Filipino immigration to Mexico

Not to be confused with Mexican settlement in the Philippines.

Filipino Mexicans

Total population
<200,000 roughly 0.2% of the Mexican population, based on non-scientific data
Regions with significant populations
Michoacán, Guerrero, and Colima
Languages
Spanish, Filipino languages and English
Religion
Christianity (Predominantly Roman Catholic)
Related ethnic groups
Other Mexican people and Filipino people, individually.

Mexicans of Filipino descent refers to Mexican citizens who are descendants of Filipino origin, also known as Filipino Mexicans^[1] The actual population amount is not known, but some estimate there may be about 200,000 people of mixed Filipino ancestry in Mexico.^[2] They may form less than (0.2%) of the population and its communities are found in Michoacán, Guerrero, and Colima.

History

Main articles: History of Mexico and Viceroyalty of New Spain

Most of their Filipino ancestors arrived in Mexico during the Spanish colonial period. For two and a half centuries, between 1565 and 1815, many Filipinos and Mexicans sailed to and from Mexico and the Philippines as sailors, crews, slaves, prisoners, adventurers and soldiers in the Manila-Acapulco Galleon assisting Spain in its trade between Asia and the Americas. Some of these sailors never returned to the Philippines. Most settled in and integrated into the Mexican society. In the late 19th and early 20th century some Filipinos came to Mexico as refugees from Spain during Francisco Franco’s dictatorship.^{[citation needed]} These Filipinos were descendants of Filipino and Filipino mestizo settlers who entered Spain after the Spanish-American war.

Smaller waves of Filipino migration to Mexico took place in the late 19th and 20th centuries after the Philippines was annexed by the U.S. during the Spanish American war of 1898-1900. About 20,000 Filipino farm laborers and fishermen arrived to work in the Mexican west coast. These areas included the Baja California, Sonora and Sinaloa, while some had awaited to enter the United States to reunite with family members in Filipino American communities in California, and elsewhere. Mexican immigration law continues to grant special status for Filipinos, and from 1970 to 2005 about 100,000 Filipino immigrants came to Mexico.

Their descendants are found in large communities particularly in the state of Guerrero, and Colima. Most of these individuals are mixed blood peoples, and trace half or a quarter of their ancestry and origin back to the Philippine Islands during the Manila-Acapulco Galleon period.

Today, newly arrived Filipinos are overseas or contract workers who came to Mexico to obtain employment. Most of these individuals speak both Filipino, and other Philippine languages.

Notable Mexicans of Filipino descent

• Isidoro Montes de Oca - Mexican General and Lieutenant commander of Vicente Guerrero.
• Francisco Mongoy - Military commander of Vicente Guerrero.
• Jasmine Villegas -Singer,featured in Justin Bieber's music video,Baby.is of Filipino and Mexican heritage.

See also

• Demographics of Mexico
• Filipinos of Mexican descent
• Mestizo

References

1. ^ http://www.ezilon.com/cgi-bin/information/exec/view.cgi?archive=1&num=476 Mercene, Floro L. Filipinos in Mexican history. "MEXICO CITY — The role played by Filipinos — or strictly speaking, Filipino-Mexicans, in Mexico’s struggle for independence is largely ignored by most historians. Ricardo Pinzon, an English teacher from a college in Acapulco, maintains the Filipinos were very visible in this struggle." Retrieved 09 NOV 2010.
2. ^ Filipinos in Mexican History

External links

• Color Q World: Asian-Latino Intermarriage in the Americas
• Filipinos in Mexican History
• Afro-Filipino Mongoys (Photo of General Francisco Mongoy's descendants in the State of Guerrero)