The problem of nationhood is caused by societal adaptive challenges such as mis-

education of the Filipinos that made them be colonized by other nations. And as we Filipinos
stand for truth and fight for our country, we are challenged to adapt to a new society. In line with
these adaptive challenges, there have been risk factors that demotivate us being Filipinos. The
factors that I want to state are the Southeast Asian social imagination, public realm, and
authenticity.

An actor should be able to have sociological and ideological understanding in order to

gain motivation to experience moral equality (Mulder, 2013). If the actor fails to do so, he can’t
fight against inequality that he might experience from other people. The next one is public
realm. Public sphere should be for “public” and not for personal gain. However, it is perceived
as the field of contest of the political and economic interests of the elites in the country. This
makes public realm not belonging to the public as it has been exploited by the officials,
politicians, and businessmen for their own gain. This deteriorates the actor resorts to be self-
centered and frustration rises. This develops self-centered orientation that leads away from
legal or ideological attempts to come to grips with the public world (Mulder, 2013). And lastly,
one of the risk factor that demotivates an actor is the authenticity of one’s identity. The
widespread ignorance about the country’s cultural affinity with its neighbors results in a helpless
insularity. Our insularity will be difficult for us to preserve thus our identities as Filipino will
deteriorate as well. We fought for our independence and being called as colony of Spain or
English-speaking Malay, according to Mulder (2013), will demotivate us Filipinos for being
Filipinos.

The three risk factors that I mentioned are some of the reasons an actor could be
demotivated. In analyzing, however, solutions should be presented as well. The topic should
also include on how to overcome these risk factors to add up knowledge in order for Filipinos to
avoid being demotivated. I believe that by having this will be a step closer to overcome the
societal adaptive challenges stated in the module.

Reference:
Mulder, Niels (2013), Filipino Identity: The Haunting Question, in: Journal of Current Southeast
Asian Affairs, 32, 1, 55–80.