Values

innate and important human concept. Denotes the degree of importance of some thing or
action, with the aim of determining what actions are best to do or what way is best to live
(normative ethics), or to describe the significance of different actions.

Filipino Values
- refers to the set of values or the value system that a majority of the Filipino
have historically held important in their lives. This Philippine value system
includes their own unique assemblage of consistent ideologies, moral codes,
ethical practices, etiquette, and cultural and personal values that are promoted
by their society.

Definitions of Value:
Anthropologist F. Lando Jocano defines values as “standards against which actions are
organized and experiences are interpreted and evaluated.
Sociologists John Macionis describes values as culturally defined standards that people
apply to evaluate prestige, goodness, and attractiveness and serve as basis for social
living.
Psychologist Fr. Jaime Bulatao defines value as “an object of a positive attitude” or “a
goal or vision of which motivates him to action”
According to the Sociologist, Hunt, Green, Espiritu, and Quisumbing, values are important
motivators of behavior that indicate what society considers as important. They provide
the course of action that can be taken when confronted with choices.
Anthropologist Fr. Frank Lynch stated that values are “standards used in the making of a
decision.” They can be classified as aims or goal toward something or a belief, conviction,
or structural principles by which “statuses are distinct and unequal in prestige.”
Filipino values can be divided into many themes that aim to attain good life.
1. Acceptance by one’s fellow for what one is, thinks oneself to be, or would like to
be, and be given the treatment due to one’s station;
2. Economic Security (exempli gratia, freedom from debt)
3. Movement to higher socioeconomic ladder

SOCIAL ACCEPTANCE
TWO VALUES:
1. Smoothness of interpersonal relations (SIR)
2. Shame and Self-esteem or Amor propio
SMOOTH INTERPERSONAL RELATIONS
It is a situation wherein you’re are being agreeable, even under difficult circumstances or
pressure, and of keeping quiet or out of sight when discretion passes the word. It means
a sensitivity to what other people feel at any given moment. S as it is important in Filipino
Society as it is observed and practiced in almost all human encounters of Filipino society.
SIR is acquired and preserved by the following:
1. Pakikisama (in English: Accompany or go along with) refers to the practice of
accepting decision of the leader or the majority of the group so that it will appear
that the group’s decision is undivided.

2. Euphemism refers to the respectful or polite manner of presenting a serious

subject or an unkind opinion or request. This value is highly prized in the
Philippines because the use of harsh, insulting, and negative speeches are
frowned upon in Filipino society.

3. Through the use of go-between is done by a third party who is called upon to
appease someone, mend disagreements, or prevent conflicts. A go-between is
needed in a number of common situations.

SHAME AND SELF-ESTEEM

1. Shame or hiya is an uncomfortable feeling that accompanies awareness of
being in a position that is considered socially inappropriate or performing an
action that unacceptable to the society. (Jocano) a norm that help define
social behavior particularly those that deal with “face-to-face relations.” Hiya
may be translated as "a sense of social propriety"; as a preventive, it makes
for conformity to community norms. When one violates such a norm, he
ordinarily feels a deep sense of shame, a realization of having failed to live
up to the standards of the society. To call a Filipino walang hiya, or
"shameless" is to wound him seriously.

2. is a special defense against sever interpersonal unpleasantness. It is

manifested being sensitive to personal insult. It is considered as being
sensitive not for the attainment of social acceptance but to retain one’s
social acceptance that he/she already has.
These two are specific rules of conduct that are followed by Filipinos to prevent conflicts
based on emotional standards or damdamin to happen.
ECONOMIC SECURITY AND SOCIAL MOBILITY
Economic security means that Filipinos have the ability to meet ordinary material needs
without borrowing. He/she want economic security through his/her resources. When
children’s, adults, and families are safe, healthy, educated and have sufficient money for
comfortable living, it means, they are economically secure.
They also value advancement in socioeconomic ladder and always hope to move to a
higher economic class.

RECIPROCITY
Reciprocity is an important value among Filipinos. It refers to a situation when Filipinos
ensure that every favor or request received or asked must be returned. According to Mary
Hollnsteiner, there are three classification of reciprocity
 Contractual Reciprocity
- Contractual reciprocity supposes a voluntary agreement between two or more
people to behave toward one another in a specified way for a specified time in
the future.' An example of this is found in the case of a group of farmers who
agree to take turns plowing one another's fields. This arrangement, linown as
bolhon in Cebuano Bisayan, has been described by Hart5 and given the status
of a type by Udy." According to the usual terms, the farmers work jointly on one
field at a time, the proprietor of the particular field acting as boss of the group.
The amount of time and effort spent in each case is approximately equal. When
the complete rotation of fields and corresponding work leaders has been made,
the obligation of each member to all the others has been settled. The strictly
contractual nature of this system of mutual assistance is apparent, since the
reciprocity arrangements are clearly established beforehand. Each participant
knows exactly what is expected of him, and what he may expect of the others.
He does not feel compelled to do more than any other member since it is not
expected of him. In this sense, his participation is not at the level of a general
institutionalized expectation, accompanied by a diffuse sense of noblesse
oblige. The felt obligation is narrow in scope and devoid of strong emotion.
Nonetheless the weakness of affect does not mean that a shirker goes
unpunished, for failure to comply with the: holhon contract will certainly bring
censure and an unwillingness on the part of the others to help the shirker in the
future.

 Quasi-Contractual Reciprocity
- The second type of reciprocity, the quasi-contractual, regulates balanced
exchanges where the terms of repayment are not explicitly stated before the
contract is made; rather, the terms are implicit in situations which the culture
recognizes and defines as calling for these terms. Reciprocity comes into play
automatically without any specific prior arrangement, and repayment is made
in a mechanical, almost non-affective manner. But failure to reciprocate brings
censure. The abuloy as found in Tulayan is an example of a quasicontractual
obligation based on money exchange. When someone in the community dies,
it is customary for some members of the community, related or not, and who
are not feuding with the family of the deceased, to contribute a sum of money,
or abuloy, to the bereaved family.,' The family receiving the abuloy carefully
records in a notebook kept especially for that purpose the name of the donor
and the amount contributed. The reciprocal abuloy repayment must necessarily
be deferred until someone in the donor's family dies. Then the debt engendered
- “his is in addition to the ambagan, a community-wide collection taken up for
the bereaved family where every contributor gives an identical sum of money-
in Tulayan, twenty centavos. may be settled by the original recipient's
consulting the notebook to see how much money the original donor's family
contributed, giving in turn exactly the same amount. As in the case of
contractual reciprocity, no interest is paid; there is no attempt to improve on the
sum given by the first donor. To do so would violate the code of equivalence
ascribed to the custom of abuloy. Nor may this type of reciprocity, when among
social equals, be paid in a manner other than by an equal contribution upon the
death of someone in the original donor's family. The duration of time involved
in repayment is of little importance; what is essential is that reciprocation be
made when the opportunity to do so arises. In the case of the abuloy, the
repayment situation is, of course, inevitable, provided that the first donor's
family does not move out of the barrio before a member dies. A distinction must
be made here between the situation where abuloy is given to one's social equal
and the one where it is given by a family of distinctly higher status to a lower
status family. In the latter case the higher-status family, in accordance with
community expectations, will normally give an amount which the lower-status
family could not easily match. For the social system requires that those who
have more should share their bounty with those who have less. Rather than
make repayment with an embarrassingly smaller amount of money, the lower-
status recipient can settle the debt by giving his family's services to the donor.
Helpers are always needed to prepare the inevitable handa, or repast, which
accompanies the wake on the first, third, and ninth nights following the death.
Attendance at the prayers for the dead and at the funeral itself is always
appreciated and noted by the bereaved family. Although the abuloy repayment
by the lower status family is not made in cash, the principle of equivalence is
enforced, nevertheless. The services or public prayers rendered are
acceptable substitutes, and neither party is expected to feel particularly grateful
for the amount contributed in money or services since the abuloy is a balanced
exchange relatively free of emotional charge. The abuloy is a quasi-contractual
form of reciprocity.
 Utang na Loob
- The third type of reciprocity, utang na loob reciprocity, is most consciously
generated when a transfer of goods or services takes place between individuals
belonging to two different groups. Since one does not ordinarily expect favors
of anyone not of his own group, a service of this kind throws the norm into bold
relief. Furthermore, it compels the recipient to show his gratitude properly by
returning the favor with interest to be sure that he does not remain in the other's
debt. It is a true gift in this sense. It is also a kind of one-upmanship. The kind
of debt created in the recipient is called utang na loob (literally, a debt inside
oneself) or sense of gratitude. Utang na loob reciprocity is an ancient Filipino
operating principle. Every Filipino is expected to possess utang na loob; that
is, he should be aware of his obligations to those from whom he receives favors
and should repay them in any acceptable manner. Since utang na loob
invariably stems from a service rendered, even though a material gift may be
involved, quantification is impossible. One cannot actually measure the
repayment but can attempt to make it, nevertheless, either believing that it
supersedes the original service in quality or acknowledging that the reciprocal
payment is partial and requires further payment. Some services can never be
repaid. Saving a person's life would be one of these; getting a steady job,
especially for an unskilled laborer at a time when employment is scarce and
unskilled laborers abound, might be another. The utang na loob repayment,
where it is made or attempted, is undefined in the sense that it can encompass
any acceptable form within the reach of the one reciprocating. In a see-sawing
coordinate relationship there is an uneasiness about being on the indebted
side, temporary though the position may be. This reluctance to be indebted
encourages full payment with interest as soon as the opportunity presents itself.
The permanent superordinate-subordinate relationship, on the other hand, is
characterized by acceptance of the relative positions and a corresponding lack
of uneasiness on the part of the subordinate element about reciprocation with
interest. In the former case, failure to dischange one's utang na loob by
repaying with interest brings hiya, or shame, on the side of the guilty party; in
the latter case, failure to recognize and admit that one has a debt is cause for
hiya. The parent-child utang na loob relationship is complementary rather than
reciprocal. For parents never develop utang na loob toward their children. They
have a duty to rear them which is complemented by the children's obligation to
respect and obey their parents and show their gratitude by taking care of them
in old age. The children's obligation to the parents continues even when the
parent's duties have been largely fulfilled. This complementarity breeds a
special closeness among family members, imposing on them a deep-seated
obligation to cling to one another. They have no choice but to help their closest
relatives when the situation demands.