Spanish Filipinos

Spanish Filipinos
Hispano Filipinos

A native Filipina of mixed Spanish ancestry, wearing the traditional Maria Clara gown of the Philippines and the long hair tradition of Filipino women during the colonial era.
Total population
Historical statistics: 5% of the population during the 1700s.[1][2] 2014-2024 statistics: • Philippines: 4,952 indentified as "Spanish" (2020 census)[3] • Spain: 200,000[4] (2018 Census) • Latin America: 5,479[5][6] • United States (Puerto Rico): 91,620[7]
Regions with significant populations
Philippines • Spain • United States • Latin America
Languages
Spanish (Philippine • Castilian) Spanish creole (Chavacano) Filipino (Tagalog • Philippine languages) English (Philippine)
Religion
Christianity • Roman Catholic
Related ethnic groups
Other Filipinos and Spanish people

Spanish diaspora

Flag of the Hispanic people
Regions with significant populations
Metro Manila, Zamboanga City, Cebu City, Vigan, Iloilo City, Bauang
Languages
Spanish (Philippine), Filipino, other Philippine languages, English and Chavacano
Religion
Roman Catholic

Part of a series on the
Spanish people
Rojigualda (historical Spanish flag)
Regional groups
Andalusians Aragonese Asturians (including Vaqueiros de Alzada) Balearics Basques Canary Islanders (incl. Isleños) Cantabrians Castilians Catalans Criollos Extremadurans Galicians Leonese Valencians Other groups Berbers Erromintxela Gitanos Mercheros Maghrebis Occitans Sephardim (including Iberian Jews and Xuetes)
Significant Spanish diaspora
Andorra Argentina Belgium Brazil Chile Colombia Cuba Dominican Republic France Germany Italy Mexico Netherlands Peru Philippines Puerto Rico Sweden Switzerland United Kingdom United States Uruguay Venezuela
Languages Spanish (AKA Castilian) Basque Catalan Galician Other languages Aragonese Astur-Leonese Caló Catalan Sign Erromintxela Extremaduran Fala Judaeo-Spanish Occitan (AKA Aranese) Portuguese Spanish Sign Valencian Sign
Category • Spain portal
v t e

Spanish Filipino or Hispanic Filipino (Spanish: Español Filipino, Hispano Filipino, Tagalog: Kastílâ Filipino, Cebuano: Katsílà Filipino) are an ethnic and a multilingualistic group of Spanish descent and Spanish-speaking individuals native to the Philippines. They consist of Peninsulares, Insulares or white Criollos, Filipino mestizos and people via South America who are descendants of the original Spanish settlers during the Spanish colonial period who form part of the Spanish diaspora and who may or may not speak the Spanish language.

Many of their communities trace their ancestry to the early settlers from Spain and Latin America, and depending on the specific province in the Philippines, in the late 1700s to early 1800s they formed as much as 19% in the capital city of Manila at formerly named Tondo province,^[1]: 539 and about 1.38% of the Ilocos region,^[2]: 31 2.17% of Cebu^[2]: 113 or 16.72% of Bataan^[1]: 539 and other parts of the country.

Spaniards, Latin Americans and Spanish-speaking Filipinos are referred to by native Filipinos as "Kastila", a word for "Castilian" which means the region and language of Castile, or an individual of Spanish heritage. Native Filipinos in historical terms are referred to by the Spaniards as "gente morena" (brown people) or "Indio" (a word for "Indian" or native people). Those Filipinos of Peninsular, Criollo and Latino backgrounds number about 4,952 people, while those Filipinos who look or have mixed physical appearances from indigenous and white, are descendants from European or American settlers, or those of mixed ancestries from marriages from White people, are called "Tisoy", a Filipino slang word for "Mestizo" (a Spanish word for "mixed", or a person of mixed indigenous and white ancestry). This mixed ethnic group comprises about 5% of the Philippines' population during the 1700s.^[1][2]

The abrupt decline of Spanish Filipinos as a percentage of the population is due to the events of the Philippine Revolution during the Philippine Republic in the late 1800s, as Filipinos of Spanish heritage choose to identify themselves as pure native Filipino, as part of establishing a united national identity in the country,^[8] or some have relocated back to Spain, or have migrated to other countries during that period.

During and after the Philippine Revolution, the term "Filipino" included people of all nationalities and race, born in the Philippines.^[9][10][11]

Today, Hispanic Filipinos are found in all social class, from upper wealthy to lower poor disadvantage backgrounds, and from high profiled individuals to ordinary unknown people. They have long integrated into the native communities living their lives as ordinary citizens. However most of the successful individuals are present in economics and business sectors in the Philippines and a few sources estimate companies which comprise a significant portion of the Philippine economy like International Container Terminal Services Inc., Manila Water, Integrated Micro-Electronics, Inc., Ayala Land, Ynchausti y Compañia, Ayala Corporation, Aboitiz & Company, Union Bank of the Philippines, ANSCOR, Bank of the Philippine Islands, Globe Telecom, Solaire Resort & Casino, and Central Azucarera de La Carlota, to name but a few are owned by Hispanic Filipinos.^{[12][13][14][15][16]}

Hispanic is a Latin word that describes the Roman province of Hispania, a name given to the Iberian Peninsula, by the Ancient Romans.^[17]

Definition

• "Spaniard - a White European person from Spain.^[18]
• "Hispanic" - a person of Spanish descent, a person from a Spanish-speaking background living in the former colonies of Spain, or a culture relating to Spain.^[19]
• "Latino" - a person of Spanish or Portuguese heritage living in the South American regions of Latin America.^[20]

Spanish Philippines is the history of the Philippines from 1521 to 1898. It begins with the arrival in 1521 of the Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan sailing for Spain, which heralded the period when the Philippines was an overseas province of Spain, and ends with the outbreak of the Spanish–American War in 1898.

Vikings from Norway were the first Europeans to set foot in the American continent in the late 900s in Vinland, in what is now Canada,^[21] but did little to establish a permanent settlement and soon abandon the region.

The second discovery of the American continent by the Italian explorer Christopher Columbus, sailing for Spain, sponsored by Queen Isabella I of Castile and King Ferdinand II of Aragon in 1492, laid the foundations for European and Spanish settlements in the New World.^[22]

Spain became the first country to permanently colonize the American continent in 1492,^[23] while competing with the Portuguese for the lucrative Spice trade in Southeast Asia, the Spaniards sought out a western pacific passage to Asia, while the Portuguese went east along the Indian Ocean to establish a permanent trading outpost in the region.

Conquistadors led by Miguel López de Legazpi, prompted the colonization of the Philippine Islands that lasted for 333 years. The Philippines was a former territory of New Spain until the grant of independence to Mexico in 1821 necessitated the direct government from Spain of the Philippines from that year. Early Spanish settlers to the Philippines were mostly explorers, soldiers, government officials, religious missionaries, and among others, who were born in Spain or in Mexico called "Peninsulares" (Spanish migrants living in the colony). Their succeeding generation known as "Criollos" (Spaniards of pure White blood, born and raised in the colony) contributed to the population's development.^[24]

For centuries several hundreds of White Spaniards settled in the islands along with their families to start a new beginning in the New World, to take advantage of the rich and exotic resources the colony had to offer. Some of these individuals married or inter-bred with the indigenous Filipino population while most married only other Spaniards. Their descendance that consisted of "Criollos" or "Insulares" and "Mestizos" (those of mixed-blood individuals), became part of the island's indigenous society, some became town officers, farmers and others became ordinary citizens.

Government officials and those of high ranks were granted with haciendas (plantation estates) by the Spanish government. In some provinces like, Vigan, Iloilo, Cebu, Pampanga, and Zamboanga, The Spanish government encouraged foreign merchants from Southeast Asia and the Asian continent to trade in the colony, along with the European and indigenous population, but they were not given certain privileges such as ownership of land.

Contacts with White Europeans, social intercourse between foreign merchants, and indigenous people resulted in a new ethnic group. These group were called Mestizos (mixed-race individuals), who were born from intermarriages from White European Spaniards and indigenous Austronesian-speaking Filipino natives. Some of their descendants, emerged later as an influential part of the ruling class called the "Principalía" (Nobility) class.

The Spanish implemented incentives to deliberately entangle the various races together in order to stop rebellion.^[25][26][27] According to a historical colonial conversation that was published, stated by a government official explains: "It is needful to encourage public instruction in all ways possible, permit newspapers subject to a liberal censure, to establish in Manila a college of medicine, surgery, and pharmacy: in order to break down the barriers that divide the races, and amalgamate them all into one. For that purpose, the Spaniards of the country, the Chinese mestizos, and the Filipinos shall be admitted with perfect equality as cadets of the military corps; the personal-service tax shall be abolished, or an equal and general tax shall be imposed, to which all the Spaniards shall be subject. This last plan appears to me more advisable, as the poll-tax is already established, and it is not opportune to make a trial of new taxes when it is a question of allowing the country to be governed by itself. Since the annual tribute is unequal, the average shall be taken and shall be fixed, consequently, at fifteen or sixteen reals per whole tribute, or perhaps one peso fuerte annually from each adult tributary person. This regulation will produce an increase in the revenue of 200,000 or 300,000 pesos fuertes, and this sum shall be set aside to give the impulse for the amalgamation of the races, favoring crossed marriages by means of dowries granted to the single women in the following manner. To a Chinese mestizo woman who marries a Filipino shall be given 100 pesos; to a Filipino woman who marries a Chinese mestizo, 100 pesos; to a Chinese mestizo woman who marries a Spaniard, 1,000 pesos; to a Spanish woman who marries a Chinese mestizo, 2,000 pesos; to a Filipino woman who marries a Spaniard, 2,000 pesos; to a Spanish woman who marries a Filipino chief, 3,000 or 4,000 pesos. Some mestizo and Filipino alcaldes-mayor of the provinces shall be appointed. It shall be ordered that when a Filipino chief goes to the house of a Spaniard, he shall seat himself as the latter's equal. In a word, by these and other means, the idea that they and the Castilians are two kinds of distinct races shall be erased from the minds of the natives, and the families shall become related by marriage in such manner that when free of the Castilian dominion should any exalted Filipinos try to expel or enslave our race, they would find it so interlaced with their own that their plan would be practically impossible".^[28]

Mexicans, Indigenous Americans and some Black-Africans were also brought to the Philippines to work on plantation settlements, as slave workers or settlers working in the colony. Between 1565 and 1815, both Filipinos and people from Latin America and Spain sailed to, and from the Philippines in the Manila galleon trade to Acapulco, assisting Spain in its trade on the colony.

In the late 1700s to early 1800s, Joaquín Martínez de Zúñiga, an Agustinian Friar, in his Two Volume Book: "Estadismo de las islas Filipinas"^[1][2] compiled a census of the Spanish-Philippines based on the tribute counts (Which represented an average family of seven to ten children^[29] and two parents, per tribute)^[30] and came upon the following statistics:

The Spanish-Filipino population as a proportion of the provinces widely varied; with as high as 19% of the population of Tondo province ^[1]: 539 (The most populous province and former name of Manila), to Pampanga 13.7%,^[1]: 539 Cavite at 13%,^[1]: 539 Laguna 2.28%,^[1]: 539 Batangas 3%,^[1]: 539 Bulacan 10.79%,^[1]: 539 Bataan 16.72%,^[1]: 539 Ilocos 1.38%,^[2]: 31 Pangasinan 3.49%,^[2]: 31 Albay 1.16%,^[2]: 54 Cebu 2.17%,^[2]: 113 Samar 3.27%,^[2]: 113 Iloilo 1%,^[2]: 113 Capiz 1%,^[2]: 113 Bicol 20%,^[31] and Zamboanga 40%.^[31] According to the 1893 data in the Archdiocese of Manila which administers much of Luzon under it, about 10% of the population was then Spanish-Filipino.^[1]: 539 Overall the whole Philippines, even including the provinces with no Spanish settlement, as summed up, the average percentage of Spanish Filipino tributes amount to 5% of the total population.^[1][2]

These are historical Spanish terms^[32]used to identify the different types of names given to the people living in the colony.

They are:^[33][34]

• "Español" - A pure White European person from Spain.
• "Peninsulares" - A pure White Spaniard born in Spain but is also a settler and a citizen, living on the islands.
• "Criollo"/"Insulares" - A White Filipino of pure Spanish ancestry, born on and a citizen of the islands.
• "Mestizo"/"Mulatto" - A native Filipino or an Indigenous American Indian person of mixed Spanish ancestry, and an African person of mixed Spanish descent.
• "Indio" - A native Filipino or an Indigenous American Indian person, or an individual belonging to a tribal group, native to the islands.
• "Negrito"/"Negro" - A indigenous Black Filipino person, and an African person brought to the colony to work on plantation.
• "Islas Filipinas" - The name of the islands.
• "Felipinas" - The name given to the islands in 1543 by explorer Ruy López de Villalobos in honor of Prince Felipe II, who later became King of Spain in 1556. This name initially referred to just the islands of Leyte and Samar. It was later on expanded to include the entire archipelago.^[35]
• "Hispano América" - The Spanish colonies in the Americas.

This category is about a term used to identify the different types of ordinary Filipino citizens living on the islands.

They are:^[36]

• "White Filipino" - People of White European, White American, White Latin American, White Middle Eastern and other White ethnic backgrounds living on the islands.
• "Hispanic Filipino" - People of mixed native Filipino and Spanish or Latino ancestry, or a Spanish-speaking Filipino, Hispanicized Filipino, Peninsular, Criollo, or a person of Latin American descent living on the islands.
• "Mestizo Filipino" - A Filipino person of mixed White ancestry.
• "Native Filipino" - People of un-mixed or a Filipino person of pure ancestry from the islands.
• "Oriental Filipino" - People from another Asian background living on the islands, or a Filipino mixed with other oriental backgrounds, or a person of South Asian descent living in the islands.
• "Black Filipino" - People of Black African, African American and Black Latin American backgrounds, living on the islands, or a Filipino person of mixed Black ancestry.
• "Polynesian Filipino" - People of Polynesian backgrounds living on the islands, or a Filipino person of mixed Polynesian ancestry.
• "US/Native American Filipino" - A person of White American-native descent, living on the islands.

The majority of Hispanic Filipinos are Christians, with most adhering to Catholicism.^[37]

Spanish,^[38] Spanish creole (Chavacano), English, Tagalog and other Indigenous Filipino languages are spoken in their community.

Philippine Spanish (Spanish: Español Filipino, Castellano Filipino) is a Spanish dialect and variant of the Spanish language spoken in the Philippines. Philippine Spanish is very similar to Mexican Spanish due to the contribution of grammar and vocabulary spoken by Mexican settlers in the country, during the Galleon trade. A constitution ratified in 1987 designated Filipino and English as official languages.^[39] Also, under this Constitution, Spanish, together with Arabic, was designated an optional and voluntary language.^[40]

Spanish is now spoken mostly by Hispanic Filipinos, educated Filipinos and Filipinos that choses to speak the language. Most Spanish Filipinos speak Spanish as their first, second or third language as they have shifted to communicating in English and Tagalog and/or other indigenous Filipino languages in the public sphere.

In 1899, the First Philippine Republic promulgated a constitution that designated Spanish as the nation's official language.^[41] The Philippines was the only Spanish speaking country in Asia, from the beginning of colonial rule in the 1500s until the first half of the 20th century. It held official status for over four centuries and was redesignated as an optional language in 1987. The Philippine government deliberately suspended the use of Spanish language for some unknown political reasons. Discourteous and hypocritical Filipino politicians influenced by third world Southeast Asian^[42]corruption, political agendas, a failed government and economic system, extreme poverty and years of bleak uncertain future that still surrounds the Philippines^[43]to this day, led to the People Power Revolution in 1986. The government Constitution of the Philippines without conducting a proper western-style election protocol, was controversially changed in 1987.

This disrupted the development of the language, which led the Philippines to be an incomplete Spanish-speaking country.

Tagalog and English remained as the official languages of the country as they have been in previous constitution. In 1987, the Tagalog language which was called Filipino was promoted as the main language, a language that was chosen by the former Philippine president Manuel L. Quezon in 1935, who himself was of mixed Spanish ancestry.

Spanish still remains and continues to be spoken by educated Filipinos, Spanish Filipinos and native Filipinos who chose to speak the language in public. However, it is mostly spoken and used in universities and in Hispanic communities. The Philippines is a member of the Latin Union where the language is used for education in the Instituto Cervantes, in the capital city of Manila.^[44]

In 2010, the former Philippine president Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, a fluent Spanish speaker,^[45] re-instated the language as a compulsory subject to be taught in schools and universities.^[46] One of the reasons of change was that she wanted to the Philippines to return to traditional way of life, be bilingual, competitive, wealthy and respected, who can compete in the world economy. The other was for global employment demands such as in call center and business process outsourcing industries where demands for fluent Spanish speakers were needed.^{[citation needed]}

Most Spanish-speaking Filipinos also use English in the public sphere and may also speak Tagalog and other Philippine languages. In addition, Chavacano (a creole language based largely in the Spanish vocabulary) is spoken in the southern Philippines and forms the majority of Zamboanga Peninsula and Basilan region.

Hispanic Filipinos share some similarities to cultural practices from people in Latin America and Spain, including a shared history, tradition, names, arts and literature, music, food, religion and language.^[47]

They have also taken some influences from United States,^[48] as evidenced by their admiration for Anglo-American Popular culture.

The National Hispanic Heritage Month is celebrated in the United States by individuals of Spanish Heritage. While in Spain, the Running of the Bulls is a traditional celebration.

Cover of the Doctrina Christiana featuring Saint Dominic with the book's full title. Woodcut, c. 1590.

Pages of the Doctrina Christiana, an early Christian book in Spanish and Tagalog. The book contained Latin and Baybayin suyat scripts (1593).

Philippine literature in Spanish (Spanish: Literatura Filipina en Español) is a body of literature made by Filipino writers in the Spanish language. Today, this corpus is the third largest in the whole corpus of Philippine literature (Philippine literature in Filipino being the first, followed by Philippine literature in English). It is slightly larger than Philippine literature in vernacular languages. However, because of the very few additions to it in the past 30 years, it is expected that the latter will soon overtake its rank.

Filipino cuisine is traditionally of Spanish origin.^[49]

Football is a popular sport in the Philippines particularly among Spaniards, Hispanics, Latinos, Filipinos and fans of the sport.^[50][51]

The Philippines in the past has produced major sporting stars in football such as Paulino Alcántara and Carlos Loyzaga in basketball.

This is a list of famous Hispanic Filipinos who are recognized internationally for their achievement and service to the Philippines.^[55][56][57]

Sport

• Paulino Alcántara - Football
• Eduardo Teus - Football
• Juan Torena - Football
• Manuel Amechazurra - Football
• Santiago Rublico - Football
• Carlos Loyzaga - Basketball
• Leyla Fernandez - Tennis

Art

• Juan Luna - Artist

Music

• Enrique Iglesias - Singer
• Bruno Mars - Singer
• Joe Bataan - Singer
• Julio Iglesias Jr. - Singer
• Asia Nitollano - Singer
• Pilita Corrales - Singer
• Chanty - Singer
• Jasmine V - Singer
• Cassie Ventura - Singer

Films

• Gloria Romero - Actress
• Delia Razon - Actress
• Amalia Fuentes - Actress
• Marian Rivera - Actress
• Fernando Poe Jr. - Actor
• Eddie Garcia - Actor
• Janine Gutierrez - Actress and fashion model
• Tamara Falcó - Aristocracy and tv personality

Fashion

• Arianny Celeste - Model
• Katarina Rodriguez - Beauty pageant
• Stella Araneta - Beauty pageant
• Gloria Diaz - Beauty pageant
• Celeste Cortesi - Beauty pageant

Literature

• Fernando María Guerrero - Writer
• Lourdes Castrillo Brillantes - Writer

Economics

• Enrique K. Razon - Businessman
• Zóbel de Ayala family - Business family
• Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala - Businessman
• Jon Ramon Aboitiz - Businessman

Monarch

• Letizia of Spain - Queen of Spain
• Leonor, Princess of Asturias - Princess of Spain
• Infanta Sofía of Spain - Princess of Spain

Journalism

• Isabel Preysler - Journalist

Religion

• José María of Manila - Catholic saint
• Juan de Plasencia - Priest
• Manuel Rojo del Río y Vieyra - Priest

Politics

• José Rizal - National hero
• Marcelo Azcárraga - Prime minister
• Emilio Aguinaldo - President and Revolutionary leader
• Isidoro Montes de Oca - Revolutionary leader
• Alejandro Gómez Maganda - Governor
• Felipe Calderón - Revolutionary leader
• Gloria Macapagal Arroyo - President
• Manuel L. Quezon - President
• Marcelo Fernán - Chief Justice / National hero

• Spanish people of Filipino ancestry
• Immigration to Spain
• Mexican settlement in the Philippines
• Filipino immigration to Mexico

• Conquistadors: The Rise and Fall (Documentary Series, 2023)
• Antonio García, Spanish Settlers in the Philippines 1571-1599, Universidad de Córdoba España, www.uco.es
• Francisco de Sande, Juan de Ovando, "Spanish Settlers in the Philippines (1571-1599)," President of the Council to the Indies New Spain, 1574

• Ethnicity in the Philippines (2020) Census of Population and Housing Republic of the Philippines - Philippine Statistic Authority, www.psa.gov.ph
• Filipino Migration in Spain (Province of Origin) Office of the President of the Philippines, www.cfo.gov.ph
• Filipino Migration in Spain (Overview) Office of the President of the Philippines, www.cfo.gov.ph
• Spanish Settlers in the Philippines (1571-1599) Universidad de Córdoba España, www.uco.es
• The genetic legacy of the Manila Galleon Trade in Mexico The Royal Society Publishing, www.royalsocietypublishing.org
• Ethnohistory - Philippine Indios in the Service of the Empire: Indigenous Soldiers and Contingent Loyalty, 1600-1700 University of Cambridge United Kingdom, www.api.repository.cam.ac.uk