Proud to be Filipinos

Here are some interesting data that all Filipinos should know and make them proud to be Filipinos:

* In the Philippines, Filipinos were introduced to the English language in 1762 by British invaders, not Americans.

* The USA bought the Philippines, Puerto Rico and Guam from Spain in 1898.

* The Filipino-American Independence War from 1898 to 1902 ensued, killing 4,234 Americans and killing how many Filipinos? 16,000 were killed in action and 200,000 died from famine and pestilence. (The Philippines lost and was colonized until 1946.)

* Los Angeles, California was co-founded in 1781 by a Filipino named Antonio Miranda Rodriguez, along with 43 Latinos from Mexico sent by the Spanish government.

* What antibiotic did Filipino doctor Abelardo Aguilar co-discover? Hint: Brand is Ilosone, named after Iloilo. Erythromycin.

* The one-chip video camera was first made by Marc Loinaz, a Filipino inventor from New Jersey.

* This son of two Filipino physicians scored over 700 on the verbal portion of the Standardized Achievement Test (SAT) before age 13 – Kiwi Danao Camara of Punahou School, Hawaii... Edward Sanchez, a MENSA member, bagged the grand prize in the first Philippine Search for Product Excellence in Information Technology.

* Who was the Filipino-American dancer who scored a perfect 1600 on the SAT? Joyce Monteverde of California.

* Who invented the fluorescent lamp? Thomas Edison discovered the electric light bulb and the fluorescent lighting was thought up by Nikola Tesla. But the fluorescent lamp we use today was invented by Agapito Flores (a Cebu man named Benigno Flores of Bantayan Island, according to the Philippine Daily Inquirer), a Filipino scientist. Americans helped then-Philippine leader Ramon Magsaysay to develop it for worldwide commerce.

* Many foreigners have noted that the Filipino population has Asia’s highest rates of inventors and international beauty queens). Two Filipina beauties, Gloria Diaz and Margie Moran, chosen as Miss Universe in 1969 and 1973.

* Pure- or part-Filipino celebrities in American showbiz include Von Flores, Tia Carrere, Paolo Montalban, Lea Salonga, Ernie Reyes Jr., Nia Neeples, Julio Iglesias Jr., Enrique Iglesias, Lou Diamond Phillips, Phoebe Cates and Rob Schneider.

* The first Filipino act to land a top hit on the US Billboard Hot100 chart in the 1960s was the group Rocky Fellers of Manila.

* Sugar Pie deSanto (father was from the Philippines), the artist formerly known as Prince (according to the October 1984 article "Prince in Exile" by Scott Isler in the magazine Musician), Jaya, Foxy Brown and Enrique Iglesias followed.

* Pure Filipinos who made success in minor charts were Jocelyn Enriquez a.k.a. Oriental Madonna, Buffy, Pinay and (Ella May) Saison.

* Latina-American pop star Christina Aguilera lost to Filipina vocalist Josephine Roberto a.k.a. Banig during the International Star Search years ago. In a mid-1999 MTV chat, she said that competing against someone of Banig’s age was "not fair."