When Mexico Ruled the Philippines

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illapino

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#1
Nov 4, 2002
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Being a filipino american i am very interested in my roots back in the Philippines and the history that comes along with it, one thing i found about our history was that during the Spanish rule in the P.I. Mexican viceroys ruled over the Philippines under the Spanish crown. i found this article on the internet. read up and shoot some feed back if yall have any, or any new info would be cooh, aite...

When Mexico ruled the Philippines

Philippine history books have rarely mentioned our colonial relations with Mexico. Nueva Espana, as Mexico was named then, was seen as another colony of Spain. True. Both colonies were "discovered" in 1521 by Spanish conquistadors. Ferdinand Magellan -- who "discovered" the Philippines -- was killed in the island of Mactan by the local chieftain Lapu-Lapu. In 1542, the Spanish explorer Ruy Lopez de Villalobos named the archipelago Las Islas Filipinas after Philip II, the future king of Spain. However, Spain wasn’t too enthused in colonizing the far-flung archipelago. Villalobos did not stay too long and left. He probably was too scared to stay and get killed by Lapu-Lapu or the other natives.

Things were different in the "New World." Hernan Cortez and his Spanish armada conquered the Aztec empire and did not waste any time colonizing it. They brought with them the "white man’s disease" which killed almost all of the natives. Thousands of Spaniards were encouraged to settle in Mexico with promises of land and wealth. In 1565, Miguel Lopez de Legazpi, a Spaniard turned Mexican functionary, led an expedition to Filipinas to subjugate the natives. He succeeded. At first he established his capital in Cebu. However, it was too close to Mactan where Magellan was killed and that made him uneasy.

In 1571, using the Cebu natives, known as Pintados for their tattoos on their bodies, he attacked Maynilad in Luzon, a thriving native settlement frequented by Chinese traders. He captured the settlement, renamed it Manila, and made it the capital of Filipinas. Thus, the colonization of the Philippines started. Legazpi served as the governor-general of the new colony. For 250 years -- from 1565 to 1815 -- Filipinas was ruled by the Viceroy of Nueva Espana for the Spanish Crown. Those who succeeded Legazpi as governor-general were all Mexicans until 1815 when Spain took direct control of the Philippines.

What made our history unusual was that the Philippine archipelago was claimed by Ferdinand Magellan, a Portuguese, in the name of the the King of Spain in 1521. However, had Magellan followed the 1494 Treaty of Tordesillas, the Philippine archipelago should have been claimed for the King of Portugal. The treaty which was brokered by the Vatican, had divided the "undiscovered" lands in the world between Spain and Portugal. The Philippines happened to be within Portugal’s territorial boundary.

After Legazpi started colonizing the Philippines, Portugal disputed the claim of the Spanish Crown and threatened to attack the Philippines. However, in 1580, the Spanish king, Philip II, for whom Las Islas Filipinas was named after, became king of Portugal which in essence united the kingdoms of Spain and Portugal under one authority. Spain became the undisputed master of the world. As a result, Portugal’s claim was abandoned.

Due to the long distance between Spain and the Philippines, the Viceroy of Mexico was given a carte blanche authority in governing the Philippines. It took one year to travel from Spain to Manila. There was no direct route -- from Spain to Vera Cruz in Mexico by ship, from Vera Cruz to Acapulco by land, and from Acapulco to Manila by ship.

In 1815, Spain took over direct control of the Philippines when the Mexicans started fighting for independence. The 250 years that Mexico governed the Philippines has given rise to the claim that the Philippines was indeed a colony of Mexico. Why not? All of the governor-generals -- except Legazpi -- during the Mexican administration of the Philippines were born in Mexico. Most of the soldiers, colonists, missionaries, and traders who went to the Philippines were born in Mexico. Mexicans were encouraged to migrate to the Philippines. They were promised land and wealth.

The 250 years under direct Mexican authority has created a strong cultural link between the two colonies of Spain.  The Galleon Trade thrived. It was the only trade route linking the Philippines and the other colonies of Spain. Each year, two galleons crossed the vast Pacific Ocean from Manila to Acapulco. It took one year for each galleon to complete a round trip.Â

With the continuous flow of Mexican colonists to the Philippines, immigration of Filipinos to Mexico also flourished. However, the circumstances were different. The Mexican colonists, with promises of land and wealth, were lured to settle in the Philippines. Filipinos ended up in Mexico for different reasons. The first Filipinos who "settled" in Mexico were four followers of Magat Salamat, the son of Lakandula who was the chieftain of Tondo at that time. These four men were exiled to Mexico in 1588 after revolting against Spain.

In ensuing years, hundreds of Filipino crewmembers -- due to harsh working conditions -- deserted their ships upon arrival in Acapulco. Some of them went as far as Louisiana where they founded a few villages. Others went to California. Those who remained in Mexico intermarried with Mexicans and settled in villages near Acapulco -- Espinalillo, Costa Grande, San Blas, and Puerto Vallarta, to name a few.Â

The Mexicans brought their native Nahuatl language to the Philippines. The Tagalog word "palenke" originated from the Nahuatl word "palenque." Other Nahuatl words added to the Tagalog vocabulary included avocado, achuete, caimito, nanay, tatay, tocayo, and zapote. They also brought Mexican fruit trees and propagated them in the Philippines. Likewise, the Filipinos brought Mango and other exotic fruits to Mexico.

When I visited the Philippines last year, I noticed that Mexican telenovelas, dubbed in Tagalog, were extremely popular. The Filipinos seem to relate to the present-day Mexican culture as depicted in Mexican "soap operas." Why not? After all, they were like brothers and sisters to Filipinos during the Spanish era.
 
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illapino

Sicc OG
#5
Nov 4, 2002
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@ soak

ya i got a lot, but its spread all over my email accounts and stuff like that, ill sporadiclly post shit up when it comes my way again...

@ 206

ya i saw that thread and posted up on it also.. good lookin out

i noticed the marxist sign on your sig, i was wondering if you have any material on that subject and it's movement here in the US...

i have a few accquaintances in NPA New Peoples Army a marxist party in the Philippines that have been fighting for a communist party which was dubbed illegal and terroristic in the P.I. NPA originated from the "HUKBALAHAP" militia translated "Nationalist Party for Killing Japanese People" during world war II, later on mutated into the NPA...

marxist ideals are ideal for a poor country, just as long as it is practiced correctly..
 
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illapino

Sicc OG
#7
Nov 4, 2002
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@ soak game

here's a did ya know type of question..

did ya know that the UNITED FARM WORKERS UNION was co-founded by Philip Vera Cruz, a Filipino farmworker during the 1920's-60's.. The first farm union was established by Filipinos and as the United States limited the migration of Filipino immigrants into the U.S. the number of Filipino farmers dwindled. Although the first farm strike that occured in California was led by Filipinos. After the strike led by Philip Vera Cruz and Larry Itliong it's success was brought upon the Mexican farmers and they too followed the process in organizing a union which ultimately became the UFW... crazy huh, they'll never teach ur ass that shit in U.S. not unless your teacher specializes in such cases...
 
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TOKZTLI

Sicc OG
#8
Jan 9, 2004
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Good read. There are alot of filipino farmworkers in the Salinas Valley, I remember they went on strike with the mexican produce workers during the height and initiation of the UFW. I always thought it intersting that most of my Pinoy friends had spanish last names.
 
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Foul Mouth

Sicc OG
#9
Apr 25, 2002
6,229
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im mexican but my wifes pinay.since my kids are half i been interested in the culture.theres alotta history here in stockton with filipinos.a big history.ya'll bay cats ever come to the barrio fiesta over here? they got it every year.i always seen it,just ridin around lookin in,but now i got a filipino fam bam we go every year.its pretty crackin.ya'll should check it out when it comes around.food,concerts,breezys for you singles....
an area downtown here is actualy called Little Manilla....
 
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illapino

Sicc OG
#14
Nov 4, 2002
843
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#14
lol EDJ call us your peeps, i mean shitt, we all peoples one way or another...

@ soak i never heard of "children of the sun" but at this very moment i stumbled upon one vo1ces latest album and am so cheap at the moment im bumpin it through www.ateamonline.net , but im definately goin to cop it ...


there was also a sign posted up in stockton during the 1920's on the doors of some bar or store or what not that read...
"NO DOGS OR FILIPINOS ALLOWED"
 
I

illapino

Sicc OG
#15
Nov 4, 2002
843
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#15
This article, from the journal Third Force [Volume .2, no.4 (Oct. 31, 1994), p. 30], describes the role of Filipino farm workers in the development of a viable agricultural workers' union.

movement history: Filipinos Build a Movement for Justice in the Asparagus Fields

Author Salomon, Larry


Mention of the conditions faced by California farm workers invariably calls attention to Cesar Chavez and the United Farm Workers Union (UFW) in the 1960s and 1970s. But the UFW was not the first successful farm worker union in U.S. history. Filipino farm workers built a movement for justice in the fields when the treatment of agricultural workers was at its worst, decades before the UFW.
California's diversified agricultural production of more than 300 commodities made farming a lucrative industry for the state's agribusiness elite in the 1920s. Farmers realized early on that by using cheap, unorganized migratory labor -- mainly Chinese, Japanese, Mexican and Filipino -- they could keep the cost of production down.

Largely as a result of grower recruiting in the Philippines and Hawaii, where thousands of young Filipinos worked in the sugar fields, the California Filipino population grew from only five in 1900 to over 30,000 by 1930, when Filipino workers made up nearly 15 percent of all California agricultural workers.

The influx of predominately male laborers became concentrated in particular areas and on particular crops. Filipinos comprised nearly the entire asparagus-picking work force in the Sacramento and San Joaquin valleys and handled over 80 percent of the Salinas Valley lettuce crop. They were also employed in fruit picking, rice harvesting, sugar beet cultivation, grape picking, celery planting and general ranch labor.

As the newest recruits into the labor force, Filipino workers were paid the lowest wages in the industry, and in the case of certain crops like asparagus, growers found it more profitable to work more laborers per acre, ensuring efficient and more productive harvesting. Of course, this profit-making strategy also had the effect of decreasing the already low wages of the workers.

Typically paternalistic and complacent, the big growers believed that labor organization was too complex for young Filipinos to master. Apparently, the growers were ignorant of labor history in Hawaii, where Filipino and Japanese laborers went on strike in 1919. Three thousand workers stood fast, demanding that sugar planters pay higher wages, provide an eight-hour work day, create an insurance fund for retired employees and give paid maternity leave. Despite attempts by the white owners to break the strike by importing laborers from other countries, the workers won most of their demands.

So when conditions demanded a similar response in California's fields, many Filipino workers had the organizing sophistication and experience, having already been involved in work slow-downs, stoppages and full-fledged strikes.

THE FILIPINO LABOR MENACE

White American Federation of Labor (AFL) leaders were startled by the aggressive pro-union stance of Filipino workers, but AFL leaders made it clear that the "Filipino labor menace" could not be included in their unions. The rejection of Filipino farm workers by the mainstream labor movement led organizers to build their own unions.

Though most of the early attempts at unionization, such as the Filipino Labor Association of Stockton and the Filipino United Labor Economic Endeavor, were small in membership and politically ineffective, they exploded the myth of a docile Asian labor force and set the stage for a larger movement.

The drive to organize was given a sharp prod by local white civic organizations like the American Legion, which were aided by the police and the media and provoked violent mob riots aimed at Filipinos throughout the state. "In many ways it was a crime to be a Filipino in California," explains union organizer and writer Carlos Bulosan. Filipino labor leaders believed that the right to demand better wages would lead to social equality.

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The struggle for better working conditions was given a decided boost when a group of Filipino farm workers organized the Agricultural Workers League in 1930. The organization was set up to initiate large-scale unionization of Filipino workers and threaten field owners with the real possibility of paralyzing strikes.

With the seeds planted, unionization moved forward. In 1933 Rufo Canete and other Filipino labor leaders met in Salinas and formed the Filipino Labor Union (FLU). In less than a year, the FLU launched a drive to organize farm workers of all nationalities around the goals of an increased minimum wage (to 35 cents per hour), an eight-hour day, employment without racial discrimination, recognition of the union as a bargaining agent and the abolition of labor contractors.

Under the leadership of Canete, D.L. Marcuelo, Johnny Estigoy, Nick Losada and others, the FLU grew rapidly to seven chapters and over 2,000 members. Soon after the demands were rejected, the FLU called the first strike. Almost 7,000 men and women employed in the lettuce fields and packing sheds in Salinas went on strike. The Salinas Lettuce Strike completely shut down the lucrative industry and the union's demands were soon granted.

With renewed strength, the Filipino labor movement began finding recognition from the AFL and the California Federation of Labor. Some progress was made, but constant intimidation of union leaders by white vigilante mobs across the West Coast reinforced the need for unions with an active interest in protecting people of color. Canete's own camp was burned to the ground by terrorists in 1935.

In 1938 representatives from all the Filipino organizations on the Pacific Coast voted to form the Filipino Agricultural Laborers Association. However, Filipino organizers such as Francisco Varona, Macario Bautista and Lamberto Malinab believed inclusion of all farmworkers was critical, and invited Mexican workers and other ethnic groups into their ranks. They later changed the union's name to the Federated Agricultural Laborers Association (FALA).

In 1939 FALA won its most significant victory with a successful strike of the asparagus industry. After a one-day stoppage involving thousands of workers, all 258 growers signed an agreement guaranteeing unprecedented worker rights. The success in the asparagus industry prompted other victories in the celery, brussels sprouts and garlic fields from San Mateo to San Benito counties. By 1940, there were nearly 30,000 FALA members.

A decade later, after the decline of FALA, Philip Vera Cruz, Larry Dulay Itliong and Pete Velasco picked up the struggle with a new Filipino farm labor movement. Itliong was a key organizer and later the vice president of the Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee (AWOC). AWOC, formed in 1959 by the AFL-CIO (the CIO was far more receptive to the needs of Filipino labor), led the first grape strike in Delano in 1965. AWOC and Cesar Chavez's small National Farm Workers Association would soon combine their efforts under the banner of the United Farm Workers, opening a new era of farm-worker organizing.

Article copyright Center for Third World Organizing.
 
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