Should The Philippines Change Its Name? [Street Interview] | ASIAN BOSS 

What do you think? Should the Philippines change its name to move away from the country’s colonial past?

That one guy knows his history very well. I'm impressed. *edit: lol guys calm down

I like the white-stripped guy. He knows what he's saying and i agree with him

Maybe the guy in stripes is a professor. A Philippine history professor. He sounded like a talking history textbook. Very well said. 💕

The guy wearing stripe, recall that history and he knows what his talking about👏🏻

"our colonial past is not something we should be ashamed of, but we have to move forward" YES.

That one guys speaks very fond of the history of the philippines. Im in awe

Yeah it takes time to changed Pilipinas into Maharlika. But the more I wanted to change is the mentality of Filipino. The toxicity is elevated throughout the years. And it's disappointing.

I’m cool with it as long as we keep our flag. I like our flag 🇵🇭

Basically the reaction was "lol".

That man wearing stripes has a lot of knowledge 👌

History is history, no matter what great name we can think of to replace “Philippines” we can’t change the past. But what we can change though is our attitude to be good Filipinos to build a better future for our country.

It feels bad why some Filipinos doesn't know history about their own country

Changing the name of the country will not change it's history.

Damn, are they speaking half english half tagalog because you're an english speaker or is that just how filipinos talk to each other?

the guy in stripes really said "it's my time to shine"

As a european and forigner woman each time I wach videos about filipino people and their country I get such a good vibe. The people seem open, friendly, educated and relaxed in general. And the language will never stop to sound intresting to me it seems like a mix of a native language with English and Spanish. I think all filipino people shoud be prowd of their beautiful and diverse country.

You know that everyones gonna keep calling it Philippines anyway despite the name change.

6:54 This guy have a great insight for the matter.

"We have to create a new identity for our nation" The thing is Filipinos keep sheltering to our past to the extent that they even embrace being mixed spanish (kahit di naman lol) they thought that having a mixed spanish blood is better than being pure filipino because uso or something. Instead of loving our own culture, beauty and language.... We hugged other's culture and etc. lakas maka proud to be pinoy pag may mga pinoy na nagrerepresent sa pinas... Pero kung tatanungin kung anong lahi nila half spanish daw kahit yung may patak na dugong kastila lang naman yung lolo ng lolo nila sa tuhod. Tapos tingin sa locals cheap mumurahin walang effort pero lakas maka puri sa imports. Yawa kamo tanan.

7:00 "We have to create a new identity for our nation" -nice quote

The guy in striped white shirt is knowledgeable and can articulate his thought really well. Kudos to him! I'm sure he is gonna have a bright future. 👍👍👍

Striped shirt kuya I'm so proud of you you're a real Filipino with the culture 😍😍😍

Genius Spotted: The Man wearing white with stripes shirt

1:30 WHAT THE HECK?! Sounds so arrogant

Let's improve our country first tho,how bout that?

Would be nice to bring back Babayin and Kulatin instead. That would strengthen the culture more than just changing the country's name.

Actually, it was the Americans that came up with the "Philippines" from the spanish "Filipinas" prior the American Colonialism. There were also proposals in the past of changing it back to "Filipinas". Nonetheless, personally, I'm fine with Philippines. But what's not fine is the education system in this country. Isama mo na rin mga nakakasukang mindset ng nakararaming Pilipino.

"Our colonial past is not something to be ashamed of because It's part of our identity but we have to move forward. We have to create a new identity for our nation" well said.

*WE STAN THE DUDE IN STRIPES* we stan woke filipinos

We are Indonesia, the neighbor of Philippine did change our colonial era name from Dutch East Indies (Nederlandsch Indie) to Republic of Indonesia immediately after we got our independence. But I think it's a bit too late for Philippine to do the same since they used to their colonial name for too long after independence. It's a bit feel weird to change your national identity after so long you grew and recognized by that identity. The story will be different if you just got your independence since you see yourself as a newborn country and can make your identity new like new name, new constitution, new ideology, etc.

Maybe “Pan De Coco”. I like it

I am impressed how good all the answers were. Clear, thoughtful, and some objective. And this is for a street interview. The Philippines must be made up of thoughtful people, very good.

Guy in stripes answered so well! It's great to be knowledgeable of your own country. Kakaproud!😍

2:09 he's a walking dictionary 😂👌 Edited: After 2 yrs I checked my email and saw this, I didnt thought this will be having 200+likes😂

Why not? Siam became Thailand and Burma became Myanmar. As a westerner, I think the name "Maharlika" sounds really nice.

I am so impressed to the guy wearing white-black-stripe shirt. He knows a lot about Philippines' History so well and he is so articulate and eloquent with his answers. I agree to everything he said

I dont care whatever the name of the country is, but I can assure you, as a Singaporean, we are so lucky to have Philippines as our neighbour. 😍😍 Philippines had been a great neighbour to our country for decades. 🇸🇬🇵🇭

Maharlika sounds like a foreigner trying to say “Mahal Kita”

If our country's name will be changed, we will be like Myanmar. People are confused on how to call that country.

Maybe the guy wearing striped shirt is a history teacher. He's just so amazing and his statements are understandable.

he should change it to saiya so people can call us saiyans

That man in 2:04, Filipinos should be proud of him.

I'm a filipino and i approve that change. Using the name of some dead spanish guy as our country name is an embarrassment.

Yeah, I would agree to change the name. The name "Philippines" came from King Philip II of Spain, which reminds me of our colonial past. But that guy in the white t-shirt is right. The Philippines is independent and needs a new identity of itself.

1:17 "We know the President. He speaks his mind freely, so from time to time he says certain things." This is the best way to deal with wacky Presidents.

Filipinos should learn their pre-colonial past and be proud of the genuine history of their forefathers

My dream land Phillipines 😍 ❤ because Phillipines brother's and sisters are kind hearted ❤ Greetings from your best friend 🇮🇳

the reason why most people are ignorant of our pre-colonial past is because it was not taught thoroughly at school. more emphasis were given to spanish and american times wherein fact our people have a more diverse and glorious past before being colonized. we used to be industrious, proud, honest, and free people. several kingdoms and empires freely engage in trade and commerce with our ancestors and they themselves established very powerful and dynamic society. the kingdoms of tondo, central visayas and butuan datus and rajahnates, and sultanates of maguindanao and sulu are examples of that. truly a very noble and dignified race. very unfortunate how colonization deteriorated that aspect in our people. while it should be acknowledge also that those colonizers brought with them valuable norms and traditions that would later be incorporated into our very own culture, the fact that we lost our very own identity as a people is truly sad. all that said, there are about 11 countries who changed their names, e.g. burma to myanmar, czech republic to czechia, ceylon to sri lanka, holland to netherlands, among others. the process would be slow and meticulous, not to mention expensive as stated in the video. the government must first inculcate strong sense of nationalism and taught students of the noble and maharlikan roots of every Filipino. only when strong sense of nationalism and pride of ones origin gain massive track in future generations can we have an overwhelming support for a name change. P.s. the guy in stripes knows his stuff while the others just represent the sad state of Filipino mentality. wouldn't let go of the past and afraid to change what they are used to.

This was very interesting journalism. Thank you asian boss.

Damn its my first time to know that the Philippines is the first republic in asia

i love how the guy with strips shirt answer..so brilliant

It is very disappointing for me to see some of my fellowmen being unaware of our precolonial history. As a history lover, I'm really tempted to agree but the guy in striped shirt was right. But I think schools should teach more of our history to the students.

Those from the Provinces literally had to learn 3 Languages since young. 1. Local Language (Bisaya, Ilonggo, Kapampangan, Pangasinense, Ilokano, etc.) 2. Filipino Language 3. English Language That's how we learn languages in the Philippines, cause it's more fun here.

Keep the name, but CHANGE THE FILIPINO MINDSET. That's what's needed to change and is still purely lacking in Filipinos. Subconsciously as a nation we still operate as a colony. It shows in our media, the way we speak, our preferences, our actions etc.

So essentially most of them think their leader is an idiot 😂

Maharlika - Comment The Philippine Island - Like Philippines - Do Both 🤗🤗

Depressingly, this video shows how poorly we Filipinos even know our own history, the average reaction is quite literally just: "lol nakasanayan na natin to eh bat kailangang palitan?" As one young adult put it: "Di naman tayo maka-move on." That stripe dude is really just the 1% demographic of the people who actually understand our culture (I doubt I'm part of that). The Philippines had its opportunity to shine on the world stage decades ago, it missed the mark and it took decades until today to salvage a small fraction of that. ~My 3 cents, or sentimo

I totally agree with the guy in stripes. We shouldn’t be ashamed of our colonial past instead we should be proud that we dealt with it and grew from it.

What wrong with "Philippines" in the first place? Don't sound overly colonial to me. Anyhow: Changing the name will not undo any of the country's colonial past nor help out in any of the current issues. It will just cause every one outside its borders to go; "what?", "where?" and "who?"

the white-striped shirted guy is amazing and I totally agree with what he is saying. He knows what he is saying and is like giving a history lesoon sksksks

6:40 that man is so fluent in speaking english!!!, he knows many things about the Philippines And he also has a good voice he could be a host!, maybe he's a teacher 😮👏

Filipino is such a strange but beautiful language. Like mixing spanish, english and gibberish

As a non Filipino but a southeast asian brother, I hope Filipinos understand calling urselves Filipinos means u are all still subjects of King Philip of Spain. I feel it is time our bros and sistas of the Philippines to claim back their heritage and culture, one which is shared by the rest of maritime insular southeast asia. Come back to us.

its been 2yrs and the country's name are still *The Philippines*

I vote no for obvious reasons lol. It’s just unnecessary. I vote we elect the guy in the striped shirt for president!!!Hahaha

ACTUALLY, ALL OF THEM ANSWERED VERY LOGICALLY AND INTELLIGENTLY. ESPECIALLY THEY GUY SPEAKING ENGLISH ALL THE TIME. FOR ME: 1. THE PHILIPPINES HAS BEEN USED FOR SO LONG AND I DONT THINK IT SHOULD BE CHANGED SINCE IT IS ALREADY AN. ESTABLISHED NAME. 2. WE HAVE TO MOVE FORWARD FROM WHAT SPAIN DID TO OYR COUNTRY, AND YES THERE'S NOTHING TO BE ASHAMED OF FROM OUR PAST. OUR PAST WHAT MADE US TODAY WHETHER ITS GOOD OR BAD. SPAIN HAS CONTRIBUTED A LOT IN OUR CULTURE, FOOD, LANGUAGES, TRADITIONS, BEHAVIOR, BELIEFS AND OF COURSE SPANISH BLOOD RUNS IN THE VEIN OF THE MAJORITY OF THE FILIPINOS. LIKE MYSELF. HEHE 3. MAHARLIKA LOOKS GREAT TO BE HONEST. BUT IT SOUNDS BADUY HAHAHHA (OPINION KO YAN MANAHIMIK KA)! 😂 4. CHANGING THE NAME OF OUR COUNTRY NEEDS APPROVAL FROM THE FILIPINOS AND NOT JUST BY THE PRESIDENT ONLY. 5. VIVA FILIPINAS!

Yep, change it back! Those who said no, should go to Spain instead. Too Spanish cultured already. Besides, Magellan DIDN’T discover Philippines; he looked for it to conquer it lmao. He looked for it not just to convert the ancient Pilipinos to Christianity, but mostly because of the country’s gold. The Spanish erased the Philippines real history, and only few knows about it. It’s not that hard to look for Ph’s real history. Like what the guy in striped shirt mentioned, it’ll really be hard knowing there are too many documents to change, but since when did achieving something become so easy? However, this time, the long process of changing will be worth it, as it’s for your very own country and who you truly are.

"Maharlika" is a specific class of people in the North, particularly being a class of warriors (much like knights and samurai). To name the entire country with that is stretching too thin for its definition. It'd be cool to have an Austronesian, "back to the roots" kind of name--but I dunno about using this one.

That is why you study your History.When I was Elementary, High School and College I love the Philipine history and World history

The Philippines lack a sense of a strong nationhood... Colonial mentality still exist...

the fact that only a few people know about the Maharlika Empire frustrates me.

Most people are hesitant to change. At first I was thinking they should change their name to be able to forge their own identity. Then after hearing the last bit by the striped shirt gentleman, it made me realize that I was thinking of their colonial history as something shameful, which is wrong. Either way, Filipino people are amazing, much love to them.

For the man in stripes...... You deserve a lot of applause. You really gave me hope that there are Filipinos who still know about our history, the origin of words within the issue, and who also thinks practical that changing the name of a country is expensive. :)

These Filipinos mindset are Indonesia's biggest fear considering they changed their name from dutch east indies to indonesia to break away from colonial past

Before the Spanish rule, there was no Philippines. Our society was composed of different ethnic tribes. If Spain didn't colonize our country, the Philippines wouldn't exist. Some of the parts of the archipelago would be part of Malaysia, Indonesia, China or even Vietnam. The so called pre-colonial Kingdom of Maharlika is just a conspiracy theory.

That dude said it right! Filipino needs to move forward n bring their identity.

I don't know if the interviewer choose the wrong targets, or they actually represent most of Philippines peoples, but something just feels off from most of their answers...

Of course the colonial names must be changed. It's a disgrace to your ancestors. The older generation always failing the young ones.

Love philiipines from India ...

We would prefer to call us "NaturalHabitatOfNarutoWeebs"

Indonesians would love the name 'Maharlika' which sounds like the word 'precious, expensive, wealthy'. It also cognates with the word Mahardika (someone with intelligence) and Merdeka which means 'freedom', showing the intention to detach from colonial mentality.

Duterte: Changes Philippines name Philip II: *Sad Spanish noises**

Most of them spits nonsense. I really like how the guy in stripes answer, very informative and does makes sense

I’m a Saudi women, and I love the Philippines.🇵🇭 You are a great nation with kind mannered, educated people, and whether the name changes or not you’ll still be great!

Whatever you decide to call yourselves- We love the people of the Philippines-My best vacations ever!

America was named after an Italian merchant and navigator, Amerigo Vespucci. The Americans are not complaining. So why the hell should we?

Absolutely! Burma changed to Myanmar. Persia to Iran. Time for "The Phillipines" to go! I've been thinking about this long time ago.

Changing the country name would be expensive, you have replace passports, government documents, our embassies from other countries, etc. We should just imporve the country Updated I'm a College student and not oppose in changing the country's name but I don't want it because I love the country's name, if some people want to change it because it's the only way to move on from our past so do it, I don't care, but changing the country's name would require a referendum that every citizen of this country has the right to say if they want to change it or not change it.

Without our history, we wouldn't be here like we are today.

Sometimes change is good. So, dont be afraid on it. For the information of everyone. Changing the name to maharlika was proposed already in the past.Year 1978 by Senator Ilarde.

Even as an outsider, i reconize a lot of spanish words when they talk, spanish is very much in their culture, thats part of who they are mixed asian, arab and spanish. Also I like that sometime they just switch to english like mid sentence lol

Duterte wanted to change it to "Maharlika" because he felt it was more related to us because of our Malay origins than being named after a Spanish king. Edit: correct me if Im wrong but at least that's what I saw.

President Duerte also needs to change his name. After all, the name is Spanish

we need to do the same in mexico. starting by changing our last names back to indigenous names instead of spanish ones,

5:50 the comment that I was looking and waiting for ages!! Ghad thank you!

A name won't change the value of the country. It'll be the same country with a different name.The only argument would be to identify as our own selves and break free from what the Spanish called us, however if you look at the counterarguments you can see why many people would disagree. "Maharlika" is a word with such a beautiful meaning but it's not enough of a word to change the name of the Philippines to. People identify as Proud 'Pinoys' and 'Pinays' because they are people of the Philippines. If anything, the Philippines as a name for our country shows that we're a country rich with history and that we can move on with this label even though it caused distress. It shows that Filipinos are strong people who have grit and tenacity.

The changing of the name feels a bit unnecessary. Im spanish and I want philipines to be free and choose for themselves, but changing the name doesnt make sense to me. The name of spain comes from when we were conquered by romans, and they called us hispania, and from more than 2000 years ago we kept the name and made it ours. We also were invaded by muslims and it lasted 800 years, they called us alandalus and we keep that name even today in our southern region, called andalucia. In the end, you have to take your past and make it yours, not hide it, and be proud of it, moving forward and developing your own country on top of it, every country has been a colony at some point of its history. So people shouldnt feel bad for being a colony in the past, just remember about it and look forward to the future. EDIT: again, if you want to change the name is up to you, is your choice and you can do it, power to you. I was just saying my opinion. If what you want to do is develop your country, work, feel proud of yourselves and do it, dont fall into the victimhood culture everyone uses nowadays. Youre not less than anybody else in this world, you are strong and you can do it.

Yes, Change the Name of Philippines

I am totally unsurprised by the incredulous reactions of Filipinos. I have nothing against Duterte, but in this case, changing the name of the Philippines to Maharlika is inane and stupid.