Positive and Negative Filipino Values

1. Hospitality Yes. Filipinos value their families so much

that they tend to keep families intact through
This is one of the most popular qualities of generations.
Filipinos. Foreigners who have gone to a
different Philippines find themselves falling in Families go to church and pray together
love with the warm hospitality they are because their religion is important and
shown. It's a different kind of value system, creates a strong bond, marking God as the
which has existed for thousands of years. center of their lives.
Here are some examples of the hospitality
Families make sure to have quality time
that Filipinos show, not only to foreigners but
together, especially after a day's work. Just
also to their fellow citizens:
watching television or eating a family meal
When a person visits a friend's house, the will be valued and prioritized in everybody's
host greets him or her with a very warm schedules.
welcome. The host will immediately let their
4. Generosity and Helpfulness
visitor sit down and will prepare a meal or a
snack plus drinks for the visitor. The host will Filipinos are generous people. Even when we
insist that the friend not leave the house with have very little, we always share with those
an empty stomach. A host will always make around us.
sure you have a great time visiting them.
During special occasions such as birthdays
People offer their guest rooms to visitors if or "fiestas"
they're going to spend the night.
—parties when people from other places visit
Meals offered to guests are very special. A your home to celebrate with you
host always finds a way to prepare great-
tasting food that her visitor wants to eat —there are lots of foods specially prepared for
everyone! Friends, family, friends of friends,
2. Respect and even strangers can gather and they are
always willing to share food and help out.
-This is often observed not just by younger
people but also by people of all ages. When a neighbor is in trouble, Filipinos are
always ready to help them
Children respect elders by saying "po" and
"opo," which mean "yes," when answering 5. Strong Work Ethic
their elders.
Yes, we are hardworking people to the point
Children or young adults also show respect that we are willing to work almost the whole
by putting their elders' hands on their day just to feed our families. That's how
foreheads. Filipinos are.
Filipinos also show respect at work by One example of a hardworking person is a
making a bow to their employers. farmer. They earn so little but they still work
very hard for not much compensation.
3. Strong Family Ties and Religions
Filipinos always find creative ways to earn a grass” in English, this idiom is meant to
living, like creating a small business from illustrate how Filipinos initially exhibit great
their home where they sell food or other items enthusiasm at the beginning of a project. Our
for the convenience of their neighbors. eagerness, however, fades away just as
quickly as the fire is extinguished, leaving our
6. Love and Caring work either half-baked or unfinished.
This is so true! Filipinos are the sweetest and 3. Mañana Habit
most loving people in the world. I'm not just
saying this because I'm a Filipino; if you know Ironically, the Spanish would accuse Filipinos
us well, you will soon figure this out. of being lazy when they used the mañana
habit in the first place. Known as “tomorrow”
Men are so sweet and romantic when it in English, the habit encourages
comes to love. They will send their beloved procrastination, an “ability” we Filipinos have
flowers, bring her to a very romantic place, since turned into an art form. Even the most
text her sweet quotes, and tell often how urgent of projects and tasks can be relegated
special she is to them. to some other time; we are only forced to
Filipino women are also romantic and very work on them when the deadline is near. It’s a
caring, which often makes foreigners want to miracle we get things done in this country.
marry them. Women tend to prepare dinner
before their husband comes home. They are
loving, and value the relationship, always 4. Filipino Time.
staying faithful to their husbands. They love
Related to the mañana habit, Filipino time
deeply and sincerely.
refers to the Filipinos’ own unique brand of
Negative Filipinos Values time, which is known to be minutes or hours
behind the standard time. In other words, we
1. Crab Mentality. tend not to observe punctuality at all. This
behavior usually drives time-observant
Simply put, this refers to the behavior of
foreigners crazy. While we Filipinos with our
preventing someone from achieving
easy-going ways have somewhat become
something due to jealousy or envy. Instead of
used to Filipino time, it still is a bad habit that
praising or rendering assistance, someone
needs to be dropped.
with crab mentality would think“if I can’t
have it, then you can’t as well” and will 5. Being Onion-Skinned (Balat Sibuyas).
purposely try to bring his/her victim down.
And just like the crabs who could have We Filipinos are famous for being onion-
escaped from the bucket if they only stopped skinned or easily slighted at perceived insults.
pulling each other down, nothing ever gets While it’s perfectly normal for us to taunt and
accomplished. criticize others, we can’t handle the same
when it’s being hurled back at us. Incidents
2. Ningas-Kugon. showcasing our extra-sensitivity to insults
usually involve a foreigner making either a
Leaving our work half-baked or unfinished.
Bonafide racist remark or a humorous jab at
One reason why we sometimes exert half-
Filipinos. True to form, our reactions would
hearted effort in our undertakings is due to
range from righteous indignation to excessive
this attitude. Translated to“burning cogon
grandstanding. While it is alright to feel inferior to that of our past colonizers. (think
incensed, throwing a fit in front of the world whitening products). If we can’t even have
would inevitably do us no good at all. pride in our own country, then unfortunately,
we will always be stuck with this self-
6. General Disregard For Rules. defeating mentality.
Why is it so hard for Filipinos to obey the
8. Balikbayan Box Mentality.
rules? This social phenomenon is not
exclusive to hardened criminals either—a While there is nothing wrong with giving gifts
look at everyday life in the country shows to one’s family and friends (we Filipinos do
Filipinos from the entire social strata highly value them after all), it becomes a
nonchalantly breaking the rules, whether it is different matter when said family and friends
something as benign as jaywalking or as either misconstrue or abuse the OFW’s
dangerous as beating the red light. generosity. In local parlance, this has become
known as the “Balikbayan box mentality.”
7. Colonial Mentality. People ingrained with this mentality either
Probably one of the biggest flaws we have as become exploitative or jealous of the success
a nation is our colonial mentality, defined as a of the OFW, not knowing that he/she is
preference for all things foreign over our own, working hard away from their loved ones in a
a negative trait we acquired from our days foreign country. Some also believe that the
under the Spanish and the Americans. As a practice undoubtedly contributes to the
result, we Filipinos have been indoctrinated Filipinos ‘colonial mentality.
with the misconception that our culture is

9. Bahala Na Attitude.
Roughly translated as “come what may”, this is the Filipinos’ own version of fatalism, the
belief in leaving everything to the hands of fate. This attitude, while not inherently
detrimental in itself, is still a double-edged sword. On one hand, positive aspects of this
behavior include belief in Divine Providence and national social responsibility. On the other
hand, the attitude can also promote a sense of helplessness and resignation of one’s fate
at the local level and a countrywide lack of empathy and collective action on the national
level. This is also the reason why we tend to have amnesia over past wrongdoings
committed by our leaders.

10. Corruption.
One of the biggest social ills our country has continued to face since time immemorial is the issue
of corruption. Let’s face it, our “culture of corruption” is embedded deep within our system and
reinforced by a complex web of economic and social factors which include personal ambitions and
a twisted sense of loyalty to friends and kin. The Philippines is in for a long haul if our officials and
we ourselves do not get rid of this very negative habit.
The Philippines

•Archipelago of 7,641 islands

• 7,107 in 1945 and was updated to 7,641 in 2017 after the Philippine National Mapping and
Resource Information Authority (NAMRIA)
• Land area of 3000,000 square kilometers (115,831 sq mi), it is the world's fifth-largest island
country. The eleven largest islands contain 95% of the total land area.