Colonial Mentality of Filipinos: Its Roots Colonial Mentality of Filipinos: Its Roots

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WHAT WE FILIPINOS SHOULD KNOW: WHAT IS NATIONALISM [Filipino Nationalism]? Our Colonial Mentality and Its Roots The Miseducation of the Filipino (Formation of our Americanized Mind) Our Filipino Kind of Religion

THE RECTO READER is presented in several postings. Click below for previous posts:

THE RECTO READER: Nationalism,Internationalism,Ultra-Nationalism, Part 1A of 6 THE RECTO READER: Mission of Nationalism, Part 1B of 6 THE RECTO READER: Economic Independence,Economic Nationalism,Part 2A of 6 THE RECTO READER: Economic Nationalism Means Industrialization,Part 2B of 6 THE RECTO READER: Industrialization: The Alternative to Poverty, Part 2C of 6 THE RECTO READER: The Fallacy of "Philippines First," Part 2D of 6

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Colonial Mentality of Filipinos: Its Roots

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One of the major errors in the whole discussion of economic development has been the tendency to look at the United States or Canada and say that this has worked here, and therefore it must work in the poor countries. John Kenneth Galbraith (1908-2006) "Certain marks of colonization are still manifested by the people. I have arbitrarily identified these marks as dependence, subservience and compromise." (I add compromise of our homeland and at our peoples' expense) Only the strong, unrelenting efforts of Filipino people can erase the blemishes to our culture

Colonial Mentality of Filipinos: Its Roots

and remove the negative label attached to it. Fortunately, there are concerned Filipinos who, with all their might, attack 'these cultural damages' with the pen and with the tongue. They are unrelenting." Dr. Pura Santillan-Castrence (1905-2007) The true Filipino is a decolonized Filipino. Prof. Renato Constantino (1919-1999)

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Filipino (Our) "Colonial Mentality"

WHAT WE FILIPINOS SHOULD KNOW: (Note: Underlined words are links to other related postings, point and click your cursor on a link to open). Then and now, an American seems to reside in the heart and mind of each native Filipino of every generation since the US conquest and its 48-year occupation of the Philippines. We Filipinos grew up and are still growing up knowing only about : theAmerican innocence. Like many American themselves, thanks to excessive TV-viewing for one, etc., are ignorant of the totality of American history, such as its distorted narration of the The Philippine-American War (The First Vietnam), usually glossed over under the Spanish-American War aka Splendid Little War , itsmock Battle of Manila Bay, Monroe Doctrine, Manifest Destiny,complete Roosevelt Corollary, and the current, if not perpetual drive, for American hegemony in the 21st century. Consequently, the Filipino has been effectively and efficientlyAmericanized: conditioned to knowingly or unknowingly think and analyze economic and political issues in his own homeland (and abroad) from the American point of view. In the long-run, his alienated heart and mind brought to the Filipino and the homeland only everdeepening poverty, and its consequent illiteracy, hunger anddamaged culture. To change this way of thinking, the American drilled into and residing in the Filipino mind need to be removed; for the Filipino to be educated,so as to arouse the "Filipinism" in his heart and mind in matters of national interests (economic and political); for each Filipino to ultimately demonstrate and most important, demand from his national leadership honest concern and action for the impoverished native majority (Christian, Muslim, and the forgottten ethnic minorities), the native common good. This nationalistic outlook is most important and necessary when dealing with all foreigners, such as the American, Australian, Japanese, Korean, Chinese businessmen, their governments and theirtransnational corporations (TNCs) as they work and exploit our people and homeland indirectly via the IMF and WB and the WTO in the Philippines among many others (all rationalized for us by our native technocrats). The primary task for us Filipinos, despite numerousimpediments, is to raise our nationalist consciousness, through self- education or by formal/informal education, beginning with a recognition and appreciation of our colonial mentality and exerting a conscious effort to discard it. Our task in terms of the national economy in our homeland should be to think FILIPINO FIRST, as other nations rightly do think of and for themselves in their own homelands. But of course, our "Filipinism" has to be different from the selfish individualism (lacking in social concern) of the native businessmen/entrepreneurs of the past who used nationalism to advance solely their own private interests. This latter danger can be prevented by nationalistic masseducation; since knowledge should not be an exclusive domain of the middle class and socio-economic elite. It is only with a nationalistic consciousness in his mind and heart will the Filipino be able to fight, deal and work with utmost determination for his own betterment, those of his children and grandchildren; and consequently of his homeland.

Colonial Mentality of Filipinos: Its Roots

Below is one of the many excellent articles written during the early 1980s by Leticia Constantino, wife of the great Filipino nationalist of recent history - the late Prof. Renato Constantino. A collection of these concise essays, in several slim pamphlets/volumes, to help understand important national issues and developments was published, as a teacher's aid to developing a nationalist education, under the title"Issues Without Tears." The series of pamphlets are extremely useful to those who have no time nor patience to read books or scholarly treatises, as Mrs. Constantino explained. Hopefully the books are still available in Philippine bookstores. I highly recommend buying them. - Bert
""What luck for rulers that men do not think" - Adolf Hitler "We shall be better and braver and less helpless if we think that we ought to enquire, than we should have been if we indulged in the idle fancy that there was no knowing and no use in seeking to know what we do not know..." - SOCRATES "Upang maitindig natin ang bantayog ng ating lipunan, kailangang radikal nating baguhin hindi lamang ang ating mga institusyon kundi maging ang ating pag-iisip at pamumuhay. Kailangan ang rebolusyon, hindi lamang sa panlabas, kundi lalo na sa panloob!"--Apolinario Mabini La Revolucion Filipina (1898) Nations whose NATIONALISM is destroyed are subject to ruin. - Colonel Muhammar Qaddafi, 1942-, Libyan Political and Military Leader

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NOTE: The Edward Said YouTube videos on "Orientalism a a Tool of Colonialism" (Parts 1-4) are more about the Arab World; but analytically and conceptually applies to our "colonial mentality" in Filipino setting. Access Parts 2-4 when you watch Part 1 above.

"The chief business of America is business" - President Calvin Coolidge, 1925 Colonies do not cease to be colonies because they are independent Benjamin Disraeli, British Prime

Colonial Mentality of Filipinos: Its Roots

Minister (1804-1881)

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ROOTS OF OUR COLONIAL MENTALITY

from "Issues without Tears", 1984 We often hear Filipinos complain that as a nation we are afflicted with a colonial mentality. By this they usually mean that we are excessively subservient to foreigners and unduly impressed by foreign goods. Butan even more harmful aspect of colonial mentality and one that is less recognized is our failure to pinpoint our real national interests apart and distinct from those of our foreign colonizers. Despite 35 years of independence, this trait has not been eradicated.Colonial mentality has deep roots in our history: first, in the level of social and economic development we attained before colonization; second, in the nature of Spanish colonization; third, in the impact of American rule; fourth, in the way we obtained our independence and fifth, in the neo-colonial policies of the United States up to the present time. Unlike India, Indonesia, Vietnam and Cambodia, we did not confront our Spanish conquerors as a people with a highly developed culture and social structure. Our forebears lived in small, scattered communities based on kinship ties and relied mainly on primitive agriculture which provided barely enough for their needs. We were not a nation since these communities were separate, autonomous barangays. Trade among barangays and with the people from neighboring countries was occasional and by barter. Religion was likewise primitive with no organized body of beliefs or priestly hierarchy. All these made physical conquest and cultural domination quite easy for the Spanish colonizers. Unlike the Cambodians with their Angkor Vat and the Indonesians with their Borobudur, we had no monuments which could remind our people of an ancient glory. When nations with advanced social structures and a firmly established culture are colonized, their past achievements constitute the source of their separate identity which enable the conquered to confront their colonizers with dignity and sometimes even a feeling of superiority. They do not easily lose their sense of racial worth. Unfortunately for us, we were colonized before our own society could develop sufficiently. Having but few cultural defenses against our conquerors, we soon accepted their superiority and began to acquire what we now call a colonial mentality. Other Western powers initially instituted a system of indirect rule in their Asian colonies by exploiting the people through their chiefs, leaving native social and cultural institutions largely intact.In the Philippines however, our two colonizers consolidated their rule by working on the native consciousness, thus effecting great changes in Filipino values and customs The Spaniards forcibly resettled the scattered barangays into larger communities where the people could more easily be Christianized and where every aspect of their lives, their customs and ideas could be scrutinized and shaped in the desired colonial mode. In most communities, the Spanish friars represented both the power of the cross and the power of the sword. As pillars of the colonial establishment, most priests sought to develop in their flock the virtues of obedience, humility and resignation.Spanish superiority was maintained and the "indio" was kept in his inferior position by denying him education (there was no system of national education until 1863).The people were trained to follow and were discouraged from thinking for themselves. A thirst for knowledge was considered a dangerous and subversive trait which often brought actual misfortune or the treat of hell. The "indio"acquired the habit of allowing his economic and social superiors to do the thinking for him, and this attitude persists among us today, seriously undermining any movement for greater democracy. Under the Spaniards, inferiority complex evolved into a national trait of Filipinos.

Colonial Mentality of Filipinos: Its Roots

Ironically enough, by satisfying the Filipinos' desire for education and self-government, the American colonizers developed a new, and is some ways, a more pernicious form of colonial mentality. For while the Spanish arrogance and bred anger and rebellion,American education transformed the United States in the eyes of the Filipinos from an aggressor who had robbed them of their independence to a generous benefactor. The school system began Americanizing the Filipino consciousness by misrepresenting US expansionism and US economic policies as American altruism toward the Filipinos; bydenying young Filipinos of any knowledge of Filipino resistance to American occupation and the atrocities committed the American military; by filling young minds with stories that glorify the American way of life, American heroes and American institutions. Americanization was greatly facilitated by the imposition of English as the sole medium of instruction. This made possible the use of American texbooks. Education taught the Filipino youth to regard American culture as superior to their own and American society as the best model for Philippine society. Of course, our americanization has been profitable to the Americans because it kept on producing new generations of avid consumers of American goods. All these were ingredients of a new type of colonial mentality. Our so-called tutelage in self-government at the end of which we received our independence from our "generous teacher and guardian" is partly responsible for our persistent failure to recognize that our real national interests are distinct from and, more often than not, contrary to those of the United States. American colonial policy gave the Filipinos their first experience in self-government in the legislative field. Since executive power remained in the hands of the American governor-general and real, overall power resided in Washington, Filipino leaders learned the art of adapting to American economic requirements while catering to their Filipino constituents' desire for independence. Periodic elections focused public attention on "politics", a superficial democratic exercise during which most politicians pledged to secure"immediate, absolute, complete independence" without explaining thatthe economic dependence of the Philippines on the US market would make such independence an empty one. The Philippine elite, landowners who grew rich on agricultural exports to the US, largely controlled Philippine politics, so most politicians in fact supported this economic dependence. Politicians therefore concentrated on the issue of political independence and the people received little enlightenment on economic issues except from radical labor and peasant groups in the 1930s. The Filipino dream of independence remained limited to political sovereignty.The fact that we obtained independence as a"grant' and not as a result of a victorious, anti-colonial revolution has obscured the real contradictions between our interests and those of the US [we had no such blinders toward either Spain or Japan; we recognized the conflict of interests between them and us.] But all the foregoing are part of the past. The Philippine republic is now 35 years old.

Why have we not outgrown our colonial mentality? Of course, we now have an appreciation of our national identitiy, a feeling of cultural nationalism. We have discovered ethnic culture and take pride in local art and music. In fact, US global policies can tolerate and even encourage such expressions of a separate identity especially when they can be used to mask continuing economic domination. Economic control is now exercised in more subtle forms - throughtransnational corporations (TNCs) whose requirements are incorporated in Philippine laws and policies, through various forms of aid from countries like the US and Japan which help to shape economic priorities and consumption patterns in ways favorable to the aid

Colonial Mentality of Filipinos: Its Roots

givers, through TNC advertising and Western mass media which create new needs and tastes and mold our view of world events and, above all, through loans from our World Bank and other international institutions which require as a prior condition our acceptance of a national development program which ensures continued satellization of our economy. Theoretically, the laws and policies we adopt to attract TNCs, whether we accept aid or not, whether we borrow from the World Bank or not, are decisions freely arrived at by our own government. Rarely do we learn of the pressures exerted, the demands made, the strings attached by these foreign entities. Instead, our leaders deepen our misconception of the role and power of these external forces by presenting foreign-designed programs that will further reinforce our dependence as examples of self-reliance and independence. We must examine carefully from a nationalist perspective all aid offered, all loans granted, all programs suggested by foreign governments and instituions. Only then can we begin to rid ourselves of our unfortunate inability to see the contradiction between our interests and theirs, a feeling which is today the most serious aspect of our colonial mentality.

NOTE: Alejandro Lichauco on U.S. Foreign Policy, its beginnings in the1898 American intervention and the Philippine-American War to American colonization. also on how "Parity" Amendments to the Philippine Constitution were imposed on the new "independent" Philippines.

Colonial Mentality of Filipinos: Its Roots

Colonial Mentality of Filipinos: Its Roots

NOTE: William & Celia Mariano-Pomeroy

Posted by Bert M. Drona at 7:09 AM Labels: American colonialism, americanized minds, colonial mentality,cultural imperialism, damaged culture, decolonized Filipino, economic independence, Filipino technocrats, Spanish colonialism

7 comments:

1.

Anonymous12:57 PM

Colonial Mentality of Filipinos: Its Roots

I am convinced that the Catholic religion is a main component that prevents the Filipinos from developing a feeling of solidarity. Christian ethics might include charity, but if the material circumstances are failing, this charity does not really function, because a religious person seeks resort in God instead. At this point a socialist does not seek help from God, he becomes aware of his status in society and develops a sense of solidarity. ReplyDelete

2.

Karl M. Garcia4:08 PM Good Again,thanks for morning this Bert, post.

About the Fil-Am war, there are many narrations,some say that it all started when a drunk Yank shot a filipino soldier in San Juan Del Monte,others same incident but in Intramuros instead. Others thought that the Americans came here to save us from the spaniards,but it seems that we are a package together with Puerto Rico and Guam after the Spaniards got defeated in the Spanish American war. The love for Americans started that way,they saved us from 300 years of hell,if you will. today,they say we have the advantage in call centers because we can adapt easily to the American accent or intonations. That is because of all the american tv shows we grew up with like Sesame Street and The Electric Company,then other Soaps and sitcoms while growing up. And today,we seem to side with whomever is the minority party in the US,just an obsrvation becasuse today,many are riding on to the anti Bush campaign of the democrats. Back to colonial mentality. I remember my sister,refusing to buy or receive Barbie dolls sold here and when my parents went to the states she asked them to get her one,but lo and behold it was MADE IN THE PHILIPPINES. Di bale na daw sa states pa din galing. ReplyDelete

3.

Colonial Mentality of Filipinos: Its Roots

jasper.dls8:28 AM This article is both critical and analytic in its approach to identify the roots of Filipino colonial mentality. I believe this is one, if not the most underrated socio-political hindrances our nation has to defeat before we can truly achieve "independence" in its most brutal definition. Although it is seemingly impossible to eradicate in our society today, it is about time the Filipinos be rid of it once and for all and discover that we belong in a great and proud heritage. ReplyDelete

4.

Anonymous1:15 PM Hello. I love this entry. ReplyDelete

5.

Bert M. Drona7:21 AM Yes, to a very significant degree, Christianity tends to encourage complacency and acceptance of one's sufferings as "fate" or God-endorsed; to instead see "earthly" suffering as a passport to eternal bliss in a "heavenly" afterlife. The so-called educated elite or foreign interests exploit this understanding of the Filipino mind to their fullest for their own selfish profit (while paying lip-service to the ignorant native). ReplyDelete

6.

Bert M. Drona12:56 PM Jasper, You got it right. Colonial Mentality is one of the gravest cultural obstacles to our socio-economic

Colonial Mentality of Filipinos: Its Roots

progress. We native Filipinos need to be made aware and to raise it to our individual and national consciousness in order to destroy it effectively; and thus move/act for our national interests, i.e. the common good. - Bert ReplyDelete

7.

Bert M. Drona3:17 PM Karl, I have posted several updates on the Philippine-American War, which for generations were in the dustbin of history or buried under the relatively shorter Spanish-American War (3-4 months) and most versions written by the victors. I personally find the need to expose more of the glossed-over or distorted American history in the Philippines as such distortions have resulted in mis-educated/misinformed Americans and native Filipinos alike of the past generations to the present, which led to belief in American Exceptionalism and greatly diminished or caused the loss of Filipino nationalism (that propelled our forefathers/revolutionaries to struggle against foreigners, i.e. Spaniards, Americans and Japanese masters) among us native Filipinos. Without native Filipino nationalism among the masses, I think and believe that the native majority will not progress: "the Philippines may progress while the native Filipino majority do not and will not." ReplyDelete