Y'Miss Phathupats Review

Y’Miss Phathupats by Juan Crisostomo Soto As Reviewed by Stephanie A. Claros

The story is satirical in nature, comic yet very graphic in its sharp parody of the colonial mentality of Filipinos. Yeyeng turned Miss Phathupats actually symbolizes what the Filipinos have become after our history of colonization: a people, culture, and language waging a losing war against Western acculturation. The tragic loss of native values and cultural heritage has been woefully lamented by many historians and patriots to no great avail. Literature like Y’Miss Phathupats calls for a sweeping cultural revival but like many others, it has been relegated to the back shelves of libraries and bookshops swamped by foreign titles and novels. It takes time to impact and alter another culture like in the case of our country under a long history of imperialist influence and so it would also take time to revive a fledgling Filipino culture. The story features a caricature of Filipino assimilation to Western culture, Miss Phathupats with her thick kolorete is a spoof character, a Pinay assuming the airs of American superiority by disguising her brown skin under layers of whitening cream. The first cultural subtext is that of racial discrimination, that the white race is the most desirable and the colored races are lesser and inferior. Philippine ethnicity is made into an object of shame and ridicule; that the flat nose, black kinky hair, brown skin and other indigenous features are seen as a source of embarrassment. Another cultural subtext is the Westernization of Filipino values, habits, and lifestyle. The Filipino people has been badly miseducated and colonial mentality has been so skillfully ingrained that it is second nature to regard everything that is of Western origin, be it food, clothing or any product as better and elite. Regional schism was also a subtext in the story with the obvious derision of the Kapampangan slang and its hard utterances. Even among the Filipino dialects, there is still the imposition of  Manila-centrism and its dialect, the Tagalog. It is typical to make fun of the inflexible tongues of  ” 

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the Kapampangan, the Bisaya, etc. The flourishing of the “balbal” slang, “Taglish , “Bislish , etc. is a catastrophic omen to the death of an independent language. The “tsampurado” mix of  language is a dearth to Philippine literature and a major obstacle to the aspiration of a strong national identity. The tag Miss Phathupats that was named after the character’s wide hips that was forcibly fitted into tight pants implied the social subtext of the stereotyped physical attributes of women. The Barbie doll epitome of beauty forces women to be discontented with their bodies and to drastically alter their appearance in whatever way possible, be it the thick kolorete or the tight outfits. The most powerful subtext of the story is the burgeoning hate for imperialism by Filipinos as was shown in the mob-like ganging up on Miss Phathupats by the townsmen. The Philippine history of militancy against colonizers is captured by a line in the story: “Paalam, Miss Alice Roosevelt!”