In this article, I survey studies about English in the Philippines, many of which have been heavily influenced by the world Englishes paradigm. It was Braj Kachru himself who brought world Englishes to the Philippines in 1996, at a conference in Manila. About a hundred wide‐eyed Filipino teachers, who grew up believing that only American English existed, were never the same again. This contribution to a special issue in honor of Braj Kachru is an expression of utang na loob, our debt of gratitude to him for changing the course of English language studies and scholarship in the Philippines.