Regionless

Sa Ulo Ng Mga Nagbabagang Balita (Headlines in this Issue)

1. Ariusgrad's Ninth Year of Public Service as Delegate: What It Means to Lead a Medium-Sized Region in the International Stage

2. Embracing the Filipino Community in NS: PCARI Established as Inclusive Consultative Body for Philippine-themed Regions

3. Philippines Candidate Lanaograd Elected New URA Vice President after Close Campaign

4. Philippines Delegate Voting Power Up 16 Notches in February Ranking

5. PEFToN Affiliates with Philippine Defense Force, Assists in Japan and Belgium Defenses

6. Philippines Maintains 150+ Embassies as Ariusgrad Launches New Membership Growth Drive

7. Feature: How to Express your Love in Different Philippine Languages

8. Feature: Filipino Words That Were Probably Loaned From Other Countries

9. Feature: COVID-19 Information Campaign

10. Contact Information

On the momentous day of January 31, 2012, Ariusgrad was elected as World Assembly Delegate of the Philippines for the first time. Ever since, it would be elected three more times in July 2012, June 2016, and May 2020, as it continued to serve the medium-sized region for nine years as of last January. Its administration of the Philippines was with severe difficulty, having to confront both internal and external threats throughout the years. If foreign observers would say the Philippines had not been facing any serious threat nowadays, it was most likely attributed to Ariusgrad's solid fundamentals of solidarity, sustainability, and anticipatory governance. Finding an unstable region which saw three delegates resigning within a span of a year, and a population of around 20 nations, it strived to mold the Philippines as one of the world's largest. In 2014, the Philippines achieved high regional power status for the first time, while in 2017, it was labeled as an enormous region which it had sustained to this day. Indeed, the Philippines was one of the world's largest founderless and multilingual regions, registering as 20th and 7th respectively at one time in 2020. Meanwhile, perhaps Ariusgrad's humility was a fault to an extent, as many in the NationStates community may have not yet heard of this heroic figure who not only guided the Philippines for most of its modern history (the region was refounded on January 17, 2011, making Ariusgrad's delegacy cover around 90 percent so far), but also endeavored for the Philippines to be an active participant in many stellar defenses with renowned defender coalitions, including that of Japan, Singapore, Asia, Iran, Syria, Belgium, Katipunan, Angvar, Region of Reunited Muslim States (now United Empire of Islam), and ASEAN (now Association of Southeast Asian Nations), among others.

While words may not be able to contain the gratitude for such commitment to a single region for so long, the following were some testimonials which appreciate Ariusgrad's meaningful public service for the Philippines and the world through the years:

World Assembly Secretary-General Kuriko of 10000 Islands

Kuriko wrote:

In a Cosmos where most founderless regions quickly die after the first few raids, Ariusgrad has persevered and continued on. They've sought allies to help keep the raiders at bay through the United Regions Alliance, taking on a leading role within the multi-regional organization. They've innovated a new government for their region. They've put their heart and soul into the continuance of their community through raid after raid, that sometimes could have turned destructive.

World Assembly Delegate HumanSanity of 10000 Islands

HumanSanity wrote:

Ariusgrad is certainly at the forefront of strong, steady, consistent leadership of a mid-sized region - they are the highest exemplar of this style of gameplay.

World Assembly Delegate Ransium of Forest

Ransium wrote:

Can you imagine a role harder than a long time delegate of a medium-sized region? You're not small enough to fly under the radar, not large enough that your endos give you a safe buffer from raids. And in if your region happens to be named after an actual geographic place, even more of a challenge. You have to hold your community together in the face of constant interruption. To be able to stay sane, keep going, and keep your community together for this amount of time is something truly exceptional.

World Assembly Delegate Aumeltopia of The South Pacific

Aumeltopia wrote:

I think natives of founderless regions deserve a lot more recognition than they generally get.

Founder Benevolent Thomas of The Order of the Grey Wardens

Benevolent Thomas wrote:

As a defender, I must say I am a fan of Ariusgrad. They pay attention to threats to their region and are patient and level-headed when Philippines is successfully invaded. Their reliability to quickly act upon successful liberations by defender forces is always appreciated and celebrated.

Founder Free Azell of The United Regions Alliance

Free Azell wrote:

Ariusgrad is a Delegate of one of our embassy regions. It has served for a while now. It has also used its FA skills to fend off many Raider attacks on their founderless region. It has survived and persevered over many obstacles with help from their government and its natives in the region to lead a normal NS region life while having many threats to their region pending daily.

Vice President Lanaograd of The United Regions Alliance

Lanaograd wrote:

The survival of our founderless yet resilient region is a resounding testament to Ariusgrad's underrated defense principles, including the concept of force in being. That is, a military that is always defending. The unity, stability, and progress it has spearheaded as our dedicated leader throughout the years has created a region of great international standing. What is unfortunate is how the NS world in general remains oblivious of our delegate's legacy in for a medium-sized and founderless region such as the Philippines. Only six other delegates have kept the delegacy for 3 years or more in regions with over 100 member nations. But beyond its longevity, Ariusgrad's vision for inclusive and sustainable development in a shared world is commendable on itself. It carried these ideals when it campaigned for WA Secretary General back in 2016, and it still continues to foster them to this day with the updated agenda of solidarity, sustainability, and anticipatory governance. I will not forget how Ariusgrad's inspired leadership has helped mold me into the leader I am today, and its continuous support for me as the region's representative to the URA alliance is only one of those instances of its mentorship. Ariusgrad is in the habit of creating leaders that will create leaders.

Minister Free Las Pinas of 10000 Islands

Free Las Pinas wrote:

Philippines is founderless, medium-sized, and named after a real-life country. Holding that community together, sticking to it for years, and gaining their respect, would be difficult and an awful lot of stress, and I believe it warrants commendation.

Minister Secular State of the Philippines of Philippines

Secular State of the Philippines wrote:

Ariusgrad has served this region well in almost a decade. He has thwarted a dozen invasions and usurpers under his delegation and has kept this region's peace. He also is the eldest member of the old guard, member states of this region prior to its refounding. There's no better candidate to lead this region.

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In recognition of the growing Filipino community, wherein some had chosen to establish regions of their own than to merge with the lead region Philippines, the region's World Assembly Delegate Ariusgrad spearheaded the signing of the PCARI Declaration last February 8 with six other Filipino-themed regions and two Filipino-themed institutions. PCARI, which stood for Philippine Council of Affiliated Regions and Institutions, was derived from the concepts introduced in the 2013 Philippine Regional Convention, a global conference hosted under the Ariusgrad administration that was opened for all Filipino-themed nations.

While there had been mergers in the region's history involving regions like the Philippine Wing Islands, Filipino, Katipunan Union, and Allied Nation for Transparency, there were also regions which pursued their autonomy and sovereignty along with keeping warm relations with the Philippines. With this consultative body in the books, Ariusgrad saw the opportunity of even closer relations with these regions, which collectively registered 140 members as of signing. The PCARI Declaration had the Philippines, as the historical forerunner of the Filipino community in NationStates, being the lead of this new council.

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*adapted from the URA Tribune articles on the January 2021 Vice Presidential Election

The 30-strong United Regions Alliance (URA) held its general election last January 25 to 31, with the Philippines uniting behind its only candidate, former URA Head of Public Affairs Lanaograd, who launched a bid for Alliance Vice President. Despite massive support from its home region, it had seen its pre-election lead at 52 percent slightly shrink enough to deprive it of an outright majority, obtaining 49 percent of the vote in the first round of voting, followed by Ridgefield's The XII Legion Fulminata with 25 percent, Former Head of Recruitment New Reiji with 18 percent, and the Democratic Commonwealth's Trekinstan with 8 percent. While Lanaograd's first round lead of 24 points over XII Legion was larger than Suvmia's lead over Maricoen, New Reiji and Trekinstan somehow outperformed pre-election surveys enough to force two more rounds of voting. With the third round giving Lanaograd 71 percent of the vote, the highest for any vice presidential candidate in alliance history, the URA welcomes the representative from the Philippines as its new Vice President. Both New Reiji and XII Legion have expressed their desire to run for positions in the next election cycle.

Unlike the July 2020 results, XII Legion appeared more amenable to accept the outcome of his second run for the said position. To recall, XII Legion lost by one vote to outgoing Vice President Honeydewistania in the previous election cycle. Meanwhile, Lanaograd had this to say in its post-election speech, "We have once again proven that the URA is an alliance and an arsenal of democracy. As we embark on the journey of inclusive and sustainable growth, we can hope that more voters would emerge in the years to come."

During the campaign, Lanaograd in particular had been publicly endorsed by Former URA Vice President Honeydewistania, New Eastern Europe WA Delegate Maricoen, India WA Delegate Indusse, and Philippines WA Delegate Ariusgrad, among others.

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In a delegate voting power ranking released by Augustin Alliance, the Philippines ranked 119th in the world as of February 9, an improvement from being 135th in another ranking published by Refugia two months ago. In a statement, Ariusgrad saw this as a motivation for continuous efforts in sustaining the region's World Assembly membership campaign.

In a related development, the Philippines had once again achieved 100 percent delegate endorsement rate as of February 14, Valentine's Day. The remarkable endorsement levels of the Philippines was attributed to one of Ariusgrad's early defensive principles, that of cross-endorsement. While looked down by the region's members back in Ariusgrad's early years as Delegate (it was first elected in 2012) because it theorized a critical mass of at least 20 percent WA membership in proportion to total population and a minimum of 80 percent delegate endorsement rate, the significance of such best practice was seen in action with high influence levels reinforcing a tally of historic defenses. Immediately prior to the 2017 Christmas Invasion, there were only three (3) members with influence above 3,000. Today, there were about 23 members at this level. Defense Minister Secular State of the Philippines emphasized how these best practices by Ariusgrad had helped the medium-sized region flourish.

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Formed in February 2021 by Fort Ilocandia, the Philippine Expeditionary Force to the Nations (PEFToN) was designed to be an autonomous fortress unit participating mainly for overseas missions. Soon after formation, it became affiliated with the Philippine Defense Force (PDF), the central military organization of the Philippines dedicated to both regional and global operations. With an initial membership of three, it had since doubled as it expanded operational capacity. One of its more notable missions thus far included the defense of embassy allies Japan and belgium. Fort Ilocandia stated how PEFToN would augment the achievement of Ariusgrad's vision to have ready power for peace. Meanwhile, the Philippine Defense Force was continually recruiting. It was announced last January how the PDF had already doubled its inaugural membership of 15 in May 2020. At least four officer promotions had been publicly endorsed in the past few months.

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As of February 15, 2021, the Philippines had established more than 150 embassies with key allies, a feat in foreign relations and diplomacy under the Ariusgrad administration. Prior to Ariusgrad's assumption of office, the Philippines had built less than 20 embassies, none of which had significant international influence. Today, not only had the Philippines successfully joined the 30-member United Regions Alliance as an active participant, embassies continue to foster good relations with major regions such as 10000 Islands, The Rejected Realms, The Order of the Grey Wardens, Spear Danes, Founderless, St Abbaddon, First World Order, Force, and members of the Augustin Alliance.

In a related development, Ariusgrad announced at the heels of the region's 10th anniversary since refounding that the Philippines would again conduct a recruitment drive to attract new members. A number of recruitment campaigns had been initiated under Ariusgrad in the past years, allowing the Philippines to grow from around 20 members in January 2012 to more than 100 members today. Ariusgrad had also reiterated its official support for roleplaying and mapmaking programs, some of which had attracted a sizeable audience in the forums.

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It may not be common knowledge, but the Philippines is home to around 180 languages, with some having significantly more speakers than others. Nonetheless, all of these languages are part of the Filipino culture. To demonstrate such richness in relation to the recent commemoration of Hearts Day (or Valentine's Day), the following would feature how to say "I love you" in some of the Philippine languages.

Tagalog: Mahal kita
Cebuano: Gihigugma teka
Ilocano: Ay-ayaten ka
Bicolano: Namumutan ta ka
Kapampangan: Kaluguran da ka
Hiligaynon: Palangga ko ikaw
Maranao: Pekababaya-an ko seka

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Considering the geographical and strategic place of the Philippines in history, it would not be a wonder how Filipinos managed to incorporate a number of foreign concepts as their own. The variety, however, might be more or less surprising with this feature of loan words that were originally not Filipino (in the order from left to right: English - other foreign language - Filipino).

Spanish (Spain)
vaccine - vacuna - bakuna
newspaper - diario - dyaryo
horse - caballo - kabayo
coal - hollin - uling
how are you - como estas - kumusta

Sanskrit (India)
science - agama - agham
news - varta - balita
skilled - abhyasa - bihasa
spirit - dvaya - diwa
teacher - guru - guro

Cantonese (China)
sister - achi - ate
monosodium glutamate - bicheng - betsin
armed forces - hokbu - hukbo
noodles - pansit - pansit
light - tienglau - tanglaw

Japanese (Japan)
mosquito coil - katorisenko - katol
bottle cap - tansan - tansan
rock paper scissors - jankenpon - jack en poy
cheers - kanpai - kampay
how to say it - teyuuka - teka

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As early as January 2020, Philippines Delegate Ariusgrad had been concerned about the spread of COVID-19, still known then as nCov (novel coronavirus). Therefore, it had initiated an extensive awareness and information campaign in the region to help fight the said disease, considering even to this day, there were still variables of the illness which remain beyond human knowledge so far. This space is dedicated for the campaign, featuring a helpful infographic from the World Health Organization.

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Feel free to telegram or Discord message the following if you have any questions or comments!

• Delegate and President Contact Info: Ariusgrad, @Ariusgrad#8167

• Vice Delegate and Vice President Contact Info: Ecnav Enitsuj, @Ecnav Enitsuj#4211

• Regional Affairs Minister and URA Voting Representative Contact Info: Lanaograd, @Lanaograd#0904

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