Spanish Filipino

Spanish diaspora
Flag of the Hispanic people
Total population
Est. +/-33.33% of the population*
Regions with significant populations
Metro Manila, Zamboanga City, Cebu City, Vigan, Iloilo City, Naga City, Bauang, Tigaon, Iriga City
Languages
Philippine Spanish, Filipino, Chavacano, English
Religion
Roman Catholicism, Evangelical, Pentecostal, Judaism, Agnostic
Related ethnic groups
Spaniards, Hispanic people, Filipino mestizos, Filipinos

(*) "1/3rd of the inhabitants of the island of Luzon were mixed with varying degrees of Spanish ancestry" (est. 1818) [1]

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A Spanish Filipino (Spanish, Chavacano: Español Filipino, Hispano Filipino; Filipino: Kastilang Pinoy; Cebuano, Hiligaynon: Cachila) is a Filipino who has Spanish or Hispanic lineage and ancestry, mostly born and raised in the Philippines.

Background

"The Philippines is a Latin American country that was transported to the Orient by a gigantic marine wave" - Arnold J. Toynbee.

Spanish Filipinos are mostly descendants of migrants from Spain, Mexico, and the rest of Latin America to the Philippine Islands (a Spanish colony from the late 15th century until 1898), who intermarried with the archipelago's indigenous Austronesian ethnic groups such as the Tagalogs, Cebuanos, Ilonggos and Ilokanos, among others.

Spanish Filipinos are represented in all levels of Philippine society and are integrated politically and economically, in the private and government sector.

Spanish Filipinos are present within several commerce and business sectors in the Philippines and a few sources estimate companies which comprise a significant portion of the Philippine economy are owned by Spanish Filipinos like Tabacalera, Monte de Piedad, Ynchausti y Compañia, Ayala Corporation, Aboitiz & Company, ANSCOR, San Miguel Corporation, Bank of the Philippine Islands, Globe Telecom, Solaire Resort & Casino, to name but a few.

Demographics

Between 1565 and 1898, Hispanics from Latin America and Spain sailed to and from the Philippine Islands.

This contributed to the assimilation of the Hispanics into everyday society and according to an 1818 study by the renowned German ethnologist Fëdor Jagor, "The Former Philippines thru Foreign Eyes", about "1/3rd of the inhabitants of the island of Luzon were mixed with varying degrees of Spanish ancestry and that the vast majority of military personnel have Latin-American origins."[1]

Using data based on Fëdor Jagor's study, it is estimated that Filipinos with at least some Spanish or Hispanic ancestry comprise roughly +/-33.33% of the current Philippine population.

History

Spanish colonization

Admixture has been an ever present and pervading phenomenon in the Philippines, known then as the Spanish East Indies, as early as the arrival of the Spaniards on the late 16th century. The arrival of the Spanish abruptly halted the spread of Islam further north into the Philippines and intermarriage with Spanish people later became more prevalent after the Philippines was colonized by the Spanish Empire.[2]

A Spanish Filipina in the 19th century.

The Spanish colonization in 1565, prompted the establishment of the Captaincy General of the Philippines to entrench Spanish rule over the Philippines, it lasted for about 333 years. Spanish people came mainly from Mexico and Spain, and the Philippines was ruled as part of the Viceroyalty of New Spain, with its capital in Mexico City until Mexico's independence in 1821, when the Philippines started to be governed directly from Spain.Early Spanish who were born in Spain (Peninsulares) and Mexican settlers (Criollos), the latter being mostly of either European or Mestizo heritage known as Americanos (Americans), were mostly explorers, soldiers, government officials, and religious missionaries, among others. Many of them settled in the islands and eventually married or inter-bred with the indigenous population.

In some provinces in Luzon, Mindanao and the Visayas, the Spanish government encouraged foreign merchants to trade with the indigenous population, but they were not given certain privileges such as ownership of land. From this contact, social intercourse between foreign merchants and Filipinos resulted in a new ethnic group. These group were called Filipino mestizos (mixed-race individuals). Some of their descendants, emerged later as an influential part of the Philippine society, such as the Principalía (Nobility).

Between 1565 and 1815, Hispanics from Mexico, Latin America, and Spain sailed to and from the Philippines as government officials, soldiers, priests, settlers, traders, sailors and adventurers in the Manila-Acapulco Galleon, assisting Spain in its trade between Europe and Latin America (Spanish America) and Latin America and the Philippines.

People of other ethnicities, such as Amerindians (Mexican Indians) and Africans, also settled in the Philippines after serving as members of the crew on Spanish ships. Some of these individuals married Filipinos of different ethnic groups and classes and integrated into Philippine society. The soldiers that were sent from Spain's Latin-American colonies to the Philippines were often made up of Mulattoes, Mestizos, and Indios (Amerindians).[3]

Racial integration

Descendants of a Spanish migrant from Spain Don Benito Toral y Alvarez and Spanish Filipina Consuelo Garchitorena y Borjal.

As opposed to the policies of other colonial powers such as the British or the Dutch, the Spanish colonies were devoid of any anti-miscegenation laws. Moreover, the Catholic Church not only never banned interracial marriage, but it even encouraged it. The fluid nature of racial integration in the Philippines during the Spanish colonial period was recorded by many travelers and public figures at the time, who were favorably impressed by the lack of racial discrimination, as compared to the situation in other European colonies.

Among them was Sir John Bowring, Governor General of British Hong Kong and a well-seasoned traveler who had written several books about the different cultures in Asia, who described the situation as "admirable" during a visit to the Philippines in the 1870s.

The lines separating entire classes and races, appeared to me less marked than in the Oriental colonies. I have seen on the same table, Spaniards, Mestizos (Chinos cristianos) and Indios, priests and military. There is no doubt that having one Religion forms great bonding. And more so to the eyes of one that has been observing the repulsion and differences due to race in many parts of Asia. And from one (like myself) who knows that race is the great divider of society, the admirable contrast and exception to racial discrimination so markedly presented by the people of the Philippines is indeed admirable.[2]

Another foreign witness was English engineer, Frederic H. Sawyer, who had spent most of his life in different parts of Asia and lived in Luzon for fourteen years. His impression was that as far as racial integration and harmony was concerned, the situation in the Philippines was not equaled by any other colonial power:

... Spaniards and natives lived together in great harmony, and do not know where I could find a colony in which Europeans mixes as much socially with the natives.

Not in Java, where a native of position must dismount to salute the humblest Dutchman.

Not in British India, where the Englishwoman has now made the gulf between British and native into a bottomless pit.[4]

Language and Culture

Most common languages spoken today are Philippine Spanish, Spanish; Chavacano, the only Spanish-based creole language in Asia; and English, which is used in the public sphere. A number of Spanish Filipinos also speak other Philippine languages.

Today, a growing number of Filipinos speak Spanish. Numerous Spanish and Hispanic influences remain, most notably the adoption of Christianity among the majority of Filipinos; cuisine, arts, culture, business, to name a few. Thanks to Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, a Spanish-speaking Filipina, the Philippine government has reinstated the instruction of Spanish at schools with a view to generalising its instruction nationally.

Philippine Spanish

Main article: Philippine Spanish

Philippine Spanish (Spanish: Español filipino, Castellano filipino) is a Spanish dialect of the Spanish language in the Philippines. It is spoken mostly among Spanish Filipinos.

From 1565 to 1821, the Philippines was part of the Spanish East Indies, and was governed by the Captaincy General of the Philippines as a territory of the Viceroyalty of New Spain centered in Mexico. It was only administered directly from Spain in 1821 after Mexico gained its independence that same year. Since the Philippines was a former territory of the Viceroyalty of New Spain for most of the Spanish colonial period, Spanish as was spoken in the Philippines had a greater affinity to American Spanish rather than that of Peninsular Spanish.

Chavacano

Main article: Chavacano

Chavacano or Chabacano [tʃaβaˈkano] is a Spanish-based creole language spoken in the Philippines. The word Chabacano is derived from Spanish, meaning "poor taste", "vulgar", for the Chavacano language, developed in Cavite City, Ternate, Zamboanga and Ermita. It is also derived from the word chavano, coined by the Zamboangueño people.

Six different dialects have developed: Zamboangueño in Zamboanga City, Davaoeño Zamboangueño / Castellano Abakay in Davao City, Ternateño in Ternate, Cavite, Caviteño in Cavite City, Cotabateño in Cotabato City and Ermiteño in Ermita.

Chavacano is the only Spanish-based creole in Asia. It has survived for more than 400 years, making it one of the oldest creole languages in the world. Among Philippine languages, it is the only one not an Austronesian language, but like Malayo-Polynesian languages, it uses reduplication.

Notable people

Spanish Filipino Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala CEO of family conglomerate Ayala Corporation

In the Philippines, there are some people who trace their roots back to the first Spanish settlers of the country through their surnames.[5] Due to the introduction of the Catálogo alfabético de apellidos in the mid-19th century, it has become increasingly difficult to validate ancestral claims made by those who hold Spanish surnames.[6] Today, a number of those with precise ancestral ties can be found in politics, commerce, arts, entertainment industry and professional sports. Others have emigrated and later returned or settled down in another country.

Here's a limited listing of some notable Spanish Filipinos:

Historical

Military

Prominent People

Arts and Literature

Politics

Music

Sports

Business

Beauty Pageant

Media

Entertainment

Actor

Actress

References

  1. 1 2 Jagor, Fedor; et al. (2007). "Part VI People and Prospects of the Philippines". The Former Philippines Through Foreign Eyes. Echo Library. ISBN 978-1-4068-1542-9.
  2. 1 2 L. Hunt, Chester, "Sociology in the Philippine setting: A modular approach", p. 118, Phoenix Pub. House, 1954
  3. ↑ Letter from Fajardo to Felipe III, Manila, August 15 1620.(From the Spanish Archives of the Indies) ("The infantry does not amount to two hundred men, in three companies. If these men were that number, and Spaniards, it would not be so bad; but, although I have not seen them, because they have not yet arrived here, I am told that they are, as at other times, for the most part boys, mestizos, and mulattoes, with some Indians. There is no little cause for regret in the great sums that reënforcements of such men waste for, and cost, your Majesty. I cannot see what betterment there will be until your Majesty shall provide it, since I do not think, that more can be done in Nueva Spaña, although the viceroy must be endeavoring to do so, as he is ordered.")
  4. ↑ Frederic H. Sawyer, "The Inhabitants of the Philippines", p. 125, New York, 1900
  5. ↑ France-Presse, Agence. "Spain’s Queen Sofia arrives in Philippines". 2 July 2012. Retrieved 24 August 2013.
  6. ↑ "The semantics of 'mestizo'". 27 July 2012. GMA News. Retrieved 24 August 2013.
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