Filipinas going viral here and abroad
The dawning of Women’s Month was good for Filipinas working overseas—three women made it to the Actor Awards and one went viral on Instagram as she was greeted a happy birthday by her celebrity English boss.
These Filipinas are but grains in the sand of hardworking Filipino women—from rocket scientists to women who have made a science out of keeping home.
Let’s start with The Pitt, reportedly the “it” show streaming today. Filipino-American actresses Isa Briones, Kristin Villanueva, and Amielynn Abellera took the stage at the 32nd Annual Actor Awards (formerly the Screen Actors Guild Awards) with fellow cast members of the hit medical drama series to receive the award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series. Their characters—Dr. Trinity Santos, nurses Princess and Perlah, respectively—are standouts in the series even if they do not top-bill it.
Dr. Santos plays the colleague not everybody likes because of her sometimes snarky and impertinent remarks, but, hey, she is also the one who took in a homeless colleague into her own home. Nurses Princess (Kristin) and Perlah (Amielynn), on the other hand, have more than cameo roles in The Pitt, starring Noah Wyle. They are portrayed as efficient, caring, clannish, and chatty. Mga “Marites,” so to speak, in the work setting, with a tendency to speak in their native tongue. (Well, who doesn’t when among compatriots abroad?)
The presence of a Filipino doctor and nurses on The Pitt reflects the reality that Filipinos are indispensable in many hospitals in the United States.
A 2021 study revealed that registered nurses trained in the Philippines constitute one out of 20 RNs in the United States, maintaining their status as the largest group of foreign-trained nurses.
In an interview on Entertainment Tonight while she was walking down the red carpet of the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, flashbulbs popping around her in true awards night glitz, Isa said, “It’s something I never in my wildest dreams thought I could say. I mean, I’m the daughter of an immigrant. I’m here and I have my dad with me and it’s just the most special.”
“This is, I think, our wildest dream to be able to be here. The fact that I get to represent and also feel the pride from him, it’s just so special, and this is bigger than I ever thought could be,” she said.
Isa then called her dad, Jon Jon Briones, a stage actor, and he gushed, “It’s wild because everyone in the Philippines right now (is) crying. Their hearts are full and very proud of this little one.”
“Kamusta na kayong lahat? Nandito kami para sa inyo,” Jon Jon said when asked for his message to the Philippines.
“Mabuhay! Salamat,” Isa said with a flying kiss.
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On the other hand, Cory, the housekeeper and “all-round Ms. Fixit” for English celebrity broadcast journalist Piers Morgan and his family, went viral after her boss greeted her on her birthday, Feb. 24 (her nickname may have come from the fact that she was born during the EDSA Revolution).
“Happy 40th Birthday to the wonderful Cory… our family’s incredibly loyal and hard-working cleaner, nanny, housekeeper…” Morgan said in his IG post last Feb. 24. “The pride of the Philippines who never looks a day older…”
A few days later, Morgan took to Instagram again to express his amazement at how his post on Cory garnered even more likes than his post of him with soccer star Cristiano Ronaldo, who has a boggling 672 million followers!
He wrote, “So, this is hilarious. Three weeks ago, I did a post wishing my friend @cristiano a happy birthday. It got 1.4 million views and 102K ‘likes’ as befits the world’s most followed Instagram star. This week, I did a post wishing my housekeeper @maricor_flor a happy birthday and it’s had 13 million views and 184K ‘likes.’ Which seems to suggest Cory is nine times as well-liked. She’s been all over Philippine media, and I’ve even had Filipinos stopping me in the street in London to ask me to say happy birthday to her. Only a matter of time before we’re out together and someone asks me to do a selfie of them with Cory. Or worse, we’re with Cristiano and they ask him to do it!”
This, I believe, is Filipino pride in action—there are some 2.19 million Overseas Filipino Workers at any given time, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority. Not to mention the huge Philippine population—about 112.7 million.
Filipinos showing pride for their kababayan, other nationalities expressing admiration for her, and the wide reach of Morgan (2.5 million followers) probably explain why Cory trumped Cristiano—at least in Morgan’s Instagram.
Mabuhay ang kababaihang Pilipino, saan man sa mundo naroroon sila!
