THE FILIPINO

CHARACTER
  1.Extreme family centeredness
 Excessive concern for family means using one’s office and

THE
power to promote family interests and thus factionalism
patronage, political dynasties and protection of erring family
members.

WEAKNESS  It results in lack of concern for the common good and acts as a
block to national consciousness.

OF FILIPINO  2.Extreme personalism

 Takes things personally, cannot separate objective task from

CHARACTE emotional involvement.

 Because of this the Filipino is uncomfortable with bureaucracy,

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with rules and regulations and with standard procedures.
 He uses personal contacts, and gives preference to family and
friends in hiring, services and even voting.
 Leads to the graft and corruption evident in Philippine Society.
  3.Lack of discipline
 A casual attitude toward time and space manifested in lack
of precision and compulsiveness, in poor time
management and procrastination.
THE  Aversion to following procedures strictly results in lack of
standardization and equality control
WEAKNESS  Impatience can result in shortcuts, palusot and nigas
cogon.

OF FILIPINO  Often results to inefficient work systems, the violation of

rules and a casual work ethic lacking follow through.

CHARACTE  4.Passivity and lack of initiative

 Waiting to be told what to do, reliance on others (leaders

R and government), complacence, lack of sense of urgency.

 There is a high tolerance of inefficiency, poor service, and
even violations of one’s right.
 Too patient and matiisin, too easily resigned to his fate, the
Filipino is easily oppressed and exploited.
  5.Colonial Mentality
THE  Lack of patriotism, or of an active awareness, appreciation
and love of the Philippines and an actual preference for

WEAKNESS things foreign.

 6.Kanya-kanya syndrome, talangka mentality

OF FILIPINO  Done by tsismis, intriga, unconstructive criticism, it is

evident in the personal ambition that is completely
insensitive to the common good.
CHARACTE  Example: the lack of a sense of service among people in
the government bureaucracy.
R  This results in dampening of cooperative and community
spirit, and in the trampling upon other’s rights.
 THE  7.Lack of self-analysis and self-reflection

WEAKNESS  The tendency to be superficial and somewhat flighty.

 In the dace of serious personal and social problems, there

OF FILIPINO
is lack of analysis or reflection, and instead satisfaction
with superficial explanations and solutions.

CHARACTE
 8.Emphasis on porma rather than substance
 This lack of analysis and emphasis on form is reinforced
by an educational system that is more from than substance.
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THESE WEAKNESSES ARE
ROOTED IN MANY FACTORS:
Social and
Culture and
Home economic History
language
environment

Leadership
Educational
Religion Mass media and role
system
models
HOWEVER, CHANGE IS POSSIBLE, AND THE FOLLOWING
GOALS ARE PROPOSED TO DEVELOP IN THE FILIPINOS:

Sense of patriotism and national pride

A sense of the common good

A sense of integrity and accountability

The values and habits of discipline and hardwork

The value and habits of self-reflection and analysis; the internalization of spiritual values and the emphasis on
essence rather than on form.
THE STRENGTHS OF THE
FILIPINO CHARACTER ARE:
1.Pakikipagkapwa-tao
• basic sense of justice and fairness
• concern for others.
• ability to empathize with others
• open to others and feel one with others
• regard others with dignity and respect deal with them as fellow human beings.

2.Family orientation
• source of personal identity, emotional and material support and
• one’s main commitment and responsibility
• sense of family results in a feeling of belongingness and rootedness in a basic sense of
security.
THE STRENGTHS OF THE
FILIPINO CHARACTER ARE:
3.Joy and Humor

• -Filipinos have a cheerful and fun-loving approach to life and its ups and downs.
• -Laughing at ourselves and the mess we are in is an important coping mechanism. Playful, sometimes,
disrespectful, we laugh at those we love and at those we hate and we make jokes about our good
fortune and bad.

4.Flexibility, adaptability and creativity

• -We can adjust and to adapt to circumstances and the surrounding environment, both physical and
social; adjusts to whatever happens even in unplanned or anticipated events.
• -We possess a tolerance for ambiguity that enables us to remain unfazed by uncertainly or lack of
information.
THE STRENGTHS OF THE
FILIPINO CHARACTER ARE:
5.Hard work and industry
• -We have the capacity for hard work given proper conditions;
• -to raise one’s standard of living and to possess the essentials of a decent life for one’s family
• -We are willing to take the risks with jobs abroad and, while there, to work at two or three jobs.
• -The result are productivity, entrepreneurship, and survival despite poverty.

6.Faith and religiosity

• -Filipinos have deep faith in God.
• -Our innate religiosity enables us to comprehend and genuinely accept reality in the context of God’s
will and plan.
• Religious expressions is very tangible
 THE
STRENGTHS  7.Ability to survive

OF THE  -Filipinos make do with what is available in the

environment.
FILIPINO  -It is manifested in the millions of Filipinos
who bravely live through the harshest
CHARACTER economic and social circumstances.

ARE:
 1.Family orientation
• -Becomes in-group orientation that
prevents us from reaching out beyond the
family to the larger community and our
nation.
MANY OF OUR
STRENGTHS AS 2.Personalism
A PEOPLE ARE • -We are warm and caring but this leads us
ALSO SOURCES to lack of objectivity.
OF OUR • -We are concern with the people we know
WEAKNESS: but unfair to people we don’t know.

3.Flexibility
• -We compromise precision and discipline.
 4.Joyful and sense of humor
• -We can’t take things with humor at all times
for serious problems need serious analysis.

MANY OF OUR 5.Faith in God

STRENGTHS AS • -Is our strength but this makes us dependent on
A PEOPLE ARE forces outside us, do nothing that makes us
ALSO SOURCES submissive to God’s will.
OF OUR
WEAKNESS: 6.Pakikipagkapwa-tao
• -We can easily empathize, but we can at the
same time be envious of others.
7.Hardworking
• -Yet we can be lazy and passive at work.