From 2010 to 2017, there was a thing called #AseanCitizen that we Aseans started as a grassroots movement. We were all bloggers from across, well, #ASEAN or South-East Asia.
Some of us joined together to produce one of the best multi-authored regional blogs. We talked about our cultures, write about what makes the region awesome. As well as, try to address the oftentimes silly and sometimes heated debates.
It's all gone now. Forgotten. The blogs dead or offline. We all grew up, got busy with our personal lives, and moved on separately. And the important reason? We lost interest in it as we started to see ASEAN was, is, and will never be for the grassroots.
That was the end of what was once a vibrant grassroot ASEAN Citizens effort. We did it all voluntarily. Without a single recognition from the top-down organisation that is ASEAN.
But today? ASEAN is still a top-down organisation. They kept trying to get the grassroots involved, but they are always failing. Why? Because it is a top-down organisation, as simple as that. They will never understand until they shift their mindset and approach to bottom-up.
(P.S I want to restart this grassroots movement, but I just no longer have the spark. Give me a very good reason why I should give it another chance. Or, at least, guide the new generation.)
Wiki: Iskrambol, also known as ice scramble, is a Filipino frozen dessert made from shaved ice with banana extract and evaporated milk with sugar (or condensed milk) It is then topped with a variety of ingredients including powdered milk, marshmallows, strawberry syrup, chocolate syrup, pinipig, tapioca pearls, and sprinkles, among others. The regular banana extract flavored dessert is characteristically dyed pink.
If I'm going to interpret this, the natives of Taiwan survived as the primary people in what we know today as the Philippine archipelago. From the Philippines, they spread everywhere.
In other words, they're all #Filipino! ᜑᜑᜑᜑ 😹 (Or, native Taiwanese to be exact.)
Malaysian and Philippine #unions discuss #LivingWage and decoupling of #productivity and wages, "It is evident that the global economic system is a failure that only favours few owners of #capital"
Yuka Saso, golf, PH to Japan
Jaja Santiago, volleyball, PH to Japan
Alex Pagulayan, billiards, PH to Canada
Wesley So, chess, PH to United States
Maxine Esteban, fencing, PH to Ivory Coast*
Jericho Cruz, basketball, PH to Guam*
"Former presidential spokesman Harry Roque claimed on Tuesday that President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s administration lacks strategy in conducting resupply missions to the grounded BRP Sierra Madre in Ayungin Shoal. Roque, in a televised interview, said judging from history, #China 'will not allow further delivery' of construction materials to BRP Sierra Madre"
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.
"President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said on Thursday the #Philippines will not be bullied into silence as he vowed actions to counter China’s aggressive behavior in the West Philippine Sea. 'We seek no conflict with any nation, more so nations that purport and claim to be our friends but we will not be cowed into silence, submission, or subservience. Filipinos do not yield,' Marcos said"
The pansit canton of the Filipino brand “Lucky Me” is very popular amongst Koreans, and yet, you wouldn't see them officially exported to South Korea.
The only way for Koreans in South Korea to buy it is in Filipino stores, where they're allowed by South Korean customs to bring a lot of the said pansit.
Pansit, or pancit, is the Filipino word for “noodles” in general.
What is called as “ramyeon“ in Korea is called “instant pansit” in the Philippines, similar to how the Japanese use “instant ramen”.
(And this is why you'll hear Filipinos say “instant ramyeon” because most are not aware that “ramyeon” itself already means “instant noodles”.)
PS. “Noodles” is also commonly understood in the country as noodles with soup.
The southern section of the National Capital Region (#NCR) is seen to experience a 42 degrees Celsius heat index, according to #Pagasa’s weather station in #PasayCity.
The danger category is just before the “extreme danger” which is the highest category of #HeatIndex level, referring to temperatures of 52 degrees Celcius and beyond. #Philippines#AngInit
So my mom's #Metrobank#emails of her statement of accounts doesn't have any attached PDFs containing the SOA for her #creditcard... Anyone else experiencing the same issue where their received SOA #email don't have the expected #attachment for some reason? Did Metrobank just deprecate that reliable medium of delivering its SOAs without us knowing? 🤔
So my mom's #Metrobank#emails of her statement of accounts doesn't have any attached PDFs containing the SOA for her #creditcard... Anyone else experiencing the same issue where their received SOA #email don't have the expected #attachment for some reason? Did Metrobank just deprecate that reliable medium of delivering its SOAs without us knowing? 🤔
You can now hire a driver to DriveYourCar on th Grab app. "This innovative offering allows customers to hire a professional driver to navigate their own vehicle through the city."