Source: PATRICIA LICUANAN, A MORAL RECOVERY PROGRAM: BUILDING A
PEOPLE-- BUILDING A NATION. THE MANY FACES OF THE FILIPINO From this discussion of the strengths and weaknesses of the Filipino, it is clear that there is much that is good here, but there is also much that needs to be changed. Many of our strong points are also the sources of our weakness. As a people, we are person-oriented, and relationships with others are a very important part of our lives. Thus, we are capable of much caring and concern for others. On the other hand, in the extreme our person orientation leads to lack of objectivity and a disregard for universal rules and procedures so that everyone, regardless of our relationship with them, is treated equally. Our person orientation leads us to be concerned for people, and yet unfair to some. Our family orientation is both a strength and a weakness, giving us a sense of rootedness and security, both very essential to any form of reaching out to others. At the same time, it develops in us an in-group orientation that prevents us from reaching out beyond the family to the larger community and the nation. Our flexibility, adaptability and creativity is a strength that allows us to adjust to any set of circumstances and to make the best of the situation. But this ability to "play things by ear" leads us to compromise on the precision and discipline necessary to accomplish many work-oriented goals. Our sense of joy and humor serves us well in difficult times. it makes life more pleasant, but serious problems do need serious analysis, and humor can also be destructive. Our faith in God and our religiosity are sources of strength and courage, but they also lead to an external orientation that keeps us passive and dependent on forces outside ourselves. There are other contradictions in the many faces of the Filipino. We find pakikipagkapwa-tao and the kanya-kanya mentality living comfortably together in us. We are other-oriented and capable of great empathy; and yet we are self-serving, envious of others, and unconstructively critical of one another. We also find the Filipino described alternately as hardworking and lazy. Indeed we see that we are capable of working long and hard at any job. However, our casual work ethic as well as our basic passivity in the work setting also is apparent as we wait for orders and instructions rather than taking the initiative.