What is the Identity of the Philippines?
Recently I have read some comments on social media that argue about the Filipino identity. There are so many people who have various perspectives in relation to our identity in Asia. Culturally the Philippines is a mix of cultures, incorporating all things Asian, Hispanic, and American. There are those who want to emphasize the cultures of the natives before the arrival of the Spaniards while there those who want to emphasize the Hispanic culture. There are even those who want to emphasize American influence!
But here lies a question: What is our identity?
In context, the Philippines was a part of two world powers: the Spanish Empire and the United States of America (besides the Japanese occupation during the Second World War). We have inherited influences from both powers. With an Asian foundation, the foreign influences were incorporated and eventually a modern identity called “Filipino” surged.
One can ask what if the Americans or the Spaniards never came here. I wonder also what may come out from that. José Arcilla, winner of the Premio Zóbel in 1995, remarked that one may remove the Indonesian Japanese, and Chinese cultural influences that formed the Filipino’s personality today and the Filipino will still be recognizable as Filipino. But if one removes the Hispanic roots of his society and culture, the Filipino will cease to be what he is. Before the arrival of the Spaniards, no concept of “Filipino” existed. The various ethnic groups of the archipelago, still nameless, had their respective cultures and identities. There was no unity on the national level in contrast to the Spaniards. Only with the unity the Spaniards brought surged for the first time the concept of the Filipino. After all, we were named after King Philip II of Spain. Originally the term Filipino was for Spaniards who were born in the Philippines. Some centuries later it became the term for all inhabitants of the Philippines, incorporating the various ethnic groups, mestizos, and creoles. León María Guerrero, ambassador of the Philippines to Spain (1962–1966), remarked the following at the celebration of Philippine week in Madrid:
The Philippines would not be the Philippines without Spain. It would be Indonesian, it would be Malay, it would even be Chinese or Japanese. But if the Philippines is the Philippines, it is because of the Spanish presence. Even a Filipino who does not know history nor a word of Spanish cannot detach or breakaway from this historical realization. He cannot escape the consequences of three and a half centuries. He cannot be Filipino without being part Spanish.
By the time the Americans came, a conflict existed between the Hispanic culture that took root for nearly three and a half centuries under Spanish rule against American influence that was being in preponderance throughout the daily life of the Filipinos at the time. By the start of the Second World War, the invading Japanese wanted to create a new identity for the Filipinos, in which they wanted to remove Western influences.
After the declaration of independence in 1946, Filipinos started to search for its national identity again, wanting to break away from influences from Spain and America and propagating the use of Tagalog for all. The latter was a problem for the various ethnic groups. For that a confusion of what is our national identity emerged.
For the indigenists, the pure concept of Filipino was before the hispanization of the natives. On the other hand, the Hispanists argue that the concept of Filipino surged during Spanish rule. It is possible to embrace our Asian, Hispanic, and American heritage. The Philippines is the only country in Southeast Asia with said influences. Why should we reject one for the others?
Removing one part of our identity will not make us whole. The formation of the Filipino started with an indigenous base mixed with influences from our Asian neighbors, Spain, and the United States. To form the whole of the Filipino, one has to embrace all of these. We have every reason to be proud of what we inherited.
