Welcome to the Philippines?

March 7, 2022

18 admissions and 3 deaths on my 12 hours shift last night. Ang toxic! But I choose this work so better accept the fact that nursing in the Philippines isn’t that easy especially when you are at a tertiary hospital owned by the government. Lots of patient but lacks of manpower and resources. By the way, I said something the word toxic so I wanna share something related to that word and I knew Filipinos here in this platform can relate. It’s about Filipino toxic cultures and traits.

Filipinos are known to have good qualities all over the world. But let's face it, Filipino people also have annoying and bad habits that sometimes give the country a negative reputation. These habits not only pull us down personally but the entire nation as well. So what are these toxic Filipino culture and traits?

Bahala na attitude - the belief of trusting in divine providence or leaving everything to the hands of faith. It is a filipino's way of avoiding rationalization or good reason. While this trait can sometimes be helpful in times of adversity, if it is used to evade your responsibilities which some Filipinos tend to do it, is already toxic.

Procrastination or manana habit - a habit of leaving for tomorrow what can be done today. They tend to postpone their actions for a later time thus reducing accomplishments. Filipinos are fond of saying “bukas nalang” or “sa susunod nalang” due to laziness. This arises from a slack mentality that the problem will eventually go away by itself.

Crab mentality - Filipinos tend to possess this mentality especially when they feel insecure in a way. Crab mentality also promotes an unhealthy competition. Instead of doing things that could help one another, Filipinos tend to devote so much of their time gossiping and backbiting. It is their way of deviating people's attention on their inadequacy by focusing on other people's faults.

Filipino time - This refers to the filipino's own unique brand of time which is known to be minutes or hours behind the scheduled or standard time. It is a dreadful habit that needs to be stopped as it hinders productivity and progress. Not to mention that you're not only wasting your own time but other people's time as well.

Nung panahon namin - This trait is characterized normally by someone who is way ahead of our generation and keeps on comparing the things and so-called roots of their time with the younger ones. Whenever there is something that deviates, he or she sees it as something that right

Gayahin mo kaya si… - This trait is characterized when you are being criticized for something and they want you to emulate someone who exhibits something they are looking for. In the end, you get compared.

Utang na loob - This trait is characterized by expecting that all the good favor you provide or show to someone gets returned back to you. “Utang na loob” has been ingrained in our Filipino culture. It makes us think that we have to return the favor to the person especially if they extended a big help for us.

English as basis of intelligence -This trait is characterized of putting judgment as to a person's intelligence merely by how well he or she speaks in English.

There are a lot more of this toxic cultures and traits and the above mentioned are just few of those. But remember that in the end, it is important to remember that as a Filipino people, we may have many positive cultural traits but at the same time some parts of our culture can be toxic. And I admit that I’ve done one or two of those. So what should we do now is hone the positive traits and correct the negative so we can be the best Filipino’s we can be.

Image source c/o unsplash