CHAPTER 17: Filipino Americans Marilyn Uvero Overview of the Philippines The Philippine Islands constitute an independent nation located in the Pacific Ocean approximately 450 miles off the southeastern coast of China. Taiwan is the nearest neighbor, approximately 65 miles to the north; Indonesia is 150 miles to the south. More than 7000 islands compose the Philippine Archipelago; however, the largest islands, Luzon (40,420 square miles) and Mindanao (36,537 square miles), account for 94% of the country's total land area. Economy The economy of the Philippines is based on agriculture. One of the principal crops is rice, which occupies about half the farmed land in the Philippines. Corn and coconuts are also very important crops, and other significant crops include root crops, fruits, nuts, sugarcane, abaca, tobacco, ramie, kapok, and rubber. Although agriculture is the principal industry, the yields per crop per acre are among the lowest in Asia (Central Intelligence Agency, 2015). Causes of low productivity of agriculture in the Philippines include poor farm management, inadequate use of fertilizers, poor seeds, and lack of incentive on the part of the farmers because many are tenant farmers Immigration to the United States Three different waves of Filipino immigrants have come to the United States: the first-wave, or pioneer, group; the second-wave group; and the third-wave, or new immigrant, group (Palaniappan et al., 2010). Although “Philipino American” is the correct spelling because there is no F in the Philipino alphabet, “Filipino American” is the accepted English spelling (Cantos & Rivera, 1996). First-Wave Immigrants The first-wave Filipino immigrants were originally drafted to work on trade ships that were traveling from China to the United States (Bartlett, 1977). From 1565 to 1815, hundreds of Filipinos escaped from the trading ships and went first to Mexico and finally to Louisiana and other regions throughout the United States. In 1907, with the passage of the gentleman's agreement that restricted Japanese immigration, Filipinos were recruited to work in Hawaii on sugar plantations (Van Horn & Schaffner, 2003). Second-Wave Immigrants The second wave of immigration began after the Philippine Islands won independence from the United States in 1946, when the annual quota was raised to 100 persons. Many Filipinos who served in the U.S. Armed Forces immigrated to the United States with their families after World War II. Lott (1976) noted that during this period many of the Filipino men were physically separated from their immediate kin and denied full participation in the larger American society. Third-Wave Immigrants The new immigration group, or the third wave of immigrants, is composed of those Filipinos who have immigrated to the United States since 1965 as a result of the liberalization of the immigration quota. In 1974, Urban Associates reported that in the 10-year period from 1960 t ...

1. CHAPTER 17:
Filipino Americans
Marilyn Uvero
Overview of the Philippines
The Philippine Islands constitute an independent nation located
in the Pacific Ocean approximately 450 miles off the
southeastern coast of China.
Taiwan is the nearest neighbor, approximately 65 miles to the
north; Indonesia is 150 miles to the south. More than 7000
islands compose the Philippine Archipelago; however, the
largest islands, Luzon (40,420 square miles) and Mindanao
(36,537 square miles), account for 94% of the country's total
land area.
Economy
The economy of the Philippines is based on agriculture. One of
the principal crops is rice, which occupies about half the farmed
land in the Philippines.
Corn and coconuts are also very important crops, and other
significant crops include root crops, fruits, nuts, sugarcane,
abaca, tobacco, ramie, kapok, and rubber.
Although agriculture is the principal industry, the yields per
crop per acre are among the lowest in Asia (Central Intelligence

2. Agency, 2015).
Causes of low productivity of agriculture in the Philippines
include poor farm management, inadequate use of fertilizers,
poor seeds, and lack of incentive on the part of the farmers
because many are tenant farmers
Immigration to the United States
Three different waves of Filipino immigrants have come to the
United States: the first-wave, or pioneer, group; the second-
wave group; and the third-wave, or new immigrant, group
(Palaniappan et al., 2010).
Although “Philipino American” is the correct spelling because
there is no F in the Philipino alphabet, “Filipino American” is
the accepted English spelling (Cantos & Rivera, 1996).
First-Wave Immigrants
The first-wave Filipino immigrants were originally drafted to
work on trade ships that were traveling from China to the
United States (Bartlett, 1977).
From 1565 to 1815, hundreds of Filipinos escaped from the
trading ships and went first to Mexico and finally to Louisiana
and other regions throughout the United States.
In 1907, with the passage of the gentleman's agreement that
restricted Japanese immigration, Filipinos were recruited to
work in Hawaii on sugar plantations (Van Horn & Schaffner,
2003).

3. Second-Wave Immigrants
The second wave of immigration began after the Philippine
Islands won independence from the United States in 1946, when
the annual quota was raised to 100 persons.
Many Filipinos who served in the U.S. Armed Forces
immigrated to the United States with their families after World
War II.
Lott (1976) noted that during this period many of the Filipino
men were physically separated from their immediate kin and
denied full participation in the larger American society.
Third-Wave Immigrants
The new immigration group, or the third wave of immigrants, is
composed of those Filipinos who have immigrated to the United
States since 1965 as a result of the liberalization of the
immigration quota.
In 1974, Urban Associates reported that in the 10-year period
from 1960 to 1970, the Filipino population residing in the
United States doubled, from 343,000 to 774,652.
From 1965 to 2009, the population of Filipino Americans almost
doubled again, to 2,475,754
Communication
More than 93 dialects were spoken in the Philippines in 1960’

4. The most common languages are Tagalog, Ilocano, Cebuano,
Bicolano, Pampangan, and Chabacano (Cantos & Rivera, 1996).
Although 86% of Filipinos speak one of eight major languages
as their mother tongue, the fact remains that many diverse
languages and dialects are spoken across the country.
Style
When a Filipino man acknowledges emotions in a verbal
manner, this may be interpreted as a sign of unmanliness or
weakness.
Cultural values emphasize group harmony and smooth
interpersonal relationships; decision making may be shared
among family members according to a patient's needs.
A clinician could develop a family decision tree or algorithm.
Decisions may be referred to family members living outside the
United States, or birth order may be used to designate decisions
Context
Filipino Americans are “laid-back, easy-going, serene people”
Filipinos are a polite people who do not like to disagree,
particularly with people in authority, and because some Filipino
men experience discomfort with women as authority figures.

5. Kinesics
Nonverbal language is important for Filipino persons.
For example, direct eye contact in the Filipino culture between
an older man and a younger woman may be indicative of either
seduction or anger.
Little eye contact is likely to be used with superiors and
authority figures.
Touching is not uncommon, although handshakes are not
commonly practiced by Filipino Americans.
Elderly people are shown respect by being kissed on the hand,
forehead, or cheeks
Space
Some Filipino Americans tend to collapse their space inward
and limit the amount of personal space available.
This is caused in part by the Filipinos' strong feeling for family
(Cantore, 2001). On immigration to the United States, the
personal space of Filipino Americans also collapsed inward
because some of the people lived in urban ghettos, or “little
Manilas,” that were vastly overpopulated (Burma, 1974).
Social Organization
Family: Most of the first-wave immigrants who came to the
United States were not allowed to immigrate with their wives.

6. This immigration pattern was responsible for a disproportionate
ratio of males to females. The male-to-female ratio in 1930 for
Filipinos residing in the United States was 14 to 1, compared
with 1.1 to 1 for the rest of the population (Melendy, 1977).
In 1974, 38% of all Filipino-American families had five or more
members (Urban Associates, 1974). In 2009, this number
decreased somewhat, and the average Filipino-American family
now has 4.0 persons, compared with the national average of 3.2
Religion
Filipinos are predominantly Roman Catholic, which has been
attributed to the influence of the Spanish missionaries in the
Philippines as early as 1520. In 2006, chief religions included
Roman Catholic, 81%, and Muslim, 5% (World Almanac, 2015).
The remaining religious groups include Evangelical, Aglipayan,
Iglesia ni Kristo, other Christian, and other (Central
Intelligence Agency, 2015).
Rituals Related to Death and Dying
If a client has a diagnosis of terminal disease, the client should
not be told before the family is consulted.
The family will usually want to disclose the prognosis to the
client and in some cases will prefer to protect the client from
knowing the diagnosis (Geissler, 1998).
The health care professional should generally continue to
communicate with the head of the family outside of the patient's
presence regarding the health status.

7. If the family is Catholic, the family will usually want the
Catholic priest to give the sacrament of the sick, in which the
client is anointed with holy oil
Folk Medicine
Filipinos and Filipino Americans support at least two, often
competing, medical systems.
A Filipino individual who becomes ill might consult both a folk
healer and a Western-trained physician.
Filipino Americans are like other ethnic groups in that they
continue to practice folk medicine simply because it works
(McKenzie & Chrisman, 1977).
In the Filipino culture, certain illnesses may be assigned to
natural causes, such as overeating, poor diet, or excessive
drinking. These illnesses would normally be treated with home
remedies, including herbal preparations, decoctions, massage,
sleep, and exercise.
Illness and Wellness Behaviors
Three concepts underlie Filipino health beliefs and practices:
flushing, heating, and protection.
Flushing is believed to keep the body free from debris, heating
is believed to maintain a balanced internal temperature, and
pro-tection is believed to guard the body from outside
influences.
Flushing is based on the premise that the body is a container
that can collect impurities.
Heating involves the belief that hot and cold qualities must be

8. in balance in the body.
Protection involves safeguarding the natural boundaries of the
body from supernatural as well as natural forces.
Biological Variations
Body Size and Structure
Filipinos are short and tend to have very small frames.
Some Filipinos have short limbs in comparison with the trunk
size. At 3 years of age, the mean standing height is 85.7 cm
(33.7 inches) for Filipino boys and 84.8 cm (33.4 inches) for
Filipino girls.
Thus Filipino children are considerably shorter than White
children, for whom the mean standing height is 95 cm (37.4
inches) for boys and 93.9 cm (37 inches) for girls
Skin Color
Mongolian spots are commonly found at birth on Filipino
infants.
Normal pigmentation among Filipinos ranges from brown to
peach brown, and it is extremely difficult to detect conditions
such as cyanosis in darker-pigmented skin.
Cardiovascular Disease: The researchers concluded that Filipino
Americans have a higher prevalence of hypertension and
diabetes and a lower prevalence of smoking and obesity than
Caucasians.
Diabetes Mellitus: There is an increased incidence of diabetes
mellitus among Filipino Americans (Araneta & Barrett-Connor,
2005; National Center for Health Statistics, Health, United
States, 2014). Sloan (1963) concluded that diabetes mellitus

9. occurs three times more often among Filipino Americans than it
does among White Americans
Susceptibility to Disease
Increased incidence of STD
Increased risk of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS)
Increased Glaucoma
Diseases
Nutritional Preferences
Filipino Americans subscribe to a theory of hot and cold, foods
with these properties are incorporated into their dietary
regimen. For example, it is customary to include both “hot” and
“cold” foods in cooking, such as mixing beans, which are
considered hot foods, with green vegetables, which are
considered cold foods, regardless of how they are prepared.
In addition, Filipino Americans who practice imitative magic
may incorporate the concept of magic into the preparation and
consumption of foods. For example, a pregnant Filipino woman
may believe that eating dark foods such as prunes will produce
a dark-complected baby (Affonso, 1978; Pimentel, 1968).

10. Foods
The traditional foods for Filipinos include rice, fish, and
vegetables.
For Filipino Americans, typical dishes include adobo, pancit,
and lupia.
Adobo is a method of preparation that includes cooking certain
meats, such as pork, chicken, or beef, that have been marinated
in vinegar, garlic, and other typical Filipino condiments.
The meat is simmered slowly until it becomes tender and brown
Because Filipino Americans tend to have darker-pigmented skin
than White Americans, the nurse must be able to distinguish
between the norm and carotenemia, jaundice, or cyanosis.
When the nurse is inspecting the skin of a Filipino American, it
is important to inspect the buccal mucosa for petechiae. When
looking for evidence of carotenemia, the nurse can substantiate
this finding if a yellow tint is absent in the palate when the
sclerae are yellow (Roach, 1977).
Implications for Nursing Care
Implications for Nursing Care
Because some Filipino Americans have a prevalence for
enzymatic conditions, such as G-6-PD deficiency, lactose
intolerance, or thalassemia, it is important for the nurse to
encourage the client to eat meals that are high in protein and to

11. replace whole milk with high-calcium substitutes such as
buttermilk, yogurt, and sharp cheese or to add lactic aids to
foods or other dairy products.
The nurse should be cognizant that some Filipino foods are high
in purine, such as dinuguan (from dugu, “blood”), which is a
food prepared from the small intestines, liver, heart, kidney, and
blood of pork.