Miss Universal Language

Working the night shift, I was deprived of the world’s most prominent and biggest babe fest – the Miss Universe pageant.

By the time I faced the boob tube, the news had nothing on but Ms. Angola being hailed most beautiful in the universe, while Ms. Philippines settling for a 3rd runner-up finish.

According to various sources (again, I didn’t get to see the pageant), Ms. Shamcey Supsup was the only one who entered the final phase of the contest without an interpreter. That’s a statement to her intelligence and bravado, walking up to stage with billions of eyes on you and answering questions in your second language. Sound likes partida (giving advantage to the opposition) to me?


Partida? In case you’re thinking, NO, I didn’t find anything grammatically wrong with what Ms. Supsup said. Who the hell am I to question the intelligence quotient of a person who graduated with honors from the University of the Philippines?

What I’m getting at is: no matter how good you are at English, chances are, you’ll fumble with it, especially when you’re not a natural speaker of the language, and most especially when you’ve got an entire archipelago rooting for you.

And while we dwell in Shamcey’s ability to not take too long in answering a make or break question in English, the natural English speakers go on ranting about us syllabicating words while they form sound groups.

Forget about Margie Moran and Gloria Diaz. They lived in a time when the rest of the world, save for America, didn’t know how good English speakers Filipinos are. If that we’re the case up to now, foreign investors wouldn’t put up call centers in the country.

Bottom line: Shamcey could’ve won this by speaking in Filipino.

She could’ve answered the question in English then translated it to Filipino because she prefers to be understood by her countrymen. In a time when every Filipina who joins these competitions speak in English, someone who’d speak in (insert your preferred dialect here) is a breath of fresh air. There’s just something about it that screams national pride. Besides, won’t you sound smarter answering one question in two languages?

And let’s face it. Our English proficiency is diminishing with each passing generation. And you can blame it to the ever worsening condition of the education sector. If Shamcey went on to speak in Filipino just so she could be understood by her fellow Pinoys, the government could take it as some sort of wake up call to get their act together and start putting more money into our schools and teachers so we could regain our title as Asia’s best English speakers.

Two birds with one stone – national pride and political propaganda in a pageant. That must be a first in the Miss Universe of the 2010s. Shamcey let the opportunity slip away.

Besides, who’s to say those interpreters didn’t elaborate or expound their respective candidates’ answers, huh?

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Going back to the whole complying-to-the-wants-of-the-other-nationals thing, why do we keep doing it?

When we go to other countries, Pinoys religiously obey and follow the laws of the land. But when the foreigners come here, we bend the rules a little for them. And that’s not the worst part. We ourselves are the first to disobey our country’s own laws (corrupt politicians to the nth power, squatters, PUV drivers, so on and so forth) that the foreigners here follow suit.

In the context of the pageant, our mentality is that our delegates should speak in English for the convenience of everybody else.

Aren’t we going too far when it comes to pleasing these foreigners? Sure, it’s a contest, and impressing everybody is the point. But why do we Pinoys comply with what the other nationals want? Isn’t it possible to get something done while sticking to our comfort zones?

Great fighters like Marco Antonio Barrera, Juan Manuel Marquez and Anderson Silva may not be as rich as Manny Pacquiao, but they spend money on someone who would talk for them in English during post-fight interviews, instead of stuttering to the world’s delight.

Andrea Bocceli and Rain can give a fuck if you don’t understand what they’re saying. They’re going to sing in Italian and Korean respectively.

And Angola’s Leila Lopes has proven that you can win a worldwide pageant in your native tongue.

Being hospitable is one of our most admirable traits. It’s what keeps the foreigners and the money coming. Sadly, it’s the same reason why the rest of the world sees us as doormats. For as long as they know that we will bend over to please and impress them, they’ll take advantage. During the 1520s, the early Filipinos welcomed the Spaniards with arms wide open. Look what happened 300 years later.

Too much of something is always bad. If we don’t stop being overly hospitable, the next thing we know, we’ll be handing the country over to foreigners.

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On Shamcey’s answers.

God is not a person.

Other religions worship God too. In fact, other religions worship your God. All sects of Christianity, Jews and Muslims worship the God of Abraham. Religion is not synonymous to God. Rather, it’s a way of worshipping God.

Making other people respect your religion is good, but respecting that of others is better. Convincing someone to join your religion is good. Using love as some sort of bribe to make your lover switch religions, not so good. Of course, you can argue it was voluntary, or that your religion is perfect and that your saving the soul of your loved one.

What the heck?! My Lone Opinion.