Comments on: Why does the Philippines dislike India? (updated)

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By: cvj

cvj — Mon, 06 Feb 2006 18:42:59 +0000

I’m a Filipino working in IT. There is truth in what is said in the comments above (especially #62), but I think part of the ‘hate’ has to do with competition for IT, Outsourcing and Call Center jobs of which India has the lion’s share. As for me, I’ve worked in India and colleagues from India have also worked in the Philippines and i would consider the experience to be positive in general. I am hopeful that sometime in the future, such insular attitudes from my people will be replaced with healthy respect.

By: आलोक

आलोक — Mon, 06 Feb 2006 11:56:13 +0000

There is a reason why Filipinos “hate” India. Actual, it’s not India they hate, it’s the Indians that live in Philippines. There are about 170,000 Indians in the Philippines, most of them are traders and money lenders. Indians there are called “5-6″ – give 5 and take 6. That’s what makes them unpopular. These Indians are what the Filipinos identify India with, and therefore probably “hate”.

By: dhulandrhar bhatwadekar

dhulandrhar bhatwadekar — Mon, 06 Feb 2006 09:23:23 +0000

Was really surprised to say the Filipinos dislike Indians. I have been working in Manila for about 15 months now and all the interactions I have had with the locals has been positive. They are pretty friendly and casual Filipino friends always shown interest in knowing about India……….have not heard a disparaging remark about India. My Filipino colleagues have made me feel pretty welcome and go out of their way to be helpful.

Also lived in Thailand for about 11 years (finished high school and undergrad there) and felt less welcome there than in Philippines. Infact during a drinking session (about a month back) after a hectic meeting my Thai colleague remarked to me “Thais don’t really like Indians”……….just hope it was the alcohol talking!!!!

” I had two philippino kids in my globalization and media class and they railed against India at every opportunity. They had this intense dislike for Bollywood and Indian media products and always tried to goad me into discussions of Bollywood even though I made it clear that I didn’t grow up watching Bollywood movies and don’t know anything about the industry one way or the other.”

While flipping channels I always stop at the tagalog movie channels………man, bollywood and tagalog movies are brothers separated during the kumbh mela!!! Add some song and dance and lo and behold you have a bollywood movie in tagalog.

By: Michael H.

Michael H. — Sun, 05 Feb 2006 15:02:45 +0000

Here is the probable explanation for why India is held in low esteem by Philippinos:

No international laws govern the christening of countries; the label that sticks is determined by the tastes or even the sanity of its rulers. Anti-colonialism, however, is the most common rationale for national renaming. Filipinos have long bristled at the colonialistic implications of calling their country the Philippines, in honor of Philip II of Spain. During the regime of Ferdinand Marcos, there was a campaign to rename the country “Maharlika”, a native word meaning noble and aristocratic. Plans for the rechristening proceeded apace until an academic pointed out that the word was probably derived from Sanskrit. Fine, its proponents said, Sanskrit is a non-imperialist language. Yes, replied the scholar, but “Maharlika” was most likely derived from the words “maha lingam,” meaning “great phallus.” That was the end of the campaign. – From Time Magazine, 19 June 1989 (therefore presumably true) – Courtesy of http://www.netfunny.com

I remember reading the original Time article many years ago.

By: Nanda Kishore

Nanda Kishore — Sun, 05 Feb 2006 11:44:24 +0000

I have met very few French people in my life, and I got the impression they liked India, especially because it was an ancient (and very different) culture etc. They also seemed to like Indian food a lot, though not to the extent the British do (understatement). Most of them, however, seemed to fit into this (American/British) stereotype of cultural snobs and disliked the USA ("they have no culture"). Some of them also sounded a little vacuous about political/global affairs, even as they railed against globalisation etc. All in all, though, it's still intriguing.

I can't imagine why Phillipines would have such a negative view of India. Most Indians don't know much about the country (we are too USA-UK obsessed, and the English language helps in that regard), but I would think most Indians will have neutral views, if any, about them. Surprising.

By: Nazir

Nazir — Sun, 05 Feb 2006 08:37:31 +0000

Wonder why the BBC didn’t poll the occupied nation of Kashmir? I can understand the subservient and hindutva contolled hindustani media not caring to ask the opinion of Kashmiri’s, but I expected a fair shake from the BBC. Shame on them.

By: Ananthan

Ananthan — Sat, 04 Feb 2006 09:26:03 +0000

On an American website (no one likes you. Oh Nigeria and India-disliking Filipinos do)

Look at the other results, Nigerians seem to like everyone... except Iran, of course.

By: Urmi

Urmi — Sat, 04 Feb 2006 08:09:25 +0000

oops, I meant scientific.

By: Urmi

Urmi — Sat, 04 Feb 2006 08:07:06 +0000

I know this isn’t exactly a scientififc observation, but the philippinos disliking Indians makes some sense to me. I had two philippino kids in my globalization and media class and they railed against India at every opportunity. They had this intense dislike for Bollywood and Indian media products and always tried to goad me into discussions of Bollywood even though I made it clear that I didn’t grow up watching Bollywood movies and don’t know anything about the industry one way or the other. Maybe it has to do with a regional cultural imperialism thing?