The Cultural Divide Between Manila and Mindanao
I grew up in Mindanao. Now I live in Metro Manila. I cannot help but see the cultural divide between these two areas of the country. The sooner we recognize AND appreciate our cultural differences, the closer we are to authentic national unity. What I have found since I enrolled as a freshman in UP Diliman are these: 1. When in a huddle, home-grown Manilenos tend to speak to each other in low voice, almost like making sure the guy next to him wouldn't hear a sound. When we huddle in Mindanao, it's a party! We express excitement! We speak to be heard by the whole world! We laugh even louder so it would be heard by Mars! My elder brother demonstrated that by letting me observe how people huddle in the dormitory lobby. Oh, how right he was (and is). I didn't find it very difficult to identify which people spoke Cebuano (the lingua franca in both Visayas and Mindanao).