Why the Philippines is the fun capital of Asia (an excerpt) by Wilson Lee Flores (Philippine Star)

"Why is it more fun in the Philippines? I can think of over 1,001 reasons why the people and isles here are great fun, but due to limited space of a newspaper column, here are just seven:

1. Unlike Malaysia, we are not only truly Asia in the Philippines, we’re very Asian as well as Latin! Our culture is a great tourist attraction. The Philippines is the only former Spanish colony in Asia for 333 years, thus we’re actually a unique “Latin-Asian” nation in the same way Argentina, or Venezuela are referred to as Latin-American nations.
By the way, Instituto Cervantes estimated that 25 percent of Tagalog words originated from the Spanish language. I hope government cleans up, re-develops and takes care of our unique former Spanish citadel Intramuros.
2. We’re the only former United States of America colony not only in Asia, but in the world, so that adds another totally unique and Hollywood twist to our culture and mores. English is our great asset in tourism, so I urge P-Noy to promote better English language education nationwide the way his nemesis GMA did during her term. We speak and still write the best English in Asia, that’s why we’re now ahead of India in call centers and BPOs, though India has over 10 times our population size! I sometimes bring foreign guests to the serene American military cemetery in the Fort Bonifacio area since it’s the largest of its kind in the world outside the US and has historic World War II naval battle map murals. Tourist spots Subic and Clark used to be the world’s biggest American naval and air force bases outside the US, too.

Patriots like the late historian Renato Constantino and Senator Claro M. Recto rightly lamented that many of our politicos often slavishly think and act like we’re the 51st state of the US, but I think our US cultural link is definitely a good tourist attraction!
3. The Chinese cultural and other elements of Philippine life are important tourist attractions too and our Chinese community can hopefully help woo the world’s fastest-growing market of affluent China tourists to vacation here the way they now flock to Paris, London, Singapore, Sydney, Hong Kong, Taipei, Macau and other places. Paging Mayor Alfredo Lim, please clean up Manila’s Chinatown as well as the Ermita, Malate, etc.
Although we have the smallest ethnic Chinese minority in Southeast Asia here in the Philippines in terms of our proportion to the national population — no more than two percent — we’ve been a vibrant part of the Filipino nation for over 1,000 years.
During the time of GMA, I suggested to civic leader Dante Go that he lobby for government to declare the annual Chinese lunar new year (this year it falls on Jan. 23, the auspicious “Year of the Dragon”) a holiday like the rest of Asia. Go got GMA to declare it a non-working holiday.
Thanks to Chinese mestizo P-Noy for being the first Philippine president to declare Chinese New Year a non-working holiday this year, this is a big morale boost to our ethnic Chinese minority that we’re accepted as part of the multi-cultural Filipino nation and hopefully it promotes more tourists, too.
4. The Philippines is the biggest and I believe also the most fervent Catholic nation in Asia, with Filipino Catholics actually more religious or pious than even our former colonizers in Spain! Just witness our colorful and amazing religious festivals called fiestas and traditions such as the awesome feast of the Black Nazarene in Manila’s Quiapo district.
5. Music is probably the best in the Philippines here in Asia. Everywhere I have travelled all over Asia, from the luxury hotels of Shanghai, Beijing to South Korea or Japan to their night places, I’ve seen and delightfully heard so many Filipino bands or singers performing.
I urge the government to invest more in the Cultural Center of the Philippines and other institutions to host bigger and grander musicals, concerts so that our Lea Salongas can perform here for the world instead of going to Broadway?
One place in Metro Manila tourists should see and hear is the historic and sublime Bamboo Organ Church of Las Piñas City near our airports.
6. Medical tourism is one field where the Philippines should be ahead, aside from the Dr. Vicki Belo-type cosmetic surgery tourism. Ex-First Lady Imelda Romualdez Marcos was right when she built and grandiosely named the Philippine Heart Center For Asia that way, because we have excellent doctors like my older cousin Dr. Dy Bun Yok who did a heart procedure on then-political prisoner Ninoy Aquino before the latter was allowed to fly to the US.
My older nephew’s Dr. Smile Clinic head Dr. Joseph Dy Lim, a former dental college dean of Lucio Tan’s University of the East and now Henry Sy’s National University dental college dean, said we have great dentists and dental education here in the Philippines. He showed me many Iranian and other foreign students studying dentistry here. But more than good doctors and dentists, the whole world recognizes and in fact employs our friendly and good-service nurses as well as caregivers!
7. More than our fantastic beaches, isles and huge festive malls, the Philippine sub-tropical climate is one competitive advantage that SM/BDO founder Henry Sy told me was a big plus for our tourism. Sy pointed out that summers in Thailand are too hot compared to ours here. Our climate here is fantastic, never too cold or too hot. Is that also one reason we are reputed to be among the happiest and sunny nations on earth?"

Taken from: Will Soon Flourish Column by Wilson Lee Flores, Philippine Star 

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