Talk:Sangley/Archive 1

Archive 1

I find this inacurate as well. I find the article theoretical as the author must have presumed that the Chinese immigrants of the Philippines is parallel to the social standing of the Chinese immigrants of Indonesia (formerly colonized by the Dutch). The Chinese immigrants of old Indonesian society were treated as one notch higher above the natives. As such, transactions and privileges were granted by the Dutch to these Chinese than the Indonesian natives. This is not the case in the Philippines.

Can you cite any evidence or reference that Mestizo Chinos has the right or privileges enjoyed but is denied from Indios? I agree that pure Chinese immigrants were not given some rights and privileges that both Mestizo Chino and Indio enjoy during that time since they were deemed as threat both by Spaniards and natives alike. But it's only the pure Chinese immigrants who were denied of that. If you would say "Polo" or some other mandatory taxes, an Indio maybe excluded of that if an Indio is wealthy or if he/she has inherited the right of exclusion from taxes from his "Maharlika" ancestors (Royal class natives). To avoid being treated as a Chinese or worse, from massacres, the pure-blooded Chinese would later try to adapt themselves to the mainstream society by marrying Indio women, change their name to Spanish or convert themselves to Christianity. Thus, also gaining the right that the rest of the Philippine mainstream society enjoy. Also, while Jose Rizal's father is a Sangley, he is not as he also has Japanese, Spanish and Indio blood so technically he is a Tornatras but he explicitly refused to be classified to any of it. During his sentence, A Spaniard classified him as Mestizo Chino on his record/profile, he explicitly demanded it to be erased, changing it from Mestizo Chino to "Indio Natural". —Preceding unsigned comment added by 222.127.33.114 (talk) 20:29, 8 November 2008 (UTC)

According to Wickberg, the Chinese immigrants (called sangleys) who agreed to convert to Catholicism and adopt Spanish names upon baptism were given several rights and privileges denied the unconverted sangleys. Among the privileges were the right to live anywhere in the islands, to engage in trade and commerce and to intermarry with indios. In addition, they were given a ten-year tax holiday immediately upon conversion. During the bloody massacres of the 17th century, those who converted were spared while those who refused were killed and the survivors expelled. The sangleys were not trying "to adapt themselves to the mainstream society"; they were trying to survive. Those who converted were deemed to be worthy subjects and were allowed to intermarry with indio women after being baptized. Their mixed-race descendants did not turn into indios; they became something else, mestizos de sangley.

Strictly speaking, the mestizos de sangley enjoyed the same legal rights as the indios as far as residence, occupation, land ownership and participation in local government are concerned. But in reality, the Spaniards had to depend upon the mestizos de sangley as the colonial middlemen to handle the domestic trades of the islands. As inquilinos or land-lessees, the mestizos de sangley also acted as middlemen rent-collectors between the Spanish Friars and the indio tenant-farmers, occupying a position similar to the Indonesian peranakans who acted as middlemen tax-collectors between the Dutch and the pribumis. That the mestizos de sangley were treated far better than the indios or sangleys can be gleaned from the fact that there were no recorded revolts led by mestizos de sangley. As a class, they were quite servile and obsequious to their white masters, constantly trying to buy favors from the Spanish authorities. And as inquilinos, they were quite abusive towards their indio tenant-farmers, a pattern of behaviour which persists to this day. Lastly, the indios were forced to wear the Baro ng Tagalog to signify their status as servants while the mestizos de sangley were allowed to wear European-style clothing to differentiate themselves from the indios.

The term Indio Principales referred to the indigenous families of means who were descendants of the Datus or tribal royalty. They were granted certain rights and privileges such as exemption from polo or tribute labor, appointment as capitan or barangay captain and election as gobernadorcillos or town mayor. However, as an ethnic group, they were still considered indios not white.

Regarding Rizal's Chinese ancestry, it is incorrect to regard him as anything but a mestizo de sangley. Indeed, Elizabeth Medina even claims that because Rizal is at most a fifth-generation Chinese mestizo, he must have only 1/32 of Chinese blood in his veins and thus may not be considered a mestizo de sangley. This is a false view. Filipino historians (Elizabeth Medina included) have the recurring tendency to either dilute or excise Rizal's Chinese ancestry in the same way that most Philippine Mestizos (de Sangley) today deny their CHINESE blood and claim SPANISH ancestry. During the Spanish Colonial Era, the Philippine Caste System consisted of several statutory classes as defined by law. The statutory class of mestizo de sangley referred to the patrilineal descendants of the original Catholic Sangley who first intermarried with an indio woman. ALL MALE HEIRS ARE MESTIZOS DE SANGLEY NO MATTER WHAT THEY DID. As Wickberg writes:

   Legal status—-as Chinese, mestizo, or Indio-— by the terms of this legislation — was not ordinarily a matter of personal
   orientation or choice. Rather, it was the status of the parents — particularly the father — that was most important.
   Thus, the son of a Chinese father and an india or mestiza mother was classed as a Chinese mestizo. Subsequent male descendants
   were inalterably Chinese mestizos. The status of female descendants was determined by their marriages. A mestiza marrying a
   Chinese or mestizo remained in the mestizo classification, as did her children. But by marrying an indio she and her children
   became of that classification. Thus, females of the mestizo group could change status but males could not. The implications of
   this system was that so long as legislation remained constant there would always be a sizeable group of people legally
   classified as mestizos, whatever their cultural orientation might be.

Their legal status was printed on the cedula or community tax certificate and determined how much tribute tax they had to pay. Rizal's grandfather, Juan Mercado, CHANGED THE TRIBUTE LIST of Biñan when he was the town mayor so that he and his family were reclassified as indios. Rizal's father, Francisco Mercado, attempted to do away with their family name "Mercado" which was adopted by his paternal ancestor Domingo Lam-co to signify their sangley roots. Rizal himself objected to his classification as a mestizo de sangley during his trial. But he could never get away from his sangley origins. The reason is that a mestizo de sangley male acquires his legal status by patrilineal descent. Because his father, grandfather and great-grandfather were mestizos de sangley, no matter how much Spanish, Japanese or indio blood he has in his veins, Rizal was still legally a mestizo de sangley even unto death.

Chinese Ancestry of Jose Rizal	Legal Event	Ethnic Status
Domingo Lam-co	Baptized at age 35 and settled in Biñan, Laguna	Catholic sangley
Francisco Mercado	Given the family surname "Mercado" to signify their sangley roots	mestizo de sangley
Juan Mercado	Changed the tribute list of Biñan to reclassify his family as indios	mestizo de sangley
Francisco Mercado	Changed family name from "Mercado" to "Rizal"	mestizo de sangley
Jose Rizal Mercado	Objected to his classification as mestizo de sangley on his death sentence	mestizo de sangley

The term Tornatrás which means to turn back referred to the mixed-race descendants of sangleys who married white which was considered highly desirable compared to marrying an indio. That is, the sangley turns his back from indio and marries white instead. In the Philippines, both the Tornatrás and the Mestizos were considered white and were allowed to live in Intramuros. In reality, the number of white women living in the islands was negligible so much so that the sangleys who settled in the islands had no choice but to marry indio women. Over time, a community of mestizos de sangley formed in Binondo, a district created specifically for them. Although the whites had the power, it was the mestizos de sangley who had the money, lots of it. And they used their money inherited from their sangley forbears TO BUY THEIR WHITENESS. The role of money was THE determining factor in the social mobility of the mestizos de sangley. As Wickberg explains:

   By the middle of the nineteenth century the economic position of the Chinese mestizos was stronger than ever. Not only did 
   they have substantial land interests, but they were well on the way to monopolizing internal trading, with only the provincial
   governors as their competitors...Lannoy, writing in the 1840's, said that despite the attempts of the Spanish to treat them with
   disdain, it was the Chinese mestizos who had the biggest fortunes in the Philippines.

   There was, in fact, social prestige attached to being considered a Chinese mestizo. Sinibaldo de Mas, writing around 1840,
   remarks on the rise of wealth, rather than lineage considerations, as the standard of social status...With the growth of 
   the idea of status by wealth it is not surprising that the Chinese mestizos should become envied models. In the localities 
   where they were, numerous, they were often among the wealthiest people, and, what is perhaps more important, they were 
   believed to be, as a class, wealthier than the indios. Hence, great prestige came to be attached to the name "mestizo"...
   The best illustration of this kind of mestizo-craze attitude may be found in the character of Capitan Tiago in Rizal's novels.
   Capitan Tiago is an excellent example of an indio cacique of means who wished to be regarded as a Chinese mestizo and was able 
   to purchase for himself a place in the wealthy and famous Gremio de Mestizos de Binondo.

Rizal knew this of course. His family, starting with his paternal ancestor, Domingo Lam-co, down to his father, Francisco Mercado, were the richest "capitalists" in the town of Biñan, Laguna. In his novel Noli Me Tangere, his choice of Don Rafael Ibarra, the father of Crisostomo Ibarra, as the richest "capitalist" in the town of San Diego, to be a Spanish Mestizo is quite strange. In those days (mid-19th century), the richest "capitalist" in almost every town in the Philippines were CHINESE Mestizos (mestizos de sangley) not SPANISH Mestizos. The only hint we have that Ibarra may have Chinese ancestry is when the body of Don Rafael Ibarra (who died in prison) was exhumed to be re-interred in a Chinese Cemetery (under orders from his arch-enemy Padre Damaso) but was thrown into a lake instead. That is, Padre Damaso wanted to insult the deceased by burying his dead body in the cemetery for "heathen" Orientals. This parallels actual life when the Spanish Friars would constantly insult Rizal by referring to HIS Chinese ancestry. By throwing the dead body of the hero's father -- Don Rafael Ibarra -- into the lake, Rizal wanted to sever his ties to his sangley ancestors by ERASING THE EXISTENCE of his own ethnic group, the mestizos de sangley! Rizal could then REINVENT HIMSELF AS WHITE by concocting a SPANISH GENEALOGY for his hero Crisostomo Ibarra. The intended audience of his novel, the whites in Spain and Europe, would naturally assume that Rizal, as represented by his hero Crisostomo Ibarra, was a SPANISH and not a CHINESE Mestizo. Indeed, this is a common mistake that Westerners make regarding the mestizos of the Philippines. As Wickberg explains:

   By the nineteenth century, the Chinese mestizos had become so numerous and their influence so great that the term "mestizo", as
   popularly used in the Philippines, meant "Chinese mestizo". This point is made by Retana, in his Diccionario de filipinismos,
   again in testimony before the U.S. Philippine Commission, and (naturally enough) by the Chinese mestizos themselves. This 
   explicit definition of "mestizo" as "Chinese mestizo" was implicitly opposed by James LeRoy, an acute, if not always accurate 
   American observer of the Philippine scene. LeRoy argued that Spanish mestizos were of predominant importance in the late 
   nineteenth century, and scarcely mentioned the Chinese mestizos. Apparently, LeRoy chose to believe that in popular usage the 
   term "mestizo" referred to Spanish mestizos, or else he did not concern himself with popular usage. Perhaps he simply assumed 
   that, logically, those enjoying fortune and power were most apt to be descendants of the conquerors and rulers. Whatever the 
   reason, LeRoy was, I believe, in error, and I shall now attempt to demonstrate why I think so.

   Spaniards and Spanish mestizos were few in number in the Philippines, and, more important, they were usually uninterested in
   trade, other than speculation in the Manila Galleon. Most indios lacked the capital or experience. There remained the provincial
   governors (Spaniards), the Chinese, and the mestizos.

Anti beast (talk) 13:50, 26 December 2008 (UTC)

This pattern of behaviour persists to this day. The Philippine "Mestizos" (de sangley) of today would vehemently deny their CHINESE blood and claim SPANISH ancestry. Some even invent fictitious SPANISH genealogies. Those who have the money always try TO BUY THEIR WHITENESS by consuming Western brands, living in "exclusive" villages such as Forbes Park, Dasmariñas Village or Ayala Alabang and buying memberships in "exclusive" clubs such as the Manila Polo Club. Just like Rizal's father, they send their children to attend "exclusive" Catholic schools. Thinking of themselves as white, they hold their weddings inside Intramuros and deride those living in Binondo as "I.B." or Intsik Beho when in fact Binondo -- NOT Intramuros -- is their HISTORIC BIRTHPLACE and ANCESTRAL HOMETOWN!

This need to REINVENT themselves as WHITE becomes even more pronounced outside the Philippines where the easiest way to become white is to sleep with whites or to marry white. For example, the status-conscious father of Andrew Cunanan sent his son to the "exclusive" Bishop's School in La Jolla, California. Cunanan would later try to REINVENT himself by changing his last name to "DaSilva" and by seeking the company of wealthy white men as his lovers. In the same vein, the status-conscious father of Jose Rizal sent his son to the "exclusive" Ateneo de Municipal in Intramuros and changed their family name from "Mercado" to "Rizal". Rizal would later take on half-a-dozen white lovers while in Europe. Although he caricatured Doña Victorina's attempts to marry white in his first novel Noli Me Tangere, Rizal himself ended up marrying a poor white Eurasian born in Hong Kong to a white British man and a Chinese woman: Josephine Bracken.

Anti beast (talk) 06:27, 22 December 2008 (UTC)

Why do the mestizos de sangley have to buy their WHITENESS if they were treated better than the indios? 75.62.104.19 (talk) 08:05, 31 December 2008 (UTC)

The Spaniards created the mestizos de sangley in their own image by forcing them to adopt Spanish or Spanish-sounding names (e.g., San Lorenzo Ruiz) whereas the indios had to wait more than 250 years before Claveria's decree forced them to adopt Spanish names. However, unlike the mestizos and tornatrás, the mestizos de sangley were NOT treated as white because they had CHINESE not SPANISH blood! Remember the Philippines was a SPANISH not a CHINESE colony. Born and raised in Binondo, the mestizos de sangley grew up looking across the Pasig River at the WHITES-ONLY walled city of Intramuros with a mixture of awe, fear and longing. For 250 years, they were on the outside looking in at that Citadel of Whiteness in the Philippines. When the whites finally allowed the non-whites to attend the schools and universities inside Intramuros, the mestizos de sangley like Rizal took every chance to seize the opportunity. At the same time, with the arrival of steamboats, wealthy scions of mestizos de sangley families could now travel to Europe. Retana writes of Rizal:

   He came to the Peninsula at the age of 21, carrying a burden of sorrow in his soul. His academic triumphs, his success 
   in public literary contests moved him to compare himself with white people, and he ended up feeling superior to them.
   Nevertheless, in his country he was nothing more than an indio, and because of it he was wounded in the back...

In other words, like the proverbial frogs sitting at the bottom of the well for 250 years, they now had the chance to wade in the small pond of water. But the smart and rich ones could also climb out of the well and some of them did like Rizal and his fellow ilustrados. Whereas before they longed for acceptance in the small pond of WHITENESS -- Intramuros -- in the Philippines, suddenly after climbing out of the well, a vast ocean of WHITENESS appeared right before them: Spain, Latin America and the HISPANIC WORLD; Europe, North America and WHITE CHRISTIAN CIVILIZATION! Rizal quickly mastered several European languages whereas in the Philippines, most Filipinos were not even allowed to learn Spanish! (That's why the Women of Malolos -- who belonged to wealthy, prominent mestizo de sangley families -- petitioned the Spanish Governor-General to open a night-school for teaching Spanish -- because they want to be sosyal -- but which the Spanish Friars vehemently opposed. Rizal wrote a letter to them "Sa Mga Kababaihang Taga Malolos" in TAGALOG.) Rizal then took on a string of WHITE lovers with WHITE skin, WHITE bodies, WHITE breasts whereas in the Philippines, the few whites living in the colony could be found only in Intramuros. Rizal just as quickly abandoned his Spanish mestiza girlfriend (Leonor Rivera) back in the Philippines. (Who cares about brown-skinned mestizas when you can have white-skinned Europeans?) Those were heady days and exhilarating times for Rizal and his fellow ilustrados. Surrounded by White Women, engulfed by White Culture and kissed by the White Goddess, they no longer felt like frogs from the bottom of the well, those savage islands called the Philippines. Instead, they felt like gods at the top of the well -- like true Spaniards -- who belonged to Spain, the Hispanic World and White Christian Civilization! They thought of themselves as white! (Calling themselves Los Indios Bravos was intended as a pun). They wrote about the abuses committed by the whites back in the Philippines. They wanted Philippine-born Filipinos to be accepted as white. Rizal went back to the Philippines. Exiled to Dapitan, he married WHITE. The Spanish Friars were livid -- how dare that indio insult them, the white masters of the Philippines? They wanted him dead. When the Katipunan Revolution broke out in 1896, Rizal disowned the indios dying by the thousands fighting the Spanish Army in the Philippines. He wanted to risk his life for Spain by enlisting as a medical doctor in the Spanish Army in Cuba. Rizal was en-route to Barcelona to accept his commission when the ship carrying him was turned back. In a mock trial lasting only a day, he was sentenced to death for the crime of rebellion. Why do they have to buy their WHITENESS? To quote Fanon:

   Out of the blackest part of my soul, across the zebra striping of my mind, surges this desire to be suddenly white...
   I marry white culture, white beauty, white whiteness. When my restless hands caress those white breasts, they grasp white 
   civilization and dignity and make them mine.

Anti beast (talk) 00:34, 2 January 2009 (UTC)

How did the Spaniards view the mestizos de sangley? 75.62.104.19 (talk) 08:05, 28 December 2008 (UTC)

The Spaniards viewed them with contempt and treated them with disdain. The Spaniards created the mestizo de sangley out of the bloody sangley massacres and expulsions of the 17th century. At the onset of Spanish rule, the whites needed a colonial workforce to help them build Manila and recruited Chinese migrants (called sangleys) to do the work for them. After the Chinese Pirate Limahong sacked Manila, the whites viewed the sangleys as a threat to their newfound colony and began treating them as "enemy aliens" thereafter. Spain issued a royal decree banning sangleys from residing in the colony. However, because their services as traders and artisans were needed in the colony, Luis Pérez Dasmariñas found a way to accommodate the sangleys: "induce" them to convert to Catholicism, allow them to intermarry with indio women and create a special district for the converted sangleys and their families. This district was called Binondo, the designated place for their mixed-race descendants, the mestizos de sangley. Because Binondo was (and still is) full of beho (traditional Chinese: 馬塵; Hokkien: beh hoo; English: horseshit), the sangleys who salivated at the prospect of marrying indios were thus called intsik beho tulo laway. To avenge the death of his father Gómez Pérez Dasmariñas at the hands of sangleys, Luis Pérez Dasmariñas orchestrated the First Great Massacre of 1603 in which up to 24,000 sangleys died. The Spaniards, fearful of a Chinese reprisal, sent emissaries to China to explain their actions and received this reply from the Chinese rulers regarding the sangleys:

   ...those whom the Castilians have killed were wicked people, ungrateful to China, their native country, their elders, 
   and their parents, as they have not returned to China now for very many years...

That is to say -- China DISOWNED them! At the time of the Ming Dynasty, it was illegal for Chinese subjects to emigrate and those who did so CEASED TO BE CHINESE. Later, under the Qing Dynasty, illegal emigration turned into a capital offense -- those who had left illegally faced the death penalty upon their return to China. As STATELESS PERSONS, they had to become colonial subjects of the Spanish Crown in order to remain in the islands.

Thus, the Spaniards created them as a matter of political expediency and economic necessity because the whites needed a class of people who would be loyal to the Spanish Crown and faithful to the Catholic Religion, and who would thereby act as a colonial middlemen between the whites and the indios. That the Spaniards succeeded in this respect is explained by Wickberg as follows:

   Historically, the mestizos had supported Spanish rule on more than one occasion. During the various Chinese revolts of former
   centuries the mestizos had either sided with the Spanish or else taken no part. The mestizos of Binondo were especially proud 
   of their record in this respect, and repeatedly called attention to it, styling themselves "true sons of Spain." In any event,
   the mestizos did not side with the Chinese against Spanish rule. Nor do we find, when we examine indio revolts against Spanish
   rule, any pattern of mestizo participation. If the mestizos' political record was apparently pro-Spanish, their cultural record
   was certainly so. There seemed to be no attachment to Chinese culture, and, instead, a very strong affinity for a Philippine
   version of Hispanic culture. Their interest in Catholicism was particularly strong. Individually and corporately they generously
   endowed local Catholic churches, the centers of local Spanish cultural influence...Even the mestizo way of dress, so far from 
   showing any Chinese influence, was a semi-European, semi-indio style — a style also affected by the Spanish mestizo in the 
   Philippines. The illustrations of mestizo dress one finds in Mallat — in particular the man's dress, with high silk hat and 
   knee-length shirt — were models of what the urbanized hispanized Filipino of the late nineteenth century would wear. The Chinese
   mestizo, clearly, was as hispanized — if not more so — as was the urbanized indio.

Anti beast (talk) 19:31, 29 December 2008 (UTC)

What do you mean the sangleys CEASED TO BE CHINESE? 211.156.87.16 (talk) 12:44, 28 January 2009 (UTC)

During the late Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) and Ching Dynasty (1644-1912), the Chinese rulers enacted laws barring Chinese subjects from emigrating overseas. This reversed centuries-old policies which had allowed maritime trade to flourish during the Song Dynasty (960-1279) and Yuan Dynasty (1279-1368) reaching a peak in the early Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) during Zheng He's voyages. Under the late Ming, Chinese male emigrants who had settled permanently overseas lost their Chinese nationality. This was in conformity to Confucian precepts which had extolled the virtue of filial obligation to one's ancestral homeland. During the Qing Dynasty, the Manchu rulers, recognizing the threat posed by Chinese emigrants, turned illegal emigration into a capital offense punishable by death. For abandoning China to settle down in Binondo, the sangleys forfeited their Chinese nationality and became effectively STATELESS PERSONS. The sangleys turned into colonial subjects of the Spanish Crown only after they had converted to Catholicism and had adopted Spanish-sounding names.

In Japan, after the establishment of the Tokugawa Shogunate (1603 – 1868), the Japanese rulers passed anti-Christian edicts such as the "Statement on the Expulsion of the Bateren" drafted by the Zen Buddhist monk Ishin Suden and issued over the vermilion seal of Shogun Hidetada at the behest of Tokugawa Ieyasu in 1614, as follows:

    And now the band of Kirishitans has unexpectedly come to Japan. They do not merely sail trading vessels here to traffic
    in commodities. Rather, they recklessly desire to spread a pernicious doctrine, confound true religion, change the 
    governmental authority of this realm, and make it their own possession. These are the germs of disaster. This band must
    not be left unsuppressed. Japan is the Land of the Gods and the Land of the Buddhas. The gods are hallowed here and the
    Buddhas revered; the Way of humanity and rightness is followed assiduously, and laws regarding good and evil are perfected. 
    All of that notorious band, the Bateren, contravene the aforesaid governmental regimen, traduce the Way of the Gods,
    calumniate the True Law, derange righteousness, and debase goodness...These are truly the enemies of the gods and the 
    enemies of the Buddhas. If they are not banned immediately, the state will be sure to suffer grief in the future...
    So purge Japan of them! Expel them quickly without giving them an inch of land to grasp, a foot of ground to stand on!
    And if any dare resist these orders, they shall be executed.

From the point of view of the Japanese Samurai, the mestizo de sangley also CEASED TO BE ASIAN as well after conversion to that "pernicious" religion, Christianity. This was the reason why the Japanese Samurai tortured San Lorenzo Ruiz to death in Nagasaki, Japan in 1637. In his memory, the following children's rhyme was composed:

    De donde vienes? 
    De Binondo 
    Y que traes? 
    El Mestizo de Sangley.

Today, things haven't changed much for Chinese immigrants to the Philippines. The intsik students of Xavier and ICA want to DENY THEIR CHINESE ETHNICITY while the so-called mestizos of Ateneo de Manila and De La Salle Greenhills would do anything to DENY THEIR CHINESE ANCESTRY. They want to denigrate their fellow Chinese immigrants in Binondo as "G.I." or "Genuine Intsik" who are merely repeating a FOUR HUNDRED YEAR pattern of settlement, intermarriage and assimilation ever since the First Great Sangley Massacre of 1603 gave bloody birth to the original mestizo de sangley community of Binondo. Among them was San Lorenzo Ruiz, a mestizo de sangley who would later become the First Filipino Saint. The Binondo Church (now known as Minor Basilica of San Lorenzo Ruiz) became the veritable refuge for the horrified survivors of the four bloody Sangley Massacres of 1603, 1639, 1662 and 1686 where close to 80,000 sangleys died.

Then as now, the Chinese rulers were quite clear as to the status of the sangleys:

   ...those whom the Castilians have killed were wicked people, ungrateful to China, their native country, their elders, 
   and their parents, as they have not returned to China now for very many years...

The Nationality Law of the People's Republic of China (simplified Chinese: 中华人民共和国; traditional Chinese: 中華人民共和國) in Mainland China is explicitly clear as to who has Chinese Nationality:

   Article 9: Any Chinese national who has settled abroad and who has been naturalized as a foreign national or has acquired
   foreign nationality of his own free will shall automatically lose Chinese nationality.

Rizal wrote about the sangley massacres of the 17th century in Noli Me Tangere which was written in the 19th century some two centuries after the bloody events:

   'No, it was nothing of the kind', answered the man who had asked the first question, 'It was the Chinamen who had rebelled.' 
   With this he shut his window. 'The Chinamen!' echoed all in great astonishment. 'That's why not one of them is to be seen!'
   'What a pity!' exclaimed Sister Ruja. 'To get killed just before Christmas when they bring around their presents! They should
   have waited until New Year's.'

Two centuries later, Rizal wanted to DESECRATE the memory of his own sangley ancestors who were slaughtered in the sangley massacres of the 17th century. In the same novel, he went on to EXCISE his own ethnicity by "throwing the dead body of Don Rafael Ibarra into the lake". Remember, Rizal's ethnic status as mestizo de sangley was based on his patrilineal descent from his original sangley ancestor -- Domingo Lam-co -- down to his mestizo de sangley father -- Francisco Mercado. Metaphorically, by "throwing the dead body of the hero's father into the lake", Rizal was trying to EXCISE HIS OWN ETHNICITY. He would then be free to REINVENT HIMSELF AS WHITE by concocting a SPANISH genealogy for his hero, Crisostomo Ibarra.

Spanish Ancestry of Crisostomo Ibarra	Ethnic Status
Don Pedro Eibarramendia	Spanish Settler
Don Saturnino Ibarra	Spanish mestizo
Don Rafael Ibarra	Spanish mestizo
Juan Crisostomo Ibarra	Spanish mestizo

In many ways, Rizal behaved like the prototypical mestizo de sangley who would do ANYTHING to become white. Neither white nor indio, Rizal was a mestizo de sangley who didn't want to be a mestizo de sangley. He betrayed his own family -- his brother was tortured by the Spanish Authorities -- by enlisting as a medical doctor in the Spanish Army in Cuba. He betrayed his own country by siding with the whites against the indios during the Katipunan Revolution of 1896. He betrayed his own self by writing his last farewell -- Mi último adiós -- in SPANISH, the language of his executioners. He disowned his own people, the mestizos de sangley, by desecrating the memory of his own sangley ancestors who were brutally massacred and expelled during the 17th century. Four bloody sangley massacres -- 1603, 1639, 1662, 1686 -- took place in the 17th century. Rizal's paternal ancestor -- Domingo Lam-co -- missed the last sangley massacre of 1686. By converting to Catholicism and getting baptized at age 35, he was allowed to leave the Parían and to settle down in Biñan, Laguna where he prospered. He adopted the Spanish-sounding surname "Mercado" which means "market" to spare his descendants from anti-Chinese violence. But Rizal could never escape from the anti-Chinese racism of the Spanish Conquistadores. The Spanish Friars, for example, were virulently racist towards Rizal and would constantly insult him with ethnic slurs such as un vulgar mesticillo chino which means "vulgar Chinese half-breed".

But even this was not enough for Rizal.

In an allegorical sense, Rizal's novels serve as some kind of a CHRONICLE OF A DEATH FORETOLD. If everything about Rizal -- his mind, heart and soul -- was white, then his only problem was that his brown body -- his indio body with sangley blood -- was not white. Similarly, if everything about the Philippines is white, then the only problem was that the people in the Philippines were not white. Rizal could become white only if the Spaniards kill him and get rid of his brown body, metaphorically representing the death of his own people. As the Filipino Christ, Rizal died so that his own people may become white. Rizal had anticipated the PHILIPPINE GENOCIDE in his "The Philippines: A Century Hence" when he asked pensively:

   What good would the Philippines be without the Filipinos?

After his execution, Rizal did turn white when he was eulogized by his biographer as a "Spaniard". His disciples -- the ilustrados -- now had to carry out his DEATH WISH which became reality with the arrival of the U.S. Military in the Philippines:

   Apres moi, le deluge.

Anti beast (talk) 11:04, 28 March 2009 (UTC)

This is quite inaccurate. History books say that Sangley is the generic term for the Chinese immigrants during the Spanish era. Here's an article with regards to the term Sangley [[1]]

I corrected the stale hyperlink above and also the inaccuracies reported. I added a more thorough explanation of the terms used by the Spanish authorities to classify the inhabitants of the islands. It would be useful to compare those terms with those used in Latin America. What do you think? Anti beast (talk) 16:38, 19 December 2007 (UTC)

Sangley? Never heard of this word. In Latin America, we use the word chino to describe someone from China, Japan, Korea, Vietnam, Philippines and other Asian countries. Mestizo de Sangley? Never heard of this weird term. Please see Mestizo. 75.62.104.9 (talk) 06:51, 24 December 2007 (UTC)

Sangley literally means business in a Chinese dialect called Hokkien. Although the term mestizo de sangley literally translates to mixed-race business person, the Spaniards used the term to refer specifically to mixed-race people of Chinese descent living in Binondo, Manila during the Spanish Colonial Period. Anyway, the term mestizo is used differently in Latin America than in the Philippines. Here's a summary of the terms commonly used in Latin America: Anti beast (talk) 06:21, 25 December 2007 (UTC)

Term	Description
Indio	indigenous person
Mestizo	mixed-race person of Spanish or European and Indio ancestry
Mulatto	mixed-race person of Spanish or European and African ancestry
Zambo	mixed-race person of African and Indio ancestry
Criollo	pure-blooded Spaniard born in the Americas
Chino	person of East Asian origin

Here in Venezuela, we use mestizo to refer to people with European and Indio blood. Hugo Chavez who is half-mestizo and half-zambo is waging a Bolivarian Revolution against the criollos or whites. Are there criollos and mestizos in the Philippines? 75.62.104.199 (talk) 04:00, 26 December 2007 (UTC)

There are several white criollos who are quite prominent in the Philippines, i.e., pure-blooded Spanish Filipinos such as the Ayala, Soriano and Ortigas families. However, unlike Latin America, most of the people who emigrated to the Philippines were neither Spanish nor European, they were Chinese immigrants. But the Spanish authorities didn't know what to call these people, so they used the word "sangley" which means business in the Chinese Hokkien dialect. Most of these Chinese immigrants intermarried with the indios and sired a new race called mestizo de sangley. Of course, mestizo de sangley does not exist in Latin America. Instead, the word chino is used to describe people of East Asian ancestry. Barrio Chino, for example, means China Town. I have friends from Peru who refer to Alberto Fujimori as chino because he is a Latin American of Japanese descent who speaks fluent Spanish. Anti beast (talk) 06:22, 27 December 2007 (UTC)

Hugo Chavez is not popular with the white criollos who comprise the upper class in Venezuela. They make fun of his physical features such as his big lips and call him all sorts of names, for example, el indio putumayo, which is extremely derogatory in Venezuela. Being mostly indio with negro blood, Chavez calls himself the first Zambo President of Venezuela. By the way, Venezuela is famous for its beauty queens most of whom are white criollos. Are the mestizos de sangley prominent in the Philippines? 75.62.104.199 (talk) 05:37, 28 December 2007 (UTC)

Chavez who is a Zambo with African blood reminds me of Marcos who is an Ilocano with Sangley blood. Both are outsiders who went after the white establishment after taking power. However, unlike Latin America where most of the upper class are white, in the Philippines today, most of the upper and middle classes are mestizo de sangley. This is because many of the whites who settled the islands after 1850 left the country after WWII and during the Marcos regime. Not being white, the mestizo de sangley upper class have the wealth and power but not the status of the whites. The few white criollos left like the Zobel de Ayala family who claim descent from Spanish Aristocracy enjoy the highest status in Philippine Society. Anti beast (talk) 12:14, 29 December 2007 (UTC)

If the mestizos de sangley have money and power how come they don't have status in Philippine Society? 75.62.104.19 (talk) 08:54, 2 August 2008 (UTC)

The reason is because they are descendants of Chinese immigrants and not Spanish settlers. Let me explain this by using an example. Consider the case of San Miguel Corporation. Founded in 1890, it was managed by the Andres Soriano family for three generations. After Andres Soriano, Jr. died in 1984, Eduardo Cojuangco, Jr. gained ownership of the company but had to surrender it to the government after Marcos fell from power in 1986. The government then asked Andres Soriano III to take over until 1998 when Eduardo Cojuangco, Jr. regained control of the company.

San Miguel Corporation was considered the crown jewel of the Spanish Filipino business elites not only because of its size but more because of the way it was run: it was once a bastion of whiteness in the Philippines. When John Gokongwei, Jr. attempted to gain a board seat in 1976, the media painted him as a "pygmy" while the Board of Directors placed ads in the newspapers opposing his efforts. As expected, due to a Supreme Court ruling he failed in what should have been a mundane business transaction for public corporations.

Business Person	Ethnicity
Andres Soriano, Jr.	white criollo
Andres Soriano III	white criollo
Eduardo Cojuangco, Jr.	mestizo de sangley
John Gokongwei, Jr.	sangley

To view the corporate maneuvers from a historical perspective, one should consider the Spanish colonial legacy of "mestizaje" which privileges whiteness against all others. During the Spanish Colonial Period, it would have been unthinkable for either a sangley or mestizo de sangley to gain entry into Intramuros, the whites-only walled city in Manila, much less gain a seat in the San Agustin Church, the sacred burial ground of the white Spanish Conquistadores. Where Gokongwei failed Cojuangco succeeded largely because of Marcos who became President in 1965.

In politics, the ideology of "mestizaje" also manifests itself when Filipino politicians such as Sergio Osmeña or Alfredo Lim are maligned for their Chinese ancestry while those with Spanish ancestry such as Manuel L. Quezon or Lorenzo Tañada are celebrated. Even prominent Filipino "Nationalists" such as Don Claro M. Recto, a pure-blooded indio from the Tagalog tribe who styled himself as a "little brown Hispanic", are revered and respected for his fluency in the Spanish language and his mastery of Hispanic culture. Indeed, Filipinos with Chinese ancestry are supposed to denigrate their East Asian roots and to behave like "little brown Hispanics" .

Politician	Ethnicity
Lorenzo Tañada	white criollo
Manuel Quezon	mestizo
Sergio Osmeña	mestizo de sangley
Claro Recto	indio

This state of affairs changed after Marcos came to power. Just one year after taking office in 1966, in a speech before the Federation of Filipino-Chinese Chambers of Commerce and Industry, Inc. (FFCCCII), he remarked:

I have Chinese blood in me...I am not ashamed to admit that perhaps the great leaders of our country all have Chinese blood.

Not only that, whereas the Ayalas claim descent from Spanish nobility, Marcos claimed spiritual descent from the Chinese Pirate Limahong who attacked Manila during the early years of Spanish Colonization which led the Spaniards to build the walled city of Intramuros. Marcos tried but failed to overturn the "mestizaje" ideology of whiteness, among other vestiges of the Spanish colonial legacy in the Philippines (as in Latin America). Hispanic Filipinos hate Marcos not because he was a corrupt dictator but because he was too bakya for the sosyal crowd: he attended public schools, spoke Ilocano, promoted Ilocanos to high offices. He couldn't do the Tango, Cha-cha or Salsa unlike, say, Manuel L. Quezon. They wouldn't mind if one of their own kind became a corrupt caudillo dictator in the Latin American tradition. That's why Marcos declared Martial Law because he wanted to prove his manhood. He even attempted to rename the Philippines to impress his white mistress by showing that he had a big brown phallus. Similarly, in Venezuela, Chavez is trying to wage a second Bolivarian Revolution against the white criollos in Latin America. Ironically, Simón Bolívar, the Great Liberator of the Americas, was a native-born white criollo of Spanish noble lineage. And Bolivia, the country named in his honor, produced its first indio president in its 500 year history, Evo Morales, only in 2006. Anti beast (talk) 05:55, 3 August 2008 (UTC)

Mestizaje Ideology

White goddess, White knight, White whiteness?? I smell propaganda here. Wikipedia is written from empirical facts, there should be no room for propaganda hogwash here, please. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 222.127.33.114 (talk) 20:33, 8 November 2008 (UTC)

Here's an excerpt from Hispanic-Filipino Identity: Loss and Recovery by Elizabeth Medina:

   Nevertheless, what cannot be denied, overlooked or left unstated is the fact that the Tagalogs – meaning the natives of that
   island realm – did willingly accept the entry into their world of the Spanish, notwithstanding the subsequent periodic rebellions. 
   There did take place a marriage of civilizations, of customs, of spirits – even of bodies and minds. The indigenous Filipinos
   did accept Catholicism and fused it with their own monotheistic worship of Bathala. There was indeed a new Cosmology born, the 
   fruit of a paradigmatic marriage between two worlds – and that fruit was Hispanic Philippines. In comparison to that marriage,
   which was finally and properly ended by the will of the Filipinos, the invasion and conquest by the United States was rape, and
   the reeducation of the Filipinos a form of massive cultural brainwashing, abetted by the non nationalist Hispanic Filipinos’ 
   betrayal of self and country.

   The men who fought the Revolution and the Filipino−American War were the common people, and the native and mestizo middle class. 
   Their enemies during the revolutionary war were the Spanish and their loyal native troops; and during the war against the U.S.,
   the Americans and the natives who aided them as scouts or spies. But definitively, many of the ilustrado Hispanic Filipinos who
   called themselves nationalists before the Filipino−American War, took part in the Constitutional Assembly of Malolos, even held
   office in the First Republic −− these men, together with the creoles, mestizos and natives who were pro-Spanish before and 
   during the Revolution and who became pro-Americans −− defected to the American camp and became leading figures of the 
   American-era social construct from 1901 onwards.

Here's another excerpt from W.E. Retana, a Spaniard who felt remorse at the execution of Rizal and wanted to atone for Spain's mistake by writing Rizal's biography:

   Young Malays of great talent, eager for culture, came to Europe to broaden their studies and experience. Here they absorbed the
   atmosphere of Freedom; here they enjoyed the consideration of worthy men; here they felt like true Spaniards. But they returned 
   to their country and became – once again – indios!

   It is natural for a people who sees itself as subjugated by another race, whose mother country lies thousands of miles away, to
   aspire to rule itself. The [Hispanic] Filipino people did not, however, have this aspiration; rather they simply wanted to be 
   considered the equals of the Spanish nation. Were they not all Spaniards?

Empirical data in the form of historical evidence is always interpreted subjectively depending on a person's ideological beliefs. The above excerpts of Medina's and Retana's assessment of the "Hispanic" Filipinos of the 19th Century supports my own view that Rizal and his fellow ilustrados were "Hispanic" Filipinos who defined themselves as white not indio. Because most of them were not white by ethnicity, they did not belong to the statutory class of native-born whites called filipinos in the island colony. Nonetheless, because they attended the same schools and universities, spoke and wrote in the same language and wore the same clothes as the whites, they thought of themselves as white, i.e., "Hispanic" Filipinos in the CULTURAL not ETHNIC sense of the word. And what they wanted was LEGAL STATUS and EQUAL TREATMENT as whites. They sought to accomplish this first by seeking Spanish Citizenship during the Propaganda Movement. Failing that, they wanted to prove their loyalty to Spain by siding with the whites AGAINST Bonifacio's indio revolutionaries. Rizal even volunteered to serve the whites as a medical doctor in the Spanish Army in Cuba while the indios were dying by the thousands fighting the Spanish Army in the Philippines.

In the case of the ilustrados, many of whom were high-ranking officials of the First Philippine Republic, when the time came, they betrayed Aguinaldo and HIS country. Remember: the ilustrados had wanted to become Spanish Citizens but Spain didn't want "little brown Spaniards". That is, if the colonial relationship between Spain and the Philippines was a loveless "marriage", what was lacking was the "honeymoon". Rizal and his fellow ilustrados didn't want a "separation"; it was the bakya, probinciano, indio crowd, those silly Katipuneros who wanted a "divorce". So what about the Propaganda Movement? Call it a lover's quarrel, as in: sasampalin kita pagkatapos sampalin mo ako, that sort of thing. That's why Rizal wrote his two novels: Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo. As Andrew Cunanan would have said it: "I'll show them. I'll write two novels attacking the Spaniards in the Philippines!". Rejected by his white lovers, Cunanan went on a rampage just like the Katipuneros. To paraphrase Shakespeare: "Hell hath no fury than a Filipino lover scorned!". Slapped in the face by Spain, Rizal and his fellow ilustrados however wanted to kiss and makeup. Lo and Behold! Out of the deep-blue ocean, a deux ex machina suddenly appeared: the U.S. Military sent by the White Knight, President William McKinley of the United States, to carry out G-d's Will in fulfillment of Manifest Destiny. Once they knew what was going on, the ilustrados SWITCHED THEIR LOYALTY TO THE UNITED STATES and embraced the U.S. Military with their all love and all their passion. After three centuries in a Spanish Convent, just imagine the incredible longing and insatiable desire one finds in the mind, body, heart and soul of the newly-liberated ilustrados. In one shining moment of heavenly bliss, the ilustrados as Maria Clara found white love, white romance, white passion -- white whiteness -- in the arms of the tall, blonde and handsome White Knights of the U.S. Military who arrived in time to rescue them from the short, dark and ugly indios of the Philippine Army. Rejected by Spain, they accepted the white love (in the form of Benevolent Assimilation) offered by the United States and turned into "little brown Americans". Because of the BENEVOLENCE of the United States, the ilustrados were granted their lifelong dream of ASSIMILATING into White Christian Civilization. Contrary to Medina's view, the U.S. Military Conquest of the Philippine Islands was THE GREATEST LOVE STORY EVER TOLD! Anti beast (talk) 11:43, 7 December 2008 (UTC)

What do you mean by "mestizaje" ideology of whiteness? 75.62.104.17 (talk) 06:51, 5 August 2008 (UTC)

In Latin America, it was used to rationalize the genocide and miscegenation that took place shortly after the white Spanish Conquistadores landed in the New World. The destruction of the Mesoamerican civilizations and indigenous cultures of the Americas was accompanied by the wholesale slaughter and starvation of the indios followed by the mass settlement of white Spanish settlers, the ensuing mass rapes, and the importation of African slaves. The "mestizaje" ideology of whiteness justifies the Spanish Conquest of the Americas (La Conquista) by promoting the wisdom of benevolent miscegenation: that the sexual annihilation of the brown indio woman by the white European man was necessary to uplift the indios from their savagery by infusing them with white European genes. The desired result was to whiten their skin (blanqueamiento) so they can partake of the blessings of White Christian Civilization. In post-colonial Latin America, "mestizaje" became the official ideology in the formation of Hispanic, Catholic and Spanish-speaking mestizo nations to the exclusion of indio languages, cultures and religions. In practical reality, "mestizaje" creates a kind of "pigmentocracy" which privileges "whiteness" and produces a social hierarchy based on the "whiteness" of one's skin. Anti beast (talk) 08:56, 7 August 2008 (UTC)

How does the "mestizaje" ideology apply to the Philippines? 75.62.104.15 (talk) 08:25, 13 August 2008 (UTC)

To a large extent it does but with one crucial difference: the fact that the Philippines is in Southeast Asia and not in Latin America. In the New World, Spain wanted to create a Nuevo España, a New Spain in its own Italic textimage. And that's why the Spanish Conquistadores destroyed the Mesoamerican civilizations of the Aztecs, Mayans and Incas and annihilated the indio populations of the New World. White Spanish settlers then arrived in large numbers who conducted mass rapes of indio women to sire mestizos. African slaves were then brought in after the indio populations were decimated. In the Philippines, the Spanish authorities in Manila carried out several bloody massacres of rebellious sangleys and then later decided to interbreed them with indio women to create a new race of indios called mestizos de sangley. The Spaniards also wanted to keep out Islam by waging countless Moro wars. Spanish ORIENTALISM, as a by-product of the Spanish Reconquista against the North African "Moors" was thus exported to the Philippines and applied against the Muslims in Mindanao. This is the reason why "Hispanic" culture in the Philippines is so strongly anti-Asian whereas "Hispanic" culture in Latin America is not. However, because the Spaniards never wanted to create a Nuevo España in the Far East, Spain never attempted to exterminate the indios nor did it try to destroy their indigenous languages, cultures and customs. That is, the nature of Spanish Colonialism in the Americas was political colonization whereas in the Philippines it was religious conversion. For this reason, the indios and mestizos de sangley did not turn into Spanish-speaking Hispanics except for the few whites living in Intramuros. This view however is not supported by some Filipino Hispanicists including Writer Elizabeth Medina of Chile and Prof. Fernando Nakpil Zialcita of the Ateneo de Manila. Prof. Zialcita wrote an entire book entitled "Authentic Though Not Exotic: Essays on Filipino Identity" to prove how "hispanic" Filipinos really are. Excerpts from the book follows:

   I propose questioning a concept that is over two millennia old, namely, “Asia.” Simplistic notions of what Asia is and 
   should be in relation to the West have succeeded in marginalizing, on the international scene, the achievements of lowland
   Christian Filipinos, not only in cuisine, but in the other arts as well. They have also succeeded in making many educated
   lowland Christian Filipinos apologetic about their culture when they reflect on it and have to articulate it before 
   outsiders. Often they assume that since the costume, the music, the architecture, and the literature of lowland Christian
   Filipinos have an obvious Hispanic component, they cannot be Asian, for to be Asian means to be non-Western. Therefore, 
   they cannot be “authentic” either, for to be in Asia means thinking and behaving like a true Asian. Thus the anguish in 
   defining the Christian Filipino’s identity. The maps indicate that his country is in Asia but both fellow-Asians and
   Western authors (generally non-Latin) question his credentials as an “Asian.”

That Christian Filipinos today define themselves against Asia is quite apparent from their self-proclaimed national identity as the only Christian Nation in Asia. Indeed, Filipinos resent being lumped together with Asians and desperately seek recognition and acceptance from the Western, Latin and European Worlds, what Fanon calls White Christian Civilization. That Filipinos are not accepted as "Hispanic" today is not because the Philippines is in Asia but because most Filipinos are not white. Australia is also a Christian Nation in Asia but Australians are considered "Western" because most Australians are white. In like manner, Rizal and his fellow ilustrados defined themselves as Spanish-speaking Hispanics and sought official recognition as Spanish Citizens. But Spain rejected them because most Filipinos are not white. In contrast, Spain did grant Spanish Citizenship to Puerto Ricans and Cubans because most Puerto Ricans and Cubans are white. In much of Latin America, white criollos founded Spanish-speaking Hispanic Nations after gaining independence from Spain. This was not the case in the Philippines: no Spanish-speaking Nation ever came into being after the Spaniards left.

Anti beast (talk) 08:52, 19 August 2008 (UTC)

Does the "mestizaje" ideology exist in the Philippines? 75.62.104.11 (talk) 07:30, 20 August 2008 (UTC)

It exists but in a different form. Filipinos are not white but they want to be white. This desire to be white, to be a part of White Christian Civilization is what Elizabeth Medina calls "pyschic mestizaje". Let me explain this by using the main characters in Rizal's novels, namely: Crisostomo Ibarra, his alter ego, Simoun, his love Maria Clara, and his nemesis Padre Damaso.

The white European man (represented by Padre Damaso) rapes the brown indio woman (represented by Doña Pia Alba) who dies to bear Maria Clara, the bastard child of White Christian Civilization. The sexual annihilation of the brown indio is a constant theme in the Spanish Conquest of the New World. By partaking of the white whiteness of European genes, the brown indio then gives birth to a new culture -- White, Hispanic and Christian -- to replace the "heathen" culture of the New World which is destroyed upon the death of the undesirable indio. In the Philippines, this new culture -- White, Hispanic and Christian -- is symbolized by the birth of Maria Clara. The destruction of the old indio culture is symbolized by the death of Doña Pia Alba. Because Maria Clara has indio blood, she must "whiten" herself by marrying someone white. (In Latin America, this process of "whitening" oneself is called blanqueamiento). That's why her real father, the Spanish Priest Padre Damaso advises Maria Clara against her tisoy lover the Spanish Mestizo Crisostomo Ibarra because of his indio blood and instead recommends a white Spaniard from Spain (Linares) as a future husband. When Maria Clara learns that Ibarra has died, she enters a convent to become a nun. One night, she is seen praying for her salvation, that is, she longs for a White Knight to rescue her from her misery. Her White Knight is Simoun who is Ibarra disguised this time as an American from Cuba. He wants to rescue Maria Clara from the convent (which represents Filipinas) run by his arch-enemies the Spanish Friars (represented by Padre Damaso). He learns that Maria Clara has died, fails in his attempts to foment a revolution, and dies in the end. Simoun fails to foment a revolution because Rizal wanted the Philippines to become part of Spain and to belong to White Christian Civilization.

In his two novels, Rizal disavowed his own ethnic group -- mestizos de sangley -- and invents instead two Spanish Mestizos, Crisostomo Ibarra and Maria Clara, as his hero and heroine in his first novel Noli Me Tangere. During Rizal's time, Spanish Mestizos were considered white enough in the Philippines and indeed Rizal thought of himself as white when he was at the Ateneo Municipal. After spending so many years in Spain and Europe, Rizal later learns that Spanish mestizos were treated as nothing more than bastard mongrels in white society. This is still true today as Elizabeth Medina, a Spanish Mestiza from the Philippines living in Chile, readily concedes. Rizal's choice of two Spanish Mestizos doesn't make much sense. Aside from the fact that he himself is a CHINESE and not SPANISH Mestizo, he could have chosen anyone of the "Women of Malolos" to be his heroine. But they don't qualify because they're CHINESE not SPANISH Mestizas! Rizal knew that his own ethnic group -- mestizos de sangley -- DO NOT EXIST IN THE SPANISH-SPEAKING HISPANIC WORLD! So Rizal who was quite playful and satirical in his first novel Noli Me Tangere became visibly bitter and resentful in his second novel El Filibusterismo where he reinvents Ibarra as a malevolent character named Simoun disguised this time as an American from Cuba.

In real life, Crisostomo Ibarra (Jose Rizal) came back from exile and was executed for the crime of rebellion. Unlike Latin America, something strange happened in the Philippines. In the midst of the Philippine Revolution against Spain, the U.S. Military suddenly arrived in time to save Maria Clara not from the Spanish Friars but from the indio savages of the Philippine Army. Instead of a tisoy lover, it was the tall, blonde and handsome White Knights of the U.S. Military who swept Maria Clara off her feet just like in the Hollywood Production "An Officer and a Gentlemen". This fantasy -- the Maria Clara Syndrome -- of Filipinos today is to be rescued from the nightmarish hell that is the Philippines by "An Officer and a Gentlemen" from the U.S. Military. What do Filipinos want? Filipinos want white love, white romance, white passion -- white whiteness -- because they want to be WHITE. And only by the BENEVOLENCE of the United States can Filipinos ASSIMILATE into White Christian Civilization.

Anti beast (talk) 09:43, 22 August 2008 (UTC)

True Sons of Spain?

How can the mestizos de sangley call themselves "True Sons of Spain" when they don't have Spanish blood? 58.69.97.194 (talk) 08:58, 18 January 2008 (UTC)

Well, of course, the mestizos de sangley were never really considered "True Sons of Spain"; they merely STYLED themselves as such. Only the Spanish-born peninsulares and not even the white criollos were considered "True Sons of Spain"; the former held the most important positions in the ecclesiastical, civil and military authorities governing the Spanish-ruled colonies in the Americas and in the Philippines. That's why the white criollos led the wars of independence against Spain which liberated much of the Americas. In contrast, the self-styled ilustrados, many of whom were mestizos de sangley including Jose Rizal, campaigned for the Philippines to be made a province of Spain, believing themselves to be "True Sons of Spain". Based on the racial doctrine called limpieza de sangre or purity of Spanish blood, Jose Rizal would never have qualified to be a "True Son of Spain". The white criollos, on the other hand, could maintain their limpieza de sangre provided they have less than one-eight indio ancestry. Anti beast (talk) 14:47, 27 January 2008 (UTC)

If the ilustrados were not white criollos, why did they call themselves Filipinos? 121.15.22.187 (talk) 13:17, 21 April 2008 (UTC)

Even though most of the ilustrados were not filipinos by ethnicity, they were defining themselves as Filipinos by nationality. From a legal standpoint, the juridical term filipino applied only to white criollos native-born in the island colony (also called insulares) as distinct from those born in the peninsula (also called peninsulares). As pure-blooded Spaniards from Spain, the peninsulares held all the high positions in the island colony to the detriment of the local-born insulares. That's why the Gomburza priests (two of whom were white filipinos) sought equal treatment for those native-born in the island colony. The ilustrados went one step further: they wanted legal equality for native-born Filipinos with the European-born peninsulares. To this end, they sought the incorporation of the island colony as a province of Spain with those native-born Filipinos treated as citizens of Spain.

Term	Meaning	Definition
filipino	Ethnicity	filipino (spelled with a small "f") refers to the statutory class of white Catholic, Spanish-speaking Hispanics native-born in the island colony
Filipino	Nationality	Filipino (spelled with a capital "F") refers to the Catholic, Spanish-speaking and Hispanized people of the Philippines as defined by the ilustrados

Anti beast (talk) 16:38, 10 May 2008 (UTC)

If the ilustrados were anti-Spain, why did they seek Spanish Citizenship for Filipinos? 218.253.164.44 (talk) 17:15, 9 June 2008 (UTC)

They never were anti-Spain. On the contrary, they loved Spain and admired her culture. Through their extraordinary accomplishments in various fields, they sought to prove themselves more Spanish than the Spaniards. Rizal outdid all of his fellow ilustrados. He identified with Europe and adopted her White Christian Civilization as his own. He mastered several European languages, and pursued amorous relationships with her white women. By achieving such wide acclaim, he sought to prove himself more European than the Europeans. Rizal and his fellow ilustrados wanted to become part of Spain, Europe and White Christian Civilization.

Anti beast (talk) 07:28, 3 July 2008 (UTC)

Did Spain grant Spanish Citizenship to Filipinos? 75.62.104.19 (talk) 01:41, 22 July 2008 (UTC)

The Cádiz Constitution of 1812 had provisions for conferring Spanish Citizenship to residents of both Mother Spain and her colonies. It also provided for a parliament (Cortes) to be composed of elected representatives. However, it was in force only briefly during three periods of intense civil strife in Spain: 1812-1814, 1820-1823 and 1836-1937. The Cádiz Constitution was highly liberal in its definition of Spanish Citizenship, as follows:

   Article 5.- Of those who are Spaniards, and lawfully considered as such:
   1. All free-men, born and bred up in the Spanish dominions, and their sons;
   2. Foreigners who may have obtained letters of naturalization from the Cortes;
   3. Those who, without it, have resided ten years in any village in Spain, acquiring thereby a right of vicinity;
   4. The slaves who receive their freedom in the Spanish dominions. 
   Article 18.- Those who, by both lines, are of Spanish parents, of either hemisphere, and have resided ten years 
   in some village in the Spanish dominions.
   Article 19.- Also any foreigner, who, according to the form prescribed, has become a Spaniard, may be made a 
   citizen, by special letter of citizenship from the Cortes.

After the Wars of Independence against Spain succeeded in liberating all of her colonies in the Americas except for Puerto Rico and Cuba, the Cádiz Constitution was hardly enforced thereafter. Conservative peninsulares from the newly liberated Latin American countries fled to Puerto Rico where the Spanish Governor was given absolute power to rule (omnimodas). It was not until 1876 that the right to representation in the Cortes would be restored. When revolts broke out in Cuba in the War of 1895, Spain finally granted Spanish Citizenship to Puerto Ricans and Cubans under the Charter of Autonomy of 1897. Ironically, Jose Rizal would later volunteer to serve as a medical doctor in the Spanish Army in Cuba which suffered heavy casualties in the War of 1895. He also disowned the Katipuneros who were dying by the thousands in his name.

Anti beast (talk) 07:00, 24 July 2008 (UTC)

Was the Cádiz Constitution ever put into effect in the Philippines? 75.62.104.19 (talk) 08:46, 27 July 2008 (UTC)

Briefly, during the period when Spain was under French Occupation by Napoleon's Army. Pedro Perez de Tagle and Jose Manuel Coretto were the first Philippine delegates to the Spanish Cortes in 1812. However, after Napoleon's defeat, the Spanish Cortes rejected the Cádiz Constitution, thus abolishing Philippine representation in the Spanish Cortes in 1816. Rizal wrote about it in "The Philippines: A Century Hence":

   Only Spain, which in the sixteenth century was the model nation in civilization, lags far behind. Cuba and Puerto Rico, 
   whose inhabitants do not number a third of those of the Philippines, and who have not made such sacrifices for Spain, have 
   numerous representatives.  The Philippines in the early days had theirs, who conferred with the King and Pope on the needs 
   of the country.  They had them in Spain’s critical moments, when she groaned under the Napoleonic yoke, and they did not 
   take advantage of the sovereign country’s misfortunes like other colonies but tightened more firmly the bonds that united 
   them to be the nation, giving proofs of their loyalty and they continued until many years later.

Rizal was referring to the Wars of Independence in the Americas which had broken out during the period when Spain was invaded and occupied by Napoleon. By the mid-1820s, Spain had lost all of its colonies in the Americas except for Cuba and Puerto Rico. Rizal wanted to assert the loyalty of Filipinos during Spain's gravest hour of need and thus pleaded for the right to send representatives to the Spanish Cortes for the Philippines which was granted sporadically to the Spanish Colonies under the liberal Cádiz Constitution of 1812 but was restored only to Cuba and Puerto Rico under Article 89 of the Spanish Constitution of 1876. Anti beast (talk) 08:41, 28 July 2008 (UTC)

Were Filipinos eligible for Spanish Citizenship under the Cádiz Constitution? 75.62.104.15 (talk) 06:42, 1 August 2008 (UTC)

While the Cádiz Constitution granted Spanish Citizenship to "free-men" or "free-slaves", article 18 restricts it to persons "who, by both lines, are of Spanish parents, of either hemisphere". In practice, it was granted to white criollos, those of pure-blooded Spanish ancestry native-born in the Spanish Colonies. Spanish Citizenship was officially granted to Puerto Ricans and Cubans in 1897 but not to Filipinos. Had Spain granted Spanish Citizenship to Filipinos, Filipinos would have turned into "little brown Spaniards". Today, white criollos comprise the vast majority of the population of Puerto Rico and Cuba, as follows:

Population	White	Black	Mulatto
Cuba (2002)	65.1 %	10.1 %	24.8 %
Puerto Rico (2000)	80.5 %	8 %	10.9 %

Source: CIA World Factbook

Anti beast (talk) 04:15, 3 August 2008 (UTC)

Did Rizal ever advocate Philippine Independence from Spain? 75.62.104.17 (talk) 07:03, 5 August 2008 (UTC)

No. Just the opposite, he warned against separation and independence. Rizal knew very well that Latin American countries had already been independent from Spain for more than half-a-century. Spain had only a few colonies left: Puerto Rico, Cuba, and the Philippines. Yet, Rizal never advocated independence for the Philippines. Through the Propaganda Movement, Rizal and his fellow Ilustrados sought the integration of the Philippines as a province of Spain (Diputacion Provincial), Philippine representation in the Spanish Cortes, and Spanish Citizenship for Philippine-born Filipinos, as provided for under the Cádiz Constitution of 1812. Furthermore, they campaigned against the Spanish Friars in the Philippines who had the most power and privileges in the colony. In particular, they wanted to break the monopoly of the Catholic Orders in the educational system of the Philippines and to create secular schools to teach liberal arts and sciences in the Spanish Language to Filipinos.

In a speech toasting the triumphs of the Filipino Painters Luna and Hidalgo at the Restaurante Inglés in Madrid on June 25, 1884, Rizal sought the union of two races into one nation :

   However, the gratitude of Filipinas to her illustrious sons was not yet satisfied, and wanting to give free rein to the 
   ferment in our thoughts, the feelings overflowing in our hearts and the words that escape from our lips, all of us have come 
   here to this banquet to join our wishes, to materialize the mutual embrace of TWO RACES who love and care for each other, 
   UNITED morally, socially and politically throughout the space of four centuries, SO THAT IN FUTURE THEY MAY FORM ONE SOLE 
   NATION IN SPIRIT, in their duties, their perspectives, their privileges. (Applause) Therefore I raise a toast to our artists 
   Luna and Hidalgo, legitimate and pure glories of TWO PEOPLES!

Rizal also wrote in "The Philippines: A Century Hence":

   Therefore, we repeat and we will ever repeat, while there is time, and that is better to keep pace with the desire of a people
   than to give way before them; the former begets sympathy and love, the latter contempt and anger.  Since it is necessary to 
   grant six million Filipinos their rights, so that they may be in fact Spaniards, let the government grant these rights freely
   and spontaneously, without damaging reservations, without irritating mistrust.

In other words, Rizal sought reforms in the island colony so that Filipinos may be molded by education into proper citizens of a Hispanic Nation, united in language, culture and spirit with Mother Spain, ready to partake of that White Whiteness, willing to sacrifice themselves at the altar of the White Goddess, surrendering themselves and their island country to White Christian Civilization, forever. As Rizal eloquently expressed in Mi Ultimo Adios:

   Voy donde no hay esclavos, verdugos ni opresores,
   Donde la fé no mata, donde el que reyna es Dios.

Anti beast (talk) 10:04, 7 August 2008 (UTC)

Adobo or Adobado

In his book "Authentic Though Not Exotic", Prof. Zialcita claims that because adobo comes from the SPANISH word adobado, then the Philippine dish known as Adobo must be SPANISH in origin. Based on this line of reasoning, because San Lorenzo Ruiz and his fellow mestizos de sangley from Binondo have SPANISH names, then they must be SPANISH in origin too. And that's why Prof. Zialcita further claims that it was the "lowland Christian Filipinos" who built the SPANISH Colonial Churches during the SPANISH Colonial Period because they have SPANISH names and thus must be "G.K." which means "Genuine Kastila".

In a press interview published on his 80th birthday, Chinese-Filipino Businessman John Gokongwei, Jr. posed this dilemna of Chinese Filipinos who want to become "Filipinos":

   What is Filipino? Can you tell me? What is it?

Anti beast (talk) 13:12, 31 December 2009 (UTC)

Undue Weight: Jose Rizal

Much of this talk page is devoted to Jose Rizal, who must deserve an article of his own. WIKI has a principle of UNDUE WEIGHT, and giving him so much space on this page and in the article is an example. At the same time, the article refers to him with no explanation of who he was or why he was significant, what the trial was about, or when it occurred. The article is supposed to be about sangleys, not just one person, but there appears to be good material here for a separate article on Rizal. It needs to include inline citations for sources.--Parkwells (talk) 11:58, 13 June 2009 (UTC)

The reason why this discussion page references Rizal's life and writings extensively is due to the paucity of publicly-available works dealing with this peculiar ethnic group in Spanish Philippines. For example, this mestizo de sangley ethnic group was never mentioned in the book "Filipino Style" co-written by Prof. Fernando Nakpil Zialcita, even though they were largely responsible for inventing the Philippine version of Hispanic Culture which came to be known as the "Filipino Style", as explained by Wickberg. Instead, on the very first few pages of the book we find a photograph of a wedding reception with the following caption:

   A grand all-white elite wedding reception at the nostalgic Ilustrado Restaurant at the El Amanecer Compound within
   Intramuros, Manila. Modern urbanites are evoking Filipino tradition by celebrating their weddings in Intramuros, the
   city's historic center.

By creating the so-called "Filipino Style", the mestizos de sangley wanted to STYLE themselves as filipinos who were the whites then living in Intramuros during the Spanish Colonial Period. A good way to reinvent themselves as white is to "whitewash" their cultural history. The photo and its caption give the impression that Intramuros was where the mestizos de sangley held their community traditions, the most important of which was the religious festival known as the Fiesta de La Naval. As Wickberg explains, it was in Binondo not Intramuros where the mestizos de sangley held the Fiesta de La Naval, which became the subject of intense indio-mestizo rivalry in the late 1880s:

   It will be recalled that Binondo had been founded as a Chinese town in the late sixteenth century, and that by the middle
   of the following century it was a Chinese-mestizo community composed entirely of Catholics. As indios had begun to
   settle within its confines, the Chinese and mestizos reiterated their claims to their ancient privileges. Repeatedly,
   these claims were confirmed by the government. Even after 1840, when the indio gremios were elsewhere triumphant, in 
   Binondo, the mestizo gremio maintained its position. During the 1880's, mestizo-indio rivalry in Binondo flared up
   once again. The occasion was the celebration of the religious festival of La Naval. The mestizos had always defrayed
   the expenses of this festival in Binondo and had always enjoyed a preferred status in its ceremonies. But in 1887, the 
   Spanish governor inexplicably reversed the order, giving precedence to the indio gremio. For several days Binondo, the 
   commercial center of Manila, was tense. Eventually, the decision was reversed, amid a torrent of mestizo and indio
   assertions of eternal loyalty to Spain.

Similarly, the Bahay Tsinoy in Intramuros has exhibits dealing with the sangleys but excluded their mixed-race descendants even though most Chinese immigrants settled in Binondo, Manila where they eventually intermarried and sired the mestizos de sangley. That there is hardly any work dealing with this ethnic group in modern Philippine Historiography of the 20th Century was due to U.S. colonial policies which effectively EXCISED THE ANCESTRY and ERASED THE ETHNICITY of the mestizos de sangley. That is to say, this ethnic group known as the mestizo de sangley which existed for THREE HUNDRED YEARS in Spanish Philippines simply DISAPPEARED FROM MEMORY!

I fully agree that Rizal needs a separate article. Most of the published works on Rizal view him from the point of view of his IDEOLOGY but not his ETHNICITY. To my knowledge, nobody has done any serious work on Rizal's ORIENTALISM, as shown in his racialized depiction of Asians (chiefly South Asian Indian and East Asian Chinese) in his novels which are widely considered to be the Founding Texts of Filipino Nationalism. On closer reading, his Noli Me Tangere reveals a DARK SIDE which includes a SADOMASOCHISTIC scene wherein Doña Consolacion whips Sisa into a Dance in Hell:

   The sight of blood arouses the tiger; the blood of her victim aroused Doña Consolacion. “Dance, damn you, dance! 
   Evil to the mother who bore you!” she cried. “Dance, or I’ll flog you to death!” She then caught Sisa with one hand and,
   whipping her with the other, began to dance about. 

Likewise, most of the published articles on Andrew Cunanan view him from the point of view of his HOMOSEXUALITY and not his ETHNICITY. They couldn't figure out what he was or why he behaved the way he did. His "over-determined behaviour" and that of his father, Modesto, fits the pattern of the so-called mestizos who attend "exclusive" schools such as De La Salle Greenhills in Manila, Philippines. (What those cute mestizo boys do with their nice little butts after school hours would make even Andrew Cunanan blush with shame.) Well-known as a "HIGH-CLASS HOMOSEXUAL PROSTITUTE", Cunanan himself performed in a SADOMASOCHISTIC scene in a gay porno movie:

   Andrew took part in videos, some of which still sell in adult stores. He was fast becoming the ultimate sex slave of the porno
   underground. He didn't care, but enjoyed the status, for he indeed found arousal in humiliation and pain. "In one of the most 
   disturbing scenes." writes Wensley Clarkson, "he was physically tortured by a gang of men in a mass rape scene that even the 
   most hardened of Cunanan's friends found difficult to watch."

Rizal was a complex character who had a DARK SIDE but whose life and writings provides invaluable insight into the "over-determined behaviour" of this ethnic group, similar to what Franz Fanon's life and writings does for colonized people from Africa. Like Rizal, Cunanan had a DARK SIDE. Indeed, that's what Filipinos are today: behind the warm smiles, friendly manners and easy charms lurks a Little Brown Monster waiting to explode. Anti beast (talk) 21:09, 5 January 2010 (UTC)

References

1. http://joserizal.info/Writings/Other/centuryhence.htm Derbyshire, Charles E. (trans.) The Philippines a Century Hence by Dr. Jose Rizal.

2. http://joserizal.info/Writings/Speeches/speeches.htm Medina, Elizabeth. (trans.) Rizal Begins Public Life: The Toast in Restaurante Ingles.

3. Rafael, Vicente L. (2000). White Love and Other Events in Filipino History. American Encounters/Global Interactions, Durham, N.C.: Duke University Press.

4. Phelan, John L. (1959). The Hispanization of the Philippines, Spanish Aims and Filipino Responses, 1565-1700. Wisconsin, Madion: The University of Wisconsin Press.

5. de las Casas, Bartolomé. (1552). Brevísima relación de la destrucción de las Indias. Excerpts from: http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/pds/amerbegin/contact/text7/casas_destruction.pdf

6. http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/notorious_murders/mass/cunanan/index_1.html Geringer, Joseph. Andrew Cunanan: After Me, Disaster.

7. Miller, Marilyn G. (2004). The Rise and Fall of the Cosmic Race: The Cult of Mestizaje in Latin America. University of Texas Press.

8. De Bary, William Theodore, et. al. (2005). Sources of Japanese Tradition: 1600-2000 Volume II. New York: Columbia University Press.

9. Stannard, David E. (1992). American Holocaust: The Conquest of the New World. New York: Oxford University Press.

10. Bakewell, Peter. (2004). A History of Latin America 2nd Edition. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

11. Rafael, Vicente. (2002). Foreignness and Vengeance: On Rizal's "El Filibusterismo". UC Los Angeles: UCLA Center for Southeast Asian Studies. Retrieved from: http://www.escholarship.org/uc/item/4j11p6c1

12. Ang, Alfonso O. (2005). Rizal's Chinese Overcoat. Manila: Chinese Commercial News. Ong, Daniel (trans.) Retrieved from: http://joserizal.info/Reflections/rizals_chinese_overcoat.pdf Anti beast (talk) 21:50, 11 January 2010 (UTC)

Article needs more focus

The article goes into great detail about Spanish colonial architecture and society, as well as the historic village of Vigan. There need to be separate articles about these topics, and sections here made smaller with links to the others, given this article's main subject of an ethnic group.--Parkwells (talk) 12:25, 13 June 2009 (UTC)

To correct the misconception that is prevalent today, the bahay na bato was included as an example of TROPICAL SOUTHEAST ASIAN and not SPANISH COLONIAL architecture. This architectural form was predominant in the islands during the Spanish Colonial Period. Nowhere is this type of architecture as well-preserved as those splendid houses in the historic village of Vigan. Almost all the 20th century published works dealing with this district refer to it as a SPANISH COLONIAL town and its architectural form (i.e., bahay na bato) as SPANISH COLONIAL architecture. This is a false view. As Fernando Nakpil Zialcita himself explains in the Filipino Style, Chapter 3, p. 55:

   Filipinos call their wood-and-stone houses either "Spanish" or "Antillan" because of the mistaken notion that they
   originated either in Spain or the Antilles in the Caribbean. Ironically, Spanish, Cuban and Mexican architects ask in
   puzzlement: "What is so spanish about them?".

The district is called kasanglayan because it was largely settled by sangleys and their mixed-race offspring the mestizos de sangley, most of whom were merchants by occupation. In Latin America, the SPANISH COLONIAL houses would be ranch-style houses built for white SPANISH settlers living in vast haciendas which were very few in Spanish Philippines. Instead, it was largely CHINESE immigrants called sangleys who arrived and settled in small towns such as Vigan where they engaged in trading activities. Here's what the National Commission for Culture and Arts of the Philippines has to say about the kasanglayan district of Vigan:

   Simplistic mass media writers refer to this quarter as the "colonial" or, worse, "Hispanic" section. It was simply called
   the "Kasanglayan" or "Kamestizoan" district during the American colonial period. Both terms denote Chinese ancestry. It 
   was customary then to be called Kastila even if one could not speak Castilian, so long as one displayed traces of Iberian
   blood. But the Spanish crossbreed was a rara avis in the Kasanglayan district, and even the Hispanic-sounding surname 
   "Syquia", which some visitors too quickly presume to have come from Seville or Barcelona, comes from Sy Kia, the Sanglay
   (Chinese) who made a fortune in overseas trade...His portrait in the Syquia Mansion shows him in a flamboyant mandarin
   robe, his hair in a braid; he was clearly proud of his roots in an era when the Spanish friars held sway. And he spelled
   his name the Chinese way. Why his descendants chose to Hispanize it is an enigma of interest to cultural historians keen 
   on studying the colonial gentry's dialectical somersaults between political camps...There are other Spanish-sounding names
   --Florendo, Florentino or Formoso--that have no Iberian origin, but are directly traceable to Chinese forebears. Bigueño
   folk historian Damaso King points out that a careful reading of the Libro de Bautismo shows that surnames starting 
   with F refer to Chinese bloodline...Those beginning with A belong to the naturales (natives). One may hypothesize that the
   distinction was a code to make it easier for the friar or parish priest to determine who should pay more or less for the 
   sacraments.

It would be good to create separate articles on the bahay na bato as well as the historic village of Vigan but their close association with the ethnic group under discussion merit their inclusion. Anti beast (talk) 17:26, 20 August 2009 (UTC)

Use academic sources

Some historians in the Philippines or other nations must be writing about these issues and peoples in the country, and editors should try to find such third-party sources for references, rather than having the talk page devoted to so much personal opinion and late 19th c. references.--Parkwells (talk) 14:39, 17 December 2009 (UTC)

For example, here's one I picked up on a Google search, a paper to be given at an American Historical Association conference: "Arming Chinese Mestizos in Manila: The Regimiento de Mestizos "Real Príncipe" of Tondo during the Late Eighteenth Century", January 9, 2010, Edward Slack, Eastern Washington University, Cheney, WA. Even the abstract suggests the mestizo de sangley were growing in power since the late 18th c.--Parkwells (talk) 15:07, 17 December 2009 (UTC)

Academic works on the Chinese mestizos of Spanish Philippines are few. Aside from Wickberg, Richard Chu has a book out on the Chinese and Chinese Mestizos at the turn of the 19th century wherein he argued that their identities were quite fluid and dynamic during the final years of the Spanish Era. This changed with the onset of U.S. Colonial rule when the "Filipino" national identity was formed against the "Chinese" as the racialized "Other". The Chinese ancestry of prominent Filipinos was "excised" from Philippine History textbooks and the old "sangley-mestizo-indio" trichotomy gave way to a new "Filipino vs. Chinese" binary which persists to this day. Teresita Ang See's Kaisa, a civil rights organization which ostensibly seeks to integrate Chinese Filipinos into Philippine life, plays into this myth of the perpetual intsik propagated by the so-called mestizos who are themselves descendants of Chinese immigrants. Despite their Spanish-sounding names, most of the so-called mestizos are in fact Filipinos of Chinese descent . From Domingo Lam-co to Jose Rizal -- how the intsik turned into mestizo de sangley -- THAT is the focus of this article. From San Lorenzo Ruiz to Andrew Cunanan -- how the mestizo turned into English-speaking Little Brown Americans instead of Spanish-speaking "Hispanic" Filipinos -- THAT is another story. Anti beast (talk) 14:23, 5 January 2010 (UTC)

Needs more editing

I've done much, but the article needs more editing. It repeats some material about racial classification and history about three times.--Parkwells (talk) 18:03, 17 December 2009 (UTC)

Citations

What is up with this talk page? And what's up with the pictures? Haha. It is amusing though. :P That said, I wonder who made the original article. The article seems well written enough, it's a shame he didn't use inline citations. It would be a nightmare reading through all that just to see which paragraph uses which reference.--Obsidi♠n^Soul 10:52, 31 December 2010 (UTC)

Okay, I take that back. LOL. parts of the article are painfully non NPOV. Like this line: After the Spanish-American War, the United States took possession of the Philippines and turned the mestizos de sangley into Little Brown Americans. No time to read through it fully and correct what I can though, will do so as soon as I can.--Obsidi♠n^Soul 10:57, 31 December 2010 (UTC)

I take that back again. They really did call us that? Wow... :o On a more constructive note, added more refs to the article. --Obsidi♠n^Soul 23:56, 7 January 2011 (UTC)

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