HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT IN THE

PHILIPPINES

About 76 million people live in the Philippine archipelago where

more than70 mutually unintelligible languages and dialects are
spoken. The nationallanguage is Tagalog, originally the Luzon
dialect; but the English languagewas introduced to the islands by
American occupiers in the early 1900s.Despite an increasing
preference for the local language (Lopez, 1998),Filipinos are still
educated in English and Tagalog, thereby comprising oneof the
largest English-speaking countries in the world. Augmenting
thewesternization initiated by a distinctly Spanish heritage,
Americanizationhas penetrated deeper into the Pinoy (local
colloquialism for ‘Filipino’)society than into any other Asian
country. ‘The influx of American ideasand social patterns in a
broad range of institutions and the Filipinos’receptivity to them are
well-known’ (Arce and Poblador, 1977: 6).Consequently, the
Philippines stands unique as a Christian, English-speaking
democracy in Asia (Lopez, 1998; Engholm, 1991). The purpose of
this article is first to identify and describe the essence ofhuman
resource management (HRM) practices in the Philippines.
Theintention is to highlight the enduring and distinguishing
features of PinoyHRM and its determining circumstances. This is
important since thePhilippines was not included in recent research
which studied variations inHRM in Asian countries (cf. Bae, Chen
and Lawler, 1998). Neither canmuch be found in the international
academic literature on HRM in thePhilippines. This article aims to
rectify that shortcoming. Drawing on amultitude of mostly
domestic sources for secondary data, the articleattempts to provide
a generalized picture of HRM practices in thePhilippines. The
analytical framework utilized in doing so includes
threedetermining forces. First, the substantial cultural influence on
Pinoy HRMthrough the prevalence of indigenous core values is
discussed in detail.These values remain central to how modern
Filipinos think, believe, feeland act (Jocano, 1989, 1997). Second,
the specific economic/politicalsituation in the Philippines is
examined as the restricting context to PinoyHRM. Third, the forces
of globalization, not least in the form ofmultinational corporations
operating in the country, are highlighted. Theenduring resilience of
Pinoy HRM is indicated by demonstrating to whatextent foreign
multinationals in the Philippines have adjusted their HRM.
Political History

- The Philippines was a Spanish colony from 1521 until 12 June

1898 whenindependence was won, only to come under the
control of the U.S.A. Therepublic of the Philippines was
proclaimed on 4 July 1946, with ManuelRoxas as the first
president. Ferdinand Marcos was elected president on
9November 1965 and later re-elected in 1969. Since the
constitution did notallow a third term, he declared martial law
in September 1972. Martial lawbecame one-man rule lasting 13
years, creating economic and politicalcrises that resulted in
national impoverishment. The assassination on 21August 1983
of Marcos’ arch political rival Benigno Acquino on his
returnfrom exile in the U.S. began accelerated political change.
Anti-Marcos massrallies resulted in National Assembly
elections where the opposition wonabout one-third of the seats
contested. In February 1986, Acquino’s widow,Corazon, ran
against Marcos in the presidential elections. While theoutcome
was still disputed, a military revolt in Manila led by Marcos’
twotop officials initiated what later was called the ‘People
Power Revolution’.Marcos fled to exile in the U.S. where he
died in September 1989. CorazonAcquino became the new
president and despite seven military coupattempts, she served
her full term of six years. In May 1992 Fidel Ramoswas elected
president. Ex-movie actor, former town mayor of San Juan
andopposition politician Joseph Estrada was elected president
in May 1998, andGloria Macapagal-Arroyo of Ramos’ party
was elected vice-president.After a series of political blunders
and escalating scandals, in November2000, Joseph Estrada
became the first president in the history of thePhilippines to be
impeached. After a bungled trial, leading to anotherupheaval
on the streets of Manila, immediately referred to as ‘People
PowerII’, in January 2001 Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo was
sworn in as the secondfemale president of the Republic of the
Philippines.
Demographic and Economic Context

- The Philippines had a population of 76.4 million in 1999 of

which thelabour force amounted to 32.9 million (43%). The
female share of theworkforce was 31 per cent (10.2 million).
The level of education wasrelatively high with 35 per cent of
the age group in 1996 being tertiarystudents, of which more
than half (57%) were female. The average growthrate of the
population in 1980–97 was rather high at 2.5 per cent. The
totalfertility rate (births per woman) is also relatively high at
3.6. Lifeexpectancy is not high, 68 years. These facts have
contributed to a relativelyyoung population profile of the
country. The Philippines had a total GDP of82,157 million
US$ in 1997 and an annual average growth during 1990–97of
3.3 per cent. Agriculture amounted to 19 per cent of GDP
while industryaccounted for 32 per cent and services 49 per
cent. Major industries in thePhilippines were food
manufactures, electrical machinery, andchemicals/chemical
products. Agro-based products, mineral products, andfruits and
vegetables were the major exports (Westlake, 1999). Helped by
relative stability, GDP grew in the first half of 1999 by 2.4per
cent as compared with only 0.5 per cent during the same period
in 1998.Estimates were raised for 1999 growth from 1–3 per
cent to 3–5 per cent.This economic strength was mainly due to
good weather favouringagriculture which grew 6.6 per cent in
the first half from the previous year(Westlake, 1999). The
current political crisis involving the impeachment ofthe
president has reduced GDP growth projections for 2001 from
4.5–5 percent to below 3 per cent, brought the peso down to an
all-time low inrelation to the US$ while the Philippine Stock
Exchange Index has hit thelowest level in two years (Suh and
Lopez, 2000). The unemployment ratewas at 13.9 per cent in
April 2000 and the underemployment rate (wantsmore hours of
work) at the same month was 25.1 per cent. Both of theserates
were the highest since 1991, showing that almost 40 per cent of
theFilipino labour force were out of a job or were
underemployed, indicating acurrent state of calamity for the
Philippine labour market (Philippine LaborForce Survey,
2000). Institutional and Legal SettingHRM in the Philippines
has gained a prominent position in the corporatestructure, with
the current focus on manpower development. The
NationalManpower and Youth Council was coordinating and
evaluating humanresource development (HRD) programmes
 not only by the government butalso by the private sector who
have been encouraged to participate actively(Andres, 1991).
The National Manpower and Youth Council was supplantedin
1994 by the Technical Education and Skills Development
Authority. Anumber of other government agencies are involved
in non-formal HRDefforts. In the Philippines, the practice of
human resource management isgoverned by a very elaborate
legal framework.

Filipino Core Values

- According to Jocano (1989, 1997), Filipino core values make

up an intricatesystem based on the concept of asal, referring to
the inner representation ofexternal behavioural realities. It is
the standard for ideal conduct that isconsidered altogether
good, desirable, moral, ethical, beautiful and true.Asal consists
of three core elements: kapwa (relational standard),
damdamin(emotional standard), and dangal (moral standard).
The term kapwa refers to equality in status and as part of an
entity.Familism is an expression of kapwa as a relational value,
as it embodiesconcerns over the well-being of kinsmen. To
observe the kapwa standardsproperly, the norms of pakikisama
and pakikiramay should be followed.Pakikisama refers to the
commonly shared expectations, desires, orrequests to ‘go
along’ with someone when necessary for the good of thegroup.
Functionally, pakikisama means to be concerned about, to
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supportive of, and to be helpful towards people at all times; it is thestandard for
tactful and polite interaction. The strong moral undertone ofkapwa is captured in
pakikiramay, encompassing the social conduct tocondole, to express sympathy, to
share someone’s sorrows, and to showpity. Filipinos are compassionate people
who are easily moved by otherpeople’s difficulties. As pakikiramay is the
behavioural standard in timesof crisis, one has to go out of one’s way to show
concern, or otherwise riskbeing ostracized by significant others as well as the
general public (Jocano,1989, 1997).The second element of the Filipino core value
system is damdamin, bywhich Filipinos place emphasis on feelings and emotions.
This conceptunderlies much of the Filipino way of relating to all people,
events,situations, conditions and activities. It is fair to say that emotionalism
isgiven higher premium than rationalism, especially in interactions having todo
with personal honour, dignity and moral principles. So as to minimizeconflict
which could hurt damdamin, the emotionally charged norm of hiyadefines desired
social behaviour that avoids offence to others. Otherdamdamin norms are amor
propio and delicadeza (originally Spanish termsaccepted as part of the Filipino
vocabulary) which pertain to the sentimentand the moral imperative of protecting
one’s sense of personal dignity andpreserving self-esteem. Encouraging ego-
orientation, amor propio anddelicadeza are often associated with personal
eccentricity and extremesensitivity. Filipinos get emotionally upset easily when
an act done or astatement uttered is deemed as demeaning to one’s honour, even if
notintended by the other party. The emotional pain resulting from this‘perceived
or real’ insult activates amor propio into aggressive or evenviolent responses.
Persons who do not observe delicadeza are said to havemakapal na mukha (thick-
skinned face). Individuals who are insensitive tothe feelings of others are walang
hiya (shameless) and cannot be trusted asfriends. On the other hand, to persons
who are balat sibuyas (onion-skinned), there is no such thing as constructive
criticism, as all criticisms areoffensive (Jocano, 1989, 1997). Amor propio
requires that self-respectingFilipinos honour their guests with hospitality,
protecting them againstcriticism, confrontations and accusations which could lead
to unacceptableaggression (Engholm, 1991).

Evolution

- HRM as a specialized and systematic business function is a

relatively newfield in the Philippines. In the 1950s, human
behaviour in organizations wasa neglected issue because
companies focused on work simplification andmethods
improvement. In the 1970s, personnel management still rated
lowin the priorities of organizations, often only operating as a
subunit of thefinance or the manufacturing department. Lately,
many companies havebegun to reassess their corporate
philosophy in favour of regarding peoplenot as cost but as
investment and assets, professing a belief in HRM.In the case
of San Miguel Corporation (SMC), the food and
beverageconglomerate which is historically the largest listed
company and biggestemployer in the Philippines, it was the
founder himself (Don AndresSoriano) who led the way to
modern HRM. The development of aninstitutionalized
philosophy in people management took severalgenerations, but
the HRM function has always enjoyed the status it deservesin
SMC (Fajardo, 1997). Since 1990, SMC has built two training
centres toprovide highly popular courses in marketing, finance,
operationsmanagement, leadership, communications skills and
foreign languages(Selwyn, 1992). Various management
associations have been dealing with personnelmanagement.
One of them, the Personnel Management Association of
thePhilippines (PMAP) was founded in 1956. It has promoted
and givenimpetus to the institutionalization of personnel
management. During itsformative years, Philippine
corporations were more concerned aboutfinance, plant facilities
 and marketing. Personnel programmes wereinformal if they
existed at all; employees managing the small personnelunits
performed clerical tasks and rarely had a say in recruitment,
hiring,promotion or termination policies.

Human Resource Practices

- The Philippine Labour Flexibility Survey (PLFS) can serve as

an exampleof how HRM is practised in the country. The PLFS
was a national survey ofa random sample of 1,311 industrial
firms, including construction, trade andmanufacturing
companies (Standing, 1992). It was found that in most
industrial sectors a slight majority of firms hadless than 10 per
cent share of total employment that was non-regular: thatis,
casual or temporary labour, contract labour, unpaid labour
andsubcontracting. Such a limit was not evident in the
industrial sectors ofconstruction, wood products and food
processing. On job rotation, about 24per cent of firms followed
such a policy regularly and 13 per cent applied itoccasionally
(ibid.).In response to the question of whether there was gender
preference in therecruitment of production workers, over 56
per cent of the establishmentspreferred men and only about 12
per cent preferred women.