The Filipino Culture
Like all other nations on earth, our Filipino culture or way of life as a people has both strengths and weaknesses. Culture, says the dictionary is "the arts and other manifestations of human intellectual achievement regarded collectively...The tastes in art and manners that are favored by a social group...All the knowledge and values shared by a society."
Tradition, on the other hand, is "the transmission of customs or beliefs from generation to generation, or the fact of being passed on in this way." Culture and tradition thus is a way of life, the practices of our people during a burial rite, a wedding ceremony or the way we view and see things in life.
Why is it that there are many retired foreigners, particularly Americans, who want to live and die in the Philippines? It is because we value close family ties. Call it as emotionalism or sentimentalism, but we simply love to see our children and grandchildren, even our in-laws, live harmoniously with us under the same roof as much as possible.
The Chinese people are governed by Feng Shui in their construction of buildings, for example, or in starting a business. It is a "Chinese philosophical system of harmonizing the human existence with the surrounding environment." The term feng shui literally translates as "wind-water" in English.
Our counterpart to Feng Shui in the Philippines is the belief in the involvement of the spirits of our ancestors in our daily life. All these practices and belief system are handed down to us by culture and tradition, which is the transmitted knowledge, customs, belief and values from generation to generation.
The Strengths of the Filipino Culture
Why is it that there are many retired foreigners, particularly Americans, who want to live and die in the Philippines? It is because we value close family ties. Call it as emotionalism or sentimentalism, but we simply love to see our children and grandchildren, even our in-laws, live harmoniously with us under the same roof as much as possible---finances permitting, of course.
The Americans on the other hand, believe in rugged individualism such as independence at age 18 and divorce as one accepted part of the culture. The result is that their elderly and grandparents found themselves without a family to call their own at the end of their life journey. We are not like them. That's why many of them came over to our shores, for they appreciate our Filipino culture of safeguarding and giving high value on our close family relationship.
We have other practices that are worth emulating. But we choose not to mention them all here as we need to understand also the weaknesses of the Filipino culture.
The Weaknesses of the Filipino Culture
The weaknesses of the Filipino culture seem to outweigh its strengths. For example, our culture of corruption in this country can be traceable back to our close family ties and sense of dependence on our elderly. As such, we have a feeling of complete reliance on our political leaders and boss---just as though they are our parents.
Another source of the problem of corruption is the teaching of the Catholic Church that triggers somehow the courage of most Filipinos to practice bribery. It is the teaching of establishing a connection with the patron-Saint through a feast or other form of offerings to get an imagined divine favor. We are taught, for example, to have some connection with our patron-Saints such as San Isidro Labrador or San Lorenzo Ruiz or a connection to Mother Mary, for her influence to Christ allegedly.
The strengths and weaknesses of the Filipino culture and tradition cannot be contained in just one brief article. Both the negative and the positive practices of the nations colonizing us for hundreds of years have also contributed to our ways of life.
Conclusion
In sum, I should say that it takes dozens, if not hundreds, of years yet to inculcate effectively into the minds of our people what is good and what is not. From the biblical standpoint, however, the evolution of a nation's culture and practices tends to "proceed from bad to worse." (cf. 2 Tim. 3:13) The recent pork barrel scam in the Philippines and the involvement of our brilliant leaders, including some highly respected media men who are enjoying national prominence, is one proof that great knowledge alone from the famous schools of learning is not enough to make a known Filipino leader corruption-proof.
The question is that if the well-educated is a crook, how much more the ordinary people in the streets given the same opportunity?
I like this quote from Theodore Roosevelt. It's good for all our corrupt Senators and Congressmen: “When they call the roll in the Senate, the Senators do not know whether to answer 'Present' or 'Not Guilty.'”
