Open space and the Filipino
May 4, 2009A few minutes ago I commented on J.Eris’ comment here in my blog.
The main blog entry was about the Filipino’s misadventures with democracy, freedom and rights. The comment was about traffic. My response as you can see was about the Filipino situation.
I’ve observed that we Filipinos are uncomfortable with open spaces. We maximize the use of all space, and I mean all. Agricultural land can be viewed as “open” in terms of the feeling it gives you when you see kilometer after kilometer of rice, sugar or other crop. What did we do? We converted these into techno-parks and housing lots. The mass transit systems we have in Manila likewise suffer the same fate. The trains could have been planned a long time ago and built ahead of demand so as not to cause traffic. Instead we waited until the demand was so high. Look at the MRT and LRT now, people are being packed into it like sardines in a can. Even our houses are built exactly to the lot that we own. We even build our house on the wall of another’s house. This gives our houses the appearance of being built on each other. Our shanties are piled atop one another. Even our cars like to be in close proximity to each other.
Yes, the Filipino has a seeming derision for open spaces. We can also view this as the Filipino’s drive to form a community or be in communion with one another. Skin to skin contact is as close as you can get to another person physically. This is shown in the family setting where most Filipino families have a very close and tight knit organization, each member being aware of the whereabouts and the circumstances of the others.
Our people like to huddle together yes. Maybe as a defense mechanism in order to ward off predators, or as an instinctive drive built in through millenia of tribal existence or maybe the Filipino is just suffering from an exaggerated sense of being a social being.
I think that this is contrary to our natural tendency to not trust other people. Filipinos are known for being hospitable and friendly to strangers, but this doesn’t mean we trust them. We face strangers with a smiling mug but our hands are constantly feeling our ass for our wallet.
And so remember, even though I may smile at you now does not mean that I like you.
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Oh Filipinos hate open space alright.
While it’s true we like to make sure available space is used efficiently, that doesn’t mean we use CORRECTLY and APPROPRIATELY.
I mean for God’s sake, what idiot thought using corn fields for bio-fuel purposes rather than the more pressing need to use those fields for FOOD…
“We face strangers with a smiling mug but our hands are constantly feeling our ass for our wallet” REPLY: SO VERY TRUE!!!
Posted by peterpan at May 4, 2009, 6:41 pm