By Alon Calinao Dy: I marvel, where did the word "Pinoy" originate from? I constantly heard the words, "I am a proud Pinoy." Filipinos around the world used this word as a pride for themselves. Whenever they accomplish something good, they always say "pusong Pinoy or dugong Pinoy."
Filipinos called themselves many names like Pilipinos, Pilipinas, Pinays, Pinoys, Noypi, and others, which is why lots of foreign nationals do not understand us anymore. Jokingly, my American friend told me, "you're not a Filipino... You're a Pinoy." I couldn't blame him because we, Filipinos, have many aliases.
Speculations now say that the word "Pinoy" originated from the hit song of a Filipino folk singer Heber Bartolome's "Tayo'y mga Pinoy" (We are Filipinos) in 1970s. Still, there are other people who believe that it came after the assassination of former Senator Ninoy Aquino as a national figure and a hero during the oust of power of the Marcos regime in 1987.
I have friends who hate the word Pinoy. It is not that they don't believe Ninoy as a hero or hate him, but it is not an appropriate word for them to be named like that.
I respect their views and beliefs and I don't want to debate against them.
One of the things that I've learned being a Filipino is the word respect, but it does not mean I would believe anything that the books have already written. I understand the fact that we were under the Spanish, American, Japanese colonies. That's something we couldn't change. As we go along, we should always think the bright side of life and tell the truth as we are still part of the history.
