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Recently, my husband and I had this outrageous notion to produce a concert with the noble intentions of helping his artist/performer brother and donating to the worthy cause that will help improve the conditions of street children and orphans in the Philippines. We really have no capital for this venture, but we thought we would solicit sponsors. Surely, a worthy cause will pry loose a few change, all right, a few dollar bills from businesses in the Filipino community. Well, what happened next during the course of promoting this event was an eye opener. We were met not much with enthusiasm but with much skepticism. In some ways that floored me. I was very disappointed. However, the writer in me was getting down to an analysis.
There were instances when merely putting up posters in Oriental stores were met with reluctance. I always got the feeling of being sized up as to whether I had dishonorable intentions or some ulterior motive. Placing a press release was unacceptable unless I place an ad. It did not matter that this was a fundraising event. The worst part is when you speak with certain individuals who is lording it over that they are in control here. I am the one who need what they can give. We were told by people approached for assistance in promoting that the event was badly coordinated and promoted, that we should have sought sponsors one year before. (I have to bite my tongue on this one. We wouldn’t approach them if the event was already well-promoted, now, would we?) More than once did I ask myself, why could we not be more like the Chinese or other ethnic groups who simply stick together and help each other out without all the hassles. The terms "crab mentality," (the penchant of Filipinos to pull each other down) and "Padrino system," (the habit of Filipinos to help out only those whom they know or someone they know knows) came to mind. Fortunately, there were still some individuals who were willing to help out and proffered a few tips on how to go about obtaining sponsors. This helped salvage my esteem for the community altogether. So, what is it about some Filipinos that render them in a constant state of suspicion? What is it that triggers crab mentality? Where is unity? According to Veltisezar Bautista, author of The Filipino Americans From 1763 to the Present (a highly recommended read, by the way), the root can be traced way back before the Spaniards conquered the Filipinos. Geography is the main culprit. The Filipinos were separated by bodies of water or mountainous terrain. The different ethnic tribes had their own distinct dialects. There was no one single leader that could unite the nation. The Spaniards used these facts well to their advantage in conquering the Filipinos. For, 400 years they cultivated and promoted the disunity among their conquered subjects. Even today, in the twenty-first century, it is ironic that English is the one language practically all Filipinos can speak and write. Nationalism still poses an issue. The tendency is to not be proud as a Filipino, but as an Ilocano, or Tagalog, or Cebuano, or Caviteno. Go To Page: 1 2
The copyright of the article Pinoy Disunity in Filipino-American Culture is owned by . Permission to republish Pinoy Disunity in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
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