Happy Halloween Kabayan!!!

Holiday is here again, a day very sacred to us Pinoys to remember our deceased loved ones by paying a visit to their graves and offer prayers. This is also a great time for workers from the metropolitan area  and even hardworking kababayans abroad to come home and reunite with their loved ones living on their provinces.

While Halloween is not that of a big deal here in the US (which means "trick or treat" and mostly costume parties) compared in the Philippines where it means "vacation", most pinoys never forget to pay tribute and pray for our loved ones on this special day and most likely have the weekend to call their families back home in the Philippines to have some kumustahan or maybe send padala so their families  will have something on their table for a small salo-salo.

That's how pinoys abroad life is and that reflects our Filipino tradition of how knitly close our family ties are.

Whichever way you want to celebrate it, I hope everyone will have a peaceful, and blessed Holidays!

Philippines abbreviation: PH not RP

The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) announced that it will officially adopt the abbreviation "PH" in compliance with international ISO standards, eschewing the traditional and long-standing use of "RP".

In Department Order 16-10 dated Oct. 20, Foreign Affairs Secretary Alberto Romulo directed the DFA’s 67 embassies, 23 consulates general and four permanent missions to drop RP in favor of PH or PHL. 

The ISO developed the ISO3166-1 codes for countries, territories, and special areas.

The new codes are already being used in airline ticketing, passport issuances, currencies, and internationally traded shares of stocks, among others.

In fact, most pinoy internet users are already familiar with PH that's why they believe this shouldn't be a big deal anymore. Web is surrounded with PH referring to the Philippines, all URLs ending with ".ph" are all referring to Philippine domains.

The best way to implement the use of "PH"

The best way to fully implement the use of "PH", in my opinion, and so Pinoys in general will become familiar and used to it is that the government should require all commercial media to use "PH" every time they make a headline referring to the Philippines.

As you may well observed,  "RP" is very well represented in 

prints and broadcasting news

headlines that's why every tabloid readers and news-hungry pinoys are getting used to see "RP". 

You will see sports news headlines always goes with "RP Team", "RP golfer", "RP delegates", and the list goes on.

History of the 'RP' acronym

According to Manuel Quezon III, Undersecretary of Presidential Communications Development and Strategic Planning, the acronym "RP" was first popularized in 1946 following the declaration of Philippine independence.

"(It was used) after we became independent, to eliminate the colonial 'PI' or 'Philippine Islands'. Actually, under the 1935 Constitution, we formally abandoned the plural 'Philippine Islands' and adopted the unitary 'Philippines' to emphasize that we're a single country," Quezon explained.

The use of "RP" predates the establishment of the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) in 1947 in an effort to establish internationally-accepted industrial and commercial standards.


Aside from it's sound being more formal than RP (which many jokes about it relating to Halloween's RIP), we should all use PH following a code set to an international standards.

Tim Lincecum, Fil-am pitcher of San Francisco Giants

2010 World Series will be played by San Francisco Giants and Texas Rangers starting today. It's interesting to note that neither team was considered a World Series contender prior to the 2010 season but here they are and one of them will be taking home this year's World Series trophy. 

Leading the pack of Giants is part-Filipino Tim Lincecum. The 26-year old ace pitcher will start the World Series opener this Wednesday to a home crowd at AT&T Park.

2010 World Series opener will start pm 4:30 pm PST/7:30 pm ET. 

Read Tim's sports bio here and here.

Amanpulo named as One of the World's Most Romantic Islands

Amanpulo resort in Pamalican Island, Palawan just made the list along with other beautiful and romantic destinations around the world like the Barbuda and St. Lucia in the Caribbean, Santorini in Greece, Catalina Island in California, Capri in Italy and many other beautiful and very romantic islands around the globe.

Accoding to Yahoo! Travel website:

"You’ll find only one resort here—Amanpulo, set on its own private island southwest of Manila with just 40 secluded pitched-roof traditional villas, strung along a pristine beach with sand so white it’s blinding. Beachcombers can navigate the entire island on foot in less than two hours, keeping their eyes out for baby sharks, kingfishers, and sea turtles, which lay their eggs here between March and October."

For complete list, see Yahoo's World's Most Romantic Islands list.