Filipinos are Family-Oriented

The Catechism for Filipino Catholics describes the self-identity of Filipinos as family-oriented.[1] The family as the basic unit of Philippine society is very significant to the Filipino. Filipinos are culturally and emotionally attached to their respective families. The Filipino’s interest and loyalty is demanded by his or her family more than any other institution in the larger society.[2] When referring to families we do not just speak of the immediate nuclear family, but our notion of a family is extended to a wider kin group even if our household is nuclear in form. Most members of the same kin group assist one another in times of need, and they participate in joint family activities even if they do not live together in the same household. This characteristic of the Filipino still prevail despite modernization where society is becoming characterized by more impersonal relationships. The modern Filipino family continues to be closely knit and centered on the family. Relationships among extended kin continue to be marked by reciprocal obligations and privileges even across great geographic distances. We also typically try to make our friendships into family-like relationships that are mutually supportive.

Our parents consider as their duty to provide us the material and educational needs. We their children, in turn, are expected to obey and respect them and to take care of them when they grow old. Also, older children, until they marry and have families of their own, are expected to help younger siblings with school, and to assist them in getting a job after graduation. The family centeredness of us Filipinos, acording the CFC, supplies us a basic sense of belonging, stability, and security.[3] In times of need, the members of the family depend on each other for mutual support. “The mutual support largely spelled in economic terms has earned for the Filipino family the trait, closenes of family ties, a trait that achieves emotional flavor in family gatherings and reunions or in special occasions like Christmas, birthdays, and wedding and death anniversaries, where religious rituals play a significant function.[4] This family centeredness is upheld by the Filipinos as a value in which we can be proud of. But can we consider valuing our families really good at all time?

Vitaliano Gorospe, in his article Understanding The Filipino Value System, stated “that Filipino values are ambivalent in the sense that they are a potential for good or evil, a help or hindrance to personal and national development, depending on how they are understood, practiced or lived. They can be used in a good or evil context.” Therefore, it is just proper to place our family-orientedness in the correct order. For example, if we are too attached to our families that we can no longer recognize the good of other people, then such value has brought us into the quagmire of self-centeredness and selfishness. Some of our politicians have also fallen prey to this somewhat a kind of deception. Their family interests sometimes push them to let more of their kin run in public office. As a result, we have been familiar to the so-called big names in the national as well as local politics.

Another danger of family-centeredness is to make decisions based on family ties. For example, during elections “members of the same family lean towards the same candidates and party affiliations.”[5] They would somehow choose the candidates who are closer to their family or those whom their family or its member is indebted. Why should we not consider the issues and principles first before family matters? “Another influence of the family is seen in the practice of nepotism or favoring of relatives for employment and in applications for business licenses, franchises, and concessions.”[6] To this effect the family has become the starting place of injustice in the society. Can we not put a stop to these corrupt practices? Should we not move on towards freeing ourselves from the dependency of the unhealthy aspect of our cultural system?

As Christians, our cultural values are to be purified by the Gospel values. Thus there could be a dialogue between our culture and our faith. But how far we have grown, as a people, in our faith? Until now we still face the challenge of putting our faith into action. And this would effectively start in the family since “the family has always been a privileged channel for the transmission of the Gospel.”[7] But this would become a difficult task in our culture where family values have not yet resolve its negative aspect. Each of us should confront this matter of transforming our collective psyche into a cultural system that more committed to social justice.





[1] Catechism for Filipino Catholics, 43
[2] Belen T. G. Medina, The Filipino Family (Diliman, Quezon City: University of the Philippines Press, 1991), 12.
[3] Ibid.
[4] Dr. Mina Ramirez, Understanding Philippine Social Realities Through The Filipino Family: A Phenomenological Approach (Manila: Social Communications Center, Inc., 1984)
[5] Medina, loc. cit., 53.
[6] Ibid.
[7] Conclusions of the World Theological-Pastoral Congress, Valencia, July 7, 2006 “The Transmission of Faith in the Family,” Familia et Vita, Anno XI, no. 3/2006 – 1/2007 (2007): 460.