The Philippines was ruled by three colonial empires namely Spain, America, and Japan.

According to Jeffrey Hays (2008), in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, Chinese
expulsion orders was issued and the Spanish introduced the first anti-Chinese laws in the
Philippine archipelago which causes marginalization, massacre and expelling of Chinese citizens
several times from Manila. Nevertheless, some remained concentrated in towns around Manila,
particularly in Binondo and Santa Cruz.

According to Tuazon (2014) historical accounts say that ethnic Chinese from Canton
(Guangdong today) sailed around the Philippines from the 9th century onward for barter trade at
first through Champa (Vietnam) and later to Ma-I (Mindoro in Luzon, Philippines) and Sulu in
Mindanao. The route of the Chinese barter traders also included Manila, Fujian, Timor, and
Malacca.

A more formal diplomatic and trade relations were established between the Philippines and
China in 1975

With the perception of Filipinos among Chinese during the colonial era, excluding the economic
relation, a rampant discrimination was put into action because of cultural, nationality, and social
differences between the Chinese and the Filipinos. The book of Edgar Wickbergʼs “The Chinese
in Philippine Life” in 1850-1898

historians like Richard T. Chu, Edgar Wickberg and Antonio Tan, among others cite other
reasons why the native discriminated against the Chinese in the Philippines. These
discrimination focuses on the Chinese as strangers and outsiders in the society: (1) the racial and
cultural difference of the Chinese from mainstream Philippine culture; (2) their dominance in the
local economy; (3) their cross-border practices, such as sojourning and migration, which defy the
commonly accepted fixed or rooted basis of a group identity of the natives; (4) their linkage to
two communities or nations and their straddling between two cultures, those of China and the
Philippines, making their political allegiance suspect

For decades, the People’s Republic of China has long been declaring its territorial rights over
large parts of Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZ) of the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei,
and Indonesia.

This series of news about Chinese misbehaving inside the country added to the already-wild fire
in Filipino-Chinese relationship. Especially, in social media, many Filipinos started posting
memes about China and its people.

At the present, Duterte is said to be still ensuring a secured and long-term ally with China

in upholding a healthy diplomatic relationship despite the trade-off of interests with the Filipino
people, the ongoing dispute in the West Philippine Sea and other misbehavior of Chinese citizen

in the Philippines.

Thus, the research came up to a study that aims to find out the relationship between the

China-Philippines relations under Duterte administration to the perception of college student of

Polytechnic University of the Philippines towards Chinese.

RATIONALE

The researchers want to study about the relationship of College Students’ perceptions based on the

clues from the different issues between the China-Philippines relationship under the Duterte

Administration.

The importance of this study is to answer the rampant concerns towards how Filipino perceive the

Chinese community and to figure if the Sinophobia is eminent in the present generation.

STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

1. How did the China-Philippine relationship under Duterte administration affects the

perception of the college students?

HYPOTHESIS

There is no significant relationship between China-Philippine relations under Duterte

administration to the perception of the college students

SCOPE AND DELIMITATION

PERCEPTION

Neuroscience explained that biases are formed because of societal and parental conditioning.
People tend to gather information and their brain processes it in a certain way and unconsciously
assign it into familiar pattern

HISTORY

In midst of the rapid economic growth of China, alienation of people with Chinese ethnicity
persisted and were even called as ‘social parasites’—even after they embraced Catholicism and
Indios had acquired this connotation that Spaniards imposed upon this nationality.

With over centuries-old brainwashing to look up to the mighty and the rich, the anti-Chinese
racism nearly vanished when the iconic Chinese figures were no longer the panciteria owners but
mall owners

PREVIOUS ADMINISTRATIONS

Marcos initially planned to obtain help from the Mutual Defense Treaty (MDT) the country had
with the United States. However, MDT only covers the territory the Spain ceded to US on Treaty
of Paris—Marcos dropped the project.

Ramos regime, the Philippine defense secretary Renato de Villa wanted to invoke the MDT

but they were told by the U.S. state department that Kalayaan Island Group or Scarborough
Shoal isn’t part of the metropolitan territory therefore it is not covered by the MDT.

during Estrada’s administration, the arrest of illegal Chinese fishermen by the Filipino authorities
sparked controversies in the SEA region.

providing a rule that no state shall erect any new structure on the disputed regions including

the Spratly.

a rising Sinophobia once again paved its way during the Aquino Administration, which threatens
to accelerate deteriorating relations and jeopardize growing trade and investment ties with China
over the disputes on Spratly Island.

DUTERTE ADMINISTRATION
 . In 2017, it is stated that 63% of Filipinos approve of the way he handles the relationship

with the U.S., while 53% approves of the way he handles it with China. It is evident that the

Filipinos is more favorable toward the U.S. compared to China. Roughly 78% have a positive view

towards the U.S. While there is only 55% for China. However, the positive view of Philippines

about U.S. are down 14 percentage points since 2015, when Obama was still the president. On the

other hand, the favorable view about China increased up to 17 points since 2014, when most of

the Filipino people were anxious that the territorial dispute with China could be the cause of a

military conflict.

. Many scholars say that this is a “hedging strategy” done by small states to get the advantage of
big powers

There was a poll released that day showing that 93 per cent of respondents believe that the
Philippines must regain control of the islands occupied by China in the West Philippine Sea. In
addition, 89 per cent believed that it is not right for the Philippine government to just let China
alone together with its infrastructure and military presence.
Conceptual

The central key point of this theory is that attitude change is mediated by judgmental process and
effect. In other words, the claim is that the effect of persuasive communication depends upon the
way which the receiver evaluates the position it implies. The persuasion is seen as a two-step
process in which initially, the receiver assesses the position implied by the message and the
attitude change occurs after that judgment. As the receiver’s assessment of the position being
forwarded by the communication varies, different persuasive effects will occur.

when the perception of the students falls on the latitude of acceptability, the students perceives the

Chinese with no prejudice and is favor with regards of the relations of Philippines and China under

DuterteAdministration.Meanwhile, when their perception falls on the latitude of rejection, it means

that the students perceives the Chinese with prejudice and not in favor with regards of the relations

of Philippines and China under Duterte Administration – disfavorability. Lastly, when the

student’s perception towards Chinese is either favorable or not, it is the latitude of non-

commitment, where their perception is neutral.

 The researchers used a quantitative and descriptive correlational design in conducting the

study entitled “The Relationship between Philippines-China Relations under Duterte

Administration to the Perception of college students in Polytechnic University of the Philippines

towards Chinese Community”.

Descriptive correlational research design was used in order to attain the study’s objectives.

Descriptive method proceeds to describe certain phenomena.Descriptive approach, gathering data

in a form of a survey is the most suited method in conducting this study.

Research Locale

The research is conducted in the vicinity of the Polytechnic University of the Philippines
(PUP).

Population, Sample Size and Sampling Technique

The college students under Polytechnic University of the Philippines (PUP), Sta. Mesa,

were chosen as the respondents of the study because these individuals are expected to have a higher

level of knowledge about the relationship between Philippines- China relations under Duterte

administration.

Table 1

Population of Social Science College students

College Students
College of Accountancy and Finance 4268
(CAF)
College of Architecture and Fine Arts 905
(CAFA)
 College of Arts and Letters (CAL) 1314
College of Business Administration 2702
(CBA)
College of Social Science and 2003
Development (CSSD)
College of Tourism, Hospitality and 1657
Transportation Management (CTHTM)
College of Science (CS) 1890
College of Political Science and Public 881
Administration (CPSPA)
College of Human Kinetics (CHK) 512
College of Engineering (CE) 4785
College of Education (COED) 1665
College of Computer and Information 1263
Sciences (CCIS)
College of Communication (COC) 1808
Total 25, 653

The researchers used Slovin’s Formula to determine the ideal sample size of the subjects with
5% margin of error

Formula is written as:

𝑁
𝑛=
1 + 𝑁𝑒 2
Whereas:

n=sample size

N= population size

E=margin of error
 N
n=
1 + Ne 2
Where:

n = sample size

N = population size

e = margin of error

Applying the Slovin’s formula, the sample size was determined as computed below:

Given:

n = 394

N = 25,653

e = 0.05

n= 25, 653

1 + (25,653) (0.052)

n= 394

After getting the ideal total sample size, the researchers determined the sample size of
each college in PUP by dividing the total population of each college to the total number of
students population in PUP multiplied by the obtained total sample size, as shown below:

population of each college obtained

Sample size of each colleges = x
population of students in PUP sample size

Table 2
 Respondents’ Sample per College

College Population Sample

College of
Accountancy and 4268 33
Finance (CAF)
College of
Architecture and Fine 905 7
Arts (CAFA)
College of Arts and
Letters (CAL) 1314 10
College of Business
Administration(CBA) 2702 21
College of Social
Science and 2003 15
Development(CSSD)
College of Tourism,
Hospitality and
Transportation 1657 13
Management
(CTHTM)
College of Science
(CS) 1890 15
College of Political
Science and Public
Administration 881 7
(CPSPA)
College of Human
Kinetics (CHK) 512 4
College of
Engineering (CE) 4785 35
College of Education
(COED) 1665 13
College of Computer
and Information 1263 10
Sciences (CCIS)
College of
Communication 1808 14
(COC)
 Total 25,653 199

Description of the Respondents

The respondents of this study were the students of Polytechnic University of the
Philippines, Sta.Mesa, Manila, from First Year to Fourth Year,
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

In the 30 item questionnaire, the researchers divided the questions into two part and randomly

assigned it to specific item. To display the distribution of responses, Gantt bars were used to show

appropriate representation of the data.

Part 1

There are 15 questions wherein when they agree, they are not favor of Chinese in the

Philippines in relation to China-Philippines relations under Duterte Administration and when they

disagree, they are in favor of Chinese. The items are questions number 1, 5, 9, 10, 11, 14, 15, 16,

17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 23, 25

Part 2

There are 15 questions wherein when they agree, they are in favor of Chinese in relation to

China-Philippines relations under Duterte administration and when they disagree, they are not

favor of Chinese. The items are questions number 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 12, 13, 22, 24, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30

Median was used as the central measure of tendency to appropriately measure the data

given since the data are ordinal and discrete in form.

The median record is found using the formula;

199
𝑀𝑒𝑑𝑖𝑎𝑛 =
2
 Number of respondents

199

= 99.5 - Median (central measure of tendency)

For the statistical treatment of the data gathered, the following are used to determine the results;

For part 1:

If sum > 99.5 = Disfavor of Chinese

If sum < 99.5 = Favor of Chinese

For part 2:

If sum > 99.5 = Favor of Chinese

If sum < 99.5 = Disfavor of Chinese

Presentation of Data

Figure 1.1

Question 1
5 (Strongly Agree) 111
4 (Agree) 59
3 (Undecided) 19
2 (Disagree) 5
1 (Strongly Disagree) 5

In question no. 1, 111 out of 199 respondents strongly agreed, while 59 students agreed, 19 students

were undecided, 5 answers disagreed and 5 students strongly disagreed that the government must

address the issue about the rising number of Chinese people in the Philippines. The median falls

under the frequency of strongly agreed as inferred on the figure 1.1.

Figure 1.2

Question 2
5 (Strongly Agree) 15
4 (Agree) 28
3 (Undecided) 50
2 (Disagree) 54
1 (Strongly Disagree) 52

In question no. 2, 15 out of 199 people responded strongly agreed, 28 said they agreed, while 50

students were undecided, 54 disagreed and 52 students strongly disagreed that they admire how
Duterte’s administration manages the affairs of the Philippines with China. The median falls under

the frequency of disagreed as inferred on the figure 1.2.

Results for the statistical treatment

The instrument is divided into two parts, the Part 1 which consists of questions leading to

disfavorability while the Part 2 questions lead to favorability.

FIGURE 2.1

MEDIAN

The response to the disfavorability questions is represented in the figure 2.1. Out of those 15

questions, all of the results were all beyond the median line. It can clearly be seen that the

respondents were disfavor of the Chinese community in these questions.

FIGURE 2.2

MEDIAN

The response to the favor questions is represented in the figure 2.2. Out of those 15 questions, 7

questions resulted below the median line. It shows that the respondents were favor of the Chinese

community. Although 8 questions resulted to disfavorability but the overall accumulated sum of

all the sum of each results in every question number is above the overall accumulated median. So

we can infer that in these set of questions, the respondents are still favor towards the Chinese

community.
SUMMARY OF FINDINGS, CONCLUSION, AND RECOMMENDATION

CONCLUSION

The researchers were able to find out that there is no significant relationship between the

perceptions of college students in Polytechnic University of the Philippines to the China-

Philippines Relationship under Duterte Administration which supports the hypothesis of the study.

The consolidated findings of all the responds points out to one main idea that the respondents have

no prejudice towards the Chinese community but they have stands in different situations

concerning China-Philippines.