“FILIPINO PROFESSIONALS whom we recruited to work in Singapore are as good as our own. Indeed, their architects, artists, and musicians are more artistic and creative than ours. . . The difference lies in the culture of the Filipino people. It is a soft, forgiving culture. (Yet they) write and speak with passion. If they could get their elite to share their sentiments and act, what could they not have achieved?”
—Lee Kuan Yew (1923-2015), Singapore's founding father