LEYTE NORMAL UNIVERSITY

TACLOBAN CITY

SOCIAL SCIENCE UNIT

SOCSTUD_101: READINGS IN BEHAVIORAL SCIENCES

PHILIPPINE VALUES IN CONTEXT; and

KAPWA: A CORE CONCEPT IN FILIPINO SOCIAL
PSYCHOLOGY

Reported by:

MERRY JOY M. POLISON

BSED SOCSTUD 2-2

TF 7:30 - 9:00 AM

Submitted to:

MRS. CHARIE ANN CABIDES - PADULLO

Instructor
 Philippine Values in Context

John J. Caroll,S.J

Background:

John J. Caroll, S.J (Fr. Jack)

 Born: January 16, 1924

 Jesuit Seminarian
 Pioneer of Sociology in Philippines
 Founder, Department of
Sociology and Anthropology
 Teacher, Mentor, Researcher and Activist
 Died on July 17, 2014, at the age of 90

THE SOCIAL SYSTEM

 Philippine society is one in which wealth and other forms of power are concentrated in
the hands of a relatively small number of individuals and families. According to the
World Bank, "the Philippines has one of the most unequal distributions among middle-
income countries"; land ratio is a major source of social power, is also highly
concentrated.
 The democratic process is one such mechanism, as are the mass media and public
education, progressive taxation and social security systems, labor and peasants
organizations and land reform programs. But, here is the point, efforts to establish such
mechanism in the Philippines have consistenly been defeated or at least blunted by the
elite.Thus Stanley remarks of the "American period" as follows:
Once in office, conservative Filipino politicians became ineffect, the fulcrum of the
Filipino-American relations and used their positions between two major blocs, the
American and the mass of their own people, for narrowly self-serving ends. On the one
hand, they arrested the few significant reform programs contemplated by the American
government that might have narrowed the gap between rich and poor. On the other, as
the political leaders of the country, they took over the campaign for Philippine
independenceand used nationalist fervor to deflect criticism of their social and economic
power.
 Philippine democracy continued to be elite democracy.
 The power structure, rooted in the economic insecurity of the little man, serves to
maintain and even increase that insecurity. The World Bank report that:
The poor have not been the major beneficiaries of government expenditure
programs in the social sectors. The benefitsof public education have been greater for
higher income students. In health, most public resources have been devoted to expensive
 urban-based curative services. Housing subsidies, both in financing loans and in
providing shelter, have mainly, benefited the upper half of the income ladder. Family
planning programs, too, have failed to reach a large portion of lower income women.
 Power rather than democracy and Christian values; Power rather than law and abstract
rights.
One rainy morning (some) years ago I was attempting to go down to a valley below
Tagaytay Ridge, to a barrio where I hoped to see a community-based health program
in action. But halfway down the trail, my guide and I found ourselves stopped before
a thundering avalanche of rock and mud roaring down the mountainside and
completely obliterating the trail. I learned that levelling was underway on the
mountain top, hundreds of feet above us; and that bulldozers were simply pushing
the stuff over the edge and letting gravity to do the rest. A lot cheaper than trucking
it away. I suppose, but the fact was that the rock and mud were wiping out the fields
of small farmers down below, knocking down their coconut trees, making their
houses unsafe to live in, and obliterating the trail by which they had brought their
produce up to market. Thus, for the convinience of the wealthy and powerful,
destruction was allowed to rain down upon the lives and the hopes of the poor and
the weak.

AND VALUES

 Strengths of Filipino character:

1. pakikipagkapwa-tao;
2. family orientation;
3. joy and humor;
4. flexibility;
5. adaptability and creativity;
6. hardwork and industry;
7. faith and religiously ability to survive.
 Weaknesses:
1. extreme personalism;
2. extreme family centeredness;
3. lack of discipline;
4. passivity and lack of initiative;
5. colonial mentality;
6. kanya-kanya syndrome;
7. lack of self analysis and self reflection.
Senator Letecia Shahani pointed out that the "social environment of the Filipino is
characterized by a feudal structure where there are great gaps within the rich and the
poor majority,"and "where we have to depend on our relationships with others to
survive" to the point of an exaggerated concern not to offend.She note further"that the
Philippine political environment is characterised by centralization of power". "We find it
difficult to identify with a nation-family since the government is not there to symbolize or
represent the state".
PATHS TO THE FUTURE

 How, then, do we help to bring about fuller realization of the egalitarian and democratic
ideals of this society? How do we bring about a situation in which power is subordinated
to the common good?
- emphasizing values and moral education
-The moral recovery program proposed by Sen. Shahani, as its title suggest, tends
toward the first, promoting pluralism, encouraging people's organizations and
people's participation in administering social services, all of which imply a certain
change in power relationships.

He would:

1. combine the two aprroaches, arguing that man is both capable of responding to values
and frequently influenced or blinded by his own interest to point where he identifies
them with a common good.

2. insist strongly on moral education theme, but put stronger emphasis than the Senator's
program does on a change in power relationship-not by revolution but by determined effort to
build people's organization:

a. labor unions;
b. peasant organizations;
c. urban poor movements;
d. basic Christian communities; and
e. paparent-teachers'organizations.

3. emphasis on development and livelihood programs,efforts of the churches and NGO's and
some government bodies.

4. emphasizing value formation.

 Kapwa: A Core Concept in Filipino Social Psychology

Virgilio G. Enriquez

Background:

Virgilio Gaspar Enriquez

 Born: November 24, 1942 in Santol,

Balagtas, Bulacan
 Father of Filipino Psychology
 Died on August 31, 1994 at the age of 51

PAKIKIPAGKAPWA

Definition:
This ideas of "shared self" opens up
the heart-doors of the I to include the Other.
Here, it is not important if you are rich or poor,
or status in society. "People are just people
in spite of their age, clothes, diplomas, color
or affiliations.

THE CONCEPT OF PAKIKIPAGKAPWA

 1. Strangers
2. Aquaintances
3. Peers
4. Friends
5. Bestfriend
6. Soulmate/Lover

KAPWA

The unity of the "one-of-us-and-the-other", according to Enriquez who declared the

concept as a Filipino core value.

Kapwa, meaning 'togetherness', is the core construct of Filipino psychology.

2 CATEGORIES OF KAPWA

1. Ibang Tao ( Outsider)

5 Domains:
a) Pakikitungo: civility with
b) Pakikisalamuha: interaction with
c) Pakikilahok: act of joining
d) Pakikibagay: in conformity with
e) Pakikisama: being along with

2. Hindi Ibang Tao (One-of-Us)

3 Domains:
a) Pakikipagpalagayang-loob: being in rapport/understanding/acceptance of
b) Pakikisangkot: getting involved
c) Pakikipagkaisa: being one with other

PAKIKIRAMDAM: PIVOTAL VALUE

Definition:
Filipinos use damdam, or the inner perception of
other emotions, as a basic tool to guide his dealings with
other people. It characterizes Filipino emotion.
Enriquez named this emotional quality
"shared perception"
KAPWA

As a general description,the distinct value system of Philippine people can be summarized and
summed up into having dominant characteristics of moderation or having just enough being,
sufficient, having the family as the center of priority in life, trust in God, nationalistic traditions
of independence, cooperation and unity, heroism, group participation, friendship and
companionship, sense of justice and equality, concept human dignity and human rights, non-
violence, historical awakening, environmental conciousness, and the emergence of empowered
people and nation. Filipinos are known to be hospitable.

PAKIKISAMA/PAKIKIPAGKAPWA

To Filipinos, "pakikisama" is a very important trait. "Pakikisama" is the ability of a person to get
along with others to maintain good and harmonious relationships. It implies camaraderie and
togetherness in a group and the cause of ones being socially accepted.

"Pakikisama" requires someone yielding to group opinion, pressuring him to do what he can for
the advancement of his group sacrificing individual welfare for the general welfare.