‘Gets mo ba?’—How we Filipinos talk to each other
The writer asks: "We do not always say what we mean, but what are the ways we send a message to each other?"
Carl Lorenz Cervantes
Ibig, irog, mahal: Love, Filipino-style
In Filipino, when we talk about “value,” we use the same word for love: “mahal.” When something is “mamahalin,” it means that something is both expensive and very,…
What food tells us about Filipino psychology
So what makes food “Filipino”? It is the fact that Filipinos adapt it to their particular tastes, and that they enjoy it together.
Coming of age in the Philippines
A girl's "debut" at 18, young boys undergoing circumcision, and graduating from college are some of the rites of passage in the archipelagic nation.
Floods and Filipinos’ relationship with nature
How many more volunteering efforts do we need until we realize that the issue is not really the lack of willing helpers—but more so the inconvenient and unintuitive systems we…
Interpreting ‘kababalaghan’: paranormal and supernatural experiences in Philippine culture
Philippine folklore provides the colourful metaphors for very real psychological experiences. It is the task of the psychologist—or paranormal investigator—to interpret it…
Will the ‘real’ Filipino please stand up?
The confusion surrounding 'real' Filipino identity is understandable because, as journalist Carmen Nakpil said, Filipinos spent 300 years in a convent and 50 years in…
The uses and abuses of the Philippine concept of “hiya” or good manners in social settings
The term “hospitality” being glorified as a social value is interesting because it does not seem to have a direct Indigenous equivalent.