What Are Filipinos Like?

By: Leon Ma. Guerrero

than four centuries of colonial rule, we were not
About the Author:
allowed to rely on ourselves. Colonialism also
Leon Ma. Guerrero, was a consistent scholar
suggests the reason for a certain unwillingness to
during his student days, notably at the Ateneo de
accept responsibility; for too long in our history, it was
Manila University (ADMU). He worked as a journalist
not accompanied by any real authority.
for the “Philippines Free Press,” and wrote several
books about Jose Rizal. He also translated Rizal’s “Noli During the four centuries of colonial rule in the
Me Tangere” and “El Filibusterismo” into English. Philippines, the government was "foreign," the
exclusive prerogative of a superior class, the special
Nothing is so difficult as self-appraisal, and to privilege of an alien race. Obviously the Filipinos
answer the question in the title of this article, I thought could not consider such a government as their own;
it best to start by asking it. With no particular pattern they could not identify themselves with it; it was a
in mind, I asked a number of foreign friends to give thing apart, and more than that, a thing to be regarded
me their impression of the Filipino. with suspicion, hostility, even hatred.
I was told that we were friendly, good-natured, The "government" did everything; it was
loyal, idealistic, sentimental, socially gracious ("evenresponsible for everything; but it was not responsible
the lower classes") unwilling to accept responsibility, to the people. On the contrary, the people were
lacking in self-reliance, less hardworking than the responsible to it, for taxes, forced labor, conscription,
Chinese, more intelligent than the Malays, imitative and all the varied catalogue of colonial duties, with no
but less so than the Japanese, religious but not so right to expect anything in return. The hard lessons
mystical as the Indians, and, in general, the most drawn from the experience of many generations must
adaptable of all the races in the Orient. be unlearned, if the Filipinos are to develop civic
A Spaniard thought we were very like the consciousness, a sense of participation in the
Spaniards; an American thought we were not government, and a sense of responsibility for the
American enough. A Frenchman remarked we were welfare of the country.
the only people in Asia with a sense of humor, at least The establishment of an independent Filipino
the only ones who could laugh at themselves, which, government was the fundamental prerequisite for the
when one thinks of it, was probably the prettiest growth of true self-reliance. Nationalism had to be the
compliment of all. mother of democracy.
By way of contrast, our fellow Asian had a Ironically enough, the Filipinos discovered that
uniform tendency to laugh at us. A Siamese said we they could survive on their own resources only during
were pretentious. An Indonesian, in much the same the extremity of the Japanese occupation and the
vein, deplored our tendency to accept western consequent American blockade. We then became self-
standards at their face value. A Chinese thought we reliant because we had to, and it is possible that the
were improvident. An Indian was shocked by the only way we shall finally achieve economic
cheapness in which human life was held by a people independence is to be driven to it by stark necessity.
that could kill a few centavos, a political argument, or
There is, however, another aspect of self-reliance
a girl's ruffled feelings.
which has nothing to do with colonialism and its
The history of the Philippines might well be remnants. When some Americans say that we lack it,
read in these national characteristics. There is, to start they are thinking of our family system. They cannot
with, a relatively simple explanation for our notorious understand why grown-up sons and daughters keep
lack of self-reliance, which means to be the main living with their parents even after they have married
burden of compliment against us these days. For more and begotten children of their own, or why they
should feel under obligation to feed and house even Asian identity, forget that there was nothing else for
the most distant "cousins" who find themselves in us to be.
want.
For religious reasons, the early Spanish
The trait is not exclusively Filipino; it is common missionaries did a thorough job of destroying all the
to most of Asia; and it is, I daresay, common to all repositories of native culture that they could lay their
rudimentary societies. Modern man looks to his own hands on. The rationalization of this vandalism
government for security, but where the government, was that, like all the primitive cultures, ours was
whether native or foreign, is still regarded as an alien, essentially religious, and the ancient manuscripts
selfish force, the individual prefers to trust his were consigned to the flames as the work of Satan.
bloodkin for what are in effect old age pensions or Our native alphabet, so flexible and elaborate as to be
unemployment insurance. The family is an convincing proof of high degree of civilization, fell
indispensable institution in these circumstances, and into disuse, to be rediscovered only after centuries as
one cannot be too sure that people are happier where a scholarly curiosity. The native dialects survived in
it has been supplanted by the state as the center of Roman script because the missionaries, with
society. admirable assiduity and zeal not at all common to the
white conquerors in Asia, learned the language of the
Our adaptability or imitativeness, is, like our
people instead of compelling them to learn Spanish.
family system, largely self-protective. Colonial
But all the rest had to go.
peoples quickly learn to adapt themselves to foreign
ways. The penalty is, at the very least, a kick in the It is difficult to determine now the strength, or
behind. The reward, on the other hand, is a little more even the exact nature, of our early culture. But it put
rice on the plate. So in the colonial Philippines, the up a stubborn fight. Priest-magicians, even more than
man who could speak Spanish or English, who knew the dispossessed kinglets, led a series of sanguinary
enough not to eat with his hands, or who could afford rebellions to defend the ancient altars. When the last
a foreign-cut jacket, had a reasonably better chance to one fell, the “western islands” and the tribes that
get a job or a promotion. inhabited them were in a state of nature.
That the Filipinos showed a precocious ability to It would have been impossible to eradicate native
imitate, and imitate to perfection, is perhaps indicated culture completely in such Asian centers of
by our national male costume, which is nothing else civilization as China, India, and Japan, with their
than a shirt won with its tail out. This seems to have multitude of gods, temples, palaces, and traditions
been decreed by the Spaniards to make it possible to The Philippines, on the outer rim of Asia, were an
tell at first glance who was a Spaniard with the right easier cultural conquest.
to wear his shirttails properly tucked in, and who was
We were also the Asian people that remained the
the inferior "indio", with the obligation of flaunting
longest under western rule. Magellan raised
them even when he was in full formals, complete to
Homonhon on the horizon in 1521; by 1572 Legaspi
cane and top hat. It is an odd turnabout, not without
had destroyed the Mohammedan power in Manila.
a certain irony, that this badge of inferiority has been
Japan was not occupied until 1945, and then only
transformed into a cherished national institution, and
briefly; China never lost her independence, and
that the white man in the tropics has actually followed
neither did Siam; India was not annexed until the
suit by wearing his tails cut too in the fashionable
middle of the nineteenth century.
sport shirt.
Moreover, the other westerners that shares with
Our mimetism, however, had at least one more
the Spanish the loot of Asia came as traders; they were
source other than pure self-preservation. Those
interested in silks and spices, silver and gold. The
Asians who complain that the Filipinos are
Spanish were also interested in souls, and while the
excessively westernized, to the point of losing their
Dutch, for example, were content to take their profits
and leave the Indonesians to Allah, the Spanish felt A slogan is coined, a speech is made, a law is
obliged in conscience to justify their conquest with passed or an order given, and we imagine that the
salvation. deed is done. We are told by higher authority that a
diplomatic victory has been won, and in utter
Shorn of their native traditions, isolated from the
disregard of the facts, we believe it, just as readily as
rest of Asia and the world by a strict policy of
we would have believed the opposite.
exclusion, we Filipinos had no alternative to western
civilization. The American occupation confirmed it What saves us is our ability to laugh at ourselves.
with the material advantages and political institutions A lively sense of the ridiculous has helped to keep
that seemed unrivalled by anything Asia had to offer. alive our sense of proportion. We are indeed the only
Dollars, habeas corpus, and the ballot completed the nationalists in Asia who do not take ourselves too
work of the catechism. As it had been since time out seriously, which explains why we strike white man as
of mind, westernization appeared to be the key to being friendly and good-natured. We are “socially
personal and national progress, and imitation an gracious” to them. Only hatred can excuse bad
easiest method of westernization. manners.
It is to be hoped that with the independence we Sometimes, of course, the irreverence we have for
shall become a little more discriminating. But it is still our rulers becomes a form of self-flagellation. What
justifiable to say that we “accept western standards at we do, or what our governments does, is seldom as
their face value.” Democracy, for example, was for so good as what other nations or other governments
long a mere theory, the idealized aspirations of a have done; there is a streak of masochism in our
subjugated nation, that our approach to its actual political opposition.
operation is necessarily tinged with an academic
But in itself the laughter is a good thing. In the past
impracticality, an act of faith without good works.
it was perhaps the only way our people could get back
There is an odd feature of that faith that perhaps at the foreign ruler. For the future it should insure us
deserves a passing comment, and that is the time-lag against submission to a messianic despot.
which afflicts our understanding of the west. The
All in all, it would not be too far from the truth to
clichés of the temporary world are epigrams among
say that we owe our faults to others, but our virtues
us. We hail as original discoveries, theories in politics,
are our own. Colonialism, through its various
economics, sociology, and art that are already
interpreters, made us irresponsible and imitative,
discredited abroad. It is startling to find that Lorna
improvident and even “indolent.” It gave us false ideas
Doone is the standard of literary excellence in many
of the indignity of manual labor and the security of a
schools, and that a considerable number of people
government job. It made us indifferent to our
believe the “third force” policy is a local invention.
responsibilities to ourselves.
University professors do not tire of repeating the
theories in vogue when they were college students in The wonder is that we retained our good humor,
the United States; they have not bothered to keep up; and the vitality to demand the only possible solution
and succeeding generations of teachers fall in their to our troubles.
turn into the same rut. We seem to inspire other nations with an
Since we have grown accustomed to borrowing irresistible urge to save us, civilize us, liberate us. The
our ideas, we have lost much of our capacity for Spaniards believed they were rescuing us from the
independence and originality of thought. We have Mohammedans and other agents of Satan. The
also developed an extraordinary credulity, often Americans proclaimed their purpose to civilize us,
mistaking form for substance, words for deeds, Christianize us, and liberate us form the Spaniards
programs on paper for achievements. and the “Tagalog Republic.” The Japanese in their turn
assumed, like excellent mimics, the classic posture of
saviors, and announced that they were come to free us
from the Americans in particular and white men in
general. No one bothered to consult us, and many
Filipinos were killed by these favors. But with an
amazing stroke of luck, we have managed to survive
this solicitude, and to learn that in the end we must
save ourselves.

Questions: What Are Filipinos Like?

1. What are the positive and negative
impressions foreigners have of Filipinos? Do
you agree or disagree with these impressions?
Why or why not? Elucidate your answer.
2. How did the author link our national
characteristics to our history? Explain.
3. According to the author, why do Americans
think Filipinos lack self-reliance? Elucidate.
4. Discuss why did the author say that our
adaptability becomes self-protective.
5. Why did early Spanish missionaries destroy all
repositories of native culture that they could
find? Explain.
6. Discuss why did the author say that Filipinos
had no other choice but to adopt western
civilization.
7. Name other characteristics that you think
Filipinos have in general. Provide reasons and
cite instances to support them.