Chapter 1 Panr - Pol Geo

8/3/2019 Chapter 1 Panr - Pol Geo

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PRODUCTS AND NATURAL RESOURCES

y The Philippines is rich in natural resources that are as yet largely undeveloped. Its fertile plains and rich valleys produce diversecrops a few of which are produced for export and the rest for local consumption.

y Rice, the staple crop of the country, is produced largely in the Central Plains of Luzon, but the total production is not sufficient to

meet the ever increasing demand of an exploding population.y The still primitive way of agriculture is one of the causes of the failure of the Philippines to produce enough rice for export.

y However, a breakthrough in rice production was made during the first four years of President Ferdinand Marcos¶ administrationwhen the so-called ³miracle rice´ was developed.

y Other products, however, have been raised for export. Copra, abaca, gums, resin, rubber, and sugar have found ready marketsabroad.

y Lumber, minerals, and metals have been exported in large quantities to swell Philippine exports to an average of about 800 000000.

y Mining, which is a basic industry, produces more than 700 million pesos worth of minerals.

y Metallic minerals, such as copper, gold, silver, iron, lead, zinc, manganese, and chromium are exploited for their commercial value,while the non-metallic minerals like salt, coal, clay, asbestos, sulphur, gravel, limestone, and gypsum are so far not yet exploited for large- scale export.

y It is suspected that oil is present in some Philippine sites, but attempts to locate these sites have so far been unsuccessful.

y The Philippine forests, which cover some 40, 000 square miles, produce timber for local consumption and export. Philippinehardwoods are known over the world.

y However, in recent years, senseless and unscrupulous timber men have practically denuded the forests, with the result that thewater supply of the lowlands has been tremendously lessened and the number of trees considerably reduced.

THE PEOPLE

y The Filipino belongs to a mixture of races although basically he is a Malay.

y Centuries of cultural and commercial contacts with the countries of Asia and almost four centuries of domination by Western Powershave made the Filipino comparatively sophisticated.



y There is in him a blending of the East and the West, so that his character exhibits curious contradictions which foreigners are apt tomisunderstand.

y Doubtless, the Filipino at the coming of the Spaniards was brown-skinned like his Malay forebears.

y With Spanish colonization, however, there appeared a kind of Filipino who was obviously the result of the not-so-licit relations

between the conqueror and the conquered.

y The light-skinned and high-nosed Filipino multiplied with the coming of the Americans.

y The inter-marriage between the Filipino and the foreigner, particularly the white, led to a class known as the mestizo class, alsohumorously called the ³mestizoisie.´

y In Philippine society, it is well to distinguish the types or classes of mestizos.

y When one says mestizo, the obvious implication is that the person spoken of is Spanish-Filipino.

y All other half-breeds are qualified by the nationality of their parents. Thus, a Filipino with an American father or mother is called American mestizo; a with Chinese father or mother is called Chinese mestizo; with an Indian father or mother is called Indianmestizo, and so on down the line.

y Between the mestizo and the ³native´, there has been a barrier of feeling that borders on hostility.

y

This feeling has its origin in the late Spanish period or, more specifically, during the nineteenth century, when the mestizo, by virtueof his social and financial status, looked down upon the ³native´ as a boor.

y The ³native¶ naturally resented this attitude and in turn infused the term mestizo with unsavory cannotations, e.g., pretentious,boastful, arrogant, etc. In the mind of the ³native´ arose from his awareness of his Apanish origins.

y But while thus striking a superior posture before the ³native´, the mestizo almost always felt inferior to the ³pure´ Spaniard whoconsidered them so far below him as not to be taken seriously. The mestizo, therefore, during the Spanish period, was Janus-faced:he was a Spaniard before a ³native´, and a Filipino before a Spaniard.

COMMON TRAITS

y It is difficult, if not impossible, to define what a Filipino is. All that can be done is to pick out some traits common to the averageFilipinos and to separate those that are obviously Spanish or American. The common traits are probably basically Malay andcharacterize the Filipinos as people.





y The elders believe, and demand, that they be obeyed ± right or wrong. That you have a string of degrees to your credit does notimpress the elders; they know, for certain, that your academic degrees cannot compare favorably with their experience.

y Yours is the knowledge; theirs the wisdom ± they have drunk more water than you have! Their decision must, therefore, be soughton all important matters that affect the whole family, for what happens to one of the members affects the rest.

y

It is this closeness of family ties, in particular, the collective responsibility, the accounts for the late development of Filipinonationalism.

y For no matter how cruelly and unjustly a member of the family had been treated, the elders cautioned the victim to be patient; remember, they used to say , that not only you but all of us will suffer if you retaliate.

y And the poor man, realizing the consequences of his planned action, controlled his emotions, swallowed his pride, satisfied himself with biting his lower lip, and sheepishly bowed to the will of the elders.

y Rizal painted this common family scene during Spanish regime in his El Filibusterismo, in the chapter ³Cabesang Tales´.

y Respect for the elders includes respect for the elder brother or sister. It is the responsibility of the elder brother to perform the dutiesof the father or mother to the younger members of the family.

y The Filipino is naturally f atalistic .

y No amount of expostulation on the virtues of science of logic can dislodge him from his idea of fatalism.

y He believes that whatever happens to him is the work of Fate. This fatalism is best symbolized in the phrase ³Bahala na,´ a phrasethat defies translation but which may be rendered loosely as ³come what may.´

y Can you go through the wall of fire? Bahala na.

y There are dangers ahead, don¶t be so foolish as to rush in where angels fear to tread. Bahala na.

y Don¶t gamble your last centavo: you might go home with pockets inside out. Bahala na.

y He is big and strong; can you fight him? Bahala na.

y Such fatalism has bred in the Filipino a sense of resignation. He appears indifferent in the face of graft and corruption. He appearsimpassive in the face of personal misfortune. Yet this ³Bahala na´ attitude prevents him from being a crackpot.

y Loyalty to a friend or to a benefactor is one trait that is very strong in the Filipino.













Chapter 1 Panr - Pol Geo

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