Lesson 4

The Strengths and Weaknesses of the Filipino Character: A Socio-Culture Issue

Objectives:
At the end of the lesson, you are expected to:
1. discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the Filipino character; and
2. cite ways by which schools can countered the weaknesses of the Filipino
Content of the Lesson/Short Readings/Explanation

Schools have proven their relevance by their ability to address socio-cultural

problems. There are a number of social issues or problems that schools should address but
the focus for the dissuasion is on the weaknesses of the Filipino character. The strengths of
the Filipino character is also cited for a balanced presentation which schools can capitalize
to eliminate the weaknesses.

In 1998 Senator Leticia Shahani submitted to the Senate this report titled: “A Moral
Recovery Program; building a People, Building a Nation.” This report cites strengths and
weaknesses of the Filipino character.

The strengths of the Filipino character are: 1) pakikipagkapwa-tao, 2) family

orientation, 3) joy and humor, 4) flexibility, adaptability and creativity, 5) hard work and
industry, 6) faith and religiosity and 7) ability to survive.

The weaknesses of the Filipino character include 1) extreme family centeredness,

2) extreme personalism, 3) lack of discipline, 4) passivity and lack of initiative, 5) colonial
mentality, 6) kanya-kanya syndrome, talangka mentality, 7) lack of analysis and self-
reflection and 8) emphasis on porma rather than substance.

There is so much good in the Filipino but so much needs to be changed, too. Many
of our strengths as a people are also sources of our weaknesses. Shahani’s report explains
that family orientation becomes in-group orientation that prevents us from reaching out
beyond the family to the larger community and the nation. In our personalism, we are
warm and caring but this leads us to lack of objectivity. We are concerned with people we
know but unfair to people we don’t know. In our flexibility, we compromise precision and
discipline. We are a joyful people with a sense of humor bur we can’t take things with
humor all the time for serious problems need serious analysis. Our faith in God is our
source of strength but this makes us dependent on forces outside us, do nothing that makes
us submissive to God’s will. We are good at pakikipagkapwa-tao and so we can easily
empathize but we can at the same time envious of others. We can be hardworking and yet
can be lazy and passive in the workplace.
The following is an excerpt of the keynote Address of Senator Shahani before the National
Academy of Science and Technology at its 15 th Annual Scientific Meeting, 7 July 1993,
Manila.
Read it. Underline those parts that emphasize development in moral and ethical values ass
most necessary to effect change. Do you agree with her thoughts in these underlined
sentences?
Keynote Address of Senator Shahani before the National Academy of Science and technology
at its 15th Annual Scientific Meeting, 7 July 1993, Manila.

In essence, the Moral Recovery Program is a movement which aims to mobilize

Filipinos for nation-building through practical exercise of human values in our daily lives as
citizens, and to awaken us to the power of these values in achieving our individual and
national goals. Those values are free of charge; we do not have to borrow, nor to beg
regularly and constantly from the outside world to obtain them; we only have to look
inward, internalize4 these values for our own self transformation, then externalize them
for our individual lives and for building our nation. To use current terminology, the Moral
Recovery Program seeks to empower people- the poor, the middle-class and the rich-
trough the sustained application of human values and virtues to overcome our problems
and build our country in accordance will our collective vision. We can also see the Program
as an attempt to complete they complex picture of nationalism. If nation-building has its
political, economic and cultural dimensions, it also has its moral and ethical imperative.
This imperative is a most compelling dimension of nation-building. It goes beyond mere
legislation of anti-graft measures or Congressional investigations of wrongdoing in the
Government. We need to go back to the basic and ask the fundamental questions: what is
our vision of ourselves and Filipino society? How do we achieve that vision despite
overwhelming odds? What key values are needed to attain our goals? I submit that this
vision and the strategies and political will nation. Nothing less will do. This combination of
vision and action is the key to our national sunrival, rebirth and renewal. In this context
strategy for national development.

Ethics and Politics

The close interrelationship between ethics and politics is obvious in our many
problems our large foreign debt; the state of permanent despair of our roads and public
toilets; graft and corruption in government bodies; and bureaucratic inefficiency. Chronic
problems in such vital areas as agriculture and industry, rural development and land
reform could be overcome if some of the values such as love of country, discipline, honesty,
accountability and teamwork ere practiced on a daily basis in Government offices and
political circles, as well as by the people themselves.
The over-all vision I have for our country has the following essential elements: reverence
for all forms of life and the primary of human values; a priority given to cultivation of the
spiritual and cultural life of the nation; the democratization of power, resources and
wealth; the right combination of a free market economy and Government intervention in
appropriate areas at appropriate stages to provide for the basic needs of its citizens; a
Government which works for the good of the people, the development of our agriculture
resources and an environmentally conscious industrialization plan; a well-implemented
agrarian reform program; respect for human rights, including the rights of women; and an
independent foreign policy e\within the framework of global cooperation. In other words,
we should have a vision which represented strong combination of human dignity,
sustainable development and appropriate economic growth; national interest; and global
orientation. A tall order indeed, but a vision must inspire over the long-term, shed light in
the midst of darkness and make possible the seemingly impossible.

Individual and National Transformation

At this point, we come to the question: what is to be transformed or changed- the

structures of society or the individual? In my view, both should be transformed, each
dynamically affecting the other, but the starting point is always the individual, or a group of
individuals within institutions. The empowerment of the poor must come from the poor
themselves; the poor must help themselves; others can only help them to help themselves.
There is a welcome opportunity in this country to help empower the poor, and such
empowerment is vital to the creation of more just social and economic structures.
Human Values: Power Building Blocks

It is obvious from what I have said that human values are powerful building blocks
in the development of a nation. Yet the non-economic and non-budgetary dimensions of
progress and growth, i.e., the moral and cultural elements, have been conveniently
overlooked or disregarded by the learned technocrats and theoreticians of development
perhaps to make way for smooth, non-controversial discussions of the development
process. The technocratic and neutral language of development, which has evolved from
the agenda of international institutions, has eclipsed the moral choices which have to be
made in the development process. Terms like equity, social justice, distributive justice
when repeated over and over again without any explanation of the painful ethical choices
which have to be made by individuals and governments in order to achieve them cannot
touch the hearts and minds of the popular, the rich, the middle-class and the poor, on
whom the burden of transformation rests. Developments, after all, a grassroots-oriented
process and a challenge in mass mobilization, for the people and not for political
expediency.
 Guide Questions: Answer the following questions:

1. In what instances are the strengths of the Filipino character manifested in

Philippine society?
2. When does each strength of the Filipino character becomes a weakness? Explain.
3. What’s wrong with the Filipino sense of humor?
4. How can schools help fight the Filipino lack of analysis?
5. What is the manifestation of the intensive and purposive effort of the Philippine
educational system to eliminate the weaknesses of the Filipino character?

Journal Entry #4
Let’s Write a Journal
My Strengths and Weaknesses as a Filipino. Integrate in your
writing what you learned in this lesson and write your reflection.

Self-Learning Activities: Answer the following questions:

1. Which of the weaknesses of the Filipino does DepEd Order #02,s.2019 policies wish
to help eliminate in line with the government’s austerity program? Explain.
a. Graduation rites should be simple but meaningful to encourage civil rights, a sense
of community, and personal responsibility. While these rights mark a milestone in
the life of the learners, these should be conducted without excessive spending,
extravagant attire or extraordinary venue;
b. Moving up or Completion Ceremonies should be simple, involving only the learners,
their parents and the school; and
c. Non-academic projects such as attendance to field trips, film showing, Junior-
Senior promenade and other school events should not be imposed as requirements
for graduation or completion
2. When does the Filipino’s faith and religiosity become a weakness?
3. What does a teacher encourage when she regard students’ questions as indicator of
inattentiveness?
4. Which of the weaknesses of the Filipino character applies to you? Why?
5. In what ways have schools helped you to counteract such weaknesses?