What is the Essence of being a Filipino?

People have different opinions or views about their essence, and as a Filipino I
have many things to say about that. Filipinos are known to be the most
hospitable people in the world. We know how to accomodate our visitors or
friends very well. Even to strangers we know how to smile and greet them which
made them feel always welcome.

We also have tradition on how to show respect to the elders like saying "po" and
"opo" and "pagmamano". Even though most of the counties are becoming
liberated or open-minded, I can still say that Filipinos are still preserving our
culture, we are known to be very conservative people.

You will feel the true essence of being a Filipino just by eating Filipino cuisines
such as adobo, sinigang, sisig and a lot more. We Filipinos are also very
supportive to other Filipinos, we show our support for example: If one of the
Filipino athlete or singer became famous in our country we also feel very proud
and happy for them.

We will also feel being a Filipino just by singing our national anthem. Attending
the simbang gabi every December and eating putu-bumbong and bibingka on the
sidewalk.

We still know how to laugh even though we are facing a lot of problems or
difficult situations in our life. We know how to help each other or what we call
“bayanihan”.

I'm proud to be a Filipino, even though there are many negative opinions about
us, we still have a lot of things to be proud of.