authors-from-the-philippines

"My real name and my looks don’t have anything to do with my books. Vulnerably exposed in all my books is myself."

"Bridging the digital gender divide is crucial to achieving gender equality and promoting economic growth. Through policies, programs, and initiatives that prioritize digital inclusion and gender equality, the Philippine government is committed to ensuring that no one is left behind, that every individual, regardless of gender, has access to and can fully participate in the digital economy"

"Prior to World War II, our rail transportation spanned 1,100 kilometers. The Philippine National Railways (PNR) used to run from La Union to Bicol, linking the north and south provinces of Luzon. In 2016, however, we only had about 77 kilometers of rail routes left. What was left would oftentimes be a bane rather than a boon due to frequent technical glitches and other service interruptions. As Asian megacities were developing their rail systems, ours was on the decline"

"Filipinos have built many cities, expressways, subways, railways, and airports elsewhere in the world as OFWs. The pandemic gave us the best talent pool one could ever ask for. Build, Build, Build gave OFWs an opportunity to serve their country if they wanted to. Although we couldn’t match the salaries they received abroad, many stayed to ensure that Filipinos would get to use infrastructure that they only saw in photos before. We are on the right track. The Philippines can be a trillion-dollar economy."

"Many will try to discredit the accomplishments of 6.5 million construction workers. They will say that what we have completed is not enough, that there could have been many things that we could have done still, or that we never really worked at all. Allow me to say — if you are reading this, and you’re part of the Build, Build, Build team - without you, we wouldn’t have been able to build 29,264 kilometers of roads, 5,950 bridges, 11,340 flood control projects, 222 evacuation centers, 150,149 classrooms, 214 airport projects, and 451 seaport projects. Philippines is in a much better place because of your skill, work, and sacrifices."

"About five years ago, on our first day of office — Build, Build, Build Czar Mark Villar and I were talking — “What can we do to make the Philippines a better place?” His answer was simple —roads to the most rural areas so that children can go to school without risking their lives, bridges to connect farmers and fishermen to their markets and infrastructure that would open up opportunities in the countryside and allow Filipinos to dream and aspire for a better future."

"What is Build, Build, Build? It is a revolution of Filipinos who want the next generation to see a better Philippines."

"People would often ask - what is Build, Build, Build? it Is a springboard, a chance to turn a dream of connecting Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao into a reality. It means connecting 81 provinces, 146 cities, and 1,489 municipalities.”"

"This is the first time in Philippine history that expressways operated by different concessionaires — as in this case, San Miguel Corporation and Metro Pacific — will interconnect. And who are the biggest victors of this arrangement? The Filipino people.”"

"Back in 2016, no one knew what Build, Build, Build meant or what it stood for. Critics had very little expectation of the team. They wagered against our success, not knowing that when they did, they gambled against the future of their country. They were certain that the infrastructure projects would never materialize — that blueprints would remain as drawings. They didn’t expect 6.5 million Filipinos to stand and work behind it."

"While there are barriers that need to be addressed, the Philippines already has the advantage. The Philippines still leads among Asian countries in terms of closing the gender gap, based on the 2022 Global Gender Gap Report, where we placed 19th in the global rankings."

"In one of our visits, I met a fourth-year high school student, who was three months shy from graduation. Before Yolanda hit, he was studying for his exams with his girlfriend. It was supposed to be the last Christmas they would be dependent on their allowances. They dreamed of traveling together after college. It was going to be their first time. They never had money to spare before. But in three months, they thought, everything would be all right. They only had to wait a few more months. After all, they had already waited for four years. What he didn’t expect was the fact that the storm [Typhoon Haiyan] would be so strong he would have to choose between saving his girlfriend and her one-year-old niece. For months, he would stare longingly at the sea, at the exact same spot he found his girlfriend, with a piece of galvanized iron that was used for roofing pierced through her stomach. It was a relief that one of the first projects we started under DPWH Secretary Mark Villar was the Leyte Tide Embankment, a storm surge protection structure that would serve as the first line of defense for residents of Tacloban, Palo, and Tanauan in Leyte should another typhoon hit the region."

"The United Nations has often defined culture as being created, contested, and recreated within the social praxis of diverse groups in economic, social, and political arenas. There is no point to segregation — to further an invisible line dividing Christians and Muslims. Just as men need to stand up for women in gender rights, Catholics must stand with our Muslim brothers and sisters for sustainable peace. We must be the first to oppose whenever Muslims are branded and discriminated against. As the old Chinese proverb say — Just as a fence has to be built with pegs, an able person needs the help of three others."

"If you are in any way part of Build, Build, Build, be strong and steadfast. The truth will not change only because alternate realities are repeated, or that facts are often ignored. The attacks will be more vicious and it will be at a rate that we have never seen before. Do not be disheartened. There is work to be done still. While we are already able to complete 29,264 kilometers of roads, 15,134 kilometers are still ongoing. While we have already built 5,950 bridges, we still have 1,859 bridges to build."

"In the Philippines, there wasn’t much political support or policy or infrastructure that would address the needs of cyclists and pedestrians. It was almost impossible — and to a certain extent unsafe — to walk or cycle alongside national highways. Fortunately, the vision for Philippine infrastructure is fast changing. With the issuance of DPWH Department Order 88, all projects that involve new road and bridge construction will include in their design the provision of bicycle facilities, if feasible."

"Soon, the Philippines will be a cycling country."

"We must come to the table knowing that there is no barangay, city, province, government, or country that can solve the COVID-19 crisis alone. More than ever, human collectivism is key. We have prepared for wars even before they happened. Maybe this time, we ought to work together, collectively and purposively, regardless of race, ethnicity, political affiliation, and religion, in finding a solution to a threat that has shaken our very definition of civilization."

"Love is choosing someone every day, even when you are disenchanted and disappointed, even when the rest of the world offers brief, short-lived, and uncomplicated romances, even when the easier option is to simply let go.” - Anna Mae Yu Lamentillo , Night Owl: A Nationbuilder’s Manual 2nd Edition"

"Cinderella, Snow White, or Red Riding Hood wasn’t our role models. We were taught from a very young age that girls need not be saved, that they could be heroes, protagonists of their own stories. Girls are not inferior to men, not in this generation or the ones before it.”"

"At the onset, critics pointed out that Boracay beach closure seemed to be a drastic move, an isolated strategy. But the statement was nothing but a myth. When I visited Florida as part of the US Department of State’s International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP), I learned that beach closures were part of a standard operating procedure relevant to Algal Bloom Monitoring. Recently, it closed Jupiter Beaches on Palm Beach County, Hobe Sound Beach, and Bathtub Beach in Martin County.In Rhode Island, the moment the concentration of Enterocci bacteria in beach water exceeds 60 colony-forming units per 100 mililiters, they issue a temporary closure. In 2018 alone, there were at least 40 beach closures in Rhode Island. - Anna Mae Yu Lamentillo , Night Owl: A Nationbuilder’s Manual 2nd Edition"

"Before the six-month closure of Boracay, coliform bacteria in Bolabog reached as high as one million most probable number (MPN) per 100 mililiter (ml). The streets were so narrow and cars could not pass through. Pedestrians competed with pedicabs and tricycles for whatever little space was left on the street. There were no sidewalks. Establishments encroached on the shoreline, with some sections left with barely any sand.Six months later, water quality had significantly improved — with a recorded value of only 19 to 20 MPN/100 ml. This is even lower than the acceptable threshold of 100 MPN/100 ml for swimming areas and 200 MPN/100 ml for areas of non- contact sport."

"You will remember that, walking on the Pascode Recoletos … I told you: "Watch out, for some fine day we shall wake up quarreling without knowing why." You laughed at my witticism and so did I … that occurred to me without reason as a vague presentment."

"I have not stopped wishing for the renewal of our former ties, for I believe that slight differences in procedure are not enough to destroy our common principles, purposes, and feelings."

"For my meals I have to approach friends for loans, day after day. To be able to smoke, I have gone to the extreme of picking up cigarette butts in the streets."

"I can’t seem to forget the peso Anita sent me. I wish you had contrived somehow not to send it so that you could have bought her a pair of shoes instead. My heart bleeds every time I think of the hard life you and our children lead, and so I am very eager to return home to be able to take care of you and our children."

"I always dream that I have Anita on my lap and Sofía by her side; that I kiss them by turns and that both tell me: ‘Remain with us, papá, and don’t return to Madrid’. I awake soaked in tears, and at this very moment that I write this, I cannot contain the tears that drop from my eyes."

"Every day I prepare myself to return there. Thanks that the children are well. Tears begin to fall from my eyes every time I think of their orfandad (bereavement). But I just try to cure my sadness by invoking God, while I pray: ‘Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven’ I am the most unfortunate father because my daughters are the most unfortunate among all daughters… I cannot write more, because tears are flowing from my eyes aplenty."

"Facing the obstacles that the reactionary persecutions bring in opposition to the circulation of this newspaper in the Philippines, we have to suspend our publication for some time. Nowadays, when there are ways to curb difficulties, we will not stop working to overcome them. We are persuaded that no sacrifices are too little to win the rights and the liberty of a nation that is oppressed by slavery. We work within the law and thus will we continue publishing this newspaper whether here or abroad, depending on the exigencies of the fight wherein Filipino reactionaries have come to impress upon all Filipinos that in its soul there beats some sentiment of dignity and shame. Whether here or abroad, we will continue developing our program."

"Please tell my family that I was not able to say goodbye, but that I died with my true friends around me… Pray to God for the good fortune of our country. Continue with your work to attain the happiness and freedom of our beloved country."

"The friars control all the fundamental forces of society in the Philippines. They control the educational system, for they own the Universidad de Santo Tomás, and are the local inspectors of every primary school. They control the minds of the people because, in a dominantly Catholic country, the parish rectors can utilize the pulpit and confessionals to publicly or secretly influence the people; they control all the municipal and local authorities and the medium of communication; and they execute all the orders of the central government."

"Our stepfather, who art in the convent; cursed be thy name; thy greed depart, thy windpipe be slit on earth as it is in heaven. Return to us this day our daily bread; and make us laugh with thy horse laugh, as you laugh when you fleece us. And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from thy evil tongue. Amen."

"Hail Baria, the till of the Friar overflows with Thee; the Friar is with Thee; blessed art Thou among things and blessed is the coffer he filleth with Thee. Holy Baria, Mother of Fees, pray for us that we may not be skinned and put to Death. Amen."

"The time when they unite and awaken from slumber; on that day, the day of God, the people will demand payment... Who will pay?"

"A constitution as of forged steel; body robust and stocky; the thorax that of an invincible titan; a powerful brain enclosed in a square skull; and an intense and searching eye which emitted an irresistible current that vanquished and fascinated."

"A tireless propagandist in the political struggle, formidable in his attack, expert in his defenses, accurate in the strokes of his pen, unyielding in his arguments, whose knowledge and formidable intelligence commanded the respect even of his enemies, whom he had defeated more than one in contests of the mind."

"He has a warlike character; is foxy; has much energy and a great talent for satire; kindness; intrepid; ambitious; has no considerations when anything serious is to be done."

"The most intelligent leader, the real soul of the separatists, very superior to Rizal."

"Why don't we have a hundred Plaridels?"

"An enlightened intelligence is a sanctuary where the kindness and magnificence of its Creator are better seen."

"Del Pilar had a modern sense of mass publicity. While Rizal wrote his tremendous novels in Spanish, a language that few Filipinos could read, del Pilar flooded his native country with smuggled pamphlets written in simple Tagalog, a Tagalog that is still a model of lucidity, directness and force."

"Gradually, Bonifacio gravitated more towards del Pilar for guidance. In fact, he solicited del Pilar’s approval for the by-laws of the Katipunan. Del Pilar wrote him a letter endorsing the secret society and this served as encouragement for an all-out recruitment campaign. The extent of del Pilar’s influence could be best gauged in terms of the impact of his letters on Deodato Arellano, a brother in law, who was a co-founder of the Katipunan. It was reported that Bonifacio copied these letters faithfully because he treasured them as valuable guides for action. Del Pilar served as Bonifacio’s mentor."

"Marcelo H. del Pilar was a genius in the realm of arts and letters. Under the pen name Plaridel, he wrote fiery editorials that exposed the atrocities and injustices of the colonizers."

"He is one of those quos acques ambit Jupiter entitled to sit at the board of the Gods and to be admitted to the beds of the goddesses."

"The education of the women stimulates and elevates that of the men.. because of their influence in the family as daughter, sister, wife or mother…They are not only a balm to the hardships of life but also an element that influences and guides men along the path of virtue, perversity or cowardice."

"Where the women are virtuous, vice is timid, and dignity predominates in the popular custom. But were women are frivolous, men become immoral, vicious and forget or despise their sacred duties."

"Let us praise heaven and have faith in the future: We shall see that not even the power of our enemies will weaken our determination to promote the ideals we are fighting for."

"The Spaniards are frivolous, without ideals, with no other conviction than their own personal and momentary convenience. Believe me, chico, I came here with flattering dispositions, but each day I go on acquiring the very sad conviction of the incompatibility of this race with sentiments of honour. It is sad to acknowledge it, but we will learn nothing from this accursed race..."

"I cannot but ask myself, why should a pueblo like Bulacan... be inferior to the pueblo of Malolos? It might be true that Bulacan was not as wealthy or fashionable as Malolos, but surely, its women were not inferior in the aspiration towards knowledge, in the efforts of intellect."

"I exhort you with all the ardour of my soul. Learn, instruct, encourage love of study, and you will have fulfilled your mission on earth."

"Senor Manrique Lallave and his companions are going there to carry on some business which they will explain to you. Believing their interests to be antagonistic to those of certain monopolizers of the country, I would wish that, on your part and that of your friends, you would bestow every kind of protection on them, being assured that these gentlemen and the elements on whom they depend, with whom we are in complete understanding, are disposed to render us service in return."