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Given the Philippines’ American and Spanish heritage, it’s easy to fall into the trap of assuming that you can do business here in standard Western mode. Manuel Quezon, the first President of the Philippine Commonwealth during the years before World War II, once said: “The Filipinos are the most occidental people of the Orient.” However, as discussed in my case study column (Filipino Business World 101), there are many subtleties and nuances that make the business terrain here tricky for the newcomer. This column discusses a few things you should bear in mind.

Business Etiquette: Start out by addressing a new business acquaintance by his or her family name. “Mister” is obviously proper for men, while many married Filipinas prefer “Mrs.”; use “Ms.” sparingly, or at least until her preference is clear. Filipinos are status conscious, so be quick to use formal titles: Doctor Aquino, Attorney Rodriguez, Secretary de Ocampo. Avoid using someone’s first name until they’ve known you for a while, or until they ask you to be more informal.

Many Filipinos have multiple names: Enrique Ramon, Juan Jesus, Maria Teresita. Always ask what they prefer to be called, then make a note regarding both formal names and nicknames (with proper spelling). Nicknames, some of them seemingly flippant, are common: Johnnyboy, Peachy, Babes, Junior, Booboy. In written form, the nickname is often enclosed in quotations as a middle name: Antonio “Tonyboy” Cojuangco, Ferdinand “Bong Bong” Marcos.

The rules on handshakes are about the same as in the West, although Filipinos may use a little more contact (a pat on the side of the arm as gesture of hospitality or friendship). If there is a clear status differential, or you are meeting a senior executive, it may be best to let him/her offer the handshake first.

Filipinos have fascinating nonverbal language, much of it involving facial expressions. Lifting the eyebrows without smiling means no — but lifting the eyebrows while smiling is used to greet a friend. Filipinos often point by pursing their lips. Pointing your finger is a definite no-no, and you should avoid too-direct eye contact.

Time Orientation in General: Although there is a tendency to think of the Philippines as a place where it’s fine to be late, this is no longer true. Businesspeople have gradually come to appreciate the important of punctuality, and it’s best to arrive on time. I generally allow extra time for traffic congestion and unexpected delays, figuring its better to kill some time in a coffee shop than to be an hour late for a key meeting. It’s always a good idea to call ahead to confirm a business appointment, either earlier the same day or the afternoon before the meeting.

For most social occasions, it is almost rude to arrive at the stated time. Fashionably late is the name of the game, by as much as an hour. At a party, the more important the guest, the later he or she arrives. More generally, expect slow and indifferent service wherever you go. Integrate that concept and don’t try to fight it, as it won’t do you any good to complain except on a situational basis. Try to adapt a Zen frame of mind when shopping or dealing with crowds rather than fuming or doing a slow burn. No point.

Time Orientation as Related to Business Deals: The pace of doing business in the Philippines is casual and leisurely, to say the least. Things usually unfold at a snail’s pace that can be downright excruciating for the results-oriented Westerner (I can and do so testify). However, it has been like that here for centuries and current trends toward Westernized modes of business interaction have yet to make a significant dent in long-established custom. If you aren’t a patient person, it might be a good idea to practice deep breathing and mental imagery; getting upset about it is probably going to be counterproductive.

The pace and content of meetings is different than Westerners are used to. There may be several minutes of small talk before getting down to business (about the stock market, basketball, the latest flap at Malacañang, whatever). People like to hang around afterwards for more of the same, even if the meeting itself has been tense. It would be impolite to hop up and immediately take your leave, even if you’re running late for another meeting or you’ve just lost a difficult negotiation. Mend fences, leave with a smile and hearty farewell, and return to do battle another day.

Gandhi in the Philippines: Many Westerners are used to organizational cultures in which confrontation is the norm. In meetings, folks show their feelings, glare and gesticulate, criticize and even yell one another. But — hey, no hard feelings — they end up going out for a drink after work or watching a ball game together that weekend.

Not in the Philippines! A raised voice, the wrong intonation, the implication of incompetence, or excessive direct eye contact can do major damage. Although Mahatma Gandhi invented passive resistance in the fight for Indian independence, one might think it’s actually an indigenous Philippine phenomenon. Once you’re perceived as arrogant and pushy, you’re in interpersonal quicksand. Among the forms taken by passive resistance in this context: not returning phone calls, missing deadlines, misinterpreting instructions, failure to follow through. Most of the time you won’t even known what hit you until it’s too late.

The Philippine Business as Family. The family is always of vital importance in the Philippines; not surprisingly, most business organizations are modeled on the Filipino family. The boss and subordinate often exist in a bata relationship, basically like that between parent and child (bata literally meaning “child”). As a consequence, paternalistic management styles are the norm.

Further, the Spanish compradzago system, with its dense networks of godparents and other quasi-relatives, affects most business settings. The Filipino family is defined quite broadly, and includes many people who are called “uncle” (Tito), “auntie” (Tita), and “cousin” (Pinsan), even though they are not related by blood. In many companies, a good proportion of employees fall into this category, which means they are not likely to be fired for inefficiency unless they really make a mess of things. In larger corporations, the nepotism may devolve to the departmental level and may be less salient, but it probably still exists.

As you might expect, such a paternalistic and hierarchical management structure implies that decision making in most organizations is done at the top. And unless you have some excellent inside connections or referrals, your initial contacts are not likely to be with the decision-maker. Getting to someone who can and will act on a proposal (i.e., sign a contract, write a check) often has be done through one or more gatekeepers, a process that can take a seeming eternity. However, once you finally push your way through to the top, the gears can shift quickly and deals completed at warp speed.

Unknown Vocabulary Word – “No!”: In dealing with Filipinos, you soon discover that they don’t much care for the word “no.” In a Western setting, it’s usually pretty clear when the other party isn’t interested in your proposal, whatever it might be. The responsible executive simply looks you in the eye and says: “Sorry, but I’m afraid the answer no.” If you ask why, he or she will probably tell you the reasons for the negative decision.

However, as usual, the Philippines is different. Given the culture value of pakikisama (group loyalty) and the importance of maintaining social harmony, disagreement or interpersonal tension of any sort is distasteful. As a result, business negotiations often have far more ambiguity than the typical Westerner is used to.

For example, when a Filipino executive feels that telling the truth might embarrass or offend, he or she will often beat around the bush. In this context, “yes” doesn’t necessarily mean “yes.” The word “yes” could also mean “maybe,” “I guess that’s what you want to hear,” “Perhaps someday,” “I have no idea,” or “No.” There are, of course, a wide array of subtle cues to the real meaning, some nonverbal and some in Tagalog. For example, the word mamaya implies “later today,” while saka na means more like “sometime later, maybe tomorrow, maybe next month, or next year … “

This unwillingness to say no affects the international businessperson in several ways. Many Filipino executives will always be “out” rather than answer a phone call or meet with someone they know they’re going to have to turn down. This can be very frustrating when you’re trying to nail down a contract or find out what’s going on one way or the other. It can take a lot longer to get a firm negative answer than in other countries, a situation which can leave you hanging in a way that can be hard to explain to, let’s say, the head office back in London.

Another consequence is ningas cogon, an idiomatic phrase referring to what happens when you set a blazing fire, only to watch it quickly fizzle out. The phrase refers to a rather unfortunate tendency to start projects and never finish them. Many meetings in Manila seem positive and productive, fueled by the adrenaline rush of money to be made, and sure to lead to great and wonderful things. All too often, the projects under discussion never get off the ground as the parties involved move on to other projects. This is usually because some participants were reluctant to show their reservations in the first place; they wanted to go along with the group consensus and share your fervor. While this has the short-term advantage of everyone leaving the meeting with a pleasant buzz, the longer-term consequences include puzzlement, frustration, and resentment.

Summary: In closing, I would stress that the communications and management styles described here are not dishonest or intended to cheat you. They simply reflect the Filipino culture and long-established way of doing things. The models and ideal types taught in Western-oriented MBA programs are based on certain assumptions, many of which are invalid in the Philippines. Although organizations here have most of the structures and formal procedures of Western business, actual day-to-day business processes and interactions necessarily proceed within the matrix of Filipino culture and values. Thus, the need for the Westerner to go “the extra mile” to understand what’s really going on and adapt a culturally sensitive style of doing business.

Clarence Henderson

A partially submerged mountain range in the south-eastern Pacific Ocean forms a grouping of 7,100 islands and islets called the Philippines. Tropically hot and humid and frequently struck by torrential rains and earthquake tremors, more than 90 percent of these islands are an uninhabited tropical wilderness. In fact, more than 50 percent of them remain unnamed. Luzon and Mindanao are the two largest islands upon which more than 75 percent of the population of the Philippines lives and works.

The natives of the Philippines call themselves Filipinos. Originally this term denoted a person of Spanish descent born in the Philippines, similar to the Creole of the Spanish-American colonies, but the name has been applied to the 80 percent of the population of Malays Christianized since the 1800s.

Arriving from the many Malay Islands and tracing their origins to approximately 3000 B.C.E., the aboriginal inhabitants arrived in successive waves and formed their own unique customs, lore, and dialects. Today these aboriginal dialects number more than 80 percent; as well, most people are fluent in English and Spanish. Since 1946, when the Philippines gained its independence from Spain, Tagalog, a Malayan dialect, has been declared the official language.

Although the Filipinos have long had trade contacts with the Chinese, Japanese, Portuguese and East Indians, the strongest influence came from the Spanish and the Americans. In the 1300s Arab missionaries brought the faith of Islam to some of the smaller southern islands and those who adopted the faith are called Moros. Perhaps the first Christian influence was the Portuguese navigator and explorer Ferdinand Magellan’s landing in 1521, but the strongest was the Spanish rule and colonization which began in 1565 and lasted 333 years until the Treaty of Paris in 1898, when Spain sold the Philippines to the United States for $20 million.

So powerful was the influence of the Spanish rulers and the Roman Catholic missionaries that the small feudal units called barangays were not only quickly and easily conquered, they also rapidly embraced Spanish names, customs, and foods. Enraptured by the colorful Roman Catholic ceremonials, the Filipinos readily converted to the religion of Spain as well. Many vestiges of this protracted influence are still very much a part of daily life in the Philippines. Women stress modesty in dress and primness in behavior, and girls from fine families make public appearances usually only when discreetly chaperoned.

The Spanish custom of the late afternoon break called the merienda is much enjoyed by the Filipinos and frequently includes a variety of small or light savory snacks or dishes. The merienda is never considered to be a meal because it does not include rice. The Asian heritage insists that only when rice is present, at least in one of its many forms, is a meal a proper meal. Late evening meals followed by city-strolling is an older custom replaced recently by earlier dinner hours as the newer American influence presses in.

The 25 percent of the land under cultivation yields vital subsistence crops of corn, sweet potatoes or yams, and from ancient hillside terraces comes rice. Many tropical fruits including coconuts, bananas, mangoes, oranges, papayas, and calamansi (similar to lemons and limes) are grown. Each crop takes a place in an interesting cuisine that blends influences from China, Malaysia, Spain, and most recently, the United States.

China’s staples of rice and noodles are also staples in the Philippines but in a form not used in China: served together in a dish called pancit. Many of Spain’s dishes that mix ingredients in one casserole for a hearty main dish have found a place on Filipino tables: puchidas and pucheros are hearty variations on Spanish stews called cocidas, which are mixtures of slow-simmered legumes and vegetables with meats included whenever possible; the Spanish caldereta is a fish stew which becomes the Filipino kaldereta, a stew made with goat meat.

The Spanish conquistadores brought chocolate from their Mexican conquests to Spain, and the Spaniards brought it to the Philippines. Filipinos often enjoy a frothy hot chocolate for breakfast and a bitter-chocolate richness in the sauces of many chicken or duck dishes (similar to the Mexican mole). One of these is called pato ng may tsokolate.

The marriage of Chinese and Spanish cuisines together with the native tropical fruits and vegetables produces other interesting dishes. Chinese spring roll skins, those delicate, tissue-like pastry leaves, are used to produce lumpia. These are similar to spring rolls but are filled with a mix of ingredients that leave no doubt as to their Philippine origin: garlic, pork, chicken, bean sprouts, shredded cabbage, and finely shredded coconut palm hearts – a tropical touch with a nod to Chinese origins!

From 1898 to 1946, when the Philippines gained independence, American influences added yet another dimension to culture and customs. Freedom of speech, free elections, and free enterprise found a place in everyday Philippine life together with some incursions of American slang, hurry-up living, and convenience snack foods such as hamburgers and hot dogs and the slabs of meat Americans call “steak.” In fact, in deference to American tastes, many native dishes tempered their garlic flavoring and removed the Filipino condiments made from fermented fish – patis and bagoong – pungently strong in taste and odor for American palates.

But the intricacies of a fine cuisine are not part of every Filipino’s table. Though the tropical climate is a benign environment, many poor people subsist on little more than rice, sometimes stretched with the addition of corn. Others manage with rice lightly flavored with patis or bagoong sauce. Every grain of rice is treasured, as it is in all rice countries, and appetites are appeased by many types of dishes from gruels to puddings and treats made of glutinous rice as well as the more familiar fluffy rice.