CRITICAL ANALYSIS 2: Power in the Dining Table

The typical family has roles in it. In our family, the play of power is very evident most especially when the time comes for us to make decisions. Here is how it works:

My father is the one whom I think is the most respected decision maker amongst us. Although it is unspoken, the rule is somewhat to ask him for permission before asking our mother because he would ask for the specifics that are necessary. He is the one who seems to be the most balanced between him and my mother that he is able to earn a great degree of our respect. He struggles with making decisions with us during the times that we have “mixed up” schedules.

My mother is the one who seems to fill the typical roles of a mother. She tries to be able to give tips at times. They end up being helpful often, though the method she brings them to us is sometimes uncalled for. Most of the time she is the one whom convincing is hardest when it comes to permissions. I think this was brought about by her lack of experience in the events we ask her for permission to. She often states we should not do so because of the dangers and hazards these could bring us.  Though she s hard to convince, once all the necessary arrangements are given to her, she will allow us. But the problem is that often, there is the hesitation in her to actually give us the permission. Why there is is still beyond my understanding.

My sister is the one whom I am able to discuss my decisions with regard to any matters. I think this is because there is a more open relationship between us than between me and my parents. She is also the one I know the family considers to be the image of responsibility since often most of us are unable to fill some roles that she is able to.

The juxtaposition of power here comes in the dining area when we are able to sit down and discuss issues we see at the time. Often they are political and social issues. The manner of debating arises when my mother and father talk. My father wins most of the time. Although, there are times that my mother wins, but mostly it is because my father does not wish to go further into the discussion. A wise move, I think. My sister and I often join in the debate, but we withdraw on the account that my mother is already starting to raise her voice.

Power and respect here, as I see it, comes into play in familial relations whenever it is possible that the family member is unable to relate much with the other or when issues arise that differing ideas about them are perceived. It is difficult yes, but it is stimulating at the same time. I think that in this manner, such conflicts are ones that are able to strengthen our bonds and are able to boost our respect for one another.

CRITICAL ANALYSIS 1: In the Name of Culture

What is it with our names that people say it tells a lot about who we will be and who we are? Perhaps it is a true assumption that in a way the names we have manifest parts of who we come to be.

In my inquiry, I say that the names we, as a people, say something about how our culture is. To be specific, we Filipinos somehow embody our personality and culture as a people in our names. But what do the names we have mean for our culture? This inquiry is what this entry is all about. The main question I asked branches further into these:

Do the names we have manifest the diversity and adaptability of our culture? Or do they embody the colonialist mentality of the Filipino people? What does it implicate on the culture of the Filipino people?

One assumption here is that Filipinos were mostly and are often named after the reigning influences of the time. Most often than not, these influences are foreign influences. Why? Because it is the deemed dominant culture or how we politely imply as “better culture” at that time. This then highlights the submissive and subordinate trait of Filipinos. Another hypothesis though is that this adapting of foreign names was one way on how Filipinos in the past and at present try to “survive” with the times while trying to persist their culture. To see which it is that is truer, I tried to make a scientific study of it.

I went around asking my peers and older relatives how their names came to be. I found out that from generations before, most of them have their names patterned after a character from either the Bible, history, or a famous celebrity. The latter and most recent generations are often named after their grandparents or influential characters of the Bible or history as well. A very significant commonality though was that most of the influencing characters are of foreign origin. One of the peers that I interviewed was named Ivan. His name was based on the name of his grandparents. His grandparent’s name “Ivan”, on the other hand, was taken from the historical figure Ivan the terrible. The reason for naming he says is “I think it’s because my grandparent’s parents wanted him to be sturdy when he grew up.”

Common names of older generations are also mostly influenced by the Spanish background where most are named Maria, Eduardo, Andres, Juan, Felipe, Corazon, and the like. The latter generations, I found were more influenced by American and other European origin. Names such as Martin, Jessica, Camille, Irene, Erin, Patricia, and Czarina are just some. Of course those from the bible are also persistent like Ruth, Daniel, John, Paul, Peter and such.

How does this then implicate over the Filipino culture? Is it submissiveness of the people that they accept the other culture already? In part it is because it is the embedded colonial mentality upon the Filipino people that persists in such preferential conditions. The preference for foreign material is then no doubt a product. But what about adaptability? It could also be an answer but the strength of which could not be given much justification. But the great possibility of it is this: that the adapting of foreign names by our ancestors could have been one of their means to try and protect their children from the cruelty of the ruling foreign entities, mainly the Spanish reign. Such masking then came to be a habit that the real Filipino names have been forgotten. As time passed, it has become a form of coping for Filipinos in order to try to “fit in” with the society dictated by the “other”. So to speak, it is not much that fanaticism is in play, but is appears that the origin of Filipinos coming to have foreign names is because of the desire to survive the times in the context of the social construct they were living in.

"We Built Our Nation on Mediocrity"

I felt a sense of unease yet agreement as I heard our professor utter this statement. But even if it does hurt as a Filipino, as a critic I would have to agree with this. I do not know if this is for all the times that we have faltered or have had historical moments, but I do know that is is for the times at present that we are unable to stand up and save our country from the perils that faces each one of us. Perhaps that is the problem right there. Each one of us. Ako. Ikaw. Siya. Sila.

We have had this culture of not caring much about our meighbor for so long that if someone is actually able to do so out of kindness, it makes the evening news. How about that. And we say we are hospitable people when we could not even afford to make our own country hospitable for ourselves, our communities, our people, our nation. How is it even possible that we come to care about situations only when it involves our sake or the sake of people we care about? This is how I see it then. Our naiton is not mediocre because our people are lazy or anything of that matter. It is not that because if we were a culture of lazy people we would not have success stories overseas. Heck, we would not have Senators or House Representatives who came from nowhere to where they are now if you get my point.

What then is the issue here, the issue here has somehting to do with you, me, them, and all of us-- COLLECTIVELY. I quite enjoy that word and would like to hear it more often in this country. It is precisely I think because of the lack of collective efforts that we are unable to grow and develop as a nation. We have all these notions about what a leader is and who a great leader is but if do nothing to help the leader obtain his goals for development then we are just as much to blame for the situation of this country as he, and his cabinet secretaries are.

It hurts to hear the truth. But once we hear it, we think about it and once we do, we begin to have ideas. These ideas are once that, hopefully, will allow us too have a stronger sense of nationalism, and community.

COMMUNITY, and then IDENTITY.

CRITICAL COMMENTARY (3)

Dear Fellow Filipinos,

This will be my first address to you in this blog. I will be blunt as I do not enjoy sugarcoating much of the truth when it comes to matters of the nation because it affects me badly and because I know that it will affect future generations to come. It may appear a bit dictatorial, but I assure you I am merely expressing passion in my words.

I am deeply hurt that for countless years now our people are suffering from loss of cultural identity. When they are asked, "Who is the Filipino?" They can reply none but a stare, a smile and an attempt to an answer but then improbably give none. Why does this happen? Why?

I will tell you why. It is because we have allowed ourselves to be dominated that's why. But no more should this domination of the other beings take place in our country. Such submission to their presence only affirms their suspicious instincts that this country is one that they can easily invade through its culture. No more of this. In the written history of our country they have already taken the front seat when it is supposed to be us who is the subject of it and not them. How do I mean you say? Well, take for example the alleged "discovery of the Philippines". The Spaniards claim the fame for it when it is absolutely a figment of their imagination that they did. I take offense at this because they immediately did not recognize our native ancestors who have been residing over the islands for decades prior to their awareness of its existence. Another one? In our elementary schools when we are asked to memorize "our history", who's names are deemed significant? Majority of them are not our natives. Yes there are those who are Filipinos but they do not comprise a majority of the names. 

Why then did we accept this imposition of others upon us? Why? I believe that it is because of our people's kindheartedness and welcoming souls that lead to such taking advantage of the others. In sum, it is not purely our fault that we have been colonized. But i would like to make the stance and congratulate today;s generation for trying to impose a sense of nationalism among our lost-identity- generations. Though this may be a product of cultural fanaticism, I still commend it. It is one step toward the Indigenization of the Philippines.

Let me first state how I admire the Hawaiians for their assertiveness in preserving their culture. In the lecture class we had, the video clip showing the new generation of Hawaii natives trying to bring their culture to the tourists has brought me to the point of envy. Yes I envied them.  I envied them because even as they experienced a tragic fall in their indigenous population and a dramatic abusive past,  they were able to revive their past through the future generation. What they did was go within themselves and try to find who the Hawaiian is. It is for this reason that I think when they are asked "who is the Hawaiian", they are able to give a straight forward and confident answer accompanied with a strong sense of passion.

I would very much like to have this in the Philippines once more. Even if it is a far search into indigenizing from "within", it can work. Of course, I think that to be able to make that leap, the first step is to indigenize our country from "without" or using sources or works by the others in order to juxtapose our own. This step has already been taken by many of our historians such as Teodoro Agoncillo, Luis Dery and Virgilio Enriquez. The latter, Virgilio Enriquez has already taken the steps toward analyzing the Filipino psyche and come up with the commanding statement that "we should focus on our own voices and not the others' thoughts" as a way to make a propaganda against thecolonial mentality that has plagued this country.

I admire him for being blunt. He is the model from which I try to pattern out this address to you. And just as he challenges Filipinos to take history away from the hands of the others into their own, I challenge today's generation to make a stand. Do not make this found sense of nationalism a mere icon of popularr culture. It may have started out that way but it should not end that way. Take it to a higher and deeper level. Be the instrument of the Filipino culture and be the ones to bring the identity of the Filipino back. That way when you are asked by people of foreign culture, "Who is the Filipino?" Your answer will be a deep look to his eyes, a smile, and the words "I am the Filipino." accompanied by confidence and passion for your country.

Remember, A nation is only as strong as its roots are groounded to its heart.

If you wish to further strengthen your ideals of the Filipino, click on below and see how Virgilio Enriquez was able to do so.

Virgilio Enriquez- Ang Ama ng Sikolohiyang Pilipino

CRITICAL COMMENTARY (2)

Post-colonialism has often been pointed out as the main hindrance to the Philippines on why its people could not easily figure out their native past. Being a Filipino myself, I might have to agree with this statement on some parts. In today's Philippine society, everything is already modernized in the sense of the "Western" way. Everything is done and made to try  to have the country cope with the standards of the international setting. But along the way it seems that the country has tried to adopt modernity so much that in the process of doing so its cultural identity faded into the background.

Let us take a look back at the Filipinos prior to being colonized. Mainly, there was no Philippines. I guess form there we could already say that the country itself has become a colonial product. It is a hard truth but a truth nonetheless. But even in some truths, there are lies. In this example it would be that the Philippines existed because of the Spanish conquestors. True, they gave the country its "official" name-- by their standards-- which is used until today for the purpose of uniformity of knowledge, but it does nto mean that the country has not existede even before they came. In fact, during the pre-Hispanic period of the country, tribl leaders or the barangay leaders already formed pacts and alliances with one another that it is practically what made up the country's political system collectively. 

Speaking of political systems then, our present system is one that is a product of our colonial past. It was imposed on us by the Americans as a way for them to be easily able to colonize us. They gave the impression that it is best fr the country in order for it to easily grow into the times. We gladly accepted this constitution. But does it necessitate then that it would automatically not work for the country already? We go back to history where we see the fragmentation of the regions' leadership, yet there is a common understanding amongst them that they are united in some ways. In the recent years there have been debates regarding the change of the Philippine system into one that is most similar to the one we had before. Will it work now? The answer is still no. Because given the way that our officials have behaved, it has come to be part of our political culture that if such a system is implied, it will seem to be the best option as it best fits the description btu it will not be implemented as written. Just like many of our laws.

I do not blame colonialism in total for being the one to bring it upon our people to keep on accepting, adapting and adopting what is handed to us by these colonizers we had. In truth, I partially think that it is the weakness of our culture's persistence to surmount these others that are being given to us. At most, I sometimes think that these colonial products only persisted in our people because we allowed them to. I know that given the history we had that such searching could not be avoided. But because I know that our people are capable of great ideals, I frown at the thought of our historical submissiveness to the West. 

I am not implying that our people are weak. In part perhaps, but my argument is that if we had more persistence as a nation in the modern times as Andres Bonifiacio did in his leadership of the Katipunan, perhaps we would be the strongest nation in the South Eastern region of Asia.

My point? What I try to emphasize here is that even as the Philippines today is practically a product of the many colonial minds that came across it, it is not completely colonial in itself. It's people may have been slowly blinded for centuries but from what I see today, people are starting to take a new appreciation for the sense of nationalism. If this could only persist through the years, then I have the assurance that the  country I love will have its own chapter to be written in the mainstream of world HisStory.

RH Bill revisited... again and again

"Tayo na lang po ang bansa sa buong mundo na lumalaban 

pa sa pagpapatupad ng batas na ito."

This was the statement uttered by our parish priest two Sundays in a row. I cannot help but feel the guilt inside as he continues to insinuate that supporting the bill no longer makes us Christians for God. He then talks on to say that those in favor of the bill are spawns of the devil himself and that if we support it, it means that the devil has gotten to us. His arguments basically make is seem that the RH bill is one for destroying the humanity of the Filipino people. He goes on to ask of us parishioners for our support to fight against the approval of the bill with the given statements above. My argument to him then is, instead of making us feel guilty of choosing to support the bill by blinding our conscience, why not let the parish goers see for themselves what is in the bill and let them, us, make the choice whether or not we would like to support it?


It gives me heartache to think that even today as we speak of ourselves as a free nation, such power for objectification is still in control through the Church. Don't get me wrong, I am a Catholic. I just think that a manner of gaining followers leads me to think that perhaps it is this that is, as our priest would like to call it, "a spawn of the devil". Why? Because it is blind leadership on his behalf. He goes on to state that the bill is very harmful but does not give enough justifications as to why it is harmful. Targeting the conscience of the people to support the bill, in my opinion is one of the reasons why many have stopped going to church. It is not because they have stopped believing in God or what, but it seems that it is because it is their Church itself that has made them to believe that they can no longer believe in their God.


Why would the Church go to the extent of exercising their power? In my take, I see a Church that is not purely of Catholic in nature but is more of political. From what history our country has, it is the Spanish Church that has dominated the people's living thus their culture of subordination and their beliefs. More often than not, they were made to believe that going against the Catholic Church would bring them to their doom. From what I see today, this method is still being employed by the Church. And from what I have just experienced a few weeks now, it feels more like the Church is trying to keep their stronghold influence over the people as a means of keeping their existence. It has been, since then, in the culture of the Filipino to be submissive to bigger powers that it appears to be impossible to overcome them. In the case of the Church, it appears that they are merely subordinating the minds of their followers to "try to retain their identity" in this country. Why? I believe that the answer lies in the history of the Philippines.


The fear of God is imbibed within us Catholics by nature. It is the fear that God would punish us if we do an act that is against his commandments of love. I then direct this question to the parish priest of ours and to all other priests with similar approaches, why then will you not allow this bill to be approved if it's main purpose is to help the people be able to support their lives? Is that not more of a show of love for your countrymen? Or if letting them go about with the activity of sex without the choice of protection is a better show of it then I suppose I have the concept of love for others all wrong. 


Such a voluntary subordination on the part of most Filipinos stems way back into what has been said as part of history. But given the lapse in time, shouldn't we have been able to overcome it already? It is a sad thought because it feels like the people I would like to be proud of are being easily drawn into following with blindfolds on. I then make this suggestion to all Filipinos who have yet to make their personal stance on the RH Bill. Ignore the opinion of the Catholic Church. Ignore the opinion of the government. Ignore the opinion of your family and friends. Ignore the opinion of your school. Most especially ignore the opinion of others unknown to you. But make this your stance, do not ignore your own. Educate yourself. Never make decisions based on other's analyses or take only. Sure, take theirs into consideration as well, but make your own informed decision on it.


Personally I cannot give my full stance on the bill because I have not yet fully read it, but if it does offer the choice of better health and higher possibility of development for the betterment of the people of this country, then why not?


If you want to make the informed choice over following blindly, click the link below and read up. If you choose to follow others, I respect you for making your decision on your own. If you make a choice based on nothing, then I dare you to challenge your choice. 

Read up and make your own choice.

REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH BILL- FULL TEXT