Ethnic groups in the Philippines: Encyclopedia II - Ethnic groups in the Philippines - Foreign Ethnic Groups

Ethnic groups in the Philippines - Foreign Ethnic Groups

Foreign minorities in the Philippines are estimated to account for a combined 3% of the population. Some are recent immigrants and their Philippine-born children, but most (examples are the Chinese and the Spaniards) have long-spanning histories in the country as independent communities. Most have assimilated much of the mainstream ethnic Filipino culture, and harbor a shared loyalty to both their Filipino nationality and independent community identity and continuity.

Ethnic groups in the Philippines - East Asians

Chinese, (in Filipino, Intsik): the Chinese are the most significant and the most numerous foreign minority in the Philippines. Although often regarded by Filipinos as outsiders or banyaga, many attest to the claim that 50% of all Filipinos have some traces of Chinese blood in their veins. Although many Chinese are branded by some Filipinos as "elitists" and rich, there still exist poor Chinese, especially the Cantonese and recent immigrants. Up to this day, the Chinese have their hands on 75% on all daily business transactions, which has lead to resentment and envy by some native Filipinos. The Chinese generally have a remarkable cultural pride due to its long history. Although the Chinese has advocated endogamy within the Chinese population for years, there is a growing case of inter-marriage and assimilation.

Min Nan (閩南人), (in Filipino, Hokienes): the Min Nans, or more commonly called Fukienese or Amoy, comprise 90% of the Chinese population in the Philippines. The majority of Min Nans are rich, although there are some who live in delapidated apartments in Manila due to poverty. The Min Nans are the most ethnocentric of all Chinese groups, but also the most exogamous. The Min Nans established schools that teaches Chinese history and various aspects of Chinese education, such as their languages.

• Region: Metro Manila, as well as in other major Philippine cities
• Language: Lan-nang (Philippine variant of Min Nan, Mandarin, Filipino, English, other Philippine dialects

Yueh]] (廣東人), (in Filipino, Kantones): the Yuehs, or usually termed Cantonese, comprise about 9% of the Chinese population in the Philippines. Although many Cantonese are rich, many of them still reside in ghettoes. They are also looked down by the Min Nans because the Cantonese are one of the first Chinese groups to accept Western Rule and Assimilation.

• Region: Metro Manila
• Language: Yueh, Lan Nang, Mandarin, Filipino, English, other Philippine dialects

Koreans (한민족), (in Filipino, Koreyano): they form the fourth largest foreign minority group in the Philippines. The Koreans in the country are overwhelmingly Protestants. Most in the working class are either missionaries or businessmen. A large number of these are presumed to be students.

• Region: Metro Manila (primarily in the cities of Pasig, Parañaque, Quezon, and Makati)
• Language: Korean, English

Japanese and Okinawan, (in Filipino, Hapones): the Japanese people came to the Philippines during the 14th century. Many of them have either intermarried with the Filipinos or are deported back to Japan. Exiled Japanese Christians, led by the Christian Samurai Takayama Ukon, settled in Dilao, Paco in 1614 during the Spanish colonial period. However, suspicions of the Spaniards regarding the pure Japanese led to their expulsion just before the British occupied Manila. The present unmixed Japanese population are mostly expatriates doing business in the Philippines. A large number in the order of tens of thousands have settled in Davao City. After the war, a great majority of Japanese changed their names to typical Filipino names.

• Region: Metro Manila, Laguna, Angeles City, Olongapo City, Davao City
• Language: Japanese (or Okinawan), English

Indonesians, (in Filipino, Indones): most Indonesians in the Philippines are of Javanese descent. Indonesians are often stereotyped as 'terrorists', although the vast majority of them are people with good intentions who came to the Philippines to contribute to the enrichment of Islam in the country. Some are also students, but many enter illegally. Also included in the Indonesian cateogory are the Sangir, situated in the Sarangani islands. The Sangir are descendants of those members of Sulawesi tribes from Sangihe island who have ventured far into the Davao Gulf and have stayed there.

• Region: Concentrated mostly in the southern part of Mindanao
• Language: Javanese (or Sangir), various southern Philippine dialects, Arabic, Bahasa Indonesian

Malaysians, (in Filipino, Malayo): Most Malaysians residing in the Philippines are business expatriates and live in exclusive clusters in Metro Manila. Bornean Malaysians, which pertain to persons from any tribe in the Malaysian state of Sabah are widespread in southern Mindanao and in the Sulu Archipelago. Many Bornean Malaysians have completely resided in the Philippines, such is the case of the Badjao tribe, originally a tribe from Sabah, who has permanently settled in the waters of the Philippines.

Vietnamese, (in Filipino, Biyetnamito): the Vietnamese in the Philippines fall under two general categories: those who married American military personnel during the Vietnam War and were provided safe lodging and transport in the Philippines, or those who are part of the thousand or more Vietnam Boat Refugees. Inasmuch as many American military personnel in the Philippines have brought their Vietnamese wives and their children with them, some have stayed and have integrated into the Filipino culture. In the case of the boat refugees, many are also granted safe pass to the United States, but those who declined were put into refugee centers. Most of them are well-integrated into the Filipino community as well. Tensions between the Filipinos and Vietnamese escalated on March 1996, when the Philippines allegedly started deportation by force. Repatriation was hindered through the interference of the Roman Catholic Church. On March 2005, a petition was approved by the Canadian government to give shelter to the remaining Vietnamese Boat People in the Philippines.

• Region: Vietville in northern Palawan province and in Bataan province
• Language: Southern Vietnamese, English

Ethnic groups in the Philippines - Americans

Americans, (in Filipino, Amerikano): the Americans are the second largest foreign minority in the Philippines. The Americans who settled in the Philippines are overwhelmingly White, but there are also few Blacks who have intermarried with the Filipinos. Most of them are either resident businessmen, expatriate businessmen, or missionaries. They number 110,000 in Manila alone, excluding temporary embassy officials and U.S. Military personnel.

• Region: Metro Manila, Angeles City, Olongapo City, Baguio City
• Language: English

Ethnic groups in the Philippines - South Asians

South Asians, (in Filipino, Bumbay): though in Filipino they are called Bumbay (from Bombay, modern-day Mumbai, India), they may be either Indian or Pakistani. They collectively form the third largest foreign minoritty in the Philippines. They are mainly Sindhi, Punjabi, and Marathi, and are mostly merchants and belong primarily to the middle class. There are approximately 30,000 of them, and half of them are Sindhis who left India after the British partitioned India and the other half are the Sikhs whom many of whom have traditionally been rural money-lenders. The Sindhi businessmen are often part of Manila’s rich elite. Most speak Filipino, Punjabi or Sindhi, and English. The Marathi who live in the Philippines are overwhelmingly Roman Catholic clergymen and women who are taking advaned studies in the Philippines. Most Marathis are natives of Goa.

• Region: Metro Manila
• Language: Sindhi (or Punjabi/Marathi)), Filipino, English

Ethnic groups in the Philippines - Europeans

Spaniards (Español), (in Filipino, Kastila): there are approximately 17,000 descendants of Spanish colonists living in the Philippines, 7,000 of those are Basques. The majority are integrated into the Spanish-mestizo upper levels of Filipino society.

• Region: Makati City and Alabang district of Muntinlupa City.
• Language: Spanish, English, Filipino, other Philippine dialects

Aside from Spaniards who are tallied separately above, there are other recent European immigrants who have settled, as well as a few who have arrived since the 16th century. Among them, the largest nationalities accounted for are Britons, Italians, Portuguese, Dutch, Belgians, Polish, German, and French. They are for the most part, businessmen and businesswomen. A few are also missionaries.

• Region: Metro Manila, Baguio City, Benguet, and Cavite
• Language: Various European languages, English

Ethnic groups in the Philippines - West Asians

Arabs, (in Filipino, Arabo): there are approximately 31,000 Arabs in the Philippines and they speak Arabic and Tagalog. Among these are both Christian and Muslim Arabs. Among the Muslim Arabs, many have intermixed and been thoroughly integrated and assimilated into the Filipino Muslim community. The royal family of the Sultanates of Sulu has long claimed through a family line, or tarsila, their descendance from the prophet Muhammad.

• Region: Metro Manila, Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao
• Language: Arabic dialects (mostly Levantine Arabic and Standard Arabic), Mindanaoan dialects, many Arabs can speak French and/or Malaysian and Indonesian

Although Arabs form the majority of West Asians in the Philippines. Jews and Turkish also form a minority in the country.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Foreign Ethnic Groups", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki