Being is the core of Western philosophy. We see this centrality, for instance, in scholastic philosophy and in existentialism.

Since language mirrors thought, philosophies also reflect the languages on which they are based. When Aristotle wrote his Categories, he was actually reflecting the Greek parts of speech. In general the structure of sentences in Western languages can be simplified in having a subject and a predicate linked by the verb `to be'. Even sentences with transitive verbs like `Juan loves Maria' can be rephrased as `Juan is a man loving Maria.' Symbolic logic further transforms the words into symbols in an equation where the equal sign (=) is the linking verb in the affirmative sentence. If the sentence is in the negative, still the linking verb is present.

THE PROBLEM

Unlike Western languages, Philippine languages do not have the verb `to be' (or esse in Latin). Thus Cebuano Visayan, the largest spoken Philippine first language has no linking verb. For instance, `tawo ako' (I am a man) can be rearranged `ako tawo.' Ilocano, another major Philippine language, reflects the same phenomenon. `Taoak' is the natural order, while `siak tao' or `siak ket tao' is the transposed order.

Tagalog also has no linking verb.¹`'Tao ako' is the natural order while `ako ay tao' is the transposed order. `Ay' is not the linking verb, but the marker to show the transposed order. Other attempts to look for a perfect translation of `to be' like na, naroon, nasakalagayan, and may/mayroon are wanting.² Since the correct translation of Western philosophies is important, the approximate translation/s of being should be encouraged.

Language is the house of philosophy. If being is most important in Western philosophies, should being also be the concern of Filipino philosophy? An analogy may clarify the question. Because temperate countries experience plenty of snow, people there have made it a major part of their culture. Their agricultural practices and way of life have been accommodated to the eventuality of winter. They have words to depict the various states of snow and weather: their homes are designed to cope with snow; they have winter sports and other things connected with a snow culture. In countries with four seasons, their languages are tense-oriented. English, for instance, has a dozen tenses.³

On the other hand, Filipinos do not have snow. So why should they be concerned with snow? Filipinos naturally are more concerned with other meaningful aspects of the weather that affect their lives. Because Filipinos have no snow, they have no original word for it. But they have quite a vocabulary for things like rice in all its states, that is, from the seed to its planting, harvesting and cooking stage. Because the two seasons in the Philippines are basically tag-init (hot season) and tag-ulan (rainy season), tenses in Philippine languages are not stressed.⁴ We shall return to this point latter.

Language therefore mirrors the concerns of life, and consequently mirrors a people's world view or philosophy. Hence Filipino philosophers primarily concerned with being are like Filipinos concerned with snow!

In short, what is the counterpart of being? Philosophers have often pointed out the dialectic between being and becoming. If being is not the concern of Filipinos, is it becoming? These are the problems we want to answer in this chapter.

ON BECOMING

We shall approach becoming through different avenues: (1) language, (2) behavior, (3) epistemology, (4) the belief on fate, and (5) comparative Oriental philosophy.

Language

Earlier linguists tended to project the Latin and Western linguistic structure upon the Philippine languages. But modern linguists realize that instead of tense, Philippine languages are mode-oriented. The mode focus is shown in the affixation to focus something. Thus 'kain' (food, to eat) can be affixed as kumakain, nakakakain, kinakain, pinapakain, nagpapakain, nakikikain, ipanakakain, ikakakain, etc., to stress either the actor, the food, the beneficiary of eating, the instrument of eating, the place of eating, etc.⁵

The concern for the focus or mode, instead of tense, reflects a concern for relationships. According to one observer, "Ours is a culture that focuses on relations."⁶

Behavior

In terms of behavior we have shown that Filipino philosophy is concerned with the harmony with oneself, with others, with the visible and invisible world.⁷ The following Tagalog proverb reflects the concern for being with others:

Madali ang maging tao,

Mahirap ang magpakatao.

(It is easy to be born a man,

but it is difficult to act like one.)

That is why kapwa (fellow being) is a core value.⁸ Although the Filipino is not individualistic, he has always to balance the demands between himself and others. He strives for harmony, but since life is never static, conflict occurs not rarely. Every culture has its theme and countertheme. So the process between conflict and harmony is part of a constant balancing act. The following conclusion on the Ilongots, a tribal group in Northern Luzon, may apply to the entire nation:

Whereas people elsewhere stress the tensions among individuals or between the private person and her or his compelling public bonds, Ilongots see continuities, casting social life as a sort of "actualization" of the emotions, and viewing difference and division as a product of affective processes that are at once invigorating and stressful, ever destructive of the ideal state of balance and equality which, at the same time, they sustain.⁹

Epistemology

We mentioned above that English sentences, like other Western languages, always have a subject, predicate and linking verb. Where the subject is wanting, English puts an impersonal subject, like `it is raining' or `there is a man.' But in Tagalog (and other Philippine languages), `it is raining' is simply `umuulan', while `there is a man' is `may tao.' In technical linguistic terms, it is a monadic solidarity. Now Philippine sentences can have from one to four solidarities, something absent in English and other foreign languages.¹⁰

What does this linguistic structure imply? It means that Western languages stress the horizontal (as implied in their tense orientation). The epistemological consequence is that English and other western languages tend to judge things as either/or.

On the other hand, Philippine languages have not only the horizontal equivalent of subject and predicate (two elements), but even more solidarities. As epistemological consequence, a Filipino tends to think both/and, which mentality suits his concern for harmony. He shares this logic with his Asian neighbors.¹¹

The either/or mentality leads to universal and cultural imperialism because of its zeal to reduce truth to essences. Truth for its own sakeeven at the sacrifice of personsis the goal of either/or thinking. We can therefore understand why church history in the West has been marked with wars and persecutions for the sake of orthodoxy.

On the other hand, the both/and mentality leads to respecting pluralism. For the Filipino, truth must not be sacrificed out of respect for other persons, but harmony is a higher value than truth. Truth is not just conformity between the mind and the object. For the Filipino truth is more in the realm of the poetic and the mystical because of his concrete mind and because truth in its development can always go deeper. Chapter IV explained that Filipino reasoning follows geometric logic. This type of logic is not horizontal in a one-to-one relationship of concepts. Symbols, like proverbs, are multivalent. That means propositions as both/and can co-exist. But they can also be morally ambiguous; they are like mandalas which can have different levels of interpretation.¹² If the mandala, like a geometric design can be a projection of the world or serve as cosmic map, so too can proverbs for simple Filipinos in their homespun wisdom.

Gulong ng Palad

Anthropologists and folklorists have pointed out that proverbs reveal the world view of a people. The following proverbs on fate and life reflect the Filipino mind.¹³ Some adages compare fate to a wheel. We see this in the following Tagalog saying:

Ang buhay ng tao'y gulong ang kahambing,

Sa ibabaw ngayon, bukas sa ilalim.

(Man's life is like a wheel,

Up now, tomorrow down.)

The same idea of wheel is in these Ibanag proverbs:

Y palag kunna aliring

Mabbuebbuelta, mabbirbiring.

( Fate is like a wheel;

it moves back and forth, it turns around.)

Magattam ka la palac

Ta panotolim ta gukag,

Baccan nu ari marueda

Y aggao mangngan noca.

(Just be patient with fate

with your frequent going down;

after all, the wheel of day

will forever keep on turning.)

Related to the metaphor of the wheel is the metaphor of up and down. In Cebuano Visayan,

Ang kinabuhi sa tawo sama sa dagat,

may taub, may hunas.

(Life is like the sea,

there is low tide and high tide.)

In Ilocano,

Ti tao kasla kulintaba,

nu agtayab, gumato bumaba.

(Man is like a firefly;

if it flies it goes up and down.)

In Tausug,

Bang sukud bunut, hilantup;

Bang sukad batu hilu' dang.

(When fate is like a coconut husk, it floats;

When fate is like a stone, it sinks.)

Another compares life to the ever-changing seasons and times of the day. The next one combines the metaphor of the season and the wheel of fate.

Ang panaho'y tambiling, ang mundo'y baliktarin,

Ang napapailalim ay napapaibabaw din. (Tagalog)

(Time changes and the world is ever turning.

He who is down under may be on top sometime.)

Likewise,

Ti biag kasla aldaw ken rabii,

no maminsan nadagaang,

no dadduma nalam-ek;

no maminsan naraniag,

no dadduma nasipnget. (Ilocano)

(Life is like day and night,

sometimes warm,

sometimes cold;

sometimes bright,

sometimes dark.)

Although Filipinos believe in fate, there is also the element of freedom.¹⁴ The proverbs on fate with the metaphors of the wheel, of up and down, the changes of seasons, all point to life as a constant flux or becoming.

The right time or kairos is contained in the word `tiyempo' (time). Thus `matiyempuhan' means "to find or do" something "at the precise advantageous moment" while `tiyempu-tiyempu' means "dependent upon the accident of correct timing."¹⁵

Comparative Oriental Philosophy

Comparative Oriental philosophy is important because it provides insights into Filipino philosophy. In the metaphor of family resemblance, not all the members of the family look the same because the totality of traits are, so to speak, not in every individual. Thus Chinese and Indian philosophies are different, but they have a family resemblance.

Taoism, which stresses the harmony of the yin and yang principles, is actually a philosophy of becoming. The Chinese language, like the Philippine languages, also does not have the verb to be. Yet Chinese philosophy can go deep in its speculations.

While Filipino philosophy has some features common to Yin-yang philosophy, there are also differences.¹⁶

CONCLUSION

From the foregoing evidence, we can therefore conclude that the counterpart of being in Filipino philosophy is becoming. What is its English translation? In Tagalog becoming is perhaps rendered as kapagiginghan, from `pagiging' or `maging' as in `maging dapat' (to become worthy). The Cebuano Visayan translation would be kahimoan (from `himo'), while the Ilocano translation is ka-agbalinan (from `agbalin').

Becoming is taken here not in its abstract sense but as something concrete. We have seen above the Filipino's concrete concerns, be it in language, in his social relations, in his search for the truth, or in his fate.

The concrete concern of the Filipino for becoming implies a metaphysics which needs further refinement. If philosophy is the search for relevance and meaning in life, then metaphysics can be a parteven in any primitive culture. J. Ladrière says that "if culture is the representation of the meaningfulness of reality, it must exhibit in its own fundamental constitution the fundamental structuration of reality itself."¹⁷ He continues:

Metaphysics is that part of culture which makes explicit the ultimate significance of culture itself, by giving in an explicit form an interpretation of the fundamental structure of reality. It gives fulfillment to what is prepared and tacitly announced in the other achievements of culture.¹⁸

We said above that being is the core of Western philosophy partly because of the structure of the Western languages. In the history of western philosophy, "in most, though not in all, philosophical systems Being was given prominence while Becoming was placed in an inferior and subordinate role."¹⁹ That is why, beginning with Plato, ideas came to be the most important concern: idea was translated to being. In the history of Western thought, ideas were considered as eternal. Thus scholastic philosophy was concerned with eternal truths. This influenced pre-Vatican II dogma where doctrines was presented as a historical truths. Vatican II has recognized the dynamic state of reality. Now it is encouraged to present truth historically.

If becoming is a major concern of Filipino philosophy, does this mean a neglect of being? Before we can answer the question, first a short digression. The idea of the holy has two dimensions: the transcendent and the immanent. Western thought is concerned with the holy as transcendent, but Filipinos prefer to view the holy as immanent.²⁰ Since the model-preference depends upon the culture, those who uphold one should not impose theirs on others.

Likewise the law has two sides: right and duty. Western thought gives more importance to right because it values more the individual. On the other hand, Filipinos emphasize more the duty aspect of law because of their social philosophy. This anthropological background of law has consequences in legal philosophy.²¹

Now reality also has two sides: being and becoming. Western thought values more highly, and this has its epistemological consequences as explained above. The preference of being to becoming is similar to the preference of the transcendent to the immanent, and of right to duty. On the other hand, the Filipino preference of the immanent to the transcendent, of duty to right, has also its counterpart in the preference of becoming to being.

Furthermore, being is not the only transcendental. We know that being as transcendental is also truth, good, one, and beautiful. We have shown in Chapter IV that beauty is the transcendental that appeals most to Filipinos. It is hoped that other Filipino philosophers will pay more attention to becoming and help in giving it more refinement.

Good was mentioned on this chapter. The opposite of good, which is evil, will be explained in the next chapter.

1. See Leonardo R. Silos, "Tagalog and the Question of Being," Philippine Studies, 29 (1981), 5-25.

2. Fr. Roque Ferriols, S.J., and his followers at the Ateneo de Manila University translate being as meron (from mayroon).

3. Leonardo N. Mercado, Elements of Filipino Philosophy (Tacloban City: Divine Word University Publications, 1974), p. 108.

4. Ibid., pp. 107-110.

5. Doreen G. Fernandez and Edilberto N. Alegre, Saap, Essay on Philippine Food (Manila: Mr. & Mrs. Publishing Co., 1988), pp. 77-90.

6. Ibid., p. 80.

7. Mercado, Elements of Filipino Philosophy, pp. 191-194.

8. Virgilio G. Enriquez, From Colonial to Liberation Psychology, The Philippine Experience (Quezon City: University of the Philippines Press, 1992), pp. 39-55.

9. Michelle Z. Rosaldo, Knowledge and Passion, Ilongot Notions of Self and Social Life (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1980), p. 223.

10. Ibid., p. 75.

11. Felix Wilfred, "Dialogue Gasping for Breath? Towards New Frontiers in Interreligious Dialogue," FABC Papers, no. 49, pp. 43-46.

12. Giuseppe Tucci, Teoria e Prattica del Mandala (Roma: Ubaldini Editore, 1969).

13. Here we cite some proverbs from the compilation of Damiana L. Eugenio (comp. and ed.), The Proverbs (Quezon City: The U.P. Folklorists, Inc., 1992).

14. Leonardo N. Mercado, Elements of Filipino Theology (Tacloban City: Divine Word University Publications, 1975), pp. 67-76.

15. Jose Villa Panganiban, Diksyunaryo-Tesauro Pilipino-Ingles (Quezon City: Manlapaz Publishing Co., 1972), p. 984.

16. See Chapter XI.

17. Jean Ladrière, "Metaphysics and Culture," The Asian Journal of Philosophy, 2 (1990), 20.

18. Ibid., p. 21.

19. Milac Capek, "Change," The Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 1967, II, 76.

20. Leonardo N. Mercado, "Religious Models and Filipino Thought," Solidarity (no. 128; October-December 1990), pp. 21-23. See also Inculturation and Filipino Theology (Manila: Divine Word Publications, 1992), pp. 43-73.

21. Leonardo N. Mercado, Legal Philosophy: Western, Eastern, and Filipino (Tacloban City: Divine Word University Publications, 1984).