Top 5 Reasons Why It's More Fun in the Philippines

Hot From the Pan.  

One hot topic right now is the controversial article of Manny "Pacman" Pacquiao about his reaction on Obama's support for "gay marriage".  Pacman is being criticized for his "alleged" hatred against the LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgendered) community.  The issue is blown out of proportion because of the article's author that cited a passage in the Bible's Leviticus which allegedly tells that "gays must be put to death".  This was attributed to Pacman and the LGBT community condemns him for it.  Later Pacman clarified that he loves the LGBT community but he is however, not in favor of "gay marriage".

The Actual Score.  

This is NOT however, the topic of my post.  When I logged in at "reddit", the trending topic is Pacman.  Naturally, the most popular post is about Pacman and his "alleged" belief that "gays must be put to death".  But what caught my attention is one of the comments under this post that says "the Philippines is on a civil war".  The commenter is saying that Pacman is respected in the Philippines and that when he is on the ring, he literally stops bloodshed from the civil war that's going on.  So, people should value his opinion.  I replied to his comment and corrected him that there is no civil war in the Philippines.   The commenter replied back and said that he has poorly worded his comment.  Further, that part of the comment is based on a link in wikipedia about "Terrorism in the Philippines".   I followed the link.  Wikipedia has a table of terrorist incidents in the Philippines from the 1970's to the present.  So, this is what I said to the commenter:

"Thank you for the link.  I read it.  I wish to say that the Philippines is an archipelago that is composed of 7,107 islands.  If you will examine the tables in the wiki post, you will see that the locations of these unfortunate incidents are concentrated in the southernmost and remotest part of the country.  It is very, very, very far from the capital and other major and key cities.  The conflict is mostly rooted on religion and their claim for land.  These are all being addressed by the government.  In fact, there is an on-going ceasefire between these factions [and the government].

Come visit the Philippines.  Our Department of Tourism has launched its campaign recently that even CNN featured it in their programs and website.  We now say.' It's More Fun in the Philippines!'."

Join the Bandwagon.  

From the time the tagline, "It's More Fun in the Philippines!", is launched, I wanted to contribute and support it.  As a Filipino who has traveled around a lot and lived most of his life in the Philippines, I can truly say that "it's more fun in the Philippines".  I'll give you my top 5 reasons.  Here they are:

Top 5 Reasons Why It's More Fun in the Philippines  

1.  the people.  Filipinos pride themselves for being hospitable.  Amidst the economic hardships of most Filipinos, we still rate as one of the happiest in the world.  We love to laugh.  We smile a lot.  It's contagious, you know.

2.  the sites.  Explore the 7,107 islands.  Okay, that's too many.  Let me give you a couple of recommendations.  There's Boracay in Aklan.  Boracay is always in the lists of top 5 beaches in the world and at most times tops the lists.  There's Bohol with the Chocolate Hills.  Nature is trying to impresses humans with these unearthly beautiful small hills clustered together in a single area much like a bunch of Hershey's Kisses.

3.  the karaoke.  Did you know that the sing-along system was invented by a Filipino?  The World Intellectual Property Organization awarded the Filipino inventor the Gold Medal for Best Inventor in 1985 for this sing-along system that has been popularly referred to as "karaoke".

4.  the vast talents.  I will have to do some name dropping here.  Lea Salonga (Disney Legend, singing voice of Princess Jasmine and Mulan, Tony-award-winning Broadway superstar).  Charice (international recording star).  Jessica Sanchez (American Idol 2012.. okay, not quite).  Filipinos love to sing.  Filipinos are born with a microphone on their mouths.  If you want to jam and sing your heart out, immensely enjoy yourself everyday, come to the Philippines.  Just don't pirate too many of our nurses, doctors, teachers, engineers, and artists.  They are world class, indeed.  But leave some of them in the Philippines.

5.  the food.  Since the Philippines is an archipelago, there is a variety of flavors.  There are significant differences in food preparation and cooking from province to province for a single dish.  Can you believe it?  Each version is an experience in itself.  What's more is that a 20 US dollar seaweed salad sold in New York is just  1 US dollar in the Philippines.  You must try it.

All countries have domestic problems.  Rising above these problems is what's more important.  Filipinos are good at rising above their daily hardships.  After all, there is so much more reason to be grateful for.  The Philippines has more than 7,107 reasons.  Come, experience the fun.  In almost every way, IT'S MORE FUN IN THE PHILIPPINES.

SPREAD THE HAPPINESS!