By Bobby Reyes

"Unsolicited Advice" Column

‘PHL’ is a diphthong whose sound carries a concrete meaning for ‘fill’ or ‘feel’ to rhyme with ‘phil.’ And if you put a human face into it, it will be ‘PHILLAR’ as in ‘pillar,’ which evokes image of a stable structure or stability … Headline writers will now have an alternative for … ‘Pinoy’ as a moniker for a Filipino. They can now use ‘Phillar’ to describe somebody from ‘PHL.’ – Joseph Lariosa

T hus, Chicago-based Joseph G. Lariosa, the dean of Filipino correspondents in America, discussed passionately the obvious mistake of Filipino government officials in not fighting much to retain the “RP” country code. The initial “RP” of course means “Republic of the Philippines.”

To read in its entirety Mr. Lariosa’s gem, if not classic, of a column, please click on this hyperlink,

This Is How I "PHL," Oops, Feel About the New Country Code for the Philippines .

Mr. Lariosa’s opus of a commentary brings back into focus several controversial issues about the most-viable way of naming the (Filipino) homeland and her people. Some supposedly-nationalistic leaders call themselves “Pilipino” (sic), if not “Pinoy,” and their country “Pilipinas.” If the people would opt for “Pilipinas,” would the country code now become “PI,” as in “Philippine Islands” of the American colonial period or even be mistaken for a remake of “Magnum, PI”?

Venerable Los Angeles, California-based historian, Hector Santos, wrote an article about the issue of whether “to ‘P’ or not to ‘P’” in calling the country and her people. To read Mr. Santos’s piece, please go to:

There's no 'f' in pilipino but there's one in Filipino

On the other hand, this writer penned an article that describes

Why Many Filipinos Don’t Like to Be Called “Pinoy”

The Great “Botomo” Debate on the “RP” Name

N ow, if we are to follow the viewpoint advanced by Joseph Lariosa that the world might as well call the inhabitants of the (Philippine) archipelago as “PHILLARs,” wouldn’t some wise guys, if not some “filosophers” (sic),  then call instead the (Filipino) female as “Phillar”? And the (Filipino) male as “Phepe”? And would not some Filipino-American wags call the male inhabitants as “Phepeng Toms”?

This was precisely the gist of a great online debate among the so-called “Botomites” (subscribers) of an online forum, botomo@yahoogroups.com. Some “Botomites” wanted to replace the name of the Philippines, and of course as a corollary, its country code. To read a report on the passionate Botomo debate, please click on this link, The Great Debate among Botomites of Whether to Change the Name of the Philippine Archipelago or Not

Another Angle from the Field of Chemistry

In his article, Mr. Lariosa mentioned correctly the fact that actually “pH” is a chemical symbol.

Yes, in chemistry, pH is a measure of the acidity or basicity of a solution. Pure water is said to be neutral, with a pH close to 7.0 at 25 °C (77 °F).

Now again, would not a “filosopher” (another way of spelling the colloquial Filipino term, “filosopo”) move to call the male inhabitants of the (Filipino) homeland as “Acido” and the female citizens as “Acida”?

Whatever the outcome of this country-code change, Mr. Lariosa’s has probably come up with an article that will spawn more follow-up write-ups and commentaries.

Truly, Mr. Lariosa hit the literary nail on its head when he wrote, “Why would the Philippines through its Philippine Department of Trade and Industry‘s Bureau of Product Standards easily give up the ‘RP’ initials without a fight is beyond me?” Will heads roll at the DTI and/or BPS?

Mr. Lariosa’s is perhaps the first journalist to discuss the country-code change – at least in the Overseas-Philippine press (to my limited knowledge). My unsolicited advice is for Mr. Lariosa's column to be discussed further and maybe his article will lead to a bigger online debate not only in the Botomo but also in other e-forums. Before we talk about the country code, can we decide first on what to call our homeland?

So, what say you, Botomites and other Filipino online debaters? # # #