Journalists are both the older siblings and the utility workers of democracy. Published in Rappler on December 8, 2021.
The four founders of Rappler are fondly called Manangs by the people who work with them; even some people outside work have taken to calling them that too. The term "manang" means "older sister" in some Philippine languages; its likely root is the Spanish for sister, "hermana." (And from the Spanish for "older brother," we may have gotten "manong.")
But the terms are also used as a friendly honorific: They describe an older person worthy of respect. It is different from an honorific like "Gat," which because it is ennobling (it is best understood as a title of nobility) is also estranging. Gat Jose Rizal is someone we look up to, usually from a distance; Manong Pepe Rizal is someone we know quite well, whom we can have a beer with.
The Filipino farm workers who immigrated to the United States in the 1920s and the 1930s were called manongs then, and are forever remembered as manongs now. Many of them were from the Ilocos, whose language uses the term in the sense of older brother. They were not, they could not have been, all older brothers, but they were old familiars, and deserving of respect.
But in Filipino culture, the role of the older sibling is burdened by real responsibilities; the manang and the manong are like surrogate parents, who help look after, who help raise, and in some instances who help pay for the education of, the younger siblings.
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