Filipino Culture of Respect

The Filipinos know what they value, what they treasure, and what they are willing to fight

for. The Philippines is an island-country with a long history of colonization along with abuse and

violence from its colonizers. Shaken, devastated, and tore into bits and pieces, the Filipino heart

became resilient, ready to face the odds and to start all over again. After all, Filipinos know what

they value, what they treasure, and what they are willing to fight for.

The Filipino values his or her race, treasures his or her loved-ones, and fights for its freedom and

values embedded in every fiber of his or her being. Some of the people who studied the Filipino

culture from the pre-colonial era to the 21st century Philippines say that there is a lost trait of the

Filipinos’ respect.

The Filipinos are known as a people of pride prior the colonization era. A lot of research has

revealed the Filipino glory during these moments. However, this pride fades away in the near

four hundred years of colonization under different colonizers. To some, this pride includes the

Filipino culture of respect. Respect is what Filipinos offered the world especially before

colonialism.

Near a century after colonization, the Filipinos can attest that the culture of respect is still

present. Despite the influence of the media and other societies regarding respect as very relative,

respect is still treasured this side of the world. It is evident in the way children are raised and in

the way the elders pass on the culture of respect to the next generation. As long as there are

Filipinos who are willing to pass on this gem of a culture, the culture of respect shall thrive.

What makes a Filipino respectful? What does he or she do and show? Here are some of the

factors that one can see in a Filipino culture of respect:

Kissing the hands of someone older. It is unexplained but the Filipinos call this as “Bless”. It is

an act wherein the younger one would take the hand of the older one and put it on his or her

forehead with the head slightly bending down. A father comes into the front door and the

children automatically would get his hand and would do the “Bless”. In a bigger setting, children

and even adults rush to kiss the hands of everyone relatively older than his or her age or by blood

relations. Someone who does not do the “bless” is considered very disrespectful to the maximum

level by everyone who is older than him or her. It is an unwritten law that it is imperative for the

younger individual to kiss the hand of all the other older ones. Not doing it means breaking the

culture.

Using “respect” words. This factor is very distinct to the Philippines. Everyone since they started

talking are taught by their parents to say the respect words when talking with someone older.

“Po,” “Opo,” and “Ho” are placed in between words when speaking to someone older. As early

as two years old, these words are introduced to children and made sure that is taught to avoid

people telling one that his or her child is disrespectful. There is no exact translation of those

words in the English language.

Parent and child relations. Discipline (physical, cultural, and psychological) is a very big

component in reinforcing the teaching of respect. In the Philippines, a child is very much taught

to be respectful especially to his or her parents. There is also a distinct culture in the Philippines

wherein a child is not allowed to join the conversation of adults especially the older people. This

is considered disrespectful as a child should not butt-in any adult conversations. A Filipino child

is also well-trained when it comes to respecting his or her parents. A parent is always treated as

the number one source of guidance for decision making and all aspect of a child’s life. cc
Subordinate/ Superior relations. Taken from the context of parent and child relations,

subordinates always would have a very high regard for their superiors. The Filipino’s culture of

respect reaches out to even the professionalism aspect of the work place. Very seldom could one

see a subordinate going out of the office after work to have a drink or two. For a lot of Filipinos,

they value the strict attitude of a pure and professional working relationship. Even if the

subordinate initiates a relationship outside of work, a Filipino would always feel the

uncomfortable feeling that it would entail. There are also stories of a Filipino that goes to work

abroad and always being reprimanded for the usage of “Ma’am” and “Sir”. In some societies like

the Western society, first name calling is the norm thus no need for the usage of the more formal

address like the “Ma’am” and the “Sir”. To the Filipino, however, the usage of the term is

imperative because of his or her subordinate role.

Some people from other culture who would watch a Filipino and showing the respect he or she

learned would say that sometimes, the respect is already out of place and unnecessary. Some

Filipinos call it respect but in reality, it is already an inferiority complex whether personal or

racial.

However, as the Filipinos have learned along its journey as a nation, the pride of the people lies

in the values that can never be replicated around the world. Like the kissing of the hand, addition

of the respect words, respect for parents even in the adulthood, and the respect for superiors,

these are truly apart Filipino of culture. And in the dawn of migration of Filipinos going abroad,

respect would take them a long, long, way in their quest of proving that they can offer something

good to contribute both as a person and as a race.

References:
 Panda, B. (2011, September 10). Filipino Culture of Respect. Retrieved from
https://asianfriends.com.au/filipino-culture-of-respect/

Ms B. Panda, in her article, “Filipino Culture of Respect,” states that Filipinos know what

they value, what they treasure and what they willing to fight for, also comes with this fact is that

respect is what they offer to the world. Even though Filipinos gone through a lot of sufferings,

abuse and violence from the colonizers during the colonial time, they still treasured respect until

the present time. Despite of all the things like medias, trends of todays’ generation and culture of

different societies and countries that may affect the respect of an individual from one to another,

they stood firm and did not let others influence or affect how deep they value it. It can be clearly

seen in the attitude and behavior of the youth of this generation that they are raised being taught

with respect and it is deeply rooted within us. This culture will be maintained and continue to

pass until the next generations as long as people are willing to do so. As a Filipino, I can attest

that we are still living in a society with this culture and I can’t agree more that we Filipinos are

well known for being respectful and hospitable, and we show this through different kinds of

gestures or on what comes out of our mouths.

For Filipinos, respect can be shown by “kissing the hands of someone older” (Panda 2). This

gesture is sometimes called “bless” wherein people tend to take the right hand of someone that is

older than them or anyone who is blood related to them, then with slightly bended head they

place the hand in their foreheads. For others it is literally kissing the hand of someone older than

them, it differs depending on how you were raised by your family or from what place you came

from. Nevertheless, any kind of way whether kissing the hand or just placing it in the forehead,
the aim doesn’t differ and that is to show respect for the elderly. If a person grows in a family

who values this practice so much it means that once you forgot in performing this even for once,

this is already a sign of being disrespectful. “It is an unwritten law that it is imperative for the

younger individual to kiss the hand of all the other older ones. Not doing it means breaking the

culture” (Panda 2).

Respect can also be expressed through the words that comes out of our mouths such as

““Po,” “Opo,”and “Ho” are placed in between words when speaking to someone older” (Panda

2). This words are frequently heard from people especially those who are from the generation Z

or those who are from mid-1990s to early 2000s because were given more attention in terms of

practicing and in using these words. This practice is introduced to everyone since they were still

a child as a preparation so that once they are old enough to interact with other people, they are

already used in using these words in order to avoid a remark of being disrespectful.

Being respectful is part of the Filipino Culture. “There is also a distinct culture in the

Philippines wherein a child is not allowed to join the conversation of adults especially the older

people” (Panda 2). Filipinos are taught by their parents since they were still a child to never butt-

in any adult conversation especially when it is a conversation between their parents with

someone because this is a sign of being disrespectful. In the Philippines, parent and child relation

is very important because Filipinos are family-oriented, therefore respecting them and being

disciplined is our topmost priority. “In fact, it is customary in the Philippines to always take

one’s parents into consideration even if the child is already old, self-sufficient and independent”

(Panda 2).

Being respectful does not only come within the family or the “child to older person”

relation, it also applies for people with the same range of age but only differs with their position
in any specific field. This level of respect applies for every workplace or the “subordinate to

superior” relation. “The Filipino’s culture of respect reaches out to even the professionalism

aspect of the work place” (Panda 2). Just like how Filipinos their relation in the family