Filipino Culture and Values
Filipino Family Values and Solidarity
 Values change slowly, but it depends on how
strong families are in preserving, promoting, and
passing on our culture values from one generation
to another
 Filipinos by definition, are multicultural people
with Chinese, Spanish, Malayan, Indonesian,
South Asian, American, and, in the south, Muslim
cultural influences. The result of these influences
emphasizes a shared identity and connectedness,
the centrality of the family, acceptance of
uncertainty, ability to relate to others, respect
offered according to the individual’s place in the
structure of hierarchal relations, adaptability, and
religiosity (Enriquez, 1994)
Pre Colonial Period
 Very close family ties
 Nuclear and extended family
 Patriarchal
 Hospitality
 Bayanihan
Marriage Customs
 Women enjoyed relative freedom in precolonial
society. They had rights, held properly, conducted
business, and had a public life
 Men were in general, monogamous
 Courtship usually begins with paninilbihan
 If a man wins the trust of the parents, he does not
immediately marry woman, but he has to satisfy
several conditions:
 Give a dowry or bigay-kaya
 Pay the panghihimuyat
 Pay the wet nurse bigay-suso
 Pay the parents himaraw
 Bribe for the relatives called sambon (among the
Zambals)
 Pamamalae or pamamanhikan or pamumulungan
 Weddings are officiated by the priestess or
babaylan
 Uncooked rice is thrown on the couple after the
wedding ceremony
Colonial Period
 Colonialism stripped Filipino women of their
position. They were expected to remain within the
home and only concern themselves with
housework and raising children
 The ideal woman was a “Maria Clara” in the mold
of Jose Rizal’s tragic heroine from Noli Me
Tangere – meek and self-effacing. But despite this,
many women showed the strong will and
determination that would allow them to go
beyond social constraints and move on equal
footing with men
Filipino Family during Colonial Period
 Colonization for 400 years, first by the Spanish
and then by the Americans, starting after the
Spanish-American War in the late 1800s, has
made Filipino identity and culture complex
(Enriquez, 1994)
 US colonization reinforced many of the attitudes
of the previous Spanish colonists. Many Filipino
and Filipino American scholars and activists
suggest that there is a complex interaction
between the history of colonization by Spain and
the United States and self-mastery and survival
(Pido, 1986)
 Pido (1997) suggests that the nationwide system
of schoold patterned after American education,
often taught in English, contributed to “inculcating
Filipinos to American values and the Coca-Cola
culture. Thus the colonist’s imprint is evidenced
by the unifying language, which is English, more
than the national language (Chan, 1998)
 The internalization of Western values and customs
Filipino Family during Colonial Period
 Also, in rural communities, kin members can build
their household dwellings close to each other,
which may not be possible in the city
 Moreover, Filipinos who move away to study or
work in cities, locally and abroad, tend to stay
with their more affluent relatives, and this
increases the size of the family household
Post Colonial Period
 As societies modernize, social relationships
become more impersonal and businesslike
 At the same time, less religiously oriented and
more scientifically grounded
 Western-models continue to dominate
development circles
 Moreover, the modern Filipino family continues to
be close knit and centered on the family.
Relationships among extended kin continue to be
marked by reciprocal obligations and privileges
even across great geographic distances.
 Filipino parents consider it their duty to provide
for the material and educational needs of their
children
 Children, in turn, are expected to obey and
respect their parents and to take care of their
parents when they grow old
 Also, older children, until they marry and have
families of their own, are expected to help
younger siblings with school, and to assist them in
getting a job after graduation
 Bayanihan
 Close Family Ties
 Pakikisama
 Hiya
  Utang na Loob
Amor Propio: Concern for self image
Delicadeza: Sense of honor
Palabra de Honor: “Word of Honor”
 Although these traits are generally positive, these
practices also have the inclination to be applied in
the wrong context. A debt of gratitude is
sometimes repaid by giving special favors to the
other person regardless of the moral outcome.
Close familial ties can also lead to favoritism
 Beginning in the 1970s, the Philippine government
implemented an overseas employment program
to absorb the increasing numbers of Filipino
workers
 This was led to new conceptualizations of the
Filipino family and changing gender roles, as many
married females have decided to migrate abroad
to work, and their husbands stay home to care for
the children
 Today, most Filipino families are maintaining and
reproducing transnational household connections
and networks. The Filipino family continues to be
adaptive and functional in these new and
changing circumstances
Decision Making
 Traditional Filipino families often consult each
other about when making important decisions
 “Going to college, taking a job overseas, and
getting married may sometimes be individual
decisions, but quite often they are family
decisions” (Gochenour, 1990)
 Actual family involvement in personal decision
making has decreased for most of those surveyed
Filipino Values
Values
From the Latin word VALERE = Strong and vigorous
Jocano (2000)
 Concepts which we use as points of reference or
criteria for recognizing, expressing and evaluating
social realities in the environment in terms of:
 Desirability > Quality
 Importance > Merit
 Significance > Price
 Worth > Usefulness
Edgar Shefield Brightman
 whatever is actually likes, prized, esteemed, desired,
approved or enjoyed by anyone at any time
Andres (1989)
 it is the actual experience of enjoying a desired object
or activity. Hence, value is an existing realization of
desire
Standard Value
 We decide on things depending on some valid criteria
that would provide credibility to pursue such action
 One is guided with his/her own or commonly
accepted norms in realizing a particular end
 Its function to direct our way of looking at things
towards as desirable result.
Value System
 One of the important elements in Filipino culture
 Other Elements are:
 Basic personality
 Basic social unit
 Politics
 Economics
 Technology
 Ecology
Filipino values can be translated as:
 Buti
It is something desired of what is good
 Pamantayan
Standards which enable us to organize out ideas and
interpret our experiences within the context of commonly
shared meaning of things, events or actions
 Halaga
Worth, importance, Evaluation or assessment
 Ganda
Encompassing everything that is to be pursued. What is
beautiful must be realized
Four Test of Value by Robin Williams
1. Extensive of the value in the total activity of the
system. What proportion of the population
manifests the value? How many of the people in
the community are applying
2. Duration of the value. When was this value
implemented? Was it persistently important over
a period of time?
3. Intensity with which the values is sought or
maintained as shown through efforts, choices,
verbal affirmations and by reactions to threats to
the value
4. Prestige of value carriers. Who are the
implementers of the value? Do they possess the
integrity to be such models of the value?
Stages and Development of Filipino Value Formation
Preconditional Stage: Childhood
 Is the phase wherein children comply with the
values of those who assert power on them
(parents, teacher, nuns, and priests)
The Conventional Stage: Youth
 During the conventional stage or youth,
adolescence identify with their peers, idols and
teachers due to interpersonal communication
Postconventional Stage: Adulthood
 The people internalize the values they have
imbibed in the first two stages without fear
Pamantayan System: An Alternative Approach to Filipino
Value System
Landa F. Jocano
 pamantayan is the appropriate model for
understanding the Filipino traditional values
system
 the model rightfully answers the question: “Why
do Filipinos behave the way they do?” The answer
is unanimous: because they observe the same
pamantayan for doing things
PIC
 Halaga represents the surface level of the
pamantayan system and functions as the
cognitive-evaluate core of the system
 Asal is primarily a behavioral concept which refers
to the intrinsic quality and meaning of actions
 Diwa is the spiritual core of our traditional values
and the essence of our collective sentiments or
psyche as a people
Family Closeness and Security
 Natural dependence and mutual sharing among
family members, financially and emotionally
 Filipinos have an extended family structure where
married sons and daughters remain under the
roof of their parents for protection
 Close knit phenomenon – is a binding element as
the threads of society are rewoven by giving
attention on what the individual experiences in
his/ her capacity as member of the community
 The family is seen as a defense against a hostile
world and a unit where one can turn to in case
he/she has a serious problem
Social Acceptance
 Refers to the way of life of Filipinos to be
recognize or acknowledged by their fellowmen
and social groups
Pakikisama
 Is yielding to the will of the majority or to the
leader which could result to both to positive and
negative behavior. It refers to one’s effort to get
along with everybody
Fr. Frank Lynch
 Defined PAKIKISAMA as the ability to get along
with each others in such way as to avoid signs of
conflict. Camaraderie among Filipino makes them
flexible and easy to be with
 Pakikisama occurs when teenagers join their peer
groups in a drinking spree for fear of incurring the
groups disapproval
Euphimism
 Stating an unpleasant truth, opinion or request as
pleasantly as possible. In order not to offend
others, direct, harsh and brutal words must be
avoided
 THE USE OF A GO-BETWEEN TO PRESERVE OR
RESTORE SMOOTH INTERPERSONAL RELATIONS
(SIR)
 Go-between or middleman is a way of social
acceptance to avoid being embarrassed in a face-
to-face confrontation that may bring about an
uncomfortable feeling of shame
 Middleman is used when a person needs his/ her
promotion or appointment papers signed, when
following up documents or when in need of
certification
 Pakikiramdam – a value affecting the team’s spirit
 Personalism – emphasizes the importance of the
person with whom one has immediate face-to-
face contact over the abstract rule of law or
common good
 Personalism is manifested in practices such as:
 pakiusap (request)
 lagay or areglo (fixing)
 palakasan (use of power and influence)
 nepotism
 favoritism
 Friendship and kinship – play important roles in the
reciprocal relationship between parties
 Nepotism – is the employment of relatives to share
an individual’s good fortune
 Nonrationalism – refers to the tendency to
perceive thoughts, objects, events and persons as
sacred
 Animism – is the belief that a spirit pervades in
activities
 Fatalism – expresses the bahala na attitude which
means leaving matters as they are because nature
will take its course
 It is believing that life depends on:
 swerte or buenas (good luck)
 tadhana (decried by fate)
 malas (bad luck)
 Bahala na – is an expression which expresses that
fatalistic outlook of the Filipino. It happens when
one simply resigns to the consequences of life’s
difficulties
 Expressions which reflect bahala na are:
 iginuhit ng tadhana (decried by fate)
 malas (bad luck)
 swerte (good luck)
  gulong ng palad (life’s ups and downs)
 tsamba (undeserved success brought
about by luck)
 In every positive way, bahala na is what makes
people move, take risks and plan for the future
Bayanihan: Team Spirit
 Denotes camaraderie among the people in the
community and connotes helping one another in
time of need
Utang na Loob: Infinite Responsibility
 Portrays our true identity based on our concern
and response to others
 Pagtanaw is the unending gratitude but this is not
enough because the responsibility to others does
not end since pagpapakatao has no limits, same
with pakikipagkapwa-tao
Hospitality
 “In spite of limited resources, Filipinos help
friends and relatives and they welcome visitors
with warmth and plenty of food” (Sustento-
Seneriches 1995)
 Most Filipino families have remained hospitable
and generous to visiting friends and relatives
Hospitality: A Welcome Attitude
 Bukas-Loob na Pagtanggap
Filipinos open their hearts to complete strangers and offer
them the best in their homes
Two Hospitable Attitudes
1. Tao po? Tuloy! (Is there anybody home?
Welcome!)
 invites a down-to-earth encounter
between a stranger and a host
 process of welcoming one’s sense of
being: I am a person who knocks and
wishes to be treated as a person (tao
po…ake); the host or hostess who
welcomes is also a person (tao rin
ako…tuloy!)
2. Pwede bang makisukob? Oo, ba! (May I take
cover? Of course!)
- denotes sharing something
 Pwede (May I…) is a courteous word in packaging
of pleading and request
 OO is the height of the encounter that shows as
acceptance of a person is no matter what he/ she
looks like
 Pwede bang makisukob? Oo, ba! May be
interpreted in the Filipino ideals as PAKIKISAMA
Hilario David
 Culture simply rendered people’s lives meaningful
 It was a source of identity, of confidence and of
self-esteem
 It allows people to understand the world and to
define their places within it
 Culture permitted communities and generations
to share a common memory
Filipinos are:
 Proud of being puspusang-loob
 Mapamaraan (resourceful) and mapanuklas
(ingenous) – part of their being resourceful is their
use of anting-anting (amulets and charms)
 Filipinos know their competence (kilala ang
kakayahan)
 “Kayang-kaya mo yan” is the encouraging phrase
of the Filipinos to do their best through tiyaga
 Imbued with lakas ng loob (self-confidence or self-
reliance)
 In their desire for social acceptance, Filipinos are:
 Marunong makibagay
 Marunong makiisa
 Marunong makilahok
 Marunong makipagpalagayang loob
 Marunong makisalamuha
 Marunong makisangkot
 Marunong makitungo
 Marunong makisama
 Filipinos are likened to a bamboo which
symbolizes flexibility, endurance and harmony
with nature
 Bahala na attitude should not be judged as a
fatalistic resignation or withdrawal from an
engagement or crisis but because of their
kababaang-loob
 It is manifested by their daop-palad habit
 Their relationship with God is the source of their
malinis at tapat na panunungkulan
Filipino Family Culture and Tradition
The Nurse-Client Relationship
 In the health service professions, the
establishment of what is called a “therapeutic”
relationship between caregiver and the client/
patient is regarded as the first step in the care-
giving process
The Nature of the Nurse-Client Relationship in CHN
Practice
 The quality of the relationship – whether
harmonious or chaotic, functional or
dysfunctional, productive or unproductive,
satisfying or stressful-depends on the attitudes,
behavior and the other factors inherent in the
parties involved
 The nature and amount of contribution by the
participating parties vary; one party may play a
more active, positive and supportive role and
 contribute more to developing and maintaining a
good relationship
 The nurse assumes complementary roles like that
of a health teacher, a client/patient advocate and
a change agent
 The entry point to start a working relationship
with clients in CHN practice varies at different
levels of clientele
 Individual level – the nurse starts with patient
coming to the clinic whom she sees and attends to
during the consultation process
 Family level – is usually the wife/mother who is
nearly always at home to receive the nurse during
a home visit, and the one in charge of matters
related to health care
 decisions are almost always made by the father/
head of the family, or at least with his active
participation
 Group and community level - the nurse deals and
interacts with the formal and informal leaders
who influence the views, attitudes, decisions and
behaviors of members
 A relationship start with first impressions during
the initial contact
 First impressions are later validated, maintained,
strengthened or changed depending on
subsequent encounters and experiences
 The nurse’s manner of communication and
behavior during each encounter with her clients
play a vital role in the kind of relationship
developed, and later in the kind of image the
public has of her as a person and as a care
provider
 The burden of responsibility in fostering and
maintaining a good, positive and effective
relationship with clients rests on the nurse
 In nursing, while we do not say that the patient is
always right, we say that there is no such thing as
a “problems patient”, only “patients with
problems”
 While both the nurse and the client contribute to
the quality of their relationship, the nurse is
expected to have a broader knowledge and
understanding of the factors that play a part in
relationships, and should, therefore, play a more
active role in fostering, developing and
maintaining a satisfactory relationship with her
clients
Characteristics of a Desirable Working Relationship
between a Nurse and a Client
1. The nurse and the client regard and accept each
other as partners in an undertaking- the
promotion of health, prevention of disease, or the
positive resolution of a health or health-related
problem that has been identified and regarded as
a priority problem by both parties
2. The relationship is based on mutual trust and
respect’
3. The relationship is characterized by an open, two-
way communication
4. The relationship is nonjudgmental and rarely
coercive
5. The relationship is productive
6. Encounters between the nurse and the client are
friendly, pleasant, harmonious, courteous,
nonstressful and satisfying to both parties
Factors affecting the Nurse-Client Relationship
Nurse Factors:
1. The nurse’s view of her job
2. The nurse’s view of her clients/ patients
3. The nurse’s level of competence, the depth and
breadth of her background knowledge,
particularly from the behavioral sciences and her
human relations and communication skills, as well
as nursing skills and her attitudes and values
about life in general and her profession in
particular
4. Policies and reward system of the employing
agency
5. The nurse’s conduct of her personal and
professional life and her image in the community
6. Certain personal attributes and quality of the
nurse
Client Factors:
1. Cultural, educational and socioeconomic
background
2. Previous experience with nurses and other health
workers
3. Perception or image of the nurse by the public at
large
4. Role of community leaders
Developing and Maintaining a Positive and Effective
Working Relationship with Clients
1. Treat all clients/ patients equally with courtesy
and respect
2. Use appropriate and proper communication in
consideration of a client’s sociocultural and
educational background, as well as age and
gender
3. Make the client feel safe in the relationship by
adopting and demonstrating a nonjudgmental
attitude, avoiding the imposition of certain values
or coercing the client to follow instructions or
directions that she does not fully understand or
agree with
4. Try to help with and meet expressed needs first,
or what is considered as a priority by the client
 5. Be truthful or honest. Do not make false promises
or assurances
6. Provide the best possible quality of nursing
services in a given situation or circumstances, with
no short-cuts or grave
7. In the health center which maybe viewed as the
health team’s/nurse’s “home”, make each client
feel welcome and treat them like quests
8. At the family, group and community levels of care,
identify the influential members as well as the
formal and informal leaders in specific groups and
the community at large who influence the views,
attitudes, behavior and decisions of individual
members
Importance of the Nurse-Client Relationship
 A good relationship between the community
health nurse and clients is the foundation for
productive and successful nursing interventions,
whether in an individual client, a family, a specific
group or the community as a whole
Non-verbal: Laughter
 Filipinos often laugh in conversations, the
meaning of laughter tends to depend on the
situation. At times, laughing may indicate
happiness or pleasure, while other time it may be
used to relieve tension
Non-verbal: Pointing
 Filipinos may point to objects by puckering their
lips and moving their mouths in the direction they
are pointing to
Non-verbal: Gestures
 Putting one’s hands on their hips is a sign of anger
Non-verbal: Beckoning
 If a Filipino wants someone’s attention, it is
common for them to make a sound like “pssst”

Filipino Values: Communication

Verbal: Indirect Communication
 Filipinos often communicate indirectly in order to
prevent a loss of face and evoking hiya on either
side of an exchange
 Avoid interrupting others and are more attentive
to posture, expression and tone of voice to draw
meaning
 Filipinos may speak in the passive voice rather
than the active to avoid being perceived as
speaking harshly
Communication style: Filipinos will try to express their
opinions and ideas diplomatically and with humility to
avoid appearing arrogant
Refusals: Many Filipinos try to save face and avoid hiya in
their interactions, many will be overtly polite and seldom
give a flat “no” or negative response
Respect: When speaking to those who are older or of
higher status, Filipinos tend to use the polite forms of
speech’

Non-verbal: Physical Contact

 Among relatives or friends of the same gender, it
is common for Filipinos to walk hand in hand or
arm in arm – may be a sign of affection, friendship
or if they are shy and would like someone to
accompany them

Non-verbal: Personal Space:

 When interacting with people they are familiar
with, Filipinos tend to prefer standing at an arm’s
length from one another