Catholics in paradise

If you had asked me before our trip about religion in the Philippines, I would have probably guessed that they are Catholic, having been a Spanish colony. However, I had no idea just how religious people are here. It struck us as soon as we stepped out of the airport onto the lively streets of Manila. On almost all of the funky jeepneys (a hybrid version of a jeep and a van used for public transport all over the Philippines) is a graffiti reading ‚Jesus is Lord‘, ‚God saves‘ etc.

On the inside these vans are usually equipped with crosses and Virgin Marys dangling from the rear mirror, along with embroidered banners bearing religious slogans. All these items sometimes obstruct the view through the tiny windscreens so much that you really do want to make three crosses before the driver navigates through the crazy traffic. Filipino ferries are not exactly renowned for their safety record, but even (or especially) here, many people appeared comforted by the life-size statue of the Virgin Mary that thrones in the middle of the sleeping deck, instead of being disconcerted by the fact that the eldery vessel does only have life vests for about half the passengers on board. And even the pharmacists seem to trust god more than their own medicine as the slogan of a big drugstore chain shows: ‚Jesus heals.‘

But being Catholic in the Philippines goes much further than attending mass on Sunday and praying for safe journeys in unsafe traffic conditions. It’s actually the only country other that the Vatican itself that does not have a divorce law. Similarly, there is a very strong pro-life lobby that tries to stifle education about contraception, and you can see huge banners hanging from houses or churches which protest against the goverment’s plan to legalise abortion. These banners read: Obey God’s will! Obviously many Filipinos do obey, and this means accepting every baby God wants to give you. Statistically, a Filipino woman gives birth to 3.9 children (compared to the world average of 2.4, and the German average of 1.4 childern per woman). This results in a fast growning population that the country and its economy can not easily handle. It’s hard to see how some of these very conservative attitudes should change soon, because the reach of the Church in the Philippines is far. Even in remote villages, in the middle of the jungle, where people live in basic bamboo huts, wash in the river and have no electricity, the next church is never far. And the churches are always full, no matter what day of the week it is.

Flipping through a local edition of Cosmopolitan, you find questions posed like ‚Would you move in with your boyfriend before you are married?‘ and the majority of the readers votes No, you should not. While the society appears very westernised on the surface, things are still quite different here.

I can’t help raising an eyebrow when encountering some of these religiously motivated conservative attitudes, but the Philippines were at the same time the most easy-going and colourful destination on our trip so far – the vibe of a tropical paradise just pervades everything. The Filipinos always have a smile on their face, are warmhearted, polite, and – despite religious restrictiveness – in fact very laid back. Three weeks here were not enough – we feel like we might come back at some point to this incredible place.