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Do you feel they're getting less religious too? Many Catholics seem to go through the motions without thinking too much about their faith.
I guess from like 15:00, giving him the finger and making those noises, it sort of sounds like they're trying to intimidate him, and knowing it's a slum who knows what they might do.
A slum in Philippines on average is probably not as dangerous as a slum in Rio De Janeiro.
70-80% of Filipinos dont care what the Catholic church has to say about birth control. The vast majority of Filipinos support the RH Law, which says that the government will provide contraceptives for all. 8 of 10 Pinoys believe RH Law constitutional
It doesn't sound like most Filipinos are devout Catholics to me.
And some kids in a video that I posted scare you that much? They didnt even do anything. 90% of the people in the video minded there business or ignored that Japanese guy walking around recording them. What did you want them to do?
The percentage of Filipinos who go to church every Sunday doesn't really seem accurate. Churches are always full and hard to look for seats especially if it's the last mass.
There are still Catholics who try to keep up with their morals and I am one of those.
Do you feel they're getting less religious too? Many Catholics seem to go through the motions without thinking too much about their faith.
I guess from like 15:00, giving him the finger and making those noises, it sort of sounds like they're trying to intimidate him, and knowing it's a slum who knows what they might do.
It's going 2 ways. People are getting less religious and becoming agnostics, atheists, or Catholics in tradition only. And people are getting more religious and becoming Evangelicals or Charismatic Catholics. It's really like Latin America, especially Brazil.
If the scariest part of the slum video was a bunch of kids, then I'd say the slum isn't that scary. And this is supposed to be one of the worst parts of Manila
The percentage of Filipinos who go to church every Sunday doesn't really seem accurate. Churches are always full and hard to look for seats especially if it's the last mass.
There are still Catholics who try to keep up with their morals and I am one of those.
37% of Filipino Catholics is about 30 million people, so I would expect the churches to still be full. But if 75% of Filipino Catholic went to church every Sunday, then every church in the country would be packed all day long on Sunday. But if you go to the rural areas, many churches dont even have mass on most Sundays because there's no priest.
It's going 2 ways. People are getting less religious and becoming agnostics, atheists, or Catholics in tradition only. And people are getting more religious and becoming Evangelicals or Charismatic Catholics. It's really like Latin America, especially Brazil.
If the scariest part of the slum video was a bunch of kids, then I'd say the slum isn't that scary. And this is supposed to be one of the worst parts of Manila
It sounds like that. We used to go to a Baptist church and there were a few Filipinos there. There is a small but active evangelical protestant community in the Philippines.
It's going 2 ways. People are getting less religious and becoming agnostics, atheists, or Catholics in tradition only. And people are getting more religious and becoming Evangelicals or Charismatic Catholics. It's really like Latin America, especially Brazil.
If the scariest part of the slum video was a bunch of kids, then I'd say the slum isn't that scary. And this is supposed to be one of the worst parts of Manila
How often are there shoot outs between police officers and drug dealers in Manila's slums ?
While I haven't been to the Philippines, I find it hard to believe the standard of spoken and written (especially written) English among the whole population, all 90+ million including all the poor people in slums and villages, is higher than Malaysia as a whole...
Yes, Malaysia has regressed in it's standard of English: since the 1970s education has been in Malay, more signs etc are in Malay, yet English is still kind of resilient. I notice in some places Chinese is also more spoken than English. Still, at least as a second language, most Malaysians seem decently fluently, even if maybe a minority are totally 'native' sounding. I'd say about 25-30% of Malaysians (not foreigners) speak it as their first or main language too.
Especially if you compared KL to Manila...Malaysia has it's British colonial history/cultural influence, but the Philippines has had English imposed upon it by the United States.
For those who have spent significant time in both what would you say?
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I can speak mostly for the Philippines...although I know that English language in Malaysia was...and still the predominant language of business and international affairs particularly in the larger cities like KL. According to an associate who spent some business time in KL, everyone she ran into..from office folks to vendors in the market...spoke English. Of course, when they are among their fellow country folks they revert back to speaking Melayu. All the Malaysians I had the fortune to meet in my ventures around the world spoke fluent English. The decline in use of English that you alluded to may be attributed to resurgence of nationalism, pride for one's own country and culture (including native language). Rightfully so. Chinese is also widely spoken in Malaysia...due to their sheer numbers. Just like in the Philippines...and practically everywhere in Asia where a large population of Chinese live.
Remember, that the way the British dealt with their colonies is not the same way the Americans dealt with their subjects in the Philippines. The Americans were more like "benevolent" colonizers...specially during the second half of their colonization. The Filipinos were quite happy with the opportunity the Americans gave them..in education, economic aid, and the English language. English was not imposed, as you said--which sounds like it was forced on them. They were hungry for education that the Spaniards pretty much denied them during their 300 years of domination. Americans gave it to them. And they happily took it. Thanks to the Thomasites...the first American teachers in the Philippines. So consider in looking for answer to your question- Malaysian experience with their British colonizers is much different from the Filipinos' experience with the Americans.
Now about the Philippines. They tried to rekindle a sense of nationalism and bring back the use of "Pilipino" (Tagalog) at all levels and sectors of the country with little success. I noticed, however, when I returned more recently to visit relatives in Iloilo (on the island of Panay, in the Visayan region), people there spoke Tagalog more regularly than they did when I studied there many years ago.
The dialect spoken in Iloilo is Hiligaynon (in other parts of the same island, there are other dialects spoken). Naturally, English is practically a native language even in remote places. In Manila, you might as well be in any city in the USA.
Perhaps the Americans did such a good job Americanizing the country during their occupation that today, English is widely spoke even among Filipinos. Remember, with so many languages and dialects spoken in the Philippines, they needed a languge that is viable and practical to use to help unify commercial activities throughout the archipelago. And it's paying off...in terms of getting investors, foreign and domestic, to set up businesses throughout the country and help its economy.
I grew up in Manila, my parents of American and Spanish descent. We spoke English and Castillan-Spanish at home, but spoke Tagalog with our housekeeper and houseboy...and when hanging out with my friends. In school, it was English. And all the subjects (except for National Language (Pilipino), were taught in English. Even today...from kindergarten to university.
Hope this helps. May I suggest, if you want to learn what and how it happened, read Stanley Karnow's IN OUR IMAGE: America's Empire in the Philippines. The best history book (reads like a novel) I've ever read about the Philippines and its experience with America.
Thanks, very insightful response...yes I'd have to visit the Phils to compare, but even then, anecdotal evidence doesn't really prove much, you'd need to do wide-ranging surveys and tests or whatnot. The influence of English in both is quite different...I feel the British in Malaya kept themselves up elevated as the elite class, while the natives kept their own traditions and language...in Singapore I'd say Lee Kwan Yew was largely responsible for the 'speak English' campaign, even if educated in Singapore had spoken English since the early days. In Malaysia, English as the medium of education was replaced by Malay in the 70s, except for science and maths, but since 2012 even those are taught in Malay. So yeah, we might see more of a decline in Malaysia while the Philippines rises...yeah it's still hard to believe, I had no idea the Phils were SO English speaking, but still I feel many poor people aren't very fluent.
The percentage of Filipinos who go to church every Sunday doesn't really seem accurate. Churches are always full and hard to look for seats especially if it's the last mass.
There are still Catholics who try to keep up with their morals and I am one of those.
Our family is still devoted Catholics, I guess it depends on how we were brought up. I am here in the middle east and I try to at least have time to go to church every week if not on sunday because weekend is different here in middle east. Our sunday usually goes on Friday. If ever I cannot go to church, well god is everywhere of course I just pray at home and even set an altar. There's a lot of Filipinos that still goes to church even if we are here in Middle Eastern country, We have Filipino Mass every Friday at 11AM. It's already Palm Sunday tomorrow. So Holy Week will start next week.
Mostly, Filipinos and Indians are the one that goes to church here
Thanks, very insightful response...yes I'd have to visit the Phils to compare, but even then, anecdotal evidence doesn't really prove much, you'd need to do wide-ranging surveys and tests or whatnot. The influence of English in both is quite different...I feel the British in Malaya kept themselves up elevated as the elite class, while the natives kept their own traditions and language...in Singapore I'd say Lee Kwan Yew was largely responsible for the 'speak English' campaign, even if educated in Singapore had spoken English since the early days. In Malaysia, English as the medium of education was replaced by Malay in the 70s, except for science and maths, but since 2012 even those are taught in Malay. So yeah, we might see more of a decline in Malaysia while the Philippines rises...yeah it's still hard to believe, I had no idea the Phils were SO English speaking, but still I feel many poor people aren't very fluent.
Granted, that's a decade-old survey. I suspect that the English has actually become even more prevalent since then.
You can also try googling other surveys.
I think those living in slums isn't a particularly good barometer for describing the general population. Certainly there's poverty in the Philippines, but it's nothing close to being the majority of the population for it to make sense to use that as evidence. Also, you're using random videos here and there which would qualify as just as anecdotal in the sense of being a very small sample, wouldn't it?
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