You know you’re a Filipino if…

I’ve been doing a lot of curating lately on the lives of my nine lolos and it has given me so much inspiration, especially nowadays. It’s quite a handful on my end, considering that the nine children of Rafael and Inocencia Roces live (and lived) very interesting lives during the Second World War. If there is one thing that I definitely inherited from them, it’s their asthma but, apart from that, I would say it was their genuine desire for human connection that led them to being the great storytellers of our beloved family.

Our nine grandfathers all became headed and each one had a very distinct mustache. According to an uncle, this was done on purpose so that they could identify each other at a time when they were guerrilla fighters. My Lolo Peping once told me how difficult it was for them during the Japanese occupation. There were times when they found themselves being resented by the very same people they were trying to save as Japanese soldiers often harassed people on their whereabouts. I would also find myself laughing at how my great grandfather Rafael documented Lolo Anding’s asthma attacks almost everyday in his diary as it was just so relatable. In turn, I also thanked God for my handy inhaler – something Anding never had at the time. Lolo Chito’s cigarette butt hunt was also an interesting story which basically explains why some suffered from emphysema in their later years. The nine brothers never grew out of their mustaches and even when the war was over, they kept their mustaches as a reminder of their brotherhood.

So you know you’re Filipino if brotherhood is something you consider as sacred. It is that feeling of kinship that is brought about by shared experiences regardless of blood. In the case of my nine grandfathers, our family has been extremely fortunate as our closeness continues to grow our family as well as our bond. The task of my generation now is to continue this tradition for the sake of our children, as the value of brotherhood has increased our ability to nurture our relationships among ourselves and our ever-growing family, including the people we encounter throughout our lives. It was because of our nine grandfathers that we, their grandchildren, learned to appreciate the value of human interest stories that featured the passions, the struggles and the connections people made in their lives. For us, these experiences keep our relationships alive and no matter how many times we sit around the table and recount the stories, we will never forget the sacrifices they made to keep our family and even our country, together.

Growing up, I often met people who would have something special to say about my grandfathers as they crossed paths at some point in time and hearing about how much they were loved always warmed my heart, especially when they tell you that your grandfather was a good man. My lolos were known for their laughter, their wit, their grit, their stories and most especially, they were always remembered for how good they made you feel. It was in this very same regard, as part of the younger generation, that we learned to stand tall as Filipinos. As Lolo Anding used to say, his stories always made Filipinos one inch taller.

As for brotherhood, I can fully attest to how they, through the bravery and courage of all of my nine lolos calvos, demonstrated their unflinching love for our country as together they became guerrillas during the Second World War, defied martial law and founded a major opposition party during the dictatorship. Perhaps it may have been forgotten that Alejandro “Anding” Roces founded the LABAN party and to date, the party roots of brotherhood remain strong.

So how do you know you are truly Filipino? The connections of brotherhood, blood related or not, form the glue that binds us. It is the bayanihan spirit that only we Filipinos understand whenever we see a kabayan outside of our homeland and extend to them some kindness, where the same spirit of kindness is returned. Our history is like a woven tapestry of diverse cultures that make us the unique people we are today and as my Lolo Anding used to say, we’ve got something to crow about.