PHENOMENOLOGY OF MARITES
A Paper Submitted to
Mr. Joel C. Porras, MA in Philosophy
In Partial Fulfillment
of the Requirements for the Subject
Filipino Philosophy
By
Nimrod J. Dacles
April 23, 2023
Abstract
My objective for writing this paper is to explore the different philosophical themes that can be
found in the concept Marites. Does the term reveal the peculiarity of Filipino thought, behavior,
paradigm or in a word, philosophy? With this in mind, I would like to expect that readers will be
able to appreciate the Filipino way of philosophizing.
Introduction
Whereas the previous topics emphasized on the Filipino’s interiority, social relation,
notion of the other world and bearing, this topic will touch on the theme of Filipino public
sphere. What is a public sphere? According to Jurgen Habermas (1962), public sphere is a realm
of our social life in which something approaching public opinion can be formed,” and into which
“[a]ccess is guaranteed to all citizens.” Meaning, it is an avenue or conceptual space where
everyone can share and discuss about general matter or common interest in an “unrestricted
manner”. In the Philippines, it is obvious that this conceptual space takes the form of social
media platforms, to mention some: Facebook, Tiktok, Twitter and Instagram. Or it could also be
at dining tables where food is not the only shared good but also ideas, topics and rumors. Within
such platforms, Filipinos engage in an unrestricted sharing of information, sometimes interesting
topics at times malicious ones like gossip about individuals, neighbors or even about famous
celebrities.
In view of the latter, there is one word that captures such act of malicious spreading of
rumors about a person, neighbor or celebrity, that is, marites. What does marites means? To
answer this question, it would be helpful to look at the table below:
Metalinguistic Analysis
Cebuano Filipino English Meaning
Marites /proper noun/ It is a common female name in
Si Marites kay gwapa the Philippines
Si Marites ay maganda
Marites /proper noun/ It refers to people who love to
Marites mana siya gossip on social media or with
Siya ay isang Marites the neighbor next door
Marites /verb/ The act of engaging in gossip
Nakimarites nasab ka? Nakichika ka doon sa kapit- and rumor spreading about a
Nakimarites ka na naman? bahay no? person or a celebrity
Nagmamarites
Marites /noun/ This could mean the content
Unsa ang gimarites ninyo? Sino pinagusapan niyo? of the gossip (what or who
Kinsa man pud inyung was being talked about? )
gimaritesan?
Marites /abbreviation / What’s the update?
The word stands for:
Mari ano latest? or
Mare, ito ang latest!
Libak /noun/ Paninira Back-bite, gossip, tittle-tattle
Kinsa inyung gilibak?
Nanglibak napud mo
Wajud nag palibak
What is revealed in the table above is the ambiguous and polysemous quality of the word
Marites. Since it denotes different senses and meanings depending on the context it is employed.
In some case, it could pertain to a name of a person; a character trait shared by many; or a human
act. It could also be shorthand for Mari anong latest? Another abbreviation that was attributed to
the word Marites is Master of Arts in Relaying Information Through Exaggerated Story-telling.
But generally, marites is a term which has been a cultural shorthand which refers to people who
love to gossip about other people's lives. And this act of pagmamarites can happen in social
gatherings like having dinner or in the wide space of social media platforms. Another Cebuano
word that accommodates the terms back-bite and gossip is libak. However, the concern of this
paper is exploring and unveiling the meaning implied in the word Marites. So, the next question
to be asked is, where exactly Marites originated from? Who coined the term? Albeit, the exact
and precise origin of the term is difficult to pinpoint nevertheless, it became popular in social
media.
At first, it was a convenient label used by Internet users to refer to the gossipy-tita-next
door who spends a huge chunk of her days spreading interesting (and sometimes, malicious)
gossip to her neighbors (VILLANUEVA, 2021). Then later on it became a popular meme.
One of the personalities that popularized the marites meme is the TikTok user Justine Luzares, a
BPO process trainer who created videos portraying himself as a chismosang marites by wearing
a bathing robe and a towel on his head while pretending to spread rumors and tittle-tattles in a
British accent. One of his uploaded videos is “Chismosang Marites” in Pride and
Prejudice which has garnered nearly 100,000 reactions or more since it was first uploaded last
January 2020. In one of his most viral TikTok posts wherein he made a parody of the queen of
the dragons from the Game of Thrones series, he introduced Marites as the “queen of gossips,”
“mother of all tambays and usiseras,” and the “eyes and ears of the new world,” among others.
The TikTok character has continued to trigger laughter, garner reaction and be loved by many.
With the rise of Mariteses online and offline, the name has now become synonymous
with people who traffic in gossip, especially involving famous celebrities. What are the
behaviors implied in the word marites?
Behavior
Generally, what the meme exhibits are the behaviors of being intrusive and evasive.
According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, intrusive means intruding where one is not
welcome or invited. It implies a tactless or otherwise objectionable thrusting into others' affairs.
And it is synonymous with being meddlesome which also means an annoying and usually prying
interference in others' affairs. Perhaps this behavior is the extreme end of Filipinos’ care for
other people. Undeniably, Filipinos are known to be respectful, loyal, community-centered,
compassionate and hospitable. While the positive side of being involved in other people’s lives
has a good implication, the opposite is also true. Being too nosy or involved in the lives of others
can stir annoyance or even contempt which is problematic. This is what the act of pagmamarites
manifests. Hence, it is also undeniable that Filipinos love to stick their noses in other people’s
affairs. One good example is the hot issue concerning the celebrities Aljur Abrenica and Kylie
Padilla, who both broke their silence on their breakup with cheating allegations. When Aljur
released a statement on Twitter demanding the latter to “tell the truth” about their separation. The
twist is Aljur did not specify which actress he meant in his post. As a result, many Mariteses
drew some laughs as they turned even to the other Kylies (including beauty queen and actress
Kylie Verzosa) and asked them to reply to Abrenica’s accusation. Needless to say, Filipinos have
a knack for entering into the affairs of other people uninvited.
Another behavior that can be drawn out from the word marites is being evasive. As defined,
it means tending or intending to evade. This is one way of saying that Filipinos are discreet and
indirect in how they communicate; this behavior was discussed in Chapter 3 (Filipino Thinker).
This indirect mode of communication is one of the causes why Filipinos are fond of talking
about a person’s personality or in general about other people’s lives. They cannot say directly to
their desired or intended recipient what they really feel like insecurity, contempt, dislike and etc.
That is why the typical means of gauging these feelings is through gossip or libak. This behavior
is manifested in occasions like seminarians talking behind the back of their formators, siblings
complaining against their parents among themselves, students gossiping about their teachers’
character, citizens criticizing the current administration or government and etc. Since a typical
Filipino cannot bring himself to confront the person concerned, then he resorts to dehumanizing
means of expressing his feelings of dislike toward and his complaints against the person to his
circle of friends, so that in turn they can empathize with him. One experience I can give is when
I am at home. My siblings would share with me their complaints about our mom’s apparent
behavior of not fulfilling her promise to them. Although I attentively listen to their side but I do
not tell Mom about their complaints, instead I will remind my mom about what she promised
like buying a tube of ice cream or eating dinner outside. The point is, Filipinos are evasive. Now
then, what are the philosophical implications of such behaviors?
Philosophical Implication
The philosophical theme implied in such a concept is the Filipino mode of thinking and
Filipino social philosophy. The behavior of evasiveness is a by-product of the Filipino mode of
thinking which is characterized as indirect. This explains the Filipino’s fondness for poetic
speeches and at the same time for back-biting and rumor spreading. While the term marites itself
manifests Filipino thinking as it not only applies to females but to both gender males and females
and even LBTQ++ alike. In other words, the term is generic itself. This generic element affirms
the Filipinos’ absence of demarcation between female and male pronouns. Both the English
pronouns of he or she is captured in the Filipino pronoun siya. Likewise, the term marites
accommodates all kinds of genders.
Next, the philosophical explanation of intrusiveness can be found in the notion of ‘sakop.’
Once you are part of the sakop, then you are free to join the banquet of information; you may
either take part in the affairs of other people or people may invade your personal space. The
notion of sakop can be ambiguous, it could be the circle of your family, the neighborhood, the
whole region of Mindanao or the entire country of the Philippines. Once you are a Filipino living
anywhere in the archipelago, then you are part of the Filipino ‘sakop.’ This means to say that,
any member of the sakop can comment, ridicule, criticize or appraise your life. Aside from that,
intrusiveness manifests the communitarian mentality of Filipinos wherein not sharing rumors and
updates about a person of interest is considered egoistic (siya-siya, ila-ila). Sharing is caring as
they say, so Filipinos share both the good and juicy news to other people.
Conclusion
The Filipino public sphere is permeated with rumor, gossip and tittle-tattle typically by
the Mariteses online and offline. What is interestingly captured by the identity marites is the
Filipino way of behaving, in particular, the behavior of being intrusive and evasive. Lastly, the
word marites unfolds Filipino thinking and social philosophy. Yet the question remains
unanswered, is being marites a good thing or not? Perhaps this could be another interesting topic
for future academic endeavor.
References
Definition of evasive. (2023). In Merriam-Webster Dictionary. https://www.merriam-
webster.com/dictionary/evasive
Definition of intrusive. (2023). In Merriam-Webster Dictionary. https://www.merriam-
webster.com/dictionary/intrusive
Mercado, L. (ca. 1974). Elements of Filipino Philosophy. Divine Word University Pub.
Mwengenmeir. (2014, February 28). Habermas’ Public Sphere. Pressbooks.
https://opentextbc.ca/mediastudies101/chapter/habermas-public-sphere/
Villanueva, B. (n.d.). All about ‘Marites’: Here’s how the famous nickname became an indelible
part of social media. Philstar Life. https://philstarlife.com/geeky/940668-chismosang-
marites-meme-justine-luzares-tiktok#:~:text=How%20did%20Marites%20become
%20a,malicious)%20gossip%20to%20her%20neighbors.
