The Damaged Culture of the Filipinos

Two of my favorite columnists in the Philippine STAR, F. SIONIL JOSE and my tocayo, WILLIAM M. ESPOSO, have been writing for a long time now that we, Filipinos, have a damaged culture. I remember to read somewhere a naughty quip that former President Arroyo is more of an agriculturist rather than an economist. Why? Because under her administration, the Culture of Corruption, the Culture of Violence and Culture of Impunity thrived and were tolerated virtually with official sanction from the highest echelon of government.  

Who can forget that incident during the time of the unlamented Arroyo regime where invited congressmen trooped to Malacanang and reportedly received paper bags each of which contained P500,000.00 in cold cash! Even then Pampanga Governor, a Catholic priest, Fr. Ed Panlilio, was given a bag of cash which he naturally turned down after revealing to the press such

blatant attempt to corrupt a religious personality. This arrogant desecration of the august halls of the seat of government never happened during the time of the Marcos dictatorship.

Looking back to our recorded history of the pre-Spanish period, our ancestors were known for their honesty and integrity in their transactions with foreign traders. Said traders would leave their goods lined up along the seashores and returned to their ships. After several days, the traders would wade back to the shores and find their goods gone with local products waiting to be picked up in exchange. 

The coming of the Spaniards who occupied the country and subjugated our ancestors for more than 300 years brought vast changes, good and bad, to their way of life. As the Spanish conquerors numbered a few hundreds, the brilliant stratagem of divide and conquer facilitated the eventual subjugation of majority of the natives scattered in various islands of what are known as Luzon and the Visayas. Of course, the Moros of what is now Mindanao proved to be difficult to subdue forcing the Spaniards to build fortified settlements which could be easily defended against marauding Moros.

During the Spanish rule, our ancestors lost their admirable traits of honesty and integrity. Our ancestors imbibed the worst of the Spaniards like the love of fiestas and the habit of siesta or taking a nap which contributed the wrong conception of our indolence. As the affairs of government were greatly influenced by the Spanish friars who became the administrators of many communities, many unsavory practices were imposed on the people.  

Collecting tributes were strictly required and those who refused were severely punished. The most appalling was the obnoxious inclination of many friars to impregnate many women they took a liking to. In due time, mestizos and mestizas made their presence everywhere. The conquered could not prevent such improprieties lest they earned the enmity and penalty from the conqueror. Thus commenced our damaged culture.