I first visited the Philippines when I was 29. I thought I would feel at home there, but I felt more out of place than I did in the U.S. I discovered I was more American than Filipino. It was shattering because I never felt quite at home in the U.S., either.
Alex Tizon
I'm fascinated by the Philippines because I'm from here. I was born here. I'm a Filipino.
apl.de.ap
I believe that there are many talented Filipinos and their talent is great and globally competitive, just waiting to be tapped. I don't want such great talent to be wasted.
I've started my own record label - Jeepney Music - and I want to put out my own stuff and also stuff by other Filipino artists.
I have introduced Filipino culture to the world.
If there's a Filipino flag waving, will.i.am whispers to me, 'Filipinos are over there!' And then I wave towards that direction.
Filipinos are naturally creative and artistic.
In every Filipino family, the children always want to help the parents… that was my goal.
It is very important for me to give forward in helping out every Filipino.
I want to encourage Filipino artists to be original, write your own songs and don't be afraid to go outside the box and try new things.
Tourism is a crucial industry that could employ millions of Filipinos, skilled and unskilled alike, cross those 7,107 islands of the Philippines. From the current projection of 3.3 million tourist arrivals in 2010, our aim is to eventually attract 6 million tourists. In the process, we expect to create 3 million jobs in the next six years.
Benigno Aquino III
My administration's compact with the Filipino people will demand no less than the attainment of lasting peace and equitable prosperity. We will employ all the tools at our disposal to achieve this.
When my father returned home on the twenty-first of August 1983, he had a speech prepared. Filipinos never got to hear it, because he was murdered right on the tarmac.
My parents were the traditional Filipino parents who didn't talk about money around the dinner table.
Bo Sanchez
For a lot of people, music is about the show, the lights, and all that. With Filipino music fans, they genuinely listen to songs.
Calum Scott
My mother is black and my father is Filipino. I got the best of both worlds.
Cassie Ventura
I just feel like a Filipina, a Filipino woman, and it just so happens that when I was growing up, I was very much an Australian, and I think you can be both.
Catriona Gray
We Filipinos bond over food, music, dance, and shares stories. And to Filipinos, no matter who you are and where you come from, you always have an invitation to celebration.
There is that whole realization that I'm not just speaking to Filipinos anymore: I'm speaking to a global audience.
Us Filipinos love Christmas so much that we have the longest Christmas season in the world.
I'm really proud to be Filipino. Filipinos are really supportive, and I want to thank all of them. I love them!
My mom is Filipino and my dad is half Russian and half Irish.
We want to uplift the culture of Filipino - our respect to our elders, how we pray before we eat and sleep. These are things the younger generations tend to forget because of our exposure to other cultures.
I have not met a Filipino actor who didn't dream of working on an 'FPJ' remake.
We Filipinos have to exercise the necessary pressure on Marcos. But it would certainly help our cause if the Americans would stop supporting Mr. Marcos.
And, of course, in the Philippines there were so many thousands of Americans that were captured by the Japanese and held and who were rescued by Filipino Americans, or Filipinos I should say, and by U.S. troops near the close of the war.
Depictions of race have changed so much since, like, the '50s, where white people just played every race. But the pendulum swings both ways: I'm Filipino-American. If I had to wait for a Filipino role to come out to get work, I couldn't eat. There are barely any roles out there.
My grandfather was a survivor of the Death March and his war buddies were among our neighbors. Where we lived in San Francisco, there was a cultural center where the Filipinos congregate to have parties and to celebrate Bataan Day.
The most fascinating thing for me is that 'Peter Pan' is a fairy tale, but now, this Filipino kid is a part of the folklore. Can you imagine telling the story of 'Sleeping Beauty' or 'Cinderella,' and all of a sudden there's a Filipino kid in there after all these years?
Being a Filipino actor in Hollywood, the most frustrating part of landing roles in Hollywood is definitely the limited roles available and the lack of diversity.
Oh first, let me tell you how amazed I am by the wealth of talents in the Philippines. I remember watching a lot of home videos about Filipino artists, and they are really very talented. That really motivated me to always do my best and to stay inspired.
This is the harsh truth about us: not only do Filipinos ignore books, literature - we do not understand how important the arts are - not just to those of us who work at it, but to the nation as a whole.
For decades, as literary editor, I have followed the growth of our creative writing in English. In my Solidaridad Bookshop, half of my stock consists of Filipino books written in English and in the native languages.
The ethnic differences among Filipinos are very real. The paucity of arable land, for instance, explains the industry of the Ilokanos and the Cebuanos.
These statements about torture, about alleged misuse of power and things like that, insulted the Filipinos more than their leader because it was made to appear as if Filipinos would tolerate a leader who would torture his own people, who would utilize his executive prerogatives for abuses.
Filipinos are not worse than any other colonized people except that our colonization was a little longer, and the independence movement was always dictated in political terms, never in social ones. We borrowed terms, but we didn't understand them.
I have been called brave in my time, but brave as I may have been against foreign invaders, I have no heart to shed Filipino blood.
My life has been devoted to the upliftment of the Filipino by reestablishing his identity and dignity.
Filipino talents and skills are becoming ubiquitous in many parts of the world. Returning Filipino workers have helped improve our skills and technological standards.
I'm half-Filipino and Filipinos love karaoke.
College education is the great Filipino dream. But in a world of rapid technological change, getting a job or keeping it depends as much on how well one reasons as how well one uses his hands.
Our educational system should make the Filipino fit not just for whatever jobs happen to be on offer today, but also for whatever economic challenge life will throw in their way.
By and large, our political system has betrayed its promise to each new generation of Filipinos, not a few of whom are voting with their feet, going abroad and leaving that system behind.
Filipino businessmen must have the ability to compete freely in the global economy.
I can't do everything alone. I need all Filipinos to unify.
As the leader of the nation, I say in behalf of the Filipino people to the world: we are strong and principled believers in democracy.
I ask the educational system, the parents, the church, and pillars of the community to help shape a new culture of honesty, patriotism, respect, discipline and service for young Filipinos.
Integrity is a very important and an almost indispensable virtue that all leaders must possess. This is especially true in the Philippine context because we Filipinos really respond to leadership by example.
Your aspiration is really for the country to be better. I think that's exactly what I've gone through - a Filipino who may live elsewhere but who cares just as much for the country.
Filipinos should need no longer kill fellow Filipinos. With peace, real progress can touch all corners of the country.
