Philippine Cultures

If you thought there was one unitary Filipino culture or a Filipino identity, you can be forgiven for being partially wrong. After all, it is easy to assume only one culture for the Philippines if you are a non-Filipino who interacts with Filipinos outside the Philippines. Filipinos, like many other people, are often ascribed one singular culture when they are in a multicultural society like Australia, Canada, and Europe. However, if you were to visit the Philippines or, best yet, live in the Philippines for a few years, you will quickly discover that there are many Philippine cultures instead of one solid or 'official' culture. Due to historical, geographic, and cultural forces, there are several Filipino identities, which flow from these different Philippine cultures. Here are just the most common categories of cultural groupings in the Philippines. 

Provincial culture

If you were to drive from one end of Luzon to the other end of the island or take the roll on roll off sea lanes (RORO) from Luzon to Mindanao, you will see that Filipinos have over 90 different language and culture groupings. Each grouping has a different take on other groups-they view other groups as either rivals or allies. Each grouping has its own specific cultural traits. The biggest provincial dialect groups are the Ilocanos, Pampangenos, Tagalogs, Bicolanos, Waray, Illongos, and Cebuanos.

Ethnic culture

While most Filipinos can be traced linguistically to Austronesian groupings in Southeast Asia like Malaysia and Indonesia, among Filipino groups themselves, there are ethnic breakdowns between 'pure' Filipinos and mixed-race Filipinos of Chinese or European extraction. Just like other societies with strong colonial roots, the 'pure' Filipinos are relegated to the middle and bottom of the social totem pole. Indeed, the very term 'Filipino' was reserved by the Spanish elite for Spaniards born in the Philippines. Native brown Pinoys were given the not very flattering generic term 'Indio.' This ethnic divide survives to this very day. Philippine cultures diverge on ethnic roots with many middle class and upper class Filipino families possessing Chinese or European elements.

Group culture

If you have noticed that Filipinos tend to be clannish, you may be surprised that this group loyalty extends beyond family, language group, province, and, outside the Philippines, country. This group loyalty also extends to school the Filipino comes from. Pinoys tend to be loyal to groups. That's why fraternities are big on many college campuses, and many colleges have strong alumni associations both inside and  outside the Philippines.