[Please read notes below.]

 

Information is power. Whoever controls the shaping of the databases of information (note 1) that defines a country also dictates the fate of the nation and its people. To illustrate this point, the Philippines is referred to still as the "Philippine Islands" by many foreigners, international institutions, organizations, governments, publications and internet sites. While seemingly innocuous, "Philippine Islands" conjures an obscure collection of islands somewhere in the world and emphasizes the colonial past of the Philippines, as if it still remains a colony of a superpower, like the United States. Other simple terms, like "bandidos", "brown race", "insurrection", "insurrectos", etc. — integrated in historical books and other publications written by foreigners about the Philippines and Filipinos — have immense impact on how foreigners (and even Filipinos) view the Philippines and Filipino people.