In the Philippines, the importance of beauty is never underemphasized. Past beauty queens such as Pia Wurtzbach have received attention commonly reserved for astronauts and Olympic medalists in countries such as the United States. Regularly scheduled programming is interrupted by news tickers flowing at the bottom of television screens across the country featuring updates of pageant results. Not only is the pageant circuit a desirable career and lifestyle path for women, but it is also a viable option for many born male. As many boys traditionally aspire to become athletes, in the Philippines, a country ridden in socioeconomic disparity, success as a beauty queen offers a fast track from poverty to fame and fortune.
Homosexually and/or transvestitism /transsexuality/transgenderism is perhaps more accepted – if not more apparent – than in many western countries, not because of laws and legal provisions that protect sexual minorities, but by the prevalence of GBLTQ culture. Unlike the United States where many gay events remain on society’s fringe, celebrities such as Vice Ganda and Boy Abunda are television personalities often seen on television…
Pampanga sisters Mia (left) and Rosa (right) sit and relax
Originally written June 2016
“If she is from Pampanga, she must be a good cook,” Filipinos often say about the women from this area because of its internationally-renowned cuisine. Before the closing of Clark Air force base in 1991, US servicemen indulged in the food and natural beauty of this province, situated between metro Manila and the coastal province of Zambales. Clark’s closing put the local economy under pressure, make diversification essential. Presently, Clark serves as an international airport and designated economic zone and the provincial economy is driven by tourism and the manufacturing of furniture and other goods and services.
Sisters Mia and Rosa are Pampanga natives. They are two of seven siblings from a tight-knit and hard-working family…
Rona (left) and Roane (right) sitting in La Peita Memorial Park
Originally written July 2016
Originally from Olongapo, a coastal city in Luzon’s Zambales province, Rona and Roane are single mothers who presently reside in the northern Isle’s landlocked province of Pampanga. Rona,29, and Roane,28, are two of six children. Throughout childhood, they grew up with their youngest sister,18, and two brothers, 27 and 17. As teens, they welcomed a new addition to the family as their mother, just shy of her fortieth birthday gave birth to their youngest brother, 10. Other than Taglish, a unique hybrid of English and the commonly-spoken Tagalog, a language they would often hear on television talk shows and dramas, Rona and Roane had minimal exposure to English. Growing up, Tagalog, and Kapampangan, the region’s indigenous language, remained their main means of oral expression.
As teens, their father, 49, invested money earned delivering gravel in relocating their family closer to Manila and the purchase of a motorcycle with side cart to pursue a new venture as an independent city tricycle operator. At the age of sixteen Roane decided to move in with her boyfriend, two years her senior. They rented an apartment together and soon became pregnant, carrying her first child. Like her father, Roane’s boyfriend earned a modest living as a tricycle driver while Roane found work weaving rattan furniture in a home-based business. She worked up to twelve hours daily, six days of the week except Sunday – her day of rest. After three years as a weaver, Roane found a position working as a machine operator at a Clark Field light fixture assembly plant. Roane noticed a night and day difference en route to and from her job. The wide open green space and air conditioned, multi-bed-roomed houses synonymous with Eisenhower-era suburban Americana inside Clark contrasted starkly to the drab tin-roofed cement tenements of the neighborhood which she and her coworkers lived, only a short jeepney ride away. The former US airbase eludes locals such as Roane. Seemingly, Clark’s parameters remain well-defined and isolated from the immediate area as it was prior to US military withdrawal in 1992. US servicemen that once patrolled the boundaries are replaced with security guards who check identifications of wage earners who flock daily through the entrances on their morning commute to the hotels, restaurants, call centers, and manufacturing plants within Clark’s present-day Freeport Zone. Unlike younger sister Roane, she works outside the confines of Clark in a wallet and accessory factory in neighboring San Fernando…
