Blog 4: Cause and effect

     My teacher in history had masters for history but couldn't even answer a simple question: "what sets Filipino culture different from the rest?" Its not her fault. If you would look it up in the history books, you couldn't find an answer which is not debatable. So I began to wonder is there really a cultural identity for us Filipinos?
     I strongly believe that in order for us to know more about our cultural identity we must study the history of it. We must trace back its roots from our fore fathers. But what good does it bring us when our approach of studying history is obsolete, I would even go as far as saying it is wrong. One major problem of our history and ultimately our cultural identity is that, we don't have written records or physical evidences that could prove that we have one. As a result, people would assume that the most significant part of our history is the Spanish colonization. For in this period written accounts about the Philippines were created but what about our civilization before the colonization.
     We can go and try to unlock the secrets of who we are, but most people wouldn't care and funding allocated for the said goal are often pulled out, historians who are really willing to seek answers often lose hope. Most of us can't really tell what a Filipino is, for we know most of what we say our 'cultural identity' is borrowed from different races. A simple question like, "what is the best Filipino dish?" Can be a good test question whether we really have our cultural identity. We could give answers without knowing that the whole thing, is borrowed from the traders and colonizers. An answer like 'lechon, pancit, iskabitse, halang-halang, and kinilaw are all debatable. Lechon and iskabetsi came from the Spaniards, it quite obvious from the way we call those dishes. Halang-halang is similar to a dish in thailand. Kinilaw is also present in japan but with a different name.
     Ultimately, we have blurred the image of a true Filipino. Because of our tendency to absorb and take-in whatever is being thrown at us, we forgot who we really are. Neglecting our history and focusing more on technological advancements and our ranking in the nations were not really as important as knowing who we really are.