Why do many Filipinos claim to be "Spanish" when those "Spanish" ancestors are really Mexican

Question

No ship ever sailed from Spain to the Philipines, the only ships to Manila sailed from Mexico with Mexicans on board. The only "Spaniards" the Filipinos ever met, were from New Spain - todays Mexico.

Isn't the only "Spanish" blood ever to see the Filipines really Mexican?

Answer 1

Why is this even important,filipinos are what they are,period,ether way I'm pretty impressed.all filipinos are individuals,each with his or her own personal traits,hmmm,just like everyone

Answer 2

Colonial mentality & low self-esteem will make you do this.

Answer 3

your wrong,your dementia is showing up.

Answer 4

The Philippines and Mexico were colonized by the Spaniards almost on the same time. Ferdinand Magellan is indeed Portuguese, but has Spanish troops.

Spaniard Hernán Cortés went to Mexico in 1519. The Aztec King Moctezuma II invited the spaniard to Tenochtitlán, he believed that Cortés might be the serpent god Quetzalcoatl. It was a disastrous plan since Cortés was able to make allies on the way to the place. In May 1521, Cortez and his followers attacked and conquered the Aztecs. Cortés then colonized the area and named it Nueva España (New Spain). By 1574, Spain controlled a large portion of the Aztec empire and had enslaved most of the indigenous population.

And when did the Spanish arrived in the Philippines? 1521 right? The same year that Cortés invaded the Aztec population in New Spain.

Answer 5

THEY'RE SPANIARDS. that's it

Answer 6

Are you sure? What are your sources? I don't think I've ever read that only Mexicans arrived here.

However, I know a lot of Filipinos claim to be Spanish when they're clearly not. I think these people are ashamed to admit that they're pure Filipino, so they dilute their heritage and claim to have foreign blood. As for me, I'm a 100% pinoy.

Answer 7

I guess filiipinos don't really like their own race.

Answer 8

Mr./Mrs.Piere,

Is this a joke or you are only building your own world history of hearsay.

We are now in computer age, try to research by your own using your mouse pointing www. encyclopedia.com, just type Lapu-Lapu and search,

Even me (Datu Dagohoy) I was fought the spaniards for 71 years for the freedom of my Island and the inhabitants.

Datu Lapu-lapu also for his Mactan Island.

Answer 9

I agree and it somewhat pisses me off..

Out of all Spanish colonies the Philippines had the smallest amount of Spanish people. Most did not intermingle with the natives and stayed within their own socioeconomic ranks(as the elite pretty much does today) and large scale immigration never happened.

It's all down to colonial mentality. The way filipinos have been treated in the past by white people and the way that Philippine media portrays the standard of beauty makes many claim(without any evidence what so ever) that their grandpa is Spanish or whatever... which even if that was true doesnt make them spanish.

Answer 10

Let me correct a few things:

Ferdinand Magellan reached the Philippines in March of 1521. He sailed under the Spanish Flag bringing Spaniards along with him. Antonio Pigafetta was able to return to Spain without him.

Over the next few decades Spanish Expeditions came to colonize the Philippines. Ruy Villalobos came and named the islands "Las Islas Filipinas" after the king of spain. Spanish Culture, Religion and Government were imposed for over 300 years.

Subsequent expeditions came from New Spain (Mexico).

His predecessors ( Legaspi, Villalobos, etc) established the Philippines as a colony (province) of Spain. The Manila Galleons did travel from Acapulco, Mexico (New spain) to Manila in the Galleon Trade. It was later established as a province of the new spain until 1821 (Mexican Independence).

So there were really ships from Spain for over a hundred years of the early phases of the Colonization

Answer 11

I'm 150% Filipino. Only a fraction of  a very small percentage of Filipinos have Spanish blood.

Answer 12

Mexicans? Where did you get that idea? Both the Philippines and Mexico were colonised by Spain. The natives of Mexico are not Spaniards!

Answer 13

spanish blood mexican or south american.not south american indians.do most filipinos looks like an south american indians,like the aztecs or the incas.get your facts rights dumb ***.

Answer 14

i dont think theyr mexicans really. in my own honest opinion, Ferdinand Magellan is a spaniard whom is sailing at sea to get spices from a certain country(not sure which) and he accidentally landed at philippines and named it Islas de San Lazaros. When he found it plenty and rich in nature, they started trying to rule and they did for over 40 years so i guess they are really spaniards :D

Answer 15

Come to think of it Spanish friars sired children from Filipino women.  Spanish progenies came from Spaniards who came and settled in the islands long after the death of Magellan when the Spaniards came to colonize the country.  

My great-grandmother (paternal side) was half Spanish; her father was a true blue Spanish friar.  On my mother's side, her grandfather had Spanish family name when the Spaniards gave the "indios" new names patterned after their

own.

Best proofs that the Spaniards came and conquered the Philippines can be gleaned from much of Jose Rizal's works.  It didn't mention Mexico or Mexicans ever colonizing the archipelago.  Yes, trade existed between the Philippines and Mexico long before Magellan's time however, there was no mention of them ever co-habiting with the natives.

Answer 16

wow this is something... did our teachers from elementary up to college history teach us the wrong Filipino History.  My mother told me her mom (grand mother) has Spanish blood but that is no longer important to us. I am happy to be a Filipino anyway... who cares about that Spanish blood.

Answer 17

you are partly right, but Mexico also was one of the colony of the Spain at that time. they only came to the Philippines as instructed by the Spaniards.

because of this Filipinos gives credit to Spain who colonize them rather than Mexican" pendejos"..

Answer 18

In the Philippines there is a racist caste system in play that demarcates and stratifies individuals.

This caste system is not only found the in the Philippines it's also found in other countries which were formerly Spanish colonies; countries like Argentina, Peru and Mexico.

This is system is called a Casta and it is often observed that an individuals race reflects his/her social prestige. Below is a list of the divisions of the Casta arranges according to rank.

THE SOCIAL DIVISION IN THE PHILIPPINE CASTA

    * Peninsulares

    Persons of Spanish or descent born in Spain

(i.e. from the Iberian Peninsula which led to the name). They were considered so much higher than other castas that many women went back to Spain to give birth.

They are the elite and they held important jobs in the government, the army, and the Catholic Church, and usually did not live permanently in the Philippines. This system was intended to perpetuate the ties of the governing elite to the Spanish crown.

After Philippine Independence their unholy kind was persecuted and removed from these hallowed islands

    * Filipinos

  This term was used to identify people of Spanish ancestry, but born and living in the Philippines. The Filipinos are the upper class of the society. Many Filipinos owned businesses or haciendas and were very wealthy.  They occasionally had government jobs, but they were not respected by the peninsulares. During the Philippine revolution the term was expanded to incorporate all peoples living in the Philippine archipelago which included the full or mixed Chinese, Hispanic or Indian residents and the mainstream Malays, in modern usage however the term "Filipino" became synonymous with the indigenous Malay peoples that form the bulk of the population.

        * Mestizos

   Originally this refers to a persons with one peninsular parent and one indio parent. Mestizos are considered the middle class of Philippine society, however during the course of Philippine history in the face of historical demographic shifts such as the mass Chinese migration to the Philippines, the presence Latin American traders (due to the Galleons), the arrival of Indian money-lenders, the invasion of the United States of America and the occupation by Japan the term was expanded to encompass all Filipinos with partial foreign and native ancestry.

     * Indios

    Like in Latin America, the term "Indio"  refers to the native  inhabitants. Often the unmixed Malays were called Indios, this is considered deregatory; they form the mainstream demographic slice of the Philippine islands. They are often abused and are drafted for slave labor. Such is the case of the Cavitenyos  whose general population often starved or went bankrupt due to the slave driving of the penninsulares in order to create the famed Galleons.

     * Negritos

    They are the dark skinned aboriginal people of the Philippine islands, they are disdained and ostracized due to their black skin.

So basically the answer to your question is this: It's just plain old contempt fostered by 300 years of racist rule.

Hispanics who come from Latin America that are now Philippine citizens are often mestizos but the mestizos are of lower social ranking compared to the Penninsulares, the pure blooded slave masters of the Philippines!

Hence they often hide their Indio blood and masquarade as full born Spaniards inorder to avail of the sense of superiority over the lower castes

^_________________^

Answer 19

Because Filipinos who have Spanish ancestry can still get in touch with their relatives in Spain.

Answer 20

Nobody wants to be Mexican... besides, it wasn't the Aztecs on those boats... it was surely the descendants of the Conquistadors (with a little bit of Aztec mixed in).