10 Weird Things About The Philippines That Will Freak You Out!

Pea does a candlelit "culture class" episode walking through a collection of Filipino customs, communication quirks, and daily-life realities that confuse, frustrate, or outright horrify Westerners. She covers everything from gift-giving etiquette and bathroom habits to the country's lack of a 911 system and the financial incentive for hit-and-run drivers to kill their victims.

Filipinos don't open gifts in front of the giver ​

• A viewer wrote in confused and offended because his girlfriend received his birthday present, said thanks, set it on the table, and went about her day
• He thought she was rude, even though she later called to say she loved it
• Pea explains this is standard custom — Filipinos don't open gifts in front of the person who gave them, possibly an Asian-wide tradition
• She tells viewers: don't take it as disrespect

Filipino birthday celebrations at restaurants are intense ​

• A long line of people will surround the birthday table, singing and dancing at full volume while music blasts so loud you can't think
• As the birthday person (especially a foreigner), you're expected to pay for everyone's meal
• Pea's advice: never disclose your birthday to a Filipina if you want to avoid being the center of attention and picking up a massive tab

Family-style eating means shared germs — literally ​

• In Filipino homes, especially in the provinces, food is served in communal bowls and eaten with fingers
• Even if someone has a cold or cough, they still dip their fingers into the shared bowl of sticky rice and pass it along
• Pea jokes it's "like we don't believe in germs or anything we can't see"
• Her only suggested escape: fake a stomach ache or take a conveniently timed emergency phone call

Tagay: communal drinking from a single glass ​

• After dinner, everyone sits in a circle passing one glass of alcohol mouth to mouth
• Pea's advice: either claim you don't drink, or hope the alcohol content is high enough to kill whatever's growing in that glass

The tabo system (no toilet paper) ​

• Filipinos clean themselves with water and soap instead of toilet paper
• Viewers frequently ask how Filipinos dry off afterwards — Pea's blunt answer: "We don't. We just get dressed and let the water evaporate."
• She adds: if you walk into a bathroom with no soap, definitely pass on the sticky rice

Filipino names are unpredictable and often old-fashioned ​

• Names range from common (Michelle) to royal-sounding (Queen Elizabeth, King Lester, Prince Charles) to vintage Western names rarely used anymore (Mildred, Hazel, Lovely Anne)
• Pea jokes she's thankful she's never met a Filipina named Gertrude — "not yet anyway"

Physical and nonverbal communication quirks ​

• Passing between two people talking: Filipinos crouch down, bow their head, and extend their arm — a way of saying "excuse me" without verbal interruption
• Pointing at someone with your finger is considered very rude; instead, Filipinos point with their lips (a quick lip-pursing gesture that looks like a facial tic to outsiders)
• When asked a series of questions, Filipinos only answer the last one and completely ignore everything before it — especially noticeable in texting
• Pea's workaround: ask questions one at a time and don't move on until you get an answer

"Until now" means the opposite of what you think ​

• "I love you until now" does NOT mean she stopped loving you — it means she still loves you right up to the present moment
• "It's raining until now" means it's STILL raining, not that it stopped
• This is a major source of confusion for Westerners

Filipinos name objects by their function ​

• Tweezers = "pullers," cuticle tools = "pushers," X-Acto blades = "cutters"
• Practical and logical, but takes getting used to

Tradespeople show up without tools ​

• Plumbers, electricians, and AC repair guys may arrive with no equipment and ask to borrow yours
• If they don't have what they need and you don't either, they'll say they need to go buy a screwdriver and come back tomorrow
• In the West this would get someone fired on the spot; in the Philippines it's normal

Appointments barely exist ​

• A doctor's appointment often just means they'll see you "sometime that day" — you still have to show up early and grab a number, first-come-first-served
• Scheduled flights get moved without warning: an 8 AM flight might become an 8 PM flight or get bumped to another day entirely, with no apologies
• This is catastrophic for people with connecting flights

Pasalubong culture (bringing gifts when you visit) ​

• You're expected to bring a gift representing the place you came from when visiting someone
• Chocolates are a safe universal choice
• Pea jokes that when her own family visits her, she never gets pasalubong — just restaurant bills

Calling businesses or emergency services is a nightmare ​

• Phone numbers change constantly, service providers differ between caller and business (causing extra charges), and often no one answers
• There is no universal emergency number like 911 in the Philippines
• Police and fire departments each have multiple numbers depending on which telecom provider you use
• Pea strongly advises saving your local police and fire numbers in your phone now, because figuring it out during an actual emergency means your house burns down first

No phone calls allowed inside some banks ​

• You can use your phone but can't talk on it inside certain banks
• Pea asked a guard why and got the classic Filipino non-answer: "Because that's the rule"

Life is literally cheap — the hit-and-run incentive ​

• If you're hit by a vehicle in the Philippines, it's financially cheaper for the driver to back over you and make sure you're dead than to pay your hospital bills
• Pea says this happened to a high school boyfriend of hers — hit by a truck, which then "proceeded to finish the job"
• She presents this matter-of-factly, not for shock value but as a genuine warning

Cemeteries will evict your bones ​

• In public cemeteries, if your family stops paying fees, the cemetery will dig up your remains and dump them in a mass grave
• Pea compares it to getting evicted from your apartment for not paying rent

Durian: the stench that's banned across Asia (but not in the Philippines) ​

• Overripe or cut durian produces a smell described as "sewage and vomit dumped into a dirty gym sock"

• Singapore, Japan, Thailand, and Hong Kong have banned durian on public transport, in hotels, malls, and airports

• The Philippines has no such ban, so encountering it on a bus is entirely possible

• Pea notes the video was published on U.S. Election Day 2024, so she doesn't expect high viewership, but encourages viewers to vote regardless of party because "democracy is a terrible thing to waste"

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