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In the scholarly literature on emotion and affective studies, the field appears to lack consensus on certain foundational matters. One concerns the distinction between emotion and feeling, and another concerns the universality of emotions. Although contemporary English usage differentiates between emotions and feelings, this distinction is not recognized in other cultures and languages. Additionally, the identification of which emotions count as basic remains a subject of debate. Despite some overlaps in the lists of basic emotions, there is no consensus on what is considered universal. This is where linguistics and its methodologies come into play. Linguistics can make substantial contributions to this field of study through ethnolinguistics, semantic studies, and lexicography. Linguistics may be able to address fundamental questions such as: How are these thoughts, including emotions and feelings, encoded in language? What words are associated with emotions and feelings? How are these words related to one another? Which other domains are implicated by these words? How do these closely associated words differ from one another? How do we make sense of these complex concepts in everyday life? Which concepts are universal, and which are language-specific? Recent linguistic studies in this field have focused on these questions by investigating the conceptualization, lexical categorization, and morphological and semantic decomposition of emotion lexica, employing approaches such as componential analyses, semantic networks, conceptual metaphors, Natural Semantic Metalanguage, and lexicological analyses within lexicographical microstructures. This presentation draws on these approaches but primarily uses the methodologies of diachronic linguistics to investigate the intricacies and connections across sensing, feeling, remembering, and other implicated domains, and to locate these pan-Philippine concepts and categories within their cultural and linguistic history in the Austronesian language family.

We often talk about emotions as if they mean the same thing across languages and are easy to translate, but this is not always the case. This study looks at how Filipinos talk about negative emotions and asks a simple question: what does it mean to feel bad? I focus on sakit ‘pain’, a word that can refer not only to physical pain but also to emotional suffering and difficult experiences. I argue that sakit expresses a basic idea that can be described, using Natural Semantic Metalanguage (NSM), as FEEL SOMETHING BAD. Other emotion words such as takot, kaba, and pangamba build on this shared idea in different ways. Using dictionary data, corpus examples, and input from native speakers, Filipino emotion terms may form a structured system centered on sakit. These meanings differ in where the feeling is experienced, how it relates to time, and what it leads a person to do. This paper argues that sakit connects bodily experience and emotion, and helps us understand how “feeling bad” is organized in Filipino.

In Wolff's (1972) dictionary of Cebuano/Binisaya (ISO 639-3 [ceb]), a set of monosyllabic particles with senses containing "particle initial [...]” or “initial in a [...]” which fit in Ameka's (1992, 2006) category of emotive interjections: <a, ay, da, ha, na, o> are described as indicating the same affect content and discourse functions. The study attempts to distinguish these emotive interjections by explicating their semantic variants and partial semantic invariants using Natural Semantic Metalanguage (NSM) as the interjections appear in dictionary entries, and are used in radio segments and online interviews. Through the data, the study also attempts to identify the possible interactional uses of emotive interjections in scrutiny of the claim that interactions lack illocutionary force. The study addresses the lack of interjection research in the Philippines and adds to our growing understanding of the role of interjections and emotional expression in interaction management.

This study explores the concept of selos in Tagalog as a culturally grounded emotional construct with distinct semantic, grammatical, and cognitive properties. Drawing on corpus data from the Leipzig Corpora Collection of Tagalog, the research applies frameworks from cognitive linguistics, particularly Frame Semantics and Conceptual Metaphor Theory to analyze the linguistic behavior of selos. This work investigates its verbal morphology, identifying various affixal constructions (e.g., nagselos, pinagselos, nagkaselosan) that reveal roles such as AGENT, PATIENT, DIRECTION, etc., as well as notions of intentionality and reciprocity. Concordance analysis further demonstrates that selos typically occurs within intimate domains such as romantic and familial relationships and varies in intensity and duration. Metaphor analysis shows that selos is conceptualized as a destructive force, disease, poison, opponent in a struggle, wrongdoing, and can also be related to natural things such as plants, fire, a thing on water, an organism that eats, and occupies space. Overall, the study underscores the importance of culturally situated approaches in understanding emotion concepts in language.

Hyperpartisanship in the Philippines is an inherently affective phenomenon, driven on the one hand by a continuous flux of mediatized political news and a tech-savvy public willing to engage in political discourse. This presentation conceptualizes Duterte fans– popularly known as Duterte Diehard Supporters (DDS)– as such a public, and aims to investigate how sentiment and politics intermingle in the content they produce on TikTok. Anchored on Russell’s (1980) classic dimensional model of valence and arousal, we employed quantitative content analysis on 300 of the most-liked TikTok videos bearing the hashtag “#dutertesupporter,” assigning valence and arousal scores for three modalities: visual, textual, and auditory. Our partial results thus far indicate that the use of TikTok features (e.g. use of rousing music, spectacular visuals) can drastically affect levels of valence and arousal in content, and that the DDS display a broad range of emotions as they praise members of the Duterte family and attack perceived political opponents.

Existing literature on affective politics in the Philippines has documented emotional appeals, campaign content, and patterns of online engagement. Nevertheless, it leaves largely latent the implications these dynamics have on political subjectivity and the psychoanalytic dimensions of citizen engagement. This paper argues that what sustains political allegiance is not what subjects believe, but how they enjoy within the architecture of social media as a contemporary Ideological State Apparatus. It seeks to draw these implicit dimensions out through the insights of Jacques Lacan and Louis Althusser by opening an epistemic space in which these phenomena can be reconsidered. In the Philippines, social media constitutes a terrain in which citizens are drawn into competing political fantasies, where desire, affect, and interpellation converge to shape political subjectivity. The object of this paper is the digital campaigns of Leni Robredo and Sara Duterte, analyzed through a Lacanian–post-Althusserian lens, attending to hashtags, memes, viral posts, and especially the affective ways these materials shape attachment and participation. Robredo’s online presence gestures toward hope, ethical participation, and civic responsibility, allowing citizens to inhabit subject-positions often celebrated under the rubric of “Kakampink,” whereas Duterte’s discourse channels loyalty, authority, and apprehension, producing attachments oriented toward order and obedience. In this study we trace how desire, fantasy, and emotional investment are organized, to show how social media functions as an affective infrastructure that circulates intensities and positions subjects. Political allegiance thus, we argue, emerges not solely from belief or policy, but from the fantasmatically organized experience of ideology. By foregrounding how citizens are affectively inhabited and interpellated, this analysis contributes to the politics of emotion, showing how digital platforms operate as contemporary ideological formations where emotional strategies and fantasy-driven narratives structure political subjectivity.

This paper aims to examine how affective forces, rather than discourse alone, were utilized as the primary catalysts in the formation of political identity on social media, with a focus on the Facebook presence of Junard ‘Ahong’ Chan in Mactan Island. The public sphere is framed here as not forming spontaneously, but strategically architected through anticipating and eliciting emotions from netizens. Through ‘Ahong’ Chan’s consistent posting—at least five posts a day—and his curation of content that evokes relatability, empathy, humor, and loyalty, the audiences’ emotions are deliberately guided to foster engagement and control the discourse within the public sphere. Despite his controversies, this effective affective foreseeing and emotional manipulation stabilizes the discourses in his social media posts. This emotional orchestration blurs the line between the personal and official personas of the politician, creating an intentionally ambiguous online identity. Using Critical Discourse Analysis, Intertextuality, and Online Persona Theory, this study reconceptualizes the digital ‘public sphere,’ where participation is not entirely spontaneous, affective engagement takes precedence over rational-critical debate, and conversations are pre-determined by an actor rather than fully egalitarian. Emotions operate as both mobilizing and manipulative forces, evident in patterns of ‘Ahong’ Chan's posts: ‘emotional baiting’ and ‘emotional directing.’ Emotional baiting deliberately provokes intense emotions, such as outrage or amusement, as seen in his Facebook live videos during urgent situations, including aiding a suicidal individual or interviewing a criminal. Emotional directing steers these responses toward desired outcomes that reinforce the politician’s narrative and image. By foregrounding affect as the primary driver of participation, this study frames the digital public sphere as a site of orchestrated emotional engagement, where political figures preemptively manipulate reactions to mobilize followers and stabilize discourses, illustrating the profound power of emotion in contemporary political communication.

The Oxford English Dictionary hails ‘rage bait’ as the 2025 Oxford Word of the Year where they defined it as online content deliberately designed to elicit anger or outrage by being frustrating, provocative, or offensive, typically posted in order to increase traffic to or engagement with a particular web page or social media account. To ground this study I will be utilizing Du Bois (2007), Stance Taking Theory and Critical Discourse Analysis Model (CDA) of Fairclough (1989) to analyze how stance (emotion) takes power and ideology in choices of language in political discourse in the Philippine context. I navigated several Facebook, Twitter, and TikTok posts to analyze the choices of language and how it affects the behavior of Filipinos in the state of every politically relevant issue in the Philippine context. Based on the critical discourse analysis (CDA), although the concept of ragebaiting in the social media platform gained attention for several ethical and misconduct issues, the Philippines especially in the context of politics takes it as perhaps a way to sarcastically provoke someone or even stir up a funny stint using it. Condescending to what has been introduced that ragebaiting in politics is dangerous, in the Philippines it is an unserious provocation for other people especially those of who are against someone’s belief. This means that Filipino take on ragebait does not excess and exaggerate in just mere baiting to provoke but to actually just irritate or annoy someone not in a sense of actually turning into rage. This study contributes new findings on emotion and in the lens of sociolinguistics in the Philippines. In the future, this study may still expand and broaden through a comparative study towards ragebaiting and sarcastic language.

Street vending functions as a vital form of informal micro-entrepreneurship for LGBT individuals who encounter barriers to formal employment. This qualitative study examines (Disk)Arte—the interplay of diskarte (business strategy) and arte (performed emotional expression)—as emotional labor embedded in the everyday business practices of LGBT street vendors in Balingasag, Misamis Oriental. Guided by the sociology of emotions, emotional labor theory, and informal entrepreneurship perspectives, the study employs a phenomenological research design using in-depth semi-structured interviews with fifteen LGBT street vendors. Thematic analysis reveals that emotions such as kilig (affirmation), kapoy (emotional and physical exhaustion), fear, pride, and resilience are integral to customer relations, public interactions, and livelihood survival. Emotional labor expressed through chikahan, strategic self-presentation, and affective regulation emerges as a key entrepreneurial resource. The study argues that emotions function as both resources and constraints shaping dignity, survival, and continuity in informal business spaces. The findings highlight how LGBT street vendors in Balingasag, Misamis Oriental navigate structural marginalization through culturally embedded emotional strategies, underscoring the need for context-sensitive local policies and community-driven innovations that support inclusive informal entrepreneurship in the region.

Within a predominantly cis-heteronormative world, transgender and gender nonconforming (TGNC) individuals grapple with systemic marginalization—a reality often reinforced by traditional psychological research. Despite the rise of TGNC scholarship over the decades, many studies subscribe to pathological models that hyperfixate on the clinical distress of gender dysphoria. Emerging from within trans communities as a counter-narrative is gender euphoria (GE)—a constellation of positive emotions and experiences that arise from embodying and affirming one’s gender identity. However, GE remains underrepresented in TGNC research and is often overlooked in clinical settings. Moreover, extant GE scholarship remains largely confined to Western, individualistic frameworks—necessitating further exploration within diverse cultural contexts. This presentation endeavors to elucidate definitions and accounts of GE and its connection to psychological well-being, examine methodological trends and limitations, and explore how indigenous Filipino concepts help enrich TGNC studies. Utilizing a critical and reflexive conceptual review of refereed work, this presentation privileges affirmative, ethical, and competent scholarship to boundary-map local understandings of TGNC emotions and experiences. This work proposes an interim conceptual framework that integrates GE with select indigenous constructs such as ginhawa (holistic well-being), pagkatao (personhood), pagpapakatao (becoming a human person), and pakikipagkapwa-tao (shared inner self), as an attempt to serve as a preliminary guide for future inquiries into the embodiment and affirmation of affects such as gender euphoria, trans ginhawa, and the broader socio-political-cultural movement that is trans joy. Leveraging Sikolohiyang Pilipino, this framework promotes a holistic model of well-being rooted in collective flourishing, rather than just individual congruence. By reimagining gender euphoria as a contrary viewpoint to damage, deficit, and distress-based models and situating it within the Filipino experience, this work aims to help depathologize TGNC identities, decolonize narratives of gender and well-being, and develop culturally grounded frameworks and approaches for trans-affirmative research and healthcare in the Philippines.

Youth political engagement in the Philippines underwent a notable reconfiguration during and following the 2022 national elections, as volunteer-driven networks emerged as instruments of electoral mobilization and sites of collective meaning-making and political identification. In the aftermath of electoral defeat, a subset of networks persisted by transitioning into more durable, mission-oriented sociopolitical organizations. This study investigates the post-2022 elections' continued support of the members of Tindog Kabataan to explore the motivations and lived experiences that drive their continued activism after elections, with particular attention to the roles and experiences of non-binary individuals. Guided by collective instrumental and socio-emotional motivations under the sustained collective action framework, this inquiry examines how youth-led formations sustain political engagement by drawing on the interplay between efficacy beliefs and affective attachments, and how these dynamics enable the transition from candidate-centered volunteerism to enduring, advocacy-oriented sociopolitical organizations. Using a qualitative phenomenological design, the study draws on data collected through in-depth semi-structured interviews and participant observation involving current and former members. Key findings indicate that sustained engagement in Tindog Kabataan is rooted in the interaction between efficacy-driven motivations and affective attachments that bind individuals to collective action. Participants remain involved because they perceive the organization as a viable vehicle for advancing sociopolitical goals and because participation fulfills psychological needs for recognition, validation, and belonging. Moreover, continued engagement of non-binary members is tied to processes of identity affirmation and the mitigation of minority stress since the organization provides a space where marginalized identities are legitimized and expressed. Emotional dynamics operate as key drivers of mobilization, sustaining involvement despite electoral defeat. This study advances the scholarship of socio-emotional infrastructures in movement durability by foregrounding psychological mechanisms. By centering non-binary experiences, the study also enriches gender and politics literature, highlighting how marginalized identities shape and are sustained by inclusive activist spaces.

While the historiography of the colonial Philippines has extensively documented the policing of diseases through public health and surveillance, the affective underpinnings of these policies, particularly the venereal diseases which I highlighted in this paper, remain unexplored. This study addresses a critical gap by shifting the analytical focus from purely rationalized administrative logic to the history of emotions. I argue that the management of venereal disease was not merely a reactive measure against biological threats but a cultivated tool of emotion-based governance used to justify their colonial policies towards Filipino bodies, particularly prostitutes. The primary objective of this research is to analyze how emotion was weaponized by both Spanish and American regimes to manage the Filipino body between 1870 and 1920. This study employs a qualitative historical methodology, utilizing William Reddy’s framework of emotional regimes to analyze how people’s emotional lives and social norms changed during the transition to colonial rule. Data collection involves a thematic analysis of primary archival sources. This research reveals that fear served as the primary force that paralyzed Filipino agency. Under the Spanish period, the diseased body elicited a fear of eternal damnation and social collapse, leading to the isolation of the sinful subject. Meanwhile, the American regime reconfigured this fear through the lens of imperial survival. The prostitute was no longer just a sinner but a biological insurgent whose existence threatened the virility and success of the American military project. The study finds that the regulation of venereal diseases was a form of emotional management and control; by categorizing Filipina women as pathological threats, the state made intrusive, controlled surveillance that seemed a defensive necessity. Lastly, I suggest that contemporary sexual health stigmas in the Philippines are emotional inheritances of this colonial fear, proving that state policy is often a defensive response to perceived existential threats rather than a purely rational public service.

This paper examines how emotions shape informed consent and end-of-life decision-making in the Philippines, with a focus on the ethical implications for clinical practice and medical training. It aims to analyze how culturally embedded affective norms, particularly hiya (shame), pakikiramdam (relational sensitivity), and malasakit (compassion), influence the validity of relational consent and the negotiation of care at the end of life. The research asks: How do emotional norms affect the voluntariness and authenticity of consent in clinical settings? How are patient preferences negotiated within family-centered decision-making structures? How does communication between physicians, patients, and families mediate these ethical tensions? Using a qualitative methodology, the study draws on clinical case analyses, reflective accounts of medical trainees, and a review of Philippine legal and institutional frameworks on patient rights, advance care planning, and do-not-resuscitate (DNR) orders. It is grounded in principlism, particularly autonomy and beneficence, and supplemented by relational ethics to account for the collective and culturally situated nature of Filipino decision-making. Findings show that consent often operates as relational consent, shaped by emotional deference and family authority, which may obscure the patient’s independent preferences. In end-of-life contexts, decision-making reflects a complex interplay between compassion, obligation, and avoidance of emotional harm, often leading to ethical ambiguity. Medical trainees report moral uncertainty in navigating these dynamics within hierarchical clinical environments. The paper argues for a culturally grounded yet legally robust approach to consent and end-of-life care, and recommends strengthening communication training, advance care planning, and ethics education in Philippine medical practice.

Sa kabila ng malakas na presensiya ng relihiyong Katolisismo sa lalawigan ng Capiz (na sumasaklaw noon sa Aklan at Romblon), maituturing na nagtagumpay pa rin dito ang gawaing pagmimisyon ng isang sangay ng denominasyong Protestante noong unang hati ng ika-20 dantaon. Matatandaang noong 1903 nang magpadala ang American Baptist Missionary Union (ABMU) ng mga pinakaunang misyonero sa kabisera nito. Upang bakahin ang pag-iral ng maraming sakit at iba pang suliraning panlipunan, itinayo ang isang dispensaryo (klinika) na kalauna’y lumago bilang isang ospital (Capiz Emmanuel Hospital), kaakibat ng isang iglesya (Capiz Evangelical Church) at isang paaralan (Baptist Home School na ngayo’y Filamer Christian University). Dahil dito, hindi lamang ito nakapagdulot ng ibayong ginhawang pangkalusugan sa mga katutubong Capiznon, kundi mabisang naipakilala rin sa kanila ng mga dayuhan ang isang bagong pananampalataya, ayon sa estratehiyang “social gospel.” Ibig sabihin, kanilang binigyang-pansin ang parehong pagpapagaling ng “lawas” (katawan) at “kalag” ng mga pasyenteng Capiznon, na tinugunan naman ng huli sa pamamagitan ng pagtangkilik at pag-anib bilang magkaugnay na anyo ng pagtanaw ng “kabalaslan” (utang na loob). Layunin ng pag-aaral na ito na sagutin ang mga sumusunod na tanong: una, bakit isa ang kalusugan sa mga larangang tinutukan ng maraming misyong Protestante sa bansa? Ikalawa, paano nakapagdulot ng ibayong ginhawa ang Capiz Emmanuel Hospital sa mga mamamayan ng lalawigan sa unang apat na dekada? Ikatlo, ano ang kabuluhan ng kamatayan ng tinaguriang “Hopevale Martyrs” noong 1943 sa pangkalahatang gawaing pagmimisyon ng ABMU?

Tinutuklas ng papel na ito ang Pilipinong konsepto ng dalamhati bilang isang panlipunang damdamin (social emotion) sa pamamagitan ng mga eskpresyon ng pakikiramay sa Santo Entierro tuwing Biyernes Santo. Ayon sa etimolohiya nito, ipinahihiwatig ng salitang dalamhati ang halaga ng isang tao sa kalooban ng isa o ng marami. Tuwing hapon ng Biyernes Santo ay iniikot ang Santo Entierro, at ang mga simbolo ng pagdadalamhati ay dala-dala ng lahat ng nakikiramay. Kung anong kagawian sa mga namatay na tao, ay siya ring kagawian sa Santo Entierro. Isa sa mga pagpapamalas ng panlipunang damdamin ay sa pamamagitan ng mga nakakagawian tuwing nagdadalamhati, lalo na sa panahon ng pakikiramay at paglilibing sa mga yumao. Sa pamamagitan ng content analysis, sinusuri ng pag-aaral na ito ang iba’t ibang mga video ng pakikiramay sa Santo Entierro sa mga simbahang Katoliko upang tignan ang mga pagkakapare-pareho at pagkakaiba-iba ng mga katawagan, pananamit, kulay, musika, at iba pang mga tanda ng kolektibong dalamhati. Sa pamamagitan ng mga kagawiang ito, tinutuklas din ang panlipunang damdamin di lamang bilang pakikitungo sa kapwa, kundi bilang kolektibong damdamin na ipinahahayag. Sa pagmamapa ng mga tradisyon ng pakikiramay sa Santo Entierro, makikita ang pagkakatahi ng dalamhati (at ng damdamin sa kabuuan) sa relihiyon ayon sa kulturang Pilipino. Samakatuwid, binibigyang-tibay ng papel na ito na ang damdamin ng dalamhati ay hindi lamang kalungkutan, kundi pag-ibig sa nawawala, ito man ay sa indibidwal o panlipunan.

The proliferation of social networking sites has transformed how bereaved communities honor and remember the dead. Drawing on qualitative interpretive case study research in the Philippines, one of Southeast Asia's most digitally engaged societies, this study investigates how Facebook has become a significant site of digital memorialization, extending traditional mourning rituals into the online space. Analyzing 412 memorial posts across five sites of mourning and memorialization of Filipino Facebook profiles and in-depth interviews with ten bereaved informants, the study presents the first systematic typology of virtual displays of memorialization in a Southeast Asian context. The analysis identifies five distinct types of memorial posts: conveying parting sentiments; expressing spirituality and communal solidarity; yearning for the dead's presence; strengthening ongoing bonds with the dead; and imparting posthumous recollections—alongside six categories of associated emotions. The study demonstrates that Filipino digital memorialization is neither a diminished version of traditional mourning nor a mere online supplement; it is a culturally constituted, emotionally rich, and communally enacted practice that recontextualizes the Filipino 'death system' within the affordances of Facebook. Situated within broader Asian patterns of digital mourning, the typology offers a theoretically generative framework for understanding how Asia-Pacific populations adapt culturally specific mourning rituals to social media, advancing non-Western perspectives in digital death studies.

This study examined the grief experiences of pet guardians who selected water cremation, also known as alkaline hydrolysis or aquamation, as an aftercare practice for their deceased companion animals. Specifically, it aimed to describe the lived experiences of grief and aftercare among pet guardians who chose water cremation, examine the attachment of meanings surrounding this choice, and explore the perceived contributions of water cremation to coping, memorialization, and family dynamics. Using a qualitative research design, in-depth interviews were conducted with selected participants who had experienced pet loss and had availed of water cremation services. Utilizing the Continuing Bonds Theory, the data were analyzed using thematic analysis to identify recurring patterns and meanings embedded in the participants’ narratives. The findings revealed that participants consistently regarded their pets as integral members of the family, resulting in grief that was profound, enduring, and often comparable to the loss of a human loved one. Participants described intense sadness, persistent longing, disruption of daily routines, and experiences of disenfranchised grief due to the limited social recognition of pet loss. At the same time, mourning was often shared within the family and supported by fellow pet owners and significant others who validated the depth of their bereavement. Moreover, the structured communication and transparency provided by water cremation service providers contributed to participants’ sense of emotional reassurance during a period of uncertainty and distress. The return of ashes and memorabilia enabled participants and their families to create memorial spaces, engage in rituals of remembrance, and sustain continuing bonds with their deceased pets. The study demonstrates that pet loss constitutes a legitimate and deeply meaningful form of bereavement and that water cremation serves as a humane, symbolically rich, and emotionally supportive aftercare practice for grieving pet guardians.

Dictionaries that feature language for special purposes (LSP) can contribute to understanding and expanding specific knowledge domains. Emotion research in Filipino, for instance, can benefit from an extensive exploration of native emotion terms. This chapter expounds on several considerations and challenges in conceptualizing a monolingual dictionary of emotions in Filipino, namely those concerning term elicitation, categorization, and description. Elicitation through corpus analysis generates an initial survey of emotion terms, including but not limited to words associated with the basic emotions across languages and cultures: ANGER, FEAR, SADNESS, ENJOYMENT, and DISGUST (Ekman, 1992, 2016). Discerning whether a word should be included naturally prompts careful introspection: What kinds of lexical items could be regarded as emotion terms in Filipino? Meanwhile, preliminary categorization based on previous emotion research (Ekman & Ekman, 2016) and native speaker judgment provides insights regarding the range of existing terms in the language. Our lexicographic model reflects the considerable variation of 21 local terms associated with ANGER—in contrast with the fewer terms for other universal emotions, as well as the existence of language-specific terms such as ginhawa that signal the distinctive ways of conveying particular emotions in Filipino. In terms of definitions, the significance of formulating descriptions based on the specific contexts in which these terms appear is underscored. The nuances of SADNESS, for example, are aptly demonstrated when terms are in actual usage, i.e., when found within sentential constructions that illustrate what and/or who causes or triggers lungkot, dalamhati, hinagpis, and others. Defining emotions for a monolingual dictionary also attests to the difficulty of differentiating closely related terms while avoiding circularity (Svensén, 2009). We note that the list of elicited terms, their categorization, and definition(s) can be refined by conducting informant interviews and subsequent validation with speakers, apart from employing findings from previous research on emotions in Filipino and other Philippine languages (Paz, 2008; Taduran, 2012; Sta. Maria, 2010; Petras, 2013).

Ang wika ay isang pundamental na kasangkapan sa komunikasyon at nagsisilbing tagapag ingat ng kultura, identidad, at kolektibong karanasan ng isang komunidad. Isa sa pinakamalalaking wikang Austronesian sa bansa ang Sebuwano, ayon kina Eberhard, Simons, and Robinson (2026), may humigit-kumulang 20 milyong tagapagsalita at malawak na distribusyon sa rehiyon ng Visayas at Mindanao. Layunin ng pag-aaral na ito na suriin ang konsepto ng sukô sa Sebuwano Gensan sa pamamagitan ng Natural Semantic Metalanguage o NSM. Nakapokus ang pananaliksik sa pagkalap at pagsusuri ng mga Sebuwanong salita at ekspresyon na nagpapakita ng iba’t ibang anyo at antas ng galit mula sa mga news article at pampublikong komento sa Brigada, RMN at Bombo Radyo Gensan. Gamit ang NSM explication, natuloy ang semantic range ng mga terminong kaugnay ng sukô at mabuo ang isang cultural script na naglalarawan sa lokal na pag unawa at pagpapahayag ng emosyon. Matapos makuha ang kahulugang semantic gamit ang NSM approach sa salitang sukô mula sa mga online local media platform ng lungsod, nagkaroon ng meaning elicitation mula sa mga utility workers, vendor at drivers sa loob ng MSU-GENSAN campus upang ma validate ang kahulugang lumutang. Lumabas sa resulta na ang konsepto ng suko ay may malawak na saklaw at hindi lamang tumutukoy sa payak na galit kundi sumasaklaw sa mga espesyalisadong emosyon tulad ng Pungot, Sapot, Nangisog, Bagutbot at Hasol. Ipinapakita ng pagsusuri na ang bawat termino ay may natatanging kahulugan at gamit sa pang-araw-araw na diskurso sa Gensan. Sa pamamagitan ng NSM naging posible ang sistematikong pagpapaliwanag sa kung paano nararanasan, iniisip at ipinapahayag ng mga tagapagsalita ang galit sa lokal na kultura. Ang pag aaral ay nagbibigay ambag sa mas malalim na pag-unawa sa semantika ng Sebuwano sa Gensan at sa mahalagang papel ng wika sa paghubog ng emosyon at identidad kultural.

This study provided a comprehensive examination of the concept of hinagpis across the eight major Philippine languages: Tagalog, Cebuano, Ilokano, Hiligaynon, Bikol, Waray, Kapampangan, and Pangasinan. Data collection involved a systematic review of dictionaries, corpora, and authentic language examples, while analysis utilized Wierzbicka’s (1992) Natural Semantic Metalanguage (NSM) framework. The findings revealed that hinagpis is a unique concept in Tagalog, most often associated with profound grief following the sudden and unnatural death of a loved one, particularly due to homicide or violent loss. While related terms exist in other major Philippine languages, their semantic scope tends to be broader, often encompassing general sorrow, sadness, or mourning without capturing the specific intensity, situational context, or cultural resonance embodied by hinagpis. These findings enrich the growing body of research on Filipino emotional concepts, demonstrating the importance of language in shaping cultural understandings of emotion. The study encourages further linguistic and cross-cultural investigation of uniquely Filipino emotions, offering a model for comparative semantic research in other multilingual and multicultural contexts.

Sinusuri sa pag-aaral na ito ang mga ekspresyong aydaw at aynaw sa wikang Meranaw bilang mga anyo ng pandamdaming wika na nagpapahayag ng iba’t ibang emosyon. Layunin nitong mailarawan at maipaliwanag ang kahulugan, gamit, at semantikong istruktura ng mga nasabing ekspresyon sa iba’t ibang kontekstong emosyonal gamit ang teoryang Natural Semantic Metalanguage (NSM). Gumamit ang pananaliksik ng kwalitatibong disenyo kung saan limang piling informante mula sa Barangay Nusa, Balindong, Lanao del Sur ang kinapanayam. Dagdag pa rito, sinuri rin ang mga korpus mula sa social media upang mapalawak ang saklaw ng datos. Natuklasan sa pag-aaral na ang aydaw at aynaw ay hindi lamang tumutukoy sa simpleng damdaming ‘sakit’ kundi ginagamit din sa iba’t ibang emosyon tulad ng gulat, galit, inis, mangha, takot, at pagkalito. Ipinakita sa pagsusuri gamit ang NSM na ang kahulugan ng mga ekspresyong ito ay nakabatay sa konteksto, intensyon ng tagapagsalita, at kultural na karanasan ng mga Meranaw. Lumitaw rin na ang mga ekspresyon ay may mahalagang papel sa pragmatikong komunikasyon at nagsisilbing salamin ng identidad, kultura, at panlipunang ugnayan ng mga tagapagsalita. Sa kabuuan, pinatutunayan ng pag-aaral na ang mga simpleng pandamdam na salita tulad ng aydaw at aynaw ay may masalimuot at malalim na kahulugan na hindi matutukoy sa diksyunaryong depinisyon lamang. Nag-aambag ito sa pagpapalawak ng pag-aaral sa wika ng emosyon sa kontekstong Pilipino, partikular sa wikang Meranaw, at nagpapakita ng kahalagahan ng lokal na perspektiba sa larangan ng sosyolinggwistika at semantika.

This paper examines the Filipino concept of sayá (happiness) as an emotion that is value-laden and relational. Drawing on the distinction between happiness as a state of mind (psychological sense) and as a value term (philosophical sense), the paper shows how dominant accounts of happiness tend to locate it within the individual, either as a subjective feeling or as a condition of personal flourishing. In contrast, the Filipino concept of sayá reframes it as fundamentally relational or shared. Using Emerita Quito’s Filipino philosophy of relational well-being as a theoretical framework, the paper accounts for important meanings and contextual uses of sayá, and how they connect with Filipino relational practices and values. This framework presents well-being as a dynamic process that is deeply rooted in Filipino culture, creating a quality of life that is fundamentally social and ethical, rather than economic. Through ordinary language analysis as methodology, various Filipino uses of sayá in family, community, politics, or society in general will be presented and analyzed. On this basis, sayá emerges within and through shared social contexts, where the boundaries between self and others are indistinct. Consequently, to describe a life as masayá (happy) is not simply to report the presence of pleasurable experiences, but to evaluate the quality of one’s participation in a network of relationships. The paper concludes that sayá, grounded in relational well-being, challenges individualist frameworks of happiness and offers an alternative account in which happiness is not something one possesses, but something one co-experiences and sustains with others. The paper contributes to Filipino philosophy by approaching the concept of sayá through contextual and relational language that Filipinos value rather than the individualistic models common in Western thought.

Pasang-awa is a vernacular Filipino term describing the practice of granting a passing grade out of mercy despite insufficient academic performance. While widely recognized in Philippine educational settings, scholarly attention to this concept remains limited. This paper aims to advance scholarly inquiry on pasang-awa through a conceptual analysis grounded in the Filipino notion of awa (mercy). Using Leonardo Mercado’s perspective on Filipino philosophy, the study employs a documentary research method, analyzing books, journal articles, and online materials related to pasang-awa and awa. Findings indicate that the Filipino concept of awa differs from dominant Western philosophical notions of mercy, which are often treated as primarily affective states. In contrast, Filipino awa integrates affective, behavioral, and moral dimensions. Leonardo Mercado argues that awa is not merely a feeling of pity, but is inseparable from grace, charity, human-heartedness, and forgiveness. Other Filipino scholars further maintain that possessing awa is a defining element of moral goodness in a person. Accordingly, pasang-awa as a grading practice embodies these elements, reflecting the moral and ethical dimensions of the Filipino understanding of a good person. The study underscores the role of awa in shaping the Filipino concept of a good person and the implications for teaching practices. It suggests that a teacher’s exercise of awa in grading is both a cultural and pedagogical practice, providing insight into local educational norms. This paper contributes a conceptual framework for understanding pasang-awa and serves as a foundation for future empirical studies on its practice, cultural significance, and impact on Philippine education.

Community health inequities persist not only due to unequal resources and structural limitations, but also because some forms of suffering are normalized while others receive urgent attention. It raises a central ethical question: “Who do we care about?” This paper addresses the query by reconceptualizing “care about” as a form of moral attention and examining how emotions shape what becomes ethically visible across unequal social and spatial contexts. Drawing on Maurice Merleau-Ponty, this paper advances a phenomenologically informed ethics of space and extends care ethics by shifting from caregiving practices (care for) to an affective moral orientation (care about). It integrates Filipino philosophical concepts of kapwa (shared self) and malasakit (deep concern) as relational and affective frameworks that expand and intensify moral attention. The study employs a normative-conceptual analysis, supplemented by phenomenological reflection and interpretative reconstruction of Filipino philosophical concepts, to develop a novel theoretical framework through cross-cultural philosophical synthesis. The analysis draws on philosophical literature in care ethics, Filipino philosophy, and phenomenology. Also, conceptual engagement with community health contexts, e.g., health inequities, serves as a site of ethical analysis. The paper demonstrates that aside from structural constraints, unequal care results from the uneven distribution of moral attention. It proposes a model of affective-spatial moral attention in which emotions mediate moral visibility, and spatial conditions determine who is noticed and prioritized. Filipino values—kapwa and malasakit—reconfigure care by extending relational concern and deepening affective responsiveness. By introducing “care about” as a distinct moral orientation and positioning Filipino Philosophy as a source of conceptual innovation, the paper offers a novel contribution to the philosophy of emotions, cross-cultural philosophy, and ethics with implications for rethinking community health inequities.

Since the filing of the first anti-discrimination bill in Congress in 2000, the Philippines has yet to pass a national law that protects the welfare and rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer (LGBTQ), and other sexual minority individuals. In this paper, I examine the emotionality behind anti-discrimination ordinance (ADO) successes among Filipino LGBTQ community-based organizations (CBOs) that makes legal victories possible and keeps organizations moving long after the ordinance is passed. I approach these questions from a constructivist standpoint: the accounts I present are co-constructed narratives shaped by advocates’ own sense-making and my interpretive presence. I treat emotionality—the relational, socially produced feeling practices that foster connectedness and sustain collective action—as constitutive of advocacy rather than merely accompanying it. Alongside social movement scholarship that foregrounds spectacular, confrontational, or outcome-focused emotional dynamics, I argue that some ADO advocacies in the Philippines are animated by an emotionality that is quiet, intimate, and sustained. My data come from semi-structured life-story interviews with three LGBTQ CBO leaders from three local government units outside Metro Manila—San Julian in Eastern Samar, Batangas City, and Cebu City—each instrumental in the passage of local ADOs. Through thematic analysis, I identify three emotionality practices that together constitute this quiet, intimate, and sustained quality: ligawan (courtship) as non-spectacular relational labor that converts uncommitted duty-bearers into committed champions over time; rest, play, and collective art as embodied, intimate organizational maintenance that replenishes emotional capacity; and ambivalent victory, the coexistence of elation and renewed anxiety at the moment of passage, as advocates turned immediately toward implementation rather than celebration. These findings extend one of my central arguments that ADO successes are precarious beginnings rather than happy endings, contributing to a localized theorization of advocacy emotionality grounded in Filipino relational values and grassroots LGBTQ experience.

Political figures routinely evoke complex emotional responses, yet little is known about how different social groups interpret these emotions and the cognitive judgments that accompany them. This study examines how middle-aged citizens and educators age 30 years old and above experience, articulate, and appraise their emotional responses toward selected national and local political figures, using a comparative, theory-driven framework grounded in Affective Intelligence and Appraisal Theory. A qualitative, comparative design was employed, drawing on emotion-elicitation interviews with a purposively selected and demographically diverse sample of 40 respondents (20 citizens and 20 educators) across 20 municipalities to ensure variation in social background and geographic context. Through thematic analysis, the study identified distinct patterns in emotional intensity, emotional types, and cognitive appraisals between the two groups. Citizens expressed very strong and predominantly negative emotions, particularly anger and frustration, often shaped by extrinsic media exposure and peer influence. In contrast, educators reported mild to moderate and more mixed emotions, including admiration, hope, and disappointment, grounded largely in performance-based judgments, policy evaluations, and political stances. Both groups demonstrated the strongest emotional reactions toward national leaders, especially the president and vice president, while local officials and legislative leaders elicited weaker emotional engagement. These findings highlight how emotions and cognitive appraisals shape political perception in divergent ways, underscoring the need for strengthened media literacy, enhanced civic education, and more transparent political communication. The study contributes to comparative political psychology by illustrating how social roles and appraisal mechanisms condition the emotional register of political evaluation.

The dominant theorization of politics in highly polarized political spaces and cycles centers on the perniciousness of interactions between opposing groups, underpinned by a hostile, homophilic, and disengaged public sphere. In the Philippines, polarization is emotionally charged across levels of interactions, as politics is as much culturally familial as it is institutionally dynastic. At the micro-political level, it has a decisive stake in one’s relationships with (fictive) kinship ties and primary socialization circles. Employing a case study of the Solid North—the Marcoses’ political bailiwick, which has historically purported political polarization—I build on an emotional agency network map and narrative analysis of interviews with Ilocanos. My research examines the emotions spurring and inhibiting perniciousness within such a landscape. Findings indicate that navigating such pernicious environments is shaped by three dimensions: the social, the spatial, and the temporal. An individual's capacity for affective understanding of opposing political views is primarily contingent upon their perceived closeness to ‘Other’ political actors, their proximity to the ethnolinguistic voting bloc, and the enduring patterns of electoral dominance at critical junctures. While perniciousness intensifies as opposing groups are more socially and spatially proximate during critical political moments, Ilocanos also rely on cultural semblances of relational politics to navigate interactions and relationships. This allows them to transform the causal link between polarizing politics and negative emotions into empathic signals of understanding – relying on those similarly charged landscapes to alleviate the perniciousness. However, even as emotions serve as agentive expressions of affect in politics, they do not necessarily signal an acceptance of opposing political positions and ideologies. How can those that divide, quite paradoxically, also unite? I show how emotions, as lived and experienced relationally, can be deployed as conceptual anchors in the study of micro-political cultures to rethink their non-pernicious potentialities.

During the 2022 Philippine National Elections, the campaign of Leni Robredo catalyzed an unprecedented surge of emotionally-driven volunteerism among "Kakampinks." Between March and May 2022, this fervor manifested in intensive grassroots mobilizations, including nationwide house-to-house initiatives, the establishment of local support chapters, and rallies drawing millions of participants. Drawing upon Lasswell’s (1930) assertion that politics expresses personal emotions, this study argues that affective states functioned as the primary catalyst for democratic participation. Specifically, the phenomenon leveraged "radical hope" (Malibiran, 2025) and "enthusiasm" (Marcus, 2000) to showcase collective action toward a reformed future. Furthermore, while Marcus (2000) suggests such emotions sustain loyalty, this research highlights a unique phenomenon: the persistence of civic commitment following Robredo’s defeat, even without the rewards of state power. By addressing a knowledge gap that often limits emotion politics to dominant, authoritarian figures, this qualitative case study employs semi-structured interviews, content analysis, and discourse analysis to identify post-election emotionality as a framework for sustained engagement. Ultimately, the study positions emotion as a foundational engine for grassroots mobilization and longitudinal resilience, advocating for its recognition as a legitimate driver of civic sustainability in the Global South.

The Philippine political landscape has long been shaped by identity-based politics, influencing how Filipinos emotionally and morally evaluate transgressions by political actors. While prior research has demonstrated the role of partisan identity in shaping reactions to political wrongdoing, less is known about the emotional mechanisms underlying these judgments within personality-driven political contexts. Moreover, there remains a lack of consensus regarding the mechanisms of moral judgment, the categorization of moral domains, and how specific emotions are linked to transgressions. The present study addresses these gaps by examining the role of moral emotions in moral judgment, drawing on intuitionist accounts that emphasize affective responses, and testing whether these processes are conditioned by personality-based political identity. A randomized between-subjects experiment was conducted with four conditions (control, community, autonomy, and divinity transgressions). A moderated mediation framework was employed, with political identity categorized into in-group and out-group anchored on a pretested, polarizing political candidate. Using purposive sampling, 228 participants were recruited. Participants completed measures of moral emotions and moral judgment after reading two vignettes. Results support the pathway from transgressions to emotions. All transgressions predicted both anger and disgust, but only disgust mediated moral judgment. Although out-group participants reported higher emotional responses in all conditions, political identity did not moderate these effects. These findings suggest emotional responses are shaped more by baseline affect toward the political actor than by transgression type.

This paper develops an account of exhaustion as an affective condition through the lived experience of the migrant scholar. While exhaustion is often treated as a form of fatigue or as a symptom of burnout, I argue that it can be more productively understood as a distinct affective state—one that is relational, embodied, and structured by social and political conditions. Drawing on philosophical and phenomenological accounts of exhaustion, the paper distinguishes between bodily exhaustion, psychosocial burnout, and what I term survival exhaustion: a form of affective depletion that arises from the ongoing effort to persist within conditions of structural inequality. Migrant scholar exhaustion exemplifies this condition. It emerges not only from the demands of academic labour, but from the affective burden of navigating precarity, exclusion, and epistemic marginalisation. This includes the constant negotiation of legitimacy and belonging, the pressure to translate one’s knowledge into dominant frameworks, and the management of one’s emotional and embodied self within normative academic expectations. These processes produce a persistent affective atmosphere marked by weariness, dislocation, and what I describe as residual grief. By situating exhaustion at the intersection of emotion, embodiment, and structural injustice, the paper challenges individualised accounts of burnout and reframes exhaustion as a shared, politically significant affective condition. In doing so, it highlights how contemporary regimes of knowledge production shape not only what we know, but also how we feel, endure, and relate to the world.

This presentation focuses on the emotional dimensions of labor and mobility among Philippine indigenous sailors in the Spanish empire between the 1580s and 1640s. As an integral part of the global labor history framework, representations of sailors should not be limited to their role as economic actors but should also account for their status as emotional subjects who felt fear, longing, and hope in their everyday lives while navigating new environments, whether in Manila, Acapulco, or Sevilla. The study highlights how their emotional experiences were conditioned by “race” (based on geography and status as a Spanish indio), class, labor policies, and local contexts. Records from archives, vocabularios, and contemporary literature present the various scenarios they desired: survival (physical), returning home (attachment), and negotiating their status (economic mobility), as anchored in emotions such as fear, longing, and hope. By centering emotions, the present work contributes to emerging scholarship on emotions in global history and Philippine studies. It argues that early globalization can also be understood as an emotional landscape, where workers experienced empire through their everyday emotional lives.

This study explores the conceptualization of happiness, or "saya," among Filipino women married to Koreans, identifying key factors that contribute to their well-being within South Korea’s multicultural landscape. Utilizing a phenomenological case study design, the research involved semi-structured interviews with thirteen Filipino women who have resided in Korea for over seven years. Drawing on the Existential Security Perspective, the study examines the emotional landscapes of these women amidst the precarious conditions of gendered migration. Findings reveal that participants define happiness through subjective well-being, specifically emphasizing physiological health and overall family harmony. Beyond material or monetary gain, genuine family values and shared experiences serve as the ultimate sources of happiness. These insights emerge despite significant challenges, including language barriers, gender issues, identity concerns, and economic pressures such as household debt. The study emphasizes that marital satisfaction is a shared responsibility vital for family functioning across borders. Ultimately, these narratives challenge traditional notions of citizenship, patriarchy, and social homogeneity. The findings provide critical inputs for enhancing South Korean multicultural family policies, centering the individual fulfillment of migrant women within the broader discourse of Global South studies.

The introduction of railways in the Philippines during the late 19th century was widely viewed as a symbol of development and progress. As a major technological advancement of its time, the railroad became a vital tool of colonialism, routinely justified as necessary for developing the land and its people. Consequently, existing studies on Philippine railways have primarily emphasized their economic, political, and military functions, treating them merely as transport infrastructure. However, this overlooks the fact that the railways were also physical spaces that profoundly shaped human thought and emotion. To address this gap, this research analyzes the emotional geographies of the Philippine railroad during the Spanish and American colonial periods, as well as the brief Japanese occupation during the Second World War. Moving beyond the railroad as an infrastructure of economic extraction and political control, this paper argues that the railways functioned as a material landscape that actively produced and spatialized the everyday lives of the people. By reading colonial archives alongside cultural texts, this research demonstrates that the railroad was a contested emotional terrain where sentiments of modernity, nationalism, hope, and loss were forged, felt, and inscribed onto the Philippine landscape.

In 2018, I visited the National Archives of the Philippines (NAP) for the first time as an undergraduate history student. Unexpectedly, the dominant emotion I experienced was not excitement but fear—an emotion that has persisted in subsequent visits to both public and private archives. In this conceptual paper, I explore this emotional response through Plutchik’s theory of emotion and introduce the term archival fear—a state of paralysis marked by disorientation, helplessness, and uncertainty when engaging with archival materials. To examine this, I ask: What is this fear? Why does it arise? The paper aims to define archival fear and identify its possible causes among scholars and archive users. I argue that this fear originates from three interconnected sources: the idealization of the archive, educational unpreparedness, and impostor syndrome. These factors, either alone or together, can overwhelm scholars, especially early-career researchers. The discussion draws on three main sources: (1) archival literature addressing affect and archives; (2) my personal experience as a young researcher navigating archival spaces; and (3) selected university documents. While anyone can feel fear in archival settings, this paper specifically focuses on scholars as users of archives. This scope is intentional, as historians and researchers rely heavily on archives as repositories of primary sources, making their emotional experiences particularly meaningful. Finally, this paper aims to understand fear as an affective response worth reflecting on. By naming and analyzing archival fear, it contributes to emerging conversations about emotion, subjectivity, and the affective aspects of historical research.

Naitakda ng Kasunduan sa Paris (1898) ang tadhana ng Pilipinas mula sa Espanya tungo sa kamay ng bago nitong kolonisador. Bilang isang “sentimental imperialist”—sa pagwiwika ni Stanley Karnow, naging tulay ang rasismong makaagham upang bigyang katwiran ang makataong asimilasyon ng kolonyalismong Amerikano sa kapuluan. Ang ganitong tendensiya ay malinaw na naipakita sa ginanap na St. Louis Exposition noong 1904 kung saan isinakatuparan ang etnikong museong nag-eeksibit ng mga buhay na artefak upang ipakita sa mga Amerikanong madla ang Pilipinas at mga naninirahan dito. Sa maraming mga etnikong grupong ineksibit, isa ang mga Mangyan sa masasalungguhitan. Sa pamamagitan ng mga tuklas na memoir at korespondiyang Mangyan mula sa pribadong koleksyon ni Antoon Postma, ay inilalagay ng pag-aaral na ito sa pedestal ang alingawngaw ng kanilang mga naging emosyonal na karanasan sa Mirika, at maging ang pangungulila ng kanilang kabanwa, kaíbigán at pamilyang naiwan sa Mindoro. Layunin ng pagbabasa sa mga ito na ipakita’t ilahad ang kanilang mga sentimyento, emosyon o/at damdamin hinggil sa pangyayari. Sa ganitong ugnayan, magagawang maipook ang pag-aaral sa malawak na diskurso ng kasaysayang etniko sa kontekstong kolonyal.

In the field of linguistics, it has been established that among the most salient characteristics of Philippine languages is the complex structures of verbs. These words may be merged with different affixes, depending on the role of the highlighted noun in a sentence: for example, Kumain ang bata ng mangga and Kinain ng bata ang mangga, while both translated as 'The child ate a mango,' use different forms of the verb kain 'to eat.' As these combinations create patterns of acceptance and restrictions, linguists throughout history have attempted to describe the diverse categories of verbs. This paper traces how verbs related to emotion in Philippine languages have been analyzed throughout the years, starting with the findings of Spanish missionaries, the research of American fieldworkers, the assumptions of Western theorists, and the claims of local scholars. It gives particular attention to what is called EMOTION verbs–verbs which clearly express a state of feeling, and how they are used in sentences in seven Philippine languages: Tagalog [tgl], Pangasinan [pag], Keley-i [ify], Bugkalot/Eģongot [ilk], Cuyonon [cyo], Kagayanen [cgc], and Bantoanon [bno]. It concludes with a reflection on the state of research on EMOTION verbs in Philippine languages, identifying gaps and offering suggestions for future scholarship.

Sinusuri ng papel na ito ang mga konseptuwal at kognitibong motibasyon sa likod ng mga pahayag na may kaugnayan sa galit sa wikang Hiligaynon, partikular sa mga Ilonggo ng South Cotabato, sa pamamagitan ng balangkas ng Conceptual Metaphor Theory (CMT). Layunin nitong matukoy kung paano naipahahayag sa wika at nauuunawaan ang galit sa pang-araw-araw na diskurso gamit ang korpus at datos mula sa mga katutubong tagapagsalita. Lumabas sa mga natuklasan ang 10 na konseptuwal na metapora ng galit, kabilang ang ANG GALIT AY INIT/APOY, ANG GALIT AY LIKIDONG NASA SISIDLAN, ANG GALIT AY HALAMAN, at ANG GALIT AY LASA, kasama ang iba pang mga metaporikal na ugnayan na humuhubog sa karanasan at pagpapahayag ng galit sa wika. Ipinapakita ng mga natuklasan na ang konseptuwalisasyon ng galit ay sumasalamin sa mga unibersal na tendensiyang kognitibo sa karanasang pandamdamin habang nagpapakita rin ng mga elaborasyong kultural na natatangi at hinubog ng mga Ilonggo at mas malawak na mga kasanayang pangwikang Filipino. Sa kabuoan, nagbibigay ang pag-aaral ng mas malalim na pag-unawa sa kultural na konseptuwalisasyon ng galit ng mga Ilonggo sa South Cotabato, na nag-aambag sa pananaliksik sa emosyon sa loob ng kognitib lingguwistiks at higit pang sumusuporta sa mga pag-aaral na itinuturing ang wika bilang mahalagang batis ng kaalaman hinggil sa kognisyon at kultura ng tao.

In this presentation, I examine the language policy deliberations during the 1934 Constitutional Convention through the lens of affective politics. Specifically, I draw on Jose P. Laurel’s Proceedings of the Constitutional Convention of 1934 as my primary source of data and investigate how “feelings” discursively functioned as empty signifiers through which the convention delegates mobilized and interposed various—and oftentimes contradictory and contentious—positions on the creation of a National Language. The findings of the study suggest that invocations of love of country, pride, shame, fear, and resentment were strategically articulated by the delegates in relation to competing notions of patriotism. On the one hand, several delegates appealed to sentiments of national unity and cultural authenticity to legitimize the elevation of a particular vernacular as the basis of the National Language. On the other hand, some mobilized anxieties over regional marginalization and ethnocentric bias—often encapsulated in accusations of “Tagalog Imperialism”—to resist and challenge these proposals. In both instances, affect operated as a flexible-yet-powerful discursive resource that the delegates used to fight for their interests in the language debates. Attending to affective politics, in this regard, reframes our understanding of the early debates on the National Language issue and further sheds light on the broader dynamics through which emotional repertoires animate, delineate, and structure constitutional formation and postcolonial statecraft.

This paper marks a personal ethnographic effort to engage and contend with the viral stereotype of Bikol—specifically Central Bikol/Bikol Naga—as a language unique in its possession of an “angry” register, more commonly known as tamanggot, or rapsak. Inspired by recent efforts to reframe this (Hernandez, 2025), I inquire as to the emotionalities rapsak conveys by listening to the soundscapes it constructs for its speakers. Specifically, I seek to: 1) identify the emotive contexts and categories in which rapsak is used by Central Bikol speakers; 2) analyze the sonic dimensions of rapsak as experienced and understood in these contexts, and; 3) explore the acoustemological emotionalities that abound in the performance and practice of rapsak by Bikolanos. With Steven Feld’s acoustemology as a theoretical frame, I draw on the appreciation of “sonic presence and awareness as potent shaping forces in how people make sense of experiences” (Feld, 1996 as cited in Rice, 2018, pp. 2-3) to center the embodied ways of knowing and feeling imprinted upon native speakers as they perform rapsak. As a Bikolano scholar and speaker myself, I proceed from an autoethnographic approach (Micu, 2022, p. 116), foregrounding the nature of rapsak as a living, breathing practice. Through semistructured interviews with three fellow Bikolano academics and five native speakers, I organize a method of inquiry best described as a “sounding out”, in both senses of the term: simultaneously a slow, deliberate enunciation of the words and an unearthing of its speakers’ beliefs and emotions. While emotive contexts relating to consternation and annoyance are acknowledged, sensations of camaraderie, trust, and community are also associated with rapsak. Its sonic features are likened to bodily sensations such as lagitok (the sound of joints popping) and alisngaw (the release of fumes), acoustemologically linking rapsak not just to tension, but to the release thereof.

In 1980, the province of Negros Occidental faced a profound collective trauma driven by a dual catastrophe: the sudden collapse of the global sugar market and the tragic maritime sinking of the MV Don Juan. In the wake of this socio-economic and emotional abyss, the city of Bacolod inaugurated the MassKara Festival, propelled by the local Hiligaynon imperative "Mangasadya ta ya" ("Let us celebrate"). Frequently mischaracterized through an external, outsider lens as a manifestation of "toxic positivity" or passive "Filipino resiliency," the festival's iconic smiling masks and vibrant street dances are often misread as a pathological denial of communal grief. This paper challenges that reductive interpretation by centering the localized, indigenous meanings of emotion, affect, and embodied performance. Grounded in the framework of Pantayong Pananaw and the psychological model of the Culture Cycle—which maps the dynamic loop among cultural Ideas, institutional structures, social Interactions, and Individual psyches—this research argues that MassKara functioned as a sophisticated, self-authored collective emotion-regulation strategy. Employing a tripartite qualitative methodology that combines critical discourse analysis of historical archival texts, semiotic analysis of the material mask, and performance analysis of somatic choreography, this study examines how Bacolod transformed its trauma into an active site of psychological resistance. Rather than concealing the grim material reality, the community utilized the visual semiotics of the unchanging painted smile and the physical affect of rhythmic entrainment to operationalize defiant joy. Viewed from within the culture, "Mangasadya ta ya" emerges not as shallow escapism, but as an active, revolutionary affect—a disciplined performance of hope necessary to survive systemic collapse. Ultimately, this paper demonstrates how public art, material culture, and festive performance are deployed as vital psychological survival mechanisms in the Global South, thereby radically redefining the standard boundaries between private trauma, collective grief, and public resilience.

The Philippines is the "social networking capital of the world," transforming the virtual sphere into a primary site of political struggle. For student movements, this digital dominance offers amplification but exposes activists to disinformation and "red-tagging." This study investigates this paradox by examining the mobilization efforts of University of the Philippines (UP) Diliman student organizations on Facebook during the Baha sa Luneta rally. Guided by Castells’ network theory and framing theory, the research answers the sociological question: How do organizations mobilize online under systems of repression? Employing a qualitative case study design, the study utilizes digital ethnography to analyze textual and visual data across the pre-rally, rally, and post-rally phases. The findings reveal that effective digital mobilization was inseparable from each organization's offline infrastructure, where political education, collaborative content production, and sustained community relationships were what made social media an effective organizing tool rather than a broadcasting platform. The study also identifies fear and reassurance as an undertheorized but essential dimension of mobilization, particularly for constituencies facing state repression, and demonstrates that sustained political education functioned as the organizations' primary defense against disinformation and red-tagging rather than reactive counter-messaging.

In the recent flood control project corruption fiasco, an iconic chant emerged: “/I/kulong na ‘yan!/ Mga Kurakot!/”, which shares its 1-4-5 tonal-syllabic structure with UP’s widely-known UAAP cheerleading yell, “/U/nibersidad!/ Ng Pilipinas!/”. This earworm burrowed into the multiple publics present during the September 21 mobilizations, replicated in other venues and succeeding protests. Tunneling deeper into Filipino society, even non-protesters such as children, internet influencers, among others— echoed the chant beyond its sonic form, with dance choreographies, memes, and graphic designs containing its message being produced. How, then, could we account for the multiplication and the ensuing mutation of this earworm? This preliminary study develops a social-affective framework for analyzing music and sound by accounting for the interplay of affect, form, and context in protest songs and chants. Drawing from sociologies of music, affect, and emotion, we conceptualize protest sound as an assemblage of voices, rhythms, and sociopolitical sentiments. Protest songs and chants are understood as practices that are inherently affective and emotional– sound in this context is an affective force that binds participants, (re)produces and intensifies shared feelings, and mobilizes collective action. From our own fieldwork encounters, we analyze the contrast between the sonic (e.g., repetition, tempo, and call-and-response) and semiotic (e.g., ideological orientation, sociopolitical context) features of protest songs and chants, and what roles they play in organizing participation and sustaining emotional intensity within the act of mobilization. In doing so, we hope to contribute to emotion research by decentering text as source of meaning-making, accounting for sound and music as a more-than-representational medium through which emotions are collectively produced and politically enacted in Philippine society.

Love teams are the not-so-secret ingredient in the formulation of box office-hit romantic comedy films in Philippine cinema. In such movies, the commodification of kilig, a culturally rooted Filipino affect associated with romantic excitement, to audiences, appears to strictly operate on the celebratory reinforcement of dominant heterosexual fantasies. This gatekeeping thus implies that evoking kilig in otherwise contexts, such as the usually hypersexualized queer romance, is subversive (Veloso, 2025). Thus, with actresses Rhian Ramos and Glaiza de Castro reuniting in their movie I Fell, It’s Fine (2026) as each other’s love interests, years after starring in a lesbian teleserye The Rich Man’s Daughter (2015), there emerges the possibility of a Filipino sapphic love team in the middle of an arguably heteronormative mainstream cinema industry. Ahmed’s (2004) discussion on queer feelings in the cultural politics of emotion and Bradbury-Rance’s (2019) examination of lesbian cinema beyond queer theory will be used as frameworks to examine how a Filipino sapphic love team such as “RaStro” (from Rhian Ramos and Glaiza De Castro) can take part in an inclusive reconstruction of the affect kilig that has been commodified by idealizations of heteronormative romantic narratives in Philippine mainstream cinema. At the same time however, this marketing of queer kilig begs critical attention, for it raises concerns regarding how queer audiences could be taken advantage of, by creating a love team that supposedly represents them, but without actresses who overtly identify as part of their community. Ultimately, this study situates Filipino sapphic love teams as an intervention into the production of local romantic imaginaries; all the while, it encourages a critical interrogation into the potentially exploitative marketing of kilig towards queer audiences.

Emotional appeals are critical in legislative debates, especially in the case of the Absolute Divorce Bill in the Philippines. Both pro-divorce and anti-divorce legislators have been deploying each of their sentiments over this age-old issue. The pro-divorce camp invokes women’s suffering, liberation, and empowerment. Anti-divorce politicians raise fears over children’s welfare, anxieties on family separation, and hope on the sanctity of marriage. However, given the non-passage of a divorce law, we ask: why do anti-divorce emotions remain powerful and pervasive, even when faced with convincing emotional accounts from the other side? Since 2005, divorce bills were filed in Congress but to this date, none have been approved. Our argument suggests that such anti-divorce emotions are powerful not only because they are foregrounded on moral and religious grounds but because such emotions are anchored on Filipino men and women’s culturally sanctioned gendered roles in society. By employing emotional discourse analysis (EDA) on legislative transcripts since 2005 to 2025, we study the emotional themes utilized by anti-divorce legislators to counter the arguments of the pro-divorce side. In arguing that gendered norms are implicit in the emotions evoked by anti-divorce legislators, we expand literature on emotions in two ways. First, emotional repertoires determine which resonates and which are downplayed and considered legitimate. Second, we show that gendered norms implicit in emotional appeals can reinforce traditional roles of men and women. Overall, the research provides empirical armory to the emotional turn in politics and the social sciences.

This paper examines the emotions of the Philippine sex confession tabloid Dear Xerex during its emergence in 1988 until its fall in 2004. While extensive scholarship has focused the discourse of sex on movie films and censorship, there was an overlooked for using sex tabloids as a site where feelings of nasa (as in pagnanasa or the feeling of sexual urge), ligaya (as in kaligayahan or the feeling of sexual happiness), and takot (as in/or pangamba or the feeling of sexual concern or fear) were predominantly used and discussed. Using semantics and the method of History, this paper will look at the sex confession, the reply of Xerex and the community discussion between Xerex, the writers and the readers. This paper argues then, that tabloids/spaces such as Dear Xerex, opened up the negotiation of sexual emotions to a broader public. The paper demonstrated that although the discourse of sex on Dear Xerex reflects the influence of culture, media and society towards the collective idea and emotions of sex, it also challenges that very idea. As we have seen, the sexual emotions and terms in the sex confessions of Dear Xerex came from and negotiated by the people who wrote their sex experience. This highlights the crucial space of Dear Xerex and sex tabloids for examining how ordinary people articulate and contest the language of sex and its emotions.

As smartphone adoption grows in the Philippines, identifying and describing how Generation Z uses smartphones to cope with everyday challenges has become essential. This study investigated smartphone coping styles and associated strategies of 215 undergraduate students from the University of the Philippines College of Media and Communication (CMC). A quantitative survey design was employed using an adapted Smartphone Coping Style Scale. Data were analyzed through descriptive statistics, Welch's t-tests, ANOVA, and k-modes cluster analysis using R. Results revealed that Solving Daily Problems was the dominant smartphone coping style (83.72%), functioning as a practical, problem-focused strategy within the academic setting. While age and socio-economic status did not significantly influence coping styles scores, gender, degree program, and screen time emerged as significant characteristics. Women and students in Broadcast Media Arts and Studies and Journalism programs utilized their devices significantly more for social and emotional support compared to peers. Students with lower weekly screen time reported higher use of smartphones for emotional distraction than moderate users. Five distinct student personas emerged from cluster analysis, yet the Solving Daily Problems style remained dominant across all groups. These findings suggest that smartphone use among the sampled Filipino emerging adults is multifaceted and adaptive, challenging deterministic views of technology as inherently beneficial or harmful. This research provides context-specific insights into smartphone coping styles and strategies for both functional navigation and emotional regulation in contemporary student life.

Emotions play a vital role in our daily lives and interactions, but dysregulation of these emotions can present as mental health difficulties, like Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD). This paper outlines how emotions underlying GAD can be linked to Filipino culture and values, which may lead to better understanding of the culture-specific presentations of GAD. Using the Teorya ng Kapwa as a theoretical framework, it is posited that dyscontrol of key kapwa (shared identity) constructs can manifest as emotional dysregulations seen in GAD. Worry is a key emotion in GAD, with themes in collectivist cultures typically being relational and familial in nature. This may connect to the core value of pakikipagkapwa (recognition of shared humanity). At its deepest level, there may be pakikiisa (oneness with the other), and GAD may present itself as an inability to separate the self from this oneness through excessively affiliative behaviors. GAD is also connected to higher levels of anxiety sensitivity, which may entail an overuse of pakikiramdam (shared inner perception) and a hyperfixation on masamang kutob (negative gut-feeling). Worry has been found to increase theory-of-mind reasoning in GAD, but only for negative stimuli. Selective attention towards negative stimuli coupled with enhanced understanding of it may sustain anxiety in a loop. Lastly, Intolerance to Uncertainty (IU) is a hallmark in GAD and this may relate to an inability to use confrontative surface values to address the kapwa and the future. Building an attitude of bahala na (positive confrontation of uncertainty) and lakas ng loob (inner strength of will) may act as avenues for treatment. Culturally contextualized research and intervention is critical to improving the lives of Filipinos facing GAD.

Depression is one of the most prevalent mental health disorders globally, yet its conceptualization and understanding remain heavily reliant on Western diagnostic frameworks such as the DSM-5-TR. This reliance often overlooks the influence of culture in shaping depression, particularly its somatic and indigenous nuances. This paper is an initial attempt to re-evaluate the criteria for a depressive episode through the concept of ginhawa. Drawing on Bautista’s (2014; 2019) dimensions of ginhawa, this study conceptualizes depression as a multifaceted kawalan (loss) of ginhawa: (1) kawalan ng sigla (loss of vitality), manifesting as fatigue and sleep disturbances; (2) kawalan ng gana (loss of appetite/motivation), directly paralleling anhedonia; (3) kawalan ng gaan (loss of lightness), reflected in both psychomotor retardation and the burdens of emotional life; and (4) kawalan ng ligaya (loss of happiness), corresponding to depressed mood rooted in the concept of loob. By integrating core Filipino values, this paper proposes a transdiagnostic and culturally sensitive framework for assessment and intervention.

After gaining independence from Spain, the Philippines was occupied by the United States. Under the guise of “benevolent assimilation,” the Americans wreaked havoc upon the burgeoning nation and its revolutionaries. In this tumultuous period, death became an inevitability as many patriots succumbed to illness or injuries from war. Their deaths, though tragic, served as a precursor to the formation of the Filipino nation. Drawing on early 20th-century local newspapers, this paper analyzes death as a “national” event at the onset of the Filipino-American War. By focusing on the demise of Filipino revolutionaries Apolinario Mabini and Macario Sakay, this study argues that death notices in newspapers, specifically obituaries and elegies, were charged with emotions that simultaneously lauded the deceased heroes and tormented the idle. Ultimately, this paper contends that while obituaries and elegies are non-conventional historical sources, they reveal popular aspirations and values. Beyond acts of remembrance, these texts served as sites of collective lamentation, anger, resistance, and the pursuit of freedom.

Ang pagpapatuloy sa kilusan ni Gregoria de Jesus na makikita sa pagbabahagi ng kaniyang mga salaysay ay nagpababatid ng kaniyang paggigiit ng sariling soberanya. Tangan ang kaniyang alaala at mga tagubilin, makabuluhang ambag ang malalaman tungkol sa kondisyong kolektibo ng mga Katipunerang katulad niyang nahubog, nakasangkapakan, at naisulat muli ang damdamin ng “dalamhati” upang makapagtaguyod ng pagsasaboses sa gitna ng inaasahang pagtitimpi sa kanilang kasarian at henerasyon. Ipinopook ng pag-aaral na ito ang damdamin ng kaniyang dalamhati sa lente ng kasaysayan at sa gitna ng mga panlipunang pamantayan para sa mga kababaihan noong ika-19 siglo. Sa haba ng panahong ang mga salaysay ay kalakhang isinulat ng kalalakihan, ang kababaihan ay unang kinikilala bilang kabiyak, ina, anak, kaibigan, o katuwang. Ang katulad ni Oriang ay mas nakikita bilang biyuda ni Andres Bonifacio at may bahay ni Julio Nakpil. Nang udyokin siya ni José P. Santos na isulat ang kaniyang talambuhay, nabigyang daan ang pagbibigay-alam sa kaniyang mga karanasan na humihigit pa sa kaniyang papel bilang kabiyak at ina. Isinalaysay ng kaniyang talambuhay, tagubilin, mga liham, at tulang inaalay para kay Andres ang kaloobang malawak at malalim na dinaluyan ng iba’t ibang danas ng dalamhati. Isiniwalat ng mga sinulat ni Oriang ang pagdadalamhati na hindi pawang personal sapagka’t aktibo siyang nakilahok bilang mandirigma at nakasaksi ng kamatayan. Hindi rin ganap na napawi ang damdaming ito bagaman namuhay na siya nang tahimik matapos ang rebolusyon. Mababasa sa kaniyang mga salaysay ang pigil na pagdadalamhating sumusulpot sa pag-aalaala ng mga natatanging pangyayaring matapang niyang isinasariwa.

One of the evident manifestations of national expression is through state ceremonies, among which is the ascension of a new Philippine president to the main staircase of Malacañang. According to Manuel Quezon’s autobiography, The Good Fight, he instituted such a tradition in memory of the alleged imploring of Teodora Alonzo to the Spanish Governor-General Camilo de Polavieja to spare the former’s son, Jose Rizal, from being executed. According to the lore, the old lady ascended to the very same staircase, kneeling. More than a nostalgia for the bygone phase of the quest for Philippine independence and nationhood, Quezon transformed the myth into a moving tradition marking the transition of the Philippine presidency. Commemoration, regardless of its mythical or historical provenance, serves as a vessel of national emotion. It was not limited to Quezon. There are records in the Katipunan Documents at the Archivo General Militar de Madrid proving that the commemoration of the martyrdom of Gomburza was religiously observed, with fitting ceremonies to stir patriotic feelings among the Katipuneros. This paper assesses the value of feelings in remembering since the onset of Philippine independence and nationhood (1896–1946) and how these feelings of the period transcend time as traditions that enrich state ceremonies today, especially in regular commemorative events like the Araw ng Kagitingan every April 9 and Araw ng Kalayaan every June 12. It will also trace the innovations employed over time by the Philippine government to sustain national feeling.