Filipino General Information

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The People

Name of Country Philippines

Population 87 million (July 2005 estimate)

Government Republic

Ethnic Groups Christian Malay dominate the Philippine population making up 91.5% of all people, with Muslim Malay (4%) and Chinese (1.5%) making up the remainder.

Religions Catholicism is the primary religion (83%). Other beliefs include Protestant, Islam and Buddhism.

Languages Filipino and English are the official languages. Tagalog, which in Australia is often wrongly named as the language of the Philippines, is but one of 8 major dialects.

Population below the Poverty Line 40% (2001estimate)

Background

The Philippines is a multicultural nation with a long history of people from Asia, Europe and the Americas leaving their mark on the islands.

The indigenous people were the Aetas who arrived overland when the islands were connected to a larger Asian continent. The second group of people to arrive were the Indo-Malays during the early part of this millennium.

The next influx was from China. Together with the Spanish and American colonial influences, the Chinese have continued to play a vital role in business and industry.

In 1521 a Spanish colonial government was established in Manila and centuries of Spanish domination resulted in a predominantly Catholic and more European culture, more so than in any other South East Asian country.

Spanish domination ended in 1898 with the Spanish-American war and the ill-fated 'Philippine Revolution' of 1896.

That revolution gave birth to the short-lived Philippine government. The majority of Filipinos who had suffered for centuries under the abuse and excesses of colonialism supported the rebellion. The Americans joined forces with the Filipino people, who declared the Philippines as independent in 1898. America took over, however, as a 'benevolent coloniser' and it took another 50 years before Philippines independence was finally internationally recognised in 1946.

Today the Philippines is an independent republic and familiarity with Western culture and longstanding integration with the world economy have made Filipinos exceptionally mobile internationally.

The economy deteriorated significantly as a spill-over from the Asian financial crisis in 1997, poor weather conditions (the Philippines exists within a typhoon belt and is usually affected by 15 and struck by 5 or 6 cyclonic storms per year).

The government has promised economic reforms to help the Philippines match the pace of development in newly industrialised countries of East Asia. The strategy includes improving the infrastructure, overhauling the tax system to bolster government revenues and moving toward further deregulation and privatisation of the economy.

History of Migration to Australia

Philippine-Australian relations already existed during the early part of the nineteenth century. Missionary work and migration were the main areas of bilateral relations. Commerce and trade were on a modest scale. In 1944, according to the Bureau of Immigration, the Philippines ranked eighth among the source of migrants to Australia.

Policy changes in Australia's immigration policy in 1973 opened the door for Filipino migrants. By 1976 the number of Philippine-born residents doubled compared to 1971. In 1991, Filipinos were the third largest non-European settler groups, exceeded only by the Vietnamese and Chinese.

In the 1996 Census, Philippine-born Australian residents numbered 92,949 represented by a ratio of 2 females to 1 male. This imbalance in the gender ratio has been attributed to the large number of female fiancees and spouses of Australian nationals, and to a greater tendency towards emigration by Filipina women. However, the proportion of Filipino migrants who qualify to enter Australia in the category of spouse/ fiancee of Australian nationals has decreased from 85% to 52%. Current trends show that most Filipinos (90%) coming to Australia now enter as 'family reunion' category immigrants.

The majority of migrants from the Philippines working in Australia are professionals, that is, computer analysts and programmers, solicitors, doctors, engineers, etc.

The current estimate of the total number of the Philippine community in Australia is 180,000 taking into account the Australian-born children of those who migrated in the past.

Filipino Community in NSW

• 52,272 people living in NSW were born in the Philippines. This is a 10% increase from 1996.
• 42,872 people in NSW spoke Tagalog. (2001 Census)

Some Cultural Aspects of Filipino Life

Of the Philippine population, 83% are Roman Catholic, 5% are Muslim, and 9% are Protestants or other Christian denominations.

The term Filipino originally denoted a person of Spanish descent born in the Philippines and is comparable to the term Creole in the French-American colonies. Since the 19th century it has been used to refer to the Christian Malays who constitute the bulk of the Philippine population.

The existence of a number of different languages, dialects and religious traditions has meant that the Filipinos developed no single national culture. Over many centuries of Philippine history, cultural development has been local in nature, enriched by influences from China, Malaysia, Europe and the USA. Indigenous elements find expression in literature and music, as well as other cultural forms.

One of the most notable characteristics of Philippine society is the tradition of strong family loyalty, respect and obedience to one's elders. This is reflected in the absence of such institutions as retirement homes and orphanages. Since pre-colonial times Filipina women have held high positions in society, including the President, and women today manage many businesses.

Attitudes towards People with Disability

While in many ways a modern, Westernised country, the Philippines is also steeped in traditions full of superstitions and has a strong belief system based on Catholicism. In addition, there are strong differences between people from rural and urban areas.

Traditionally many Filipinos view the more severely disabling conditions with considerable stigma. Such stigma derives in part from traditional attributions linking specific disabilities to various causes. Many of the traditional beliefs regarding the causes of disability (particularly physical conditions) are consistent with health beliefs about varying causes of illness.

Naturalistic explanations might focus on the mother's failure to follow prescribed dietary practices during pregnancy (ie. excessive intake of milk can result in a fair complexion, taro is believed to cause the baby to have eczema or skin conditions). Whilst this may cause embarrassment, shame and stigma, as well as a sense of guilt and blame for the family, sometimes supernatural explanations also remove the responsibility from human being to spirits, ancestors, etc.

Roberto
Roberto is an 18 year old man who shows symptoms of mental illness. He stands still for many hours in one place and talks about different things- most of the times he is disoriented and incoherent. His neighbours are concerned about his behaviour and suggested to his parents to take him to a psychiatrist.

His mother explains that there is nothing wrong with him, and that his standing still is only copying the pose of a statue of Rizal (the Philippines national hero), under which she was working when she was pregnant.

Disability also may be associated with supernatural ailments that are attributed to other spiritual causes. Infants who are chronically irritable and engage in prolonged inconsolable crying are presumed to be troubled by evil spirits. Similarly, people with epilepsy or autism may be seen as 'possessed' by angry or evil spirits.

The Philippine faith in God and in 'bahala na' (the Philippine equivalent to 'que sera, sera' - whatever will be will be) may reinforce a fatalistic orientation, where a disabling condition is accepted as God's will. Disability in a child may also represent a divine punishment for sins or moral transgressions against God committed by the parents or their ancestors. This spiritual attribution contributes to a shared sense of shame that affects the entire family.

Antonia
Antonia is a vision-impaired Filipina. She is single and in her 40s. Her mother is getting old and they are quite isolated as her Mum feels it is shameful for people to know that her daughter has a disability.

They have never accessed any disability or other services and Antonia is quite dependent on her mother. Antonia's eyesight is deteriorating and her ageing Mum is her only source of support.

Most parents of children with a disability see it as their obligation to care for their children with disability (even when they become adults), as to do otherwise would be not to fulfil their duties. Many are hesitant to access services, even if the family is at crisis point.

Due to a tradition of strong family loyalties the concept of institutions, out of home respite care, and other such services is virtually non-existent.

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