1. OUR SPANISH HERITAGE BY RIGHT OF conquest, Spain ruled the Philippines for three centuries (1565-1898).
During this long period, Spain imposed her religion, language, customs, arts and sciences on the Filipinos. There was
hardly any phase of Filipino life which did not feel the impact of Spanish influence. It is fair to say that Spain''s cultural
legacy was more beneficial-and comprehensive than her political and economic endowments. Christianity, Spain''s
Greatest Legacy. The greatest legacy of Spain to the Filipino people is Christianity, specifically the Roman Catholic
religion: Strangely, this religion was Asian in origin, being founded by Jesus Christ In Palestine; it spread to Western
Europe after Christ''s crucifixion and much later, in the 16th and 17th centuries, Spain propagated it across the
Atlantic to the New World (West Indies, North America, Central America, and South America) and across the Pacific
to the Philippines, making her! then the greatest power. Diet and Dress. Spain improved the diet of the people
by introducing new food plants, such as wheat, corn, patatas (white potatoes), cacao, coffee, cabbages, papayas,
chicos; and guavas. The wheat grains were milled into snow-white wheat flour which was baked in the oven to
become bread. For the first time, the Filipinos learned. to eat bread. From the seeds of the cacao came the chocolate
which became a popular drink for breakfast or merienda. The people also learned to drink coffee. Other foodstuffs
introduced by Spain were beef (meat of the cattle), mutton, (sheep''s meat), longanizas (sausages), jamon (ham),
and sardines. During the Spanish times, Filipinos learned for the first time to eat canned goods from Europe, such as
chorizos de Bilbao, Spanish sardines, olive oil; and pickles from England; to use spoons, forks, drinking glasses,
table knives and napkins while eating and to drink foreign wines.
Source: http://www.shvoong.com/books/1742725-spanish-heritage/#ixzz1syrOqhYR
This is a fascinating bit of Philippine history they don't teach in school. I've heard even the word
'tiangge' is Mexican in origin. Some Spanish colonial period churches, like the one in Morong, Rizal,
have features of Mexican baroque. There could be more Mexican in us than we think.
This commentary from F.:
There is a small Filipino-Mexican common words book which I think was written by Leon Ma. Guerero.
The city of Merida on the gulf coast was the other end of the Manila-Acapulco trail. There are traces of
Philippine culture in this city, probably much more than in Acapulco. They have ropa china which is
like the blouse our lolas used to wear. Then they have certain cultural practices that come from the
Philippines. Also some of their food is similar to ours. They are Mayas not Aztecs. In the countryside
they live pretty much in the same way they did centuries ago.
Vera Cruz might also have traces of Filipinos since it was a port city in the gulf.
In Mexico City there is a church or chapel of Manila still standing. It's where missionaries bound for
the Philippines stayed.
Tiangge is also a Mexican word.
There are many things about Mexicans that make us so much alike. Many times, when I was living in
the Mexican heartland, I would blurt out Filipino phrases thinking I was among my own but then again
it may have been the peyote or the tequila talking.
F.
October 1, 2004
Perryscope
By Perry Diaz
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

2. 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.
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.

3. 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.
Mexican Heritage
By FLORO M. MERCENE
September 15, 2011, 10:27pm
MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines was a colony of Spain for 333 years but for most of the first 200 years , the
country was ruled by Mexico. The long contact between the Mexicans and the Filipinos left a deep imprint on the
culture, language, manners and morals, and religious and social practices of the Filipinos.
There are scores of words of Nahuatl origin in the Tagalog language. To mention a few: achuete, atole, avocado,
balsa, banqueta, cachuete, cacao, caimito, calabasa, camachile, camote, chico, chocolate, coyote, nanay, tatay,
tianggui, palenque, tocayo, zacate, and zapote.
A good number of fruits, medicinal plants and flowering plants were exchanged between Mexico and the Philippines.
Besides corn (called mais in both countries), tobacco – an American plant – was introduced in the Philippines.
The first tobacco seeds were brought by friars on the galleon San Cristobal and were successfully grown in Cagayan,
the Ilocos provinces, and the island of Marinduque. Tobacco became so popular in the islands that the government
made a monopoly out of it in l782 as a revenue-raising measure.
The avocado, maguey, and cacao came from Mexico. Although pepper was probably indigenous to the Philippines,
the word sili undoubtedly was derived from the Mexican chile, while the piquant local sauce called tabasko got its
name from the Mexican province of Tabasco.
In return, Mexico got its mango from the islands, and with so high a regard did the Mexicans hold this Oriental fruit
that to the present day, beautiful young maidens still elicit the exclamation of ―Que mango es.‖
Among the fruits, vegetables, and plants brought into the islands from Mexico and South America were pineapple,
arrowroot, peanut, lima and yam beans, balimbing, cassava, chico, papaya, zapote, tomato, and squash.
Among the ornamental and medicinal plants: Tuberose, spider lily, canna, Mexican poppy, camachile for its tanbark,
ipil as a hedge plant, the sensitive mimosa, indigo and achuete for dye, madre de cacao, periwinkle, campanella,
cactus, lantana, and some kinds of peppers.
The sweet potato or camote was already grown locally by the time Magellan landed, but other species probably came
from Mexico. These items were brought probably by friars who settled in the archipelago after staying for a year or
two in Mexico.