I speak from having lived in Manila. Also, I am from Winnipeg, which relatively speaking, has an exceptionally large number of people of Filipino origin. And, most of the Filipinos I knew in Manila were very good people. I would like them to succeed wherever they go.
I think I know what the Questions mean by “belittled”. I am aware, in particular of horror stories from the Gulf. I agree that it happens quite a lot. It probably goes beyond belittlement though. In part, it is disregard, lack of interest, incomprehension, and other things.
What Are Malays?
Again, I mean no disrespect at all to Malay people or their language and culture. However, there is a problem that they are not as much known as some other East Asian cultures. Other than the Filipinos themselves, Malays have not immigrated that much. Also, the Malay population is divided up into several different countries, which makes it hard for others to get a “fix” on who they are, and accept them as a people. It doesn't particularly help that the Malay countries are generally low profile. Even the massive Indonesia does not get all that much international attention. Even less known are Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei.
It complicates matters that many Filipinos are rather lukewarm about their Malayness. Having a Christian identity is one of the things that has allowed some of the different ethnocultural groups in the northern and middle Philippines to develop into a coherent country. However, there is a certain amount of confusion about who Filipinos are. They get called “Asian people”, and then are compared invidiously to various mainland Asian countries. It is not fair. In my opinion, except for perhaps the Chinese community, Filipinos should really be seen as Pacific Islanders. However, even this gets complex. Countries like Palau or the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, or even Guam, are hardly well known. And, comparing Filipinos to Hawaiians and Maoris is not too much of a help.
A Good National Impression?
To me, the Philippines is an excellent example of a whole being less than the sum of its parts. The Filipinos themselves? Lots of decent, hard-working people. The Republic of the Philippines? If people know about it, they find that it is kind of a mess. (I don't think the name change is really going to help.) If you live in the Philippines, you quickly get to know that the problems are a lot more complex than the Filipinos not being “able to get their act together”. But, few foreigners who judge the Filipinos get to live in the Philippines. The “failed state” perception casts a shadow over Filipinos who live overseas.
Humility Is Not Always Understood
One very highly commendable thing I noticed about the Filipinos, is that they will take any work to support their families back home. This means that a lot of Filipinos who go abroad are doing what is seen as menial work. This does not create respect, unless you understand the sacrifice that the Filipino is making. It also creates the impression that most Filipinos are poorly educated. It isn't understood that, for example, being a schoolteacher in the Province does not pay much of anything, even though your qualifications are excellent. Nor do people who have not had to face it, understand how very difficult it is for somebody from a developing country to get their educational credentials recognized.
The fact that Filipinos tend to go wherever they can go, where they can make money to send home, means that a lot of them reside in the Gulf and Saudi Arabia. I have spent time in the United Arab Emirates. I sure would not want to be a Filipino there. Foreign workers have very little in the way of rights, except of course for Austrian-trained hotel managers, British engineers and architects, French chefs, dominant Americans, etc. Unprotected people get treated with disdain. You can take out your frustrations on them. I understand why, Filipinos in the UAE, on whatever leisure time they are allowed to have, hide away in karaoke bars.
Gimme That Old Time Religion
Devoutness has gone out of fashion in much of the developing world. A lot of Filipinos still put plentiful stock in organized religion. (Yes, some Americans are very religious, but those who tend to be Protestant religious, not infrequently but rather extremely so. Being a devout Roman Catholic doesn't necessarily cut any ice with them, and they have not heard of the Iglesia ni Cristo. If they did, they would probably get scared!)
In fact, some “Western” societies have become rather anti-religious. We hear of the supposed “Judaeo-Christian values” (I am just Judaeo. I wish people would not hook me and my heritage up with Christians.) being patriarchal, a product of white supremacy, an excuse for the upper class, an oppressive, imposed morality on people's birthright gender preferences, etc. This can make people who are still quite ostentatiously religious look rather quaint, or less politely, out of it.
However, during the late 1950s Quebecois society began its way down a very rapid pathway to secularity. (The Roman Catholic Church in Quebec had a squadron of problems with the general population that would take lots of Quora Answers to intellectualize about.) For many Quebecois, the Church, and organized religion in general, became a synonym for ignorance.
So, I happened to visit the Oratory on a trip to Montreal. If you zoom the Wikipedia picture you can see a set of steps leading up to the columns at the main entrance. Who was crawling on their knees up them? Filipino ladies. I understood what this penance means, in a different culture, where, much of the time the best you can do is pray. I could understand the relief and peace that many Filipinos feel when they offer up their prayers. However, many of the Quebecois, or other non-religious Canadians, maybe not quite as much. So, a Filipino woman, who is reasonably well-educated, and could probably explain to you in considerable detail the reasons for her faith, gets disrespected.
Look American Culturally, When You Aren't
The long history of foreign occupation has left Filipinos with cultural burdens that obscure who really are:
Aren't You Guys Asian Mexicans?
I have had to explain this to Canadians, after getting on the topic of The Philippines with them. (This is was in the context of social activist university kids, who were full of socialistic solutions for Filipino problems, of course without having set foot in the country, or having bothered to do a whole lot of reading about it.)
Filipino personal names and place names suggest a Hispanicness that has not been there since the Americans took over colonizing the place. Unfortunately, and very unfairly, Latin Americans are not necessarily viewed very well. (The Trump Administration has done everything humanly possible to whip up the contempt.)
But, Are You Not Conservative Americans, Just The Wrong Colour?
Even the high Filipino levels of American-type English can create a misperception. The Philippines has not historically been a hotbed of social progressivism. (How well would Bernie do there?) Why should it be? We are talking about an ideology that has developed in response to the problems of the British-origin and European world. How do you hitch it up to life in Quiapo? Even if I were a Filipino sociologist, I would think twice or a lot more than twice about publishing a polemic that demands Filipino social democracy. If your manifesto got too popular, the powers that be might have some serious concerns about you.
Despite their lack of Caucasianness, Filipinos who immigrate can inadvertently sound like proponents of a right-wing America. The result is that a Filipino can be dragged into the American culture wars, when all they meant by immigrating was just to make a decent living.
Fil-Winnipegness, Making It All Clear
And, none of this contributes to an understanding of what the quite distinct, indigenous cultures of the Philippines, actually believe in. I could concretize it. I made trips home to Winnipeg after my diplomatic posting to the Philippines. Filipinos are actually reasonably well-regarded there, and a lot of the supposed Filipinos of Winnipeg are now Filipino-looking people who were born right there. However, the whole extended family in one house thing looks a lot to some non-Filipinos like self-inflicted suffering. If a Fil-Winnipegger refers to their ancestral barrio, that “slums of Mexico City” image kicks in. What the hell is a Pasalubong? And, you guys are Asians, so why don't you show up in Chinese restaurants? (Even in these politically correct times, the concept of Balut can be kind of alarming.)
And there are a whole lot of Fil-Americans.
Filipino-Canadians get elected. There are now lots of Filipino professionals and businesspeople. Whatever belittlement era there was, is sliding past. Insult the many Filipino nannies who are permitted under Canadian law to immigrate, and the Human Rights Commissions and multicultural groups will make short shrift of you.
In my view, the real belittlement problem for Filipinos is now about the Middle East. Unfortunately, I don't see the bad attitude going away. If it is any consolation to the Filipinos who have to put up with the place, when people who deserve to be belittled, belittle you, than, they belittle themselves even worse.
I hope that The Philippines will at least advance to the state where, there are enough jobs back home, that the Filipino people can lose life in the Gulf and Saudi.
For Fil-Canadians and Fil-Americans, I would say, it has gotten a lot better. Move out beyond of that retro-religious, virtual Mexican, old-time, right-wing American thing. Declare yourself, not as Asians, just as yourselves and your cultures. And, you will decide what it all means to you. Then you have fully risen up.
Martin Levine
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