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Philippines SOCIAL VALUES AND ORGANIZATION
The great majority of the Philippine population is bound
together by common values and a common religion. Philippine
society is characterized by many positive traits. Among these are
strong religious faith, respect for authority, and high regard
for amor proprio (self-esteem) and smooth interpersonal
relationships. Philippine respect for authority is based on the
special honor paid to elder members of the family and, by
extension, to anyone in a position of power. This characteristic
is generally conducive to the smooth running of society,
although, when taken to extreme, it can develop into an
authoritarianism that discourages independent judgment and
individual responsibility and initiative. Filipinos are sensitive
to attacks on their own self-esteem and cultivate a sensitivity
to the self-esteem of others as well. Anything that might hurt
another's self-esteem is to be avoided or else one risks
terminating the relationship. One who is insensitive to others is
said to lack a sense of shame and embarrassment, the principal
sanction against improper behavior. This great concern for self-
esteem helps to maintain harmony in society and within one's
particular circle, but it also can give rise to clannishness and
a willingness to sacrifice personal integrity to remain in the
good graces of the group. Strong personal faith enables Filipinos
to face great difficulties and unpredictable risks in the
assurance that "God will take care of things." But, if allowed to
deteriorate into fatalism, even this admirable characteristic can
hinder initiative and stand in the way of progress.
Social organization generally follows a single pattern,
although variations do occur, reflecting the influence of local
traditions. Among lowland Christian Filipinos, social
organization continues to be marked primarily by personal
alliance systems, that is, groupings composed of kin (real and
ritual), grantors and recipients of favors, friends, and partners
in commercial exchanges.
Philippine personal alliance systems are anchored by kinship,
beginning with the nuclear family. A Filipino's loyalty goes
first to the immediate family; identity is deeply embedded in the
web of kinship. It is normative that one owes support, loyalty,
and trust to one's close kin and, because kinship is structured
bilaterally with affinal as well as consanguineal relatives,
one's kin can include quite a large number of people. Still,
beyond the nuclear family, Filipinos do not assume the same
degree of support, loyalty, and trust that they assume for
immediate family members for whom loyalty is nothing less than a
social imperative. With respect to kin beyond this nuclear
family, closeness in relationship depends very much on physical
proximity.
Bonds of ritual kinship, sealed on any of three ceremonial
occasions--baptism, confirmation, and marriage--intensify and
extend personal alliances. This mutual kinship system, known as
compadrazgo, meaning godparenthood or sponsorship, dates
back at least to the introduction of Christianity and perhaps
earlier. It is a primary method of extending the group from which
one can expect help in the way of favors, such as jobs, loans, or
just
simple gifts on special occasions. But in asking a friend to
become godparent to a child, a Filipino is also asking that
person to become a closer friend. Thus it is common to ask
acquaintances who are of higher economic or social status than
oneself to be sponsors. Such ritual kinship cannot be depended on
in moments of crisis to the same extent as real kinship, but it
still functions for small and regular acts of support such as
gift giving.
A dyadic bond--between two individuals--may be formed based
on the concept of utang na loob. Although it is expected
that the debtor will attempt repayment, it is widely recognized
that the debt (as in one's obligation to a parent) can never be
fully repaid and the obligation can last for generations. Saving
another's life, providing employment, or making it possible for
another to become educated are "gifts" that incur utang na
loob. Moreover, such gifts initiate a long-term reciprocal
interdependency in which the grantor of the favor can expect help
from the debtor whenever the need arises and the debtor can, in
turn, ask other favors. Such reciprocal personal alliances have
had obvious implications for the society in general and the
political system in particular. In 1990 educated Filipinos were
less likely to feel obligated to extend help (thereby not
initiating an utang na loob relationship) than were rural
dwellers among whom traditional values remained strong. Some
observers believed that as Philippine society became more
modernized and urban in orientation, utang na loob would
become less important in the political and social systems.
In the commercial context, suki relationships (market-
exchange partnerships) may develop between two people who agree
to become regular customer and supplier. In the marketplace,
Filipinos will regularly buy from certain specific suppliers who
will give them, in return, reduced prices, good quality, and,
often, credit. Suki relationships often apply in other
contexts as well. For example, regular patrons of restaurants and
small neighborhood retail shops and tailoring shops often receive
special treatment in return for their patronage. Suki does
more than help develop economic exchange relationships. Because
trust is such a vital aspect, it creates a platform for personal
relationships that can blossom into genuine friendship between
individuals.
Patron-client bonds also are very much a part of prescribed
patterns of appropriate behavior. These may be formed between
tenant farmers and their landlords or between any patron who
provides resources and influence in return for the client's
personal services and general support. The reciprocal arrangement
typically involves the patron giving a means of earning a living
or of help, protection, and influence and the client giving labor
and personal favors, ranging from household tasks to political
support. These relationships often evolve into ritual kinship
ties, as the tenant or worker may ask the landlord to be a
child's godparent. Similarly, when favors are extended, they tend
to bind patron and client together in a network of mutual
obligation or a long-term interdependency.
Filipinos also extend the circle of social alliances with
friendship. Friendship often is placed on a par with kinship as
the most central of Filipino relationships. Certainly ties among
those within one's group of friends are an important factor in
the development of personal alliance systems. Here, as in other
categories, a willingness to help one another provides the prime
rationale for the relationship.
These categories--real kinship, ritual kinship, utang na
loob relationships, suki relationships, patron-client
bonds, and friendship--are not exclusive. They are interrelated
components of the Filipino's personal alliance system. Thus two
individuals may be cousins, become friends, and then cement their
friendship through godparenthood. Each of their social networks
will typically include kin (near and far, affinal and
consanguineal), ritual kin, one or two patron-client
relationships, one or more other close friends (and a larger
number of social friends), and a dozen or more market-exchange
partners. Utang na loob may infuse any or all of these
relationships. One's network of social allies may include some
eighty or more people, integrated and interwoven into a personal
alliance system.
In 1990 personal alliance systems extended far beyond the
local arena, becoming pyramidal structures going all the way to
Manila, where members of the national political elite represented
the tops of numerous personal alliance pyramids. The Philippine
elite was composed of weathly landlords, financiers,
businesspeople, high military officers, and national political
figures. Made up of a few families often descended from the
ilustrados (see Glossary),
or enlightened ones, of the
Spanish colonial period, the elite controlled a high percentage
of the nations's wealth. The lavish life-styles of this group
usually included owning at least two homes (one in Manila and one
in the province where the family originated), patronizing
expensive shops and restaurants, belonging to exclusive clubs,
and having a retinue of servants. Many counted among their social
acquaintances a number of rich and influential foreigners,
especially Americans, Spaniards, and other Europeans. Their
children attended exclusive private schools in Manila and were
often sent abroad, usually to the United States, for higher
education. In addition, by 1990 a new elite of businesspeople,
many from Hong Kong and Taiwan, had developed.
In the cities, there existed a considerable middle-class
group consisting of small entrepreneurs, civil servants,
teachers, merchants, small property owners, and clerks whose
employment was relatively secure. In many middle-class families,
both spouses worked. They tended to place great value on higher
education, and most had a college degree. They also shared a
sense of common identity derived from similar educational
experiences, facility in using English, common participation in
service clubs such as the Rotary, and similar economic standing.
Different income groups lived in different neighborhoods in
the cities and lacked the personal contact essential to the
patron-client relationship. Probably the major social division
was between those who had a regular source of income and those
who made up the informal sector of the economy. The latter
subsisted by salvaging material from garbage dumps, begging,
occasional paid labor, and peddling. Although their income was
sometimes as high as those in regular jobs, they lacked the
protection of labor legislation and had no claim to any type of
social insurance
(see Employment and Labor Relations;
Economic Welfare
, ch. 3).
Data as of June 1991
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