What Happened To This British Journalist In The Philippines? 🇵🇭

Hinzugefügt: 2026-06-02

[00:00:00]Hello guys and welcome back to the channel. The  genius of the Filipino who's poor. This is what we are going to find out with Thomas Graham. You  guys wanted me to say this. It's um TEDex uh talk and this is going to be amazing to understand  even more. I always wonder how and from where that resilience of the Filipino people come.  And uh I hope I'm going to understand. I know it comes from the heart for how beautiful people the  Filipino are, but uh let's go and check this out.

[00:00:43]I arrived in the Philippines about five years  ago on a short-term um assignment to write business and investment reports on this country.  One day, one of the men I was interviewing, he called me a parachute journalist. What's a  parachute journalist? He says, "Yeah, you're one of these foreigners. You come to our country,  you write a quick report, and then you leave. You don't really understand the Philippines."  I thought, "How dare you? I studied at top university in Europe, and these reports go into  prestigious international magazines." I thought, "You know what? I'm going to show these Filipinos  that I really do understand your country."

[00:01:21]So what did I do the next day? I went to Green  Hills and I bought the finest Baron Tagalog I could find. And the following day I showed up  at my interview and I expected the gentleman I was interviewing to be very impressed with my new  attire. Instead after about two minutes he looked at me a slightly confused stern look on his face.  Robert St. You do realize if you wear a baron to gallog you really should wear an undergarment.  So imagine air conditioning on max. There I am in this beautifully embroidered and yet rather  transparent Baron Tagalog. In fact, don't imagine it too much. Now after that day, I decided never  to wear a Baron Tagalog again. So I was this guy.

[00:02:08]I was dressed in a suit and I was interviewing  other people in suits or bars all across Metro Manila. I was going from the business districts to  Malakanyang. One day on the way to Malankanyang, I was on Roas Boulevard, stopped at traffic  lights and some kids looked inside the window and they saw something of interest. Americano,  they said. As I was composing myself once more, some other kids started tapping on the window  and calling me Joe. Now, I thought I was a bit confused. I thought maybe there's some case of  mistaken identity here. So I said to the driver, I said, "Can I wind down the window and tell these  kids that I'm neither Joe nor Americano? I'm Tom from England." The way he responded to me was very  revealing. He said, "Oh, sir, don't recommend you do that. If you wind down your window, these kids  will probably rob you." So I didn't wind down the window and I went back that evening to my 34th  floor condominium in Salceo Village. But I had this thought in my head. I said, "Why would anyone  bother reading my reports if I'm that disconnected from the ground? I've had enough of writing these  kind of false reports." And I wanted to really write a report which told a more authentic story  of this country and a story which would give me hope. So started telling me, you've got to meet  this guy. And this is Tony Maloto. If you're not familiar with who Tony Maloto is, I'm sure you are  familiar with the organization that he started, Gard Kellinger. So, I did a bit of research  on GK. I fixed up an interview, expected it to last about 30 minutes. Three hours later, I'm  staring back at this clipboard of questions. And Tony had challenged me to see this country in an  entirely different light. In particular, he said, "Tom, you talk a lot about inclusive growth. The  only way we're going to achieve inclusive growth in this country is if we unleash the genius of the  Filipino poor." The genius of the poor. genius in the poor, then why are they poor? It didn't make  sense. That's an amazing and good question, and I don't know where this would lead, but I'm going  to say it. There is gen genius in the Filipino poor people. First of all, it's not their fault.  Second, it's that resilience that from scratch they will build you a castle, you know. And I  saw a lot of videos till now of the Philippine unfortunately of the district which are not that  fortunate you know and uh I saw the videos with Apach I saw I saw a lot and it brings me a lot of  more respect for the poor people because and they smile you guys smile you're so beautiful here or  in other countries in Europe whatever oh you have a little problem oh my god the world is ending you  know but the Filipino people really had a lot of problems, but they still smile and they have  strength and courage and resilience and that that's beautiful and unique thing. Tony said to  me, "Don't take my word for it. Go and discover it for yourself. It's time you ditched that shirt  and tie." So I thought about it for a short while and I thought, "Okay." So I spent one year living  in the communities of Goward Kellinga and that journey it was a life-changing journey for me and  there's two key reasons why this oneear journey had such a major impression on me. The first  is Bayanihan and let me tell you how I first discovered the gift you know of giving. Remember  I had that driver I had to give all of that up and I had to start taking jeepies. possibly go wrong  if a Brit takes a jeep for the first time. I've already messed up with the barang to Gallog,  right? What could go wrong? Maybe you think I don't know where the jeep is going. But don't you  worry. I did my research. I learned the words I learned other words. I learned I even  learned. And the strangest thing for me which I learned coming from London was that if  the driver can't hear you when you say paddle, you have to start whacking the roof. Very strange.  Anyway, I thought I was well prepared. And my baptism of fire or taking jeeps, my very first  jeep experience was along Commonwealth Avenue.

[00:06:38]In case you're not familiar, this is eight  lanes of pure chaos, the highway of hell.

[00:06:45]So, I stopped the Jeep and you may think I'm quite  tall, so I probably I couldn't find a comfortable seat, but I was okay. I found a nice little seat  squished between a couple of plump cheetahs at the back. So, it's actually quite comfy. And  then after about a minute, I thought, "Oh, what any Brit would do in that situation. I'm  sat at the back, got a backpack on, and I jump up. And then I turn around. And as I turn around,  I whack the ta in the face with my bag. And then we're going about 40 miles an hour right now along  the highway of hell. And I'm making my way from the back all the way to the front, treading on  people's toes, whacking someone else in the face.

[00:07:32]Get the driver at the front. And don't worry, I  remembered my line. put my hand on his shoulder and I said buy Paul driver looks around a bit  confused but anyway I give him 10 pesos he gives me two pesos change and then I what happens I have  to go all the way back so I finally make my way to the back of a jeep and I have the impression I am  the least popular person in the history of taking Jeeps ever to take a Jeep but I'm looking back  at everyone else in the jeep thinking you know what it's not my fault it's a stupid system in  London. We have an electronic card. We paid the driver. It's so easy and it's safe. A moment  later, another lady gets on. It's opposite me.

[00:08:17]I'm thinking to myself, you know what? Is going  to have exactly the same problem I had. Then she did something which surprised me. She takes out  10 pesos from her pocket. That's the next to her and that person passed it to the person next  to them. And I'm watching this thinking, "Oh, so that is how you do it in the Philippines."  Because of course, it's possible to pay for a jeep on your own. I mean, I managed it, but  it's a lot easier if you do it together, right?

[00:09:00]And this is the spirit of Bayanihan, how I first  discovered it. And if I think back to that first interview with uh Tony Maloto, he said to me,  "The Philippines has no excuse to be poor." And I thought, "Of course it has a lot of excuses to  be poor. It has health problems, infrastructure, education, corruption. I could go on and on  and on." And Dave, I know he's absolutely right. We don't have that spirit of Bayani  in the UK. You guys have it. It's beautiful.

[00:09:28]Yet there's so much inequality. What's more, I saw  in the communities of Ga Killing that I visited, I saw how slums really were being transformed one  community at a time into colorful and peaceful communities like this. That's the first value by  Yanihan. The second is wangwan. Now, when I first came across this expression, I checked it out in  the dictionary and I was like, "Okay, no one left behind. Okay, that makes sense. I can understand  that. It took several months until I fully grasped what Wangan means. So, it's towards the end of  my one-year journey in these communities. It was Christmas time and a major typhoon had just struck  the Philippines and I was stuck on an island in one of the affected areas all on my own and all of  my family and my friends had gone back to Europe.

[00:10:22]My Filipino friends of course were with their  families. So for the first time in my journey, I felt a little bit left behind. So I asked a  friend, I said, "What can I do this Christmas time?" It was Christmas Eve. He said, "Why don't  you go to the local GK village?" And I thought, "Well, okay. It's better than being on my own  at Christmas time." I wasn't super excited about it. I've got to be honest. I was feeling a bit  miserable. He said, "Don't you worry. I'm going to sort it out." So I don't know. He had globe  and he sent a message to the community that had smart or sun. I can't remember which one. And  probably because the typhoon had struck, that message never got there. So I jump on the back of  a hab or a motorbike and I make my way from the touristy area of the island to the far side of the  island and I jump off the hab at about 6 p.m. on Christmas Eve. Merry Christmas, guys. Now, one of  the first expressions I learned in the Philippines when I arrived here was people knows me. You can  imagine the situation. There was three or four minutes of panic like where did this guy come  from? Why is he not with his family? What do we do with him now? And the Capid Bahayan, president  of that community, he came up to me and he said, um, we weren't going to celebrate Christmas  this year. We lost everything in the typhoon, but now you're here. We're going to make a party.  So, there was one gentlecity. He was a fisherman.

[00:11:48]Earlier that day, he had caught a squid. So, he  put the squid on the barbecue. He had another guy. He had a Nokia phone, not a smartphone, but  one from like 2001, and it played music. That was the important thing. And he said, "Don't you  worry, sir. I beat DJ." And we had someone else.

[00:12:06]There was no power in the community, right? But  we had someone with a flashlight. And he spent three hours flashing on, off, on, off, on off,  on, off, on, off. And it was the disco lighting.

[00:12:22]This was me Christmas Eve in Antayan Island.  This was before the Tando came out. It really is more fun in the Philippines, right? If you can  create so much fun out of so little resources and it did so much more than that because that night  I went to sleep in one of the community houses and I was sleeping in a in a in a cow killing  a house. The bed was not the mattress I was used to. Of course it was a plank of wood but  unfortunately this plank of wood hadn't been cut for Caucasian dimensions. What does that mean?  It was too short. So there I am trying to sleep on this plank of wood and my legs are dangling  off the end. And after a couple of minutes, I start a couple of hours, I started to feel a bit  sorry for myself again. I thought, you know what?

[00:13:11]I should have just stayed in a resort tonight. I'd  be so much more comfortable. And I thought I went to the CR. On the way to the CR in that house,  I saw the mother and father lying on the floor.

[00:13:28]I went back to the room and I looked up and I  realized I couldn't see the stars. Why was that?

[00:13:35]I was in the only house in the entire community  that still had a roof. So I was in the best house in the community and I was sleeping in the  matrimonial bed of the best house in the community and for the next few hours I couldn't sleep  either because I was physically uncomfortable very emotionally challenged by these people.  It got me thinking if someone is to show up on my doorstep on Christmas Eve from a far away  country in the east and say hey can I come in?

[00:14:03]Can I have dinner with you tonight? And can I  sleep in your bed, by the way? What would I do?

[00:14:11]I don't owe you anything. I'd give them a mince  pie. That's what we give at Christmas. And then I'd say, "On your way." If I didn't leave,  I might well call the police. But reality challenged me to become a better version of  myself because I learned what Wangwan meant.

[00:14:29]Because wellan from the translation meant me  as a relatively rich person giving a little bit of what I have to the poor. This community had  nothing. And yet in that moment that one moment of my journey where I was left behind, they  gave me everything that they possibly could.

[00:14:50]So these stories they're in the book I wrote  before and we published that book. It was time to get back to reality. I had to get  a pension plan. I had to get a serious job and I had to go back to London. And you know  what? If I had stayed any longer in London, I would have probably got depressed.  Where was the wangiwan, the bayani, the genius of the poor in London? I couldn't  access it and I was getting sad. You know what English people do when we get sad? We go to the  pub. So I was down the pub. I was drinking beer and there was one particular day I was drinking  probably on pint number three or four and I was getting increasingly emotional about my time  in the Philippines. I was starting to sound like Tito Tony himself. My friend, he put  his arm around my shoulder and he said, "Look, Tom, if it really makes you feel  any better, I will double my prescription.

[00:15:46]offer yet his subscription just to listen to my stories or to read my  book. I want him to come and experience the genius of these communities. So that's where  I got my next idea. I thought I'm going to set up a social tourism platform, Mad Travel.  We're going to create fun and fulfilling experiences in gilling of communities and  other communities all across Philippines, not just for foreigners, let me say,  because just like the butterfly who perhaps doesn't know quite how beautiful  his own wings are, I wonder if it's time that Filipinos themselves are reminded of  the potential for genius all around you.

[00:16:46]I guess it was my my silent reaction from  all the reaction that I have on the channel, but I I found myself in his story through the  the videos and I know what this videos and um you know understand from far away what being  a Filipino means and giving and everything what Filipino DNA means. It changed me. And  now hearing this story of of this guy.

[00:17:31]I I could see myself here watching  the videos, but at the same time, I know and I'm afraid of what's going to happen  when I'm going to be in the Philippines because I'm an emotional guy. I guess you already, if  you're not new on the channel, you already saw a lot of videos where Yeah, it is what it is.  And especially being there and meeting a lot of people and then have leave and you know  having this spirit of giving and and giving everything from nothing and then coming back  here you couldn't live anymore and I'm sure of that. Wow. Okay. I apologize to you guys if I lose  your time because I didn't make any comments but I I don't think this story should, you know, be  interrupted because it's a real thing that a lot of people should know about the Philippines  and how Philippines can really make you a better person and change your life. Thank  you for watching. God bless the Philippines.