A bowl of plastic apples, grapes and pears on the dining room buffet; an imitation Louis Vuitton bag; putting

an American brand name on a local product so that it will sell---- these are just a few instances which mirrors truth regarding Filipinos when it comes to the word colonial mentality. Colonial mentality refers to institutionalized or systemic feelings of inferiority within some societies or people who have been subjected to colonialism, relative to the values of the foreign powers which had previously subjugated them through colonization. Undoubtedly, Philippines has it. In fact, even the name Philippines does not originate in the country or is a colonial name given by our Spanish conquistadors. About a century has already passed since our country has been conquered; yet, specifically, the foreign lifestyle and culture seems to invade the hearts and minds of most Filipinos of every generation. This so called colonial mentality is often accountable for the backward movement of our economy and our country as a whole. David and Okazaki (2006) conceptualized colonial mentality among Filipinos as a form of internalized oppression, characterized by a perception of ethnic and cultural inferiority. It involves an automatic rejection of anything Filipino and unreasonable preference for anything foreign. Colonial mentality is a product of the Philippines experiences of long years of companionship among the Westerns. It is upsetting to see this condition of the country despite the bloody fights our ancestors willingly put their lives on. We often hear Filipinos complain that as a nation we are afflicted with a colonial mentality. By this they usually mean that we are excessively subservient to foreigners and unduly impressed by foreign goods. But an even more harmful aspect of colonial mentality and one that is less recognized is our failure to pinpoint our real national interests apart and distinct from those of our foreign colonizers.

Despite years of independence, this trait has not been eradicated. Colonial mentality has deep roots in our history: first, in the level of social and economic development we attained before colonization; second, in the nature of Spanish colonization; third, in the impact of American rule; fourth,

in the way we obtained our independence and fifth, in the neo-colonial policies of the United States up to the present time.

Unlike India, Indonesia, Vietnam and Cambodia, we did not confront our Spanish conquerors as a people with a highly developed culture and social structure. Our forebears lived in small, scattered communities based on kinship ties and relied mainly on primitive agriculture which provided barely enough for their needs.

We were not a nation since these communities were separated in autonomous barangays. Trade among barangays and with the people from neighboring countries was occasional and by barter. Religion was likewise primitive with no organized body of beliefs or priestly hierarchy. All these made physical conquest and cultural domination quite easy for the Spanish colonizers.

Unlike the Cambodians with their Angkor Vat and the Indonesians with their Borobudur, we had no monuments which could remind our people of an ancient glory. When nations with advanced social structures and a firmly established culture are colonized, their past achievements constitute the source of their separate identity which enables the conquered to confront their colonizers with dignity and sometimes even a feeling of superiority. They do not easily lose their sense of racial worth. Unfortunately for us, we were colonized before our own society could develop sufficiently.

Having but few cultural defenses against our conquerors, we soon accepted their superiority and began to acquire what we now call a colonial mentality. Other Western powers initially instituted a system of indirect rule in their Asian colonies by exploiting the people through their chiefs, leaving native social and cultural institutions largely intact. In the Philippines however, our two colonizers consolidated

their rule by working on the native consciousness, thus effecting great changes in Filipino values and customs.

The Spaniards forcibly resettled the scattered barangays into larger communities where the people could more easily be Christianized and where every aspect of their lives, their customs and ideas could be scrutinized and shaped in the desired colonial mode. In most communities, the Spanish friars represented both the power of the cross and the power of the sword.

As pillars of the colonial establishment, most priests sought to develop in their flock the virtues of obedience, humility and resignation. Spanish superiority was maintained and the "indio" was kept in his inferior position by denying him education (there was no system of national education until 1863).The people were trained to follow and were discouraged from thinking for themselves.

A thirst for knowledge was considered a dangerous and subversive trait which often brought actual misfortune or the treat of hell. The "indio" acquired the habit of allowing his economic and social superiors to do the thinking for him, and this attitude persists among us today, seriously undermining any movement for greater democracy. Under the Spaniards, inferiority complex evolved into a national trait of Filipinos.

Ironically enough, by satisfying the Filipinos' desire for education and self-government, the American colonizers developed a new, and is some ways, a more pernicious form of colonial mentality.

For while the Spanish arrogance and bred anger and rebellion, American education transformed the United States in the eyes of the Filipinos from an aggressor who had robbed them of their independence to a generous benefactor. The school system began Americanizing the Filipino

consciousness by misrepresenting US expansionism and US economic policies as American altruism toward the Filipinos; by denying young Filipinos of any knowledge of Filipino resistance to American occupation and the atrocities committed the American military; by filling young minds with stories that glorify the American way of life, American heroes and American institutions.

Americanization was greatly facilitated by the imposition of English as the sole medium of instruction. This made possible the use of American textbooks. Education taught the Filipino youth to regard American culture as superior to their own and American society as the best model for Philippine society. Of course, our Americanization has been profitable to the Americans because it kept on producing new generations of avid consumers of American goods. All these were ingredients of a new type of colonial mentality.

Our so-called tutelage in self-government at the end of which we received our independence from our "generous teacher and guardian" is partly responsible for our persistent failure to recognize that our real national interests are distinct from and, more often than not, contrary to those of the United States.

American colonial policy gave the Filipinos their first experience in self-government in the legislative field. Since executive power remained in the hands of the American governor-general and real, overall power resided in Washington, Filipino leaders learned the art of adapting to American economic requirements while catering to their Filipino constituents' desire for independence.

Periodic elections focused public attention on "politics", a superficial democratic exercise during which most politicians pledged to secure "immediate, absolute, complete independence" without

explaining that the economic dependence of the Philippines on the US market would make such independence an empty one.

The Philippine elite, landowners who grew rich on agricultural exports to the US, largely controlled Philippine politics, so most politicians in fact supported this economic dependence. Politicians therefore concentrated on the issue of political independence and the people received little enlightenment on economic issues except from radical labor and peasant groups in the 1930s.

The Filipino dream of independence remained limited to political sovereignty. The fact that we obtained independence as a "grant' and not as a result of a victorious, anti-colonial revolution has obscured the real contradictions between our interests and those of the US [we had no such blinders toward either Spain or Japan; we recognized the conflict of interests between them and us.] But all the foregoing is part of the past. The Philippine republic is now 35 years old.

The introduction of globalization in the Philippines opened gates for more Western influences. Globalization aims to unify all nations of the world in international affairs, including trade, industry, culture and everything that can be exchanged and function together in harmonious manner (Funtecha, 2009). At the present age, it is inevitable for any country to embrace globalization because it has various advantages and benefits particularly in the advancement of technology. Globalization had bridged miles of distances between countries consequently Western influences are easier to be encountered and accepted by Filipinos.

Consequently, Filipinos preference for imported or foreign products influences their lifestyle. Colonial mentality extends also to the peoples concept of beauty. They perceive beauty biased on the

mestizos attributes thats why Filipinos want to have fair skin and skin whiteners are one of the top grossing products in the Philippines. Paulo Tirol, Assistant Brand Manager for Procter & Gamble Distributing (Phils.) Inc. said that more than 71% of the Philippine skin care market is in whitening products. A survey by Synovate on 2004 found that half of Filipino women use a skin-whitening product. Those in the upper class of the society undergo nose lift surgeries and bleaching for them to be considered beautiful. Nationalists view those actions as a manifestation of ones embarrassment or shame in being a Filipino. Because of colonial mentality, Philippine culture, specifically in music, literature and movies, is unappreciated and taken for granted. For instance, libraries and bookstores are filled with American books while books in the Filipiniana sections are not even half of the total number of books. Erwin Ordoez asserted that Filipino authors are seldom read by students and teachers since they favor Western writers (as cited in Abueva, 1999). Students are very much familiar with William Shakespeare and his works but the mention of Amado Hernandez or Jose Corazon de Jesus will place a crease on an average students forehead. Aside from that, OPM songs are less appreciated compared to Western ones. As a result, Filipino artists resort to imitating the pop culture and styles of Western singers. Hollywood movies have knocked down Philippine movie industry as well. Filipino movies are supported when they are competing with other Filipino movies. However, when a Judy Ann Santos film competes with Angelina Jolies, the latter attracts more audiences.

Emigration is another of the underlying effects of colonial mentality. As of December 2004, an estimated 8.1 million Filipinos, which is nearly 10 percent of the Philippines' 85 million people, were working or residing in close to 200 countries and territories (Asis, 2006). Filipinos identify foreign lands as more progressive nations hence they dream to permanently reside there. Due to that desire of Filipinos to have a better life they choose to leave the portals of their motherland in replace of a greener pasture. A nationwide survey of 1,200 adult respondents in 2002 found one in five Filipinos expressing a desire to migrate. More recent surveys carried out by Pulse Asia in 2005 found an increasing percentage of adult

respondents, 26 percent in July and 33 percent in October, agreeing with the statement, "If it were only possible, I would migrate to another country and live there" (Asis, 2006). Interest in leaving the country is not limited to adults, the young population share similar vision. In a nationwide survey in 2003 of children ages 10 to 12, 47 percent reported that they wished to work abroad someday (Asis, 2006). This could explain the growth of Nursing schools since a lot of students want to pursue the career for it promises high income and employment overseas. Although, Filipinos abroad contribute to the countrys economy with their remittances, one way or another, Filipino culture is forgotten and foreign ones are embraced and on the long run their sense of identity as Filipino citizens is lost.

Aside from that, the Philippines lack professionals for they chose to harness their expertise abroad in exchange for larger income. The talents and competencies of Filipinos are utilized by other nations while the country makes use of whatever was left behind. The educational system is unsuited to the country, it being a clone of the American school system as expressed by Ordoez (as cited in Abueva, 1999). The apparatuses of education were utilized by the past colonizers of Filipinos to produce ideas, instill values, and transmit information that would insidiously work on the minds of the populace and render them impotent and incapable of critical reflection. Teresita Maceda explained that alien or foreign cultural standards dominated Philippine intellectual centers without material basis in Philippine society (as cited in Abueva, 1999). As a result, Filipinos regard First World culture as superior and their own as inferior and marginal. She further asserts that Philippine folktales were excluded from textbooks during the colonization period and viewed as insignificant while those written in English or Spanish are given importance. English textbooks did not only introduce the Filipinos to a new language but it also opened a gate to the Western world that Filipinos had already learned to imitate. The problem stems from the fact that scholars in the country are trained and educated in Western institutions thus they tend to think in Western terms and teach in Western ways (Espiritu, 1968).

There are tendencies where Filipino culture is ignored brought by the predominant Western culture that was already embedded in their minds. Western concepts are not always applicable to the Philippines for the culture and environment varies greatly. For instance, in studying psychology and sociology there are terms and ideas that were described in Western models that do not really capture their real meanings. The best example is the word kapwa which is translated in English as others but in the Philippine culture.

Consequently, the Filipino has been effectively and efficiently Americanized: conditioned to knowingly or unknowingly think and analyze economic and political issues in his own homeland (and abroad) from the American point of view. In the long-run, his alienated heart and mind brought to the Filipino and the homeland only ever-deepening poverty, and its consequent illiteracy, hunger and damaged culture.

To change this way of thinking, the American drilled into and residing in the Filipino mind need to be removed; for the Filipino to be educated, so as to arouse the "Filipinism" in his heart and mind in matters of national interests (economic and political); for each Filipino to ultimately demonstrate and most important, demand from his national leadership honest concern and action for the impoverished native majority (Christian, Muslim, and the forgotten ethnic minorities), the native common good.

This nationalistic outlook is most important and necessary when dealing with all foreigners, such as the American, Australian, Japanese, Korean, Chinese businessmen, their governments and their transnational corporations (TNCs) as they work and exploit our people and homeland indirectly via the

IMF and WB and the WTO in the Philippines among many others (all rationalized for us by our native technocrats).

Although one can argue that colonial mentality brought some advantages, like changing Filipinos non-rationalistic values orientation to a rationalistic one, it is still undeniable that it produced more drawbacks. To progress as a nation, Filipinos must decide to eradicate colonial mentality in their system. Strobel suggested decolonization as the method that can eradicate colonial mentality (as cited in Yango, 2009). Decolonization refers to the task of unlearning colonial mentality. Its objective is to retell the narrative of the oppressive colonial experience throughout Philippine society for the purpose of exposing its oppressive intent. Yango (2009)asserted that liberation begins with recognizing ones history thus the means of decolonizing is not found in the destruction of the colonial narrative but within the power of knowing the colonial experience. Transformation is a significant objective in the process of decolonizing thus it is expected that the power of knowing the colonial experience will lead towards a new narrative that has learned to respond against other colonial narratives in the context of globalization. The task of decolonizing colonial mentality indicates an attempt to reconfigure the Filipino story in relation to their colonial experience and view colonial mentality as abnormal or alien within the Filipino consciousness (Yango, 2009)

The government plays a significant role in this advocacy. Strict implementation of the laws in the Constitution that protect Philippine industry and are pro-Filipino should be practiced. A number of provisions that promote the interests of Filipinos and protect Philippine entrepreneurs from foreign exploitation exist in the 1987 Philippine Constitution such as Filipino control of the economy (Art. II, Sec. 19), complete Filipino management and control of public utilities (Art. XII, Sec. 11), promotion of the Filipino First policy (Art. XII, Sec. 10, par. 2;Sec. 12), and the reservation to Filipinos of certain

areas of investments if in the national interest(Art. XII, Sec. 10, par. 1). Moreover, the Constitution upholds the preservation and enhancement of Filipino national culture (Art. XIV, Secs. 14-18). Laws would be useless if not executed and given emphasis consistently by legislators. The Philippine Constitution is obviously pro-Filipino and it sides Filipinos in their endeavors. Filipinos must reexamine their values and rekindle their pride and dignity for being Filipinos. Magalonas song (1978) is very suggestive in the context of Filipinos undergoing cosmetic surgeries, it goes Tayoy mga Pinoy, tayoy hindi Kano, huwag kang mahihiya kungang ilong mo ay pango (We are Filipinos and not Americans; dont be ashamed though your nose is flat). Furthermore, Randy David pointed out that a Filipino should accept and be proud of whatever physical attributes given to him and not try to look like a Westerner since beauty is subjective (as cited in Abueva, 1999).

Patronizing Western products and trying to look like a Westerner will never make a Filipino become one. Bakit nangagaya, meron naman tayo (why do you have to imitate when weve got our own), this line from Magalonas song is an advocacy for Filipino artists to refrain from imitating Western culture and preserve and enrich Philippine music instead. There is a need for culture change among Filipinos and one process requires the Filipino consciousness to reject the admission of colonial mentality into the Filipino being (Yango, 2009). Without this particular culture change, the Filipino consciousness will continue to be victimized by Western influences, be it from within or outside Philippine society.

History is something that no one can change. The colonization that the Philippines went through for over four centuries is already engraved in the nations historical experience and cultural diversity. Nevertheless, this does not necessarily imply total tolerance and indulgence of Western influences, goods and concepts. The rich cultural heritage and unique crafts of Filipinos are the things that define their identity as a people, consumption of Western products will never transform anyone to a Westerner. Colonial mentality should be eliminated slowly if not eradicated completely from the Filipino

being. Decolonization of Filipino colonial mentality should be achieved before it totally ruins what was left of the Philippines and nationalism must be promoted and advocated. Filipino nationalism isnt impossible to be revived. Benigno (2003) was encouraging Filipinos to do just that when he said, We were born Filipinos. Now we must learn to be Filipinos. After all, it is only the identity and conviction of being a Filipino that can revive the sense of nationalism Rizal manifested in between the lines of Noli me Tangere and ElFilibusterismo.

Aurora National Science High School

Colonialism Among Filipinos

Monina Rose C. Te Fourth Year Newton

Mrs. Luz V. Bitong English 4

March, 2012

Citations

http://thefilipinomind.blogspot.com/2006/08/colonial-mentality-of-filipinos-its.html http://www.scribd.com/doc/34624029/Colonial-Mentality-among-Filipinos http://www.google.com.ph/imgres?q=english+research+paper http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colonial_mentality http://www.tribo.org/history/colonial.html http://www.colonialmentality.com/CMstories.html