pacquiao and sex tours. Carolla made the statements during his podcast when the topic turned to Pacquaio's refusal to undergo drug testing ahead of a rumored bout with American boxing superstar Floyd Mayweather Jr.

Carolla's rant immediately went viral and it was covered by dozens of popular media outlets like Huffington Post and CNN. In the Philippines, it was top of the headlines. The immediate reaction by Filipinos was that of anger and teeth-gnashing. Top government officials also got involved and responded to the incident. The spokesman for then Philippine President Gloria Arroyo called Carolla an "ignorant fool".

Indeed, the rant by Carolla was nasty. However, most Filipinos seemed to have missed the fact that he is a comedian. This is what comedians do - exagerrate things, blow up things, and sometimes be untruthful to try to be funny. His comments about Pacquiao and the Philippines are not entirely true but they do carry some truth to them.

Part of Carolla's schtick is to be nasty and over the top in his criticisms. What he's done to Pacquiao and the Philippines, he has done to other countries like Mexico and his home country the United States. For a lot of comedians, it's part of their jobs to be provocative to try to be funny. Needless to say, Mexican and American reactions to his rants greatly pale in comparison to the outburst that came from Filipinos. After the barrage of comments that were sent his way, Carolla took to Twitter to apologize admitting that he crossed the line.

4) Teri Hatcher (actress, writer, presenter)

Even fictional characters in fictional television shows are not exempt from Filipino outrage if they mutter something negative about Filipinos. In 2007, actress Teri Hatcher who plays the character Susan Mayer on the hit television show Desperate Housewives, outraged the Filipino community when she muttered "Okay, before we go any further, can I check these diplomas? Just to make sure they aren't, like, from some med school in the Philippines." on the show.

The immediate reaction from Filipinos both here and abroad was nasty and swift. A Fil-Am artist named Kevin Nadal started an online petition which was able to gather nearly 100,000 signatures. A spokesman for then Philippine President Gloria Arroyo called the line a "racial slur". Many politicians including Senator Ramon Bong Revilla demanded an apology from the makers of the show. Even the Filipino consul based in Los Angeles wrote ABC (the company that produces and broadcasts the show) to defend medical schools in the Philippines. A lot of folks called for a boycott of the show.

The producers of Desperate Housewives eventually apologized and promised to edit out and remove the particular scene from future airings and DVD copies of the show. A lot of observers said that this apology shouldn't have been necessary as Susan Mayer is a fictional character. Her line on the show that outraged the Filipino community could've been just the prejudiced opinion of a character. We didn't see Koreans rising up in arms when Clint Eastwood insulted them over and over again in the movie Gran Torino, did we? No, we didn't.

3) Alec Baldwin (actor, producer, comedian)

In 2009, actor and comedian Alec Baldwin appeared as a guest on David Letterman's talk show. When asked by Letterman if he wanted more kids, Baldwin quipped that he was thinking of availing of a Filipino or Russian mail order bride. Outrage from Filipinos ensued.

It was a joke and a good one at that. But Filipinos took it rather too seriously and castigated the actor for it. They called for an apology. Senator Ramon Bong Revilla got into the picture and being the knee-jerk reactor that he is, he threatened that he will beat up Baldwin if he ever set foot in the Philippines. The Philippine Bureau of Immigration also issued an order that barred Baldwin from entering the country. This ban was still issued even when Baldwin apologized for his comments.

Baldwin apologized through an article he wrote that was posted on Huffington Post. In said article, Baldwin stated that he was only joking and that he's sorry to those who took offense.

The funny thing about this incident was the fact that in the joke, Baldwin mentioned two races - Filipinos and Russians. Filipinos rose up with their teeth gnashing. The Russians, well, they simply brushed it off. Maybe they got the joke. For those curious, a mail order bride does exist in the Philippines albeit it's done under the shadows because it's illegal here.

2) Justin Bieber (singer, songwriter)

In 2012, Manny Pacquiao fought his longtime rival Juan Manuel Marquez for the fourth time. He was put to sleep in the sixth round with a well-timed punch from the Mexican. The Canadian pop star Justin Bieber who is a known supporter of Floyd Mayweather Jr. (another Pacquiao rival) went to Instagram and ridiculed Pacquiao with a series of photos mocking his knockout loss to Marquez.

With millions of followers on the site, Bieber's posts immediately went viral. Hell, they even reached the Philippine Congress. And here is what's mind boggling - seven lawmakers actually took the time to file a resolution demanding an apology from the singer or else he'll be declared a persona non grata. Basically, what these lawmakers said was that because Pacquiao is such a great sports hero, nobody is allowed to ridicule him in any way. If you do, you are to be banned in entering the country. As with Pacquiao himself, he brushed off Bieber's posts and said that he'll pray for him.

1) Claire Danes (actress)

Ah, Claire Danes, another poor actress who received a barrage of nasty comments for simply voicing out her observations about Filipinos and the Philippines. In 1998, Claire Danes spent several months in Manila to shoot scenes for the film Brokedown Palace. When she got back home in the United States, as actresses with upcoming movies always do, she got busy with interviews to talk about and promote Brokedown Palace which was eventually released the next year (1999). An interview in Vogue magazine and a quote of her on Premier magazine sparked a controversy that continues to hound her to this day.

Danes got a lot of backlash when she described Manila as a "ghastly and weird city" in a Vogue magazine interview. She followed this up with more negative comments about the city in an interview with Premier magazine. She told Premier that Manila "smelled of cockroaches." The budding actress added that "There’s no sewage system in Manila, and people have nothing there. People with, like, no arms, no legs, no eyes, no teeth." 

With such biting criticisms from the actress, what did Filipinos do? They got angry. The Manila city council declared Danes a persona non grata and banned all of her movies from being shown in the city. Even Joseph Estrada, then President of the Philippines stuck his head into the picture. He agreed with the ban issued by the Manila city council and he was quoted as saying that Danes shouldn't be allowed to set foot in the Philippines. 

Danes soon issued a public apology statement but this did not seem to appease those that was hurt by her comments. Kim Atienza who was then a city councilor dismissed Danes' apology calling it "not genuine" and an "excuse made by Hollywood press officers". The controversy soon died down but we're not sure if the ban on her from entering the country has been lifted or not.

If you have anything to add to this list, feel free to leave your comments below. Thanks.

5 Reasons Why The Upcoming Filipino Movie Maria Leonora Teresa Will Suck

Pretty much every major Filipino movie that gets shown on wide release these days sucks. Just take a moment to mull over the 8 current top-grossing Tagalog films this year: 1) Starting Over Again, 2) Bride For Rent, 3) She's Dating The Gangster, 4) Maybe This Time, 5) Da Possessed, 6) Diary Ng Panget, 7) My Illegal Wife, and 8) Talk Back And You're Dead. Only an eight-year-old kid would watch any one of these movies and describe it as good.

Aside from their atrocious titles (Da Possessed? Seriously?), these movies are bad. They are so bad that calling them bad is an understatement. They are beyond bad. Unfortunately, it looks like the Philippine movie industry has no plans whatsoever of giving a stop to this parade of cinematic badness.

There's a horror film set to be released within this month called Maria Leonora Teresa that looks...yes of course, as expected...very bad. It's supposed to be a horror drama but after watching the trailer, you'd think that it's a freaking comedy. Without further ado, here are the 5 reasons why Maria Leonora Teresa is going to suck.

1) Almost zero originality. Dolls terrorizing and killing people? We've seen these a gazillion times already.

2) There's the obligatory gay character whose job is to be annoying onscreen. Why does every Filipino film has to have an annoying gay character?

3) Gullible characters who are an insult to logical thinking. Your daughter dies, a creepy psychiatrist gives you an even creepier doll as some sort of a coping tool, and you are totally fine with that? 

4) Cliches, cliches, and cliches everywhere. Distant children's voices. Children laughing in the background. Sounds from a music box. Uuughhhhhh!

5) It's directed by Wenn Deramas, the guy behind movies with titles like The Unkabogable Praybeyt Benjamin, Momzillas, Sisterakas, and Petrang Kabayo. This alone is reason enough not to waste your money on this thing.

Maria Leonora Teresa stars Iza Calzado, Zanjoe Marudo, Jodi Sta. Maria, Joem Bascon, and Maria Isabel Lopez. It's scheduled to be released nationwide on September 17, 2014.