Filipino values evolve as time travels as well as the way they respond to their culture and the people that surrounds them. Filipinos used to be very patriotic such as Dr. Jose Rizal, our national hero who sacrificed his life for the sake of his countrymen. Filipinos are also known for their hospitality. Indeed, because they’ll treat you as if you’re a king. They will offer you almost anything available in their kitchen. They are also very respectful since they use po and opo every time they talk to a grown up. This is the trademark of the Filipinos. I classified Filipinos into different classes:
The great pretenders. Those are the Filipinos who migrate from the Philippines to other country such as Europe and America, where the salary is equivalent to dollars and time of worked is counted per hour. Who wouldn’t grab the opportunity to have a better life? And then after few years of working there, you won’t recognize them as they began acting like European citizens. Some even applied almost every beauty product just to make their skin fairer. Sometimes, they won’t talk to you in tagalong and they’ll keep on insisting that they look like American citizens. They are the Filipinos who thought that beauty products and different kinds of medicines can change the reality that they are Filipinos.
The Imported products buyers. Filipinos, in reality, hardly trust and buy they own product. It seems that you’ll look more fashionable and richer if your things came from the U.S. Sadly, foreign countries are encouraged to sell more products here and that means an additional income to them. How about the local products? They’ll just vanish that you won’t notice that they exist. Local industries are discouraged because local products will just be ignored anyway. And in this way, how will our economy grow? Most Filipinos thought that imported products has a better quality and has a better appearance compare to the local ones. This wrong idea has poisoned the minds of the people, even until the present.
The Fake lovers or china-china products. These are the Filipinos who are addicted to new gadgets and fashioned fake clothes came mostly from China. They are the ones who are loyal buyers of the new units of cell phones and camera in the pirated stores. The prices and the quality are both low. But even though, most Filipinos prefer these kinds of products since they are affordable and new. They just don’t realize that these things compare to the original ones, won’t last long and that they have to buy another one, which is not very inefficient.
The tsismosas. They are most of the time the root of all rumors. They are at the nearby store almost all day long talking about the famous people in their village and creating bad impressions and then spread it throughout. They are annoying because instead of finding a job for their family, they just sit there and talk all day long. They intrude other people lives instead of fixing theirs.
The gangsters or tambay. These are the teenagers who lost themselves mainly because of the poverty. Under this type are the young boys and sometimes, girls that you can spot in the busy streets especially in downtowns. Instead of studying, they are roaming around in the streets with their group of friends and that is that is their daily basis. They are often suspected to be snatchers. They are supposed to be the light of the nation.
I classified different kinds of modern Filipino attitudes based on my observations to their day to day life. It doesn’t mean that these are the only attitudes that existed but rather, they are the ones that are commonly noticed in our modern Filipino society. Modern lifestyle has changed Filipino values though some of it has changed, few of it still remains. We should continue doing what we think is right for ourselves and the society. Wherever we are, we should not forget where we came from, we should not forget that we are raised in Philippines and the blood in our veins is pinoy. We only have one country. We may travel so many countries but we only have one hometown, Philippines. No matter you accept it or not, that is the reality and we should be proud of it. We should learn how to love our own country because we only have one nationality and one race. We should not be ashamed of it in spite of the status of the Philippines; instead, we should help each other to have a better society.
