Name: Vibal, Jenny Grace G.
Section: PCAS-06-602A
Paying back Parents as a Form of Debt Gratitude
Thesis:
In Filipino culture, debt gratitude is valued and practice. Children are expected to
help and provide for their parents as they progress in life. Debt gratitude is fueled by their
moral and obligation. Children are assumed to return or provide back the efforts of parents
in raising them. Although the practice is wide and considered normal already in human
nature, debt gratitude inflict pressure on a person, to do something for their family,
pressure to do well or find a job that pays well.
Debt Gratitude
Debt and Gratitude are interconnected. Debt gratitude is a form of contract that
encourages to apply the logic of market on every facet of our life, especially in areas that
has nothing to do with economics (love, friendship, and citizenship). Gratitude is a positive
emotion connected to joy, pride and admiration. Efforts or well-chosen gifts when received
fuels an emotional response of gratitude and push a person to exhaust normative
demands in return. Valuing the relationship with their beneficiary, they submit to requests
and make sacrifices inclined to their beneficiary’s interests. Gratitude encourages a
person to a kind of deed that was done to them, in a form of debt. (Roberts & Telech,
2019) Debt is a status wherein a lender is expected to payback the things they lend. In
every exchange, it becomes a connection of affection that is nurtured by loyalty and
service. (Brooks, 2015)
In fact, debt gratitude is widely practiced as it is believed to be an important value
involving the moral and obligation of a person.
Debt gratitude is practiced in the Philippines.
Filipinos are devoted when it comes to fulfilling their familial duties. Children are
raised to be God-fearing, obedient, and respectful in a great degree to people who are
older to them. Filipinos are also known for their exceptional bond specially with their
family. They put dedication and passion on nourishing their family with love and care. And
as a way of giving back in receiving such unconditional support (indebted), they give back
to express their gratitude. Filipinos conditioned the commoditization as a substitute of
caring and affection. They compensate indebtedness by replacing support and intimacy
with material commodities and financial remittances. Filipinos interpret debt gratitude or
exchanges as expressions of affection. Additionally, as each family member progresses
through the life cycle, transactions are based on relative endowments of material,
physical, and emotional resources. (McCallum, 2022)
However, although the practice is seemingly nurtured in every Filipinos it has a
weight on people to sacrifice themselves at all means to support their family.
Debt gratitude is a form of pressure in practice.
Most people relate the concept of debt gratitude to an investment. A parent fulfills
the needs of their children growing up and later when it becomes independent and wise
enough to support their own, they are expected to payback their parents. Some parents
particularly those coming from a low generating income family expects their children to
save them by fulfilling financial needs as a means of intimacy. Children are pressured to
study well, to graduate and find a job that pays well to support their family. Some even
work early and become a ‘breadwinner’ for the family. In the era of mobility and economic
transition, children are given and expected crucial tasks in helping their families 'get
ahead’. (Bulloch, 2021)
Moreover, debt gratitude is not only after the devotion to pay, but to meet more
than the demand, fulfill other factors such as love, care, and support as they feel grateful
for the person who provided for them in their desperate times.
Citations
McCallum, D.G, (2022). Affectionate remittances: Materialism and care in Filipino
transnational families in Japan. Sage Publications. Vol. 70(6) 843–859.
Brooks, D. (2015). The Structure of Gratitude. The New York Times.
Roberts, R. & Telech, D. (2019) The Moral Psychology of Gratitude. Rowman & Littlefield
of International Ltd.
Bulloch, H. (2021) Personifying Progress: Negotiating Autonomy, Obligation and
Intergenerational Aspirations in the Philippines. The Asia Pacific Journal of Anthropology.
Vol. 22 (55) 414-433