The Philippine Enigma

Abstract

How come that people, many of whom are applauded for their talents in the seven corners of this world, are deterred from succeeding in their home country? The purpose of this contribution is to explore aspects of the complex problématique of a culture of demotivation in a polity that fails to provide positive prospects. Subsequent despair drives ordinary workers overseas and bleeds the nation dry of talented achievers. In the following, religion, national becoming, way of life and intellectual climate will be spotlighted. These subjects tie in with my observations on the Filipino social imagination (Mulder 2014), and on the haunting question of Philippine national identity (Mulder 2015).

Keywords

• Great and little tradition of the Philippines
• localized religion and modernity
• loss of history (and identity)
• demoralization
• anti-intellectualism.