Chapter 6 CULTURE: THE FILIPINO WAY

Intended Learning Outcomes: At the end of this chapter, the students are expected to:

1. Analyze crucial qualities of the Filipino Moral Identity in their own moral experience;
2. Evaluate elements that need to be changed;

6.1 The Filipino Culture

Despite a string of largely unsympathetic rulers, the turbulent history of the

Philippines has nonetheless managed to produce a friendly, resilient, family-oriented,
deeply religious and artistic population, most of whom are indigenous, Spanish or of
mixed heritage.

The culture of the Philippines comprises a blend of traditional Filipino and

Spanish Catholic traditions, with influences from America and other parts of Asia.
The Filipinos are family oriented and often religious with an appreciation for art,
fashion, music and food.

Filipinos are also hospitable people who love to have a good time. This often
includes getting together to sing, dance, and eat. The annual calendar is packed with
festivals, many of which combine costumes and rituals from the nation’s pre-Christian
past with the Catholic beliefs and ideology of present day.

6.2 Filipino Cultural Identity/Way

Compassionate

A Filipino trait of being sympathetic to others even if the person is a

stranger. An example of this is giving alms to beggar. This is observed when
we hear Filipinos saying “kawawa naman or nakakaawa naman”.

Hard Work and Industry

With resourcefulness comes hard work. Filipinos are very determined

and persevering in accomplishing whatever they set their minds to. Filipinos
over the years have proven time and time again that they are a people with an
industrious attitude. Sadly, this is seen by others as Filipinos being only useful
as domestic helpers, working abroad to help their families in the country. This
is also present in the country’s workforce particularly the farmers. Even with
little support, technological weaknesses and the country’s seasonal typhoons,
the Filipino farmer still strives to earn their daily meal.

Spirit of Kinship and Camaraderie

A Filipino community spirit and cooperation wherein a group of

individuals extends a helping hand without expecting any remuneration. It is
characterized by communal work towards one goal exemplified in carrying a
nipa house or pushing a passenger jeepney.
 Ability to Survive

The Filipinos as a people who have been constantly under the rule of
numerous powerful countries has over time, developed a sense of
resourcefulness or the ability to survive with whatever they have. They have
the extraordinary ability to make something out of almost nothing. If a Filipino
was given just a screwdriver, plastic bags, and some tape, he would still be
able to build a bird tree, especially for the sake of survival, and provided that
he be allowed to hunt for some needed surrounding material.

Family Orientation

The basic and most important unit of a Filipino’s life is the family. Unlike
in Western countries, young Filipinos who turn 18 are not expected to move out
of their parents’ home. When a Filipino’s parents are old and cannot take care
of themselves, they are cared for in their children’s homes and are very rarely
brought by their children to Homes for the Aged. The practice of separating the
elderly from the rest of the family, while common in Western countries, is often
looked down upon in Filipino society. Family lunches with the whole clan with
up to 50 people, extending until the line of second cousins, are not unusual.
The Filipino puts a great emphasis on the value of family and being close to
one’s family members.

Pakikipagkapwa-Tao

This is the shared sense of identity and consciousness of the ‘other’. It

means treating others with respect and dignity as an equal, not someone below
the individual.

Faith and Religiosity

The Philippines is approximately 85 percent Christians (mostly Roman

Catholic Christians), 10 percent Muslim, and 5 percent ‘other’ religions,
including the Taoist-Buddhist religious beliefs of Chinese and the ‘indigenous’
animistic beliefs of some peoples in upland areas that resisted 300 years of
Spanish colonial rule. This is a reflection of the Filipinos’ strong faith in God as
seen in their various practices. This includes the numerous Church Holidays
they observe, the customary (and obligatory) Sunday Mass, the individual’s
basis of their moral standpoints, the influence of the Church on the minds,
actions, and opinions of the majority, importance of the Sacraments, Praying
at almost any possible time of the day, the extreme practices during Holy Week.

Joy and Humor

This famous trait is the ability of Filipinos to find humour in everything. It

sheds light on the optimism and positivity of Filipinos in whatever situation they
are in so as to remain determined in going through struggles or challenges. It
serves as a coping technique, the same way a child who has fallen laughs at
himself/herself to hide his/her embarrassment.

Flexibility, Adaptability, Creativity

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 Studies show that Filipinos often have an aversion to a set of
standardized rules or procedures; They are known to follow a Natural Clock or
Organic sense of time- doing things in the time they feel is right. They are
present-oriented: which means that one attends to a task or requirement at the
time it is needed and does not worry much about future engagements. This
allows the Filipino to adapt and be flexible in doing the tasks at times not bound
to a particular schedule or timeframe. This allows them think on their feet and
be creative in facing whatever challenge or task they have even when it is
already right in front of them.

Hospitality

Foreigners who come to visit the Philippines speak of Filipinos going out
of their way to help them when lost, or the heartwarming generosity of a Filipino
family hosting a visitor in their poverty-stricken home. Meanwhile, most
foreigners who attend Filipino gatherings abroad (which are frequently
organized for hundreds of reasons) testify to the warmth and friendliness of
Filipinos as they experience that feeling of “belongingness.” Indeed, the
legendary Filipino hospitality is not limited to the Philippines. It is everywhere
wherever there are Filipinos.

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 Chapter 7 UNIVERSAL VALUES

Intended Learning Outcomes: At the end of this chapter, the students are expected to:

1. Identify Universal Values.

2. Explain why universal values are necessary for human survival.

7.1 Values
➢ Values are individual beliefs that motivate people to act one way or another.
They serve as a guide for human behavior.
➢ Generally, people are predisposed to adopt the values that they are raised
with.
➢ People also tend to believe that those values are “right” because they are the
values of their particular culture.
➢ Ethical decision-making often involves weighing values against each other
and choosing which values to elevate. Conflicts can result when people have
different values, leading to a clash of preferences and priorities.
➢ Some values have intrinsic worth, such as love, truth, and freedom. Other
values, such as ambition, responsibility, and courage, describe traits or
behaviors that are instrumental as means to an end.
➢ Still other values are considered sacred and are moral imperatives for those
who believe in them. Sacred values will seldom be compromised because
they are perceived as duties rather than as factors to be weighed in decision-
making. For example, for some people, their nation’s flag may represent a
sacred value. But for others, the flag may just be a piece of cloth.
➢ So, whether values are sacred, have intrinsic worth, or are a means to an
end, values vary among individuals and across cultures and time. However,
values are universally recognized as a driving force in ethical decision-
making.

7.2 Universal Values

(UN, Acutely Needed, Secretary-General Says at Tubingen University, Germany)

1. Peace 2. Freedom 3. Social Progress

4. Equal Rights 5. Human Dignity

➢ The values of peace, freedom, social progress, equal rights and human dignity,
enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations and in the Universal Declaration
of Human Rights, are no less valid today than when, over half a century ago,
those documents were drafted by representatives of many different nations and
cultures.
➢ The Universal Declaration, in particular, has been accepted in legal systems
across the world, and has become a point of reference for people who long for
human rights in every country. The world has improved, and the United
Nations has made an important contribution.
➢ Every society needs to be bound together by common values, so that its
members know what to expect of each other, and have some shared principles
by which to manage their differences without resorting to violence.

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 ➢ Today, as globalization brings us all closer together, and our lives are affected
almost instantly by things that people say and do on the far side of the world,
we also feel the need to live as a global community. And we can do so only if
we have global values to bind us together.
➢ In the Universal Declaration, we proclaimed that “everyone has the right to a
standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his
family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social
services”.
➢ Universal values require us to recognize the human characteristics, both good
and bad, that we have in common with all our fellow human beings, and to show
the same respect for human dignity and sensitivity in people of other
communities that we expect them to show for ours.
➢ We should always be prepared to let other people define their own identity, and
not insist on classifying them, however well-meaningly, by our own criteria. If
we believe sincerely in individual rights, we must recognize that an individual’s
sense of identity is almost always bound up with the sense of belonging to one
or more groups sometimes concentric, sometimes intersecting.

Universal values are needed for us human beings to survive. First and
foremost, it is an aspect that makes us basically human. Having universal
values does not only guarantee the safety of our lives and assurance of
human flourishing, it also safeguards the welfare of the future generation.

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