The Philippines and the Filipino

The Philippines is an archipelago consisting of more than 7,000 islands and islets
stretching almost a thousand miles from north to south. The land surface is 114, 830 square
statute miles and is crisscrossed with mountains and drained by small river systems. Volcanic in
origin, the mountain ranges “form the circuit and watersheds of the Pacific basin of the earth’s
surface.”
Mountain Systems. There are three large ranges in the mountain system of Luzon which
form ramparts around the Central Plains. The Caraballo del Sur, which forms the nucleus of the
system, has its highest peak at the intersection of the boundaries of Abra, Ilocos Norte, and
Cagayan. The Caraballos Occidentales divide into the Cordillera Norte and Cordillera Central and
traverse the region west of the Cagayan River. The Sierra Madre, also known as the Pacific coast
range, begins at Baler, Quezon, and crosses Isabela, Nueva Vizcaya, and Cagayan. This is the
longest continuous range in the Philippines. The mountain ranges of the eastern and
southeastern provinces of Luzon extend from the Caraballo de Baler to San Bernardino Strait in
the south, culminating in Mayon Volcano in Albay and Bulusan Volcano in Sorsogon.
The Zambales range starts at Cape Bolinao and follows the China Sea coast to the Bataan
Peninsula. The Tagaytay range passes through Cavite and Batangas and, with Mt. Makiling. Forms
the mountain system of the southern Tagalog region.
The Mindoro mountain range begins at Mt. Halcon and is divided into three ranges: the
northwest ending at Calavite Point, a landmark of ships passing between Manila and Mindoro
Strait; the east, which originates from Lake Naujan; and the west, which follows the Mindoro
Strait.
Negros in the Visayas is divided into two by a range running from northwest to southeast,
with Kanlaon Volcano as the notable peak. Panay has a range running from north to south that
separates Antique from Iloilo, Capiz, and Aklan.
Mindanao has four distinct ranges: the Surigao range which follows the contours of the
Pacific coast; the Butuan range which extends to the south and forms the watershed of the
Agusan River on the east and the Pulangui River on the west; the central western ranges of which
Mt. Apo is the highest; and the Western range which begins west of Iligan Bay and ends on the
shore of Basilan Strait.
River Systems .- The Philippines has extensive but small river systems which are mostly
delineated by the mountain ranges. The fluvial system of Luzon is represented by (1) the Rio
Grande de Cagayan and its tributaries, which drain the Cagayan Valley; (2) the Agno Grande which
drains Benguet and the valleys of Nueva Ecija, Pangasinan, and Tarlac; (3) the Abra River system,
which receives its tributaries from the Cordillera and drains Lepanto, Bontoc, and Abra; and (4)
the Rio Grande de Pampanga and its tributaries, which drain the fertile valleys of Nueva Ecija,
Pampanga, and Bulacan.
Mindanao has the largest river system in the Philippines. The Rio Grande de Mindanao
drains the central basin of Mindanao and receives the waters of two lakes. Agusan, which is
second to the Rio Grande, drains the basin of Surigao.
Volcanoes and Earthquakes .- Volcanoes dot the three geographic regions of the country
and have been for centuries one of the natural causes of destruction of life and property. At least
ten of these volcanoes are considered active; the rest are dormant. The most famous of these
are, from north to south, Iraya in Batanes Island; Taal in Batangas; Banahaw in Quezon; Mayon
in Albay; Hibok-Hibok in Camiguin Island; Makaturing in Lanao; and Apo in Davao. Of these
volcanoes, Mayon has been the most active. It has erupted more than thirty times since 1615,
while Taal Volcano, the smallest in the world and situated in the middle of Taal Lake, has erupted
no less than thirty-three times. Its most destructive eruption took place on January 30, 1911,
which killed more than 1,300 persons. The eruption which took place in early dawn of September
28, 1965 buried six barrios and led to the loss of 300 lives. The eruption of July 5 and after, 1966
did little damage to life and property. The last eruption took place on September 3, 1976.

The Philippines lies within the Pacific seismic belt and has consequently experienced
severe earthquakes, though these have not been as destructive as those that had rocked Japan.
Manila experienced a severe earthquake in 1937 when many buildings in the commercial district
were partly destroyed. The earthquake of August 2, 1968 was so violent that an apartment
building collapsed, killing hundreds of people. One of the most destructive earthquakes in
Philippine history occurred on June 3, 1863, when the Manila Cathedral and hundreds of
government structures and residential houses collapsed and many people were killed, including
the famous Filipino priest, Dr. Pedro Pablo Pelaez. Another destructive earthquake occurred on
April 1, 1955 when the Visayas and Mindanao were rocked by a series of quakes ranging from
Intensity III to Intensity VIII. Millions of pesos and hundreds of lives were lost in the region around
Lake Lanao, Mindanao. By far the most destructive earthquake that occurred in the Philippines
was the one that struck Mindanao on August 17, 1976. Its Intensity was VIII. This earthquake
triggered a tidal wave that rendered 90,000 persons homeless, 3,000 dead, and more than 3,000
missing or presumed to be dead. Hundreds of millions worth of property were destroyed, thus
making rehabilitation a difficult task. In the face of this disaster, President Marcos announced
that the Filipinos would stand on their own feet and would not accept any foreign aid, especially
aid with strings attached.

Products and Natural Resources .- The Philippines is rich in natural resources that are as
yet largely undeveloped. Its fertile plains and rich valleys produce diverse crops a few of which
are produced for export and the rest for local consumption. Rice, the staple crop of the country,
is produced largely in the Central Plains of Luzon, but the total production is not sufficient to
meet the ever increasing demand of an exploding population. The still primitive way of
agriculture is one of the causes of the failure of the Philippines to produce enough rice for export.
However, a breakthrough in rice production was made during the first four years of President
Ferdinand Marcos’ administration when the so-called “miracle rice” was developed.
Other products, however, have been raised for export. Copra, abaca, gums, resins,
rubber, and sugar have found ready markets abroad. Lumber, minerals, and metals have been
exported in large quantities to swell Philippine exports to an average of about P800,000,000.
Mining, which is a basic industry, produces more than 700 million pesos worth of minerals.
Metallic minerals, such as copper, gold, silver, iron, lead, zinc, manganese, and chromium are
exploited for their commercial value, while the non-metallic minerals like salt, coal, clay,
asbestos, sulphur, gravel, limestone, and gypsum are so far not yet exploited for large-scale
export. It is suspected that oil is present in some Philippine sites, but attempts to locate these
sites have so far been unsuccessful.

The Philippine forests, which cover some 40,000 square miles, produce timber for local
consumption and export. Philippine hardwoods are known the world over. However, in recent
years, senseless and unscrupulous timbermen have practically denuded the forests, with the
result that the water supply of the lowlands has been tremendously lessened and the number of
trees considerably reduced.

The People. The Filipino belongs to a mixture of races, although basically he is a Malay.
Centuries of cultural and commercial contacts with the countries of Asia and almost four
centuries of domination by Western Powers have made the Filipino comparatively sophisticated.
There is in him a blending of the East and the West, so that his character exhibits curious
contradictions which foreigners are apt to misunderstand. Doubtless, the Filipino at the coming
of the Spaniards was brown-skinned like his Malay forebears. With Spanish colonization,
however, there appeared a kind of Filipino who was obviously the result of the not-so-licit
relations between the conqueror and the conquered. This light-skinned and high-nosed Filipino
multiplied with the coming of the Americans. The inter-marriage between the Filipino and the
foreigner, particularly the white, led to a class known as the mestizo class, also humorously called
the “mestizoisie.” In Philippine society, it is well to distinguish the types or classes of mestizos.
When one says mestizo, the obvious implication is that the person spoken of is Spanish-Filipino.
All other half-breeds are qualified by the nationality of their parents. Thus, a Filipino with an
American father or mother is called an American mestizo; with a Chinese father or mother, a
Chinese mestizo; with an Indian father or mother, an Indian mestizo, and so on down the line.
Between the mestizo and the “native”, there has been a barrier of feeling that borders on
hostility. This feeling has its origin in the late Spanish period or, more specifically, during the
nineteenth century, when the mestizo, by virtue of his social and financial status, looked down
upon the “native” as a boor. The “native” naturally resented this attitude and in turn infused the
term mestizo with unsavory connotations, e.g ., pretentious, boastful, arrogant, etc. In the mind
of the “native”, the mestizo was insolent: his posture of superiority to the “native” arose from
his awareness of his Spanish origins. But while thus striking a superior posture before the
“native”, the mestizo almost always felt inferior to the “pure” Spaniard who considered him so
far below him as not to be taken seriously. The mestizo, therefore, during the Spanish period,
was Janus-faced: he was a Spaniard before a “native”, and a Filipino before a Spaniard.
The uneasy feeling between the “native” and the mestizo still exists, although very much
watered down. It flares up once in a while, as when an eminent columnist, at the height of the
discussions on the American bases question early in 1959, called down a senator by claiming that
the latter, being a mestizo, could not be expected to defend the rights of the Filipinos in so far as
the question was concerned. Surely, being a mestizo cannot be taken as an argument against the
senator, but the columnist, in calling him down, merely brought to the mental surface what may
be loosely termed the “racial” experience, that is to say, the old role of the mestizo in Philippine
society and the age-old feeling of the “native” against the mestizo.
Common Traits .- It is difficult, if not impossible, to define what a Filipino is. All that can
be done is to pick out some traits common to the average Filipinos and to separate those that
are obviously Spanish or American. The common traits are probably basically Malay and
characterize the Filipinos as a people.
One patent Filipino trait that immediately commends itself to the foreigner is his
hospitality. All peoples the world over are hospitable in their own way, but Filipino hospitality is
something that is almost a fault. Are you a stranger who has lost your way? Knock at the door of
even the humblest rustic and he offers you his home. In other climes you might be suspected of
being a hoodlum or a poseur. Consequently, you might be looked upon with suspicion. Call it
naivete but the Filipino opens his heart to you, a complete stranger, and offers you the best in
his kitchen and bed chamber. He makes the bed for you and asks you, usually with a profusion of
apologies, to make yourself feel “at home”, while he, the host, sleeps on the cold floor He
prepares water for your morning ablution, waits upon you at the table, and makes life worth
living for you.

Perhaps you happen to drop in at an unholy hour of the day or night. Sensing that you are
hungry, he prepares the best food for you, ignoring the fact that there would not be enough for
the next supper of his family. Meanwhile, he gives you something to while away your time. You
hear him or his wife puttering about the kitchen desperately hurrying up the preparation of the
food in order not to keep you waiting. There is always a sense of urgency in his movements, for
he does not want to inconvenience you. He makes you feel that he is honored by your invasion
of his privacy at an unholy hour of the day or night. This hospitality to a fault has been
misunderstood by many foreigners, particularly by the Spanish adventurers of the past century,
who thought that such show of profuse hospitality was a form of inferiority and obsequiousness.
Thus, Rizal records that some Spaniards of the last century used to regale their hearers in the
Peninsula with tales about the “Indios” whose hospitality they savored and abused and, having
abused it, proceeded to tell their hearers that they fell “victims” to the wiles of the Filipino
women.
 The Filipino has very close family ties. The family has been the unit of society and
everything revolves around it. The Filipino family ordinarily consists of the grandparents, the
parents, and the children. The father is the head of the family, but while he rules, the mother
governs. For it is the mother that reigns in the home: she is the educator, the financial officer,
the accountant, the censor, the laundrywoman, and the cook. But over and above the “ruler”
and the “governor” are the grandparents, whose opinions and decisions on all important matters
are sought. Will a new-born child be baptized? The grandparents are consulted and what they
say carries much weight. Ignore them and you risk their stinging rebuke. Is the child sick? Will
you call a doctor? Wait a minute, the grandfather thinks an herbolario (herb doctor) is enough.
He has reached his ripe old age without having known a doctor. Do you think you can reach his
age? Why, then, should you risk the life of the child by calling in somebody whose experience is
limited to turning gadgets he, an old man, does not understand? No, he will not allow his beloved
grandchild to be touched, by the medico! You wring your hands in sheer frustration, appeal to
him in the name of modern science – and get a stern look or a verbal dressing down for your
efforts. The “tyranny” of the elders is such that the Filipino family, in spite of the inroads of
modern civilization, has remained basically the same.

Respect for the elders is one Filipino trait that has remained in the book of unwritten
laws. The Filipino parent exercises almost absolute powers over the children. It is unthinkable for
a Filipino to do an important thing without consulting his parents. The latter do not condone
children talking back not only to them, but to those older than they are. The particle po may look
innocent to you, but that little word shows respect for another. In no other language is respect
for another carried to higher point than in the Philippine languages. Are you speaking to an older
man or woman? Then use the second person plural – kayo, inyo or ninyo. You are branded
disrespectful and impolite if you use the second person singular: ka, mo, or ikaw. Is the person
you are talking with of your age but a stranger to you? Then use the second person plural! And
don’t forget the particle po! It is a sign of good breeding. Next in the degree of respect is the use
of the first person plural: atin, natin, tayo. Here the speaker and the person spoken to are lumped
together and made to appear as one. The peak of respect is achieved by the use of the third
person plural sila, nila, kanila. Unlike the first two degrees of respect, this last shows detachment,
making it appear that the person spoken to is a faraway person, someone to be handled and
referred to gingerly .
The elders believe, and demand, that they be obeyed – right or wrong. That you have a
string of degrees to your credit does not impress the elders; they know, for certain, that your
academic degrees cannot compare favorably with their experience. Yours is the knowledge;
theirs the wisdom – they have drunk more water than you have! Their decision must, therefore,
be sought on all important matters that affect the whole family, for what happens to one of the
members affects the rest. There is, then, collective responsibility in the family. It is this closeness
of family ties, in particular, the collective responsibility, that accounts for the late development
of Filipino nationalism. For no matter how cruelly and unjustly a member of the family had been
treated, the elders cautioned the victim to be patient: remember, they used to say, that not only
you but all of us will suffer if you retaliate. And the poor man, realizing the consequences of his
planned action, controlled his emotions, swallowed his pride, satisfied himself with biting his
lower lip, and sheepishly bowed to the will of the elders. Rizal painted this common family scene
during the Spanish regime in his El Filibusterismo, in the chapter “Cabesang Tales”.
Respect for the elders includes respect for the elder brother or sister. It is the
responsibility of the elder brother to perform the duties of the father and mother to the younger
members of the family. One finds that among Filipino families the elder brother (or sister)
sacrifices even his career for the sake of the young ones who must have an education. Even after
his marriage, the elder brother sets aside a small part of his salary for his younger brothers and
sisters. The latter, in turn, are expected to look up to their elder brother with awe and respect.
Kissing the hands of parents and old relatives or neighbors as a sign of respect is extended to the
elder brother or sister. Among “old” and “respectable families”, even cousins kiss the hands of
their elder cousins as a sign of respect.
And this brings us to that aspect of Filipino family life which is both reasonable and
unreasonable. Since collective responsibility characterizes the Filipino family, it follows that the
better-off member has to take care not only of his immediate family but also of other relatives.
It is not uncommon to see the poor relations go to their employed kin to ask for money.
This is done with such regularity that, though annoyed, the “victim” has to bear as much
as he can with the importunities of his less fortunate relatives. To reject them is to court disaster:
the poor relations will start a whispering campaign against the “tight-fisted” relative. If there is
anything that a Filipino fears, it is the charge of being a “bad” relative. This custom of taking care
of the poor relations is so deeply ingrained in the Filipino character that one may trace the root
of graft and corruption to the closeness of family ties. Right or wrong, the family comes first and
foremost. Hence the Filipino who rises to a position of power is confronted with the problem of
providing for his relatives, whose number, by the way, increases in proportion to the power and
influence one exercises.
The Filipino is naturally fatalistic. No amount of expostulation on the virtues of science or
logic can dislodge him from his idea of fatalism. He believes that whatever happens to him is the
work of Fate. This fatalism is best symbolized in the phrase “Bahala na,” a phrase that defies
translation but which may be rendered loosely as “come what may.” Can you go through that
wall of fire? Bahala na. Are you sure you can convince him to give up his plan of leaving home?
Bahala na. There are dangers ahead, don’t be so foolish as to rush in where angels fear to tread.
Bahala na. This is the last morsel we have; where do we get tomorrow’s food? Bahala na. Don’t
gamble your last centavo: you might go home with pockets inside out. Bahala na. He is big and
strong; can you fight him? Bahala na. Such fatalism has bred in the Filipino a sense of resignation.
It is thus that he faces disaster or tragedy with resignation. He appears indifferent in the face of
graft and corruption. He appears impassive in the face of personal misfortune. Yet this “Bahala
na” attitude prevents him from being a crackpot.
 Loyalty to a friend or to a benefactor is one trait that is very strong in the Filipino. Do him
a little favor and he remembers you to the end of his days. For to the Filipino, friendship is sacred
and implies mutual help under any circumstances. A friend is expected to come to the aid not
only of a personal friend, but also of the latter’s family. A man’s friend is considered a member
of the family and is expected to share its tribulations as well as its prosperity and happiness. It is
almost unthinkable for the Filipino to betray his friend, and if there be such one, he becomes a
marked man: ostracism is the lightest punishment that can be meted out to him.

This concept of loyalty to a friend explains why the Filipino sulks at the thought of not
receiving enough aid from the United States. Maintaining that he, as soldier or as civilian during
the last World War, fought side by side with the Yankee, the Filipino believes, rightly or wrongly,
that he deserves more generous aid from the United States than, say, the Japanese, who was a
former common enemy. To the Filipino, it is hardly conceivable that the United States should
turn out to be an “ingrate”, knowing as she does that he stood by her in the darkest hour. This
attitude, on the other hand, is beyond the comprehension of the American, for the latter’s
understanding of friendship is different from that of the Filipino. The American is ruthlessly
businesslike and will not allow sentimentalism to stand in the way of fulfilling his destiny or
objective. This “ruthlessness” the Filipino does not understand. Hence the continued
misunderstanding between the Filipino and the American with respect to material aid.
The American, then, suspects that the Filipino is sensitive. He is. He would not tolerate
anyone berating his countryman. He is easily piqued when a foreigner, for instance, makes a
sweeping generalization that is not flattering to the Filipinos, no matter how true the observation
may be. It takes skillful diplomacy, tact, or, in more sophisticated language, a great deal of good
public relations, to talk to an erring Filipino employee or worker, for a good-intentioned rebuke
by a superior might be taken as a slight on his character or integrity. When an American teacher
of English at the Manila North (now Arellano) High School said, way back in January 1930, that a
Filipino brother and sister, sitting beside each other in a desk, were not so clean and that “You
should get into the habit of cleaning yourselves”, she probably meant no harm. But the Filipino
school boys and girls took it as an insult, and forthwith the whole class called a meeting at a store
nearby and then and there decided to call a strike. The American teacher was pictured as a
monster – particularly because she was not good looking – and ugly words flew thick and fast.
The school premises were immediately picketed, and soon the students from other high schools
in Manila left their classes to join the strike. The strikers demand the expulsion of the American
teacher. The latter was sent back to the United States, but the school authorities, backed up by
the American superintendent of schools, suspended the ring leaders. The traditional March
graduation exercises were not held that year.
Similar incidents happened twice in the University of the Philippines a year or two before
and in 1931. In the former, a certain American lady professor with a Russian surname made what
appeared to the students a sweeping generalization insulting to the Filipinos. The result was
student furor, which led to the separation of the lady professor from the University. In the second
case, an Australian professor of English who was an Oxonian, said, in a Tuesday convocation, that
90% of the Filipino students were cheating in the examinations. That was enough. The students
and some professors let loose a barrage of verbal fireworks which forced the eminent professor
to resign. Yet this Australian professor was an admirer of the Filipinos and the writers of the
University worshipped him like an ancient anito. The Anglo-Saxon frankness is something the
Filipino seldom appreciates.
The tendency to be indolent is, certainly, a trait of the Filipino. Rizal explained this
tendency as the result of the tropical climate which makes even the Westerner indolent in these
parts of Paradise. But aside from the warm climate, indolence may be partly explained by the
abundance with which Nature has endowed the country – a fact which makes the Filipino exert
less effort in the belief that he does not have to work hard to make both ends meet. Then, too,
because of the close family and personal ties, the Filipino is assured of three square meals every
day if only he would have the nerve – he usually has – to go from one relative to another. He
knows that no relative or friend would turn him out and so he imposes himself on his willing or
unwilling victims.
Side by side with indolence is lack of initiative. This trait is explained by a natural fear of
competition, for Filipino society is cooperative, not competitive. The experiences of college and
university professors reveal the sad fact that the average Filipino student has to be hammered
and whipped into line in order to make him work hard. He will not, on his own initiative, read
more than what the professor assigns. Why exert so much effort and spend so much time when
one can pass through college with a grade of “3”? To get the white meat of a crab’s legs, so the
saying in Tagalog runs, you must pound those legs with a small pestle or with a big knife. And so
with the Filipino student. Not only the average student, but the average trader or businessman
is saddled with this burden called lack of initiative. So afraid is the businessman of competition
that he refuses to invest a huge sum in his business venture. He craves a huge profit out of a small
investment, but he would not think of putting in more capital to expand his business. He is, in
Spanish parlance, a segurista – a man who wants to be sure that he does not lose. For this reason,
the Filipino trader or businessman is almost always an underdog in relation to his alien
competitors. It is only in recent years that the Filipino businessmen and merchants are trying to
get rid of the segurista attitude.
The Filipino, being childlike, is naturally curious. But his curiosity is tainted with sympathy.
There certainly is nothing malicious in his inquiries about one’s health, about one’s children,
about one’s salary, and so forth. Not infrequently is a sophisticated Filipino embarrassed when
asked, casually and with an air of innocent abandon, where he works and how much he earns.
An old woman of little Spanish breeding once asked a college graduate: “Poco mas o menos, how
much do you make?” The poor man blushed and hesitantly answered, trying to avoid the horn of
the bull, “Oh, just enough for me and my wife.” Poco mas o menos?” the hag insisted. The young
man metaphorically threw up his hands and finally gave the information sought. This “poking into
one’s pie” is easily misunderstood by a Westerner who, not accustomed to such kind of
“inquisitorial” method, invariably suspects the Filipino of invading the privacy of one’s life. No
such thing is meant, however. The Filipino is solicitous and if ever he asks too many questions
about another’s life and mode of living it is because, as a man of abundant faith and sympathy,
he wants and is ready – to offer his unsolicited help.
Helpful and cooperative, respectful and generous even to a fault, the Filipino is
nevertheless individualistic in a different way. One finds a poor cochero struggling desperately
to put his horse on its feet after having stumbled on the street. The man in the street stops,
surveys the scene nonchalantly and with apparent unconcern, and even laughs at the cochero
who could not persuade his horse to cooperate. Or take the case of a passenger jeepney. It stops
in the middle of the street and needs to be pushed to start its machine. The driver signals to the
oncoming jeepney to push his dilapidated contraption a little. The driver of the onrushing jeepney
swerves to the left or to the right to avoid the stalled jeepney without even looking at the
“embattled” fellow-driver. Oftentimes, one hears the drivers of passing jeepneys shout “Heto ang
posporo!” (Here’s a matchstick!), meaning, of course, that the stalled jeepney should be
consigned to the flames. Yet, try to insult or harm a jeepney driver and the whole brood will gang
up on you.

Jealousy is another trait of the Filipino. He does not look with favor on a woman who flirts
with several men. To him the sweetheart’s or the wife’s eyes are meant only for him and for no
other. Even his closest friend cannot kiss his wife with impunity on the pretext that it is a
“brotherly” kiss. The Filipino, therefore, requires complete faith and loyalty of his wife or
sweetheart. A deviation from this unwritten law oftentimes leads to a bloody mess, as the cases
of two Filipinos in the United States attest. In the one case, the Filipino, a woman, “accidentally”
shot her gallivanting husband; in the second, the Filipino, a man, was accused of butchering his
American sweetheart. Bloody killings, often enough reported in the daily newspapers, are
frequent and are usually the upshot of jealousy, for to a Filipino, blood is required to wash the
stain on his honor. This may seem bloody enough to a Westerner, but to a Filipino in whose veins
flows the Malay “hot” blood, to kill or be killed is an easy way to avenge his honor.
The Filipino, too, is regionalistic. He does not think in terms of national boundaries but in
regional oneness. This feeling is an extension of the closeness of family ties. Invariably, the
Filipino believes that the person known to him, no matter how bad, is better than the one
unknown to him no matter how good. Thus one finds college or university students calling a
meeting of all those who come from the Ilocos, from Bulacan, from the Bicol region, from the
Visayas, and so forth. And one finds, too, the political situation in which a Visayan candidate for
the Presidency of the Republic has a running mate who comes from Luzon or vice versa. In the
choice of candidates for senators, the principle of regional representation is followed, although
the senators are elected at large. Then, in majority of cases, a Tagalog President gives preference
to his fellow-Tagalogs in appointments to high positions. The same is true with an Ilocano
President or a Visayan President – with the possible exception of ex-President Sergio Osmena.
Among Filipinos, the Tagalogs are the least, if all, regionalistic.
 So strong is this regionalistic feeling that the Filipino of one region looks down upon his
countryman of another. This strong regionalistic feeling may be traced to the Spanish
administrators who pursued a policy of “divide and conquer”. The Spanish pattern of behavior in
this regard is abundantly proved by the way the numerous revolts and uprisings were put down.
Since there were few Spaniards in the Philippines, they pressed into service, say, the Pampangos,
to put down an Ilocano uprising. A Pampango revolt, on the other hand, was put down by the
Ilocano soldiers. A Tagalog revolt was usually put down by the Pampangos under the leadership
of the Spaniards, and so on. Thus, instead of uniting the Filipinos as a people, the Spaniards
succeeded in dividing them by appealing to their regionalistic pride and prejudices.
Probably the most discussed trait of the Filipino, especially by the white foreigners and
by some Filipino sociologists and psychologists who carry around their bags of esoteric terms, is
the sense of pakikisama. Simple as the term may appear to the merely learned, this Filipino trait
has not been fully understood, especially in its connotations. In its original connotation,
pakikisama may be translated loosely as the intensive signification of camaraderie or spirit of
comradeship, the main elements of which are unselfishness and good faith. There is, therefore,
no element of deceit, or dishonesty, or subversion of justice, attached to the term. Thus the terms
mabuting makisama and its opposite, masamang makisama, really refer to a person’s way of
dealing with his fellowmen: if he is selfish, or if he is incapable of empathy, or if he considers
himself “an island entire of itself”, he is described as “masamang makisama”. But if he is an
understanding man, unselfishly helpful, and participates cheerfully in any community work, he is
described as “mabuting makisama”.
Today, however, owing mainly to the inroads of “civilization”, particularly of politics and
materialism, the term pakikisama has been, to many people, especially to the so-called
sophisticated, debased into an attitude that makes an amiable crook well-liked or at least
admired. For a person to be described as “mabuting makisama”, he must be dishonest, mentally
or otherwise, or unjust, or unfair, or unprincipled by subverting justice in order to be in the good
graces of many naïve people or, to use the badly battered cliche, “to have a good public image”.
He is “mabuting makisama” if he subverts justice to place his relatives, friends, adulators,
subservient followers, or relatives of his queridas (back-street women) in juicy positions even
without any qualification. He is “mabuting makisama” if, as administrative head of a university,
college, or department, he promotes the fawning nincompoops and ignoramuses, the servile
flatterers, and the slavish dolts to high positions, or gives them privileges not given to men and
women whose honor, integrity, and self-respect inhibit them from acting like serfs. He is
“mabuting makisama” if he helps a friend, a political follower, a relative, or a subservient
subaltern by stealing from the public till in order to practice bogus philanthropy. On the other
hand, he is “masamang makisama” who is too honest and just to pervert justice; who refuses to
kowtow to imbeciles and morons with high administrative positions; who insists on merit and
merit alone, not on subservience or political or personal connections, as the basis of promotion;
or who refuses to steal from the public treasury in order to have something to give to his querida
or to his lazy friends and relatives.
 Thus, in Filipino society today, the most popular and highly respected people are not the
honest intellectuals and artists, but the “respectable” robbers in high public positions; the
experts in issuing press releases praising themselves for fictitious achievements; the crooked
public relations men who are adept at twisting facts in order to make an idiot appear a genius in
public; and the unprincipled politicians who have never heard of decency and honor. The
beautiful Filipino trait of pakikisama has, therefore, been denuded of its nobility by the political
imperatives and by the perverted sense of values that have dominated the character of many
Filipinos precisely since the last World War. That noble trait has disappeared from the urban
centers and can only be found in its pristine form in the “backward” hamlets where the people
have either been untouched by “civilization” or have been able to defend successfully their
simple life against the inroads of crass materialism.

Such is the profile of the Filipino. Like all men the world over, he has the weaknesses of
the fallen Adam. But he, too, has his strengths and with these he finds his way in and about the
society in which he lives and expects to die. (Agoncillo, Teodoro A. History of the Filipino People)