\'Matapobre\' Hospitality - A Commentary PDF

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1 ‘Matapobre’ Hospitality: A Commentary

The “matapobre” mindset is usually defined or associated with people from affluent societies looking down on the poor. It has become prevalent especially in this time, wherein it seems ordinary to see someone with that kind of attitude. But hospitality that is off-limits for the poor called “matapobre hospitality” may be a concept we have heard only now, but has been existing long before someone has acknowledged it. This whole matapobre hospitality is shown through situations that happen in institutions or places we commonly occupy, such as business establishments, where they entertain you only when you look like a wealthy customer, banks, where clerks treat you well only when you dress like a wealthy client, and even in our homes, where we happen to be selective when allowing visitors in particularly during fiestas. All these examples imply that matapobre hospitality is displayed anywhere, happens anytime, done by mostly anyone, consciously or not. Even the pobre harbors the matapobre mindset. Even the rich disrespects his fellow rich. Sadly, even Filipinos look down on fellow Filipinos. With this issue being tackled, hospitality isn’t just defined as the act of being friendly and welcoming to guests, but it can also be linked with simply respect. In this sense, Filipinos’ “matapobre” hospitality corresponds to the philosophy of respecting anyone except the poor, or maybe except anyone a person sees as a “lesser being”. This outlook has been wired into people’s system and culture, which results to them respecting who they want to respect based on their judgment, allowing who they want to allow based on what they observe physically. Asserting the situation, or common habit, wherein people look at one’s outfit in order to decide what treatment they will give that person, it may be a small detail but this suggests a bigger picture, a bigger problem. The truth is that when we judge someone by what they are donning, we are also reducing someone's character. There is more to this social issue than just advising people to not judge a book by its cover, or to not look down on the poor. In general, everything boils down to one aspect that everyone, or

2 specifically Filipinos, seems to be lacking of: respect. The author of the original text clearly wants to reiterate the importance of paying respect to people, without selectivity, of all social classes, which is simply a subjective concept the society has established to create a differential partition between the poor and the rich. There shouldn’t be any definition of poorness and richness when it comes to dealing with people because we are all Filipinos occupying a small, insignificant space in our land. We are nothing but one in the crowd of Filipinos. All these wealth, or lack thereof, should be cancelled out of the equation. Society is made up of individuals with the same goal, and if the Filipino society experiences problems with its system, then it is the individuals’ responsibility to act and find solutions for the benefit of all. However, if the problem is the individuals themselves, it would be difficult for the system and society itself to recuperate, especially when people dismiss the fact that the wrong lies among themselves. The focus of the column is to serve as a wake-up call to Filipinos that this problem is getting out of hand that it doesn’t even appear as a problem for most of us but a situation occurring on a regular basis. There’s a clear difference between being ignorant and acting indifferent. The old joke tells ignorance is not knowing, and indifference is not caring. Evidently, indifference is what we have been possessing. We know it’s happening, but we choose to ignore it and be passive about the consequences that come with it. Maybe Filipino hospitality is a myth. Maybe we have lost a respectful culture. Maybe we have no social sophistication up to this point. But a mannerly and polite “excuse me” when passing by a crowd would be appreciated. A simple and sincere “thank you” when buying from a street vendor could be a transformation starter. All these little things when turned into habits and eventually a part of our culture would result to a kinder nation where people treat one another with utmost respect. There may have been a paradigm shift showing in our present society because of this matapobre hospitality. The country may have been “falling apart”, but we can do something to go back and rethink of what went wrong. Change will not happen overnight, but if we start practicing kindness and respect little by little, it will go a long way.

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4 WORK CITED

Tan, Michael L. "’Matapobre’ Hospitality." Philippine Daily Inquirer, 4 Oct. 2017. Web. 2 Sept. 2019....