EXTREME PERSONALISM

Extreme personalism o sobrang pamemersonal. Ito yong ugali ng mga Filipino na ang mga negatibong komento ay itinuturing na personal na pag-atake sa kanila. Kawalan ng rasyonalidad.

EXTREME FAMILY CENTEREDNESS

ang kapakanan lamang ng pamilya ang inintindi.

From the discussion of the strengths and weaknesses of the Filipino, it is clear that there is much that is good in us but there is also much that needs to be changed. It is also clear that many of our strong points are also the sources of weakness.

As people, we are person-oriented and relationships with others are very important part of our lives. We are thus capable of much caring and concern for others. On the other hand, our person orientation in the extreme leads to lack of objectivity and disregard for universal rules and procedures where everyone, regardless of our relationship with them, is treated equally. Our person orientation leads us to be concerned for people and yet to be unfair to someone.

Our family orientation is both strength and weaknesses, giving us a sense of rootedness and security, both very essential to any form of reaching out to others. At the same time, it develops in us an in-group that prevents us from reaching beyond the family to the larger community and the nation.

Lack of Self-Analysis and Self-Reflection. There is a tendency in the Filipino to be superficial and even somewhat flighty. In the face of serious problems, both personal and social, there is lack of analysis or reflection. We joke about the most serious matters and this prevents looking deeply into the problem. There is no felt need to validate our hypotheses or explanation of things. Thus, we are satisfied with superficial explanations and superficial solution to problems.
Related to this is the Filipino emphasis on form (porma) rather than on substance. There is a tendency to