Digital Scrapbook
Foreword
The Filipinos are known to be a lot of things. Dating back from history up until the present, our identity has been constructed by different factors such as our history and several phenomena that are happening today. In our history, we were colonized multiple times and at present, Filipinos are surely known around the world given that we have Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) in various countries. It has also become a factor in further spreading our culture and identity to foreign countries and at the same time, it gets to be reshaped as well.
As we observe how our identity has changed, this is largely molded by mass media and other emerging contemporary platforms. Media channels to its target audience the portrayals of our identities but it sometimes misrepresents these. Filipinos are described as resilient, God-fearing, respectful, and were always willing to help out other people or what we refer to as the bayanihan spirit. Furthermore, these stereotypes are immensely influenced by social institutions, specifically family, education and the state.
- Zyril Jeff De los Angeles, Kate Echanojaurique, Ma. Sheena Danica Bonites
Filipinos in Pageantry
The famous national costume ensemble named LuzViMinda, worn by Catriona Gray during the Miss Universe 2018 pageant gained a lot of affirmations and praises. The costume vividly represents the culture of the three main island groups of the country, Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao and from where the acronym, LuzViMinda is derived from. Espoused on its details, Gray wore a nude bodysuit with an intricate pattern of the Pintados in Visayas, a giant parol paitned with the colors of the Philippine flag representing the province of Pampanga in Luzon, and the T’boli headpiece and brass accessories that give pride to the rich heritage of the Mindanaoan people. In addition, the back story of her national costume also set the crowd in awe when it visually narrated the history and traditions of the country.
In my opinion, Gray’s national costume has represented detailed our Filipino identity. The well-researched gave a holistic illustration of the country by including all the major trademarks of each island group.
Photo Courtesy: https://www.pep.ph/lifestyle/fashion/38618/catriona-gray-national-costume-at-miss-universe-2018-is-called-luzviminda
The Legendary EDSA Traffic
I could still remember last year when my cousin went home here in the Philippines from Canada. Living there in Canada since birth, she had no idea what the actually country looks like except for some photos that she can see in the internet and television. When we had our conversation, she kept asking me what are the reasons of heavy traffic congestions in Metro Manila and I can barely answer this thing because I never experienced being in Manila specially amidst the stressful EDSA traffic.
Many online platforms usually associate Philippines with traffic congestions. We cannot even blame these agencies of doing so because maybe when they had their vacations in the country, this traffic took up a large portion of their time that caused them a lot of delays and postponement of their plans. However, representing the country as a major traffc congestion hub in the world is a little bias and unfair. There are a lot of cities and provinces outside Metro Manila that traffic is not a major problem. In fact, Philippines has a lot to offer, not just stress from being stuck in EDSA.
Photo Courtesy: https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/06/covid19-traffic-congestion-interactive-tool/ World Economic Forum
Filipino Resiliency
In this photo, the smile of Filipinos can be evidently seen despite the disaster everyone is experiencing. The spirit of resiliency and bayanihan-- being strong and optimistic despite being in the middle of a harsh time was something being adored about us. I agree that we definitely possess these traits. As a Filipino myself, this something I have observed personally, in the news, and something that I have experienced as well. Filipinos are definitely strong and helpful. Tourists that come visit the country are very amazed with our hospitality as well. However, this commendable strength and resiliency is often too romanticized where we tend to settle for getting less than what we deserve. Furthermore, romanticizing this resiliency also lets us praise when we receive merely the bare minimum. Filipinos are indeed portrayed correctly in this photo but digging in deeper to the current scenario and effects of these traits, it opens up another perspective in our Filipino identity.
Photo Courtesy: https://steemit.com/filipinoresilience/@iamrosallie/floods-in-the-philippines-filipino-resilience
Filipinos as Weak and “Uncivilized” during the Colonization Period
How the Filipinos were portrayed during the colonization period of the Spaniards and the Americans were definitely different compared to who our ancestors actually were. During the Spanish colonization, there weren’t any photos but there existed the written notes of Antonio Pigafetta. During the American colonization, photos were made and published on print media. Filipinos were portrayed by these colonizers as “weak” and “uncivilized” and in their perspective, the Filipinos during their time needed to be saved. During our History class, we studied about pre-colonial Fllipinos and it showed how our ancestors weren’t uncivilized. As a matter of fact, there was evidence of pre-colonial Filipinos having a culture of their own. The Americans referred to the Filipinos as their “little brown brothers” that needed to be “saved” and taught the “proper way of living” or lifestyle. Pre-colonial Filipinos had different tribes, they had a lifestyle highly anchored on agriculture and nature. They also had practices and rituals being performed as a way of worship to nature-- the sea, the sun, the mountains, and the trees as examples.
Although the colonization that our ancestors have experienced significantly affected our culture and identity in the present, there are common misconceptions on how our colonizers labelled pre-colonial Filipinos compared to how they actually were. As the saying goes, “History is written by the victors” and what’s written has become a conceived “truth”. There isn’t much known about pre-colonial Filipinos but one thing is for sure, there is much more yet to be discovered and they were way more than how they were described by the colonizers in their history books.
Photo Courtesy: Lasco, G. (2018). "Little Brown Brothers" [Photograph]. Ateneo De Manila University. https://muse.jhu.edu/article/705492/pdf
Filipinos as being “Religious”
The image pertains to the thousands of Santo Niño devotees attending the mass for the feast of Santo Niño de Cebu. As we know, the Philippines is unique among its neighbors in the South East Asian region since it is the only Christian nation in Asia, where the majority of Filipinos are identified as Christian (92.5%). More specifically, 82.9% of the population identify as Catholic, 2.8% identify as Evangelical Christian, 2.3% identify as Iglesia ni Kristo and 4.5% identify with some other Christian denomination. Of the remaining population, 5.0% identify as Muslim and 2.5% identify with some other religion (The Cultural Atlas, 2021).
The denomination of Christianity that became most embedded in Filipino culture is Catholicism, which was introduced in the Philippines during the Spanish colonization era. Catholic ideas continue to inform beliefs throughout Filipino society such as the sanctity of life and respect for hierarchy. Also, there is a strong presence of Protestant traditions in the Philippines because of the American colonization of the country. Furthermore, tracing back the history, during the pre-colonial era, Filipinos already had their belief system consisting of a pantheon of gods and goddesses, spirits, creatures, and nature such as the streams, trees, mountains, rocks, and even the weather that are worshiped by our ancestors.
For instance, for many Filipinos, the time of ‘fiesta’ is regarded as an important event within the community. During the Catholic event of fiesta, the local community comes together to celebrate the special day of the patron saint of a town or ‘barangay’. Fiesta is a time for feasting, bonding, and paying homage to the patron saint. Also, many Filipinos devote their lives among patrons and saints. In fact, they even risk their lives just to attend the feast of that saint. Moreover, on a normal day scenario, Catholic iconography is certainly evident throughout the Philippines. Indeed, it is common to find churches and statues of various saints all throughout the country. Moreover, many towns and cities are named after saints (for example, San Miguel located in Luzon and Santa Catalina located in Visayas). Furthermore, in almost all corners of every Filipino home, you can find brazen images of crosses and other religious paraphernalia. Filipino families go to church every Sunday, or sometimes even twice or three times a week. The Philippines is also known for its longest Christmas celebration. Nonetheless, religion is an important social institution that has shaped the lives of many Filipinos.
Photo Courtesy: https://img.theculturetrip.com/1440x/smart/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/ecf2hc.jpg
Filipinos as being “Respectful”
Respect is a vital aspect of Filipino culture. Respect for one’s elder is traditional in the Philippines. At an early age, we are already taught how to be respectful by using the simple catchphrases – “po” and “opo” – to end the sentences when addressing elders. When a Filipino child meets an older family member, the youth customarily greet them with a gesture called “mano po”, taking the older relative’s hand and placing it on his or her own forehead to express profound respect for the elder, just like what is portrayed in the photo. Moreover, calling someone older than you by their first name is considered impolite and rude. As a sign of respect, Filipinos address anyone older than them using words such as ate, kuya, tita, tito, inay, itay, lolo, lola, mang, aleng, and many more. In addition, Filipinos also establish respect in ways like, helping a person cross the street, inviting someone to dine in with them, kissing the hands of elders, and even greeting anyone any time of the day. As someone who have experienced living in a rural community, we have certainly observed that these acts and behavior are still being practiced by many Filipinos. Thus, this picture portrays Filipino identity correctly. However, because of globalization and migration, our culture has been at stake. Many youths nowadays particularly living in urbanized areas, where there is a greater access to western culture, barely know the polite way of addressing elders. Hence, this portrayal of the media serves as a wake up call for many Filipinos to preserve and restore this culture and tradition of ours.
Photo Courtesy: https://www.pinterest.ph/pin/35888128255449304/













