Kuripot, Gastador, Tikalon, Damak, Maisug, Manug-Hiwit, Aswang

Philippine regionalism is one important factor to consider why Capicenos have been branded as aswangs, and in understanding why the myth has been perpetuated for over 100 years. Archipelagic Philippines has been populated by divided and competing tribes whose highest politico-economic achievement as a civilization have been the short-lived minor kingdoms in Pangasinan and Mindanao. Prior to Spanish colonialization, there was no sense of national identity, and much less appreciation about other ethic groups and cultures. The small, diverse and self-sufficient tribes have been scattered and isolated across thousands of islands. Having primitive maritime technology, they did not have active inter-island trade and much less opportunity for cultural exchange. It was only in the last 350 years, under the Spanish rule, that we evolved a concept of a nation. And even today, we are still struggling to accept it. Until the last century estrangjeros or pangayaos have been fiercely rejected by the tumandoks. Hence, whatever information we had about other regions could have just been trickles information. Bits and pieces of information are sewn together to make a derogatory collage of peoples of other regions.

Our diverse ethnicity is the foundation of our rigorous regionalism. We are a 7,000-island nation with over 100 ethnic groups. Overall, we are overwhelmingly Malayo-Polynesian under the broad Austronesian linguistic family. But underneath, we have more diverse ethnicity, subgroups, and sub-subgroups, hastily categorized into generic groupings of Ilocanos, Pangasinense, Kapampangan, Tagalog, Bicolano, Bisaya, Mindanao minorities, tribal groups, Chinese, Spanish, and Western and other minorities. Ilocanos are Ivatans and Ibanags, and their many variants; Pangasinense have the Cordilleranos (Igorots and their variants); Bisaya is classified under three main groups of Hiligaynon (Ilonggo), Cebuano and Waray. But under that, there are distinct sub-groups like the Aklanon, Karay-a, Romblomanon, Sibuyanon, Masbateno, Cuyonon. Each one of these has another layer of diverse ethnicity (e.g., Mambusaonon, Sapianon, Sijuiornon, etc.). Southern minorities include the Tausugs, Maranaos, Samals, Yakans, and the Lumads. The Lumads alone include the Manobos, Tasadays, Mamanwas, Mandayas, and Kalagans. And like our nomenclatures, they also have distinct diversity.

As indicated above, regionalism is not only a distinction due to geographic locale, rather, it is an ethnic divide highlighting cultural, social, economic and political differences - over 100 of it. In our attempt to make our region different from the others we highlight our dissimilarities. Such that, we never cease to find what is ridiculous in other cultures. We stockpile our arsenal of insults against them, so that, ultimately, we want them to be inferior to us. Sociologists point out that an individual ethnic group, united by a common language, invariably views the world from its own set of filters, experiences, beliefs, traditions, standards, biases and vantage points, a condition known as ethnocentrism. Ethnocentricism means judging other cultures as inferior based on your own culture’s superior cultural vantage point. Over time, an ethnocentrist world-view can hastily summarize a region into one common derogatory characterization. For instance, the Tagalogs have a crystallized world-view and common characterization of Bisaya as aswang, mangkukulam and katulong. The most degrading of which is aswang, and Capiz is said to have the worst concentration of aswangs.

Regional characterizations are not without bases, however. Ilocanos have been said to be frugal because their arid land does not allow large-scale cultivation of food and cash crops. Therefore, other regions dismiss them as kuripot. Tagalogs, living in the center of Philippine culture, politics and economy, having the first glimmer of electric lights and cooking gas, thought they are in the center of the universe. Anywhere outside their region had hitherto been a bundok. Hence, Americans going to the hinterlands was said to have gone to the boondocks. That literally landed into the English dictionary as a legitimate word - owing to the arrogant and ethnocentrict Tagalogs. The King of Spain gave generous encomiendas to conquestadores from northwestern Spain settling in Iloilo and Negros. In the heyday of sugar plantations, from the turn of the 20th Century to the roaring 60s, briefly disrupted by war but put to a final end by Marcos cronyism, sugar barons lived in Southern opulence and lavish lifestyles. The 3 percent Spanish sugars planter families, having their own sugar centrals, railways, piers, and shipping lines, have had every right to boast - guina pala, guina piko! But if the other 97 percent also brag, they are on their own. Hence, the Negrense and Ilonggos earned the tikalon moniker. Fierce resistance from attempts to Christianize the Mindanaonons earned them the savage, bloodthirsty reputation. Of course, regional attributions to Masbate, Siquijornons, and Samarenos as manug-hiwits could likewise be explainable. For instance, an MGB episode a few years ago featured an age-old modus operandi in one Samar hinterland about the locals secretly adding toxic herbal concoction into the beverage of strangers, only to be “healed” with an antidote for a fee. Although Bisayan and Tagalogs alphabets are almost exactly the same, our pronunciation did not highlight the different sound of paired vowels. Hence, enthocentrict Tagalogs’ criticisms against us. Remember the PLDT ad about a Bisayan katulong? “Sir, tumawag si GG.” for which the boss asked, “Si Gigi or si Jayjay?” The katulong answered, “Si GG, sir.” It would be a full time job to document all the insults, ridicules and mockeries that we hurl against each other.

But there have been tangible events that did earn a region an insulting reputation. If a province or one region was to be branded as aswang country, it should have been Samar-Leyte. There had been no single pre-Hispanic record about aswang anywhere in Philippine folktales and literature. Hence, the earliest written record about aswang in the whole 7,000 islands ever is by a Westerner, Miguel Lopez de Legazpi. On February 14, 1565, in Samar, he wrote about being warned by the natives about the existence of aswang and how terrified they had been listening to howling noise around his encampment one night. But Legazpi’s account did not come without motives or reason. He came from Medieval Europe, itself rife with burning accused witches at stake, predisposed to the Count Vlad story, and with a mission to introduce faith. This perfectly jibed with the situation of Samar tribe that, without an army, only hoped to drive away Spanish colonizers with horrific tales about aswang and by actually making terrifying nighttime noise around their encampment. The reason why this first aswang manuscript did not stick to Samar-Leyte region is probably because this account had not been reinforced by other socio-cultural factors in the region. Such that, Samarenos did not create and maintain an aswang out of themselves. We did.

In summary, regionalism is partly due to the absence of a sense of nationhood - each tiny ethnic group or tribe, isolated by mountains and seas, existed alone for centuries without contact with the others. When they finally have contact, their crystallized ethnocentrict world-views, predisposed Filipinos to ridicule and degrade people from other regions. Each region had been given a brand or moniker. It is unfortunate that Capiz had been branded as aswang. The continued Filipino regionalism, along with complex web of factors that we will discuss more, sustains our aswang brand. In order to minimize it, we need to respect and be sensitive to other regional cultures.

In the succeeding posts, we will examine the other factors and elements that created, strengthened and perpetuated the aswang brand to us.

Sapianons are invariably associated with the Capiz Aswang tradition, to the extent of being ridiculed and humiliated. For decades, Capizeños, and Sapianons for that matter, have earned a moniker that is culturally derogatory, but inadvertently prank in this time and age. As you very well know, almost everyone outside Capiz is itching to ask us, given the opportunity, a standard question of whether or not aswang really exists. Generally, we would vehemently deny it. Denial would be laborious because you need to present a broad array of scientific, historical, social and cultural facts, theories, postulates and propositions, hoping that you are talking to an enlightened human being. When they insist, we would give them what they want to hear. We tell them stories from our Pandora’s box of age-old “actual” and “proven” stories from “reliable sources” passed down to several generations. We often detail the cadence of a horror event, grizzly “real” aswang episodes, even exaggerating it until they shiver and tremble in fear. A dismissing disposition could be a lamentation of how hopeless the long Philippine Airlines wait list was in Roxas City Airport, even with the evolution of domestic service and expanding capacities of Fokker-50s, to BAC-1-11s, to 737s. The same is true with the crowded, ardous and troublesome sea travel, even with today’s roll-on-roll-off (RO/RO) innovation. If we could just fly, why bother with the ordeal. Capicenos would sometimes boast that while some countries fly the best planes, we have the best pilots flying without planes. Digressing more, we could always volunteer wishful hindsight scenarios of how World War II had been averted if our vampires crushed the Japanese advance. Our forebears would have been enlisted by U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt to dismantle the Axis powers so Russia did not have a chance to race for Berlin. With that, the Cold War and the arms race could have never took place. By now, the whole Western world would have bowed down on our doorsteps, the Philippines had been made a U.S. state, with Roxas City as its capital. The largest air force base could be in Sapian, and genetic research would be in full swing on how to further improve the aswang DNA strains for other applications, even for space travel.

The aswang brand to us is a valid generalization, both a legacy and a birthright, of being a geographically and organically a part of the Capiz ethno-historical tradition. Filipinos are more clannish rather than ethnic, and far more regionalistic rather than patriotic. As such, they tend to promote their own region’s superiority by downgrading other regions and ethnic groups (e.g., Ilocanos vs. Visayan, Capiznon vs. Ilonggo, etc.). Talk about crab mentality. Additionally, we are part of the blame because our own local ethic traditions strengthen that myth; our folktales and superstitions highlight the aswang tradition. Local folktales, branding and ostracizing individuals and local families as aswang, confirm the belief - to the mixed pleasure and terror by our regional detractors. For generations, our culture has institutionalized the existence of soothsayers, sorjuanos and arbularyos. Professional soothsayers are the creation of the myth, and the myth lives on with our continued patronage. It is a symbiotic relationship between the mythical healers and the myth itself - each one requiring the other, sustaining each other, surviving together. More importantly, the colonialization by Medieval and monastic Spain established the foundations of an intricate anthropological and sociological web that cajoled us into creating, believing and perpetuating the aswang myth. And because of its mythological nature and the Filipinos predisposition to superstition, it has remarkably evolved to become the centerpiece and the most pronounced feature of the Capiceno and Sapianon belief system and world view. 

In the succeeding items, we will attempt to discuss, from a systems approach, the components and elements of this myth. We will also attempt to articulate how these factors interacted with each other to formulate, confirm and sustain that enduring ethno-cultural brand.

FEMOCRACY AND HOME ECONOMICS 3

US MIGRATION AND THE OTHER FACE OF THE FILIPINA

Filipino migration to the United States started way back during the era of colonisation. The Americans forced the Spanish out of the Philippines in 1898 and the new colonisers sent Filipinos to North America between 1901 and 1935. They mainly worked as errand boys, janitors and houseboys. During World War II, many of them served the US Army’s First Filipino Infantry Regiment.

Few decades after World War II, a lot of Filipino war veterans and their families were permitted to migrate to the United States. The presence of American Air Base in the Philippines also gave Filipinas a chance to migrate to the US and other allied countries as brides. They had very limited employment opportunities then and most if not all were subjected to racial abuse. We heard stories but we can not begin to comprehend the appalling treatment these pioneers had to endure before they successfully managed to adopt and assimilate to the American culture. 

Like typical Filipinos, they struggled to send their children to school. They believed that education is vital if their children were to survive and blend in to western culture. Many of these children, and their children afterwards, successfully finished their education and had decent work. They mainly found employment in industries dominated by women like nursing, teaching, child care, sales, hospitality, and factory work. Filipinas and other migrant women from different nationalities happily filled the available jobs that American women vacated to pursue better careers.

Today, there is no turning back for women in the developed societies. Their main role in society: homebuilding, care giving, raising and nurturing the next generation are all but marginalised. They argue that it is urgent and necessary to penetrate business and politics as they have social and emotional intelligence about interpersonal relationships that few men have. They claim that men are more interested in profits; they are convinced that women’s motherly qualities will put human and social concern on the agenda like children and women’s adverse conditions in other parts of the world.

While that is a valid enough reason, I tend to agree more on the notion that the real motivation is hard economics.  Now more than ever women find themselves driven by money, they simply cannot afford to stay at home . This may be due to the privatisation of health and education, the cost  of petrol, the continuing flow of digital must haves, the basic necessities of westerners like entertainment, recreation, travel; and the irrepressible urge to keep up with the Joneses e.g. second car, spa bath, pool, renovations, etc. etc.

This economic pressure is luring women to the top jobs. They don’t want just any job anymore; they are aiming for top- level, high- paying jobs that used to be dominated by men. Time is precious for high- earning busy career- women, the financial disincentives of childbearing have become so high that a great number of them now choose to shun marriage and baby- making altogether to concentrate on the pursuit of a career. The homes in the developed societies reflect the appetite of global capitalism for all talent, female and male, at the expense of the family.

Modern Filipinas are following that same path. Filipino- Americans as they rightfully call themselves successfully integrated and continue to labour and insist that young bloods attend colleges and universities and make something out of themselves. The same pride and conviction is shared by Filipinos in other western societies and in the Philippines itself. With the dawning of globalisation upon us, there is an assortment of employment opportunities for Filipinos worldwide from hard labour to top level jobs. Few Filipinos today are patiently breaking the grounds in higher education, medicine, law, engineering and business while many are successfully competing for top corporate jobs.

But while career divides homes  in western families, it has an entirely opposite result in migrant families. Through family sponsored migration, Filipino families reunite and help each other. Filipinas do not feel as much guilt and not suffer as heavy a consequence for pursuing a career compared to their western counterparts. They can look forward with confidence and go out there knowing that Nanay and/or Tatay, Mama and/or Papa, will be around to take care of the home front.

When competition in the femocracy is fierce and the going gets tough, Filipinas have large willing families to rely on.  Thus, the other face of the Filipina: qualified, capable, competitive, confident.

FEMOCRACY AND HOME ECONOMICS 2

INTERNATIONALISATION AND THE REDEFINING OF THE FILIPINA

Dirty politics, corruption, and  economic instability mired the nation. As a third world country, the Philippines suffered vast unemployment with no opportunity for its citizens. Under the Labour Export Policy of 1972, human labour became just another export commodity like rice and sugar. Eight million Filipino labourers were exported, the majority of them women to different parts of the world.

As western women climb the ladder of their careers, some governments tried to rescue the family and thought that a substitute caregiver would solve the problem. Some countries started recruiting highly educated professional women from the Philippines as live in nannies and domestic helpers. Some Filipinas seeing no prospect at home had no choice but grab the opportunity to find employment abroad. The Filipinas who may have “helpers” in their homes in the Philippines became helpers themselves in far- away lands.

As the country sank deeper in economic and political instability, more and more Filipinos especially women ventured for better opportunities abroad. Further dispersal of human capital  was favoured as the Philippine government heavily depended on the taxes and fees generated from overseas workers. The continued flow of cheap, highly educated labour in Canada, Singapore and Hongkong in particular and the plethora of charming young Filipinas entering Japan as entertainers influenced the perception of Filipinas in the eyes of western societies. New words were entered to the growing adjectives used to define a Filipina: cheap labour, obedient, timid, demure, exotic. 

The advent of internationalisation paved the way to degrading stereotypes that Filipinas were subjected to.

FEMOCRACY AND HOME ECONOMICS 1

Internationalisation, free trade, and technological advances brought about globalisation. A new frontier where information, capital and people move faster than ever thought possible. I cannot help but wonder the future that awaits most Filipinos as they surrender their fate to this emerging new world. I am particularly interested in exploring the plight of the Filipina, their poignant search for a better life, and the role that they will play in the global stage.

WORK AND FAMILY

Decades ago, women in developed countries have joined the work force and have been recognised as main contributors of economic advancement. Governments encouraged this by providing child care facilities and gave women lots of opportunities to build a career. As a result, the number of women in the workforce continued to increase. This was in part a reflection of the need for a second income in families, an assertion to escape from the routine of housework which had entrapped women of earlier generations,  and an expression of women’s right to self- determination. These new breed of women who today are called superwomen juggled work and family to prove themselves worthy of respect and equality with men. They chose to have a career, and at the same time maintained their role as homebuilders, caregivers and selfless contributors in the community.

As much as western women want to care for the family, the kitchen sink will have to wait as pursuing financial independence has become more important and on top of the agenda of the increasing group of ardent superwomen. Women in the west are finding roles in business and management, in all of the professions and in politics. And while they advanced in their careers something has to give; the family suffered. Governments recognised that superwomen proved to be a myth; the kind of being aspired to by many working women.

Filipinas live the financial independence of its western counterpart without any struggle. Feminism was not considered essential in the Philippines as elite Filipinas, the supposed movers of the feminist cause already enjoyed an esteemed status in Philippine society. A woman’s rights to legal equality, inherit family property, attend school and university have not been questioned. The presence of women in important positions is not new or unusual in the Philippines. The rumour that Imelda was running Malacanang in the later years of Marcos administration may not be far from the truth. It was customary for working men to give and surrender all the earnings to the wife who is in charged of the family purse. Women who can afford it strive to get an education, go to work or engage in business and at the same time maintain peace and harmony in the family. The burden of juggling family and work were made possible by the availability of relatives and servants who functioned as helpers in the Filipino homes. Women enjoyed greater equality in society than was common in other parts of Southeast Asia.