July 29th, 2007 by Chari
One time I had this conversation with my coworker Gracie. She was griping about how she had a disagreement with her elder sister when she called her in our beloved Philippines, my Philippines. She was mad at how her sister was egging her about sending her 100 dollars, anyway, as her Ate said, “it’s just 100 dollars, Grace, ano ba naman yon dyan ?”. Grace was mad that they do not realize how a hundred bucks meant to her considering that she is a single mom and nobody helps support her three-year old daughter and she has a lot of bills to pay too.
As she kept ranting about this, I realized this, people from the Philippines do not actually know what 100 dollars meant to the Filipino earners in the US. I mean I for one thought it doesn’t mean a lot but when I got here, my whole understanding of the value of the dollar changed. It’s like this, if you will compare 1 peso versus 1 dollar, the one peso in the Philippines cannot buy a liquid hand soap, but here in the U.S., with one dollar you can. Our 100 dollar here can go a long way as compared to the Philippines 100 pesos. So folks, hindi sya , ” one hundred dollars lang “. Hindi po siya one hundred dollar lang dahil in truth, madami na po kaming mabibili dito nyan kesa ipadala sa mga nanghihingi na ipang iinom lang dahil birthday nila.
To illustrate further, a 100 dollar can already buy or pay for :
10 pieces of Levi’s T-shirts at 10 dollars a piece
or 10 boxes of Mangoes at 8.99 a box ( may sukli pa yan )
or 10 or more different kinds of meat packages ( pwera kung tri-tip or mga prime steaks ha ? )
or 2 months of my electric bill at $45.00 a month
or 1 month of Cable bill at $93.00
or 100 items from the Dollar store
and the list is endless…
Before you go asking for dollars from your relatives here, try thinking if the person can manage shelling out 100 bucks, because she may also need it herself. Or better yet, ask yourself first because if you can survive not asking help from others, why bother? Kung latest model lang ng cellphone or pang bili ng bagong damit, baka naman pwedeng ipostpone mo yan. Maybe the person may not send you what you are asking for anyway, and baka mag iba pa tingin nya sayo di ba? Kung emergency okay lang. The most hurting thing is knowing you send somebody your hard-earned money and he just spends it on a drinking spree, or on a shopping spree and they go bragging to people that they have money but it’s money that they did not work for, di nila alam, yung magulang or kapatid nila dito, hirap na hirap kitain yung 100 dollar na pinadala sa kanila. Kakaawa nga ang iba dito eh, lalo na matatanda. Then sometimes the people they send money to would tell them, “one hundred dollars lang naman yon, para yon lang parang ang laki na nang pinadala mo. Kulang pa nga eh. ” Kakahurt yan ha? Mahirap po kitain ang dolyar dito. Kala nyo lang hindi, pero that is the truth and nothing but the truth.
So think before you ask…
July 22nd, 2007 by Chari
During lunch last Friday, my Vietnamese friend took out a ripe mango from her bag and told me that it is a Manila mango. I looked at it and said, ” I don’t know Ha-Le but there has never been a Philippine mango ever around in the U. S. and this doesn’t look like a Philippine mango to me. ” She said it was Manila mango. I don’t know what Manila mango meant. Does it mean it came from the Philippines or it’s just a name like the manila paper? Since she said it came from County Square I decided to check it out and buy one box too. It was also sweet but a different kind of sweetness, it tasted a little , just a little bit like a ripe Indian mango.
When we got to County Square, there it was ” Manila Mango, 12.99 a box ” . I examined the box and it was not from the Philippines. It was a produce of Mexico. I wonder why they called it Manila mango then. Were they just using the Manila word to confuse people that it’s from the Philippines ? Anyway I Googled it and tumbled upon this Manila Mango article from ABS-CBN . 
It’s just unfair that they are using our beloved Manila name. They should see how better and sweeter our Philippine mango is , especially the ones from Guimaras. My husband said just now that there already is super mango from the Philippines in L.A. I found out that this is the Super Mango that they know of and not the Super Mango ( carabao mango ) from the Philippines.
When is my beloved Philippine Mango finally coming in to America ? If it finally comes to Filipino stores all over states of America, I bet you, it would be mango mania for all of us Pinoy mango lovers. That would be absolutely heaven !!!
(in the picture is the Champagne mango, the one box that I bought, it’s a produce from another country, not the Philippines.)
July 22nd, 2007 by Chari
From the U. S. Embassy Website :
U.S. Embassy Photo Release
April 10, 2007
More Philippine Mangoes Now Exportable to the United States;
President Arroyo and Ambassador Kenney Tour Mango Plant
In a March 28 ceremony at the Hi-Las mango processing and packing plant in Taguig City, U.S. Ambassador Kristie A. Kenney and Philippine Agricultural Secretary Arthur Yap presented President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo with the signed Work Plan for the export of mangoes to the United States…
The Work Plan allows for increased export of Philippine mangoes, permitting mangoes from all provinces in the Philippines, except Palawan, to be exported to Hawaii and Guam…
Upon the request of the Philippine Government and as outlined in the agreement, a USDA inspector is currently visiting the country to certify the vapor heat treatment process at three local mango processing plants…
The Philippines can also export mangoes from Guimaras Island to all parts of the United States, including the mainland, after vapor heat treatment…
Due to the presence of certain pests on other mango-growing islands, only mangoes from Guimaras are exportable to the United States mainland…
Please visit the Manila US Embassy website for a complete copy of the article.
I have been trying to find the US embassy’s link for this article but the link I found doesn’t work, the embassy’s site must be under maintenance or something but I will keep trying. I do not want to feature the whole copy-pasted article here lest I be accused of plagiarism or copyright infringement… 
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I beg to differ with the said article because I have not seen a single Philippine mango sold here in Concord, California. I have been scouring the Filipino and Oriental stores here but no luck so why are they saying that more Philippine mangoes are to be exported here when there had never been any in the first place ???
Oh where, oh where are the mangoes, I want a genuine Philippine mango not the Mexican kind !
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