Perhaps your situation in the Philippines was different because of a lack of clergy in some localities. North America is far better situated in regard to clergy, even today.
I cannot speak to the situation in the Phillipines when you were young, except to note that my family supported Catholic missioners (mostly Polish) to the Phillipines for many years. I had always assumed that there was (relatively speaking) a priest shortage in that country compared to many other countries, like the USA. I thought I would do a quick comparison …
These are statistics derived from the Annuario Pontificio released in 2005:
Phillipines
Population (Catholic)69,630,000
Dioceses86
Parishes2,909
Priests7,335
Permanent deacons11
Average laity per diocese: 810,000 Catholics
Average priests per diocese: 85
Average parish per diocese: 34
Average laity per priest: 9,493 Catholic laypersons per priest
U.S.A
Population (Catholic)64,621,000
Dioceses194
Parishes19,081
Priests44,906
Permanent deacons14,362
Average laity per diocese: 333,100 Catholics
Average priests per diocese: 231
Average parish per diocese: 98
Average laity per priest: 1,439 Catholic laypersons per priest
I think it was taken for granted that if you are born catholic the parents will catechize you. There were no programs to catechized children before receiving first communion and before confirmation.
The church for hundreds of years in Europe did a poor job of catechesis. The stress was placed upon the sacraments. Even the catechism of Trent/Pius V was not intended for the use of the laity directly (who often could not read nor afford a copy), it was expected that priests would use it as a reference and communicate whatever was necessary to his flock as the need arose. To be fair, this book was intended as a tool for accurate orthodox preaching and catechesis outside of liturgy.
This is not entirely surprising. For history has shown that although educated laity can and will form opinions contrary to formal church teaching, the divisions in the Body of Christ that proved most damaging and lasting were usually attributed to well educated and ordained Roman Catholic priests. The one significant exception was Calvin, born and educated as a Catholic but trained as a lawyer (he seems to have built his faction upon foundations first laid by a priest, Father Ulrich Zwingli).
Coming from that European legacy I think that the Spanish church worldwide often found itself in situations where there was not sufficient intellectual challenge of Catholic Christian non-conformists, protestants and freethinkers for multiple generations. The effort of the church was usually placed upon refuting non-Christian beliefs in a general way in mission times and on the traditional importance of the sacraments thereafter. The liturgy (Mass) was not sufficiently catechetical to counter-balance this trend. Catechesis was really neglected for repeated generations in many places the Spanish planted the church. Emphasizing the acts of worship and not actually teaching theology to the faithful may have been considered by some a safer approach to handling the laity in areas where competing dogmas were unlikely to be preached because of the law or physical isolation.
I am not saying that this is not as problem for many other churches, but that has to be compensated with something. In Protestant churches good preaching is pretty standard while common Apostolic theology is lacking, and in Orthodox churches the prayers and hymnography are extremely catechetical (when the fullest possible liturgical cycle is played out in the parishes, and the language is in the vernacular).
For an extended period both the preaching and the audible/understandable
Lex Orandi were severely lacking in the Latin rite Mass, so the burden had to be on catechesis
outside of worship to get and keep lay understandings (which tend to be a bit more complex in Latin Catholicism) straight.
If the local priests could not or would not do this initial catechesis, the burden shifts to others.
I remember when I had my first faith crisis, no one straightened me out, not even my relatives, none of whom had formal catechism except for my two aunts (50’s and early 60’s). I had to inform myself.
Unerring. Mmmmm. If you say so.