IB History Internal Assessment

To what extent did the treatment of the

Chinese in the Philippines (Chinese-
Filipinos) change from the Spanish
Colonial Era to the First Philippine
Republic of 1898-99?

Bradford Pierre Sy Uy
Candidate Number: 006879-0038
Total Word Count: xxxx
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Table of Contents

1. Identification and Evaluation of Sources……………………..………….3-5

2. Investigation……………………………………………………….………6-11

3. Reflection…………………………………………………….…………….12

4. Bibliography………………………………………………………………..13

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To what extent did the treatment of the Chinese in the Philippines (“Chinese-
Filipinos”) change between the Spanish Colonial Era to the First Philippine Republic
of 1898-99?

IDENTIFICATION AND EVALUATION OF SOURCES

This investigation aims to answer the question, “To what extent did the

treatment of the Chinese in the Philippines (also known as Chinese-Filipinos) change

from the Spanish Colonial Era to the First Philippine Republic of 1898-99?” By

examining policy and public sentiment, this investigation shall determine how Chinese-

Filipinos were regarded and treated by Spaniard and Filipino alike under Spanish and

Philippine governance. Two sources relevant to the investigation are “Nationalism and

Discrimination: Policies of the Revolutionary Government Toward the Chinese in the

Philippines” by Digna B. Apilado, and “The Ethnic Chinese in the Philippine

Revolution” by Teresita Ang-See and Bon Juan Go, as they provide conflicting accounts

of the contributions of the Chinese-Filipino community to the Philippine Revolution.

Source: Nationalism and Discrimination: Policies of the Revolutionary Government

of 1898 Towards the Chinese in the Philippines (2001) by Digna B. Apilado

The origin of this source is valuable as Apilado specializes in historical

investigations of provincial ethnic Filipino communities. Her insight on the provincial

ethnic Chinese under the First Republic is as valuable an expert’s. One stated of the

source is to uncover the sentiments of the revolutionary government and ordinary

Filipinos towards non-Filipinos (i.e. Chinese) vis-à-vis policy; hence, the purpose of the

source is valuable as it aligns with the goal of this study, which is to discover how

Chinese-Filipinos were treated by the First Republic.

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However, the source’s contents are limited. Of the three major islands, the

investigation of the Filipino-Chinese was confined to Luzon, notwithstanding the

existence of large Chinese communities in Visayas and Mindanao. Furthermore, while

governmental policy is reflective of attitudes, reasons for measures being taken against

the Chinese were never mentioned; hence, it lacks underlying details such as possible

racial prejudice against Chinese-Filipinos. Thus, it must be corroborated and

supplemented with information from other sources.

Source: The Ethnic Chinese in the Philippine Revolution (1996) by Teresita Ang-See

and Go Bon Juan

This source’s contents are valuable as it provides context on policies of the

Spanish government toward Chinese-Filipinos. It also provides narratives of contact and

cooperation between the ethnic Chinese and native Filipinos during the Philippine

Revolution. Therefore, it is evidence that the First Republic treated the Filipino-Chinese

community cordially.

However, the origin of the source is limited, as the authors are Chinese-Filipinos

who are aligned with an organization whose aims are to promote understanding between

greater Philippine society and its Chinese community. Thus, narratives of friendly

dealings between Filipinos and Chinese-Filipinos may be cherry-picked or exaggerated.

Additionally, at the time of writing, numerous materials in the Philippine National

Library, from which this source drew heavily, had not yet been indexed, indicating a need

for further research and corroboration. Lastly, questions of validity also arise from the

purpose of this source; it was written for the centennial celebration of the Philippine

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Revolution to recognize the role of Chinese-Filipinos in attaining independence. Thus,

facts may have been distorted to paint the ethnic Chinese in a better light.

Word count: 453

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INVESTIGATION

In 1564, the first Spanish colony was established in the Philippines; subsequently,

the islands came under Spanish colonial rule.1 Contact with the Chinese, however, had

been established much earlier – trade between the Filipinos and the Chinese existed by

the Tang dynasty.2 Under colonial rule, the Chinese were viewed by the Spanish as a

necessary evil. They filled economic and occupational niches that Spaniards refused to

enter and that native Filipinos (indios) were considered unfit for. However, they

obstructed the hispanization and conversion of the islands as many refused to convert and

assimilate. Unconverted Chinese also posed a threat to the conversion of indios.3 Hence,

Chinese presence was tolerated, albeit with suspicion. 4 For instance, until 1860, all

Chinese were restricted to a Chinatown (parian) where they could easily be watched.5

Only converts were allowed to roam freely as incentive to seek baptism.6 The Chinese

also bore the heaviest taxes and endured arbitrary demands (e.g. forced labor), leading to

revolt and mutual hostility. 7 Massacres of the Chinese population, punitive and

preventive in nature, occurred five times from 1603-1762. Lastly, the Spanish also issued

expulsion decrees via mass deportation to limit the number of Chinese settlers; such

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1
Teodoro Agoncillo, History of the Filipino People, 8th ed. (Quezon City: C & E Publishing,
1990), 76.
2
Patricio Abinales and Donna Amoroso, State and Society in the Philippines (USA: Rowman &
Littlefield Publishers, 2005), 34.
3
Edgar Wickberg, The Chinese in Philippine Life: 1850-1898 (Quezon City: Ateneo de Manila
University Press, 2000), 8.
4
Antonio de Morga, “Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas” (1609), in The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898
(Ohio: The Arthur Clark, Co. 1903-1909), 16: 410.
5
Shubert Liao, “How the Chinese Lived in the Philippines from 1570 to 1898,” in Chinese
Participation in Philippine Culture and Economy, ed. Shubert Liao (Manila: University of the
East, 1964), 22-23.
6
Wickberg, The Chinese in Philippine Life, 12.
7
Abinales and Amoroso, State and Society in the Philippines, 65.

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8
decrees were issued six times from 1606-1769. However, because the colonial economy

depended on the Chinese, they were allowed to return. It may be said that “the Spaniards’

policy towards the Chinese was that of vacillation.”9

By the late eighteenth century, prejudice against the Chinese was at an all-time

high. Hispanization steadily increased, and in imitation of Spanish antipathy, anti-

Chinese sentiment developed in indios and mestizos (half-Filipinos). The Chinese

population expanded, leading to competition with indios, mestizos, and even Spaniards in

labor and business. Lastly, as revolutionary sentiment against the Spanish increased, the

colonial government attempted to divert the agitation to a fledgling anti-Chinese

movement.10 Given that the Chinese faced societal rejection, one must question what

became of them as power shifted from the Spanish to the revolutionary First Philippine

Republic of 1898. This investigation proposes that the treatment of Chinese-Filipinos

under the First Republic changed to a very small extent, for although cooperation

between the revolutionaries and the Chinese existed – evidenced by Chinese-Filipino

representation in the revolutionary army as well as aid to the revolution from

Chinese communities – discriminatory sentiments and policy persisted, as most

revolutionary leaders (who were Chinese mestizos) showed disdain for their Chinese

heritage, some Chinese aid was coerced, and Chinese were victims of abuse,

extortion and expropriation by the revolutionary government.

Emilio Aguinaldo, the president of the First Republic, mentions numerous

Chinese joining the Philippine Revolutionary Army. The foremost example of this is

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8
Liao, “How the Chinese Lived in the Philippines from 1570 to 1898,” 25-27.
9
Richard Chu, Chinese and Chinese Mestizos of Manila: Family, Identity and Culture, 1860s-
1930s (Mandaluyong: Anvil Publishing, 2005), 56-57.
10
Wickberg, The Chinese in Philippine Life, 146-152.!

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General Jose Ignacio Paua, a full-blooded Chinese who attained the rank of brigadier-

general and led 3,000 Chinese revolutionists. Aguinaldo spoke highly of Paua’s bravery

in battle; he was an excellent leader and source of morale for the revolutionary troops.

Paua also mounted successful offensives against the Spanish despite lacking arms or

manpower; with only machetes, his men engaged and forced the retreat of Spanish

riflemen in the Battle of Binakayan in November 1896. From this, it can be inferred that

the ethnic Chinese allied with the revolutionary government; and Filipinos cooperated

with the Chinese, breaking from Spanish stigma.11

The Chinese community also contributed money and materiel to the Revolution.

Paua was important in mobilizing aid from the Chinese; he encouraged Chinese-Filipinos

to purchase war bonds, and solicited massive donations from mestizos and Chinese

merchants that were the main source of revolutionary funds.12 He was also responsible for

setting up an arsenal that produced and repaired crude firearms with the help of a fellow
13
Chinese blacksmith. Beyond Paua, various Chinese communities supplied

revolutionaries with food, gunpowder, medicine, clothing, and more, and even provided

labor; they helped transport supplies, and were assigned by General Antonio Luna to cut

dried leather. 14 Chinese aid is evidence of friendly relations between Filipinos and

Chinese under the revolutionary government, in contrast to the distrust and maltreatment

of the Spanish.

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11
Teresita Ang-See and Bon Juan Go, “The Ethnic Chinese in the Philippine Revolution,” in
More Tsinoy than We Admit: Chinese-Filipino Interactions over the Centuries, ed. Richard Chu
(Quezon City: Vibal Foundation, 2015), 141-143.
12
Ibid., 145-146.
13
Isagani Medina, “Chinese Mestizos and the Ethnic Chinese in Cavite during the Philippine
Revolution 1896-1902,” Chinese Studies Journal 7 (1997): 60.
14
Ang-See and Go, “The Ethnic Chinese in the Philippine Revolution,” 156-165.

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Despite Filipino-Chinese cooperation, prejudice against the ethnic Chinese

remained ingrained in the revolutionary movement, particularly in its leaders. Many were

illustrados (literally “enlightened ones”), well-to-do mestizos and indios returning from

studies in Europe.15 Being westernized and hispanized, their orientation was towards anti-

Chinese sentiment.16 The nationalist movement distinguished between indio and non-

indio primarily based on acceptance of Catholicism and Spanish culture. Those who

resisted either were therefore barbaric and outside the national community of shared

culture and race.17 Thus, the ethnic Chinese, who did not readily assimilate culturally and

religiously, were savage, alien entities.18 Indeed, the prevailing outlook of non-Chinese

society was one of denigration19. Mestizo illustrados (such as Emilio Aguinaldo20) denied

their Chinese heritage, preferring to identify as indios.21 Based on prevalent sentiment and

nationalism, prejudice against Chinese-Filipinos existed in the First Republic as it did

under Spanish colonial rule.

Moreover, some Chinese contributions came from coercion, essentially through

taxation. Under the Spanish government, the Chinese were required to pay an exorbitant

head tax compared to that of a Filipino taxpayer,22 with some paying over two times the

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15
Wickberg, The Chinese in Philippine Life, 132-133.
16
Ibid., 148.
17
Filomeno Aguilar Jr., “Tracing Origins: ‘Illustrado’ Nationalism and the Racial Science of
Migration Waves,” The Journal of Asian Studies 64, no. 3 (2005): 612.
18
Ibid., 626.
19
Jose Rizal, Noli me Tangere, eds. Efren Abueg & Magdalena Sayas (Makati: Diwa Learning
Systems, 2010), 71.
20
Medina, “Chinese Mestizos and the Ethnic Chinese,” 57.
21
Ang-See and Go, “The Ethnic Chinese in the Philippine Revolution,” 141.
22
Digna Apilado, “Nationalism and Discrimination: Policies of the Revolutionary Government of
1898 Toward the Chinese in the Philippines,” Imperios y Naciones en el Pacifico 2 (2001): 177.

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23
taxes of others living in the same area. In Ilocos Sur, the local Chinese were also

required to pay a “voluntary” war tax.24 Other levies on the Chinese included an entrance

tax for immigrants and a poll tax. All these were seen by Chinese-Filipinos as protection

money in the guise of taxes.25 Thus, Chinese treatment by the revolutionary government

represented continuity with Spanish policies, particularly discriminatory taxes.

Lastly, Chinese were subject to abuse, extortion and expropriation of property.

Filipino soldiers participated in looting Chinese stores. To generate revenue, the First

Republic sold licenses for opium-smoking dens to the Chinese, a policy adopted from the

Spanish period. Operators were required to remit up to 2,500 pesos monthly, which was

legally-disguised extortion. Lastly, some Chinese were victims of expropriation by the

government (e.g. in La Union, bolts of cloth taken from Chinese shops; in Ilocos Norte,

the government confiscated 1,000 taels of opium from a Federico Tan-cioco, claiming he

violated laws on the opium monopoly).26 Hence, the Chinese were subject to arbitrary

demands and exploitation from the Spanish and the revolutionary governments.

In conclusion, little did the treatment of the Chinese change under the First

Republic. Though there is evidence of possible Filipino-Chinese cooperation in contrast

to the Spanish period, the government, especially its leaders, harbored prejudice and

abused the Chinese as in Spanish colonial rule. Friendly dealings between the Chinese

and the Filipinos occurred only on a case-to-case basis (e.g. Paua and his contributions to

the revolution). These Chinese were well-treated possibly because they were directly

involved with the revolutionary government and because of Paua, who served as an
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
23
Kwok-chu Wong, The Chinese in the Philippine Economy: 1898-1941 (Quezon City: Ateneo
de Manila University Press, 2008), 24.
24
Apilado, “Nationalism and Discrimination,” 178
25
Wong, The Chinese in the Philippine Economy, 25.
26
Apilado, “Nationalism and Discrimination,” 178.

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intercessor due to his proximity to Aguinaldo. Otherwise, the Republic viewed Chinese-

Filipinos in largely the same way as the Spanish did – uncivilized, but necessary due to

their economic clout – and exploited Chinese wealth for economic gain.

Word count: 1505

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REFLECTION

In this investigation, I was faced with the challenges that historians face too. I was

unable to find many primary sources on my topic because most of them were located in

the Philippine National Archives, so they were inaccessible to me as a high school

student. Because of this, I learned to read and analyze every source available to me for

the smallest detail, and scoured the internet thoroughly; this conveyed to me the difficulty

that historians encounter when looking for historical evidence to back claims.

Another concept that surfaced was the inherently skewed nature of sources. The

sources I had about the Chinese in the Philippine Revolution conflicted with each other;

one took the facts and said that it was cooperation, while the other interpreted it as

coercion. Because of this, I realized that sourcing (i.e. OPCVL analysis) is crucial in

determining reliability; since anyone can weave a tale using the facts, one must cross-

check with other sources to determine if claims are substantiated or if there are things that

have been glazed over.

Lastly, weighing the conflicting arguments presented to me highlighted the

difficult role of the historian in using facts and other historians’ interpretations to find or

create the most truthful narrative possible. In my conclusion, I had to balance the

viewpoints of my sources and come up with my own interpretation; this was another test

of the critical thinking skills that a historian must possess to “do” history.

Word count: 242

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

Primary Sources
Morga, Antonio de. “Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas” (1609). In The Philippine Islands,
1493-1898, edited by Emma H. Blair and James Robertson, 25-319. Vol. 16.
Ohio: The Arthur H. Clark, Co., 1903-1909.

Rizal, Jose. Noli me Tangere. Edited by Efren Abueg & Magdalena Sayas. Makati: Diwa
Learning Systems, 2010.

Secondary Sources

Abinales, P. N., and Donna J. Amoroso. State and Society in the Philippines. Lanham,
MD: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2005.

Agoncillo, Teodoro. History of the Filipino People. 8th ed. Quezon City: C & E
Publishing, 1990.

Aguilar, Filomeno, Jr. “Tracing Origins: ‘Illustrado’ Nationalism and the Racial Science
of Migration Waves.” The Journal of Asian Studies 64, no. 3 (2005): 612-26.

Ang-See, Teresita and Go, Bon Juan. “The Ethnic Chinese in the Philippine Revolution.”
In More Tsinoy than We Admit: Chinese-Filipino Interactions over the Centuries,
edited by Richard Chu, 141-65. Quezon City: Vibal Foundation, 2015.

Apilado, Digna. “Nationalism and Discrimination: Policies of the Revolutionary

Government of 1898 Toward the Chinese in the Philippines.” Imperios y
Naciones en el Pacifico 2 (2001): 177-78.

Chu, Richard. Chinese and Chinese Mestizos of Manila: Family, Identity and Culture,
1860s-1930s. Mandaluyong: Anvil Publishing, 2005.

Liao, Shubert. “How the Chinese Lived in the Philippines from 1570 to 1898.” In
Chinese Participation in Philippine Culture and Economy, edited by Shubert
Liao, 22-7. Manila: University of the East, 1964.

Medina, Isagani. “Chinese Mestizos and the Ethnic Chinese in Cavite during the
Philippine Revolution 1896-1902.” Chinese Studies Journal 7 (1997): 57-60.

Wickberg, Edgar. The Chinese in Philippine Life: 1850-1898. Quezon City: Ateneo de
Manila University Press, 2000.

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Wong, Kwok-Chu. The Chinese in the Philippine Economy: 1898-1941. Quezon City:
Ateneo de Manila University Press, 2008.

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