Filipino Traits/Values Emphasized in I am a Filipino

1. A Filipino is a brown-skinned creature
"'Across the centuries the memory comes rushing back to me: of brown-skinned men putting...'"


 * Brown-skinned people is a racial and ethnic term. Like black people and white people, it is a term for race based solely on human skin color.



2. A Filipino has a vision of democracy
"'My heart has been lifted by the vision of democracy...'"


 * Philippines has embraced the democratic traditions of participation and the freedom of choice and expression, the longer-term challenge remains to deepen the quality of its democracy.



3. A Filipino has the symbol of dignity
"'It is the mark of my manhood. The symbol of dignity as a human being..'"


 * For Filipino people, dignity is the way we inherit to our grandparent how we value our rights and what is right. Dignity to Filipino people is important because it shows self-respect as a human being. If you have respect to yourself and to other,you value your dignity.





4. A Filipino is a child of East and West
"'The East, with its languor and mysticism, its passivity and endurance, was my mother, and my sire was the West that came thundering across the seas with the Cross and Sword and the Machine...'"


 * The Philippines is a culture in which East meets West. The Filipino people have a distinct Asian background, with a strong Western tradition. The modern Filipino culture developed through influence from Chinese traders, Spanish conquistadors, and American rulers.



5. A Filipino is born to achieve freedom
"'I am a Filipino born to freedom, and I shall not rest until freedom shall have been added unto my inheritance..'"


 * History has borne witness to the Filipino’s struggle for freedom and justice. History records how the colonial governments suppressed the freedom of expression during the 1800s and 1900s. Any criticism to foreign tyranny was associated with rebellion.