The Philippines is considered to be a mostly conservative culture. There are many religions there but most Filipinos identify themselves as being Catholic and the Catholic church has a big, powerful influence upon the people and beliefs there.
Culturally speaking Filipinos are the most Westernized of all Asians. The culture is a blend of Asian and Western cultures.This is due mostly because of the former colonization of the Philippines, for several hundreds of years, by the Spaniards and after the Spanish-American War the United States held onto the Philippines as one of it's territories. It has been independent of foreign rule and control for a long time now but those past events have greatly shaped and influenced it's politics and culture.
Many Filipinos are superstitious, I don't know why nor do I know the origins of this but there are many superstitious beliefs.
While the Philippines is not amongst the poorest of nations, poverty is still a big problem for many there. Many poor people can't afford a good/decent education which in turn contributes to the cycle of poverty. Some find opportunities to work abroad by joining foreign militaries, working as Overseas Filipino Workers (often called OFWs), etc. By working abroad they often can earn an income that is much better than if they were to work in their home country, sometimes this can be used as an opportunity to become a legal resident or citizen of another country. Often OFWs send money back home to support their families. It is a major source of income for the Philippines.
In some situations those living in the depths of poverty find themselves often in desperate situations. It is not uncommon to find girls on the internet willing to do webcam strip shows or other things to be able to have money for food, medicine/medical expenses, school tuition, school projects, etc.
There are some cases I know of some girls that use the money for alcohol, drugs and other such activities. It's not be excused but sometimes people do self-destructive/reckless things (drugs, alcohol, etc) to mentally escape their lives and situations. It only temporarily removes the pain but the same circumstances still exist afterwards.
For some Pinay (Filipina) there is a certain cultural or social stigma to being dark skinned. Some, not all, would not want to marry someone with dark skin out of fear their children would have dark skin. There is a very massive industry there that sells whitening creams, whitening lotions, whitening soaps, etc. Almost every beauty product I saw had some version with skin whiteners - many of the chemicals in some of these products are bad and could possibly lead to skin damage, possibly cancers, etc.
It's a truly sad aspect of the culture as they don't know and appreciate their beautiful kayumanggi - Tagalog for their own natural tan/brown skin color.
They fail to realize that most foreigners (including myself) love their natural color - very much!
If foreigners wanted "white" women they would be looking somewhere else not in the Philippines but it's difficult to make many Pinay (Filipinas) realize that.
Most Westerners find this very odd and disturbing as we tend to admire their naturally tan (brown) skin and in Western countries, such as the United States, people literally spend BILLIONS of dollars to become tan (brown). We tend to think of people that are extremely white or extremely dark as perhaps having some type of health problems. Many times i've met girls that were into modeling or acting and they had whitened their skin so much it was frighteningly unnatural - they looked as pale as GHOST!
You will see such girls working in malls (in department stores), on television, etc. usually such beliefs were instilled by foreigner conquerors as a way to mentally exhort the impression of their "superiority", generally it is racist in it's origin. A similar mentality existed in the United Stated too because of slavery in past history.
This can seem a bit complicated. Beliefs can vary and be influenced by many factors. I have noticed that there are many relationships with big age differences. This is just an observation and statement, it neither condemns or condones such relationships but it's just to make a note that it does exist for whatever reasons.
I would say that it happens mainly in poorer areas but there are also women in more affluent areas that seek relationships with foreign men, often much older than they are. I think the acceptance of such relationships is more culturally accepted there, perhaps.
These are non-scientific observations from my contact and conversations with many people there - parents, girls - and from foreign sources, such as my friend Antonio, who had lived there for years, fluently speaks the language and knows the culture well.
Many girls have perceptions - false or real - regarding foreign men and the available men in their country. Some of those perceptions are: 1) foreign men are more responsible, 2) foreign men are more sweet/loving, 3) foreign men will help them financially, 4) local men are irresponsible, 5) local men are not as loving or sweet, and 6) local men often won't help them financially.
Additionally, some girls have simply said that older men were more mature and/or financially settled and/or more serious about family and relationships.
Due to such perceptions some girls see foreign visitors as perhaps their last or only chance to find a good or decent man. There may also be a small percentage that are desperate to leave their impoverished conditions.
I had conversations with many girls and they were very open with their thoughts and about the other girls they knew. Most seemed sincere and honest with their intentions and they often pointed out girls they felt were looking simply to escape. Some of these girls had a foreign fiance while also having a local Pinoy (Filipino) boyfriend. I find it interesting that they were so open with me and often very open with each other.
As I said, this is not intended to judge these relationships. I wrote this section because I found somethings to be rather shocking/surprising. One group of four (4) girls I met while on the way to visit the Limpangog's recovering uncle. They were near his home and someone introduced me to them and explained that three (3) of the four (4) girls had foreign fiances.
One girl was either age eighteen (18) or twenty (20), I have forgotten, but the other two girls were both age sixteen (16). One of the age sixteen girls has a foreign fiance that is age fifty (50). She said they are waiting two (2) more years so they can marry but she confided that they had already been in a relationship for four (4) years. That was one situation that shocked me because that would mean they either met or became a "couple" (boyfriend - girlfriend) when she was age twelve (12).
I don't know and won't assume the nature of their relationship as many girls i've known/met are saving their virginity for marriage or the right man. However I want to point out that in the Philippines (and in many Western countries) sexual relations with a minor - someone under the age of eighteen (18) - is considered a crime and could lead to imprisonment. Even if the relationship is platonic (not involving sex), it can be somewhat legally risky while waiting to marry, etc.
As I stated earlier this is not a scientific study but just observations from the many conversations I had while speaking to many people and hearing their stories. Some parents hope their daughters will find a nice foreign man to marry and perhaps this mentality is more prevalent in poorer areas. Some of the mothers that told me stories of their young daughters (as young as their mid-teens) having foreign boyfriends and some finding ways to marry them already.
They seemed to find nothing wrong with that and seemed to encourage and/or condone it. I think it would have been less shocking if it were simply a few girls that I met in such relationships or with such mentality but I had spoken to perhaps as many as twenty to thirty people - parents, girls, etc - that shared those beliefs.
I thought maybe these ideas only pertained to relationships with foreigners but that was not so. One mother I spoke to told me the story about her oldest child, from a relationship prior to her marriage. The father of her oldest child was a Filipino male (Pinoy) who was much older than her. When she gave birth she was fourteen (14) and the Pinoy father was fourty (40). This daughter is now near her mid-twenties (as of January 2013).
One thing that really impressed me was the sincerity and honesty of many girls. Though many are young they were very serious regarding relationships, family and marriage.
Another matter is that many Filipino families believe that marrying a foreigner will "improve their race" in terms of appearance or "good looks"
I had an experience with this as one of the friends of my former girlfriend tried to convince her to marry me. Her friend saw photos of my children and was very impressed by their appearance (they are bi-racial) and said that if she married me our children would look like them too.
This is just a summary of my conversations and experiences. I write this solely for informational purposes and as something to ponder (think about). We don't know all of the reason for these beliefs nor do we know how prevalent they are. It doesn't seem to be limited to just poverty stricken areas either as i've met girls that were not poor who also had relationships with much older foreign men, had beliefs that marrying a foreigner would produce attractive children, etc.