Why are many Filipinos ashamed of being Filipinos?

Jackie Michel

 

INFJ 4w3, Gen Xer, raised in the 80s

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Why are many Filipinos ashamed of being Filipinos?

I would be lying if I said I never feel a bit of shame for being born and raised in the Philippines. While I observe this feeling of shame more with Filipinos abroad but Filipinos in the Philippines aren’t spared from it either.

1. For one, Filipinos are extremely regionalists and are proud not for being a Filipino but for being of a certain regional ethnic group like “We are (insert region) first and Filipino second”. There is a lack of sense of unity among Filipinos that could lead into establishing a single Filipino identity. In other words, we are very ignorant of our own identity as Filipinos.
2. Second is apart from Manny Pacquiao, there aren’t enough prominent Filipino representation on a global scale especially in sectors like business, science, technology, media. Compare that with India which has Mahatma Gandhi, Deepak Chopra, the Dalai Lama, several Nobel Peace Prize winners, CIOs/CEOs of multinational tech companies including Google, MSN etc., Bollywood, Mahindra Motors, tech entrepreneurs etc. to boot. Is it any wonder that we tend to be extremely proud whenever we learn that a certain Hollywood actor is 1/8 Filipino or Spiderman’s sidekick is a Filipino as if making it to Hollywood is a reflection of an achievement of an entire nation. As much as I cringe at Pinoy pride but at the same time I understand the reason for its existence. However we are by no means inferior to other nations especially the West. I’m not downplaying the achievements of Hollywood actors of Filipino descent, they truly deserve all that award and success but its their achievement, not an achievement of entire Filipinos. Instead of being proud for being seen in mainstream Western media, we must be proud of our own rich history and achievement as Filipinos. Most of us including myself are ignorant of our own history because our textbooks and all we learned in school are skewed towards colonialism for the benefit of our colonial masters especially the US who spearheaded the public education system in the country. Ms. Dayang Marikit has an interesting post regarding our rich pre-colonial history which are all verified thru discoveries of ancient artifacts just shows how our education system has been feeding us garbage making us believe that without the West, we would be nothing which is very opposite from truth. I strongly recommend you read her post and see for yourself how capable our ancestors were and I believe we can still do what they did. (I’m trying to paste the link but couldn’t do it but you can see her answer here: What are some remarkable ancient civilizations most people don't know about? )
3. Third is the stereotype associated with Filipinos like being gold diggers, illegal immigrants, maids, factory workers, blue collar laborers, caregivers which comes to mind of many foreign based Pinoys that Filipinos are pushovers, incompetent and lacking leadership skills that they see from other nationalities or from the first world culture that they grew up.
4. Fourth, and this is what I personally cringe, is the oversized ego of many Filipinos which leads to a false sense of patriotism (aka Pinoy pride), inability to handle criticisms, inability to accept mistakes that hinders growth and progress.
5. EDIT (Add’l): We have a weak passport power which is a huge hindrance to Filipinos who wish to travel outside the country. For a long time, we have been at the lower half when it comes to passport power and have visa-free access to only 64 countries out of 226 possible destinations. According to the 2019 Henley Passport Index, that is based on data provided by the International Air Transport Authority (IATA) and covers 199 passports, the Philippines is currently at the 80th spot, slipped from 70th spot last year losing visa-free access to two nations. Our passport is also at the lower half in Southeast Asia. Compared that with Singapore which ties the #1 spot with Japan where both countries have access to 190 countries, Malaysia holds 13th spot with access to 176 countries, Brunei at 22nd with access to 164 countries, Timor-Leste at 56th with access to 94 countries, Thailand holds 70th with access to 74 countries, Indonesia at 75th with access to 69 countries. Heck, even other developing countries like El Salvador, Honduras, Venezuela, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Colombia, all Pacific Island nations etc. have higher rankings than the Philippines. This greatly puts Philippine passport holders at a disadvantage. When we want to go to Europe, Australia, NZ, Japan we have to plan it a year in advance and be prepared to risk embarrassment and lose some privacy as it requires some paperwork to do, documents to present including certificate of employment, bank statements showing you have a significant amount of money to support you while you’re travelling and other documents that we can prove that we don’t intend to overstay or illegally settle in their countries. I blame this on other Filipinos who abused that privilege that was given to them way back in the 70s-80s and chose to illegally settle which is why our country is considered as one of the high risk countries. Although countries like Pakistan, Nepal, Somalia, Afghanistan, Syria, Libya, Iran, Iraq, Lebanon etc. have it worse but still being ranked among the lower half isn’t something to be proud of. Unlike many countries, we cannot have the luxury of travelling on a whim. Not to mention that our passport is deemed useless when its validity is six months and under. What is the use of putting an expiry date if we cannot use it six months before that date?
6. Filipinos aren’t assertive by nature and are mostly taught to keep silent to avoid the risk of losing face. This is also the reason for the lack of entrepreneurial mindset of most Filipinos, many would rather work for someone else for a meager but more stable pay than becoming entrepreneurs that involves a lot of risk taking. Most Filipino youths are being taught and trained from an early age that having a good, stable job is the ultimate goal, instead of aiming to become the next Henry Sy, Lucio Tan, Bill Gates or Mark Zuckerberg. We would rather play it safe than assert ourselves by taking risks. And for some who do managed to become entrepreneurs, they think small like sari-sari store, street foods, turo-turo small cafeteria or maglalako (mobile cafeteria) whereas Chinese entrepreneurs think gigantic malls or global restaurant chains. No wonder why over 97% of Filipino business tycoons are of foreign ancestry, mostly Chinese and Spanish.