THE FILIPINO FAMILY, CULTURE, VALUES AND PRACTICES IN
RELATION TO HEALTH CARE OF INDIVIDUAL FAMILY
Filipino Family Dynamics
1. Spaniards
2. Japanese
3. Americans - has the most profound influence on the
filipino value system
 Asian traditions & Middle East religious norms have
vastly influenced the Filipino family
 The family as the basic social unit or institution remains
the same in the Ph as it is all over the world.
 The ancient tradition between men & women is
observed in a bilateral extended Kinship system.
 The traditional values and religious belief in both
maternal & personal sides influences the family values,
beliefs & practices pertaining to child rearing, medical
care, disability & death.
 The birth of children is a special “gift from God”, death
is returning to the fold of God
Traditions:
 The women are brought up to become housewives &
take care of the home & children
 Men provide for their needs & protect them as a head
of the family
 The Filipino family puts the infant or toddler as the
center of attention
 There is a shift of parental strategy as the child grows
up because the child develops “isip” (thought) or the
capability to think for oneself “ibid”
 The awareness of role differentiation and the
difference between good and bad behavior is very
important to filipino children
 Discipline depends a great deal on appeals to duties
and obligations of family members based on their
respective roles
 Children are disciplined by spanking, hitting, scolding,
embarrassment through teasing or reprimanding for
being “walang hiya” (shameless), “bastos” (rude),
“walang utang na loob” (ungrateful) or being a source
of shame to the family
 The mother is the chief disciplinarian
 The filipino parents establish and enforce boundaries &
roles for every child
 Traditional Family Structure: Husband & wife living
together with their children (nuclear family household)
 When either father/mother work abroad, this changes
the family dynamics
Types of Families in the Philippines
Classifications by:
1. Religious Beliefs (Christian, Muslim, etc)
2. Geographic Location (lowland, upland)
3. Community Classification (rural, urban)
4. Separation (patrifocal, matrifocal)
Observable Family Structures in the Philippines
I. Descent
 Patrilineal - structure in which one belongs to the
father’s lineage, belongs to or affiliated to his father’s
descent, last name is based on the father
 Matrilineal - structure in which one belongs to the
mother’s lineage, belongs to or affiliated to her mother’s
descent
- The filipino family is generally patrilineal in practice.
II. Residence
 Patrilocal - family lives within or near the husband’s
family. Pattern of married sons staying with the father or
married daughters going to the husband’s.
 Matrilocal - married couple lives with the woman’s
family
 Neolocal - newly married couple lives independently or
a home of their own
 Avunculocal - married couple traditionally lives with
the eldest brother of the husband’s mother which most
often occur in matrilineal societies. Getting a status, job or
privileges from the nearest elder matrilineal male relative
creates this kind of family structures (tribes)
 Bilocal - husband and wife stays with both of their
families in time sharing arrangement
III. Authority
 Patriarchal - husband exercises all the authority in the
family
 Matriarchal - all the authority in the family is vested by
the wife
 Equalitarian - husband & wife equally exercises
authority
The filipino family is usually patriarchal but some also
practices power-sharing type of decision making.
IV. Composition
 Extended family is prevalent
Basic Roles & Functions of Filipino Family & its Members
 Extended Familial Structure - best describes a Filipino
family
 Philippine Legal System (Constitutions) - states that
the family is “a basic social institution which public
policy cherishes and protects”
 Family Code - treats marriage as an inviolate social
institution, commands the rearing & education of
children, obliges the couple to live together & in fidelity
& mutual respect to each other, prohibits separation or
annulment except on serious grounds and
empathetically state that “in case of doubt, all
presumptions favor the solidarity of the family”
Functions of Filipino Family
1. Assignment of roles & functions
2. Provision of goods and resources
3. Education & religious instructions
4. Maintenance of social order
5. Recreation and supportive activities
6. Reproduction
7. Provision of care & status
8. Source of inspiration
Basic Members of the Family
Father
 Principal breadwinner & considered the head of the
family
 Income is the basis of the family’s economic status
 Provides direction & leadership in the family
 Also expected to link his children to all his networks
and contacts for the purpose of education, affiliation &
employment
 Exercises authority with consent & advice of the
mother
Mother
 Traditional role of homemaking, child-bearing and
child-rearing
 Manages the household & take care of the family’s day
to day activities
 Success of the children is attributed to her as she
exercises power & authority in child rearing
 Controls the budget & finances of the family
Children
 “Panganay” eldest child assumes responsibility of
parental roles
 Functions in the absence of parents
 Obey parents, shares household chores
 Exercise authority within their subsystem depending on
age, sex and order of birth
 “Bunso” youngest receives most attention

Filipino Family Values System

 Jocano 1997 - There is no such thing as “negative
filipino values” because values are always positive in
values
 Importance of Values to Community Health:
 Standards of excellence
 Ideas of the desirable characteristics of the
individual/group
 Ideals people want to achieve
 Quintessential Filipino expression “Bahala Na”
interpreted in 3 ways (Jocano)
 Confidence in one’s self; taking responsibility for
assuming risks
 Belief in ones and other’s capability (positive
outlook), empowering & trusting on a
person/group’s capability “bahala ka na” or
“bahala na kayo diyan”
 Faith in God; affirm one’s faith
 Values
 Sources of reason why we see and do things the
way we do
 Kouzes & Posner 1993
 Values are guiding principles in our lives with
respect to personal health, social ends that we
desire (salvation/peace) and with respect to moral
conduct and personal competence (honesty,
imagination)
 Jocano’s Parameters for Filipino Values
 Gawa (evaluative core)
 Asal (expressive core)
 Jocano’s Level of Valuing
 Halaga (meaning/worth) - 1st level
 Asal (character) - 2nd level
 Diwa (animates & makes life meaningful) - 3rd level
Traditional Health Beliefs and Practices
 Culture determines how a person
 Defines health
 Recognize illness
 Seeks treatment
 Characterized in variety of ways (etiology of the
problem)
 Personal
 Natural
 Social
 Supernatural
 Therapies than are employed
 Use of therapeutic substances
 Physical forces
 Magico-religious interventions
Traditional Health Beliefs and Practice: Filipinos
 Supernatural illness due to unhappy ghosts of
ancestors
 Witchcraft or animal spirits may be involves
 Evil eye (usog)common
 Undesirable traits or conditions can be transferred
magically through contact with person or objects (ex:
pregnant women will try to look on beautiful objects)
 Forces do not apply in the Us as spirits and ghosts
cannot cross the ocean or survive in noisy cities

Concept of Core Values that CHN must teach: Cultural Characteristics of Filipinos
1. Concept of Halaga  Health values & beliefs
 Motivates clients to show their kagalingan (excellence), 1. Illness related to
kabuluhan (relevance), kalusugan (health), katangian  Natural forces
(distinctive qualities and the relationships of pagkatao  Supernatural forces
(self-worth) & pakikipagkapwatao (dignified  Metaphysical forces
interpersonal relationships) 2. Fantastic view
 Health customs and practices
2. Concept of Asal  Uses folk and scientific medicine
 Enhances relationships or pakikitungo (proper dealing),  Stoic expression, pain is God’s will
pakikiramay (sympathy & pakikisama (supportive
attitude), dominant forms of asal include: paggalang,
pagkabahala & utang na loob
3. Concept of Diwa
 To make clients morally and legally upright because it
includes kahulugan (meaning), katotohanan (truth,
validity), katwiran (reason, legitimacy), karangalang/
paninindigan (moral & ethical virtues)
“All this means that developing the inner goodness of the
individual is developing his or her good health”

The diagram shows the process of arriving at consensus as

to the halaga of objects, ideas and acts which can be applied
in community health nursing, particularly to the individual,
group or family client.