Life Musings

A few comments about the Philippines, where I grew up...

There are so many things about Philippine culture that are holding the country back. We like to blame our backwardness on external factors -- imperialism, colonial rule, and so forth. However, I think that Philippine culture has a lot to do with it.

For example, Pinoys tend to embrace corruption -- the whole "basta makalusot" attitude. I found that even in the USA, people tend to think of us as cheaters, or people who work around the system. One department store saleslady in San Fransisco even asked me, "Why do so many well-dressed Filipinas -- total strangers, even -- keep trying to cajole me into giving them free perfume 'samples'? When I explain that I'm not allowed to do that, they say, 'Oh, come on. Surely you can do this for me, right?' It's like they're not willing to buy the perfume honestly, so they'd rather pressure me into giving them some under the table."

Another is the lack of value that we place on education. Now, I'm sure that some would protest --- after all, Filipinos want their children to attend college, right? The thing is, we think of education primiarily as a means to well-paying jobs, rather than something to be pursued for personal development. That's why the best-selling items in Philippine bookstores are greeting cards, rather than the books themselves.

Consider the way that engineers are respected in the Philippines, for example. They are lauded primarily because engineers can earn good money, rather than for their intellectual achievement -- and scientists receive virtually no respect at all. In contrast, here in the USA, engineers are respected primarily for their technical achievements, and scientists are held in high esteem.

Another problem with Filipinos is the whole "pwede na" mentality -- settling for mediocrity, instead of striving for excellence. As a result, we tend to create substandard products that are not competitive and which do not foster further excellence.

Yet another problem is the copycat mentality of Filipinos. I once heard a middle-aged Filipina brag that our people are great imitators -- that we excel at copying the music, movies and TV shows which succeed in the Western world. I'm sorry, but that is NOT something to be proud about! It shows that Filipinos have no sense of creativity, and that we would rather copy others than strive for originality and innovation.

More on this topic later.