they want their kids to look their age

The latest singing sensation in the world is a 15-year-old Filipina, a petite girl named Charice who performed in Ellen Degeneres' show where the child impressed the host as well as the audience who gave the girl from the Philippines a standing ovation.  It was not only the powerful voice of Charice which captivated the hearts of foreign audiences.  It is her image as well, an image of a genuine child.

People are tired of child celebrities who are dolled up and dressed up like old entertainers.  They are tired of child celebrities acting and behaving like sexy adults.  The girl from the Philippines will certainly serve as a good role model to all the youth in the world.  Everybody hopes that Charice will not succumb to the lures of the material world, that she will remain as she is.

vowel problems among Visayans and Tagalog speakers

Filipinos from the Visayan part of the country give themselves away when they speak Pilipino or Tagalog because unlike the national language which has five vowel sounds /a/, /E/, /i/, /o/, & /u/, the Visayan dialect has only three of these vowel sounds and they are /a/, /i/ & /u/ so that explains the funny way some Visayans say certain words like "pira" for "pera" or "ati" for "ate" or instead of saying "opo" one hears "upu" which similarly sounds incorrect.

However, I have this to say. I am a Visayan but I never make such regional speech blunders because I know these vowel nuances and I practice the proper way of producing these sounds. I know of many other Visayans who do the same. Unfortunately, a great majority of Visayans do need more time to unlearn wrong speech habits acquired in earlier years.

Pilipino or Tagalog speakers are neither perfect for they too have their own problems. You notice that the original Pilipino alphabet (alpabeto) does not contain the sound /f/, /th/, and /v/. That is why Pilipino speakers speaking English usually have to grapple with words having those problem sounds. For instance, the word Philippines. Instead of saying it correctly, we might hear the word being said in many wrong ways like Pilifins or Filifins. Words with /th/ like three may be pronounced like tree.