Stories & Photographs by Jofelle Tesorio

THE HAGUE, NETHERLANDS - This is a book especially for ‘Dutchipinos’ or Dutch-Filipinos who grew up or born in The Netherlands and are trying to reconnect with their Filipino roots. The Dutch translation of Jose Rizal’s second novel ‘El Filibusterismo’ (‘De Revolutie: Een Filipijnse Roman’) was launched recently by the Philippine Embassy in The Netherlands and the Knights of Rizal The Hague Chapter. De Revolutie is the first Dutch translation of Jose Rizal's El Filibusterismo. PHOTO BY JOFELLE TESORIO This came after the warm reception of the Dutch-translated ‘Noli Me Tangere’ (‘Raak Me Niet Aan’) where hundreds of copies have been sold since its official launching in June 2019. Translator and publisher Gerard Arp said it was the ambition from the start to make both books available in Dutch, especially the ‘ El Filibusterismo’ , which was never translated in Dutch before. The Noli was first translated in Dutch in by a certain Dr. A.A. Fokker sometime in the 192...

Composite photo of Filipino Miss Universe title holders. From top: Gloria, Margie Moran, Pia Wurtzbach and Catriona Gray. In 2016, I wrote an article and a feature story for Asia Calling about the hows and whys of the Philippines being a mad-crazed country over beauty contests. It seems that watching and (for some girls and boys and gays) joining a beauty pageant is part of the Filipinos' DNA. Last Monday, 17 December, the Filipinos have once again proven that their lives evolve around beauty contests when everyone was glued on television and the Internet to watch the live broadcast from Bangkok. The streets were also empty and public employees stopped serving clients until the broadcast was over. These things happened before when boxer Manny Pacquaio fought. Later on, the interest in Pacquaio's matches has waned but not on beauty contests. The bet, a 24-year-old Filipino-Australian Catriona Gray, didn't disappoint. She was crowned Miss Universe 2018 after being a ...

On June 30, Rodrigo Duterte will take over from outgoing President Benigno Aquino for a term of six years. His main agenda is to eradicate corruption and criminality within six months of office. He wants to bring back death penalty and promises to give dictator Ferdinand Marcos a hero’s burial. “As I have said in the miting de avance, my parting words was that, ‘if you destroy my country, I will kill you. If you destroy the youth of this country, I will kill you’.” This is incoming Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte during a thanksgiving rally in his hometown Davao City. As he sends his message to drug pushers, criminals and policemen who take bribes from drug syndicates, the crowd cheered to their new hero, their David who is ready to slay Goliath. He ups the ante by calling on ordinary citizens to arrest suspected criminals. “Feel free to call us, the police or do it yourself if you have the gun. You have my support,” he encourages. TOUGH LOVE. Incoming Philippine pr...

This is the typical night in a call centre in Manila. A Filipino service representative is patiently giving advice to an American customer regarding car insurance. She is one of the 1.2 million Filipinos employed in the Information Technology-Business Process Outsourcing or IT-BPO. For the last seven years, Maria Aguilar, has been working for an American-owned firm. “We have rotation schedules. Sometimes I work in the night shift and sometimes I work in the mid-shift. That would be from 1pm to 10pm," says Maria. Since most clients are from the West, a regular shift is from 9pm to 6am. The names of multinational BPO companies are displayed outside an office building in Eastwood, Quezon City, Philippines. Jobs at the IT-BPO vary—from making and receiving calls to making animation and accounting services. Jaren Atrero works for a Canadian company. “Basically our clients are some who are dealing with engineering, electric, mechanical kind of thing...

Green activists are facing deadly dangers in the Philippines.  In a 2015 report of the London-based Global Witness, it lists the Philippines as the most dangerous country in Asia for environmentalists. Environmentalist and social activist Gerthie Anda during a forum. Being an environmentalist in the Philippines has its share of perils. (Facebook photo from Gerthie Anda) Ask anyone in Palawan province about the ‘Green Lady’ and the name of environmentalist-lawyer Gerthie Mayo-Anda comes up. She has become the poster girl of the environmental movement here. Amid the mining rush, development and other environmental issues, she established the Environmental Legal Assistance Center, or ELAC, in the 1990s. “It’s basically to utilize my knowledge and skills as a legal professional to be able to help the least of our brethren by focusing mainly on how we can survive as a people, anchoring our survival on healthy ecosystems,” says Mayo-Anda. For more than 25 years, she has de...

Filipinos know the names of their beauty queens like Brazilians know their football heroes . Candidates for Miss Puerto Princesa City pose for photographers during a press conference.   It’s the middle of a gruelling practice for girls who are competing in a local beauty pageant. They sashay back and forth in high heels to perfect their walk without tripping. Their trainer, Thom Favila, explains the rigours of his beauty boot camp. “During training, when the girls wake up, we start the day with jogging. After jogging, we have breakfast, followed by walking exercises,” he says, “After that we teach them how to put on make-up and that is followed by question and answer exercises.” Most of his students come from impoverished backgrounds. One of them is 20-year-old Janicel Lubina who represented the Philippines in the Miss International pageant in Japan last December. Janicel was close to winning the Miss Philippines-Universe title, where the winner, Filipin...

“Another bird trips the power line?” Every time the electricity gets cut off, residents of a small but booming tourism city of Puerto Princesa in the Philippines flood their Facebook shout outs blaming the power supplier for inefficiency. The local electric cooperative then passes the blame on miniscule reasons like tree branches falling on electric lines or birds treading on them. It cannot be discounted, however, that ageing power lines and generators running on crude oil cannot cope with the increasing demand of the city, which has seen the number of hotels and restaurants grow exponentially. Three years ago, a three-storey mall also opened. This so-called development has driven local politicians to find ways of delivering the much-needed electricity within a short period. Gil Acosta, the governor’s spokesperson, said “the governor believes that Palawan has been left behind by other provinces, even though it’s the biggest in the region. Power plays a big role in development. Those...