Countries of the World/COUNTRYS.BIN/dp/0288/02886.txt

Text File | 1991-06-25 | 34KB | 526 lines

$Unique_ID{COW02886}
$Pretitle{272}
$Title{Philippines
Chapter 2C.   Social Organization}
$Subtitle{}
$Author{Frederica M. Bunge}
$Affiliation{HQ, Department of the Army}
$Subject{social
filipinos
urban
family
kinship
manila
personal
philippine
relationships
economic}
$Date{1983}
$Log{}
Country:     Philippines
Book:        Philippines, A Country Study
Author:      Frederica M. Bunge
Affiliation: HQ, Department of the Army
Date:        1983

Chapter 2C.   Social Organization

     According to Morais, personal alliance systems represent an interweaving
of social relationships that include some or all of the following components:
real kinship, ritual kinship, special debts of gratitude, market exchange
partnerships, patron-client bonds, and friendship. These components are not
exclusive; each individual interweaves some or all of them to expand his
circle and widen his network of social alliances. In the mosaic of interwoven
personal alliance systems that characterizes Lowland Christian Filipino
society, each Filipino finds a place and develops an individual social
environment.

     The core of each alliance system is anchored by kinship, of which the
primary economic and educational unit is the nuclear family. A Filipino's
loyalty is still first and foremost to the immediate family; identity is
deeply embedded in the web of kinship. It remains normative that one owes
support, loyalty, and trust to one's close kin, and because kinship is
structured bilaterally, with kindred including affinal as well as
consanguineal relatives, one's kin can include quite a large number of people.
Still, beyond the nuclear family, Filipinos do not assume the same degree of
support, loyalty, and trust that they assume for immediate family members for
whom loyalty is nothing less than a social imperative. With respect to kin
beyond this nuclear family, closeness in relationship depends very much on
physical proximity.

     Bonds of ritual kinship, sealed on any of three ceremonial
occasions-baptism, confirmation, and marriage-intensify and extend personal
alliances. Called compadrazgo or compadrinazgo, this mutual kinship system
dates back at least to the introduction of Roman Catholicism and perhaps even
earlier. It is a primary method of extending the group from which one can
expect help in the way of favors, such as jobs, loans, or just simple gifts on
special occasions. But in asking a friend to become godparent to his child, a
Filipino is also asking that person to become a closer friend. Thus it is
common to ask acquaintances who are of higher economic or social status than
oneself to be sponsors. Such ritual kinship cannot be depended on in moments
of crisis to the extent that real kinship can, but it still functions
normatively for small and regular acts of support such as gift giving.

     A bond of dyadic character-one involving two individuals-may be formed
between two persons based on the concept of utang na loob (repayment of
debts). Although it is expected that the debtor will attempt repayment, it is
widely recognized that the debt (as in the case of one's obligation to a
parent) can never be fully repaid, and the obligation can last for
generations. Saving another's life, providing employment, or making it
possible for another to become educated-these "gifts" incur utang na loob.
More to the point, such gifts initiate a long-term reciprocal interdependency
in which the grantor of the favor can expect help from the debtor whenever the
need arises, and the debtor can, in turn, ask other favors. A dyad is thus
formed that provides a form of insurance for both parties. Such reciprocal
personal alliances have had obvious implications for the society in general
and the political system in particular. Under the Marcos regime, they have
applied just as readily as in the innumerable cases where the President and
Imelda Marcos have granted favors in a highly visible and personalistic
manner to individuals, families, communities, and special-interest groups. It
may be said, without exaggeration, that many Filipinos are caught in a
political utang na loob relationship as clients of the president, who stands
as their principal patron. Morais has noted, however, that educated Filipinos
are less apt to feel obligated to extend help (thereby not initiating an
utang na loob relationship) than are farmers, among whom traditional values
remain strong. Perhaps as Philippine society becomes more modernized and
urban in orientation, utang na loob will become less important in the
political and social systems.

     In the commercial context, suki relationships (market exchange
partnerships) may develop between two people who agree to become,
respectively, regular customer and supplier. In the marketplace Filipinos will
regularly buy given foodstuffs from certain specific suppliers who will give
them, in return, reduced prices, good quality, and often credit. Perceived as
being operative in such relationships is the idea of personal friendship and
mutual trust. Suki relationships often apply in other contexts as well, as in
restaurants patronized regularly by people who receive in return special
treatment, in small neighborhood retail shops and, perhaps most commonly, in
tailoring shops. Suki does more than help develop economic exchange
relationships. Because trust is such a vital aspect, it creates a platform
for personal relationships that can blossom into genuine friendship between
individuals.

     Also still very much a part of prescribed patterns of appropriate
behavior are patron-client bonds. These may be formed between tenant farmers
and their landlords or between any patron who provides resources and
influence in return for the client's personal services and general support.
The reciprocal arrangement may typically involve the giving by the patron of a
means of earning a living, or of help, protection, and influence and the
giving by the client of labor and personal favors ranging from household
tasks to political support. These relationships often evolve into ritual
kinship ties, as the tenant or worker may ask his landlord to sponsor the
baptism of one of his children. Similarly, when favors are extended, they tend
to bind patron and client together in a network of mutual obligation or a
long-term interdependency.

     One last method of extending one's circle of social alliances concerns
friendship. Morais suggests that friendship belongs in a category with kinship
as the most central of Filipino relationships. Together, these two are the
core, which is supplemented by other ties. Certainly ties among those within
one's barkada (group of friends) are an important factor in the development of
personal alliance systems. And here, as in other categories, a willingness to
help one another provides the prime rationale for the relationship.

     These categories-real kinship, ritual kinship, utang na loob
relationships, suki relationships, patron-client bonds, and friendship-are not
exclusive. They are all interrelated components of the Filipino's personal
alliance system. Thus two individuals may be cousins, then become friends, and
then cement their friendship through the ceremony of godparenthood. Each of
their social networks will typically include kin (near and far, affinal and
consanguineal), ritual kind, one or two patron-client relationships, one or
more other close friends (and a larger number of social friends), and a dozen
or more market exchange partners. Utang na loob may infuse any or all of these
relationships. One's network of social allies may approach 80 or so persons,
who more or less will compose one's integrated and interwoven personal
alliance system.

The Role and Status of the Filipina

     Women have always enjoyed greater equality in Philippine society than is
common in other parts of Southeast Asia. Since pre-Spanish times Filipinos
have traced kinship bilaterally, and a woman's rights to legal equality and to
inherit family property have not been questioned. Education and literacy
l