(3) Critical Commentary: Indigenous Filipino Theories
Sikolohiyang Pilipino: A Movement Towards Decolonisation
Sikolohiyang Pilipino (SP)
The Philippine landscape is familiarly tropical and East Indian. But the world into which you have stepped is unlike anything of which you have yet had experience in the Orient. Â It is Spainâdiluted, indeed, distored, and overlaid with Americanism.
History is written by the victors.Â
Our history as a Filipino people was written in the perspective of our captors, written in the perspective of each time period in which our colonisers have trampled on our soil. Hence, often times, we are uncertain when it comes to our identity as Filipinosâwhat it means to be a Filipino in our own land, and in what way must we express our being Filipino. Sikolohiyang Pilipino rebuilds and re-establishes that understanding of our own conduct, attitudes and beliefs in our own perspective, independent from any influence of external factors. The purpose of Sikolohiyang Pilipino was to confront the issue of a Filipino psyche embedded in a colonial setting with an intention to develop an identity as a nation as well as social cognizance and engagement among its constituents. It is a journey towards decolonisation and the purge of a mindset that perpetuates colonial mentality.
As a Filipino people, we are then again met by the domains of the Self and the Other, the âwe-vs-theyâ notion when it comes to Filipino social behaviours and conduct. We are rooted by our high regards with togetherness or pakikipagkapwa, shown in our close-knit communities; and under this umbrella concept lies two categories: Ibang Tao (Other People) and Hindi Ibang Tao (Not Other People) implying our attitudes toward particular situations with specific kinds of people.
Under the discussion of Ibang Tao (the ones we refer to as outsiders) expounds on five attributes, such as:
Pakikitungo: the proper conduct in how we interact with others; how we treat our elders, for instance.
Pakikilahok: the active participation and engagement of a community to provide their help for an individual.
Pakikibagay: the act of conforming; often conflicts with the personâs individuality as he would rather disregard it to be in agreeable, favourable terms to whomever holds authority.
Pakikisama: unity, as some would say; but it is also an act in which has the tendency to be at stake of relativity.
Furthermore, under the discussion of Hindi Ibang Tao (âone-of-usâ) are as follows:
Pakikipagpalagayang-loob: act of mutual trust
Pakikisangkot: act of joining others
Pakikipagkaisa: being one with others
Human disposition and behaviour are formed by the culture that surrounds it, starting with the most integral part: the home and the family. Understanding ourselves as a people will pave way to a greater appreciation of our community. Our identity is formed by virtue of how we treat those who are part of the âusâ (our Self) and those who are part of the âthemâ (Others).
However, since weâre already in the topic of culture and behaviour, there are certain attitudes that Filipinos continue to exhibit that become the sole reason for roadblocks to our progress. More on this coming soon. (re: anti-intellectualism; disillusioned âPinoy Prideâ).
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