The Filipino diaspora is one of the key drivers of close ties between Australia and the Philippines.
Philippine diplomats, Filipino community leaders, and Australian officials...
The Philippine government is looking at Melbourne as a possible model for organizing overseas Filipinos into development and leadership programs as the population in...
Meanwhile, a family friend who married an Irishman invited me to come over and live with them. As it turned out, they 'adopted' me. The family took me in as they knew me since birth. I became 'Kuya' to two beautiful mestizas and semi-owner to a Persian tomcat I called 'Ming'. I even got to drive their red sleek Chrysler sometimes.
It all sounded exciting and promising. The dream of finally meeting roos and koalas or any odd-looking marsupial face-to-face in dreamland Terra Australis was to fulfill at last. And perhaps, I might fall in love with Victoria and settle on her shores permanently or so I thought. It was a chilly cold wet April morning on the southern hemisphere, when a huge bloke named Craig, a farmer of Scottish descent, approached and asked if I were 'Balcos' -- I was muddled up with uncertain emotions as he wasn't sympathetic at all. But I was sleepy-eyed from the tumultuous journey so tarrying along was the best thing I can do. We had to drive about 3 hours northwestwards to a tiny town called Minyip.
