REACTION PAPER

The Place of Values in Philippine Society: A Preliminary Assessment

(by Marvin R. Soriano)

According to Soriano, Filipino values have an important role in Philippine society since it

is the foundation from which people base their objectives and actions and every thing a person

does is motivated and stirred by the values he believes in and cherish. All of these values evolved

out of our collective past, of the confluence of events and the need for Filipinos to survive

physically, psychologically and socially.

The author further stated that Filipino values have a significant role in politics. For

instance, the value of “pakikisama” which is generally considered a negative more than a

positive value when used in politics. This is a core value that refers to Filipino being very group

oriented. This is not surprising as group behavior or group harmony are preferred by Filipinos

since it is more important for everyone to feel good than for anyone to feel bad. However, in

politics there is detrimental effect of this value since this makes one blind to other people’s

opinion and make one’s judgement unreasonable. This value often threatens the truth and

integrity of a person’s political actions, decisions and institutions.

The value of pakikisama is also very much related to the Filipino value of “utang na

loob” Up to a certain point it is considered a positive value, but much is a trap in itself. We

Filipinos use this trait inadvertently believing this was natural to us, hence, good. This is not

strength but rather a weakness for it is built upon our belief that we Filipinos were of lesser

valueeThis exaggerated utang na loob prevented the Filipinos from making rational actions in

choosing the most effective decisions. When applied into politics, this value becomes the core of
corruption for this prevents the mind from siding to the ideals of common good but rather

reduces it to side with things or with people whom the political Filipinos are indebted to -or

beholden to- in one way or another.

Another value of Filipinos that impacts politics is our sense of “hiya” or saving face. It is

rather uncommon for Filipinos to ask for favors, especially big ones, because it involves

incurring utang na loob. In those occasions when utang na loob is reluctantly incurred, sincere

efforts are made by the beneficiary to not only return the favor, but to do so as soon as possible,

so as to avoid the feeling of hiya (shame) and the loss of face. It is this feeling of hiya (which

arises out of the beneficiary himself and not from any external source) that compels the

beneficiary to repay the utang na loob. When used in politics, this sense of hiya does not only

make a person render unreasonable decisions and actions but compromises his/her integrity as

well.

The strong family orientation or family ties is one of the Filipino values I admire most.

This value affects almost all aspects of Filipino culture and society. I still consider this value as

our strongest strength for it is the reason behind why our country persists and survives in the face

of internal conflicts, political and economic crises where Filipino families just stay and stick

together. This value is not class-specific for it is indeed a strong trait observed not only among

the poor but even among the affluent Filipino families.

There are other relevant Filipino values that do not exists in isolation and are being

practiced in society like bahala na, utang na loob, pakiusap, gossiping, blaming others, being

onion-skinned, personalism and strong sense of religiosity and spirituality. All of these values

impact a person’s outlook, behavior and world view. When used in extreme, these values have

negative consequences to our community and the Filipino society at large. All traits had
developed and been retained because they have this survival value. And while our social

evolution is still in progress, I think that these values that we have are also undergoing some

transformations. Our Filipino values are not static and final. We as Filipinos are changing or are

being changed by events and time. We ourselves are witnesses to how these values conflict with

things new to us or which requires other cultural tools or constructs that are either foreign or less

develop in us. Filipinos are not perfect, but we have great characteristics and qualities every one

of us should be proud of.