Handout in Ethics

For BEED 4-A & B

Prepared by: Prof. Rudolf T. Vecaldo, EdD
READING 4 The Filipino Character (Strengths)
- Smooth Interpersonal Relationship (SIR) - Involves a shared identity, engagement
on an equal basis with others, and giving importance to the individual versus agencies
or institutions
▪ Pakikisama (Helping others)
• Fosters general cooperation and performing good or helpful
deeds, which can lead to others viewing you in favorable light
▪ Suki relationship (market-exchange partnership)
• Filipinos will regularly buy from certain specific suppliers who
will give them, in return, reduced prices, good quality, and
often, credit.
▪ Compadre system (Ninong and Ninang)
• Bonds of ritual kinship, sealed on any of three ceremonial
occasions such as baptism, confirmation, and marriage
- Paggalang (Respect)
- Pagpapahalaga sa Pamilya
- Damayan/ Bayanihan - Extending sympathy for people who lost their loved ones.
- Fun-loving trait - Filipinos have something to be happy about, a reason to celebrate
- High regard for “amor propio” (self-esteem) - Filipinos are sensitive to attacks on
their own self-esteem and cultivate sensitivity to the self-esteem of others as well

The Filipino Character (Weaknesses)

- Based on Leticia Shahani’s report in 1988 titled “A Moral Recovery Program:
Building a People, Building a Nation”
- Extreme family centeredness - Excessive concern for family means using one’s office
and power to promote family interests and thus factionalism patronage, political
dynasties, and the protection of erring family members
- Extreme personalism -“Taking things personally” cannot separate objective task from
emotional involvement. There is a tendency to use personal contacts and gives
preference to family and friends
- Lack of discipline - A casual attitude toward time and space, manifested in lack of
precision and compulsiveness, in poor time management and procrastination
- Passivity and lack of initiative - Waiting to be told what to do, reliance on others,
complacence, and lack of sense of urgency
- Colonial mentality - Lack of patriotism, or of an awareness, appreciation, and love of
the Philippines and an actual preference for things foreign
- Kanaya-kanya syndrome (talangka mentality) - Done by tsismis, intriga,
unconstructive criticism
o Evident in the personal ambition that is completely insensitive to the common
good
- Lack of self-analysis and self-reflection - The tendency to be superficial and
somewhat flighty o Satisfaction with superficial explanations and solutions
- Emphasis on “porma” rather than substance - Lack of analysis and emphasis on
form is reinforced by an educational system that is more form than substance
Causes of the Weakness of the Filipino Character
- Home, social and economic environment
- Culture and language
- History
- Religion
- Educational system
- Mass media
- Leadership and role models

Values to be Developed among Filipinos (Shahani, 1988)

- Sense of patriotism and national pride
- Sense of common good
- Sense of integrity and accountability
- Values and habits of discipline and hard work
- Value and habit self-reflection and analysis
- Internationalization of spiritual values
- Emphasis on essence rather than on the form

* The Filipino group-centeredness and “kami”-mentality make it difficult for the Filipino to
stand up against the group when that is the moral thing to do. For Filipinos to become the
moral and ethical person, they should capitalize on their strengths and eliminate their
weaknesses. Hence, there is much need for home, school, and society as a whole to help
every Filipino grow in to the strong moral person everyone is called to become.