Faith Marfil

BSN II-1
CWTS – 35: 7AM – 10AM (Sunday)

Assignment in Civic Welfare Training Service (CWTS)

Filipino Values and Nationalism

There are various "ideal" Filipino values which if will be put into actual
practice might make us one of the most polite and respectful nationalities. But
again, it is just “ideal”. Reality-wise, I believe that we deviated a lot from
conservative Filipino values. People doing “pagmamano” are a rare scene and
we're not as religious compared before. I’m not saying that all of these changes
are harmful since I see a benefit of us being not fully engrossed by the strict
Catholic views anymore like for example, condoms and other contraceptives are
now more discussed and available to everyone since it shows the abstinence is
not working at this present generation.

Personally, we don't really practice a lot of Filipino values at home. It

might be because my mom has a more liberated outlook in life, but my belief is
that treating other people with respect is beyond race and values. You treat
people with mindfulness not because it's a Filipino thing, but because it's
simply the right thing to do.

When it comes to nationalism, I don't believe in it either. I doubt that

there's a thing called Filipino Nationalism. We are more regionalized. We take
pride in the region that we came from like for example, the Tagalogs of Central
and Southern Luzon, and the Bisayas in Central Visayas. To prove this
regionalism, take a look at our language. Yes, it is Filipino, but it is mostly
derived from Tagalog and in general, Tagalog is still considered as a more
superior dialect compared to others. And this is just not today; even our
history proves that we have always been divided like how certain someone
ordered the founder of KKK to be killed. Our history has always been filled with
betrayals. A Filipino teaming up with a more powerful player to cheat on a
fellow Filipino for personal gain and recognition. Where is the nationalism in
that?

I know that my views about Filipino Values and Nationalism looks so

negative, but it is what it is. This is how I truly see it. Of course, I wish our
values would go positively cope with the advancement of time because if we will
still push the existing old values, it will surely lead to failure. Sadly though, I
don't see that change happening in the near future.