SUMMATIVE ASSESSMENT: VALUES ANALYSIS MODEL

APLIKASYON NG IDEYA NI RIZAL SA KASALUKUYANG PANAHON

A. Pagtukoy sa Suliranin/Ideya
In over a century after numerous heroes have bravely fought for an independent
Philippines, millions of citizens have proudly proclaimed their Filipino identity with phrases
such as ‘It’s More Fun in the Philippines’ or the popularization of ‘Pinoy pride’. However,
another product from the country’s history is the internalization of inferiority that has developed
within a people subjected to prolonged oppression, most evident in the toxic Filipino trait of
colonial mentality. Despite the current generations not directly experiencing Spanish
colonization, colonial mentality still perseveres as a form of internalized racial oppression
wherein one internally incorporates the idea that they are less than another person or entity
(David and Okazaki, 2006). Perfectly caricatured in Rizal’s novel Noli Me Tangere, characters
such as Donya Victorina are reminiscent of Filipinos today who denigrate their own culture and
idolize foreign ideals. Colonial mentality may even further be manifested into other toxic
characteristics, such as pitting Filipinos against each other or forcing the self to adopt Western
characteristics to appear ‘superior’ over other Filipinos.

B. Pangongolekta/Pag-organisa sa Ebidensya
Evidence of colonial mentality can be seen in the pop culture of the present period;
advertisements that promote fair skin, foreign artists and idols are given more recognition over
the local artists, and foreign products are considered valuable. Much of the local Philippine
culture has been undermined and worse, forgotten because of the embrace of western ideologies
and standards. Another glaring evidence is the language used in the country. English has been
considered a more formal and eloquent language than the Filipino languages. It has been
ingrained in the culture that in order to show more status or seem more knowledgeable, one has
to be fluent in English and so young Filipinos are forced to learn a foreign language rather than
their own. Some schools even go as far as to ban speaking in dialects in idle chatter in their halls.
This causes many to lose their familiarity with the native tongue and it even becomes something
unfamiliar. The overwhelming bias to foreign ideas has caused much of the nation’s culture to be
repressed and the Philippines’ identity is lost in the process.

The Philippines has undergone centuries of colonization from Spain, the United States,
and Japan. Despite the fact that the Philippines have already claimed its independence, Navarro
(2016) shows that there still remains fragments of the colonizers’ notions in the Filipino people
up until today – colonial mentality and colorism. Defining colorism as the “prejudice and
discrimination against people with darker skin tones,” Navarro (2016) blames this phenomenon
on the Spaniards for bringing the idea of the skin color hierarchy into the country. Evidently in
the Philippines, dark-skinned Filipinos are often associated with domestic work and poverty.
Meanwhile, lighter skinned Filipinos are conceived to possess much more privilege and are often
expected to be wealthy. Navarro (2016) also mentions that the beauty and entertainment
industry have infiltrated this trait of Filipinos with the way they market skin-whitening products
whilst discriminating against dark skin.
 In addition to this, Press (2018) points out another aspect of colonial mentality that is
ever present in the Philippine culture. That is, Filipinos often associate proficiency in the English
language as a gauge of intellect. This entails that Filipinos place a greater importance in learning
the English language rather than their own language. Given that English is considered a
universal language, Press (2018) mentions that the common reason for prioritizing English is “to
have a competitive advantage for work.” However, more often than not, the Filipino language is
referred to as the language of the poor and the uneducated, and thus, it serves no use for those
who wish to pursue their academic and career interests.

C. Pagtasa sa Katotohanan ng Ebidensya

According to a research conducted by Wolf, Filipino-Americans female adolescents were
the highest rates in terms of considering suicide with a striking 45.6% in the various groups in
the study, while in the research of Kim and Chun, Filipino-American females have a depression
rate of 13.6%, which was considerably higher than any other Asian American adolescents in the
study conducted (David, 2008). The research suggests that this mental health occurrence is
caused by the psychological inferiority known as colonial mentality. People who have colonial
mentality have a sense of inferiority complex in terms of how they view their culture, that is a
result of colonization. “In the case of Filipinos, this involves automatic and uncritical rejection of
anything Filipino and an automatic uncritical preference for anything American or white (David,
2008).

Colonial mentality has been a direct result of the Philippines’ long history of colonialism,
firstly 333-year long colonization of Spain in the 16th century, followed by the 50-year
settlement of the United States. In 1946, the Philippines became a sovereign nation and yet, 70
years later, colonial education and teachings have continued to oppress the Filipinos by rejecting
anything that is considered Filipino. This is evidenced by the fact that the Philippines is the third
largest English-speaking country in the world, with more than 95% of the population being
fluent in English (McGeown, 2012). Even in interviews for schools or for jobs, the majority of
the questions asked are phrased in English. This is because even if the American colonization
occurred 70 years ago, their influence and impact on the minds of the Filipinos were impactful in
the sense that current Filipinos prefer speaking in English rather than using Filipino, since the
perception is the use of the English language for Filipinos is a rank for the educated and the rich.

D. Pagpili ng Alternatibong Solusyon

For the solution to be made, we must first know the causes of colonial mentality to our
people. According to a Filipino-American psychologist Davin, E.J.R. (2013), there is a
correlation between colonial mentality and self-esteem. When one’s colonial mentality is high,
the lower its self-esteem will be and vice versa. The mental health of Filipinos could therefore be
affected if depending on the severity of the colonial mentality. In a Colonial mentality survey
conducted by David, there are at least five main indicators of Colonial mentality among Filipinos
which are the Feelings of inferiority for being Filipino, Feelings of shame, embarrassment,
resentment, or self-hate about being a person of Filipino heritage; depreciation of the Filipino
body with appreciation to the white physical characteristics, discriminating against
less-westernized Filipinos such as the people from the provinces, and lastly the toleration of
historical as well as modern-day oppression of Filipinos.
 In a study by Mateo, F. (2016), the colonial mentality among Filipinos can be challenged
with Philippine art. Philippine art in definition is Filipino-made literature, art, music, and dance
in order to promote Philippine culture. In a survey conducted by Mateo in which its participants
are broken into three groups; The Philippine artists, Participants of the Philippine art community,
and the general population sampled from the University of the Philippines Diliman, all three
groups showed a correlation between the appreciation of Philippine art increases their
self-esteem as Filipinos. With Philippine art being inclusive to Filipino culture and experiences,
Filipino who appreciate those kinds of artworks can gain a sense of pride and ownership as they
can associate themselves with the artwork. It would be a great opportunity for Philippine art to
be promoted in the basic education system so that the new generation will be more exposed to
the Philippine culture compared to western culture. Another thing we have to change is the
advertisements and products regarding white skin and western culture being heavily promoted.
The Philippine media has the potential to reverse the stigma regarding dark-skinned Filipinos
which are portrayed as unattractive and unintelligent. Promoting one’s own identity and not
trying to be someone else is an important step in combating colonial mentality including raising
one’s self-esteem as well.

E. Pagsasaalang-alang sa Potensyal na Kahihinatnan ng Bawat Alternatibo

Given the basis of how Philippine art is able to strengthen an individual Filipino’s
self-esteem, it is reasonable that promoting our culture and arts is a way to lessen colonial
mentality. The western culture has taken over our country’s ideals, which leads them to favor this
over our own arts and humanities. The result of being able to support local artistic awareness
would spread its consciousness and would further nurture the Pinoy pride.

One example would be the Philippine film industry. The Filipino film community has
much potential in which some Filipino-made films have received international recognition. On
the other hand, in the aspect of movies, many OPM (Original Pinoy Music) artists have gained
the hearts of Filipinos as well. The local art scene is indeed very underrated and should be delved
upon more by fellow Filipinos. There is so much more to recognize about the Philippine arts.
When the local art scene is given the amount of pride and support they deserve, the love of your
heritage is further promoted.

If Philippine media is used to promote the Philippine culture more, it is likely that
colonial mentality would be lessened. Media is a very powerful tool that can quickly influence
people positively or negatively. In today’s society, people are linked to media daily through
technology, whether it's through televisions, car radios, and cell phones. With people being
always connected to the media it is really easy for it to influence people’s thoughts and opinions
on certain topics. An example of how Philippine media can help lessen colonial mentality is
through promoting or appreciating the dark-skinned Filipinos. If the Philippine media is more
concentrated on celebrating the beauty of dark skin, Filipinos wouldn't have to seek to lighten
their skin and embrace their skin instead. Another example would be advertising and promoting
Filipino-made products on Philippine media instead of foreign products. Through advertising
local products on the media, it is likely that Filipinos would end up supporting these local
products instead of buying products made by other countries. With this, it is evident that if
Philippine media were to focus more on celebrating and promoting Philippine culture, it can
potentially reverse the colonial mentality present within Filipinos today.

F. Pagpili sa Pinakamagaling na Alternatibo

The familiarity of the Filipinos to other countries’ cultures and brands has been the one of
the sources of the modern colonial mentality present in the country. With the overwhelming
popularity of pop culture and a mix of present colonial mentality of the people, it is without a
doubt that the modern colonial mentality of the Filipinos are stronger than ever. It is inevitable to
remove the cultures of other countries in the Philippines as some of these have created a large
impact to the identity of the Filipinos but minimizing the culture of the other countries and
revolutionizing the culture of the Philippines to every Filipino may break the colonial mentality
of the Filipinos. The acceptance of their own race, culture, and language is the most important
part breaking the colonial mentality of the people.

A solution to this is to embed the Filipino language into every Filipino. This solution can
be seen in other countries who have used their native language in their daily lives. Examples like
Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand and other South-East Asian countries are using their native
language. On the other hand, the Philippines are using both English and Filipino as their
languages. That is why by using native language of a country, it can bring the country closer to
its roots. This can be started by mandatorily teaching all the students in the Philippines the
Filipino language when the student starts going to school. This can greatly influence their
mentality towards their perception towards the culture of the Philippines. The materials that are
being used to teach students in schools should as much as possible be in the Filipino language as
when teaching materials are in english; students become more Public places should also include
signs that are in the Filipino language as its main text and not in other languages. Philippine
media should also make an effort to promote the use of the Filipino language. Posts coming from
credible Filipino media groups in their social media accounts are also being written in English. If
the Filipino language was to be manifested into every Filipino in the country, then the worries of
colonial mentality would eventually disappear.
 References:

David, E.J.R. & Okazaki, S. (2006a). Colonial mentality: A review and recommendation for
filipino American psychology. Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology. 2006:
12 (1):1-16. doi:10.1037/1099-9809.12.1.1.

David, E. J. R. (2013). Brown skin, White minds: Filipino -/ American postcolonial psychology
(with commentaries). Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing.

David, E. J. R. (2008). A Colonial Mentality Model of Depression for Filipino Americans.

Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology. 2008 DOI:
10.1037/1099-9809.14.2.118

Mateo, F. (2016). Challenging Filipino Colonial Mentality with Philippine Art. Retrieved from:
https://repository.usfca.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1250&context=thes

McGeown, K. (2012, November 12). The Philippines: The world's budget English teacher.
Retrieved August 29, 2020, from
https://www.bbc.com/news/business-20066890#:~:text=The Philippines markets itself
as,well-educated speak it fluently.

Navarro, K. (2016). Colonial Mentality & Colorism. Retrieved August 29, 2020, from
https://medium.com/@karendn/colonial-mentality-colorism-5c9c7a00a012

Press, K. (2018). FILIPINO: REVIVING THE NATIONAL SPIRIT FOR THE LANGUAGE.
Retrieved August 29, 2020, from
https://medium.com/@kadlitofficial/filipino-reviving-the-national-spirit-for-the-language
-75b5c96d2c7f

Quimpo, N.G. (2000). Colonial Name, Colonial Mentality and Ethnocentrism. Retrieved from
https://cids.up.edu.ph/wp-content/uploads/Colonial-Name-Colonial-Mentality-and-Ethno
centrism-vol.4-no.1-Jan-June-2000-2.pdf