The real Filipino

When I read the posts describing broadcaster Arnold Clavio as a “racist,” I got curious as to what the controversy was all about. When I checked the news articles and learned that that he had described some members of the Azkals as not being Filipinos in relation to the sexual harassment charges brought by Cristy Ramos against some members of the team, I got even more curious.

Clavio’s rant included saying: “Ang yayabang niyo. Porke’t dinadagsa kayo ng mga [fans] ang guguwapo ni’yo, ‘di ba?” My Cebuano brain understood this to mean “You are so arrogant. Just because your fans come in droves, you are handsome, right?”

He also said “Eh, hindi naman kayo Filipino, nagpapanggap lang kayong kayumanggi, hindi dito lumaki. Mahirap ‘yon, insensitive.” I translated this to: “You are not Filipinos. You are just pretending to belong to the brown race, you did not grow up here. That’s difficult, insensitive.”

I was surprised. I’m familiar with Clavio because I thought he was corny and a little weird. He is the only broadcaster I know who sometimes appears with a puppet on TV. The puppet’s name is Arn-arn and resembles him. Despite the puppet, I thought he was among the less hysterical and, therefore, more sensible and credible, broadcasters on TV.

My first reaction upon hearing his rant was to be very incensed. It was not because I’m a big fan of the Azkals. I’m not even a fan and I watch their games only if I have nothing better to do. I was incensed because I am the doting aunt of Filipino-Polish and Filipino-French children who were all born in Europe and are being raised there. I will resent anyone who says that my smart and gorgeous nephew and nieces are not real Filipinos just because they did not grow up here. My sisters are working hard to make sure that their children know Filipino culture by bringing them to gatherings of the Filipino community, making them listen to Filipino folk songs and stories, and letting them eat Filipino food. Where they are, those are not easy tasks.

I’ve gotten over my initial anger and I’m now glad that the controversy erupted if only to make everyone reflect on what it means to be a real Filipino. Does being Filipino require being as brown as Clavio and Arn-arn? Does it require being born and raised in the Philippines to a Filipino mother and father, never mind what the Constitution says about who Filipino citizens are?  And extrapolating from the rest of his rant, does it mean that a person who is arrogant or who sexually harasses women could not possibly be Filipino? Or that only non-Filipinos could possibly be guilty of sexual harassment? This is the basis of the accusation that Clavio is a “Filipino supremacist.”

As a student of Filipino culture, I continue to be challenged by issues on what Filipino culture is and on what kind of Filipino cultural heritage is worth saving. Benedict Anderson’s theory of “imagined communities” is helpful in explaining why colonialism makes it difficult to define nation, nationality, and nationalism. We were tribes at war with each other before the Spaniards arrived. To the problem of defining “Filipino,” we can now add globalization and the Filipino diaspora as additional challenges. Phrased this way, the issue of what a real Filipino is could be the topic of an intelligent and mature discussion on enculturation and other wonderful theories in anthropology. Racist stereotyping is not necessary.

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