Liza Florida's Blog

I have completed three weeks in the Philippines and I have so much to share I really do not know where to begin.  I have sat down on several occasions to somehow put into words what I see, touch, taste, smell and hear as I experience the Philippines from a completely different perspective from my last visit in September 2001.

Upon arriving I was greet by the warm, humid island weather and familiar sounds of jeepney horns and buzzing tricycles.  On a three hour car ride to my father’s province Morong, Bataan I gazed out the window at the lush, green terrain of palm trees, banana leaves, coconut trees and endless miles of rice fields as far as my eyes could see.  Stepping out of the car, the smell of the newly burnt rice fields brought me back to my first visit to the Philippines at the tender age of three years old.  At that very moment, I knew how powerful we are as beings and how our memories of every experience are all stored in our subconscience.  All it takes is something to trigger one of our senses, then all the memories come surfacing back as if no time had passed.

There has been no greater experience thus far that compares than that of sharing the energy of love and laughter with old relatives, new friends and the people of the Philippines.  My fondest times are those gathered with family and friends as they listen to my stories of home or of a land where (to them) water flows like milk and honey.  To me though, the tables are turned as I relish watching the sun set on the beach and fall asleep in the bahay kubo (small hut) underneath the coconut trees. 

I am proud to be a Filipina (a.k.a. Pinay) American knowing fully that I would have never had the opportunities before me today had my parents not taken their own risks.  It still amazes me that the only provincial city that separates my parents hometowns is Subic Bay, yet they manage to meet half a world away in the United States.  My father, a U.S. Navy man and my mother an immigrant working as an Accountant for an engineering consulting firm.

I wake up every morning to remember to open my heart fully in compassion and unconditional love.  As I look into the eyes of every Filipino, stranger or not, I see a part of myself in every single one of them.  I quietly, without words thank them for teaching me and reminding me of who I am!

As I complete my final two weeks here in the Philippines, I look back with great fondness at the historic time I have been able to participate in….The 2010 Philippine Presidential Elections, Holy Week (which video clips I will upload because no words can truly express and describe the events that take place), and finally one that leaves the deepest impression on me, a Philippine National Holiday, Bataan Day every April 9th.  This also happens to be my father birthday (Happy 69th Birthday, Dad.  I love you!).

On April 9, 1941 70,000 American and Filipino Prisoners of War were forced on a sixty (60) mile march by the Japanese Imperial Army, where 15,000 perished.  This event would be know to everyone as The Bataan Death March.  The largest single defeat in the history of American military!

Reference to the Bataan Death March and related events taken from the 2005 film, The Great Raid.