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COURTESY OF: Sun.Star Essay: Hopefully Durable, by Emma M. Cuizon, SunStar.com.ph (November 09, 2008).
 " And so they’re asking now how the Filipino stands in a world recession. And to think that Christmas, sweet Christmas, is in the air!
Among the Asians, the Filipino has been one of the most global and should feel any economic slam anywhere more quickly. About 10 percent of the population are out of the country, connecting with the world, so to say. Or they could already be disconnecting, if jobs get scarce. But the Filipino’s expansiveness could make him enduring and durable in a sense that you can’t put him down, not his jovial self. Or if he may be down, he’s buoyant, not out. He continues to smile through it all.
There’s no such group as Indonesian-French, or Chinese-Italian, or Malaysian-German. The Indian Americans were the natives of old America before the British came to the continent and not the American migrants from India....
But there is the Fil-Am in the United States and the Pinoy, the Filipino migrant, the world over. There are streets called Little Manila in New York, California, Illinois, Florida, others.
I went with a cousin to a Christmas party in New Jersey where I didn’t know anyone except the cousin. But I was welcomed like an old friend. There was Filipino food galore, the puto and the chocolate, a not-quite-crispy lechon. No matter if the Santa Claus spoke with a twang.
Of course, the Pinoys outside the country are not as close-knit as other Asians who have a strong culture of ethnicity
After having spent a month at that time with friends in Manhattan who are now more American than Americans, it was interesting to be in the midst of celebratory Filipinos still comfortable in the old clan system in a place where many Filipinos are. New Jersey has even a street called Manila Ave.
In other places in the world, there are more than Little Manila streets; in fact there are Filipino towns in countries other than the US.
So what with the recession?
The Filipino in the Philippines will adjust quietly, go back to tuba instead of beer, and sing the same drinking songs outside the videoke disks. One or two would be in despair when there’s not enough money to feed everybody in the family and end up in suicide news. But almost everyone else will try and self-repair and adjust to the more difficult life in his quiet way.
Take the celebration of the Day of the Dead which has just passed. We again saw how Filipinos mark it in loving remembrance of loved ones gone, with certain joy. It’s, in fact, a happy time anywhere in the country on Nov. 1 and 2, it could amaze foreigners---a reunion of loved ones here and loved ones gone. There are relatives a-visiting, food set, music played among the tombs.
Even closer to the moment of loss, like on the 40th day of the prayer for the dead during funerals, a party of sort is expected.
A househelp during the Cuarenta Dias, or 40th day of prayer for her dead uncle, heard her small niece talking to another kid who stayed on the side and watched the “party” going on. “Nganong may party mo?” asked the kid. The niece told him about the celebration of the prayer. He smiled and said, “Hala, uy! Maayo untag dunay mamatay sab sa amo!”
And so, as though there was no Wall Street meltdown, in a short while from now, columnists will be talking about Christmas, the Filipino one—long and celebratory in cities and towns where the lechon, especially in southern Philippines, is anywhere the parties are.
No one and nothing can put down the festiveness of the Filipino. It’s like Christmas which will always be Christmas anywhere in the Christian world.
The Filipino will always stay Filipino anywhere he is, missing the traditionally long Filipino Christmas. Like in the past, he will over-spend on food. Food will be expensive, surely. But there’s food in heartfelt celebrations, and we see hope for all.
And the colorful Chinese New Year is coming up! "
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