“I’m proud of where I come from and love how the past continues to shape contemporary traditions in the Philippines”.
Donna has been a member of the ROH team since 2021 and is proud to be from the Visayas region of the Philippines. As a Phlebotomist, saving lives is the most rewarding part of Donna’s role. She values that at ROH everyone, regardless of band or role, plays their part in delivering quality care to patients.
The cultural clothing Donna wears is a representation of a Dalagang Pilipina (typical Filipina woman). The dress, a Terno, was originally a clothing style that Filipino women wore in the 1800s during the Spanish colonisation. The word terno comes from the Spanish word ‘to match’ referring to a matching set of clothes made of the same fabric.
It traces its origin from Baro’t Saya, which consist of a blouse (Baro or Camisa) a folded rectangular piece of a fabric worn over the shoulders (Panuelo) and a short rectangular cloth (Tapis) wrapped over top of a long skirt (Saya). In the early Spanish colonial period, women from Luzon and Visayas (where Donna is from) wore these garments in layers of stripes and chequered patterns, which were a display of wealth.
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