Gallos, Elogene Karl M.

1110131
Veron Cruz
CULTURAL PROBLEMS OF MODERN DAY PHILIPPINE SOCIETY
The people of the Philippines reflect a society with diverse cultural influences and traditions.
The Malays had early contact with traders who introduced Chinese and Indian influences. Islamic
traditions were initially introduced to the Malays of the southern Philippine Islands in the 14th century.
However, Majority of the modern aspects of Philippine culture evolved under the foreign rule of Spain
and, later, the United States. Some of the cultural influences incorporated to the daily lives of the
Filipinos are positive, but a lot of those are negative, they are so bad that they turned into problems
that we ourselves, possibly have without knowing.
One of the best known cultural problem in the Philippine society is what people call, colonial
mentality. Filipinos have this mindset that imported things are always better than the locals, in
practically every aspect of life. From household products, to literature and choice of music. We were
conditioned to think this way. Some may think that this problem is something we can live with but in
reality, this is a very serious problem, and it threatens not only the preservation of the Philippine
culture, but the economy as well. The economy gets affected when Filipinos start to patronize foreign
imported services and products over those which were locally made and offered. This is believed to
be injected by the Americans during their occupation.
Another cultural problem that the Philippine society is facing, is crab mentality. The term was
coined in comparison with the way crabs behave since these creatures always try to pull and drag
down one of their own whenever one of them gets on the top. We may try to deny it but a lot of us,
Filipinos behave this way without actually being aware of it. Jealousy and envy is obviously what
drives someone to have this sort of mindset. Some people hate the fact that someone is successful
and theyre not, instead of serving as an inspiration to do better, what theyre going to do is try to
destroy the other persons image, as if compensation to what they feel.
In addition, Filipinos have this distinction between the ethnic majority and the ethnic
minority, which is a result of the Philippines colonial past. The Filipinos who were assimilated by
Spain became the ethnic majority. While those who continued the practices of their ancestors were
labeled as minorities and indigenous peoples. And its saddening that a lot of Filipinos perceive
minorities as uneducated, barbaric and ancient.