BENLAC-Related Article # 06

Filipino Culture
Name: CORNELIA A. ROBLE Course/Yr/Sec: CPE/DPE-BANDURA

Date: NOVEMBER 27, 2022 Score: ________

SOURCE: http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=549905

What is Filipino culture? Is it being lost? (Are there any Filipinos here?)
I recently had a very long talk with my girlfriend about an issue which she sees as very important, which is
the concept of a Filipino identity and the lack of it among both native Filipinos and Filipino-Americans. I was
basically just listening to her, because I didn't have much to contribute to the discussion, but it was very
interesting. She has a hell of a lot of thoughts on this, and it would be hard for me to write out a really detailed
explanation of it that captured the essence of what she was trying to say, but I'll try to sum up the points she
made. These aren't my views, they're hers - but I thought I'd see what the people here have to say about them.
1. Filipino culture is being lost. That is, the native Filipino culture. There is little or no effort to
preserve traditional (I mean pre-Spanish) folk music, dances, art, or literature. The culture of
the Philippines today is a hodgepodge of consumerist culture appropriated from America and
Europe, colonialist influences from Spain, American customs brought over from military
personnel, and some influences from Chinese immigrants. The original Malay culture the islands
once had is nowhere to be found.
This passage from the Wikipedia entry for Filipino literature drove her insane:
"Modern literature (20th and 21st century)
The greatest portion of Spanish literature made by Philippine scholars was written during the American
period."

1. Filipino culture in the Philippines today is dominated by cheesy movies, stupid TV shows and game
shows, bad pop music, and an overall pop culture which is tawdry, ugly, materialistic and
uninteresting. (I said the same thing is true of America, basically.)
2. It is especially hard to have a cultural identity of your own when you are a mix of Chinese, Filipino and
Spanish (which she is.) Filipinos see you as Chinese. Chinese see you as Filipino. White people just see
you as "Asian", often just assuming that Asians are all the same. Some Filipinos especially in Hawaii
have started identifying as sort of a pan-Pacific-Islander group, in solidarity with Samoans, Hawaiians
and others. She thinks this is bullshit - that these groups have nothing in common with the native
Filipinos, who are Malay.
A fascinating thread that I found, which is 50 pages long, seems to prove that this identity crisis is indeed
a big problem. "IMSCF Syndrome" - "I'm Spanish, Chinese, Filipino" seems like a prevalent conundrum for a lot of
people.

3. A "rediscovery" of the Malay heritage of the Filipinos should take place, which will preserve the unique
pre-colonial art, music, mythology, and heritage of the islands.

4. The problem is that nobody in the Philippines themselves is interested in doing this, because they're
either too poor and too worried about their next meal to care, or they're professionals and their kids
for whom life is about being a doctor, nurse or engineer and making money, and uninterested in
cultural things like art and music, beyond the pop culture presented by TV.

5. Her fellow Philippine-Americans are by and large members of the doctor/lawyer/professional class,
trained in a "hard" science or vocation-driven college field, and totally uninterested in the liberal arts.
She feels no connection with them, interest wise, and does not believe there is a large enough group
of people in America who have any interest in a "folk culture revival", like the rediscovery of folk music
in America which took place in the '60s and was fueled completely because there was a class of
Americans interested in "dropping out." Today's Filipino-Americans are the exact opposite of the '60s

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 types; they're the children of doctors, who drive BMWs, play golf, and listen to rap, and want nothing
more than to be a part of slick, American, upper-class society.

6. She basically feels there is no hope of any large scale revival of the old Filipino culture, the Malay
culture; she feels sort of a complex about her own identity (which is only compounded by the Chinese
ancestry); furthermore, she thinks Filipino culture (as it is now) is something that is soulless and
empty.

She said: Think of China - what comes to mind? (The Great Wall, emperors, fancy costumes, red and gold
stuff, I said.). Japan - what comes to mind? (Samurais, ninjas, wood block prints, sushi, anime, Tokyo, I said).
Think of the Philippines - what comes to mind? "You," I said, though this really wasn't the answer she was looking
for.

I told her: you don't need to identify as Filipino or Chinese or whatever - you're just YOU! But this wasn't
the answer she was looking for.
What do you think? Are there any Filipinos here?

GIVE AT LEAST TEN (10) THINGS THAT YOU CAN ASSOCIATE WITH FILIPINOS AND THE
PHILIPPINES.

1. Family-oriented
2. Religious
3. Christmas Celebration
4. Jeepneys
5. Balut
6. Hospitality
7. Barong Tagalog/Baro’t
Saya
8. Historical Places
9. Different Dialects
10. Supertitious beliefs

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 HOW CAN YOU SHARE TO YOUR STUDENTS THE FILIPINO CULTURE IN THE PAST WHICH ARE
NOT ALREADY PRESENT TODAY?

- Being on the age of 31, I have experienced in my childhood the cultures and
traditions that may seem lost, as of today. I have experienced playing under
the sun, and on vacations, we will go to our late grandparents and stay there
until the summer ends. With that I am exposed into the traditions that my late
grandparents have experienced before. Like for example Siestas, my lola will
let us all sleep during the afternoon for us to grow taller. Also, we are
required to “Mano” to the elders of the family, which I have notice that it is
slowly vanishing as of today. As a future educator, I could share to my
students the Filipino culture in the past in the ways, that I will integrate and
relate it into my lessons. I can also share the Filipino cultures and traditions
that I have experienced before. Sharing this to my students is one way that I
can help in making and keeping the Filipino culture alive to every
generations.

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