FINDING FILIPINO FERVOR
Putting premium on Pinoy pride
What makes us truly Pinoy? Is it the way we speak? The way we dress? Or the way we eat? Is it the way we laugh when we are with friends, or the way we celebrate occasions with family?
Foreigners are always perplexed about the identity of Pinoys as a lot of us are like “chameleons” – we can easily adapt to another nation’s culture and ways. Is it because we were influenced heavily by other countries who have colonized us – Spain, the US, Japan – making their culture our own, and creating a colorful tapestry of traditions and beliefs that have redefined who we are as a nation?
Again, what makes us truly Pinoy?
Political scientist and his-
torian Benedict Anderson, who wrote the 1983 book Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread
of Nationalism, defined a nation as “... an imagined political community and imagined as both inherently limited and sovereign. It is imagined because the members of even the smallest nation will never know most of their fellow members, meet them, or even hear of them, yet in the minds of each lives the image of their communion…”
Considering this together with the present political climate where the country seems to be divided in two separate poles, Filipinos continue to evolve, but they are bound by the culture, language, and norms that they grew up with. The Filipino people are fascinating because their background didn’t come from a single origin. As the country entered several phases in history, it resulted in a polychromatic identity.
Currently, the Philippines is inhabited by more than 175 ethnolinguistic groups with the Tagalog, settlers of Manila and its surrounding areas, as the largest group in the island. Cebuano comes in second and they live largely in the Visayas, and followed by the Ilocano who are mostly found in the northern part of the country. Aside from the three major ethnic groups, the Bisaya/Binisaya, Hiligaynon, Ilonggo, Bikol, Waray are also the majority groups in the country, all of whom are defined by their own language and local norms.
Sociologist and UP Professor Samuel Cabbuag, pointed to culture, language, norms and even cuisine as the common identity markers of being a Filipino. This includes moral values, folkways, and localized norms. Being a predominantly Catholic country, many of these norms are influenced by the Church.
“In terms of characteristics, we take pride in having a national language, which some countries do not have (i.e. the US) and our cuisine that many nations particularly Western countries are just discovering,” Cabbuag said.
With a very diverse group of people living in the country, different languages are used apart from the national language, Tagalog and one of the official languages, English. According to the Komisyon sa Wikang Filipino, the Philippines has 134 Philippine languages and one national language (Filipino). Majority of our languages and dialects were evolved from the Malayo-Polynesian languages which are also spoken by our neighbor nations in Southeast Asia and the Pacific Ocean.
Since the country was occupied by Spain for 333 years, the Spanish language became the root to some of our words especially the Chavacano, a variation of the Spanish language, which is widely spoken in Zamboanga City until today.
The top indigenous languages in the country with one million native speakers are Tagalog, Cebuano, Ilocano, Hiligaynon, and Waray-Waray. Tagalog, the widely spoken language in the country, is distant from the Austronesian languages. It is spoken widely in Central Luzon, National Capital Region, and Southern Luzon.
When it comes to culture and traditions, the Philippines also remains to be such a diverse nation thanks to its various influences. The country’s history of being colonized also shaped the country’s culture that is why the Philippines is very different compared to other Asian countries.
Upholding nationalism
But more than the lifestyle and cultural aspect, Filipinos also made a name around the world as a nation who stands up for its freedom.
“I think of two events that truly defines us: The Philippine Revolution in 1896-1898 and EDSA People Power 1 in 1986, which happened a century after the revolution,” said Cabbuag.
The UP Professor shared that these events should be more significant now as we celebrate Independence Day.
“I believe that the significance of being Pinoy this Independence Day is recognizing the hardships that our brethren did years ago and celebrating the fruits that they did, which is the freedom that we have today. But again, this concept of freedom is also contested by many people. Nowadays, people are questioning if we are truly free because of what is happening in our nation. Yes, we are because no one is ruling over us. But in reality, many Filipinos are suffering in poverty. If we can all help in alleviating their situation, then we can say that we are truly free.” (With report from Mae Lorraine Lorenzo)