The Philippine South Sea Pearl
It has been a while since I have written. I won’t mention rules this time, but I would rather praise the beauty of my beautiful country!!! How can I possibly not write about the Philippines!! Since there are a lot of people writing about our beautiful beaches, I shall write about jewelry and one of its components, the pearl: )
The pearl is Philippines national gem. The orient is the value factor that Philippine south sea pearls are famous for. The “ inner glow” ,is a unique characteristic that makes a pearl look more alive. It is perfect because Philippines is also called “ the pearl of the orient”. I just found out this week that my country is called as such because history claims that a certain missionary named it, and then it was popularized by Jose Rizal and Apolinario Mabini. Jose Rizal, is our national hero and when he wrote his “ Last Farewell”, the pearl of the orient was immortalized. Both Rizal and Mabini are our great leaders. Another reason is that one of the biggest pearl in the world was found in the Philippines. The 14 pound or 6.4 kg pearl was found by a Filipino diver in 1934 and was sold to a Beverly Hills jeweler for $200, 000,which is now valued to be $40,000,000!!!!
Two days ago, I received a cute pearl necklace from Fernando which is made of freshwater pearls. I have several pearls, real and fake ones!! I just love them. To wear a pearl is like a magic spell, put it on and instantly it makes you pretty!!! Pearls are the easiest way to aim for that classic look and elegance. That is why I chose to write about this, because as good as it is, there are also sad stories behind the beauty of the Philippine south sea pearls.
I worked for 3 years making accessories, in the Philippines and London. However, it is sad to know that a lot of people have no knowledge of Philippine pearls due to lack of advertisement. If they do, they have no trust or doubt the products that we have. When someone talks about pearls, one would say those are from Japan or Australia, the rest are then south sea pearls without any labels. Apart from getting the labeled pearls from respected jewelry stores and Jewelmer , a very famous brand that sells Philippine south sea pearls, the rest is unlabeled. These are the ones exported to the other countries. At that moment that we sold and exported those unlabeled pearls, we just lost being a Filipino. We have become just another generic South Sea Pearl. We lost the recognition and respect that we ought to have. 
This scenario holds true even for our tourism industry. Philippines has one of the best diving sites in Asia, and the foreigners who have gone and experience it would say that what I am saying is real. However, due to a lack of budget in promoting our tourism in other countries, we then lost that chance again. I once went to Thailand and brought home a diving brochure, a lot of people get their diving certificates in Thailand. They are quite famous for that. The sad part about the brochure is that the picture they publish is the exact picture of the reefs that we have in Palawan Philippines. My brother, who is a diver, recognized it, and apparently that same picture was branded to be in Thailand. What a shame!!!!!
I believe, this is exactly what is happening to our pearls. With the domination of foreign companies in our industry, although we have gained foreign investments, we also lost our identity a lot. I will not mention specific countries and companies since that is too crucial.
After writing the sad reality for those who have failed to get to know what we really have, there are also those who have seen the best of Philippine products. Also, to get to know what a place can offer, one must go and see it for real. These pictures are from Jewelmer, on a show at the Le Grand Amphitheatre of the Museum National d’Histoire Naturelle in Paris, France. I have known this brand since I was a child since my mother loves it : ) I do not have one for myself now, but I really hope to own a piece, one of these days: )
Necklace by Cristina : freshwater Philippine pearls, Swarovski, and glass leaves.
Credits:
Jckonline.com for Paris show pictures:
Jewelmer for pearl value definition
The Ultimate Orient book and photography Scott Tuason
