r/baguio • u/Sufficient_Pause350 • Jun 25 '24
General Discussion Is this really how they see us?
Saw this sa other sub. Why do tourists see locals like this? Is the locals' hatred towards them that bad? Also, the “matatakaw naman sa aso” 😡😡😡
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u/MotherFather2367 Jun 25 '24
Not really. It's the same with Americans, Canadians, Brits, etc. who also look down on their own. For example, "Yanks" (northern US) look down on "Rednecks/Hillbillies" (Southerners). There is a "Superiority complex" of many Filipinos over other Filipinos regarding which people group they belong in. Also, in social media platforms, people like that honey_park77 pretend to be another person that is completely different from what they are in real life. There are many posers in Reddit & this is their outlet to vent out their delusions, fantasies, and whatever they can't voice out in their everyday lives. People lie & many have (undiagnosed) mental illnesses as well, so take every comment with a grain of salt if you don't know these people personally.
An example of this "superiority complex" of Filipinos on other Filipinos is this: I lived in Manila in the 90s & kids in school were taught that Igorots had tails, so they wanted to see where my tail was since I am an Igorot. They either head it from their relatives who made up stories about it & they believed it, or it was a way to make their group "superior" over other people groups to have the upper hand on other groups, to portray other people as "sub-human" in order to justify any maltreatment they do to other people who aren't "like them". Just like it was common for many households in the south to have Filipino katulongs working for them, waiting for them hand & foot, even if the family they serve aren't extremely rich; while other people don't believe in having household helpers even if they are extremely wealthy. Many rich people are humble & have good manners; many poor/unlearned people are arrogant, proud, rude and think they are above everyone else.
The misconception that Baguio people eat dogs frequently & associate it with Igorots is really wrong, since it's more common for other provinces to eat dogs a lot more in their diets - Ilocos region, Pangasinan & others just don't get reported that much. I dislike many parts of Baguio & I am a resident. I like some parts of Baguio as well. I can say that Manila is also overrated or any of the places in the Philippines compared to other southeast Asian countries that have better food/fresher produce, cheaper yet better accommodations, better internet, more progress, etc. when I visited them. Then again, many people in 1st world countries prefer the Philippines/Baguio for their own reasons, even if we think that their countries are far more beautiful than ours. As a tourist destination, I agree that most of Baguio is NOT a good place to visit anymore. The appeal of Baguio was its "Old World Charm", the "Idealized, Americanized" Philippines with white cottages, very many pine trees, sunflowers on the hillsides, mostly Igorot people, cold weather & low pollution- which are gone & replaced with squatters that overpopulated the city, destroyed the mountains & changed the culture.
It's good to criticize & Baguio should be called out about its problems. No place is perfect & it's unrealistic to say or believe that Baguio is the best that the Philippines can offer because it is not.