Locating Pilipinas in Southeast Asia!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Las Islas Pilipinas is not on the map!  A friend gave me a book on textiles in Southeast Asia -  shrink wrapped and a price tag of 20 quid.  I leafed through the glossy and colorful pages, while the rest of the Asian neighbors are represented with their engaging textile biographies: on myths, legends and motifs! but found out that the rich textile tradition of Pilipinas is not there. Quite disappointing!   I told my friend about this absentia, and surely we’re better off than Bangladesh, but quite disturbing is that Pilipinas may have sloped down further from a “developing country.”  However, there is more to this complex reality from books, our Southeast Asian neighbors have surpassed Las Islas Pilipinas, yes with the Filipinos in diaspora, it is not all about brain-drain! Filipinos are intelligent, competent and creative  people, but a fair share to the country’s resources are dwindling, and people move, and fast to other parts of the globe.