Abstract

One of the most widely acknowledged Filipino cultural values is utang na loob. Sometimes translated as “debt of gratitude,” it refers to an informal form of reciprocal social obligation that arises when a person is significantly assisted by another during a difficult time. As it touches on the Filipino sense of human dignity and social responsibility, utang na loob is one critical theme in most research investigating the characteristics of the Filipino psyche, culture, and social behavior. Explaining the nature and occurrence of utang na loob, however, has its challenges, foremost of which is how to appropriately account for its negative or morally problematic instantiations. This essay examines how some approaches that regard utang na loob as a moral virtue handle this challenge. After identifying several difficulties with these approaches, the essay argues for an alternative approach that maintains the status of utang na loob as a cultural value whose instantiating actions are subject to moral evaluation.