Pilipinas is where I belong

Alvin Carpio | TFC News contributor 

I’m now in my final week in Bohol. I will have been here for a month, experimenting what life would be like living on a “paradise” island, with white-sand beaches, clear waters, beautiful corals with stunning fish, idyllic sunsets, 5-star resorts, relaxed holiday vibes, tasty food, and proper chill spots. As this trial comes to an end, I feel the following:● Paradise to me is being with loved ones● Paradise is not a place, it is the freedom to do what you most desire● Paradise is being able to play football once a week, and do boxing training twice a week● Paradise is solitude.● Paradise is the absence of the need to seek or receive the love of strangers.Now that I am away from the place I was born and raised, where I built my career, the place where I have the most social capital in the world, where I lived life, I have noticed a few things:<div class='embed-wrap'><figure data-feedback='fb:likes,fb:comments'><img alt='1' src='https://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2023/tfc/11/29/unnamed.jpg' ><figcaption>Alvin Carpio</figcaption></figure></div>● When you leave a place, those who are meaningful and crucial at this stage of life become clearer.● When you leave a place, many will stop speaking with you.● When you leave a place, I have seen the dependencies of relationships: the people in your life that reach out to you, only to not be lonely, to have someone to be with when they want to drink, not be seen by themselves, to unload their traumas onto you.● When you leave a place, I know what is important and what is not, to me I have decided to build a life in the Philippines.My hope is that, if I am lucky to live to the age of 70, that I can spend the second half of this life in the Philippines, the place I visited every year or two to see family, the place my family in London called “home”, where I believe I now belong, and might always have had. I have noticed a few things:● Since I have moved here, I noticed that the relationships I have with people who I previously visited for short-stays is different● Since I have moved here, I now know, not assume, in a different way, how unequal the world is● Since I have moved here, I now know that the love of whiteness is deeply embedded, 125 years after the end of Spanish colonialism (why are all angels in the Philippines white?)● Since I have moved here, I now know the privilege Global North people have when moving to the Global South. This is the difference between the “immigrant” and the “expat”.Throughout life, I have had this constant urge to change things. Upon deep digging into my soul and reflection on my spiritual, this I know is due to the childhood trauma I faced. When my dad died when I was nine years old, I internalised a belief that the world was ugly, so I did what I could do to change it, from rebelling to campaigning.● If I could change things, I would instil pride amongst our young Filipinos: you are worthy, valuable, strong, your dark brown skin is beautiful, you are all you need to be, you do not need to be not Filipino to be seen in this world.● If I could change things, I would want the Philippine-nation to kick-start a period of rehabilitation, then construction, then acceleration, then power.● If I could change things, I would campaign for those in power to transform industry, agriculture, science and technology, defence, and culture, for our new world.● If I could change things, I call for all Filipinos born abroad to return to Pilipinas.● If I could change things, I would call for us to understand why it is many Filipina women seek white men to marry, and why white men go to Asia to find wives.● If I could change things, I would call for us Filipino men to stand strong, and represent, and be our best selves, for ourselves, for our families, our communities, and our fellow Filipinos.● If I could change things, I would end child labour in the Philippines. Tourists might think that 5 year old and 7 year old singing to you at your 8pm moonlit beachside dinner at your luxury resort is cute. It ain’t. Those kids should be children, doing kid things.Not working after sunset to entertain you and your social media followers. And to their parents, there’s no excuse. Our children are not servants of labour. Our children are not means to earn pesos.● If I could change things, I would stop our economy being dependent on exporting service labour. We should educate, develop, and train our people to be leaders and owners.● If I could change things, I would end the practice of sending our women to be slaves and servants in rich people’s homes. I would end human trafficking.● If I could change things, I would end the monopolies of the handful of families who own and run most industries in the Philippines, which reduces the ability for new entrepreneurs to come up, reducing innovation, and reducing the pathways for shared growth amongst more than just a small group of people with particular surnames.● If I could change things, I would encourage and support Filipinos abroad to build power through business, politics, media, art, government.● If I could change things, I would change the name of our nation: We are no longer owned by the Spanish; we should not be named after King Philip II of Spain. These are Great Islands of Great People. Shakespeare was wrong: Names do matter.● If I could change things, I would allow Filipinos abroad to be able to get passports, not only if one of their parents had a Filipino passport at the time: also if they have Filipino blood. We are Filipino not by citizenship, we are Filipino by heritage.● If I could change things, I would be in a world where, if/when I have children, they will be proud of being Filipino, love themselves as Filipinos, and fight for the Filipino. Right now, I cannot change much, as I do not have much power. Though, all things start with an idea.Then with action. Then with support. Then with people power. Then with pressure and tension. Then with a climax. Then change comes. In my life, I have never felt fully at home in England.Even though I was born and raised there. It is a violent, racist country. Whatever the sporting associations say, we truly do not belong.The English nation is set up for the English. Immigrants are brought in to serve the nation. There is a feigned acceptance of others.But where you’re really from, isn’t really there. We belong back home. So to home we must return. I have experienced a peace here which I have not experienced living in England.When I returned this summer, I immediately felt my body tense. I noticed how Plaistow never changed, and accepted that it would always be a poor place with poor folk, crime-ridden, with young people killing each other.No matter who was in power, things never changed after 3.5 decades living there. There is always a threat of violence, the air tastes of racism, the rich of Kensington avoid and look down upon the people’s of Newham.I became fed up of being the brown kid from ends. I became fed up of adapting my voice from hood to good. I became fed up with the mental cage that growing up and being in and staying a place like Plaistow imprisons you with.Now, in the Philippines, I speak Tagalog. Well, I try my best to, lol. And here in Bohol, I practice speaking Korean, as the majority of tourists in Alona Beach, Panglao, and the business owners, are Korean.I meet people from China, from Hong Kong, from Japan. I meet my fellow Asians every day. There is much to discover here.A flight to Hong Kong is what a flight to Paris costs. Rather than learning Greek, Spanish, and German, I can learn Chinese, Japanese, and Bisaya.Rather than touristing in Lisboa or Copenhagen, I can tourist in Ho Chi Minh City or Kuala Lumpur. I do fear the threat of China.Already I am considering emergency plans in case China invades. Only a few days ago, Filipino and Chinese ships clashed in the disputed seas, and only a few days ago did a Chinese aircraft come within 10m of an American bomber.Only a few days ago did President Biden say the 1952 treaty would come into effect if China invades the Philippines, which would be a declaration of war with the United States of America.Being in a place which does not have the military or navy might of a former colonial power brings a different fear and understanding of your place in the world. Would I stay and fight a war here if I had to?I do not know. I have never had to answer that question. I didn’t think I’d write this much. It is now 11:53 on Monday 30 October 2023.I will now come to some concluding remarks. I started with noting that this is my final week in Bohol. It has been splendid. I do look forward to going back to Manila. To be where the heartbeat of the Philippines is, where book stores are, where intellectual thought and international action happens, where I can be with Tiger, and where I can meet new people who make stuff happen, and where I can spend time with my family and loved ones. Right now, Pilipinas is where I belong.Let’s see what life has to say about that.12:01This article was written by British-Filipino Alvin Carpio on Monday 30th October, 2023; Overgrown Cafe, Panglao, Bohol, Philippines.

● Paradise is solitude.● Paradise is the absence of the need to seek or receive the love of strangers.Now that I am away from the place I was born and raised, where I built my career, the place where I have the most social capital in the world, where I lived life, I have noticed a few things:<div class='embed-wrap'><figure data-feedback='fb:likes,fb:comments'><img alt='1' src='https://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2023/tfc/11/29/unnamed.jpg' ><figcaption>Alvin Carpio</figcaption></figure></div>● When you leave a place, those who are meaningful and crucial at this stage of life become clearer.● When you leave a place, many will stop speaking with you.● When you leave a place, I have seen the dependencies of relationships: the people in your life that reach out to you, only to not be lonely, to have someone to be with when they want to drink, not be seen by themselves, to unload their traumas onto you.● When you leave a place, I know what is important and what is not, to me I have decided to build a life in the Philippines.My hope is that, if I am lucky to live to the age of 70, that I can spend the second half of this life in the Philippines, the place I visited every year or two to see family, the place my family in London called “home”, where I believe I now belong, and might always have had. I have noticed a few things:● Since I have moved here, I noticed that the relationships I have with people who I previously visited for short-stays is different● Since I have moved here, I now know, not assume, in a different way, how unequal the world is● Since I have moved here, I now know that the love of whiteness is deeply embedded, 125 years after the end of Spanish colonialism (why are all angels in the Philippines white?)● Since I have moved here, I now know the privilege Global North people have when moving to the Global South. This is the difference between the “immigrant” and the “expat”.Throughout life, I have had this constant urge to change things. Upon deep digging into my soul and reflection on my spiritual, this I know is due to the childhood trauma I faced. When my dad died when I was nine years old, I internalised a belief that the world was ugly, so I did what I could do to change it, from rebelling to campaigning.● If I could change things, I would instil pride amongst our young Filipinos: you are worthy, valuable, strong, your dark brown skin is beautiful, you are all you need to be, you do not need to be not Filipino to be seen in this world.● If I could change things, I would want the Philippine-nation to kick-start a period of rehabilitation, then construction, then acceleration, then power.● If I could change things, I would campaign for those in power to transform industry, agriculture, science and technology, defence, and culture, for our new world.● If I could change things, I call for all Filipinos born abroad to return to Pilipinas.● If I could change things, I would call for us to understand why it is many Filipina women seek white men to marry, and why white men go to Asia to find wives.● If I could change things, I would call for us Filipino men to stand strong, and represent, and be our best selves, for ourselves, for our families, our communities, and our fellow Filipinos.● If I could change things, I would end child labour in the Philippines. Tourists might think that 5 year old and 7 year old singing to you at your 8pm moonlit beachside dinner at your luxury resort is cute. It ain’t. Those kids should be children, doing kid things.Not working after sunset to entertain you and your social media followers. And to their parents, there’s no excuse. Our children are not servants of labour. Our children are not means to earn pesos.● If I could change things, I would stop our economy being dependent on exporting service labour. We should educate, develop, and train our people to be leaders and owners.● If I could change things, I would end the practice of sending our women to be slaves and servants in rich people’s homes. I would end human trafficking.● If I could change things, I would end the monopolies of the handful of families who own and run most industries in the Philippines, which reduces the ability for new entrepreneurs to come up, reducing innovation, and reducing the pathways for shared growth amongst more than just a small group of people with particular surnames.● If I could change things, I would encourage and support Filipinos abroad to build power through business, politics, media, art, government.● If I could change things, I would change the name of our nation: We are no longer owned by the Spanish; we should not be named after King Philip II of Spain. These are Great Islands of Great People. Shakespeare was wrong: Names do matter.● If I could change things, I would allow Filipinos abroad to be able to get passports, not only if one of their parents had a Filipino passport at the time: also if they have Filipino blood. We are Filipino not by citizenship, we are Filipino by heritage.● If I could change things, I would be in a world where, if/when I have children, they will be proud of being Filipino, love themselves as Filipinos, and fight for the Filipino. Right now, I cannot change much, as I do not have much power. Though, all things start with an idea.Then with action. Then with support. Then with people power. Then with pressure and tension. Then with a climax. Then change comes. In my life, I have never felt fully at home in England.Even though I was born and raised there. It is a violent, racist country. Whatever the sporting associations say, we truly do not belong.The English nation is set up for the English. Immigrants are brought in to serve the nation. There is a feigned acceptance of others.But where you’re really from, isn’t really there. We belong back home. So to home we must return. I have experienced a peace here which I have not experienced living in England.When I returned this summer, I immediately felt my body tense. I noticed how Plaistow never changed, and accepted that it would always be a poor place with poor folk, crime-ridden, with young people killing each other.No matter who was in power, things never changed after 3.5 decades living there. There is always a threat of violence, the air tastes of racism, the rich of Kensington avoid and look down upon the people’s of Newham.I became fed up of being the brown kid from ends. I became fed up of adapting my voice from hood to good. I became fed up with the mental cage that growing up and being in and staying a place like Plaistow imprisons you with.Now, in the Philippines, I speak Tagalog. Well, I try my best to, lol. And here in Bohol, I practice speaking Korean, as the majority of tourists in Alona Beach, Panglao, and the business owners, are Korean.I meet people from China, from Hong Kong, from Japan. I meet my fellow Asians every day. There is much to discover here.A flight to Hong Kong is what a flight to Paris costs. Rather than learning Greek, Spanish, and German, I can learn Chinese, Japanese, and Bisaya.Rather than touristing in Lisboa or Copenhagen, I can tourist in Ho Chi Minh City or Kuala Lumpur. I do fear the threat of China.Already I am considering emergency plans in case China invades. Only a few days ago, Filipino and Chinese ships clashed in the disputed seas, and only a few days ago did a Chinese aircraft come within 10m of an American bomber.Only a few days ago did President Biden say the 1952 treaty would come into effect if China invades the Philippines, which would be a declaration of war with the United States of America.Being in a place which does not have the military or navy might of a former colonial power brings a different fear and understanding of your place in the world. Would I stay and fight a war here if I had to?I do not know. I have never had to answer that question. I didn’t think I’d write this much. It is now 11:53 on Monday 30 October 2023.I will now come to some concluding remarks. I started with noting that this is my final week in Bohol. It has been splendid. I do look forward to going back to Manila. To be where the heartbeat of the Philippines is, where book stores are, where intellectual thought and international action happens, where I can be with Tiger, and where I can meet new people who make stuff happen, and where I can spend time with my family and loved ones. Right now, Pilipinas is where I belong.Let’s see what life has to say about that.12:01This article was written by British-Filipino Alvin Carpio on Monday 30th October, 2023; Overgrown Cafe, Panglao, Bohol, Philippines.

● Paradise is not a place, it is the freedom to do what you most desire● Paradise is being able to play football once a week, and do boxing training twice a week

I’m now in my final week in Bohol. I will have been here for a month, experimenting what life would be like living on a “paradise” island, with white-sand beaches, clear waters, beautiful corals with stunning fish, idyllic sunsets, 5-star resorts, relaxed holiday vibes, tasty food, and proper chill spots. As this trial comes to an end, I feel the following:● Paradise to me is being with loved ones

I’m now in my final week in Bohol. I will have been here for a month, experimenting what life would be like living on a “paradise” island, with white-sand beaches, clear waters, beautiful corals with stunning fish, idyllic sunsets, 5-star resorts, relaxed holiday vibes, tasty food, and proper chill spots.

Pilipinas is where I belong | ABS-CBN News

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Pilipinas is where I belong

Pilipinas is where I belong