Writing POC 101

Filipino Characters - @succhara

Hi, my name's Francesca (or Fran) and I've lived in The Philippines for all my life. In this post, I'll be listing off information about multiple subjects.

g e o g r a p h y

The Philippines is an island country located in Southeast Asia. Its neighbors are Taiwan, to the north, and Malaysia, to the south. Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos, are to the west of The Philippines. And to the east, is Palau and the Marianas Islands.

l a n g u a g e s

Tagalog is recognized as the national language of The Philippines. English is also widely spoken and taught in class.

There are Filipinos who speak Chinese and/or Spanish, but it's not really required.

s t e r e o t y p e s

• First of all, us Filipinos aren't stupid. We don't live in the old times. We don't need Americans teaching us on what to do. Here in The Philippines, we take our studies very seriously. Our parents want us to succeed. We want to succeed. We study very hard in order to get a steady job, either here in The Philippines or abroad. We have prestigious schools; the most commonly known ones are the big four universities in Manila— Ateneo de Manila University, De la Salle University, University of Santo Tomas, and University of the Philippines. We Filipinos are also innovative and hardworking, and we work to reach our goal. Then there are the OFWs, who strive to succeed, who work hard for their success and families.

• Surprise, surprise, not all of us are maids. Yes, there's a large number of OFWs that work as maids or caretakers abroad, but that doesn't mean all of us are maids. Don't generalize.

• No, we're not culture-copycats. Stop saying this. I understand that our culture has been influenced by a number of foreign countries, but we don't copy their culture. It's called influencing. There's a difference. Besides, we had a culture before the Chinese, the Spanish, the Americans, (or to an extent, the Japanese) even stepped foot on The Philippines. There are multiple tribes here, and they each have their own interesting culture, beliefs, and history.

• We're not Chinese. Okay, this doesn't apply just to Filipinos, but to a lot of Asian nations. Just because we're an Asian country doesn't mean we're immediately Chinese (or Japanese. Or Korean). China influenced us greatly (which I'll be discussing), but we're not Chinese, as said. We have our own culture.

• We're usually portrayed as cheerful, happy-go-lucky people. Yes, our hospitality and friendliness are well-known. Though, you don't have to portray your Filipino character that way. Make them mean, make them the nerd, make them the pop star, or the punk star. You don't have to follow stereotypes.

a p p e a r a n c e

Commonly, a Filipino would have brown skin, dark hair, and brown eyes. However, it varies. You can either be light-skinned or dark-skinned. The hair color ranges from black, to dark brown, or maybe even a noticeable brown (but still not a light brown). Our eye colors also vary, from dark brown to a noticeable brown.

A big number of Filipinos also have Chinese blood in them (myself included). So there's a number of us who have the common features of the Chinese.

We also have a big number of people who have Spanish blood. People who have Spanish blood are called Mestizos, or Mestizas. Mestizos and Mestizas have European features.

n a m e s

Spanish influence is definitely evident in our names. Common surnames, Cruz, Reyes, and Santos, are Spanish. And there's some names, such as Maria, Celia, Juan, and José that are Spanish.

There are also names influenced by the Chinese. But tbh, I haven't seen that much first names inspired by the Chinese, except for Xian. There are multiple surnames inspired by the Chinese though. A few examples are Chua, Lee, and Tan.

e d u c a t i o n a l s y s t e m

Here in The Philippines, we follow the K-12 system. There is nursery, then kindergarten, and then grades 1-6, which is elementary. There's grades 7-10, which is junior high, and 11-12, which is senior high. Yeah, it's all kinda confusing.

f o o d

Yasss, my favorite part.

Dishes that are purely Filipino are Kare-kare, and Sinigang. Kare-kare is a stew made out of peanut paste and beef or oxtail, with mixed vegetables, typically served with bagoong or shrimp paste (though there are multiple variations). Sinigang is a broth commonly soured by sampalok or tamarind. It contains meat such as pork. Or seafood, such as shrimp or fish. It also contains ingredients such as tomatoes and radish.

Rice is very important here. We produce a lot of rice yearly, and we eat it with ulam. Or vaiand, or savory dishes. Also, we hardly have any side dishes. It's either main dish or nothing, lmao. There are other foods made from rice as well, such as Arroz Caldo, a dish made of broth and rice, along with ginger, chicken, and garlic. We typically garnish it with toasted garlic and/or spring onions. Then there's champorado, a dish made of glutinous rice and cocoa. It is sweetened by sugar, or condensed milk. And there are snacks such as puto, suman, and biko, which is typically eaten during Christmas.

The Chinese have brought a lot of dishes here; there are noodle dishes like pancit bihon, pancit miki, and sotanghon. And then there are snack foods; lumpia, kekiam, siopao, and siomai.

For the dishes that are inspired by the Spanish, we have the well-known adobo, afritada, and menudo. There's also desserts, such as brazo de mercedes.

And then are the more convenient foods, which were inspired by the Americans. Like sandwiches, salads, and fast food.

Speaking of fast food places, there are the fast food places that the Americans brought with them, such as McDonalds and KFC. And then there's our beloved Jollibee, which are scattered nationwide.

To cover snacks, there are snacks which I mentioned earlier. Puto, which are rice cakes sprinkled with native white cheese. Halo-halo, which is a dessert made of crushed ice, along with sweet red beans, gulaman, sago, saba banana, ube, and milk. People typically put ice cream and pieces of leche flan as a variation. Then there is suman, a glutinous rice cake wrapped in banana leaf and eaten with brown sugar. And more snacks, such as ubud, bibingka, and kutsinta.

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Well, that's all for this post! I hope this post has been helpful! If I may have got something wrong, please do tell me. And if you want to know more information, feel free to message me!

succhara