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INTRODUCTION

A. Background of the Study

It’s a distinct tradition of every Filipino children and youths together with

their family is their respect for others especially for the elders. One form of paying

respect is ‘pagmamano’, but aside from this you can hear Filipinos saying ‘po’ and

‘opo’ whenever they’re having a conversation with the adults. These words are what

Filipinos use to show respect when talking to elders and/or to someone they pay

respect (Cruz,2008).

B. Statement of the Problem

The study aimed to assess the students that uses ‘po’ and ‘opo’ in having

conversations.

Specifically it aimed to answer the following questions:

a) Do students still value respect by using ‘po’ and ‘opo’ in conversations?

b) Do students still show the respect by using ‘po’ and ‘opo’ wherever they

go?

C. Significance of the Study

This study will help youths to be aware of how they show respect to others

especially to elders. This will serve as a wakeup call for them that respect is what

humanity needs and will still be needing in the future. This will prompt them to

hopefully take a look at their actions when having conversations with the elderly and
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adults. This also serves as a warning to those youths that forgot the values of respect

and its importance in the community.

D. Scope and Limitations

The study is limited to the assessment on the use of the words ‘po’ and ‘opo’

among youths. This study also focused on the 20 students from Regional Science

High School. Furthermore, the study limits the use survey questionnaires that was

personally distributed to the respondents by the researcher .

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REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

A. Review of Related Literature

It’s a sense of worth or personal value that you attach to somebody else. Respect

is an over-all evaluation that you give to someone based on many factor- what that person

is doing with their life, how they treat you and other people, whether they are honest or

not and if they seem to consistently do good things, it may be small or big, for other

people. Respect is the positive view that you can form of how someone is living their

own life. But on the other side, self-respect is your view of how you’re living your life

(Jackson, 2014).

Women are highly respected in the community. Ever since, Filipinos respect

women and their right, for them gender isn’t a hindrance for a person to achieve in life.

Most of the successful person today are women that worked hard in achieving their goals

in life. Men offer women seat in buses and in public places. They open doors for them

and help them get on and off vehicles, which only shows that women are highly respected

and they are treated well in the community (Mendoza,2006).

The Filipinos are polite and courteous. They greet their parents and elder relatives

by. kissing their right hands or by touching them against their foreheads which is also

known in the Philippines as ‘pagmamano’. They do this before going on a long journey

and upon arriving home everyday or whenever they meet a relative. They do it after

prayers and after coming home from the church. They also kiss the hands of their elders
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and relatives when they visit them. They really can’t forget to be courteous and respectful

in some many ways (Mendoza,2006).

B. Review of Related Studies

In other Asian countries they bow to pay respect. In Western countries they kiss

on the cheeks whenever they meet a person but here in the Philippines we pay respect

through ‘pagmamano’. One of the many ways on how Filipinos show respect is through

‘pagmamano’. ‘Pagmamano’ is a tradition in Philippines that is being done when you

meet a relative, before going out of the house to go somewhere, or just by arriving at

home. It is done through touching the hands of that person to your forehead. Wherever

you go in the Philippines you would always see children and youths paying respect to

elders through ‘pagmamano’. This is also done by children visiting their godparents

and/or grandparents to receive their blessings and also some presents or cash which is

referred to as “Aguinaldo” . For little children ‘pagmamano’ is one way to remind the

elders that young ones still values respect even though they don’t tell them about it. As

they are growing up this was already oriented to them. Filipinos are naturally respectful,

you don’t need to remind them on how to pay respect, you don’t need to show them,

because even as they were small they already know how to respect other people. And

that is why ‘Pagmamano’ is a hardened tradition in the Filipino family. It strengthens

that bond and ties of every family member with each other (Kinneas,2014).
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METHODOLOGY

A. Research Locale

The collection of the survey to answer the research problems was personally

distributed to the respondents.

B. Research Design

This study utilized the Descriptive Research Design. It utilized questionnaires to

collect data and information in order to answer questions about the current status of

the subject or topic of the study and uses formal samples to study preferences,

attitudes, concerns or interest of a sample. It also made use of statistical tools to

analyze the responses and interests of the samples.

C. General Procedure

The Research Respondents

The respondents of the study were the high school students from the Regional

Science High School –IX. The students selected were from Grade 10. There were

only 20 students which were chosen at random to fully represent the sample space

intended for the study.

Formulation of the Questionnaires

The researcher developed a self-centered questionnaire in order to collect the

necessary data in order to answer the research problems of this study. The questions

were divided into three sections. One section is whether they heard about the words
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‘po’ and ‘opo’. Second, is whether they use these at home, or in school, and/or in

public places. Lastly, they were asked by the question “Why do you think that youths

must pay respect to elders?”, which their answers varied.

Distribution of Survey Questionnaires

The questionnaire has been administered to the 20 respondents through

distribution of questionnaires with the course of one day. All samples have then retrieved

and analyze automatically as soon as the respondents finished answering the survey. The

results were then analyzed and interpreted by the researcher using tables.

D. Statistical Analysis

This study used frequencies and percentage as it will help analyze the response

from the 20 sample. With the help of tables, the information was quickly analyzed and

the results were then computed to find the percentage of the different average scores.
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RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS

Table 1: Response of students that shows they still value respect

Response

To show respect to each other.

In order to gain respect, we must first show respect to others.
Because it is only proper manners for the youths to use ‘po’ and ‘opo’ in
addressing their elders for respect.
Because they deserve to be respect.
I’m obliged.
Because they deserved it.
Because it is necessary for the youths to pay respect to the elders because it
reflects your attitude in your house.
Because they are older to you and also it shows love to them.
Respect is a big part of our culture and this shows how we are raised properly.
Because they are old and there are many things they know about in our society
than us.
Because they deserve it, and it’s the least we can do to return the favor of living
their lives for the younger generation, us.
It’s because of Filipino culture.
Because respect begets respect.
This is because this is one of the Filipino traditions and that’s because they have
been through more things than us..
Filipino culture.
It’s the right thing to do.
“Respect begets respects.”
They know a lot of things we are yet to explore and for that we must pay respect
to them.
Because it became a tradition of Filipinos that it became their culture. You must
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pay respect for elders especially to your parents.

It is because the youth must acknowledge the efforts and sacrifices of the elders.

Table 1 shows the different response of students when they were asked by the

question, “Why do you think that youths must pay respect to elders?Answers may vary.”

The response of the students may be different to each other but their answers shows that

they do still value respect. Most of their answers have connection with the tradition of

Filipinos on how to pay respect like using ‘po’ and ‘opo’ in conversations.

Table 2: Number and percentage of students who uses the words ‘po’ and ‘opo’ at

home, in school and in public places

Question Every time Sometimes Rarely Never

How often do you use the words ‘po’ and 16 (80%) 3 (15%) 1 (5%)

‘opo’ at home?

How often do you use the words ‘po’ and 18 (90%) 2 (10%)

‘opo’ in school?

How about in public places?(e.g. Malls, 15 (75%) 5 (25%)

parks, streets)

TOTAL 49 10 1

PERCENTAGE OF THE TOTAL (81.67%) (16.67) (1.66%)

Table 2 shows the number of students that uses ‘po’ and ‘opo’ at home, in school

and in public places. This only shows that 80% of the respondents responded that they are

using ‘po’ and ‘opo’ every time whenever they’re at home. The 15% responded that they
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use ‘po’ and ‘opo’ sometimes whenever they’re at home, while the rest 5% said that they

rarely use ‘po’ and ‘opo’ at home.

90% of the respondents responded that they use ‘po’ and ‘opo’ every time

whenever they’re in school. While the 10% responded sometimes.

The 75% of respondents responded that they use ‘po’ and ‘opo’ every time

whenever they are in public places. While 25% responded that they use ‘po’ and ‘opo’

sometimes in public places.

The total of the choice ‘Every time’ is 49 which has a percentage of 81.67%, this

means that the respondents responded ‘Every time’ 49 times when answering the three

questions in the table. While the respondents responded ‘Sometimes’ 10 times which has

a percentage of 16.67%. 1.66% answered ‘Rarely’ when they answered the three

questions given in the survey.

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CONCLUSION

Based on the data gathered, it can be concluded that students still values the

words ‘po’ and ‘opo’ which is used by Filipinos to pay respect to other people especially

to elders. It can also be concluded that Filipino students still cares about their moral

values and applies it to everyday use. It can also be concluded that the tradition of

Filipinos which is the use of ‘po’ and ‘opo’ in conversations are still present in today’s

generation.
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RECOMMENDATION

The researcher would like to recommend the following:

 Ask more deeper questions and more personal questions to respondents for better

results.

 You may ask the question, “What do you think is the main factor that affects the

moral values of youths?And why?”

 Focus also on other Filipino cultures in terms of paying respect.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

Electronic Sources

Cruz.(2008). Po and Opo. Retrieved from: tekapnoy.blogspot.com/2008/01/po-

and-opo.html?m=1

Jackson.(2014). Choices of Young People. Retrieved from: http://www.goodchoices

goodlife.org / choices-for-young-people/r-e-s-p-e-c-t/

Mendoza.(2006). Filipino Customs. Retrieved from:http://www.livinginthephilippines.

com/culture- and-people/philippine-culture/1333-filipino-customs

Kinneas, Rhett. (2014). Pagmamano – A Sign of Respect for the Elderly. Retrieved from:

http://www.expatch.org/2014/05/21/pagmamano-a-sign-of-respect-for-the-elderly/
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APPENDICES

Appendix A: Sample Survey – Questionnaire

Good day! Hi! I’m Christine Joy Molina of Grade 10 Zara. I would like to

conduct a survey for my descriptive research study titled “THE USE OF THE WORDS

‘PO’ AND ‘OPO’ AMONG STUDENTS”. The researcher would like to know whether

students still use the words ‘po’ and ‘opo’ in having conversations. This study would help

students and youths to be aware of how they show respect to others especially to elders.

Thank you and have a great day!

1. Have you heard about the words ‘po’ and ‘opo’?

A. Yes, I heard about it.

B. No, I never heard about it.

1. If so, where did you first heard about it? Answers may vary.

_______________________________

2. How often do you use the words ‘po’ and ‘opo’ at home?

A. Every time

B. Sometimes

C. Rarely

D. Never
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1. How often do you use the words ‘po’ and ‘opo’ in school?

A. Every time

B. Sometimes

C. Rarely

D. Never

1. How about in public places? (e.g. Malls,parks,streets)

A. Every time

B. Sometimes

C. Rarely

D. Never

2. Is it hard for you to say these words?

A. Yes

B. No

C. I guess

D. I don’t like these words

3. Why do you think that youths must pay respect to elders?Answers may vary.