My Chinese Connection

My father was born in Fujian Province in Mainland China. His recollection was that he was between four to six years old when he came to the Philippines with his uncle. He remembered having an older sister but that was just about it. He never had the chance to go back and visit his parents and sister. That was one of my regrets. I had always wanted to accompany him but I did not make a serious effort. His colleagues who went to visit complained of having to bring a lot of gifts including television and electric fans and cash otherwise their families frowned at them. That deterred him from going. He didn’t have a lot of money. Everything he had he devoted for our education.

Looking at his one and only photo, he looked like four years old. That was his only printed connection from the past. Unlike kids nowadays, even before they pop out of their mother’s womb, their images have been taken a hundred times.

My father was pure Chinese. He met my mom, Felicing, who was pure Filipina, although she looked a little mestiza. Based on her stories, her forefathers were Spanish. But then again, it’s hard to say because the Philippines was under the Spaniards for four hundred years so there must have been some genetic interaction somewhere along the way.
I would like to believe though that I am half Filipino and half Chinese based on this simple computation. One pure Chinese + one pure Filipina = me. That is my authentic Chinese connection. I am half bola-bola and half asado. Half miki and half bihon.

When he set sail to Manila, he was too little and innocent to have an opinion about his birthplace. Where he came from. In fact, he probably thought mamamasyal lang siya and never realized that he was never to return to his mom’s warm embrace.

When I was growing up, my papa would sometimes give a few insights about his native land. I have heard him say a couple of times that China is a sleeping giant. With a billion people, when China wakes up it’s going to gobble up the world.

And this is what’s been happening in the last decade. America was the first to fuel its economy by relocating their manufacturing plants there and partnering with the Chinese. Transferring their know-how and technological advancements. America saw the opportunity of earning better profits with cheap labor. They decided based on their companies’ growths. Cheap labor + cheap materials = cheap manufacturing costs = higher profits. As a businessman, I totally get that.
We felt the surge of made in China products. It’s so pathetic American’s now have to put big banners when their products are made in the US. It’s rare, it’s a collector’s item.

China is the most powerful country in the world and there is no stopping them from conquering the world, little by little, chunk by chunk, using their money. This we all have to accept. If one day they stop buying Louis Vuitton, then this LV thing will plummet to the ground. They are the ones credited for keeping the housing market in the US afloat. And they are the ones blamed for driving the prices so high that ordinary people wouldn’t be able to afford.

China, my father’s native land, where half of my body’s raw materials came from, will own this earth. Give them a few hundred years. There’s no stopping them.
They’ve bought large towns in Australia, in America, in Africa, in Asia, who knows where else?

China can buy the whole Philippines, parcel by parcel. Before we know it we are strangers in our own land. They can also create an economic crisis. Some of our big banks are lending billions of money to them. Be wary of their strategy. Think about your country too. I know your Chinese roots are stronger than mine but let’s care for our country too.
A warehouse contractor told me he had a meeting with the Chinese investors and they told him China will invade the Philippines, not by force, but by using money and shabu.

The Philippines is one ideal target. We are isolated. We are weak. We are stupid.
We are cheap. We are easily bought. We don’t think clearly, para tayong high sa shabu. And even if our politicians don’t take shabu, they don’t think, period.