A response to the video "20 reasons why I dislike the Philippines"

More than a week ago, March 15, while I was checking on my twitter account, I saw the hashtag I love Philippines trending worldwide. 

And I was like “Woooow” and then I asked myself “Why? What’s with today, It’s not a national heroes day, nor our country’s independence day?. Then below this awesome hashtag, I saw this “Dislike the Philippines” trending. The more I got confused, how could the love and dislike for the Philippines happen on the same time?

This confusion led me to this video, 20 reasons why I dislike the Philippines which became viral causing outrage and debates online and getting the attention of news media.

This video was posted by Jimmy Sieczka, an American who has been living in the Philippines for 3 and half years. In the video, Jimmy takes a walk through Philippine soil enumerating the things he doesn’t like about the country.

Shot in Cebu, Sieczka begins his video documentary with this:

What does Jimmy Sieczka  about the Philippines? 

In the video, Sieczka rants his disgust on the gigantic hole on the sidewalk, pollution, traffic (who loves that anyway), vehicles honking horns, lazy security guards, and terrorists. 

He complains about the unsanitary preparation of food, small-sized tissues, beers being served warm. Oh well he should have asked for ice. Comfort rooms being not comfortable at all, pissing anywhere. On that, I’m keeping my mouth shut.

He’s also annoyed by vendors who keep pestering him to buy Cialis, a sexual performance enhancer which might have offended his ego and nags why all the hot girls in the Philippines are “lady boys”. Ehem. Excuse me Mr. Jimmy? Are you sure you’ve been in the Philippines?

He is also pissed by Filipinos getting crazy with whitening products. But hey, aren’t Americans obsessed with getting tanned?

Jimmy Sieczka also warned prospective tourists that though Philippines is a beautiful country with 7,107 islands, they must be prepared for the worst.


There are mixed responses to this video. Many have agreed to his points noting that the things he presented are factual and that we should take it maturely and act on it.  And there are also those who disagree calling Sieczka conceited and whiny. Some would even say if he has that much reason to dislike the Philippines, then why does he’s still here?


For many Filipinos, the video is rude and offensive.

On a personal note, when I watched the video, I was expecting myself to be angry on the maker of the video but then I found myself agreeing to what he’s saying, mostly, than being defensive. I was not happy about it either, in fact even though the video was presented satirically, I cannot laugh about it, because he speaks of the truth, a saddening truth about the country I was born in, the truth that hurts.


Tourism secretary Ramon Jimenez Jr. took this video optimistically and said they “do not take it against the maker of the video. The important thing is to continue promote the Philippines and encourage everyone to remain gung-ho and optimistic”

A part of us was hurt after hearing all these negative comments, a proof that no matter what others would say about it, Philippines will still be a home for us. It will always be our dear beloved country.
What we can do now to show our country how much we love it is to care, to take those criticisms as a challenge and do some action.

Mr. Jimmy Sieczka may have found 20 things he disliked about the Philippines, but we know for sure that there are hundreds or even thousands of reason to love Philippines.