ASIAN
HORIZONS
Vol. 10, No. 2, June 2016
Pages: 338-346
BAHALA NA AND THE FILIPINO/A FAITH
IN GOD’S PROVIDENCE
Catherine Punsalan-Manlimos
Philippines-USA
Abstract
Bahala na is a Filipino/a value that is often interpreted within a
worldview of fatalism and indolence. A hermeneutic of generosity can,
however, offer an alternative understanding of this Filipino/a value as
expressed in acts of resilience and risk-taking by people in life-defining
situations. In the face of suffering, through the centuries of colonization
and the onslaught of the forces of nature of their land, the Filipinos/as
express their profound trust in the reliable and abiding love of God in
bahala na. What is first misconstrued as resignation and powerlessness
may actually be enablement and empowerment rooted in an
indomitable faith in God, who is the final word in life.
Keywords: Bahala Na, Fatalism, Filipino/a Theology, Hermeneutic of
Generosity, Resilience, Trust
The faith of Filipinos/as is beautiful and profound. I begin with
this statement because it has taken me time to appreciate this faith.
As a transnational Filipino-American Catholic, I have found myself
quite critical of the ways of expression of faith of the Filipinos/as. I
have, in the past, simply labelled what I observed as superstitious
and fatalistic. It was only recently, as I have moved beyond my Euro-
American theological formation, to learn more about the history of
the Philippines, have I come to realize that colonial mentality or
Catherine Punsalan-Manlimos is Associate professor in Theology and Religious
Studies and Director of the Catholic Studies Program at Seattle University. She
received her PhD in Systematic Theology from the University of Notre Dame. She
earned a BS Physics and a Masters in Theological Studies from the Ateneo de Manila
University. Her areas of interest include Liberation Theology, Science and Religion,
and the intersection of the two. She also teaches in the areas of Catholic Theology and
Christian Anthropology. Email: [email protected]
C. Punsalan-Manlimos: Bahala Na and the Filipino Faith in God’s Providence 339
internalized oppression has informed the way I judge what is
Filipino/a as inferior to the dominant foreign way of thinking. Not
only did I view what I observed inferior, but its meaning to the
people was virtually invisible as well. I went through a graduate
theological education where nothing was said of the writings of
Filipino/a theologians.
Many Filipinos/as do not know our story as a people. Those who
may know have a version based on a historical revision of the abuses
and exploitation of colonization that was the vehicle of our
Christianization. The history that I and others have learned about the
Philippines erases the atrocities committed against our people by
those who claimed to be their liberators and saviours. Yet, there is
something about the history of our subjugation that made possible a
profound Christian faith to be born and to be borne, that is, carried.
From within the soil of conversion through conquest grew a faith that
sustained a people through great tragedies of life. It is a faith founded
on a profound trust in God whose love is abiding in times of
suffering and humiliation. This kind of faith is poignantly described
in the book of Job, where the story of innocent suffering reveals
profound faith. Such a faith enabled Latin American liberation
theologians to rediscover the liberator God of Scripture in whom
many oppressed people place their faith and hope. Contextual
theology invites us to begin with the culture and lived faith of a
people to encounter the God who is already there. The early Jesuits,
like Matteo Ricci, understood that God precedes them in the cultures
and peoples they sought to Christianize. In its 34th General
Congregation, the Society of Jesus declared dialogue with cultures
and religions as an essential element of its mission.1 Such a dialogue
is in the same spirit of the early Jesuit missionaries who looked for
God present in cultures rather than assuming they bring God to
cultures.2 It is from an attention to God’s abiding presence that we
discover and share the Good News of Jesus in ways meaningful to
people.
1“Our service of the Christian faith must never disrupt the best impulses of the
culture in which we work, nor can it be an alien imposition from outside. It is directed
towards working in such a way that the line of development springing from the heart
of a culture leads it to the Kingdom.” General Congregation 34 of the Society of Jesus,
“Decree 4: Our Mission and Culture,” in Jesuit Life and Mission Today: The Decrees &
Accompanying Documents of the 31st -35th General Congregations of the Society of Jesus, ed.
John W. Padberg, SJ, St Louise: The Institute of Jesuit Sources, 2009, 537.
2Adolfo Nicolas, “Interreligious Dialogue: The Experience of some Pioneer Jesuits
in Asia,” The Way 50, 4 (October 2011) 7-33.
340 Asian Horizons
In this essay, I examine the faith of the Filipino/a that is born of
our history and shaped by our culture. I focus on the attitude of
bahala na and argue that it is illustrative of a deep religious faith.
Bahala na, however, can easily be judged as a negative cultural trait
that encourages fatalism and indolence. Educated Filipinos/as tend
to derogatorily dismiss, disregard, or devalue it. Alternatively, bahala
na can be examined from a hermeneutic of generosity that can reveal
the faith wisdom in its meaning. In the light of this hermeneutic,
bahala na can be linguistically understood as an expression of faith in
a providential God of love, compassion, and companionship.
I argue that the phrase bahala na is an expression of faith, which
names what Filipinos/as believe, in whom they trust, and to what
they are committed.3 What appears initially as a throw away phrase
is a glimpse of the sensus fidelium, the intuition of the faith of the
Filipino/a that is shared with the whole church, that is, a belief in,
trust in, and commitment to God, present and active in history and in
our stories. Naming the distinctive elements of Filipino/a culture and
ways of being that shape their identity as a people, particularly as a
people of religious faith, is essential. Bahala na is a window to a
shared Filipino/a intuition about God. A careful examination of the
phrase and the context in which it is used can provide a nuanced
understanding of the fatalism it seems to communicate and
encourage. From a hermeneutic of generosity, bahala na reveals a
capacity to trust in the providence of God when confronted by life
challenges and a proclivity to express gratitude when life is well.
Trust and gratitude are orientations of the heart of persons of
religious faith.
1. Bahala Na and its Meaning for the People
Exploring the various meanings of bahala na and their potential
theological implications opens up an understanding of it as an
expression of sensus fidelium. Here I take a cue from Hispanic
theologian, Orlando Espin. In reflecting on sensus fidelium, he turns to
“the living witness and faith of the Christian people,”4 particularly, as it
is expressed in symbols of popular religion. For him, the sensus
fidelium is the “faith-full” intuition that “makes real Christian people
3Bradley Hanson, Introducing Christian Theology, Minneapolis: Augsburg Fortress,
1997, 9-12.
4Orlando O. Espin, “Tradition and Popular Religion: An Understanding of the
Sensus Fidelium,” in Frontiers of Hispanic Theology in the United States, ed. and intro. by
Allan Figueroa Deck, SJ, Maryknoll, NY: Orbis, 1992, 64.
C. Punsalan-Manlimos: Bahala Na and the Filipino Faith in God’s Providence 341
sense that something is true or not vis-à-vis the gospel; that someone
is acting in accordance with the Christian gospel or not; or that
something important for Christianity is not being heard.”5 He notes
that since “sensus fidelium is always expressed through symbols,
language, and culture of the faithful, it is subject to intense
interpretative processes and methods similar to those called for by
the written texts of tradition and scripture.”6 To ascertain the
authenticity of the intuitions, “their coherence and fundamental
agreement with the other witnesses of revelation,” he suggests that
they should be brought into “confrontation” with the Bible, the
written texts of tradition, and the historical and sociological context
out of which these intuitions emerge.7
Filipino theologian Jose de Mesa states that contrary to popular
belief, bahala na is not a derivative from Bathala na, where Bathala is
one of the indigenous Tagalog names for the deity. The term does not
in fact translate simply to “God’s will be done.”8 At the same time, he
notes that it is said to be “an encompassing concept to characterize
the so-called Filipino (sic) fatalistic attitude or resigned acceptance of
his [sic] life... the best symbol of the natural fatalism of the Filipino.”9
In attempting to find the roots of the phrase, Kevin L. Nadal suggests
that it is not clear whether it is something that predates Spanish
colonialism or a product of it but that “many Filipinos today can
utilize the bahala na value in a Catholic context.”10 He identifies it as a
“secondary Filipino value” that expresses “fatalistic passiveness.”11
Bahala na has been translated in various ways, including: “let come
what may,” “never mind” or “it’s up to God.”12 For example, the
Catechism for Filipino Catholics connects the idea of bahala na to a
fatalistic attitude rooted in the idea of a creator God who predestines
5Espin, “Tradition and Popular Religion,” 64.
6Espin, “Tradition and Popular Religion,” 65.
7Espin, “Tradition and Popular Religion,” 65-66.
8Jose de Mesa, And God said ‘Bahala Na!’: The Theme of Providence in the Lowland
Filipino Context, Quezon City: Publisher Printing Press, 1979, 85.
9de Mesa, And God said ‘Bahala Na!’, 84. The work looks particularly at the lives of
low-land Filipinos/as and their limited agency due to the socio-political, economic
reality of their lives.
10Kevin L. Nadal, Filipino American Psychology: A Handbook of Theory, Research and
Clinical Practice, Forward by Derald Wing Sue, Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons,
2011, 40.
11Kevin L. Nadal, Filipino American Psychology, 40.
12José M. de Mesa, In Solidarity with the Culture: Studies in Theological Rerooting,
Quezon City, Philippines: Maryhill,1987, 148.
342 Asian Horizons
our future.13 De Mesa looks into the various expressions of fatalism
found in Philippine proverbs and sayings to determine whether or
not bahala na is simply one expression among these. The cyclical idea
of life as a wheel where at one time one is on top and another on the
bottom (gulong ng kapalaran, literally wheel of fortune/fate) or the
sense of that which is not meant for you will not come to you (kung
‘di uukol, di bubukol, literally what is not meant for you will not rise)
are commonly held by both rural and urban Filipino/as.14
Wilfredo Paguio claims that this fatalism “has stripped them [the
Filipinos] of ambition in life, of any desire to uplift their living
conditions.”15 What is troubling in this understanding of the meaning of
the phrase is not its inaccuracy but its incompleteness. The roots of the
fatalism that is believed to be a Filipino/a characteristic as expressed in
bahala na must be understood. In her essay on the legacy of colonialism,
Nilda Remonte critiques the dominant reading of Philippine history
that has “consistently represented the Spanish conquest and
colonization of the Philippines as benevolent in intent and beneficial in
effect.”16 She looks to the writings of Jose Rizal, Philippine national
hero, to argue that this lack of ambition is not a character of the
Filipinos/as but is a consequence of colonization. She notes that:
Rizal acknowledged that indolence — the infamous Spanish malediction
of the Filipinos — was a problem in his time. But he did not propose a
“moral recovery program,” as the Manila orthodoxy did nearly a century
later... as a cure to the country’s ills... Instead, he proposed cultivating a
historical awareness... so that “instead of regarding [indolence] as the
cause of the backwardness and disorder, we should regard it as the effect
of disorder and backwardness.” He traced the so called Filipino inferiority
to the “daily and constant plucking of the soul so that it [will] not fly to
the religion of light, [which] drains the energies [and] paralyzes all
tendency towards advancement,... [so that] at the least strife a man gives
up without fighting.”17
13Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines, Catechism for Filipino Catholics,
Manila: ECCCE: Word of Life Publication, 1997, 90.
14de Mesa, And God said ‘Bahala Na!’, 89-98.
15Wilfredo Paguio, Filipino Cultural Values for the Apostulate: Utilization of Certain
Traditional Filipino Values for the Apostulate, Makati, Philippines: St Paul’s Publication,
1991, 135.
16Nilda Rimonte, “Colonialism’s Legacy: The Inferiorizing of the Filipino,” in
Filipino Americans: Transformation and Identity, ed. Maria P.P. Root, Thousand Oaks,
CA: Sage, 1997, 39.
17Rimonte, “Colonialism’s Legacy,” 58 with quotes from Jose Rizal, “The
Philippine Century Hence,” in Political and Historical Writings, Vol. 7, ed. National
Historical Commission, Manila: National Historical Commission, 1972, 259.
C. Punsalan-Manlimos: Bahala Na and the Filipino Faith in God’s Providence 343
A constant experience of disempowerment and inefficacy of one’s
actions and initiatives creates a sense of resignation. Such a response
can be read as a kind of realism in the face of the social and cultural
violence of colonialism.
De Mesa challenges the notion of bahala na as expression of
fatalism, which he understands to mean a sense of “all things” being
“unalterably predetermined from eternity.”18 Instead he describes it as
“an optimistic fatalism (what will be, will be) that helps cushion the
ego against failure and disappointment.”19 It is not only the
Philippines’ colonial past and the current circumstances of many
Filipinos/as in conditions of poverty and marginalization, but also
the country’s vulnerability to nature that places many in situations of
devastation beyond their control.
Historian Greg Bankoff notes that what is missing from a fatalistic
interpretation of bahala na is the element of risk taking, of “courage
and daring and a sense of finely calculated assessment of the odds.”20
De Mesa offers the translation of the phrase as “what the hell!” which
he sees as being more open to both a positive and negative meaning.
More importantly for him, insofar as there is an element of “risk
taking” inherent in bahala na, it is not fatalism and powerlessness
before one’s circumstances in life. For the poor who were profoundly
affected by the recent wave of natural disasters, bahala na was
poignantly their way of coping in a death-dealing situation beyond
their control. Their indomitable resilience is a powerful challenge to
the reduction of bahala na to simple fatalism. Nevertheless, it is critical
to discern between a situation that is genuinely beyond one’s control
and one in which one feels disempowered or resigned and yet can
still exercise agency.
Whether one reaches back to the Philippine Spanish colonial past
as Rimonte does or simply looks at the current onslaught of natural
disasters on the country, one can easily appreciate the realistic
assessment of many Filipinos/as of the extent of their control over
their circumstances. And while this is not to discount the presence of
a fatalistic attitude that can lead to inaction and even indolence, that
is far from the whole story. The example of Rizal and other Philippine
18Rimonte, “Colonialism’s Legacy,” 87.
19Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines, Maturing in the Christian Faith:
National Catechetical Directory of the Philippines, Pasay City, Metro Manila: Daughters
of St Paul, 1984, 40.
20Greg Bankoff, “In the Eye of the Storm: The Social Construction of the Forces of
Nature and the Climatic and Seismic Construction of God in the Philippines,” Journal
of Southeast Asian Studies 35, 1 (2004) 103.
344 Asian Horizons
revolutionaries in our past and the resilience of the survivors of
Typhoon Haiyan suggest that bahala na is not necessarily a
debilitating attitude. In the midst of their active struggle and
rebuilding, bahala na expressed surrender of the outcomes of their
human efforts to a higher power.
2. The Challenge and Invitation of Bahala Na
The context in which bahala na is spoken reveals its intent, that is,
whether it is an expression of fatalism; a realistic assessment of lack
of power in a situation; or an utterance of entrusting the final
outcome of one’s efforts to God’s providence. Bahala na can indicate
fatalism, realism, trust or a combination of all this. As a fatalistic
attitude it expresses a sense of powerlessness. In such a case, it does
not matter what course of action is taken in a situation. The outcome
is already predetermined. As an expression of realism, it is an
awareness of one’s limited agency in the face of concrete
circumstances. The farmer who plants, tills and tends his crops is
aware that at the end of the day he cannot control the weather to
guarantee his harvest. Bahala na may also indicate a fundamental
trust in the providence of God. A student who has studied and
prepared for her final exam walks into the classroom, concerned
about the outcome of the exam yet feeling confident that she would
make it with her resolute effort and her faith in a power beyond her.
She exclaims “bahala na.” which expresses an acceptance of the
boundaries of one’s agency coupled with a confidence that amidst the
exigencies of life there is divine providence.
However, when influenced by my more Enlightenment-inclined
views, I struggle with bahala na. The feeling of powerlessness stands
in stark contrast to human agency that comes with the scientific and
technological culture of modernity. The social situations that
disempower, whether these be socio-political and economic
structures or patriarchal or hierarchical relationships, run counter to
the belief in the autonomy of the individual and the capacity for self-
determination, that are doggedly held values in the American
culture. Whether due to the attachment to human agency and
autonomy or simply the proclivity for “extreme rationalism typical of
the dominant theological academy in the United States,”21 the idea of
turning to and trusting in a providential God has become particularly
21Maria Pilar Aquino, “Theological Method in U.S. Latino/a Theology,” From the
Heart of Our People, ed. Orlando O. Espin and Miguel H. Diaz, Maryknoll, NY: Orbis,
1999, 16.
C. Punsalan-Manlimos: Bahala Na and the Filipino Faith in God’s Providence 345
challenging to comprehend. Living in an American culture where
self-determination is paramount, I am cognizant of the impact of
bahala na on Fil-Americans. In my experience, friends and family who
have been living in the United States say less frequently bahala na, or
“ipasadiyos mo na lang” (leave it up to God) or “God willing” than
those who come to visit from the Philippines. I am aware of my own
internal discomfort when I hear these phrases uttered.
I am a product of my time and my Euro-American theological
formation particularly in the area of religion and science. The
doctrine of divine providence is probably one of the most difficult
theological ideas to hold in the face of what the moderately
scientifically literate person has come to know about the world over
the last 150 years. The realities of pain, suffering, and death have
always been theological challenges for the belief in a God of love who
has sovereignty over human history. Modern cosmology and
evolutionary biology have shown the breadth and depth of suffering
beyond the space and time occupied by human beings. The problem
of theodicy is beyond the purview of human freedom and its misuse.
Contemporary science has discovered a historically long and spatially
layered story of increasing attenuation of the experience of pain,
suffering and death written into the very story of the evolution of the
cosmos.22 To conceive of a God who is somehow active and present in
cosmic history as a God of love appears to the rational mind
profoundly problematic. An attempt at rational approach to the reality
of suffering does not appear reconcilable with the idea of a loving God,
which is at the heart of the Christian narrative.23 In an age and place
where freedom, understood primarily as the capacity for choice and
self-determination is paramount, the belief in divine providence is seen
as irrelevant at best and detrimental at worst to the human person.
In this rationalist and scientific context, the wisdom of a people
whose way of being is expressed in bahala na may, however, have
something to offer. There is an intuition of the Filipino/a faithful
captured in this cultural expression of faith that invites one to a
humble acknowledgment that in the end everything is in the loving
22The writings of the new atheists on this subject are particularly damning. See for
example, Richard Dawkins, A River out of Eden: A Darwinian View of Life, London:
Phoenix, 1996, 112, 154.
23At the same time, Darwin has led to deepened reflections on the problem of
suffering that take seriously the reality of suffering within the context of the
Christian narrative. See for example Elizabeth Johnson, Ask the Beast: Darwin and the
God of Love, London: Bloomsbury, 2014, and John Haught, God After Darwin: A
Theology of Evolution, New York: Westview, 2001.
346 Asian Horizons
hands of God. When hearing Fil-Americans say bahala na, albeit
infrequently, and perhaps with a fatalistic undertone, we must also
listen for the trust and surrender that is implicit in the phrase. Such
an attitude of trust and surrender is at the heart of faith in divine
providence.
In many contexts, bahala na or ipasdios mo na lang (leave it up to
God) are statements that accompany determined and committed
action. It is not an expression that reflects the image of Juan Tamad
(lazy John) who sits under the guava tree waiting for the fruit to fall
rather than climbing the tree to get it. This classic image of Filipino/a
indolence, a common way that bahala na is interpreted, hardly
captures the often self-sacrificing risk-taking that the term includes.
The hardworking Filipino/a who exclaims, “Bahala na!” at the end of
extraneous efforts to achieve a goal has a sense of all things
ultimately resting in God’s hands.
There is much to be learned from attending to the lived faith of
peoples whose stories and histories are like those to whom Jesus
preached. Marginalized and silenced, they heard Jesus’ proclamation
of God’s love for them and they believed. They somehow understood
and believed in the good news even if their life circumstances were
not immediately changed. The faith of individuals and communities
in the Gospel gives substance to teachings that are difficult to
comprehend for those of us who preach or do theology from the
comforts of our lives of privilege.
3. Conclusion
It is not easy to overcome generations of internalized inferiority.
Doubting about the value of what one has to offer, because it looks
different from what the dominant culture presents as normative, can
render one silent and invisible. When one’s own fragmented and
divided community reinforces this doubt, the situation is
exacerbated. And yet, the time has come to look deeply into what is
good in the shared experience of a culture. An examination of bahala
na reminds us, that is, the Fil-American community, of a central
tenant of our faith: God is a trustworthy God of history. Filipinos/as
have come to believe this truth at their core amidst the struggles and
uncertainties of life. Bahala na may not have in fact meant “God’s will
be done” in its original usage in the Philippines, but for many
Filipinos/as today, that is what it has come to mean. It is an
expression of deep trust and a profound belief that the final word in
life is love — the abiding love of a faithful God.
