Folk Culture in the Philippines

The Aetas, pronounced as eye-tas are among the earliest known migrants or inhabitants
of the Philippines. Over the years, the majority of their population managed to keep their cultural
practices and traditions. But sadly, as one of the indigenous groups thriving in the country, they also
face challenges such as displacement, marginalization, and poverty.
Aetas are characterized by their skin color, height, and hair types. They mostly have dark to
dark-brown skin, curly hair, and are usually below five-feet tall. Traditionally, Aetas are hunting and
gathering indigenous people. They're actually among the most skilled when it comes to jungle survival
- they are even able to make use of plants as herbal medicines and possess tools and weapons. While
they're nomadic, they are able to build temporary houses made of sticks.
Popular Culture at Present
The present socio-economic state is predominantly agricultural, semi-feudal and neo- colonial
with the presence of multinational corporations and economy dependent on foreign economies.
Determining what is popular in the Philippine context is not an easy task.
The concept of popular culture is not just 'of the people" but of the mass generally understood
to be urban and industrialized. In the Philippines, people belong to the different levels of urbanization
with only a small percentage being urban and industrial in the Western mode. Mass media-generated
culture in the Philippines promotes popular culture.
The Filipino popular culture is now adapted and practiced by many Filipinos. We can all agree
that it has positive and negative effects in our identity and country. We just have to look at the brighter
side the history has given us.

PHILIPPINE MODERNITY AND HEGEMONY

CULTURAL HEGEMONY REFERS TO DOMINATION OR RULE MAINTAINED THROUGH
IDEOLOGICAL OR CULTURAL MEANS. IT IS USUALLY ACHIEVED THROUGH SOCIAL
INSTITUTIONS, WHICH ALLOW THOSE IN POWER TO STRONGLY INFLUENCE THE VALUES,
NORMS, IDEAS, EXPECTATIONS, WORLDVIEW, AND BEHAVIOR OF THE REST OF SOCIETY
(COLE, 2020).
Modern technology has changed our lives in ways we cannot begin to imagine. Satellite
television, the fax machine, the personal computer, the Internet, the cellular phone and the whole
amazing culture of "texting," just to take the most recent examples, have massively altered the way we
experience and look at the world, and relate to one another.
Modernity is the term we use to refer to a mode of experiencing the world as an environment of
ceaseless change. The complex process that brings this change about is called modernization.
Modernist is the term we apply to those who thrive and make themselves at home in such a world,
while Traditionalist refers to those who are intimidated by the new and derive comfort in nostalgic
recollections of the past.
MODERNIST TRADITIONALIST
PASSIVE MODERNISTS ARE CAUGHT IN THE PASSIVE TRADITIONALISTS RETREAT INTO
SWIRL OF A WORLD THEY CANNOT HOPE TO THEIR COCOON OF MEMORIES AND
CONTROL; THEIRS IS A LIFE OF CONSTANT BECOME GRUMPY CLASSICISTS THEY
COPING UNDER PAIN OF ISOLATION. MEASURE EVERYTHING IN THE VENERABLE
CANONS OF THE FAMILIAR.

ACTIVE MODERNISTS IN CONTRAST, TRY TO ACTIVE TRADITIONALISTS, ON THE OTHER

ASSERT CONTROL OVER SOME ASPECTS HAND, TAKE UP THE IDEOLOGIES AND
OF THEIR SITUATION BY ANTICIPATING WORLDVIEWS OF THE PAST AND INVEST
EVENTS AND PLANNING AHEAD; THEIRS IS A THEM WITH ETERNAL MEANINGS; THEY
LIFE OF ADAPTATION, NON-STOP ORGANIZE CONSTITUENCIES AGAINST
EXPERIMENTATION AND PASSIONATE MODERNITY AND STRIVE TO RETURN
ENGAGEMENT. HUMANITY BACK TO THE FOLD OF AN
IDEALIZED PAST.
Modernist impulses have flourished in our society mainly via four important channels:
THE SCHOOL Filipino parents know that only formal education can rescue their
children from the vicious cycles of poverty. It is formal education that
has created the Filipino middle class.
THE MARKET We are a nation of tireless shoppers, and our fondness for imported
goods is legendary. We often see it as a colonial hangover, but in
many ways, our receptiveness to things foreign is what makes us so
open to the modern.
MASS MEDIA Television, in particular, has exerted a profound influence on the way
we live. Because of the pervasiveness of English, we are a natural
market for American programs and American movies, which are the
most effective carriers of modernity.
OVERSEAS WORK If one examines Philippine social history, one would be hard-pressed
to find any other phenomenon that has had as dramatic, as deep, and
as comprehensive an impact on the collective fate and private lives
of Filipinos as overseas employment.

On the other hand, modernity has been impeded by three basic forces:
THE FAMILY
The Filipino modern family consists of father and mother, who, oftentimes, are both part of the working
sector while the children are left in the care of either a nanny or the grandparents. Parents are more
focused to provide for the education and future of their children.
THE CHURCH
The Church is important to every Filipino family. The Church's teaching provide inspiration for them to
serve one another, to live in faith and to build a home.
TRADITIONAL POLITICS
More than the family or the Church, however, it is the traditional politicians who have prevented our
people from fully taking up the challenge of modernity. Unable to justify their bid for public office in
terms of carefully thought-out visions and plans, traditional politicians operate by tapping existing
networks of interpersonal obligations and by exploiting the short-term material needs of voters.

"To be modern is to open ourselves to the possibilities brought about by the unending flux of
innovation and obsolescence. It is to welcome change, and to be at home in it, rather than to sneer at
the new from the vantage point of a romanticized past, but to be modern is also to grow in freedom
with time, to strive to reduce our vulnerability to unsettling events and phenomena, and to discipline
and form ourselves into a confident, stable, and peaceful nation."
- Marshall Berman