Remnants+of+Spain+in+the+Philippines

The Philippines is a country composed of several thousand islands¹, located in Southeast Asia, and is home to over 90 million people. The official languages are Tagalog and English. The current president is [|Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo].

Brief History of the Philippines⁸

 * Before colonization, the Philippines were settled by [|Malays], used [|Alibata] writing system.
 * Colonized in the 16th century and ruled for over 300 years by Spain.
 * **1898**: Spanish-American War ended
 * **1902**: [|Philippine-American War] ended
 * Became US territory in the early 20th century
 * Gained independence from US on July 4, 1946
 * **1970**: [|First Quarter Storm] (period of unrest in the Philippines characterized by protests, demonstrations, and anti-government sentiment)
 * **1972**: [|Martial Law] declared under dictator [|Ferdinand Marcos]

[[image:http://www.philippines.hvu.nl/atiAtihan6.gif align="right" caption="a woman celebrating Santo Nino"]]

 * **1986**: [|People Power Movement] unseats Marcos, restores democracy (Corazon Aquino) to the Philippines
 * **2001**: [|Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo] becomes President of the Philippines, following in the footsteps of her father, Diosdado, the 9th president. In 2004, she won a disputed election and was subsequently sworn in for a 6 year term.

Aspects of Spanish culture in the Philippines
Although the Philippines are heavily influenced by the surrounding Asian countries and the United States, the country is unique in th at it maintains "a noticeable Hispanic flair²." From food, lexical similarities, the names of the people, religion, traditional dances and clothing, etc., Sp anish culture is heavily embedded into the culture of the Philippines.

Names
One of the most obvious aspects of lingering Spanish influence in the Philippines are the names of the people. Even the country's name still exhibits ties with the its colonial past - when the Philippines was colonized by Spain in the 16th century, the island nation was named after the sitting king, [|Philip II]⁷. Because of the christianization and colonization mindset of the Spanish, almost all of the Philippines' indigenous population was wiped out, and with it, their traditional names and languages³. In 1849, the Spanish Governor-General of the Philippines, Narciso Claveria, ordered all Filipino families to choose new surnames from a list of Spanish family names⁴. It is evidenced even today with names like [|Gloria Arroyo] (current President of the Philippines), [|Corazon Aquino] (former President of the Philippines) and [|Ferdinand Marcos] (former dictator of the Philippines). Other surnames that are common are Coronado, Fernando, Pantaleon, Oliva, Torres, Bajar, etc., all of which originate from Spanish words or names.

Language
Although the Philippines was a Spanish colony for almost four centuries, Spanish never really caught on as a major means of communication for those living in the island country. However, the Philippine's official language, [|Tagalog], contains several thousand Spanish words that have remained in the people's vocabulary since the period of [|Spanish colonization]⁶. After the Philippines were shifted from Spanish to American control, English rapidly became used in all aspects of life, and is being used more widely and assertively, as evidenced in the teaching of English in schools (Spanish is rarely taught as a school subject in the Philippines). However, many Filipinos still have the mindset that if one speaks Spanish, then that person must be very prestigious⁵.

As of now, there are two to three million people in the Philippines who can speak Spanish relatively well. In fact, the Spanish language (sometimes referred to as "Castilian" in the Philippines) was declared the official language of the independent Philippines by Filipino national heroes, [|Emilio Aguinaldo] and [|Jose Rizal]⁹. However, into the 20th century, due to lack of promotion by the government and shift from Spanish to American hands, the Spanish language declined in favor of English, which is now a co-official language along with Tagalog (which, incidentally, is a Spanish-Filipino contact language itself). However, the Spanish government founded the [|Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española] in Manila in 1924, and acknowledges that the Spanish language is "an important vehicle in communication and culture" in the Philippines¹⁰. Along with help from President Macapagal-Arroyo, there is a movement to revive the Spanish language in schools and socially.

Language as a badge of identity
Because English and Spanish are so prominent in the culture, many Filipinos are very proud of their regional languages and make a point to use them in social contexts even if everyone in the group knows English. This is especially true because most of the regional "dialects" (there is debate on whether or not they are separate dialects of languages altogether) are not mutually intelligible, so it is extremely distinctive to speak in a regional language if you're in a different part of the Philippines.

Attitudes and perspectives toward Spanish culture
Understandably, many Filipinos harbor anti-Spanish sentiments because of the way their country was colonized and taken over by Spain. However, they can also feel removed from this issue because they take the Spanish influence for granted, or view it as normal. I interviewed UO senior Justin Tandignan about how he feels about Spanish culture in relation to his Filipino culture and what it means for him to be Filipino.

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