My Filipino husband has complained that too many Filipinos have a crab mentality. If someone gets ahead, they want to pull them down. Of course, this is not universal among Filipinos, but too many Filipinos do seem to lack empathy for one another.
I asked my husband why this is the case. He thinks it is due to what he called “originalism”. I asked what this meant and he explained the many Filipinos still live in the same community in which they were raised and still speak local languages most of the time. They tend to view anyone from outside their tribe/community with suspicion.
When he gave me this answer, I remembered a day trip that we booked in Siargao. There were about a dozen Filipinos on the boat, including a small group from Davao. When they found out that he was from Manila, they ignored him and several other Tagalog speakers.
When I first came to the Philippines, I thought all Filipinos were pretty much the same. What I have learned with my travels is that the Philippines has some major divisions.
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