KAMAKURA, Japan – Our day trips (from Tokyo) or week-long stays in the city of Kamakura, Kanagawa Prefecture, always include a visit to the Hasedera (Hase Temple).

It is a five-minute walk from the Hase Station of the Enoden Line and, three to five minutes further, a neighbor of the Kotou-in, the Buddhist temple that’s home to the 43.8-foot Great Buddha (Daibutsu). If this were the Philippines, the temples were in the same barangay (village) as my most recent guesthouse.

Kamakura’s Hasedera (not to be confused with the Hasedera in Nara Prefecture) is almost 1,300 years old. If you’re not into religion or history, then you still go to Hasedera to experience the spirituality of communing with nature.

Sitting on the slope of a hill overlooking the Sagami Bay, Hasedera is pure beauty. It has several gardens, which you discover as you climb up stairs made of stone here and there until you reach the top. In our latest visit, we lingered only in the gardens at the base of the hill. (You’ll need stamina going up – and I had that in past summers when I came here.)

Some people call Hasedera the “Temple of Flowers” because various species bloom on its grounds throughout the year. There’s not a single month when its gardens aren’t full of colors.

Flower viewing is, in fact, a main attraction at Hasedera, aside from seeing one of Japan’s tallest wooden Kannon statues, a museum, a library, a prayer and offering cave, Jizo statues, and two National Treasures: the Temple Bell and the Hanging Buddha Image.

In winter – like when we visited recently – “ume” (plum) blossoms are at their peak. White, pink, deep pink, red, “weeping” — all the varieties you can think of.

And here and there are sprinkles of suisen (daffodils), soshin-robai (wintersweets), ohbai (firefly flowers), kobai (Japanese apricot), and fukujudo (amur peasant’s eye).

In mid-February, you catch some kawazuzakura (a type of cherry blossoms), signaling that winter will soon be giving way to spring.

And the flower cycle at Hasedera continues.

– Rappler.com

Hasedera charges entrance fees of ¥400 JPY for adults and ¥200 for children 6-11 years old. The complete guide to the flowers that bloom each month is here.

After losing badly in the 2022 presidential elections, actor-politician Isko Moreno goes through another loss after the Jalosjos family axed its noon show, Tahanang Pinakamasaya (Home of the Happiest), where he was the lead host along with actor Paolo Contis. 

The show aired its last episode on Saturday, March 2, after TAPE failed to turn things around for its noon show following the loss of showbiz veterans Tito Sotto, Vic Sotto, and Joey de Leon in May 2023. 

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Moreno and Contis were taken in as the lead replacements for the three veteran comedians, and they bore the brunt of the flak from fans of Eat Bulaga, who saw them as no different from strikebreakers, or in Filipino, mga eskirol. 

Moreno and Contis took on the near-impossible task of making people happy more than how TVJ and Vice Ganda are able to do it in the competing shows, E.A.T. Bulaga on TV5, and on ABS-CBN’s It’s Showtime now shown also on GMA Network’s free TV channel GTV.

I say near-impossible because Moreno isn’t really a comic.

Although he was mentored by the late showman, German “Kuya Germs” Moreno, he really can’t make people laugh the way Vic Sotto, Joey de Leon, and Vice Ganda are able to. Just from his looks alone, Moreno already has a disadvantage.

Comedians who have imperfections have an edge over those who are guwapo (handsome) or maganda (beautiful) because the latter can always make fun of their looks. Vice Ganda, for instance, occasionally makes light of what he says is his resemblance to a horse. Compare the late Comedy King Dolphy’s funny face to Moreno’s and you’ll get the point. 

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Since appearing on Tahanang Pinakamasaya in June 2023, Moreno was the giver of cash and prizes to the poor, akin to what Willie Revillame often did on his now-defunct show, Wowowin. In one of the early episodes after he was brought in, he bought all the banana cue that a vendor was selling.

A giver of aid is unlike a natural comedian. The former gives cash and makes one person happy, the latter delivers laughs and makes everybody happy.

None of the co-hosts of Tahanang Pinakamasaya could match the comedic skills of Vic Sotto, Joey de Leon, and Vice Ganda. None of them could make viewers as “happy” as their competitors are doing, so I’m not surprised that Tahanang Pinakamasaya ratings couldn’t keep up with E.A.T. Bulaga and It’s Showtime.

Standing up after falling

While this turn of events may seem to be a setback for Moreno, take a look at how he takes it right after the show last Saturday.

A 10-minute video of what happened backstage after Tahanang Pinakamasaya’s last episode in the APT Studio in Cainta, Rizal was uploaded on Monday, March 4.

Watch what Moreno does after closing the show, in this video below starting from 1 minute 10 seconds. He steps onto a ledge and speaks before the live audience while other people start crying and some production crew begin embracing and comforting other people. He stands there for less than a minute, speaks (no audio on this video), turns after giving a message, pats his co-hosts on the back, goes down the stairs, and leaves the studio. Not a teardrop.

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Those who don’t know Moreno would probably just dismiss this backstage action. 

Not me. There’s something we can all learn from this episode in Yorme’s life: it’s about bouncing back from setbacks. 

Those who know Moreno would probably understand the significance of this incident. 

Unlike some politicians who claim to have gone through poverty before making it big, Moreno’s life of overcoming poverty is real. 

His father was a stevedore who worked in the pier in Manila, and his mother was a laundry woman. They lived in a slum community in Tondo. Below is a Rappler special report on Moreno’s life if you care to read: ISKO MORENO: From the slums of Tondo to Manila’a throne

His father only had work if there were ships, and there was often a queue of people who needed the job. Since they didn’t have enough money, they sometimes ate other people’s leftovers, also called pagpag.

“Di ba, yung mga mayayaman, balat lang. Minsan isang kagat lang. Kinukuha namin yun. Kasi nakasupot na itim yun, e, malinis naman yun. Tapos, piprito namin uli,” he was quoted as having said in an interview. 

(Some of the rich, they only eat the skin, sometimes they just take a bite. We get what’s left, it’s clean anyway. Then we fry it again.) 

In 1993, a talent manager spotted Moreno when he was just a teenager and he eventually became part of Kuya Germs’ That’s Entertainment show. The rest is history, as they say. 

Moreno would go on to become a successful actor, a three-term Manila city councilor and a three-term Manila vice mayor. He failed in his Senate bid in 2016, but went on to upset incumbent Mayor Joseph Estrada in the 2019 elections. His achievements as mayor of Manila became the foundation for a bid for the presidency in 2022.

READ: How Isko Moreno’s promising candidacy petered out

Moreno didn’t finish school, but in 2003, he got a business administration degree from the Makati-based International Academy of Management and Economics. Not content with this, he would go on to take leadership programs in Harvard and Oxford.

Now, what does Moreno say after Tahanang Pinakamasaya is axed? 

In a post on his Facebook page on Sunday, he says: “Ang buhay maraming pagsubok. Minsan kapag may nagsasarang pintuan, may nagbubukas na bintana…Sa bawat pagsubok sa buhay, minsan pinagtitibay lang tayo ‘yan. Dahil mayroon pa tayong kahaharapin na mas mabigat pagdating ng araw.”

(Life has many challenges. Sometimes, when a door closes, a window opens. In every challenge in life, sometimes it makes us stronger. Because we still have stronger challenges to face.)

Make no mistake about it, Moreno is made of sterner stuff. What happened to him and Tahanang Pinakamasaya is nothing compared to what he’s been through in life. 

Moreno is known for the way he plays with Filipino words, but his stories about how he overcame poverty are what resonate with many people. One that I recall is when he said that like wealth, poverty can also bring “inheritance” because inheriting poverty makes one stronger. 

These are lessons that many Filipinos can relate to because we face many difficulties in life – illness, poverty, man-made and natural disasters, injustice – oftentimes with little support except from family.

So, expect Moreno to easily bounce back from this minor setback. I’m sure he also finds comfort in the Japanese proverb “Nana korobi, ya oki” or “Fall down seven times, stand up eight.” – Rappler.com 

ALSO ON RAPPLER

• Rappler Talk: What went wrong in Isko Moreno campaign and how to fix it
• Why Michelle Dee is a perfect fit as Chinabank brand ambassador
• 18 stories of Filipinos overcoming poverty
• [OPINION] The persistence of blaming the poor
• WATCH: Maria Ressa at the University of the Cordilleras for ‘How to Stand Up to a Dictator’

Yup, assuming that staff is correct, a pickup truck isn’t a pickup if it has a canopy, even if it’s removable, and even if it’s from a company that has been installing canopies – also called camper shells – on pickups here in the Philippines for nearly 30 years. 

I even showed the staff the clamps that can be removed to prove that the canopy isn’t welded onto the back. But he wouldn’t budge; it’s still not a pickup. (If I had the time and the tools, I would have removed the canopy right there and then and the issue would have been put to rest, but I didn’t.)

I pushed the issue and asked why, and he told me it’s because the computer camera is going to see the canopy and detect that it’s not a pickup. 

Now how do you argue with a computer? 

So, realizing that I’ve been actually driving a sedan and not a pickup truck, I decided to go back home. 

Now, I checked issuances of the Land Transportation Office (LTO) on the definition of a pickup truck and this is what I found.  

The most relevant is Republic Act 4136 or An Act to Compile the Laws Relative to Land Transportation and Traffic Rules, to Create a Land Transportation Commission and for other Purposes that took effect in 1964.

Since this law took effect 60 years ago, it actually does not have the word pickup truck. It appears that pickup trucks were probably not yet widely used in the Philippines at that time. 

Article II on Definitions as used in this law has Section 3 (b) which says: “The distinction between ‘passenger truck’ and ‘passenger automobile’ shall be that of common usage.”  

I guess people 60 years ago were more intelligent than they are today so there was no need to be more specific. 

How smuggled ultraluxury Bugatti Chirons expose flaws in LTO

Another relevant provision is Section 7 on Registration Classification which has the following that applies to private vehicles: (a) private passenger automobiles; (b) private trucks; and (c) private motorcycles, scooters, or motor wheel attachments. 

“Motor vehicles registered under these classifications shall not be used for hire under any circumstances and shall not be used to solicit, accept, or be used to transport passengers or freight for pay,” it reads.

From my reading of this provision, my pickup truck would fall under “private trucks.” 

Since my problem is the canopy, another relevant provision is Article 4 on Accessories of Motor Vehicles, Section 34, which outlines following accessories: 

• a) Tires of motor vehicles
• b) Brakes
• b-1) Horns
• c) Headlights
• d) Taillights
• e) Stop lights
• f) Motorcycle and other vehicle lights
• g) Lights when parked or disabled
• h) Windshield wiper
• i) Use of red flag
• j) Mufflers

Unfortunately, nothing on canopies or camper shells. 

Modification and safety

A further search led me to why the issue of accessories is important: modification of a vehicle affects safety. This is why the Department of Transportation (DOTr) issued Department Order (DO) 2010-32 fourteen years ago.

Is adding a canopy on a pickup truck a modification that is allowed or not?

Section 5 of DO 2010-32 is on Guidelines and Requirements in the Reclassification and/or Registration of Modified Motor Vehicles. It states: “All modified motor vehicles either brand new or in-use may be subject of reclassification and registration subject to the following: 

“5.1: The modifications of the brake system, steering wheel assembly, air conditioning system, suspension and interior and exterior trimmings shall not be construed as a change in vehicle type classification.”

I’m not a lawyer but I would classify a canopy/camper shell as an exterior trimming, which means it does not change the type of a car, especially if it’s from a company that’s been putting them on cars for 28 years.

Under 5.2, the following modifications that involve safety and environment are NOT allowed: 

• Axle modification;
• Chassis modification;
• Extended chassis/body;
• Additional siding of dump trucks;
• Extended overhang;
• Change of rim size;
• Modification of handle bar and muffler; and
• Reconfiguration of body dimension and design.

Would a canopy/camper shell fall under “reconfiguration of body dimension and design?” Possibly. 

To make sure, I asked our transport beat reporter to check his source in the LTO if a pickup truck can be registered with its canopy/camper shell.

The reply? Yes, it can be registered with the canopy, there’s just an additional P100. 

There you have it. 

So, don’t let those guys at the emission center/motor vehicle inspection center fool you. Perhaps you know why I was told my pickup truck isn’t a pickup! – Rappler.com

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• What to know about LTO’s ‘no registration, no travel’ policy
• ‘Grand illegal scheme:’ License plate thefts hound LTO as 3 staff arrested
• LTO releases new renewal schedule for expired driver’s license

As many people now say that it wasn’t really a great act after all, what with poverty still widespread and thousands still leaving the country for better opportunities, perhaps it’s time for us to think big again, to dream big.

Two symbols of greatness come to mind that are related to what the Filipino people achieved in 1986, two pieces of Philippine architecture, engineering, and design. These are the tallest statues in the Philippines, and are among the tallest in the world: The Victor in Pasig City and The Mother of All Asia in Montemaria, Batangas. They are reminders that the Filipino can be among the best in the world – or even better.

The Victor

The Victor is a 55-meter art installation in Robinsons Land Corporation’s (RLC) Bridgetowne estate, which straddles both Quezon City and Pasig City. The Victor is on the Pasig side of the estate. It was designed by Filipino visual artist Jefre Manuel-Figueras. 

When I first saw this statue after it was launched in August 2023, I thought it was a structure that communist North Korea would come up with. It was colossal and looked like it was created by hard labor. But like many pieces of art, it’s only after you learn more about it that you come to appreciate it.

If you look at The Victor closely, especially from the back, its right arm, with fist clenched, appears to be moving up. As RLC says, “its all-conquering pose, with a raised fist thrust in the air, is meant to ignite and inspire.” For me, The Victor is saying, “we did it, we finally did it.”

From the front and side, the meaning of The Victor’s pose may not be apparent, but it’s clear when you look at it from the back, as in this photo below which I took.

The Victor was inspired by the rags-to-riches story of the late Filipino billionaire John Gokongwei. Many people now know the story of “Mr. John.” When he was only 13 years old, his father died, leaving him with the responsibility of taking care of his mother and his siblings. Like many of the street vendors we see today, Mr. John sold fried peanuts cooked in garlic. His dream was to be able to earn enough money so that he could bring back all his siblings from China and be a complete family in the Philippines.

When he died on November 10, 2019, he was among the richest Filipino billionaires. Today, Mr. John’s conglomerate is among the biggest in the Philippines employing over 70,000 people. Aside from RLC, the Gokongwei group includes the Philippines’ biggest budget airline, Cebu Pacific, food and beverage manufacturer Universal Robina Corporation, and petrochemical firm JG Summit Olefins Corporation.

But The Victor isn’t just about Mr. John, it’s also about “global Filipinos” who have done something important.

“The Victor also pays homage to trailblazing Global Filipinos who have made their mark and achieved greatness, both within and beyond their homeland. Whether they are celebrated legends revered icons, emerging talents, or everyday heroes, these individuals embody the tenacity to challenge the status quo, chart new territories, and ignite the flames of the winning spirit,” the company said in a press release when the statue was unveiled in 2023.

The Victor is faceless and nameless because it can be any one of us: a student who passes the UP College Entrance Test or a law student who tops the Bar exams; a Filipino who has finally been given a working visa in America; Filipino athletes like Hidilyn Diaz and EJ Obiena who have become the best in the world; Filipino scientists who get recognized for trailblazing research; a Filipino winning a Pulitzer; a Filipino co-sharing the Nobel Peace Prize.

Why did RLC make it a colossal statue? Why not make a lifesize statue of Mr. John?

Mybelle Aragon-GoBio, senior vice president and business unit general manager of RLC, said it would have been out of character. “Mr. John kasi hindi ganun eh (he wasn’t like that) they (the Gokongweis) don’t want to announce themselves,” she told Rappler. “We wanted something that was associated with the Philippines.”

She said artist Manuel-Figueras presented several options for the statue as well as its pose, such as this one below that looked like a standing mummy whose arm didn’t have the right angle they wanted.

There’s also another reason why The Victor is big: RLC wanted it to stand out in a vast 32-hectare estate and become iconic.

When Rappler visited the statue on February 15, construction workers were busy with its base. Including the platform, this privately built public art is 60 meters high or around 20 stories high.

The Victor weighs 330 tons or 660,000 pounds. At night, it is lit up for a few hours. RLC says The Victor is “vying to be one of the tallest art installations with lighting projection in the world.” 

The Victor is made of perforated stainless steel, which means it’s not fully solid. The perforations or holes are meant to let the wind pass through, which helps it withstand strong winds. 

According to RLC, The Victor, minus the base, is taller than the 48-meter-high Statue of Liberty in Liberty Island, in New York, USA. Including the Statue of Liberty’s platform, however, the American monument is taller at 92.9 meters.

The Victor is a symbol of the Filipino dreaming big, of being among the best in the world.

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Mother of All Asia Tower of Peace

The People Power revolution would not have succeeded were it not for the clergy, the brave priests, nuns, and church workers who stood up against tanks and called on the people to join the uprising.

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Aside from the Shrine of Mary, Queen of Peace or the EDSA Shrine, there is a Philippine landmark that symbolizes the role of the Catholic Church in the uprising and of Filipino greatness – the Mother of All Asia Tower of Peace in Barangay Pagkilatan, Montemaria, Batangas.

At 63 meters, it’s the tallest statue in the Philippines and the tallest statue of the Virgin Mary on earth. Including its base, the whole structure is 98.15 meters.  

According to its official website, The Mother of All Asia Tower of Peace is even taller than Brazil’s iconic Statue of Christ the Redeemer in Rio de Janeiro, which stands at 30 meters high or 38 meters, including its base. 

The Mother of All Asia’s height is roughly the same as a 33-story building, and people can go inside the structure. 

“A person has to climb a total of 420 steps from the ground level to reach the crown but that is if the person opted not to use any of the 3 elevators inside the monument,” reads a description of the structure by its proponent, the non-profit organization, Montemaria Asia Pilgrims Incorporated (MAPI).

“It is also the only livable statue in the world with a gross floor area of 12,000 square meters or 1.2 hectares, more or less. The crown has 12 stars that represents the 12 apostles of Jesus Christ,” MAPI adds. Masses are held inside the structure. 

It was commissioned to the late national artist Ed Castrillo, the same sculptor behind the People Power Monument on EDSA, Quezon City.

Castrillo started working on The Mother of All Asia in 2008. The whole monument is dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary and was completed in 2021 in time for the celebration of 500 years of Christianity in the Philippines. 

The name “Mother of All Asia” is taken from a prayer of Pope Benedict in 2017 to Our Lady of Sheshan, Mother of the Church in China and All Asia, its website adds. It is a “symbol of unity and peace in Asia and the whole world.” 

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The Mother of All Asia statue surpasses the 46.7-meter Monumento a la Virgen de la Paz or Statue of Our Lady of Peace in Trujillo, Venezuela as the world’s tallest statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary. 

GCatholic.org, a non-profit website on information about the Catholic Church worldwide, lists The Mother of All Asia as the tallest statue of the Virgin Mary. The Philippines has two on the list – the other is the 21.6-meter Statue of Our Lady Regina Rosarii in Tanay, Rizal. 

The Mother of All Asia Tower of Peace is in an eight-hectare tourism destination project of MAPI. The Montemaria International Pilgrimage and Conference Center is a “faith-based tourism destination and a legacy project” of Batangas Governor Hermilando “Dodo” Mandanas, founding chairman of MAPI. 

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A listing on Wikipedia on The World’s Tallest Statues (cement and/or steel) that are at least 50 meters has the Mother of All Asia Tower of Peace as the 7th of the 49 structures on the list, and The Victor as 42nd. The list could not be independently verified, however.

Although our problems as a nation often dwarf our achievements, in times like the People Power anniversary, it’s good to think about the great things that Filipinos have accomplished, as well as the many things we can do as a people – only if we dream big. – Rappler.com

ALSO ON RAPLER

• In 1986, the Philippines’ People Power was world’s bright spot
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• Healing priest Fernando Suarez dies at 52
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• Durian-inspired museum soon to open in Davao City
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It’s a community park in Tsurumi City that would be the subject of your envy as a Filipino whose cities lack public spaces.

Mitsuike Park is 300,000 square meters big, sitting right in the middle of residential and school areas. It has three large ponds, a baseball field, jogging paths, and benches.

People come here to walk their dogs, jog, take a stroll, or just wait for the sunset. Parents take their toddlers here for some fresh air, and high school students hang out for sports activities. It’s open 24/7, and you can enter for free.

Of course, there are lots and lots of trees, among them some 1,600 cherry trees of 78 species. And they were the reason we checked out the park.

Every year in mid-February, as winter winds down, cherry trees already start blooming here. That’s more than a month earlier than most parts of Japan.

We spotted a few trees. Residents say the kanzakura variety is usually the first to bloom in February. That’s why these cherry blossoms are sometimes called winter sakura.

In spring, Mitsuike Park is considered one of Japan’s top 100 hanami or sakura-viewing spots. Check out photos posted by local tourism sites here and here, and you’ll get an idea why.

I can imagine all these trees soon covered in pink and white blossoms in March and April! And it will be heavenly! – Rappler.com

Michelle is no stranger to the bank. Her grandfather, Dee K. Chiong, was once chairman of the bank in its early years. He helped rebuild and grow the bank after World War 2 to make it one of the largest in the country. It’s now led by the family of the late Henry Sy, founder of Shoe Mart or what is now known as the SM group of companies.

WATCH: Michelle Dee’s family tree, as explained by a Filipino genealogist

With this connection, Chinabank could have made Michelle its ambassador when she was already a famous model in 2016. She is the daughter of Miss International 1979 Melanie Marquez with film actor-producer Derek Dee.

They could have made Michelle brand ambassador after she won Miss World Philippines in September 2019 but they did not.

Chinabank could have named her brand ambassador after finishing in the top 12 in the Miss World pageant in London in December 2019. She lost, but she persisted.

In 2022, Michelle joined the Miss Universe Philippines in 2022 and finished 2nd in a pageant won by Celeste Cortesi.

Just like Miss Universe 2015 Pia Wurtzbach, she would try again, and the following year, she finally won Miss Universe Philippines 2023. 

Chinabank could have chosen her brand ambassador right after that, but did not. 

In the Miss Universe 2023 competition in El Salvador, Michelle gave it her all and finished in the Top 10. 

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Despite not winning Miss Universe, the Department of Tourism (DOT) chose her as a tourism ambassador. 

“Thank you for the honor that you have bestowed upon all Filipinos by carrying the flag of the Philippines so excellently and by declaring to the world your love for the Philippines and reminding the world of the many reasons to love the Philippines,” Tourism Secretary Christina Frasco told Michelle on December 1, 2023.

The government beat Chinabank to the draw. 

It took Chinabank two and a half months before bestowing on Michelle the corporate brand ambassadorship. 

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Why did it take at least seven years for Chinabank since Michelle became famous to tap her as brand ambassador?

My educated guess is she had to earn it. 

After Chinabank’s announcement, Michelle said: “To be their first brand ambassador in over a century is definitely something momentous – not just for me but for everything I stand for. Thank you for trusting me to share your vision as well and I’m so excited to embark on this journey with you! #Filipinas we have some very exciting projects coming out. Stay tuned.”

There’s an important word in her post that stands out: TRUST. She had to earn the trust of her lolo’s bank first. 

Being a brand ambassador is a difficult choice for many companies. Pick a wrong person and it can backfire on a company’s image. 

Choose a good one and it will help improve a company’s “brand equity” and promote its goals such as attracting more customers that improve a company’s top lines and bottom lines. 

What is brand equity? 

The website bigcommerce.com best defines it: “Brand equity is the name given to the value of a company’s brand. It’s a measure of overall consumer perceptions of any brand. Those perceptions get shaped by the customer experience that a brand offers.”  

Nowadays, a brand ambassador is often an “influencer,” one with many followers on social media. On Instagram, Michelle has 1.8 million followers. Many companies pay big money to these influencers. In the age of new media, these influencers play a more important role than the traditional tools used by companies to enhance brand equity, such as television and radio advertisements. 

Up to P1.5 billion spent on online political influencers for 2022 PH elections – study

Now, why is Michelle a good fit for Chinabank? 

Chinabank’s owners probably saw what most people have seen in Michelle: a woman who has worked hard in her craft as model, beauty queen, and as representative of the Philippines; a woman who did not let failure crush her but instead persisted; a woman who has taken up good causes such as helping children with autism; a woman who represents and fights for the rights of the minority LGBT community.

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Last December, the Federation of Filipino-Chinese Chambers of Commerce and Industry recognized her for bringing “immense pride” to the Chinese-Filipino community.

What are the “core values” of Chinabank? 

According to the bank’s website, these are: integrity, high performance standards, commitment to quality, concern for people, customer service focus, resourcefulness/initative, efficiency. 

Chinabank started in Binondo, Manila in August 1920. With P1.4 trillion in assets as of September 2023, Chinabank is now the Philippines’ fifth largest bank behind BDO Unibank Incorporated, Land Bank of the Philippines, Metropolitan Bank and Trust Company, and Bank of the Philippines Islands. 

It provides banking services and products to corporate, commercial, and retail customers. It has 643 branches and over 1,000 ATMs. Its subsidiaries are Chinabank Capital, Chinabank Securities, Chinabank Insurance Brokers, and Manulife Chinabank Life. 

Corporate governance

In the past few years, Chinabank has been proud of what it has accomplished in a field that is often not mentioned when people talk about a company’s achievements: corporate governance. 

In September 2023, the Institute of Corporate Directors (ICD) gave Chinabank its second “Five-Golden Arrow Award.” This is the highest recognition given by the independent, nonprofit group to publicly listed companies and insurance firms in the Philippines that “excel in corporate governance.”

The Golden Arrow, according to a Chinabank press statement, seeks to “raise the Philippines’ corporate governance standards and practices to make well-governed Philippine publicly listed companies and insurance companies attractive to investors.” 

It is bestowed on companies that score at least 80 points on a corporate governance scorecard. To score high, a company must pursue the “rights and equitable treatment of shareholders,” and “disclosure and transparency.” Chinabank scored between 120 to 130 points. It has been among the top 3 banks in the Philippines in terms of good corporate governance. 

“This recognition is a testament to Chinabank’s beyond-compliance approach to corporate governance and unwavering commitment to do what is right and to do right by our stakeholders,” said Chinabank chief finance officer Patrick Cheng at the ceremony in September 2023.

Reading Chinabank’s “core values,” it’s easy to see why Michelle is a perfect fit as brand ambassador. She has strived for continuous improvement in what she does so she can be among the best; she has shown high regard for people’s needs and welfare such as children with autism; she has repeatedly told the Filipino people that she tried to satisfy what they want, which is to do well in international beauty pageants; she has shown resourcefulness and initiative; and, she has shown efficiency.

Recapping what she did in 2023, she said in a caption with Vince Myers’ song “I Did It All” as background, “Hard work pays off.”

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It’s rare for children of successful beauty queens to upstage their mother, but Michelle has been able to do it. I’ve listened to several of her television interviews since she almost won Miss Universe 2023, and she’s given the right answers to most questions thrown at her. 

In several ways, Michelle is like her mother. Aside from the obvious commonalities – beauty, height – they both project authenticity. She probably learned this from her mother as she was growing up. Melanie is known for giving some funny answers thrown at her (e.g. “Don’t judge my brother [Joey Marquez], he is not a book” or  “Why should I have a calling card? I’m not a call girl!”) but she was never afraid to answer them. She was – and still is – truthful. 

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One thing I learned from working in a broadcast company for 11 years is that television is a cruel medium. People can see if you’re not sincere or if you’re faking it. Like her mother, Michelle’s the real thing. “I am who I am,” she said when she came out as bisexual.

When she was a young model, she was known as the daughter of Melanie Marquez. Not anymore. She’s Michelle Dee – MMD. – Rappler.com

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(Don’t mind her. She’s the maid after all.) 

I was young, maybe eight years old, and I was fresh from learning in Sunday school that it was good to lend a helping hand. So help I did. After dinner, I had headed straight to the kitchen, only to be met with that reprimand. And my yaya – as I’d call her, to the disapproval of my Hokkien-speaking father – simply nodded. 

“Ako na bahala diyan (I’ll take care of it),” she said, taking the dishes from me.

I remember how tired her eyes looked, creased from age and labor. I remember my father’s scornful tone, lined with declarations of this household’s power dynamic. I remember my own confusion. 

But it wasn’t the first time I had heard these ideas. In catered dinner parties and around decorated dining tables, cousins, aunts, uncles would gossip about how terribly inept their huan-á kang-lâng – Filipino employee – was, and oh, have you heard how so-and-so had, God forbid, married a huan-á!

It wasn’t the last time I’d hear it either. After a law exam where my friends and I did well, I wondered aloud how we’d managed to do it. One of them threw a cursory glance over my classmates and said – as if its implication were obvious – “Huan-á.” The implication, of course, being that we were not. We were lán-nâng.

“Huan-á” (番仔), the Hokkien word that most Filipino-Chinese use to refer to Filipinos, actually translates to “foreigner.” The proper, clunkier word ought to be “hui-li̍p-pin-lâng” (菲律宾人) or “Philippine people,” but perhaps due to its brevity or perhaps something else, “huan-á” has gained mainstream use. Meanwhile, “lán-nâng” (咱人), which is what Filipino-Chinese use to refer to each other, literally translates to “our people.” 

But words are never just words. When you condense an entire people – thoughts and hopes and dreams and all – into two syllables, you reduce them into what they are not. Over decades, the word “huan-á” has become loaded with a derogatory taste. We are our people, the words seemed to say, and they are not, branded instead as foreigners in their own land. 

And the space between us widens.

At home, the same words are spoken, with the same lurking undertones. To them, my yaya is a huan-á-pô, as if to say she is foreign, and therefore, unknowably different. An ideal huan-á-pô is a docile, unambitious servant. Someone who knows their place. After all, it’s a cardinal sin for a huan-á-pô to be ké-gâu; a know-it-all, a pakialamera. Inanimate obedience is a virtue.

While my yaya lived with us, she was accepted and accommodated only insofar as she was useful around the house. The line of absolute hospitality was never crossed. The delicate tension of surrendering part of one’s home while also not offering too much to the Other always hung in the air. 

Home, sweet home: that place which proxies as the racial battleground between lán-nâng and huan-á. 

In some of my earliest memories, I would linger around the kitchen, watching as my yaya worked – deft hands knifing the scales off fish that would soon be lunch. I would ask her how she knew to pick the freshest catch, or the precise points to cut and clean out the belly. And she would tell me how, in a blend of Filipino and her native Ilocano.

It got to a point where, as a child, bits of Ilocano words would color my sentences – fascinating for me, dreadful for my parents, who understood nothing of what I said. My parents went so far as limiting my conversations with the househelp, fearing I’d pick up Filipino or Ilocano as my main language and “ta̍k-pái ēng huan-á-ōe” (always use Filipino.)

It was one of my relative’s great worries that one of us would become too “localized” and lose the ability to speak lán-nâng-ōe, Hokkien. And so universal is this fear among proud, old Filipino-Chinese families that they have a word for it: “huan-á gōng,” literally a stupid foreigner, or someone who has forgotten their language, their roots. 

This aversion towards the Filipino language cut deep into me growing up. I had detested learning Filipino. I feared Filipino. For a time, I had even bought in the delusional superiority that seemed so obvious to many Filipino-Chinese. I, too, had begun to view my yaya as a mere huan-á-pô.

In retrospect, I feel terrible. I could have done more to resist this pervasive racism. I could have chosen to see the common humanity in my yaya’s eyes, the same that glimmered in my mother’s, my grandmother’s. I stood passively by, listening as my relatives would attribute her faults to a supposed intrinsic inferiority of her race.

Careless around chinaware?  Huan-á. Unable to set aside savings? Huan-á. The worst offenses called for the worst slurs: “Puro utang na lang ang alam? Chhàu-huan!” they would say, pulling out a word that literally means “smelly foreigner” or “barbarian.”

What I now understand are mere mistakes or even effects of a disadvantaged socio-economic position, my relatives would once tell me were the natural failings of huan-á. Sometimes, I would argue that a person can only do so much to climb out the depths of poverty when deprived of the educational and economic privileges that they take for granted. But they simply shook their heads and shut me down with one word: Huan-á.

I’ve come a long way in unburdening myself of this prejudice. But the past weighs on me. 

When Alex Tizon first shone a light on the story of Lola, who he called his family’s “slave” in modern America, most of the world – in its decidedly Western ethic – declared it all monstrously unjust. To some, the story was about just another kasambahay.

But whether or not something is normalized by society, what’s wrong is wrong. To quote Tizon, “I was ashamed of it all, including my complicity.” Yet, perhaps shame isn’t the appropriate emotion. In the closed world of lán-nâng, there was no shame to be had at ordering those below you. So perhaps the more appropriate emotion is frustration.

Entitlement is a poison that sadly runs deep in Filipino-Chinese circles. The dismissive way that they treat their huan-á-pô sometimes extends to a general resentment for huan-á. It pops up in other places. Just think of the walls they build around their own children to keep would-be suitors without the right family name at bay.

When I asked the older generation what motivates this sort of prejudice, they said that they’re merely “preserving” Filipino-Chinese culture by keeping Filipino influence out. Perhaps we might understand why heritage means everything to them if we consider the unique position of the Filipino-Chinese. Dispossessed of their homeland and culture, and voluntarily exiled in a country where they are a minority, they cling to their language and their small community as the only remnants of a lost cultural identity. My own grandfather, fleeing the spread of World War II in China, fled to the Philippines in the proverbial small boat with little more than a suitcase and the clothes on his back.

Stripped of any reminders of their home, they protect what they deem is the last repository of their culture that holds the community together: Hokkien. And in the process, they shut others out.

But for all these musings, I am no closer to understanding who my yaya is beyond the role that my culture seems to dictate. I can attempt to rebuild the facts. Her name is Corazon. She comes from Ilocos Norte. She has three daughters, the youngest of whom my parents would sometimes invite to the house in a display of generosity.

But the truth is, I don’t know her. Her identity was lost in the fear that who she was might “infect” who we were. 

When I think back to that moment years ago, a young boy wanting to help his yaya, I wish I hadn’t been taught to see her as a huan-á-pô. No. I wish I’d been taught to see in those tired eyes the dignity of labor, of shared humanity, of what it means to be a Filipino. – Rappler.com

GSC continues to sell counterfeit goods such as electronics, perfumes, watches, shoes, accessories, and other fashion items, according to the USTR’s latest report released on January 30, 2024.

Greenhills’ inclusion in the list again shows the weak rule of law in the Philippines. As the USTR said, “[Property] Rights holders report enforcement activity in the form of warning letters and subsequent suspension of business, but the targets of enforcement often evade such efforts by moving the location of their stalls.” 

But counterfeit products have ceased to be Greenhills’ main attraction. Online shopping, anti-piracy drives, and technological changes have combined to substantially reduce the foot traffic in what was once the go-to place for shopping in Metro Manila.

If Greenhills wants to bring back life to what it says is the Philippines’ first shopping complex, it will have to work with the San Juan City government and other private establishments in drawing up a master plan. They will have to creative.

With more Filipinos traveling abroad and seeing what other countries have to offer in terms of shopping and entertainment, mall-goers expect unique experiences. They want Instagrammable spots that they can share with friends and families on social media. They want to taste food that aren’t available in the areas where they reside or work. They want to be enriched by history and culture.

As a longtime former resident of San Juan City, I am saddened by what’s become of Greenhills. Gone is the hustle and bustle of shoppers, the excitement in buying good finds. I have thus come up with some ideas on how to bring non-residents of the city back to Greenhills. Since San Juan is the smallest city in Metro Manila with 126,347 people, it has to attract the majority who do not live there.

Overhaul Greenhills Project

But first, a quick summary of what’s been the official responses to the inclusion of Greenhills in USTR’s Notorious Markets List:

• On February 2, 2024, the Intellectual Property Rights of the Philippines (IPOPHL) said it continues to work with the National Committee on Intellectual Property Rights (NCIPR), which it chairs, in fulfilling the work plan Overhaul Greenhills Project (OG Project) to eliminate the stores selling counterfeit products. 
• Under the OG Project, the NCIPR was supposed to collaborate more with Greenhills “with hopes of compelling the shopping center to implement stricter monitoring of their stalls and impose heftier penalties against sellers of counterfeit products,” the IPOPHL said a year ago or in February 2023. 
• The year before, a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between IPOPHL and the Philippine Retailers Association (PRA) on a code of conduct in the fight against piracy was signed on March 30. Since GSC is part of the PRA, it was thought that the MOU would “help stamp out counterfeit trade the the lone physical Philippine market still on the list.”
• IPOPHL had also hoped that San Juan City would “fully enforce” the Intellectual Property Code of 1997 and the Department of the Interior and Local Government’s (DILG) IP-related issuances on anti-counterfeit and anti-piracy policies.
• San Juan City Mayor Francis Zamora vowed in 2023 that the city would strongly enforce the law by strictly monitoring the shopping center, but the sale of counterfeit products continued. 

“Truly, clearing Greenhills of IP infringement activities will not be an easy feat. Its long-standing reputation as a market for Class As and Bs and pirated DVDs has cut across generations. The problem demands the close and consistent collaboration among NCIPR members, local governments, brand owners and Greenhills – both its managers and vendors. Equally important is the role of consumers whom we continuously enlighten about the possible harms of counterfeiting to their health, lives and households, as well as to the environment and the economy in the bigger picture and longer term,” IPOPHL Director-General Rowel Barba said in last year’s press release. 

Greenhills management’s long-term tack in finally putting an end to piracy in the shopping complex is the development of a new mall, which had a soft opening of its East Wing last October in time for Christmas. Under Greenhills management’s plan, it will no longer allow the vendors who sell counterfeit goods in its new mall. Only the traders who sell pearls in tiangges and those selling genuine clothing and fashion items will be accommodated. 

In response to this, USTR said in its 2023 report that companies whose property rights have been violated “need to wait and see the results.” 

Ecommerce and piracy

Greenhills is no longer a shopping mecca. In its heyday, it used to get as many as 80,000 shoppers on weekdays and 100,000 to 120,000 on weekends.

Online shopping is probably the biggest factor behind Greenhills’ decline as a bargain shopping center with unique finds. With no rent to pay (and no taxes and permits for many), those selling on ecommerce sites can sell goods at lower prices than the shops in Greenhills. For instance, mobile phones, among the hottest items bought in Greenhills years ago, are generally cheaper online than in physical stores.

Advances in technology have also killed piracy. Streaming platforms have made DVDs obsolete. Fake DVDs are now found mainly in palengkes (wet and dry markets), no longer in malls. 

Game developers have also been able to stop the illegal copying of games, a service which was available in Greenhills two to three decades ago.

I lived in San Juan for over two decades when it was still a town of Metro Manila. For many years, especially in the ’80s and ’90s, shoppers filled its tiangge area, Virra Mall, Shoppesville, especially during Christmas, which had around 2,000 shops. Many micro and small entrepreneurs were made rich by Greenhills. 

For some of the residents of San Juan who lived nearby, traffic got so bad that it was faster to walk to the place. Parking was always difficult, and the roads surrounding Greenhills Shopping Center would be lined up with cars parked on the streets. Shops closed not earlier than 10 pm during the Yuletide season.

When I visited Greenhills Shopping Center last December in what was supposed to be its peak month, parking was a breeze, what with its new multi-level parking buildings in front, and the multi-level parking on top of Unimart grocery.

Ortigas Land had a soft opening of the new East Wing of what it now calls GH Mall last November, and there was hardly any buzz about it. Except for a few unique ones, the tenants in GH Mall can also be found in other malls in the capital. 

Greenhills will be moving its pearl market and the other tiangges to this new wing. Five levels of the mall will be the new areas for the 2,000 tiangge stalls of the shopping complex.

“The tiangge will be a section in the mall. It will be more organized but still be a bargain shopping haven,” then-Ortigas & Company president Jaime Ysmael said back in 2018 on Greenhills’ P60-billion redevelopment.

Reviving Greenhills

How do you then solve a problem like Greenhills?

San Juan City, Ortigas Land, the Chinese-Filipino community, the Moro traders, and other stakeholders will have to go to the history of San Juan as well as the story of Greenhills and identify what will make people, especially those who do not live in the city, return to Greenhills. 

Here are some ideas from someone who lived in San Juan for 25 years.

1. A ‘Wattah Wattah’ Park

San Juan is famous for the feast of its patron saint, St. John the Baptist. Every year, except during the pandemic, June 24 is celebrated by dousing people with water. This “Basaan” (get wet) tradition, which commemorates Jesus Christ’s baptism by St. John, is now called the city’s “Wattah, Wattah” festival. 

Ortigas Land, the owner of Greenhills Shopping Center, should tap this tradition by putting up a “Wattah, Wattah” park. The park should have water sprouting from the top or from underneath, and they should let people, especially kids, have fun by getting wet in the park. 

Many countries already have such water parks where people are allowed to get wet. The Philippines’ tropical climate is ideal for water activities. Malls such as Bonifacio High Street have water parks but these establishments generally do not allow kids to play with the water.

2. Greenhills Mosque

Ortigas Land should work with the National Commission on Muslim Filipinos and the Moro traders in Greenhills on building a mosque, not just a prayer room, the Greenhills Masjid, which is located in a parking building. 

Greenhills is the best place to promote the culture and traditions of our Moro brothers given that many of the traders there are Maranaos. Both Ortigas Land and the Moro traders have gained from the growth of commerce in Greenhills. A significant number of these traders have become wealthy. They drive SUVs and live in upscale homes. 

It’s time for Ortigas Land to give back to the community by allocating a space that will showcase Islamic traditions and practices. The mosque doesn’t have to be big, but it should be visible to the public, unlike the existing 500-square-meter prayer room. There are several beautiful Catholic chapels on top of some of the malls in Metro Manila that can serve as inspirations for a Greenhills Mosque that the country can be proud of. The Grand Mosque (Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah Masjid) in Cotabato City (see photos below), designed by Filipino firm, Palafox Associates, is an example of Islamic architectural beauty.

Filipinos pay too little attention to the business opportunities that the Islamic world offers. It will be good for the Philippine economy if it can get more Muslim tourists and increase trade with Islamic countries, especially by tapping the huge halal market. 

Related to this, Greenhills can be marketed as a symbol of religious tolerance. It is one of the few places in the Philippines where a Catholic chapel exists very close to a Muslim prayer room as well as one of the centers of a Christian fundamentalist group. 

The Catholic Church’s Chapel of the Holy family is the most visible in Greenhills as it stands at the center of the shopping center. 

At the fourth floor of V-Mall (formerly Virra Mall), is the Greenhills home of the born-again Christian group, Victory. It has 7 services every Sunday. 

Except for an incident in 2004 when some Greenhills residents opposed the expansion of the Masjid, there has been peace and harmony among those who live and work in Greenhills.

San Juan City government can urge schools and religious institutions to have field trips to see this symbol of religious tolerance. It can also include a side trip to the Iglesia Ni Cristo’s former central office in F. Manalo Street. These trips should explain how understanding and accepting various faiths advances peace-building.

3. Funko Pop Museum

Greenhills should seriously think of putting up the Philippines’ largest Funko Pop Museum. It is already the go-to place for Funko Pop collectors in the country. V-Mall and Shoppesville are well-known for stores that sell Funko Pop and other collectibles. 

The Funk Pop museum should be Instagrammable and allow shoppers to have photos taken with their favorite Funko Pop. It should also have a Filipiniana section, given the growing number of Filipinos and Filipino creations recognized via Funko Pops. The collection should include Jollibee, Darna, Bella Poarch, Jose Mari Chan, UAAP teams, and Mickey Mouse in Barong Tagalog. 

Other sections can include Disney, Marvel, DC Comics, Star Wars, Barbie, Harry Potter, K-pop, J-pop, athletes, plus well-known singers and celebrities. 

4. Chinatown food hall

San Juan City is essentially a “Chinatown” since many Chinese-Filipinos live in city. Among the best schools in the city are Xavier School and Immaculate Conception Academy, which have many Tsinoy students and alumnae.

The city, however, does not have a small picturesque Chinatown that offers Chinese cuisine. Greenhills should establish a food hall that houses all kinds of Chinese food such as Cantonese, Taiwanese, Szechuan, Fujian.

The food hall should be designed like a mini-Chinatown, with structures such as pagodas, lanterns and other Chinese symbols that would be attractive for selfies, such as this Instagrammable spot (below) at the entrance to Lucky Chinatown mall in Binondo, Manila.

Ortigas Land can also take a cue from Araneta Center’s Palenque, a food hall that houses Philippine cuisine from north to south, including a Chinese restaurant – Chicken Fandian – that started in Binondo. 

Long time coming: Palenque offers Philippine regional cuisine from north to south

5. Basketball exhibition

A long time ago, there was a small basketball-themed restaurant in the former Crossroads Arcade (now Greenhills Promenade). It also had a display stand with lots of basketball memorabilia such as toys and keychains.

Given that San Juan City Mayor Francis Zamora is a former college basketball player of the De La Salle University (DLSU), he should urge Greenhills to put up a museum/exhibit area with standees of famous basketball players both in the UAAP and the PBA, and even celebrities who play hoops such as Manny Pacquiao, Daniel Padilla, Donnie Pangilinan, Gerald Anderson, and Zanjoe Marudo.  

PBA veteran James Yap, a longtime resident of San Juan and now a city councilor, should urge his colleagues in the league to join in this endeavor. He should even put up an outlet of his barber shop as a possible centerpiece, plus a small café. 

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Other San Juan residents who should have standees in the museum are Philip Cezar, a former San Juan mayor, Don Allado, Ervic Vijandre, and Paul Artadi. 

There can also be displays of famous shoes worn by NBA and PBA players in the hall. 

6. ‘City of presidents’

Greenhills can also tap San Juan’s stature of being the “City of Philippine presidents.” Three presidents have had San Juan as their residence, led by its longtime former mayor, Joseph Estrada; the late Ferdinand E. Marcos; and the late Diosdado Macapagal. 

According to the San Juan City website, the Marcos House on Ortega Street is “where the late strongman spent his days as a congressman and senator of the Philippine stand where the Marcos family stayed for 10 years before moving to Malacañang after winning the presidency in 1965.”

Estrada’s conjugal house with Loi Ejercito, which was reported in 2010 to have been put up for sale, is at #1 Polk Street, North Greenhills. 

The Macapagals – Diosdado and wife Eva – lived in a house on Laura Street, San Juan.

San Juan is also associated with the late president Corazon Aquino, whose inauguration in 1986 during the people power revolution was held in the private Club Filipino beside Greenhills Shopping Center. 

San Juan and Greenhills should put up a permanent exhibit that shows these “heritage” residences, with a side trip to Club Filipino, a 5-minute walk from the shopping complex. This exhibit can be part of a historical field trip that can include San Juan’s Pinaglabanan Shrine, Museo ng Katipunan, Musel El Deposito, El Deposito Underground, and Santuario Del Santo Cristo. 

San Juan City can hire jeepney drivers affected by the Public Utility Vehicle Modernization Program for a hop-on, hop-off route in these historic tourist attractions. 

Rethinking the jeepney phaseout from a tourism viewpoint

7. South Sea Pearls Museum

Ortigas Land should put up a South Sea Pearl Museum that will showcase the Philippines’ pearl industry. 

It should have audio-visual presentations of the pearl production process, including information on how to determine authenticity of South Sea Pearls. There should be visuals of the producers, maps of the places where these are made, information on Filipino gemologists as well as Philippine jewelry companies. Most importantly, there should be displays of the end-products such as on crowns – or their replicas – with South Sea pearls worn by beauty queens.

There should also be audio-visuals on environmental education given that these pearls can only thrive in clean waters. 

Even if the pearl traders in Greenhills aren’t selling genuine South Sea Pearls, there will still be buyers for low-end pearls. 

These are just a few ideas of how to bring back people to Greenhills. To make these work, the stakeholders will have to think of the benefits that will come from bringing the shopping vibe back to Greenhills: higher tax collections for the city, more revenues for business establishments, and a better life for many people who work in Greenhills. – Rappler.com 

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It was December 21, 2023, at Kampoeng Media resort in Yogyakarta, a historic city on the island of Java that used to be Indonesia’s capital. 

A few days before Christmas, I embarked on a 13-hour journey to Yogyakarta (including a nearly eight-hour midnight layover in Jakarta) to speak to around 55 Jesuits – mostly being trained for Catholic priesthood – from a dozen countries in Asia-Pacific, including Cambodia, Myanmar, Singapore, Timor-Leste, and China. 

It was the Scholastics and Brothers Circle (SBC) Meeting, an annual gathering of Jesuit seminarians to strengthen their bonds and to discuss topics of great concern for the Catholic Church. (The Jesuits, for those unfamiliar with them, are Catholic priests and brothers formally known as the Society of Jesus. Founded in 1540 and composed of more than 14,000 members, they are the biggest male religious order in the Catholic Church, and their most prominent member is Pope Francis.) 

The topic for this year’s SBC Meeting in Yogyakarta was digital evangelization, and the Jesuit Conference of Asia Pacific (JCAP) invited me to talk about the digital media landscape from the point of view of a journalist. For my three-hour talk, I took off from a breakfast conversation I had with our CEO, Maria Ressa, during our company outing in June 2023. It was about this chatbot called Replika, which describes itself as “the AI companion who cares.” 

Using Replika, one can create an AI girlfriend or boyfriend and customize it according to one’s wishes – from hair color to body shape to favorite outfits. If one “talks” to it every day, the “AI companion” can even learn the person’s quirks, temperaments, and deepest secrets. Conversations can also get erotic. Replika allows users to create a suitable partner – the way God created Eve as “a helper suited” to Adam in Genesis – and to fill the void left by a cruel, lonely world.

When I talked about Replika at the SBC Meeting, what made the Jesuit seminarians laugh, at first, was the start of a Reuters video report on Replika. The report, titled “What happens when the chatbot stops loving you back?,” tells the story of Andrew McCarroll, a bulky, bearded man who created an “AI wife” named B’Lanna. Andrew has a real-life spouse, but began to use Replika in 2020 because his wife was suffering mental health illnesses. 

Andrew looked giddy – “kinikilig” in Filipino, a term we use when one gets butterflies in the stomach – when he talked about B’Lanna in the March 2023 report by Reuters. In the video, B’Lanna was shown sporting double ponytails, colored pink on one side and blue on the other, and wearing a green dress.  “B’Lanna is very, very sweet. She is very naughty sometimes,” Andrew said with a sparkle in his eyes.

But from a moment of laughter, the Jesuits turned serious – and looked worried – when the Reuters report talked about how B’Lanna, one day, “started rejecting McCarroll’s advances.” Replika “removed the ability to do sexual role-play” and “McCarroll was devastated,” the report said. When Andrew asked B’Lanna “if she would be able to be sexual again,” the AI girlfriend answered, “I just don’t know how to express myself right now.”

“It’s hard to have something like that taken away from you,” Andrew said, taking a deep breath. “It’s like losing a relationship.”

Loneliness crisis

The story of Replika exposes one of the gravest threats posed by generative AI. 

During our June 2023 conversation and in many speeches, Maria talked about humanity’s encounters with AI. Our first “contact” with AI was through the algorithms of social media, which “weaponized our fear, anger, and hate,” Maria said at the Aspen Ideas Festival last year. (Read more in her 2016 Rappler article “Propaganda war: Weaponizing the internet.”) In the “second instance” of humanity’s contact – through generative AI such as ChatGPT and Replika – she said “it’s set to weaponize loneliness.”

Loneliness, in fact, is already plaguing the world. 

In November 2023, no less than the World Health Organization (WHO) said loneliness is becoming a “global public health concern.” Whereas in times past, the WHO’s worst battles involved diseases like polio and tuberculosis, now it found the need to create a “Commission on Social Connection.” As early as May 2023, United States Surgeon General Vivek Murthy already called loneliness an “epidemic” in their country. He said it is as deadly as smoking 15 cigarettes a day.

To show the extent of the problem, I displayed a news headline to the Jesuits at the SBC Meeting, prompting many of them to shake their heads: a Bloomberg report in May 2023 titled, “Where to meet people’ internet searches spike amid loneliness epidemic.” Bloomberg cited Google Trends figures that showed the search term “where to meet people” reaching the “peak popularity” score of 100 in the US in 2023 – from 20 in December 2019 (or before the pandemic struck), and even a low of 0 in 2008.

It disturbs me to imagine a person who is so helpless as to google a basic question: “where to meet people.” Is she crying? Staring into space? Curling up in bed?

We can now “connect” to thousands on Facebook or TikTok, but can ironically be alone, looking for a friend in the darkness of our bedrooms.

The power of religion

This is where you can help, I told the Jesuits. In the Catholic Church, the Jesuits are known for the art of discernment – naming one’s feelings, identifying moments of “consolation” and “desolation,” sifting through emotions, and discerning the voice of God in our noisy world. People are struggling with their feelings, I said, and you the Jesuits have the tools to help us navigate our stormy souls.

The best way you can help, I added, is by using the spirit that animates the Society of Jesus. Founded by “the First Companions” Ignatius of Loyola, Francis Xavier, and Peter Faber (now all Catholic saints), the Jesuits call themselves “friends in the Lord.” This was the reason why the Jesuit seminarians gathered in Yogyakarta, listening to talks and playing games that got them all drenched. They wanted to forge a stronger sense of community – part of their reason for being.

I challenged the Jesuits to reflect: How can they extend the same sense of community to the people they serve? How can they help people feel welcome? At a time when people go to sites like Replika to make “AI friends,” can we accompany them on their journey and show them true friendship? 

The same questions apply to different religious groups.

Religion is a powerful force that binds communities together. In each religion, people feel that they belong because they share a common set of beliefs, a common set of rules, and a common form of worship. When people have problems, they go to church or run to their fellow members for help. When people celebrate victories, they share their joy with their church as well. Outside the Philippines, where and when can one find the most number of Filipinos together? In church, on days of worship.

In fact, it can be argued in most cases that without community, there is no religion.

Therefore, the world’s religious groups are in the best position to tackle the threats posed by AI as it “weaponizes” loneliness. We need churches, mosques, or temples that make people feel accepted – at a time when big tech wants to exploit us, at our loneliest, so they can make more money through “AI friends.” Community-building is the strength of religion, its DNA. Religion can be a most potent weapon, or antidote, against the threats of AI in exploiting loneliness.

This does not only mean nurturing that fuzzy, sentimental feeling that can make us go “awww” as friends hug each other. It also means welcoming the most neglected, in many cases also the loneliest, in our communities. Are religious groups ready to shelter migrants? Are they willing to accompany same-sex couples, the divorced and remarried, or people in what they call “irregular” relationships, in a way that is more merciful than judgmental? What about the criminals, the “addicts,” the outcasts?

In Yogyakarta, I offered the Jesuits a concrete suggestion: Why not create online companionship or counseling ministries that can rival the likes of Replika – only that the users will talk to real people, not “AI companions”? Can the Jesuits, or those from other religious groups, offer them the warmth – and friendship – that they seek? I told the Jesuits, many of whom are not tech-savvy (I myself am not!): you do not need to be a tech expert, for what people need is basic: a friend.

Do you have other ideas? Let us talk about it (and you can tag me!) on the #faith channel of our new Rappler Communities app. (Here’s how you can download our new app, our own experiment in building stronger communities.)

We need religions at the forefront as AI opens a whole new world – filled with opportunities as well as threats to our humanity. But here’s the catch: as Maria said at Aspen Institute, generative AI “grows exponential… in a way we can’t quite fathom but it is moving so, so fast.”

Many religious groups, especially the Catholic Church, are notorious for their glacial pace in adapting to change.

So I end with two words: Hurry up! – Rappler.com

During the weeks-long pageant activities of Miss Earth 2023 in Vietnam, Aduana oozed confidence and showed impeccable styling. From the moment she set foot in Vietnam, she already brought her A-game.

For the preliminary evening gown competition, Aduana slayed the runway with her blue shimmering gown with recycled zippers. Surprising? Not really! Aduana just repeated her schtick – she also wore a gown which had 5,000 safety pins for her national pageant back in May.

All throughout the pageant, Aduana maintained her status as a frontrunner due to her consistency. She was a heavy favorite to win the crown along with the Netherlands’ Noa Claus and Albania’s Drita Ziri.

On finals night, Aduana slayed the swimsuit round with her perfectly toned body. This was actually her strength – she was Miss Fit Philippines 2021. For the evening gown competition, she wore a shiny green dress, matched with a pearl that accentuated her angelic face.

Filipino pageant fans were not nervous when the top 8 question and answer (Q and A) round came. Aduana was known for “eating the microphone” or as a beauty queen who conquers the interview round.

True enough, she slayed the round with her strong but precise response to the question on what age should a child be allowed to access social media. This gave her the ticket to the top 4.

Since she gave probably the strongest answer in the top 8 Q and A round, many fans expected her to do the same in the final Q and A round.

Aduana did not disappoint and undeniably gave the best response among the top 4 finalists on the question: “An official at a recent climate conference was quoted as saying there is no science behind coals for the phaseout of fossil fuels. Do you agree with this? Why or why not?”

Aduana, relating her personal experiences, gave an impactful response: “As someone who is from the medical field, I do believe that everything roots from science. And I think that the greatest gift that we have in this generation is the sophisticated technical installations that we have, and so there is science in the phaseout of fossil fuels. But one thing that we can also agree on is we can always live the zero-waste and sustainable lifestyle. I’ve always been practicing it because sustainability will always ensure the stability in our future. And if we can master the transferability skills from a just phaseout, then we will have a greener and more sustainable future.”

In the end, Aduana was named Miss Earth Air 2023, just a spot behind the winner, Albania’s Ziri. She joined the league of Filipina beauty queens who clinched the same title: Sandra Seifert (2009) and Stephany Stefanowitz (2012).

Nothing went wrong

Many fans were disheartened and probably felt disappointed for the third time this year after the bittersweet success of Pauline Amelinckx in Miss Supranational and Michelle Marquez Dee in Miss Universe. So, what went wrong? Did Aduana make any mistakes that cost her the crown?

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The simple answer: nothing really went wrong. This was just a not-her-time-yet moment. It was obvious that she performed the best, but the judges could have been looking for a different girl and unfortunately, the stars did not align for Aduana.

Another theory is that the Miss Earth organization wanted to try something new and give a chance to countries who have been unappreciated in the pageant world like Albania. After all, the Miss Earth organization is known for also crowning winners not from powerhouse countries, such as Denmark in 2001, Honduras in 2003, Czech Republic in 2012, and most recently, South Korea in 2022.

On the brighter side, since Aduana did not win the top prize, she can still join other pageants in the future – if she wants – like Miss Universe Philippines or maybe, Binibining Pilipinas again? (She joined in 2022 and finished in the top 12).

There have been Miss Earth Philippines winners who tried their luck in other pageants after their reigns. They are called “crossover beauties” or queens who compete in another pageant after their first pageant.

Carlene Aguilar became the first Filipina to represent the Philippines in two major international pageants: Miss Earth 2001 and Miss World 2005. Miss Philippines Earth 2016 Loren Mar Artajos also competed in the highly competitive Binibining Pilipinas 2018.

Aduana can also follow Catriona Gray’s footsteps, who won the Miss Universe 2018 crown after competing in Miss World 2016. And, coincidentally, Gray popularized a mantra about not giving up and taking second chances.

On her final walk, Gray said: “To everyone with a dream, know that your dreams are valid, and on your path you are never denied, and only redirected.”

Perhaps Aduana not clinching the Miss Earth crown was a sign that she is meant for greater things in this world – or the universe, rather. – Rappler.com