Filipinos should start to rethink their office attire. Wearing long-sleeved shirts and a tie is really impractical in a tropical climate. Perhaps if Filipino office workers are allowed to wear sando and shorts, more people would be willing to take public transport. For that matter, tens of millions of kilowatt-hours are expended on air-conditioning every year because Filipinos continue to prefer to dress like their former colonial masters.
Indigenous Filipinos dress the way they dress for a good reason. We should walk the talk if we truly believe in the wisdom of indigenous peoples. The first step is to remove the stigma in attire that is appropriate for tropical climates. Wearing a suit or conventional office attire is just a legacy of colonial rule. For thousands of years, tropical people wore what is comfortable in sweltering heat. European garb was only taken up by tropical natives because it was a means to climb the social ladder. It came at a cost, though. Beyond losing one’s indigenous cultural identity, it made the natives look like mere European wannabes.
| SUPPORT INDEPENDENT SOCIAL COMMENTARY! Subscribe to our Substack community GRP Insider to receive by email our in-depth free weekly newsletter. Opt into a paid subscription and you'll get premium insider briefs and insights from us. Subscribe to our Substack newsletter, GRP Insider! Learn more |
The impact of the legacy of this profound colonial mentality goes beyond quaint cultural nostalgia though. As mentioned earlier, a big chunk of the energy needs of tropical Third World societies like that of the Philippines’ is driven by the need for fuel-guzzling machines that artificially create the environments conducive to sustain colonial fashion sensibilities. But colonial fashion arose in societies that came to be in colder climates. Imperialism transported these fashions to tropical colonies where virulent colonial mentalities festered amongst natives desperate to climb a social ladder defined by their foreign masters. And so, from there, did the nonsensical tradition of sweltering in cold-weather attire originate and persist to this day.
The problem impacts not just energy consumption but also the traffic situation in big Philippine cities like Manila where rich people driving solo in vehicles designed to sit five to seven people comfortably take up more than their fair share of road space. The justification these road hogs make to secure their privilege to use more road space than the average Filipino is that they are averse to the use of “shitty” public transport. By “shitty”, they presumably mean the cramped barely-airconditioned public buses and commuter trains that the majority of Filipinos use to get to and from work everyday. Smaller, even shittier, public transport contraptions like tricycles, pedicabs, kuligligs and the like could also proliferate because Filipinos opt to for these rather than walk short distances.
In short, the issue is comfort.
An easy and obvious solution, therefore, is to encourage Filipinos to dress comfortably — in attire appropriate to the local climate and ones that have long been used by the islands’ indigenous peoples.
Seeing what is “trending” amongst so-called “activists” today, it seems nowadays is an opportune time to promote, revisit and, eventually, embrace traditional ways of dressing. If Filipinos could ditch obsolete fashion sensibilities ingrained in their psyches by former colonial masters, a more practical way of dressing could take hold in Philippine society. The benefits would be immense. Philippine society will be more egalitarian in both dress and transport preferences since airconditioned private transport will no longer be as important as it currently is. Walking and cycling as a practical routine (rather than the quaint curiosity that it is today) will be a more viable short-distance travel option as well. Both of these will improve quality of life in terms of less energy consumption, reduced pollution, better fitness and health, and improved self esteem.
Most important of all from an “activist” perspective, it will make the shrill rhetoric of so-called Social Justice Warriors more consistent. You can’t be a victim of colonial fashion and be an SJW espousing the plight of indigenous peoples at the same time. It just makes one less credible and laughably inconsistent.
benign0 is the Webmaster of GetRealPhilippines.com.
Globalization simply does not allow this. Even Japan and Singapore wear western business attire.
Might be suitable if we have a very good and strong local economy. But if we need more foreign investors to have jobs then the foreign dress code will prevail.
The only exception that I expect(based on observations) are the Americans. They are more open to allow their employees to wear shorts(unless in the hotel and hospitality business).
“Wearing long-sleeved shirts and a tie is really impractical in a tropical climate”. Don’t Philippine people know this already? Why then do they keep wearing office attire, i.e, long-sleeved shirts and a tie? “A habit doesn’t a priest”. What one wears in an office does NOT at all determine your performance. People usually want to impress on the outside. The reason for this is to make for what’s missing on the inside. What good is this looking “presentable” to you if you don’t even know how to operate a simple computer task?
Low-IQs wear long sleeves. High-IQs like Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Larry Page, Sergie Brin to name a few go to work in t-shirts. In Google Campus like in Microsoft their workers comes in shorts with their long boards braided hairs ready to hit the waves …
While I agree with the absurdity of having dress codes, especially for people wanting to enter government buildings to get government service they pay for…
Keep in mind many office buildings also have dress codes, which the companies that occupy the building must also abide by. It’s not necessarily the company(s) fault.
Ayala floor of the Philippine Stock Exchange did not even allow open shoes for women. Among other items in their dress code.
Philippines is a backward country. They still treat Filipino women as chattel for mortgage.
I actually agree with equal enforcement. Sure the dress codes suck, but it’s a private building and not government.. and women and man are on an equal standard when it comes to open toed shoes.
In the U.S. and the rest of the developed world they wear practical comfortable clothes. Law Enforcers in the U.S. from FBI to Police in Hawaii wear shorts in hot summer days …. in the Philippines they wear long sleeves and ties. This goes to show how the impractical low IQ brains of the Filipinos work.
Oh, I forgot, the Philippines is underdeveloped in the underworld of South East Asia … that is why they wear long sleeves.
And dressing up simple and comfortable without glams(blings) attach to your body makes you look less interesting from the bad elements of society thus making you worried less and remove some of the stress of the hardship you have to take of the whole day.
Filipinos love long sleeves in hot humid weather
Indigenous Filipinos wore G strings, with barely a shirt on the top body. We should go back then to wearing G strings.
We should review what ancient Filipinos wore, then go back wearing their clothes.
The transport system is a mess. Rich Filipinos can afford to ride on SUVs, with 7 seating capacity. While the remainder of common Filipinos, have to sweat it off, riding on public transports, that are mostly obsolete. Past administrations have not improved this transport mess. Much more the previous Aquino administration, which made the improvement of the transport system , as a “cash cow”, for corrupt people like Abaya and Aquino. They placed also incompetent people, to do the improvements. The Problem has grown worse.
The only solution here is to improve the public transport system and the public roads and highways. Improve also the rail system. Implement birth control. Filipinos are multiplying like rabbits. Ban the Roman Catholic Church, or any religion, from minding government affairs !
Does anybody knows Vietnam has higher average IQ than Filipinos?
Hong-Kong has the highest … china is on the top 5
https://iq-research.info/en/average-iq-by-country
@Oration Imperata:
Intelligent Qoutient (I.Q.) does not represent/measure the ability of people or a person. There are many characteristics, that cannot be measured by I.Q. Like: resourcefullness, “can do attitude”, innovativeness, skills, talents, character, work/personal experiences, culture, etc..these characters can lead to the success of a nation, people or a person.
Where did this person based his I.Q. studies ?
As what you said “… resourcefullness, “can do attitude”, innovativeness, skills, talents, character, work/personal experiences, culture, etc..these characters can lead to the success of a nation, people or a person.” Filipinos fail in all aspect … therefore, in general, they fail in IQ, too.
Check the population. Look at China. At 1.4 billion people, it still got an average IQ of 105.
Then look at Australia. With a population 24 million, the average IQ is 98.
Still, it has remained a good measure to determine how a person will do in both academics and real world activities. Science keeps on showing us this. And this is why IQ remains despite all the hype on EQ.
EQ is for those who failed IQ
EQ is intelligence social net for low-IQ
High-IQ fails EQ hands-down
It is also clear as day high-IQ are arrogant and abrasive. Because high-IQs do not have patience to wait on low-IQs. And high-EQ wanted understanding from high-IQ.
IQ is the best metric we have to estimate success in life. It’s well documented that higher IQ people earn more and higher IQ countries have fewer elementary problems (depression and alcoholism are still common).
It’s only so hot in Manila bec we cut down 90% of our TREES! That’s the reason for the floods too.
SAD!
It is hot in Manila because they replaced trees with goofy architectures made of cement. The land is made into a cemented street. Cement radiates heat. Gridlocked vehicles with engine running gives out heat. Add Filipino hot tempers YOU GOT EXTREME HEAT !!!
Excellent satire, well crafted that people may not get it: public transport is so bad that you don’t wear your uniforms or business attire while riding them. Jeepneys are so open, you could get splashed on, buses have such dirty seats that your uniforms get soiled. Either you bring your work clothes separately or leave them at the office and change into them when you get there. But I do like Benign0’s point too that we’d better ditch formal wear and really go casual. Thanks to the IT business, casual wear became common. Hooray for casual.
Say, at least Lindybiege (who’s from England) on Youtube has a great opinion: throw out the business suit entirely. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kQcJfTGbjuo
The short-sleeved (gusot mayaman) barong is comfortable as fuck. We are even allowed to wear it here in the ME as it is considered business attire. Mine is super worn out, but like tattered jeans it adds to its elegance.
Why do they call barong “barong tagalog”?
Why is short-size envelope called “Manila Envelope”?
Why is extra-judicial killing is called “salvage”?
I looked at the guards here at a condo who wear long sleeved shirts, long pants made of artificial fabric and thick shoes from hell. Do the companies attempt to kill the employees?
Oh, don’t even let me get started on the stupidity that is “you can’t enter this office building because your skirt is 5 cm too short”. Meanwhile streets are filled with garbage and spit everywhere…yes, the skirt length is the real problem.
FILIPINOS ARE THE MOST IMPRACTICAL PEOPLE I HAVE EVER KNOWN. They wear long sleeves and pants. Security guards and traffic policemen wear ties. Fabrics are not suited for hot humid weather.
Whereras, in Hawaii, Florida, California and Southern states they wear shorts and comfortable shirts.
And these people blame colonial mentality. They know it is colonial mentality yet they still wear colonial mentality clothes. DO NOT GET IT AT ALL !!!
It’s due to conservatism. The idea here is that either you dress “nicely” or you wear an old dirty shirt and filthy flipflops. There is a middle ground that is comfortable, cool and looks good.
And Bermuda has Bermuda shorts, a legacy of the British Army that’s still considered appropriate business wear today, overseas too. Manila’s hotter than Bermuda.
Reality really is theater. There’s no other way to describe it. It’s all so ridiculous and chaotic.
Hey trollfags,
Sando are referred to as tank tops. How can people of both genders wear tank tops for fashion?