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Are you planning on a trip soon and would love to know which country can be visited without a visa? Here’s an article I came across GMA News Online. Check out the list of countries that Filipinos don’t need a visa to enter the country.

According to data compiled by the DFA’s Office of Consular Affairs and GMA News Online, the following countries fall in the visa-free category, followed by the length of allowable stay by Filipinos:

Bolivia - 60 days
Brazil - 90 days (for holders of diplomatic, official, and service passports, visa-free for (a) duration of tour of duty or (b) 180 days for official business or tourism)
Brunei - 14 days
Cambodia - 21 days
Colombia
Costa Rica – 30 days
Ecuador - 90 days
Hong Kong SAR – 14 days
India - Visa upon arrival valid for 30 days (limited only to New Delhi and Mumbai airports)
Indonesia - 30 days
Israel - visa-free for tourists (no. of days of stay will depend on Immigration); visa-free for holders of diplomatic and official passports; visa required for business)
Laos - 30 days
Malaysia - 30 days
Morocco
Mozambique - Visa upon arrival valid for 30 days
Palau - 30 days, visa upon arrival (provided that the Filipino national has a return/onward plane ticket)
Peru - 60 days
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
Singapore - 30 days
Sri Lanka – 30 days, visa upon arrival (provided that the Filipino national has a return/onward plane ticket)
Suriname
Thailand - 30 days
Tuvalu - 30 days, visa upon arrival (provided that the Filipino national has a return /onward plane ticket)
Vanuatu - 30 days, visa upon arrival (provided that the Filipino national has a return / onward plane ticket)
Vietnam - 21 days
Zambia - visa upon arrival; 3 months for tourism, 1 month for business

SOURCE.

Very informative! Will definitely check this list from time to time to check if the country we will be visiting soon is part of the list.

My sister sent me a link on this particular letter that moved me so much I want to share it here with you. Read on and get inspired and know that we, Filipinos are special in our way.

I am writing to thank Filipinos for the way you have treated me here, and to pass on a lesson I learned from observing the differences between your culture and mine over the years.

I am an expatriate worker. I refer to myself as an OAW, an overseas American worker, as a bad joke. The work I do involves a lot of traveling and changing locations, and I do it alone, without family. I have been in 21 countries now, not including my own. It was fun at first. Now, many years later, I am getting tired. The Philippines remains my favorite country of all, though, and I’d like to tell you why before I have to go away again.

I have lived for short periods here, traveled here, and have family and friends here. My own family of origin in the United States is like that of many Americans—not much of a family. Americans do not stay very close to their families, geographically or emotionally, and that is a major mistake. I have long been looking for a home and a family, and the Philippines is the only place I have lived where people honestly seem to understand how important their families are.

I am American and hard-headed. I am a teacher, but it takes me a long time to learn some things. But I’ve been trying, and your culture has been patient in trying to teach me.

In the countries where I’ve lived and worked, all over the Middle East and Asia, it is Filipinos who do all the work and make everything happen. When I am working in a new company abroad, I seek out the Filipino staff when I need help getting something done, and done right. Your international reputation as employees is that you work hard, don’t complain, and are very capable. If all the Filipinos were to go home from the Middle East, the world would stop. Oil is the lifeblood of the world, but without Filipinos, the oil will not come from the ground, it will not be loaded onto the ships, and the ships will not sail. The offices that make the deals and collect the payments will not even open in the morning. The schools will not have teachers, and, of course, the hospitals will have no staff.

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I’ve been reading a lot of unknown births in Manila for the past few months now and I was wondering if a lot of people have considered paternity tests. I know that in the Philippines, it’s a bit OFF for the parents to take one especially if the parents are married of course. It’s also worst when the parents are not married too. So, I guess taking a DNA test in the old days was not considered here in Manila. People would ask, what for!?

But now with the fast improvement of technology and what have yous, people are more open with paternity tests. So if you are considering of taking it, I suggest you try the best out there which is the DDC – DNA Diagnostics Center. I’ve read that they have the best laboratory in the whole world, which means only one thing – they give out the best and most accurate results too!

Well, Jessica didn’t make it to the number one spot in American Idol’s season 11, but I would say she did a great job in her duet with Jennifer Holiday. Nope, I’m not a fan. Actually, I was never a fan of her voice, but this particular song just gave me goosebumps. It was amazing!

Now, I’m going to watch out for her and how her career would go.

To Philip Phillips, congratulations! It was a close fight. You were always a charmer and a performer. I will be watching out for your albums too!

Who wouldn’t love Jessica’s “The Prayer” in her finale?

Let’s vote for her guys!!

I just read and heard from my friends in the US that Jessica Sanchez made it to TOP 2 in American Idol. Good for you, girl! I haven’t been watching AI since Season 2, but since my friends had been tweeting about the finals, I can’t help but peek on their performances.

The finalists sang 3 songs each but here is my favorite among Jessica’s last three performances.

Our very own Jessica Sanchez…

I hope she makes it! Goodluck, Jessica!

December is now the wedding month. In Manila, that is! My guess is that probably because most of the relatives from abroad usually come home in December.

Our wedding was in January. That is because I wanted to enjoy the holidays so we scheduled it last weekend of January. I remember those days when we were still preparing for our wedding. Of course Hubby proposed first. He checked all the gorgeous engagement rings until finally found the right one and proposed last February 14. After we’ve set the wedding date, we looked for a venue which was hard.

When I saw Fernbrook a couple of months ago, I wished they built this 7 years ago!

The place was so nice. Although there are parts of the venue which are a little hot and my relatives didn’t like it, but I think this can be arranged.

So to all couples who are getting married this month, congratulations and have fun!

At first I found it a bit unfair but when I saw the stats generated from the CompuBox, I’m not at peace and accepted it fully…

Click here for more details about the fight.

So how about you? Did you find the fight exciting?

For making it to the Top 5 and for being the 3rd runner-up in the Miss Universe Pageant yesterday!

I wasn’t able to watch the pageant on TV but I was updated thanks to Twitter. You made us proud Ms. Supsup! (*wink*)

To all Pinoys who lost hope after the tragedy, here’s a nice read by Alex Lacson. Yes, it’s long but definitely worth your time.

After the August 23 hostage drama, there is just too much negativity about and against the Filipino.

“It is difficult to be a Filipino these days”, says a friend who works in Hongkong. “Nakakahiya tayo”, “Only in the Philippines” were some of the comments lawyer Trixie Cruz-Angeles received in her Facebook. There is this email supposedly written by a Dutch married to a Filipina, with 2 kids, making a litany of the supposed stupidity or idiocy of Filipinos in general. There was also this statement by Fermi Wong, founder of Unison HongKong, where she said – “Filipino maids have a very low status in our city”. Then there is this article from a certain Daniel Wagner of Huffington Post, wherein he said he sees nothing good in our country’s future.

Clearly, the hostage crisis has spawned another crisis – a crisis of faith in the Filipino, one that exists in the minds of a significant number of Filipinos and some quarters in the world.

It is important for us Filipinos to take stock of ourselves as a people – of who we truly are as a people. It is important that we remind ourselves who the Filipino really is, before our young children believe all this negativity that they hear and read about the Filipino.

We have to protect and defend the Filipino in each one of us.

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