Arab settlement in the Philippines

Infobox Ethnic group
group = Arab Filipino
poptime = unknown
regions = Mindanao, Metro Manila, Central Visayas
languages = Arabic, Tagalog, Cebuano, Maguindanao, Tausug, English
religions = Islam, Orthodox Christianity
related = Arabs, Jews, other Semetic peoples, other Philippine peoples, other Austronesians

Arab settlement in the Philippines is part of the story of immigration in the Philippines. The Philippines, a country with many vast communities of immigrants and foreigners (especially Americans and Chinese), has a notable Arab community. According to a recent survey, present day Arab migrants to the Philippines number about 22,000. The majority of Filipinos with Arab parentage live in Mindanao. Recently, immigrants, most who are entrepreneurss, settled in Manila.

Language

They speak Tagalog, Cebuano, Ilonggo, Mindanao languages, English, while some speak Arabic.

History

In 1380, Karim ul’ Makhdum, the first Islamic missionary to reach the Sulu Archipelago, brought Islam to what is now the Philippines, first arriving in Jolo. Subsequent visits of Arab Muslim missionaries strengthened the Islamic faith in the Philippines, concentrating in the south and reaching as far north as Manila. Starting with the conquest of Malaysia by the Portuguese and Indonesia by the Dutch, the Philippines began to receive a number of Malaysian-Arab refugees including several Malaysian princes and displaced court advisors. Soon, vast sultanates were established overlapping the existing indigenous Filipino barangay (village) governing system and Indianized royalty. The two largest were the Sultanate of Maguindanao, which loosely governed most of southern Mindanao and the Sultanate of Sulu, which included Basilan, Jolo, and parts of Borneo. Several other smaller but famous sultanates were also established such as the sultanate of Lanao in Mindanao and the sultanate of Cebu, which was later conquered by the Spanish in the 16th century. The ties between the sultanates in Mindanao remained economically and culturally close to Indonesia, Brunei, and Malaysia until the end of the 19th century when the sultanates were weakened by the Spanish and later the American militaries.

Arab Filipino population may be increased through Spanish rule of the Philippines for there were many Spanish settlers of Arab or Moorish descent.

According to the Syrian Consulate in Makati, the first Orthodox Christians on the islands were Syrian and Lebanese merchants and sailors, who arrived in Manila after the city was opened to international trade. [http://www.orthodoxwiki.org/Orthodoxy_in_the_Philippines OrthodoxWiki article on Orthodoxy in the Philippines] ] Many of the Lebanese sailors married local women and their descendants have since become Philippine citizens, including the owners of a famous pizzeria in Manila.~]

In recent times, the first wave of Arabs to arrive to the Philippines were refugees from their war-torn nations, such as Lebanon which was under civil war in the 1980s, and Arab nations involved with the Gulf War in 1991. Other Arabs are entrepreneurs who intend to set-up businesses.

Present

Present-day Arab Filipino families include the Bediri (Tawi-Tawi), Abubakar (Sulu), Bajunaid (Maguindanao) and Samanoden (Lanao). (Samanudi, and not Samanoden, descended from Sudan. The Samanudis are in Cotabato and Lanao.)

Former ARMM Speaker Ismael "Pochong" Abubakar is descended from the Bediri from his mother side and Abubakar from his father side.

Former MSU Gensan Chancellor Moner Bajunaid is of Arab descent. (Bajunaid of Yemen from his father side and Masmudi of Tunisia from his mother side.)

Also of Arab descent in Mindanao are the following families:
#Cozbari (Syrian) of Lanao
#Shurafa (Palestinian) of Cotabato
#Bagis (Yemen) of Zamboanga
#Macmod (Yemen) of Cotabato and General Santos
#Palestinian wives of noted Islamic scholars from the Pasigan family of Maguindanao and Davao.

In the Visayas, the Caram family of Iloilo, the Deen and Jureidini families from Cebu are of Arab descent. In Davao are the Nasser and Borghaily (Aburjaily) family. Mostly they are of Lebanese origin. The Ysmael family of New Manila are also of Lebanese descent, and Hemady street is named after one of their relatives (by marriage) who was of Palestinian origin. From Tuguegarao, Cagayan Valley are the Abrahams whose original family name was "Fakhri" (changed by the American authorities) who are blood relations of the Maronite Catholic Saint Charbel from Lebanon.

Some movie and TV celebrities are also of Arab descent. Among them are Dawn Zulueta (real name: Rachel Marie Salman Taleon; Palestinian), [ [http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/storypage.aspx?StoryId=66442&cid=0&ei=shbQRd3ZDIjyoQL44f3WBQ ABS-CBN Interactive ] ] Ana Roces (real name: Marinella Adad; Lebanese), [ [http://www.visayandailystar.com/2003/February/01/starlife.htm DAILY STAR: Star Life ] ] ,Uma Khouny (Israeli Arab) and Yasmien Kurdi (Lebanese).

Since Arabs look like Spaniards after the Arab invasion of medieval Spain, children with Spanish surnames born to Filipino fathers and Arab mothers may be mistakenly called Filipinos of Spanish descent.

ee also

*Filipino mestizo
*Arab diaspora
*Islam in the Philippines
*Philippine Orthodox Church
*Arab Christians

References

Ethnic groups in the Philippines