THE FILIPINO CHARACTER: STRENTHS AND WEAKNESSES

In 1998 Senator Leticia Shahani submitted to the Senate this Report titled “A
Moral Recovery Program: Building People, Building a Nation.” This report cites the
strengths and weaknesses of the Filipino character.

The strengths of the Filipino character are:

1. Pakikipagkapwa-tao
2. Family Orientation
3. Joy and Humor
4. Flexibility, Adaptability, and Creativity
5. Hard Work and Industry
6. Faith and Religiosity
7. Ability to Survive

The Filipino character also has weaknesses:

1. Extreme Family Centeredness
2. Extreme Personalism
3. Lack of Discipline
4. Passitivity and Lack of Initiative
5. Colonial Mentality
6. Kanya-kanya Syndrome, Talangka Mentality
7. Lack of Self-Analysis and Self-Reflection
8. Emphasis on Porma rather than Substance

Shahalani’s report (1988) explains that family orientation becomes in-group

orientation that prevents us from reaching out beyond the family to the larger community
and the nation. In our personalism, we are warm and caring but this leads us to lack of
objectivity. We are concerned with people we know but unfair to people we don’t know.
In our flexibility, we compromise precision and discipline. We are a joyful people with a
sense of humor but we can’t take things with humor all the time for serious problems
need serious analysis. Our faith in God is our source of strength but this makes us
dependent on forces outside us, do nothing that makes us submissive to God’s will. We
are good at pakikipagkapwa-tao and so we can easily empathize but we can at the
same time be envious of others. We can be hardworking and yet can be lazy and
passive in the workplace.

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 VALUE EDUCATION IN SCHOOLS

Senator Shahani’s report was given 1988. But its findings as reported may still be
true today. The Department of Education has its vision to help develop… “Filipinos who
passionately love their country and whose values and competencies enable them to
realize their full potential and contribute meaningfully to building the nation.” It has its
core values – Maka-Diyos, Makatao, Makakalikasan, and Makabansa. This can be an
uphill battle for Philippine schools to realize these considering the: 1) extreme family
centeredness, 2) extreme personalism, 3) lack of discipline, 4) passitivity and lack of
initiative, 5) colonial mentality, 6) kanya-kanya syndrome, talangka mentality, 7) lack of
self-analysis and self-reflection, 8) emphasis on porma rather than substance,

So that it will not be “more form than substance” as described in Senator

Shalani’s Report, Philippines schools have to intensify values education in the
curriculum. In fact, in response to this Report, Values Education now Educaksyon sa
Pagpapakatao in K to 12 Curriculum, was introduced as a separate subject in the basic
education curriculum under the Values Education Framework program of Dr. Lourdes
Quisumbing, hen Department of Education, Culture nad Sports Secretary in 1988-1990.
The Values education Framework was conceptualized in 1987. In 2002, the Basic
Education Curriculum (Grade1-6, and First-Fourth Year High School) integrated values
in the major learning areas or subjects. Beginning with the K to 12 Curriculum in 2013,
Values Education was renamed Edukasyon sa Pagpapakatao (EsP) for Grade 1-10. In
the Senior High Curriculum (Grade 11-12), there is no course with the title, Values
Education or Edukasyon sa Pagpapakatao but core courses such as Introduction to the
Philosophy of the Human Person and Personal Development, are in essence, Values
Education subject themselves.

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