Republic of the Philippines

REGION 1
PANGASINAN STATE UNIVERSITY
SCHOOL OF ADVANCED STUDIES
Urdaneta City, Pangasinan

Name: CABANSAG, VENUS CASTILLO

Course: Doctor of Philosophy- Developmental Studies
2nd Semester, SY 2021-2022
Subject: PhDDS 319 Sociology and Anthropology of Development
Professor: CRISTETA C. DULOS, PhD.
Activity Title: A CRITIQUE PAPER

Modernity and the Filipino child

Randy David
@inquirerdotnet
Philippine Daily Inquirer
12:20 AM December 28th, 2014

I.Introduction
Family is considered to be the foundation of social life for most Filipinos. The
nuclear family is the core family unit; however, bonds are often tight knit among
extended family members. Indeed, people may be encouraged to have a relationship
with their aunts and uncles that is just as strong as the relationship with their parents.
Close familial relationships often go beyond one’s genetic connections or bloodlines
to incorporate distant relatives, close neighbors or friends. For example, it is
common to hear people refer to distant relatives or non-relatives with familial terms
such as ‘tita’ (aunt), ‘tito’ (uncle), ‘lola’ (grandmother) and ‘lolo’ (grandfather). One
instance is when a grandchild refers to their grandparent’s friend or cousin as lola or
lolo. As mentioned by Randy David, almost all the threats that Filipino children
confront in our society—corporal punishment, verbal abuse, child labor, child
trafficking, sexual abuse, child soldiering, recruitment into criminal syndicates, etc.—
are rooted in the poverty and degradation to which at least half of our people have
been consigned.
Parents have a fundamental role as a producer. The state recognizes the
importance of parents having authority over their children, and will defer to that
authority. The modern family, on the other hand, is shedding its economic function.
The state assumes a formal obligation to protect and ensure the development of
every child, endowing him with all those rights.
II. Summary of the Article
A Filipino child receives an abundance of love and affection from all
members of the extended family and is seldom chastised. He will have a tendency
not to do things alone, and this remains all his life. The child is almost kept young for
as long as possible. On the same manner, face a lot of problems and challenges.
Modernity indeed, modernity interrupts this cycle by introducing the child early to a
world larger than the household—a world where she learns to respect the needs and
rights of other children, a world where other roles are possible apart from those
conferred by the family. Many traditional families will regard these encounters
jealously, seeing in them a threat to parental authority. That is why they may often
view the school—the teachers or the peer group—as a source of bad influence. Our
beautiful and unique culture has been slowly fading with modernity even if it solves
many problems, it also brings in new ones. As Filipino children become increasingly
self-reliant at an early age, young people will find less and less reason to visit, much
less consult their parents. The issue of child abandonment is easily replaced by
elderly abandonment. As the family loses its centrality in modern society, its support
functions likewise decline in importance. In the end, the only thing that remains is
love, which may not always be sufficiently strong to pull every member together in
rough times.

III. Critique
As data released by UNICEF, children and youth in the Philippines face huge
challenges. Despite rapid economic growth in recent years, 31.4 per cent of children
(and a staggering 63.1 per cent of girls and boys in Mindanao), live below the
poverty line. 33 per cent of children are stunted (short for their age) due to
malnutrition, and immunization coverage fell sharply from 89 to 60 per cent between
2013 and 2015. Meanwhile, access to sexual and reproductive health remains low,
despite a rise of 230 per cent in newly diagnosed HIV cases among young people at
risk. An estimated 2.85 million girls and boys aged 5-15 years are also out of school,
and 8 in 10 children experience some form of violence, including physical,
psychological, sexual or online abuse. This compelling evidence reminds us that we
still have a long way to go to fully meet the rights of children in our country. At the
same time, it also provides us with a unique opportunity to strengthen our
collaboration, and to take action together for Filipino girls and boys. This goes with
modernization which is positively associated with overall components of values
change amongst Filipino children.
Parents should maintain a mix of firmness and kindness in paying attention to their
children. We should educate about drugs, listen intently to our children, make them
feel good about themselves, never use put-down words, praise them for their efforts
& accomplishments and not dwell on failures. We should strive to be model of good
morals and right conduct for your kids.
Today, the family is broken because of the diminishing opportunities for them
to be one. The real meaning of family has been distorted. Family is equated with
material possessions. Many parents leave their young children to seek better
economic opportunities. Many parents replace their presence with the latest gadgets.
Absence of parents destroys the solidarity in the family. Economic difficulties,
although it has been acknowledged that money is not the most important thing in the
family, we have to admit that economic difficulties is one of the biggest challenges
being faced by many families today. Families who don’t have goals to live in a day to
day existence. The absence of values and goals to guide family decisions and
activities can cause members to lose sight of what is truly worthwhile. Values are
strong feelings or beliefs about issues, ideas or things that are considered important
by the person. Individuals and families have different values. It influences a person’s
most important decisions about friends, sexual relationship, family education, work
and money. Failure of parents to recognize higher meaning and purpose of the
family can lead to materialism, instant gratification and pleasure as life’s chief goals.
With modernization, goes with the social media that has a negative influence
on the family, especially on the youth. Too much exposure to violent crimes and sex
in the media brings damage to the upbringing of children. Because of media, the
interpersonal relationship in the family seems to have been neglected. Family ties
that used to be very close are being threatened.
Finally, I still believe that OUR CHILDREN ARE OUR FUTURE. They
have tremendous capacity to contribute to country’s development. We,
parents should work hard to develop their child and empower them to make
the right choices and responsible decisions. 😊😊