My answer is NO, not all Filipinos practice mano po. (You can research the meaning on the internet).
While it is a deeply rooted and widely recognized gesture of respect across the country, as this is taught in school curriculum, its usage varies significantly depending on the region, generation, and individual family traditions. It could be that this sign of respect practice by the majority of Filipinos nationwide several decades ago unlike today’s generation. I always encounter a situation when an elderly guest arrived, the parents of the child need to remind them to do the mano po, not an automatic action of gesture towards the elderly.
This is what I observed.
I live in the northern Philippines and while we (Igorot, Ilocano) acknowledged that this is a sign of respect to the elderly, we don’t practice it on a regular basis. The only people that I noticed doing that came from Tagalog speaking regions either Metro Manila or adjacent provinces like MIMAROPA/ CALABARZON regions, Pampanga, Nueva Ecija/ Viscaya. So it is safe probably to say that this gesture is a tradition normally practice by most of the Tagalog people.
I’m not familiar with people from the south (Visayas, Mindanao).
I could be wrong of course, but I also noticed this from the native Cordillerans like those people from Kalinga, Abra, and people from Ilocos region. Some do the beso-beso thing, nodding of head to acknowkedge the presence, or you also noticed this humble tone of voice when talking to the elderly. I didn’t say that mano po is completely out of the picture, its just they practice it on a very rare occassion.
Btw, this is the mano po hand gesture.
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