DELA PEÑA, JANNIELE T.

BSBA MM-1137
Many studies in various fields were established on the Chinese community in the Philippines: from a historical angle
with Amyot (1972a and 1972b) and Wickberg (1998a and 1998b), from a sociological and anthropological
perspective with See (1988) and Ang See (1997, 2000, 2004 and 2005). Those productions together with general
studies on the overseas Chinese communities in South East Asia, on Philippine economy and the urban environment
allow us to tackle the context of our topic.

These new migrants from Mainland China can actually be defined by comparison with the Chinese populations that
have been settled in the Philippine archipelago for a long time. Due to their short stay, those migrants don’t have any
mental, family or spatial landmarks in the Philippines. There’s another striking difference with the previous migration
waves of the 1930s: migrants no longer leave their homeland alone but are generally accompanied with their
relatives.

The close family circle is present, yet the forebears stayed behind in their home province. For most of them, settling
down for good in the archipelago is out of question, but they nonetheless try to thrive within a short period of time.
Philippine cities seem to be an Eldorado for those migrants (an estimated 60,000 individuals). The analysis of those
migrant’s profiles also takes into account that of the local Chinese community: the mostly used statistical data
estimate the Sino-Philippine community at about 800,000 people, among whom, according to the figures extracted
from the National Statistics Office only around 60,000 speak Chinese.

From the Presidency of Joseph Estrada (1998-2001) on, new waves of Chinese migrants reached the Philippines.
The Filipinos called them TDK: tai diok ka or GI: Genuine Intsik  (pejorative word for Chinese from Mainland China in
hokkien or “intsik” in tagalog). From then on, they competed with local businessmen with their “dirt cheap
merchandises”. Since 2003, the flexible visa procedure to travel to the Philippines was spread to Chinese citizens
from Continental China. The Chinese passport holders can, like any other traveller, get a three-week-tourist visa,
which can be extended, for a few thousands of pesos. The access of the Asia Region to the “Continental Chinese
tourists” raises many questions, notably for the countries concerned, as regards these eased travel facilities, but
above all the residence of those new migrants’ populations.

The cities are the main places for those migrants to settle down. Thus we may wonder what the spatial integration
opportunities are for those migrants and what social links emerge from the latter. Without any doubt, the presence of
a long established Chinese local community has been assisting them in their integration process, even for a short
stay of a couple of months. However some migrants have been living in the Philippines since the early 1990s and a
more diversified professional integration has now broken the tradition of the Chinese community specialized in trade.

A city is a key place to observe and understand the social link structures, which permit and continue today’s Chinese
migrations towards the Philippines. Nevertheless many differences can be noted in the professional profiles of those
migrants, their being visible or not within the city, as well as for the human or cultural impacts on the local Chinese
community.

https://journals.openedition.org/remi/6147

CHINESE IN THE PHILIPPINES

 The Philippines has a large population of people of Chinese ancestry. As in Thailand, Chinese in the Philippines
have intermarried with Filipino and largely been assimilated into the population. Chinese make up between 1
percent and 1.5 percent of the population. Chinese language instruction has been restricted since 1973. Many
young Filipino-Chinese consider themselves to be more Filipino than Chinese. Hokkein, the Southern Min dialect
of Fujian, has traditionally been the primary dialect of many Overseas Chinese communities in Malaysia,
Singapore Indonesia, and the Philippines whereas Teochew, the Southern Min dialect of Chaozhou, is the
primary dialect of the Overseas Chinese communities in Thailand.
 In 1990 the approximately 600,000 ethnic Chinese made up less than 1 percent of the population. Because
Manila is close to Taiwan and the mainland of China, the Philippines has for centuries attracted both Chinese
traders and semipermanent residents. The Chinese have been viewed as a source of cheap labor and of capital
and business enterprise. Government policy toward the Chinese has been inconsistent. Spanish, American, and
Filipino regimes alternately welcomed and restricted the entry and activities of the Chinese. Most early Chinese
migrants were male, resulting in a sex ratio, at one time, as high as 113 to 1, although in the 1990s it was more
nearly equal, reflecting a population based more on natural increase than on immigration. [Source: Library of
Congress *]
 There has been a good deal of intermarriage between the Chinese and lowland Christians, although the exact
amount is impossible to determine. Although many prominent Filipinos, including José Rizal, President Corazon
Aquino, and Cardinal Jaime Sin have mixed Chinese ancestry, intermarriage has not necessarily led to ethnic
understanding. Mestizos, over a period of years, tended to deprecate their Chinese ancestry and to identify as
Filipino. The Chinese tended to regard their culture as superior and sought to maintain it by establishing a
separate school system in which about half the curriculum consisted of Chinese literature, history, and language.
*
 Intermarriage and changing governmental policies made it difficult to define who was Chinese. The popular
usage of "Chinese" included Chinese aliens, both legal and illegal, as well as those of Chinese ancestry who had
become citizens. "Ethnic Chinese" was another term often used but hard to define. Mestizos could be considered
either Chinese or Filipino, depending on the group with which they associated to the greatest extent. *
 Research indicates that Chinese were one of the least accepted ethnic groups. The common Filipino perception
of the Chinese was of rich businessmen backed by Chinese cartels who stamped out competition from other
groups. There was, however, a sizable Chinese working class in the Philippines, and there was a sharp gap
between rich and poor Chinese. *

Chinese in the Philippines in the 19th and 20th Centuries

 Spanish decline of the Philippines began in the 1700s when the power of Spain was eclipsed in Europe by the
England, France and the Netherlands. Foreign competition in the late 1700s disrupted the trans-Pacific trade
routes and independence of Mexico and other Latin countries in the early 1800s brought an end to Spain's trans-
Pacific monopoly.
 Mestizos (people of mixed Malay, Chinese and Spanish ancestry) began to move into positions of influence and
take the place of the Spanish. The opening of trade created a wealthy class that was educated in Europe, where
they were exposed to the same kind of liberal ideas and philosophies that fostered the independence movements
in the U.S., France and Latin America.
 In the late nineteenth century, Chinese immigration, now with official approval, increased, and Chinese mestizos
became a feature in Filipino social and economic life.
 In 1931 there were between 80,000 and 100,000 Chinese in the islands active in the local economy; many of
them had arrived after United States rule had been established. Some 16,000 Japanese were concentrated
largely in the Mindanao province of Davao (the incorporated city of Davao was labeled by local boosters the
"Little Tokyo of the South") and were predominant in the abaca industry. Yet the immigration of foreign laborers
never reached a volume sufficient to threaten indigenous control of the economy or the traditional social structure
as it did in British Malaya and Burma.
https://factsanddetails.com/asian/cat66/sub418/entry-4311.html