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$Pretitle{272}
$Title{Philippines
Chapter 2E.   Indigenous Christian Churches}
$Subtitle{}
$Author{Frederica M. Bunge}
$Affiliation{HQ, Department of the Army}
$Subject{philippine
philippines
education
filipinos
church
percent
schools
filipino
government
health}
$Date{1983}
$Log{}
Country:     Philippines
Book:        Philippines, A Country Study
Author:      Frederica M. Bunge
Affiliation: HQ, Department of the Army
Date:        1983

Chapter 2E.   Indigenous Christian Churches

     Despite the Roman Catholic Church's twentieth-century resurgence, many
Filipinos have joined one of a number of nationalistic and politico-religious
movements. In the first decade of this century, Aglipayanism attracted more
than 1 million followers. Then, after World War II, the Iglesia ni Kristo
became the fastest growing church in the archipelago. In the early 1980s a
number of Rizalian groups (centered on the national hero, Jose Rizal) were
also receiving popular attention.

Aglipayanism

     The Iglesia Filipina Independiente, led by Gregorio Aglipay, received
the patronage of revolutionary leader Emilio Aguinaldo during the revolt
against Spain and subsequent conflict with American forces and rode the tide
of antifriar nationalism in absorbing Filipino Roman Catholic clergy and
forcibly seizing church property before 1906. One out of every 16 diocesan
priests and one out of four Philippine Catholics converted to Aglipayanism
in those years of violent national and religious catharsis. It was not until
decisions by the United States governor general and the Philippine Supreme
Court restored church property to Catholics that the tide began to reverse
itself. Then, too, the temporary decline of Philippine nationalism hurt
Aglipayanism. United States colonial policies that encouraged Philippine
participation in the governing process tended to take the punch out of the
nationalist movement. To Aglipayans, for whom fervent nationalism was both
heart and soul of their appeal, this proved critical. The Iglesia Filipina
Independiente, formally organized in 1902, thus enjoyed less than five years
of growth before it began a precipitous decline to its present minority
status.

     Whereas Aglipay was head of the church, another Filipino, Isabelo de los
Reyes, was responsible for early church doctrine and organization. Members
were instructed to worship the one true God as a universal force and
principle and to reject the doctrine of the Trinity and the possibility of
miracles. They were to accent only the gospel according to Mark among the
New Testament books and to deny prophecy and revelation. Good works were
stressed over the efficacy of prayer, and no mention was made of rewards or
punishments in the hereafter.

     For many Aglipayans who had lost faith in the Roman Catholic Church,
but not in its dogma, such ideas were shocking. Many returned to the Catholic
fold, especially after Americans and then Filipinos replaced Spanish priests.
Among those who remained, a crippling schism emerged over doctrinal
interpretation, especially after 1919 when members were suddenly instructed
to discard earlier church statements concerning the divinity of Christ.

     To some extent the schism was due to Aglipay himself, who shifted his
theological views between 1902 and 1919. At first he de-emphasized doctrinal
differences between his church and Roman Catholicism, and most Aglipayan
priests followed Roman Catholic ritual, saying mass, hearing confession, and
presiding over folk-Catholic ceremonies just as always. Later he moved closer
and closer to Unitarianism, causing de los Reyes to revert to Catholicism. In
1938 the church formally split, the faction opposing Aglipay later winning
a court decision giving it the right to both name and property of the
Aglipayan church. Followers of Aglipay continued to argue that they
represented true Aglipayanism. In the early 1980s those who rejected the
Unitarian stance and adhered to the concept of the Trinity were associated
with the Protestant Episcopal church of the United States.

Iglesia ni Kristo

     In mid-1938 all over Luzon, the Visayan Islands, and even northern
Mindanao, unmistakable Iglesia ni Kristo places of worship, all similar in
design and architecture, were being constructed for a rapidly growing
membership. Founded by Felix Manalo Ysagun in 1914, the Iglesia ni Kristo
did not attract much notice until after World War II, when its highly
authoritarian organization and evangelical style began to fill a need for
urban and rural families displaced by rapid changes in Philippine society.
The church requires attendance in twice-weekly services, where guards take
attendance and forbid entrance to nonmembers. Membership dues based on ability
to pay are mandatory. Members are expected to be disciplined, clean, and
God-fearing. Gamblers and drunks face the possibility of being expelled, and
the church also forbids (on penalty of expulsion) marriage to someone of
another faith and membership in a labor union. Thus does the Iglesia ni Kristo
intrude deeply into the lives of its members. Before martial law it even told
them how to vote, and its discipline in this respect was so effective that
it quickly became known and respected for its ability to get out the vote for
candidates of its choice.

     There are a number of reasons why so many Filipinos have joined such
an authoritarian church, not the least of which is the institution's ability
to stay the decline of traditional Philippine vertical patron-client
relationships, especially in urban areas. The church has also been successful
in attracting potential converts through its use of mass rallies not unlike
Protestant revival meetings in the United States, in which participants are
encouraged to become emotionally carried away in a highly charged atmosphere
of religious communalism. The message is always simple and straightforward:
listeners are told that the Iglesia ni Kristo is the mystical body of Christ,
outside of which there can be no salvation. Roman Catholicism is denounced;
only through membership in the Iglesia ni Kristo can one hope for redemption.

     But perhaps the principal reason for the success of this church concerns
the more worldly benefits it bestows on members. The church has embarked on
its own effort to ensure that members are literate. It provides socioeconomic
welfare programs, jobs, and a powerful sense of community for believers, who
now include a growing number of former tenants invited to work on its
agricultural development projects. Thus the Iglesia ni Kristo has become for
its members a government within a government, one that looks out for the
interests of its supporters in a world viewed by many as becoming more and
more hostile and insecure.

Rizalian and Other Cults

     The pressures and insecurities that have impelled some Filipinos to
join the Iglesia ni Kristo have persuaded others to join highly emotional
and apocalyptic movements usually centering on the persona of one charismatic
leader who promises followers the realization of a new utopia. Such millennial
movements are nothing new in Philippine history; they are the modern
embodiment of the cofradia of 1839-41, the Guardia de Honor, the Santa
Iglesia, and many different Colorums (see Glossary; The Later Period of
Spanish Rule, 1762-1898, ch. 1). Still, it is disconcerting to Filipinos
when such a movement attacks the Manila police headquarters as the Lapiang
Malaya did in 1967. As an actual attack it failed horribly when 33 members
were shot down on the street. But as a symbolic attack on westernization
and urbanization, it succeeded in demonstrating both the intensity of despair
of those caught in the modernization crucible and the motivating power of
their millennial dream. Fortified by sacred oil, amulets (which are often
laminated matchbox covers bearing a picture of Rizal, whom they have deified),
and sacred incantations, other sects have also attacked constabulary units
in remote rural areas like Bukidnon. They have been especially successful in
attracting upland tribal groups and poor slash-and-burn farmers caught in the
squeeze caused by the migration of land-hungry farmers. Such victims of the
population boom have found a new sense of fraternity in these religious
communities. Although there were many different and competing groups, the
major ones in mid-1983 were variants of Rizalianism, i.e., the belief that
Rizal, known to believers as Papa Rizal, will redeem the faithful from their
life of suffering in a world where they have lost all power and place.

Protestantism

     From the start, Protestant churches in the Philippines have been plagued
by disunity and schisms. At one point after World War II, there were over 200
denominations representing less than 3 percent of the populace. Successful
unions of some denominations and the formation of the National Council of
Churches in the Philippines (NCCP) have brought a degree of order. There
remains a deep gulf and considerable antagonism, however, between
middle-class-oriented NCCP churches and the scores of more evangelical
denominations sprinkled throughout the islands.

     Protestantism has always been associated with United States influence
in the Philippines. Beginning with President William McKinley's inspiration
in 1898 that Filipinos must be Christianized (when in fact most were already
Roman Catholic), Protestant evangelizing became an unofficial part of the
general mission to make Filipinos over in the American image. All major
denominations in the United States, and most minor ones, sent missions to the
colony, where they found the most fertile ground for conversions to be among
upland tribes not yet reached by Catholic priests and among the urban middle
class. Most American schoolteachers who pioneered in the new Philippine public
school system were also Protestants, and they laid the groundwork for
Protestant churches in many lowland barrios as well. Filipinos who converted
to Protestantism often experienced significant upward social mobility in the
American colonial period. Most were middle-level bureaucrats, servants,
lawyers, or small entrepreneurs, but some became nationally prominent despite
their minority religious adherence.

     The schismatic tendency of Philippine Protestantism arose in part from
the high visibility of Americans as the churches were being organized. So long
as American "mother" churches provided most of the financial underpinnings for
Philippine congregations, few Filipinos were allowed into top church
leadership positions. This ran counter to Philippine nationalism before
World War II and prompted some Filipinos to break away and set up their own
denominations. Since 1946 this point of tension has been minimized by strong
Filipino participation in church leadership and by a reduction of church
dependency on American donations. In the 1980s almost all member churches of
the NCCP, for example, were led by Filipinos.

     In common with Protestant mission efforts elsewhere in Asia,
Protestantism in the Philippines has made its major contributions in the
fields of education and medicine. Throughout the islands, Protestant churches
have set up clinics and hospitals that employ American as well as Filipino
doctors and nurses. They have also constructed private schools, including a
number of outstanding institutions of higher education like Silliman
University, Central Philippine University, Philippine Christian College, and
Dansalan Junior College in Marawi.

     Under Marcos, Protestant churches have become, if anything, even less
united than before. As is true within the Roman Catholic hierarchy, Protestant
leaders are divided regarding whether or not they should engage in the
politics of opposition. A few NCCP members have done so, but most have taken
an apolitical point of view, emphasizing the power of faith and efficacy of
prayer regardless of sources of economic and social grievance.

Islam

     Filipino Muslims were firmly rooted in their Islamic faith, and this
generalization has never been more accurate than it was in the 1980s. Every
year hundreds go on the hajj (pilgrimage) to the holy city of Mecca and return
wearing white caps, to be addressed thereafter by the honorific, hajji. In
most Muslim communities there is at least one mosque from which the muezzin
calls the faithful to prayer several times a day. Those who go will remove
their shoes before entering, then pray in straight rows before the mihrab
(niche) in the direction of Mecca. An imam, or prayer leader, will lead the
recitation in Arabic of verses from the Quran, following the Shafi'ite
practices of Sunni Islam. Like Muslims everywhere, the Moros often neglect to
perform the ritual prayer (salat) five times a day, but they do celebrate the
great festivals of Islam, including that marking the end of Ramadan, the ninth
month of the Muslim calendar and a period of obligatory fasting; Muhammad's
birthday; the night of his ascension to heaven; and the New Year, the first
day of the month of Muharram. Also as in other Muslim societies, there are
believers who do not always keep the fast (going without food and drink in
daylight hours) during Ramadan or perform the duty of almsgiving (zakat). At
the same time, other rituals and practices may be scrupulously observed. In
short, according to observer Peter Gowing, "The Moros are identifiably and
unmistakably Muslim and they are right to be somewhat annoyed when outsiders
suggest, on the basis of observed blending of pre-Islamic and Islamic elements
[found in different degrees everywhere in the Islamic World], that 'they are
not true Muslims'."

     Islam, as observed in the Philippines, has absorbed indigenous elements,
much as has Roman Catholicism. Moros thus make offerings to spirits (diwatas),
whether malevolent or benign, believing that such spirits can and will have an
effect on the well-being of one's crops, one's family, and oneself. They
include pre-Islamic customs in ceremonies marking their rites of passage,
birth, baptism (pag-gunting), marriage, and death. And although Muslim
Filipino women are required to stay at the back of the mosque for prayers
(or otherwise out of the sight of the men), they are, thanks to their
Filipino roots, much freer to do what they please and go where they want
than are women in many other Islamic societies. Although specific practices
vary from one Moro group to another, with some like the Tausug being generally
more orthodox than others, these differences are less significant than are the
essentials of Islam that they all share.

     Thanks to a general resurgence of Islam since World War II, Muslims in
the Philippines have a stronger sense of their unity as a religious community
than they had in the past. Since the early 1970s more Muslim teachers have
visited and more Philippine Muslims have gone abroad-either on the hajj or on
scholarships-to Islamic centers than ever before. They have returned
revitalized in their faith and determined to strengthen the ties of their
fellow Moros with the international Islamic community. As a result, Muslims
have built hundreds of new mosques and many new religious schools, where
students (male and female) learn to read the Quran in Arabic and where they
also learn the basic rituals and principles of Islam. A number of Muslim
institutions of higher learning have also been opened. Like the Jamiatul
Philippine al-Islamia in Marawi, they offer advanced courses in Islamic
studies.

     Divisions along generational lines have emerged among Moros. Many young
Muslims who are dissatisfied with their old leaders assert that datu and
sultans are unnecessary to the modern Islamic society they hope to build.
Among themselves, such young reformers were divided between moderates working
within the system for their political goals and militants engaging in
guerrilla-style warfare. Although the administration has managed to some
degree to isolate the militants, it is important to remember that Muslim
reformers, whether moderates or militants, are united in their strong
religious adherence. To the extent that they feel threatened by the continued
expansion of Christians into southern Mindanao and by the continued presence
of Philippine army troops in their homeland, this bond would be significant.
To quote Gowing: "One cannot stay in the Muslim region of this country, and
come to know Muslims intimately in their own homes, without sensing how
central Islam is for them as an organizing principle of everyday living."
During the past decade Islam has given Philippine Muslims, whether Tausug or
Maranao, urbanites or farmers, men or women, educated or uneducated, a strong
basis for unity.

Education

     As of mid-1983 the educational system was reaching a relatively large
part of the population at least at the elementary level. According to
government figures, which count as literate everyone who has completed four
years of elementary school, the claimed overall literacy rate had reached
89.4 percent by 1981, up from 82.6 percent in 1970. Literacy rates were
virtually the same for women and men. Enrollment at the elementary level also
was high, representing a participation rate of about 90 percent of the
relevant age-group. Elementary education was free, and in the 1980-81 academic
year it was provided to some 8.3 million schoolchildren, an increase of more
than 1 million over the figure for 1970-71. About 40 percent of the
secondary-level age-group was attending school on a fee-paying basis; in
1978-79 students numbered nearly 3 million. High-school enrollment rates were
lower on Mindanao and in Eastern Visayas Region than elsewhere. Enrollments in
institutions of higher learning exceeded 1 million.

     Religious and secular private schools educated many other students. There
were about 300,000 attending 1,200 Roman Catholic parochial schools, not to
mention 52,000 attending 122 Chinese schools. A growing number of Muslim
children were pursuing Islamic and Arabic studies in over 1,000 madrasahs
(Muslim schools).

     Filipinos have a deep regard for education, which they understand to be
a primary avenue for upward social and economic mobility. From the outset of
United States colonial rule, with its heavy emphasis on mass public education,
Filipinos internalized the American ideal of a democratic society open for
individuals to get ahead through attainment of a good education. Middle-class
parents make tremendous sacrifices in order to provide secondary and higher
education for their children. For most Filipinos, educational aspirations are
tied closely to economic goals.

     Despite the high value Philippine society placed on education, central
government expenditures for education were moderate. Estimated expenditures
for education in 1982 amounted to only 2.1 percent of GNP, low in comparison
with many other developing countries. Educational expenditures on a per capita
basis in 1979 amounted to the equivalent of US$8, but the trend was in the
direction of proportionately more spending, and various programs to improve
educational quality and availability were in progress. For example, with the
help of two World Bank (see Glossary) loans in the amount of US$150 million,
the government has been able to purchase additional instructional materials.
In more than half the schools, the supply of textbooks had increased to the
point that one book had to be shared by only two students rather than 10.
Nonetheless, many Filipino educators were reportedly concerned about eroding
overall quality in the system and the impact that it could have on national
well-being in a competitive global economy.

Historical Background

     Filipinos who led the revolution against Spain in the 1890s were known
as ilustrados ("enlightened ones"). Ilustrados, almost without exception,
came from wealthy Filipino families that could afford to send them to the
limited number of secondary schools (colegios) open for non-Spaniards. Some of
them went on to the University of Santo Tomas in Manila or to Spain for their
higher education. Despite their importance in articulating Filipino goals and
grievances, they were never more than a tiny minority, and they spoke and
wrote in the language of their colonial oppressors in seeking to reach the
non-Spanish-educated Filipino masses.

     While ilustrados set an example for other Filipinos concerning the
importance of education, those who sought to follow their lead did not have
available a mass public education system. By 1863, however, the Spanish
government had subscribed to the principle of free and compulsory primary
education, and by 1898 enrollment in schools at all levels exceeded 200,000
students. Between 1901 and 1902 over 1,000 American teachers, known as
"Thomasites" for the S.S. Thomas, which transported the original group to
the Philippines, fanned out across the archipelago to open up barrio schools
and begin the work of making Filipinos over in the American image. They
taught in English, and although they did not succeed in Americanizing their
wards, they did instill in them their deep faith in the general value of
education. Almost immediately, enrollments began to mushroom from a total of
only 150,000 in 1900-1901 to just under 1 million in elementary schools two
decades later. After independence in 1946 the government picked up this
emphasis on education and opened thousands more schools in even the remotest
areas of the archipelago during the 1950s and 1960s.

Education in the Modern Period

     This expansion in quantity was not always accompanied by qualitative
improvements; therefore, quality became a major concern in the 1970s and early
1980s. Data for the 1970s showed significant differences in literacy for
different regions of the country and between rural and urban areas. Western
Mindanao Region, for example, had a literacy rate of 65 percent as compared
with 90 percent for Central Luzon Region and 95 percent for Metro Manila.
A survey of elementary-school graduates taken in the mid-1970s indicated
that many of the respondents had failed to absorb much of the required course
work, revealing major deficiencies in reading, mathematics, and language.
Performance was poorest among respondents from Mindanao, only somewhat
better for those from the Visayan Islands, while the best performance was in
Central Luzon and Southern Tagalog regions. Other data revealed an important
association between low literacy levels and a high incidence of poverty. In
fact, throughout the school system there was a direct relationship between
levels of income and of educational attainment. As a rule, families with
incomes below the poverty line could not afford to educate their children
beyond elementary school. Programs aimed at improving productivity and income
could alleviate some of the problems in education, such as high dropout
rates that reflected, at least in part, family and work needs. Other
problems, such as poor teacher performance, reflected overcrowded classrooms,
lack of particular language skills, and low wages, which manifested
themselves in turn in poor student performance and high repeater rates;
direct action was required.

     Vocational education was being given greater emphasis. Traditionally,
Filipinos have tended to equate the attainment of education directly with
escape from manual labor. Thus it has not been easy to win general
popular support for vocational training. There was also greater stress on
education for nationbuilding purposes, and the central government has made
no secret of the fact that it regards support for nationbuilding and for
its programs as one and the same. The new emphasis on developing national
consciousness in the schools represented a major shift away from the old
educational focus on developing individualism and democratic principles.
Under the modern system, public-school teachers were encouraged to be
"cadres" for national government programs. In an already highly centralized
educational system, the schools and their teachers were coming more directly
under central government control.

     In mid-1983 the educational system offered six years of elementary
instruction followed by four years of high school. A seventh year of
elementary school was being implemented, but many small barangays still
had only a four-year primary school. Children entered primary school at the
age of seven and were instructed in either their local vernacular or
Pilipino. English was the medium of instruction in most schools after the
third year, and it remained the language of instruction in high schools. Only
21.7 percent of Filipinos who were 25 years or older in 1975 had completed
elementary school. These figures substantiated the high dropout rate; less
than one out of six Filipinos went beyond the elementary level. Nonetheless,
there continued to be a shortage of secondary schools in many rural areas.

     One of the most serious problems in the Philippines in the 1980s
concerned the large number of students who completed college but then
could not find a job commensurate with their educational skills. Owing to the
availability of higher education in hundreds of privately run colleges
(many of which are diploma mills run mainly for profit), the country was
turning out hundreds of thousands of college graduates each year. Manila,
where students attend the University of Santo Tomas, the University of the
Philippines, Ateneo de Manila University, and many other educational
institutions, had such a large student population that the government,
fearing massive student demonstrations during the presidential inauguration
ceremonies in 1981, postponed the opening of the 1981 school year until the
ceremonies were over. Many students have stayed in Manila after graduation,
whether or not they have been lucky enough to obtain white-collar employment.
Not only have they swelled the rolls of the unemployed but also they have
given rise to greater urban discontent. Because parents paid significant sums
in tuition for their children to attend a four-year university like the
University of the Philippines, there was bound to be widespread discontent
if they could not cash in on this investment with a decent job. This
white-collar unemployment problem, together with the massive problem of
urban in-migration and housing insufficiency in Manila, may account for the
upsurge of crime and violence in the metropolis that began in the early
1970s.

Health and Living Standards

     Living conditions throughout the country reflected the great
disparities in income distribution between the poorest and the wealthiest
households and the concentration of the latter in urban metropolitan areas,
especially Manila (see Income Distribution and Living Conditions, ch. 3).
Access to health, welfare, and related services varied accordingly.

     Surveys conducted by the Food and Nutrition Research Institute of the
Philippines in the mid-1970s found that the average Filipino diet lacked
sufficient nutrients, such as calories, protein, vitamin A, thiamine,
riboflavin, calcium, iron, and ascorbic acid. Operation Timbang, a program
of weighing 5 million preschool children, revealed that 5.8 percent
suffered from severe (third-degree) malnutrition, another 24.8 percent from
second-degree malnutrition, and 45 percent from mild undernourishment.
Pregnant and nursing mothers were also found to be malnourished in many
instances. Statistics from the government-run Disease Intelligence Center
showed that "of the 10 leading causes of death among infants, eight are due
to various infections and nutritional deficiencies like avitaminosis." The
Food and Nutrition Research Institute of the Philippines has estimated that
up to 40 percent of all deaths in recent years have been caused by
malnutrition.

     In recognition of the seriousness of this situation, the administration
in 1981 inaugurated the National Livelihood Program (KKK) under the aegis
of the Ministry of Human Settlements, which is headed by Imelda Marcos.

     The government has also initiated a massive campaign to improve
nutrition in the Philippines. It has built "nutri-huts" staffed by paramedics,
produced and distributed millions of "nutri-pak" food supplements, and
advertised good nutrition through the use of "nutribuses" that traveled
throughout the nation. As of 1979, according to the Asian Development Bank,
average daily caloric intake had risen from 1,671 in 1974 to 1,804.
Although this was still well below the United Nation's 2,210-calorie
minimum daily requirement, it placed the Philippines eighth out of 25 Asian
countries on the nutrition scale, up from last in the mid-1970s. Imelda
Marcos was quoted in 1982 as saying that the Philippines had overcome the
"protein gap."

     Another health problem concerns the dearth of doctors, nurses, and
medical facilities, especially in rural areas, a state of affairs owing not
only to doctors' preferences for urban living but also to the "brain drain"
of medical personnel to the United States. The World Health Organization's
Primary Health Care project in the western Pacific reported in the late 1970s
that 73 percent of the Philippine people do not benefit from doctors, that
the average doctor-population ratio is one to 3,222, and that only 3 percent
of the 15,000 doctors in the Philippines are involved in public health.

     In an effort to make medical care more easily available to its people,
the government has implemented a program of training hundreds of
"village-chosen health workers," or paramedics, who will provide not only
basic, low-level health care but also information on disease control and
sanitation. As of 1981 there were 4,555 barangay health stations and 1,991
rural health units serving municipalities and settlement areas. Staffed by
these paramedics, they sought to bridge the gap between urban services
(about one-third of all physicians in the country lived in Manila) and rural
needs. The government has also supported the training of thousands of
midwives in an effort to help alleviate the serious shortage of trained
medical personnel in rural areas of the country. Through the Ministry of
Health, it operated 353 hospitals with 32,255 hospital beds, an increase of
69 percent over the number of hospitals in 1974.

     The government's active involvement in improving health and welfare
services and hence living standards represents a principal part of its
commitment to establishing what it had termed in the past a New Society. But
until the trend toward uncontrolled urbanization is reversed by diminishing
the gap between urban and rural health, sanitation, nutrition, education, and
employment conditions-that is, until living conditions in the barangay are
greatly improved-the establishment of the New Society will remain more a
declaration of objectives than a statement of reality in the Philippines.

                                   * * *

     In recent years there have been a number of excellent new accounts of
the Philippine people and their society. The Philippines: A Singular and a
Plural Place, by David Joel Steinberg, is a good starting place, full of
insights as well as information. Eric S. Casino's The Philippines: Land and
Peoples, A Cultural Geography is an important companion volume to The
Filipino Nation: A Concise History of the Philippines, by Helen R. Tubangui
et al. More specifically on Philippine society and culture is Mary Racelis
Hollnsteiner's collection of articles entitled Society, Culture, and the
Filipino in three volumes. One might also consult Gilda Cordero-Fernando's
Being Filipino and Rediscovery: Essays in Philippine Life and Culture,
edited by Cynthia Nograles Lumbera and Teresita Gimenez-Maceda. The People and
Art of the Philippines, written by Gabriel Casal et al., was published in
1981. The best travel guide, which is full of social and cultural information,
is Philippines, by Hans Johannes Hoefer et al. For much more indepth research
on Philippine society and the environment, there are a number of
indispensable research guides: Philippine Studies: Geography, Archaeology,
Psychology, and Literature: Present Knowledge and Research Trends, by
Frederick Wernstedt et al.; Philippine Studies: History, Sociology, Mass
Media, and Bibliography, edited by Donn V. Hart; and Kit Machado, Richard
Hooley, and Lawrence Reid, Philippine Studies: Political Science, Economics,
and Linguistics.

     For information on the physical setting of the Philippines the central
work is still Frederick L. Wernstedt and J.E. Spencer's The Philippine Island
World: A Physical, Cultural, and Regional Geography. A number of excellent
studies have been written over the last few years pertaining to ethnicity,
regionalism, and language. Among the best are Andrew B. Gonzalez' Language
and Nationalism: The Philippine Experience Thus Far, Renato Rosaldo's Ilongot
Headhunting: A Study in Society and History, and Peter G. Gowing's Muslim
Filipinos: Heritage and Horizon. Concerning Philippine values and their social
system, see Emma Porio, Mary Racelis Hollnsteiner, and Frank Lynch's The
Filipino Family, Community, and Nation, Robert J. Morais' Social Relations in
a Philippine Town, and Irene Ortigas and Felix Regalado's Society and Culture
in the Rural Philippines. (For further information and complete citations,
see Bibliography.)