CRUZ, Alyssa Nicole G.

2014-00283

Why/how do Filipinos employ “maling akala” or “tamang hinala” in reasoning and how does this

affect their knowledge about the world?

“Maling akala” has always been a regular occurence in the lives of Filipinos. It is so common

that a song entitled “Maling Akala”even exists. “Maling akala,” or false assumption in English,

is when people assume something to be either true or false, but in the end, their assumption was

not correct. People tend to make false assumptions in a number of situations.

False assumptions are usually made by people when they’ve been so accustomed to something

happening because of several repeating occurrences, they assume that it will happen again in the

future with no solid basis for judgment other than the fact that it has happened several times

before. False assumptions are also made when, in the context of relationships, someone assumes

that someone else is romantically interested because of uncommon actions that a romantically

interested person would normally do. From experience and observation of those around me,

those assumptions are almost always wrong.

On a heavier and more unfortunate note, false assumptions are especially made during election

seasons. Most people would vote for those politicians’ names they would usually see on

publicity materials such as commercials, posters, etc., those politicians who are endorsed by the
country’s biggest celebrities, or those politicians who are actually celebrities themselves. This is

because these politicians are the easiest to get to know for them, and also they would be the most

familiar, especially when they’re claiming to have achieved so much. It is when false

assumptions are made under this context that the miseducation of some Filipinos is most evident.

It is not unknown that the Philippines’ education system isn’t the best one out there. That,

together with poverty still rampant in the country, are two main contributors as to why a huge

percentage of Filipinos today still lack in education. Since they have little to no education to

back up their thoughts and assumptions, they would most likely base them on past experiences

and/or on to what they are frequently exposed to, thus, the frequent occurrence of the “maling

akala”.

Not all assumptions end up being false, though. Some may actually turn out to be true, thus, you

have what we call “tamang hinala” in Filipino. It’s because of these correct assumptions that

Filipinos have the confidence to keep making even more assumptions, usually just a couple of

“maling akala”s, until they get a “tamang hinala” again. In a sense, this is actually one of the

easiest ways for someone to learn — by getting things wrong at first until you learn what’s right.