Bahala na () is a socio-cultural value in the Philippines as well as a phrasing in Filipino language that is either said as an expression of a fatalistic attitude towards life or as a determined one in a challenging situation where things are risky and uncertain. It can be translated to mean "whatever happens, happens," "things will turn out fine," or as "I'll take care of things." In Sikolohiyang Pilipino (Filipino Psychology) it is described as "determination in the face of uncertainty."
This attitude can have both positive and negative consequences for the Filipino people, one being the lack of urgency or sense of responsibility for one's plight, the other being that of openness to uncertainty, the exercise of free will to take a risk and attempt to shape outcomes to a degree, in face of known and unknown factors that come into play.
Fatalism and determinism
In the Philippines the fatalistic attitude is reflective of the Catholicism of the Filipino people, who entrust their fate in the hands of God. Many times bahala na is a saying that expresses a mentality that despite one's free will, one cannot do anything about the larger existing circumstances of their situation. The fatalistic interpretation may also be due to the effectiveness of psychological colonization on the attitudes of colonized people to be resigned to their fate. In other words, the colonized peoples’ fatalism is a direct reflection of the colonizers’ own “colonial fatalism,” that is, it is the fate of colonized people to be subject to their colonizers because “settler colonialism is treated as a meta-structure within which indigenous subjects are prefigured as objects to be eliminated in settler colonialism's immutable and inevitable drive for territorial control.”
Social Value of risk-taking with peace of mind
The determined, affirmative attitude is reflective of indigenous Filipino value system that leads to free choice, determination and goal achievement, and also a sense of peace: “Bahala na” is a positive value in at least the following situations or circumstances which are beyond one's control: (1) when calamities or accidents occur despite all precautionary measures; (2) when the death of a loved one takes place in spite of all attempts to let him/her live longer, or in spite of all careful attention made relative to the situation;(3) when the death is sudden or unexpected; (4) when one feels the uncertainties that lie ahead despite making a careful and deliberate choice or decision; and (5) when, in spite of a very extensive deliberative process, one cannot still decide what to choose until finally he picks out a choice indifferently. Here “Bahala na” enables one to have the stoic resolve and the attendant peace of mind. As Distor (1997) says,“Held close to the heart, the ‘bahala na’ phenomenon becomes a coping mechanism in the face of risky undertakings.”
In the 1940 textbook of The Filipino Way of Life: The Pluralized Philosophy, Camilo Osías describes the phrase as one exclaimed in times of danger, in the spirit of stoicism and resignation. He says it is not an expression of despair or carelessness, but a combination of fatalism AND determination. He goes on to say that it is an expression of courage and fortitude, a willingness to face difficulty and a readiness to accept the consequences.
Camilo Osías ends the content about the tradition of bahala na with a positive, hopeful statement: “The feelings of bahala na has not only entered the life of a Filipino as an individual; it has penetrated group life. It is writ large in the soul of the people. Properly directed, it may well serve as a basis for the strengthening and enrichment of individual and collective life.”