GE 10

ETHICS
ADELYN KATE G. ELENZANO, LPT,MPsych
Course Instructor

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Module Template

Module 1: UNDERSTANDING MORALITY AND

Module No. & Title
MORAL STANDARDS
Hooray to a new academic year! The journey in this
pandemic has been tough yet you made it. New normal has
come, but the learning must continue. This would be pretty
exciting! As we start digging through this course pack, you
Module Overview
will start on a bird’s eye view of this subject Ethics. This
module focuses mainly on understanding morality and moral
standards. There will be activities that would really test your
knowledge.

At the end of the module, you are expected:

 Distinguish between moral and non-moral standards
 Explain moral dilemma as a moral dilemma as a moral
Module experience
 Distinguish between a moral dilemma and a false dilemma
Objectives/Outcomes
 Illustrate the three levels of moral dilemma
 Explain why only human beings can be ethical
 Analyze crucial qualities of the Filipino moral identity
 Evaluate elements of the Filipino character

This module will tackle the following topics:

Lesson 1: Moral and Non-Moral Standards
Lessons in the Lesson 2: Moral Dilemmas
module Lesson 3: The Three Levels of Moral Dilemmas
Lesson 4: Freedom as the Foundation for Moral Acts
Lesson 5: The Filipino Character

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TEMPLATE 4: The Lesson Structure

Module No. and Module 1: UNDERSTANDING MORALITY AND

Title MORAL STANDARDS
Lesson No. and
Title
LESSON 5: FILIPINO CHARACTER
Learning 1. Analyze crucial qualities of the Filipino moral identity
Outcomes 2. Evaluate elements of the Filipino character
Time Frame Week 7

Woopie! Welcome Lesson 5. You are going to answer

this module hence the activities intended must be done on
Introduction time. In this lesson, you will be given an overview on the
meaning of Filipino character to determine which one does not
help us grow in moral character. So, let’s get started. Enjoy!

Breakout rooms:
Activity Group yourselves by 5 and identify at least 3 strengths of the
Filipino character.
These strengths sometimes also become weaknesses. Do
you agree? Explain your answer and illustrate with an
Analysis
example.
The Filipino Character: Strengths and Weaknesses
Abstraction
Below is an excerpt of the Report "A Moral Recovery
Program: Building a People. Building a Nation" submitted on
April 27, 1988 by the Task Force to President Corazon
Aquino, the Senate and the members of the press by then
Senator Leticia Shahani, the moving spirit behind the program.

The weaknesses of the Filipino character as cited in the

Report are as follows:

1. Extreme family centeredness Excessive concern for

family means using one's office and power to promote family
interests and thus factionalism patronage, political dynasties
and the protection of erring family members. It results in lack
of concern for the common good, and acts as a block to
national consciousness.

2. Extreme personalism "Takes things personally," cannot

separate objective task from emotional involvement. Because
of this the Filipino is uncomfortable with bureaucracy, with
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rules and regulations and with standard procedures. He uses
personal contacts and gives preference to family and friends
in hiring, services and even voting. Extreme personalism
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. Aversion to
following procedures strictly results in lack of standardization
and quality control. Impatience results in short cuts, palusot,
ningas cogon. Lack of discipline often results in inefficient
work systems, the violation of rules and a casual work ethic
lacking follow through.

4. Passivity and lack of initiative - Waiting to be told what to

do, reliance on others (leaders and government),
complacence, lack of a sense of urgency. There is high
tolerance for inefficiency, poor service, and even violations of
one's basic rights. Too patient and matiisin, too easily
resigned to his fate, the Filipino is easily oppressed and
exploited.

5. Colonial mentality Lack of patriotism, or of an active

awareness, appreciation and love of the Philippines and an
actual preference for things foreign

6. Kanya-kanya syndrome, talangka mentality - Done by

tsismis, intriga, unconstructive criticism... It is evident in the
personal ambition that is completely insensitive to the
common good, e.g., the lack of a sense of service among
people in the government bureaucracy. This results in the
dampening of cooperative and community spirit and in the
trampling upon other's rights.

7. Lack of self-analysis and self-reflection The tendency to

be superficial and somewhat flighty. In the face of serious
personal and social problems, there is lack of analysis or
reflection and instead satisfaction with superficial explanations
and solutions.

8. Emphasis on porma rather than substance ... This lack

of analysis and emphasis on form is reinforced by an
educational system that is more form than substance...

These weaknesses are rooted in many factors: home, social

and economic environment; culture and language: history;
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religion: educational system; mass media; leadership and
role models. Change is possible, however, and the following
goals are proposed to develop in the Filipino: (1) a sense of
patriotism and national pride; (2) a sense of the common
good; (3) a sense of integrity and accountability, (4) the values
and habits of discipline and hard work; (5) the value and
habits of self-reflection and analysis; the internalization of
spiritual values and the emphasis on essence rather than on
form. (Shahani, Leticia. (1988). A Moral Recovery Program:
Building a People, Building a Nation.)

In the same report in 1988, Senator Leticia Shahani said. The

strengths of the Filipino character are: 1) pakikipagkapwa-tao,
2) family orientation, 3) joy and humor, 4) flexibility,
adaptability and creativity, 5) hard work and industry, 6) faith
and religiosity and 7) ability to survive.

There is so much good in the Filipino but so much needs to be

changed, too. Many of our strengths as a people are also
sources of our weaknesses. Shahani's report explains that
"family orientation becomes in-group orientation that prevents
us from reaching out beyond the family to the large community
and the nation." For the Filipino, charity begins at home and at
the same time ends there.

Values Education in Schools

Senator Shahani's Report was given in 1988. But its findings

as reported may still be true today. If the Department of
Education has to be true to its vision to help develop...
"Filipinos who passionately love their country and whose
values and competencies enable them to realize their full
potential and contribute meaningfully to building the nation"
and to its core values - maka-Diyos, maka-tao, makakalikasan
and makabansa - it is an uphill battle for Philippine schools to
realize these considering the weaknesses of the Filipino
character: 1) extreme family centeredness, 2) extreme
personalism, 3) lack of discipline, 4) passivity and lack of
initiative, 5) colonial mentality, 6) kanya-kanya syndrome,
talangka mentality, 7) lack of self-analysis and self-reflection
and 8) emphasis on porma rather than substance.

So that it will not be "more form than substance" as described

in Senator Shahani's Report, Philippine schools have to
intensify values education in the curriculum which in essence
is moral education. In fact, in response to this Report, Values
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Education now Edukasyon sa Pagpapakatao in the K to 12
Curriculum was introduced as a separate subject in the basic
education curriculum under the Values Education Framework
program of Dr. Lourdes Quisumbing, then Department of
Education, Culture and Sports Secretary in 1988-1990. The
Values Education Framework was conceptualized in 1987. In
2002, the Basic Education Curriculum (Grade 1-6, and First-
Fourth Year High School) integrated values in the major
learning areas or subjects. Beginning with the K to 12
Curriculum in 2013, Values Education was renamed
Edukasyon sa Pagpapakatao (ESP) for Grades 1-10. In the
Senior High Curriculum (Grades 11-12), there is no course
with the title, Values Education or Edukasyon sa
Pagpapakatao but core courses such as Introduction to the
Philosophy of the Human Person and Personal Development,
are in essence Values Education subjects and Moral
Education subjects themselves.

To help every Filipino child grow morally and ethically, he/she

must be helped acquire the strengths of the Filipino character
at the same time, he/she must be made to realize that his/her
strengths also become his/her source of weaknesses.

Other Studies on Filipino Moral Character

There had been studies of the Filipino moral life, the more
popular of which were those Fr. Jaime Bulatao, Fr. Leonardo
Mercado, Fr. Francis. Senden, and Fr. Vitaliano Gorospe. Fr.
Bulatao's research identified the "kami" mentality of Filipinos.
In "kami" (a Filipino term which means "us") he says, "I identify
with my family and relatives... We are opposed to all who are
not kami." Fr. Vitaliano Gorospe, SJ referred to this way of
thinking as "group-centeredness" or "group thinking"
characterized as follows:

One norm of morality in the Philippines is based on "group

centeredness" or "group-thinking." One's in-group determines
for the individual what is right or wrong. The individual who
has not yet attained moral independence and maturity will ask:
"What will my family, or my relatives and friends, or my
barkada think or say?" "What will others say" usually
determines Filipino moral behavior; it is "conscience from the
outside. "For instance, parents tell their daughter who is being
courted: "Iha, please entertain your boyfriend at home. Do not
go outside. What will the neighbors say? Nakakahiya naman.
"Shame or hiya makes the parents and the girl conform to the
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social expectations of the neighbors lest they become the
object of tsismis or gossip.

Here again there is a conflict between the individual and social

morality, between internal and external morality. The norm of
morality should be internalized so that the mature individual
should form his own moral "conscience from the inside."
(Gorospe, 1977)

The "group thinking" cited by Fr. Gorospe is called "sakop

mentality" by others like Fr. Leonardo Mercado. (1977) The
sakop may refer to "person's relatives, peers, classmates,
townmates, officemates, etc." This thinking or mentality
explains the "pakikisama" in both positive and negative sense;
it explains the barkada attitude, euphemism, the laughter of
affirmation of gutter language; it explains subservience to an
illegal or immoral order. Hence, Dr. Brenda B. Corpuz (1986)
observed in her article published in the St. Louis University
Research Journal:

One can estimate the consequences of this sakop mentality

by imagining how it works in decision making. Since sakop
welfare is the ultimate value, then a lot of principles may be
sacrificed for the sake of it. One can kill and hide the body of
the crime by reason of being part of the sakop. One can tell a
lot of lies for the sake of the sakop. One can pick some
vegetable from his neighbor's backyard and is... not bothered
by a sense of guilt because one does not steal from a member
of the sakop. The sakop determines for the individual what is
right or wrong.

Impact of Culture on Morality

Speaking of the significant impact of culture on the morality of

people let us think of the Japanese "shame culture." "Guilt
cultures emphasize punishment and forgiveness as ways of
restoring the moral order; shame cultures stress self-denial
and humility as ways of restoring the social order." What
keeps Japanese from acting contrary to moral standards is the
fear of being put to shame. At most they would do when put to
shame is hara-kiri, (suicide). Contrast this to the "guilt culture"
in the Philippines. When a Filipino commits an immoral act, he
would of course feel guilty, but after confessing his sin, he
may feel as if he is back to the normal thing and can sin again.

Can it be said that a society that easily resorts to mob rule,

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 mob mentality, where only a few have the guts to stand up
and insist on what conscience dictates, is in need of moral
development? Filipino homes and schools have to do
something, to teach the moral development they want or hope
to see.
Check your understanding

FILIPINO TRAIT WHAT IS WHAT IS WHAT SHOULD BE

POSITIVE ABOUT NEGATIVE ABOUT DONE TO MAKE IT
IT? IT? A POSITIVE
TRSIT?

Application

Well done! You have just finished this lesson. Keep working
and enjoy!
Closure
Now if you are ready, please proceed to Lesson 1 of Module 2
which will discuss about Man as a Moral Agent.