Enduring values
Many other enduring values of Filipino family life are strong and healthy today, such as love of education, a deep commitment to freedom and justice, compassion for the sick and needy, generosity in sharing with others, hospitality, welcoming strangers and sharing food and drink with them, and the sacrifice of poor parents working desperately at home or abroad to provide for their children against poverty and hunger that are rooted in inequality and injustice.
The value of “malasakit,” or concern, is strong, and a sense of dignity and self-worth are powerful driving forces for success. This is where we see the vast majority of parents deeply loving their children and providing for their needs.
Filipino family values, traditional lifestyles and familial relationships themselves are under serious threat as families struggle for survival against an onslaught of negative social and economic forces. A profound transition is underway, driven by economic pressures, cost of living, unemployment, teenage pregnancies, and exploitation through social media that are putting great strain on the unity of the family, as teenagers drift further from their parents and siblings by the negative influence of abusive online content.
The departure of children for the city, where gaining employment is more likely than in the countryside, is challenging to their parents. Today, our capitalistic society takes families away from fields and farms, where all once helped each other in an “all for one, one for all” spirit. Now, they’re involved in isolated — and likely isolating — work in a factory or business enterprise in the city, leaving parents and grandparents alone.
While the internet connects family members virtually, it is also driving them apart. Church-going is declining due to the irrelevance of many institutional rites and sermons. The absence, with some exceptions, of strong and outspoken Christian moral leadership by church leaders to challenge ills in government and society leaves a vacuum for evil to erode family values.
The government’s inability or unwillingness to implement laws regulating internet content is among the greatest threats to the Filipino family, young adults and children. Internet service providers continue to ignore a law blocking child sexual abuse materials, and the government is complicit in ignoring this. This is causing horrific moral decadence among families, adults and the youth. The availability of abusive online materials to young boys drives them to sexually assault girls as young as 6 years old.
The UN Children’s Fund says as many as 2 million Filipino children have been sexually abused online and in the community in one year alone. Nearly one in five children (17.1 to 22.4 percent) have experienced sexual violence within their community or home.This is the great challenge for all Filipino families, and leaders in society and the Church to unite on board the balangay of human rights — especially children’s — and defend moral values and human dignity./PN
