If we want to change our colonial mentality, we’ll need more than just a change in economic policy—we need a shift in attitude
The Philippines is an independent nation, and we have been “free” for almost 80 years, yet many of our beliefs, attitudes, and customs still follow colonial standards.
When we go to a domestic tourist destination, why is our best compliment, “Wow, parang ibang bansa”? Why is the Filipino accent funny, but British and French accents are smart, sophisticated, and sexy? We matched our academic calendar with “international standards” and, when we realized that the old calendar made more sense to our climate, we quickly reverted. We prioritize purchasing foreign-made vehicles to modernize our jeepneys instead of empowering local industries.
A serious goal of many intelligent Filipinos is to move abroad to find better opportunities or to work for foreign companies to afford a good life. We are more proud of relatives and fellow Filipinos who work or study abroad or are recognized in other countries. What does this say about how we treat each other here? Is our country just a factory of skilled laborers, made for foreign industries? Why is life here more inconvenient for locals than it is for the foreigners who retire here?
When a society is inconvenient for most of its people, we must look at who it is convenient for, and that is how we will see who this society is made for. These are the people who succeed easily, who can afford the best life here. Philippine society, it seems, is easier for Western-educated English speakers, especially those earning in dollars. This is, of course, a political and economic issue, but it is also, more importantly, a psychological problem.
Read: From kapwa to hiya: What our language reveals about being Filipino
The specter of our old colonial masters—especially the Spaniards and Americans—still exists inside our minds. A person is seen as smart if they are an Inglisero. A person is more attractive if they are mestizo or chinito: look at our celebrities, look at the multitude of whitening supplements that are advertised everywhere. These are sociopolitical realities, but they also reflect ingrained mindsets. We need a shift in our attitude, not just a surface-level shift in economic policies. This is much deeper, and it requires a real pagbabagong-loob. Change begins within.
Look at any park and you will usually notice a dirt road that cuts across distances between perpendicular roads. This is called a “desire path,” and it follows the intuition of human movement. Concrete roads are still useful, but they are also impositions on the natural paths people use as they engage with their natural environment. In our psychological history, colonialism paved the landscape of our collective psyche with these concrete roads, to make it easier for Western ideas and standards to be delivered to each of us. After our independence, the colonizers left, but we never stopped using these roads. Have we forgotten the paths to the secret wellsprings of ancestral wisdom? Have we forgotten the way through the thick jungles of our cultural subconscious?
We are the ones who choose to uphold foreign standards. We are the ones who choose to wear thick jackets in our 30-degree tropical weather because it looks “cool,” even though this is a fashion style imported from colder countries (where it makes more sense). We are the ones who insist that we are not being “serious” if we cannot explain something in English.
I realize the irony that I am writing in English, but this is so that I can be understood by more people—not everyone in the Philippines is a Tagalog speaker. But why should it be a standard in education and law to use a foreign tongue to describe the world and defend the innocent instead of our native languages?
We are the ones who consider all Filipino-made things “baduy.” All it takes to spark change is to revisit our cultural desire paths.
