Chinese Filipino

The organization Kaisa para sa Kaunlaran (Unity for Progress) omits the hyphen for the term Chinese Filipino, as the term is a noun. The Chicago Manual of Style and the APA, among others, also omits the hyphen. When used as an adjective as a whole, it may take on a hyphenated form or may remain unchanged.[17][18][19]

There are various universally accepted terms used in the Philippines to refer to Chinese Filipinos:

• Chinese (Filipino/Tagalog: Intsik (Colloquial) / Tsino (Formal) / Tsekwa (Derogatory); Philippine Hokkien simplified Chinese: 咱人; traditional Chinese: 咱儂; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Lán-nâng / Lán-lâng / Nán-nâng, Mandarin simplified Chinese: 华人; traditional Chinese: 華人; pinyin: Huárén)—generalized term referring to any and all Chinese people in or outside the Philippines in general regardless of nationality or place of birth.
• Chinese Filipino, Filipino Chinese or Philippine Chinese (Philippine English: Chinoy; Filipino/Tagalog: Tsinoy / Tsinito (masculine) / Tsinita (feminine) / Intsik; Philippine Hokkien simplified Chinese: 咱人; traditional Chinese: 咱儂; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Lán-nâng / Lán-lâng / Nán-nâng, Mandarin simplified Chinese: 华菲 / 菲律宾华人 / 菲律宾华侨; traditional Chinese: 華菲 / 菲律賓華人 / 菲律賓華僑; pinyin: Huáfēi / Fēilǜbīn huárén / Fēilǜbīn huáqiáo)—refers to people with some level of Han Chinese ethnicity with Philippine nationality and to people of Han Chinese ethnicity with Chinese nationality (either PRC or ROC) or whichever nationality but were born or mainly raised in the Philippines and usually have permanent residency. This also includes Chinese Filipinos who now live and/or were born overseas, but still have close ties to the community in the Philippines.
  • Hokkienese / Fukienese / Fujianese / Fookienese (Philippine Hokkien simplified Chinese: 福建人 / 闽南人; traditional Chinese: 福建儂 / 閩南儂; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Hok-kiàn-lâng / Bân-lâm-lâng, Mandarin simplified Chinese: 福建人 / 闽南人; traditional Chinese: 福建人 / 閩南人; pinyin: Fújiànren / Mǐnnánrén)—terms referring to Chinese Filipinos whose predominant ancestry is from Fujian Province in China, especially the Hokkien-speaking region in Southern Fujian. Chinese Filipinos of this background typically have Philippine Hokkien as a heritage language, though just as any Chinese Filipino may also normally speak Philippine English, Filipino/Tagalog or other Philippine languages (such as Visayan languages) and may also code-switch any and all of these languages, such as Taglish, Bislish, Hokaglish, etc.
  • Cantonese (Philippine Hokkien simplified Chinese: 广东人 / 乡亲; traditional Chinese: 廣東儂 / 鄉親; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Kńg-tang-lâng / Hiong-chhin, Mandarin simplified Chinese: 广东人; traditional Chinese: 廣東人; pinyin: Guǎngdōngrén)—terms referring to Chinese Filipinos whose ancestry is from Guangdong Province in China, especially the Taishanese or Cantonese-speaking regions.
• Chinese mestizo (Philippine Spanish: mestizo de Sangley / chinito (masculine) / chinita (feminine); Filipino/Tagalog: Mestisong Tsino / Tsinito (masculine) / Tsinita (feminine); Philippine Hokkien Chinese: 出世仔 / 出世; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Chhut-sì-á / Chhut-sì, Mandarin simplified Chinese: 华菲混血; traditional Chinese: 華菲混血; pinyin: Huáfēi hùnxiě)—refers to people who are of mixed Han Chinese and indigenous Filipino ancestry, a common and historical phenomenon in the Philippines especially families tracing from the Spanish colonial times. Those with 75% Han Chinese ancestry or more are typically not considered to be characteristically mestizo. Many Chinese mestizos are still Chinese Filipinos, though some with more indigenous Filipino ancestry or family or have just had a very long family history of living and assimilating to life in the Philippines may no longer identify as Chinese Filipino.
• Mainland Chinese, Mainlander (Filipino/Tagalog: Taga-China / Intsik / Taga-Tsina; Philippine Hokkien simplified Chinese: 大陆仔 / 中国人 / 唐山人; traditional Chinese: 大陸仔 / 中國儂 / 唐山儂; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Tāi-dio̍k-á / Tiong-kok-lâng / Tn̂g-soaⁿ-lâng, Mandarin simplified Chinese: 中国人; traditional Chinese: 中國人; pinyin: Zhōngguórén)—refers to any PRC citizens from China (PRC), especially those of Han Chinese ethnicity with Chinese nationality that were raised in China (PRC).
• Taiwanese (Filipino/Tagalog: Taga-Taiwan / Intsik; Philippine Hokkien simplified Chinese: 台湾人 / 台湾仔; traditional Chinese: 台灣儂 / 臺灣儂 / 台灣仔 / 臺灣仔; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Tâi-oân-lâng / Tâi-oân-á, Taiwanese Mandarin simplified Chinese: 台湾人; traditional Chinese: 臺灣人 / 台灣人; Hanyu Pinyin: Táiwānrén; Tongyong Pinyin: Táiwanrén; Wade–Giles: Tʽai²-wan¹-jen²; Zhuyin Fuhao: ㄊㄞˊ ㄨㄢ ㄖㄣˊ)—refers to ROC citizens from Taiwan (ROC), especially those of Han Chinese ethnicity with Republic of China (Taiwan) nationality that were raised in Taiwan (ROC).
• Hongkonger (Filipino/Tagalog: Taga-Hong kong / Intsik; Philippine Hokkien simplified Chinese: 香港仔 / 香港人; traditional Chinese: 香港仔 / 香港儂; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Hiong-káng-á / Hiong-káng-lâng, Mandarin Chinese: 香港人; pinyin: Xiānggǎngrén, Cantonese Chinese: 香港人; Jyutping: Hoeng¹ gong² jan⁴)—refers to people from Hong Kong, especially those of Han Chinese ethnicity with Hong Kong (SAR) residency or Hong Kong British National (Overseas) status that were born or raised in Hong Kong (SAR) or British Hong Kong.
• Macanese (Filipino/Tagalog: Taga-Macau / Intsik; Philippine Hokkien simplified Chinese: 澳门人 / 澳门仔; traditional Chinese: 澳門儂 / 澳門仔; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Ò-mn̂g-lâng / Ò-mn̂g-á, Mandarin simplified Chinese: 澳门人; traditional Chinese: 澳門人; pinyin: Àoménrén, Cantonese Chinese: 澳門人; Cantonese Yale: Ou mùhn yàhn)—refers to people from Macau, especially those of Han Chinese ethnicity with Macau permanent residency that were born or raised in Macau (SAR) or Portuguese Macau.
• tornatrás or torna atrás—obsolete Spanish term referring to people who are of varying mixtures of Han Chinese, Spanish and indigenous Filipino during the Spanish Colonial Period of the Philippines.
• Sangley—obsolete term referring to people of unmixed Chinese ancestry, especially fresh first generation Chinese migrants, during the Spanish Colonial Period of the Philippines. The mixed equivalents were likewise the above terms, mestizo de Sangley and tornatrás.

Example of a Chinese influence in Filipino Spanish Architecture in St. Jerome Parish Church (Morong, Rizal)

Other terms being used with reference to China include:

• 華人 – Hoâ-jîn or Huárén—a generic term for referring to Chinese people, without implication as to nationality
• 華僑 – Hoâ-kiâo or Huáqiáo—Overseas Chinese, usually China-born Chinese who have emigrated elsewhere
• 華裔 – Hoâ-è or Huáyì—People of Chinese ancestry who were born in, residents of and citizens of another country

"Indigenous Filipino" or simply "Filipino", is used in this article to refer to the Austronesian inhabitants prior to the Spanish Conquest of the islands. During the Spanish Colonial Period, the term indio was used.

However, intermarriages occurred mostly during the Spanish colonial period because Chinese immigrants to the Philippines up to the 19th century were predominantly male. It was only in the 20th century that Chinese women and children came in comparable numbers. Today, Chinese Filipino male and female populations are practically equal in numbers. These Chinese mestizos, products of intermarriages during the Spanish colonial period, then often opted to marry other Chinese or Chinese mestizos. Generally, Chinese mestizos is a term referring to people with one Chinese parent.

By this definition, the ethnically Chinese Filipino comprise 1.8% (1.35 million) of the population.[20] This figure however does not include the Chinese mestizos who since Spanish times have formed a part of the middle class in Philippine society nor does it include Chinese immigrants from the People's Republic of China since 1949.

Ethnicity of Chinese Filipinos, including Chinese mestizos

Majority of Chinese Filipinos in the Philippines belong to Hokkien-speaking group of the Han Chinese ethnicity. Many Chinese Filipinos are either fourth-, third-, or second-generation; in general natural-born Philippine citizens who can still recognize their Chinese roots and have Chinese relatives in China, as well as in other Southeast Asian, Australasian or North American countries.

According to a study of around 30,000 gravestones in the Manila Chinese Cemetery with marked birthplaces or ancestral cities of the interred, 89.26% were from within the Hokkien-speaking Southern Min region in Southern Fujian province, while 9.86% were from Cantonese regions in Guangdong (Canton) province. More specifically on those of the Southern Min region, 65.01% hailed from Jinjiang (晉江; Chìn-kang) [from coastal Quanzhou], 17.25% from Nan’an (南安; Lâm-oaⁿ) [from coastal Quanzhou], 7.94% from Xiamen (廈門; Ē-mn̂g) (Xiamen city proper), 2.90% from Hui’an (惠安; Hūi-oaⁿ) [from coastal Quanzhou], 1.52% from Longxi (龍溪; Liông-khe) [within Longhai, coastal Zhangzhou], 1.21% from Siming (思明; Su-bêng) [within Xiamen], 1.14% from Quanzhou (泉州; Choân-chiu) (Quanzhou city proper), 1.10% from Tong’an (同安; Tâng-oaⁿ) [from coastal Xiamen], 0.83% from Shishi (石狮; Chio̍h-sai) [from coastal Quanzhou], 0.57% from Yongchun (永春; Éng-chhun) [from inland Quanzhou], and 0.53% from Anxi (安溪; An-khoe) [from inland Quanzhou].[40]

• The figure above denotes first-generation Chinese mestizos – namely, those with one Chinese and one Filipino parent. This figure does not include those who have less than 50% Chinese ancestry, who are mostly classified as "Filipino".

The exact number of all Filipinos with some Chinese ancestry is unknown. Various estimates have been given from the start of the Spanish Colonial Period up to the present ranging from as low as 1% to as large as 18–27%. The National Statistics Office does not conduct surveys of ethnicity.[54]

According to a research report by historian Austin Craig who was commissioned by the United States in 1915 to ascertain the total number of the various races of the Philippines, the pure Chinese, referred to as Sangley, number around 20,000 (as of 1918), and that around one-third of the population of Luzon have partial Chinese ancestry. This comes with a footnote about the widespread concealing and de-emphasising of the exact number of Chinese in the Philippines.[55]

Another source dating from the Spanish Colonial Period shows the growth of the Chinese and the Chinese mestizo population to nearly 10% of the Philippine population by 1894.

Languages spoken by Chinese Filipinos at home

The vast majority (74.5%) of Chinese Filipinos, especially those in Metro Manila and surrounding regions, speak Filipino (Tagalog) and/or Philippine English as their native language. Most Chinese Filipinos (77%) still retain the ability to understand and speak Hokkien as a second or third language.[56]

The use of Hokkien as a first language is seemingly confined to the older generation and to Chinese Filipino families living in traditional Chinese Filipino centers, such as Caloocan, Davao Chinatown, and the Binondo district of Manila. In part due to the increased adoption of Philippine nationality during the Marcos era, most Chinese Filipinos born from the 1970s to the mid-1990s tend to use English, Filipino (Tagalog) and perhaps other Philippine regional languages, which they frequently code-switch between as Taglish or mix together with Hokkien as Hokaglish. Among the younger generation (born from the mid-1990s onward), the preferred language is often English besides also, of course, knowing Filipino (Tagalog) and, in most regions of the Philippines, other regional languages.[57] Recent arrivals from Mainland China or Taiwan, despite coming mostly from traditionally Hokkien-speaking areas, typically use Mandarin among themselves.

Unlike other overseas Chinese communities in Southeast Asia, which feature an assortment of dialect groups, Chinese Filipinos descend overwhelmingly from Hokkien-speaking regions in Southern Fujian. Hence, Hokkien remains the main heritage language among Chinese Filipinos. Mandarin, however, is perceived as the most prestigious Chinese language, so it is taught in Chinese Filipino schools and used in all official and formal functions within the Chinese Filipino community despite the fact that very few Chinese Filipinos are conversant in Mandarin or have it as a heritage language.[56]

For the Chinese mestizos, Spanish used to be the most important prestige language and the preferred first language during the Spanish colonial era. Starting from the American period, the use of Spanish gradually decreased and is now completely replaced by either English or Filipino.[58]

Chinese Filipinos are unique in Southeast Asia in being overwhelmingly Christian (83%).[56] but many families, especially Chinese Filipinos in the older generations still practice traditional Chinese religions. Almost all Chinese Filipinos, including the Chinese mestizos but excluding recent migrants from either Mainland China or Taiwan, had or will have their marriages in a Christian church.[56]

Sto. Cristo de Longos, by Ongpin St., Binondo, Manila

Protestantism

St. Stephen's Church in Manila in 1923, an Anglican church and school for Chinese Filipinos

Approximately 13% of all Christian Chinese Filipinos are Protestants.[65]

Many Chinese Filipino schools are founded by Protestant missionaries and churches.

Chinese Filipinos comprise a large percentage of membership in some of the largest evangelical churches in the Philippines, many of which are also founded by Chinese Filipinos, such as the Christian Gospel Center, Christ's Commission Fellowship, United Evangelical Church of the Philippines and the Youth Gospel Center.[66]

In contrast to Roman Catholicism, Protestantism forbids traditional Chinese practices such as ancestor veneration, but allows the use of meaning or context substitution for some practices that are not directly contradicted in the Bible (e.g., celebrating the Mid-Autumn Festival with moon cakes denoting the moon as God's creation and the unity of families, rather than the traditional Chinese belief in Chang'e). Many also had ancestors already practicing Protestantism while still in China.

Unlike native and mestizo Filipino-dominated Protestant churches in the Philippines which have very close ties with North American organizations, most Protestant Chinese Filipino churches instead sought alliance and membership with the Chinese Congress on World Evangelization, an organization of Overseas Chinese Christian churches throughout Asia.[67]

Chinese traditional religions and practices

A small number of Chinese Filipinos (2%) continue to practise traditional Chinese religions solely.[68] Mahayana Buddhism, specifically, Chinese Pure Land Buddhism,[69] Taoism[70] and ancestral worship (including Confucianism)[71] are the traditional Chinese beliefs that continue to have adherents among the Chinese Filipino.

Buddhist and Taoist temples can be found where the Chinese live, especially in urban areas like Manila.[lower-alpha 3] Veneration of the Guanyin (觀音), known locally as Kuan-im either in its pure form or seen a representation of the Virgin Mary is practised by many Chinese Filipinos. The Chinese Filipino community also established indigenous religious denominations like Bell Church (钟教), which is a syncretic religion with ecumenical and interfaith in orientation.[72] There are several prominent Chinese temples like Seng Guan Temple (Buddhist) in Manila, Cebu Taoist Temple in Cebu City and Lon Wa Buddhist Temple in Davao City.

Around half (40%) of all Chinese Filipinos regardless of religion still claim to practise ancestral worship.[56] The Chinese, especially the older generations, have the tendency to go to pay respects to their ancestors at least once a year, either by going to the temple, or going to the Chinese burial grounds, often burning incense and bringing offerings like fruits and accessories made from paper.

There are 150 Chinese schools that exist throughout the Philippines, slightly more than half of which operate in Metro Manila.[73][74] Chinese Filipino schools typically include the teaching of Standard Chinese (Mandarin), among other school class subjects, and have an international reputation for producing award-winning students in the fields of science and mathematics, most of whom reap international awards in mathematics, computer programming, and robotics Olympiads.[75]

Many Chinese who lived during the Spanish naming edict of 1849 eventually adopted Spanish name formats, along with a Spanish given name (e.g., Florentino Cu y Chua). Some adopted their entire Chinese name romanized as a surname for the entire clan (e.g., Jose Antonio Chuidian (Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Chui-lian); Alberto Cojuangco (Chinese: 許寰哥; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Khó-hoân-ko)). Chinese mestizos, as well as some Chinese who chose to completely assimilate into the local Filipino or Spanish culture during Spanish colonial times also adopted Spanish surnames, just as any other Filipino, either as per christening of a new Christian name under Catholic Christian baptismal under the Spanish friars or through the 1849 decree of Gov-Gen. Narciso Claveria that distributed surnames from the Catálogo alfabético de apellidos, most of which listed there were Spanish surnames.

Newer Chinese migrants who came during the American Colonial Period use a combination of an adopted Spanish (or rarely, English) name together with their Chinese name (e.g., Carlos Palanca Tan Quin Lay or Vicente Go Tam Co). This trend was to continue up to the late 1970s.

As both exposure to North American media as well as the number of Chinese Filipinos educated in English increased, the use of English names among Chinese Filipinos, both common and unusual, started to increase as well. Popular names among the second generation Chinese community included English names ending in "-son" or other Chinese-sounding suffixes, such as Anderson, Emerson, Jackson, Jameson, Jasson, Patrickson, Washington, among such others. For parents who are already third and fourth generation Chinese Filipinos, English names reflecting American popular trends are given, such as Ethan, Austin and Aidan.

It is thus not unusual to find a young Chinese Filipino, for example, named "Chase Tan", whose father's name is "Emerson Tan" and whose grandfather's name is "Elpidio Tan Keng Kui", reflecting the depth of immersion into the English language as well as into the Philippine society as a whole.

Lumpia (Hokkien: 潤餅), a spring roll of Chinese origin.

Traditional Tsinoy cuisine, as Chinese Filipino home-based dishes are locally known, make use of recipes that are traditionally found in China's Fujian Province and fuse them with locally available ingredients and recipes. These include unique foods such as hokkien chha-peng (Fujianese-style fried rice), si-nit mi-soa (birthday noodles), pansit canton (Fujianese-style e-fu noodles), hong ma or humba (braised pork belly), sibut (four-herb chicken soup), hototay (Fujianese egg drop soup), kiampeng (Fujianese beef fried rice), machang (glutinous rice with adobo) and taho (a dessert made of soft tofu, arnibal syrup and pearl sago).

However, most Chinese restaurants in the Philippines, as in other places, feature Cantonese, Shanghainese and Northern Chinese cuisines, rather than traditional Fujianese fare.

With the increasing number of Chinese with Philippine nationality, the number of political candidates of Chinese-Filipino descent also started to increase. The most significant change within Chinese Filipino political life would be the citizenship decree promulgated by former President Ferdinand Marcos which opened the gates for thousands of Chinese Filipinos to formally adopt Philippine citizenship.

Chinese Filipino political participation largely began with the People Power Revolution of 1986 which toppled the Marcos dictatorship and ushered in the Aquino presidency. The Chinese have been known to vote in blocs in favor of political candidates who are favorable to the Chinese community.

Important Philippine political leaders with Chinese ancestry include the current president Bongbong Marcos, and former presidents Rodrigo Duterte, Emilio Aguinaldo, Benigno Aquino III, Cory Aquino, Sergio Osmeña, Manuel Quezon and Ferdinand Marcos, former senators Nikki Coseteng, Alfredo Lim, Raul Roco, Panfilo Lacson, Vicente Yap Sotto, Vicente Sotto III and Roseller Lim, as well as several governors, congressmen and mayors throughout the Philippines. Many ambassadors and recent appointees to the presidential cabinet are also Chinese Filipinos like Arthur Yap, Jesse Robredo, Jose Yulo, Manuel Yan, Alberto Lim, Danilo Lim, Karl Chua and Bong Go.

The former Archbishop of Manila, Cardinals Jaime Sin, Rufino Santos and Luis Antonio Tagle also have Chinese ancestry.

Chinese mestizos are persons of mixed Chinese and either Spanish or indigenous Filipino ancestry. They are thought to make up as much as 25% of the country's total population. A number of Chinese mestizos have surnames that reflect their heritage, mostly two or three syllables that have Chinese roots (e.g., the full name of a Chinese ancestor) with a Hispanized phonetic spelling.

During the Spanish colonial period, the Spanish authorities encouraged the Chinese male immigrants to convert to Catholicism. Those who converted got baptized and their names Hispanized, and were allowed to intermarry with indigenous women. They and their mestizo offspring became colonial subjects of the Spanish crown, and as such were granted several privileges and afforded numerous opportunities denied to the unconverted, non-citizen Chinese. Starting as traders, they branched out into land leasing, moneylending and later, landholding.

Chinese mestizo men and women were encouraged to marry Spanish and indigenous women and men, by means of dowries, in a policy to mix the races of the Philippines so it would be impossible to expel the Spanish.[101]

In these days however, blood purity is still of prime concern in most traditional Chinese Filipino families especially pure-blooded ones. Many Chinese Filipinos believe that a Chinese Filipino must only be married to a fellow Chinese Filipino since the marriage to a non-Chinese Filipino or any outsider was considered taboo.

Chinese marriage to native or mestizo Filipinos and outsiders posts uncertainty on both parties. The Chinese Filipino family structure is patriarchal hence, it is the male that carries the last name of the family which also carries the legacy of the family itself. Male Chinese Filipino marriage to a native or mestiza Filipina or any outsider is more admissible than vice versa. In the case of the Chinese Filipina female marrying a native or mestizo Filipino or any outsider, it may cause several unwanted issues especially on the side of the Chinese family.

In some instances, a member of a traditional Chinese Filipino family may be denied of his or her inheritance and likely to be disowned by his or her family by marrying an outsider without their consent. However, there are exceptions in which intermarriage to a non-Chinese Filipino or any outsider is permissible provided their family is well-off and/or influential.

On the other hand, modern Chinese Filipino families allow their children to marry native or mestizo Filipino or any outsider. However, many of them would still prefer that the Filipino or any outsider would have some or little Chinese blood, such as descendants of Chinese mestizos during Spanish colonial period.

The Manila Stock Exchange is now pullulated with thousands of prospering Chinese-owned Filipino stock brokerage houses and publicly traded companies.[9][102] Filipino investors of Chinese ancestry dominate the Manila Stock Exchange as they are estimated to control more than half of the publicly listed companies by market capitalization.[103][104][105][106][107][108]

Like much of Southeast Asia, Filipinos of Chinese ancestry dominate the Filipino economy and commerce at every level of society.[8][109][110] Chinese Filipinos wield tremendous economic clout unerringly disproportionate relative to their small population size over their indigenous Filipino majority counterparts and play a critical role in maintaining the country's economic vitality and prosperity.[111][10][112] With their powerful economic prominence, the Chinese virtually make up the country's entire wealthy elite.[102][113][114] Chinese Filipinos, in the aggregate, represent a disproportionate wealthy, market-dominant minority not only form a distinct ethnic community, they also form, by and large, an economic class: the commercial middle and upper class in contrast to their poorer indigenous Filipino majority working and underclass counterparts around them.[8][114] Entire posh Chinese enclaves have sprung up in major Filipino cities across the country, literally walled off from the poorer indigenous Filipino masses guarded by heavily armed, private security forces.[8] Though the contemporary Chinese Filipino community albeit remains stubbornly insular, given their propensity to voluntarily segregate themselves from the indigenous Filipino populace through typically associating themselves with the Chinese community, their collective impacting presence nonetheless still remains powerfully felt throughout the country at large. In particular, given their ubiquitous economic influence and prosperity owing to their shrewd business savvy and astute investment prowess have prompted the community's acculturation into mainstream Filipino society and their maintenance of their exclusively unabashed distinctive cultural sense of ethnic identity, clannishness, community, kinship, nationalism, social, and ethnic cohesion through clan associations.[115]

The Chinese have played a key role in Filipino business and industry having dominated the economy of the Philippines for centuries long before the pre-Spanish and American colonial eras.[116] Long before the Spanish conquest of the Philippines, Chinese merchants carried on trading activities with native communities along the coast of modern Mainland China. By the time the Spanish arrived, the Chinese controlled all the trading and commercial activities across the Philippines, serving as retailers, artisans, and food providers for various Spanish settlements.[11] During the American colonial epoch, Chinese merchants controlled a significant percentage of the retail trade and internal commerce of the country. They predominated the retail trade and owned three-quarters of the 2500 rice mills interspersed along with the Filipino islands.[117] Total resources of banking capital held by the Chinese was US$27 million in 1937 to a high of US$100 million in the estimated aggregate, making them second to the Americans in terms of total foreign capital investment held.[11] Under Spanish rule, the Chinese were willing to engage in trade and venture into other business activities. Filipino entrepreneurs of Chinese ancestry were responsible for introducing sugar refining devices, new construction techniques, movable type printing, and bronze making. The Chinese also provided fishing, gardening, artisan, and other such trading services. Many poverty-stricken Filipinos of Chinese ancestry were attracted to business as they were prohibited from owning land and saw the only path out of abject poverty was by going into commercial business and entrepreneurship. Through taking charge of their own financial destinies to ultimately seek and claim their stake of economic enlightenment by tapping in their entrepreneurial spirits precipitated countless budding Filipino entrepreneurs of Chinese ancestry to become self-employed as dealers, distributors, hawkers, marketers, peddlers, producers, retailers, sellers, and vendors of variegated goods and services catered to the Spanish and American colonizers as well as the masses of indigenous Filipino consumers.[118] Mainly attracted and lured by the promise of bountiful economic opportunities brought upon by the auspices of American colonial influence during the first four decades of the 20th century actuated the Chinese to vigorously assert and ultimately secure their domains of economic power fostered amongst their entrepreneurial activities and investment pursuits. The implementation of a free trade policy between the Philippines and the United States allowed the Chinese to capitalize on the growth of a burgeoning Filipino consumer market. As a result, Filipino entrepreneurs and investors of Chinese ancestry were able to capture a significant market share across the country by expanding their commercial business activities in which they were the key players who ventured into then newly emerging industries such as industrial manufacturing and financial services.[119] The American and Spanish colonizers who saw the indispensable benefit of the enterprising Chinese harnessed their commercial expertise, contacts, capital, and presence to serve and protect their colonial economic interests. Chinese-owned sari-sari stores that cropped up all over the Philippines were utilized to distribute American and cheap Chinese-made Filipino goods and raw materials with the finished products purposed for the eventual export to the American and other foreign markets overseas. The conspicuous presence of the Chinese that permeated throughout the everyday textual fabric of Filipino economic life incurred the volatile emotions and hostility of the indigenous Filipino masses manifested in the form of animosity, bitterness, envy, grievance, insecurity, and resentment.[120]

Up until the 1970s, many of the Philippines's biggest corporations, commercial activity, and economy had long been under the control, influence, and ownership of the Americans and Spaniards.[121] Since the 1970s, much of the Philippines's economic activities that were once long held by them have increasingly come under the commercial influencing dominance of the Chinese, where Filipinos of Chinese ancestry are estimated to control 60 to 70 percent of the modern Filipino economy.[122][123][124][125][126][127][9][128][129][130][131][132][133][134][135][136] The Chinese Filipino community, amounting to 1 percent of the overall population of the Philippines, control the country's largest and most lucrative department stores, supermarkets, hotels, shopping malls, airlines, and fast-food restaurants in addition to all of its major financial services providers, banks and stock brokerage houses, as well as dominating the nation's wholesale distribution networks, shipping lines, banks, construction, textiles, real estate, personal computer, semiconductors, pharmaceutical, mass media, and industrial manufacturing industries.[137][138][139][9][102][140] Filipinos of Chinese ancestry also control 40 percent of the Philippine's national corporate equity.[141][142] Filipinos of Chinese ancestry are also involved in the processing and distribution of pharmaceutical products. More than 1000 companies are involved in this industry, with most being small and medium-sized businesses amounting to an aggregate capitalization of ₱1.2 billion.[143] Filipinos of Chinese ancestry are also prominent players in the Filipino mass media industry, as the Chinese control six out of the ten English-language newspapers in Manila, including the one with the largest daily circulation.[102][144] Many retail stores and restaurants presided by Filipino owners with Chinese ancestry are regularly featured in Manila newspapers which often attracted great public interest as such examples of high profile business ownership were used to illustrate the Chinese community's strong economic influence that permeated throughout the country.[145][146] The Chinese also dominate the Filipino telecommunications industry, where one of the current significant players in the Filipino telecom sector was the business taipan John Gokongwei, whose conglomerate JG Summit Holdings controlled 28 wholly-owned subsidiaries with interests ranging from food and agro-industrial products, hotels, insurance agencies, financial services providers, electronic components, textiles and garment manufacturing, real estate, petrochemicals, power generation, printing, newspaper publishing, packaging materials, detergents, and cement mixing.[147] Gokongwei's family firm is one of the six largest and most well-known Filipino conglomerates that has been under the hands of an owner of Chinese lineage.[148] Gokongwei began his business career by starting out in food processing during the 1950s, venturing into textile manufacturing in the early 1970s, and then cornered the Filipino real estate development and hotel management industries by the end of the decade. In 1976, Gokongwei established Manila Midtown Hotels and has since then assumed the controlling interest of two other hotel chains, Cebu Midtown and Manila Galleria Suites respectively.[149] In addition, Gokongwei has also made forays into the Filipino financial services sector as he expanded his business interests by investing in two Filipino banks, PCI Bank and Far East Bank, in addition to negotiating the acquisition of one of the Philippines's oldest newspapers, The Manila Times.[150][151] Gokongwei's eldest daughter became publisher of the newspaper in December 1988 at the age of 28, at which during the same time her father acquired the paper from the Roceses, a Spanish Mestizo family.[152] Of the 66 percent remaining part of the economy in the Philippines held by either Chinese or indigenous Filipinos, the Chinese control 35 percent of all total sales.[153][154] Filipinos of Chinese ancestry control an estimated 50 to 60 percent of non-land share capital in the Philippines, and as much as 35 percent of total sales are attributed to the largest public and private firms owned by the Chinese.[155][156][157][158] Many prominent Filipino companies that are Chinese-owned focus on diverse industry sectors such as semiconductors, chemicals, real estate, engineering, construction, fibre-optics, textiles, financial services, consumer electronics, food, and personal computers.[159] A third of the top 500 companies publicly listed on the Philippines Stock Exchange are owned by Filipinos of Chinese ancestry.[160] Of the top 1000 firms, Filipinos of Chinese ancestry control 36 percent of them and among the top 100 companies, 43 percent.[160][161] Between 1978 and 1988, 146 of the country's 494 top companies were under Chinese ownership.[162] Filipinos of Chinese ancestry are also estimated to control over one-third of the Philippines's 1000 largest corporations with the Chinese controlling 47 of the 68 locally owned companies publicly listed on the Manila Stock Exchange.[163][164][165][166][167][168] In 1990, the Chinese controlled 25 percent of the top 100 businesses in the Philippines and by 2014, the share of top 100 firms owned by them grew to 41 percent.[169][170] Filipino entrepreneurs of Chinese ancestry are also responsible for generating 55 percent of overall Filipino private commercial business activity across the country.[171] In addition, Chinese-owned Filipino companies account for 66 percent of the sixty largest commercial entities.[172][173] In 2008, among the top ten wealthiest Filipinos, 6 to 7 were of Chinese ancestry with Henry Sy Sr. having topped the list with an estimated net worth US$14.4 billion.[174] In 2015, the top 4 wealthiest people in the Philippines (with 9 being pure-blooded Han Chinese in addition to 10 out of the top 15) were of Chinese ancestry.[175][140] In 2019, 15 of the 17 Filipino billionaires were of Chinese ancestry.[176]

Filipinos of Chinese ancestry exert a considerable influential foothold in the Philippines's industrial manufacturing sector. With respect to delineating the parameters by industry distribution, Chinese-owned manufacturing establishments account for a third of the entirety of the Filipino industrial manufacturing sector.[117][162][177] The majority of Filipino industrial manufacturing establishments that produce the processing of coconut products, flour, food products, textiles, plastic products, footwear, glass, as well as heavy industry products such as metals, steel, industrial chemicals, paper products, paints, leatherwork, garments, sugar refining, timber processing, construction materials, food and beverages, rubber, plastics, semiconductors, and personal computers are controlled by Filipino entrepreneurs of Chinese ancestry.[10][117][178][179] In the secondary industry, 75 percent of the country's 2500 rice mills were Chinese-owned. Chinese Filipino entrepreneurs were also dominant in wood processing, and accounted for over 10 percent of the capital invested in the lumber industry and controlled 85 percent of it as well as accounting for 40 percent of the industry's annual output propagated through their extensive control of nearly all the sawmills throughout the country.[180] Emerging import-substituting light industries induced the active participation and ownership of Chinese entrepreneurs being involved in various several salt works in addition to a large number of small and medium-sized producers engaged in food processing as well as the production of leather and tobacco goods. The Chinese also hold enormous sway over the Filipino food processing industry with approximately 200 outlets being involved in this sector alone predominating the eventual export of their finished products to Hong Kong, Singapore, and Taiwan. More than 200 Chinese-owned companies are also involved in the production of paper, paper products, fertilizers, cosmetics, rubber products, and plastics.[181] By the early 1960s, the Chinese presence in the manufacturing sector became even more significant. Of the industrial manufacturing establishments that employed 10 or more workers, 35 percent were Chinese-owned and among 284 enterprises employing more than 100 workers, 37 percent were likewise Chinese-owned. Of the 163 domestic industrial manufacturing companies operating throughout the Philippines, 80 were Chinese-owned and included the manufacturing of coconut oil, food products, tobacco, textiles, plastic products, footwear, glass, and certain types of metals such as tubes and pipes, wire rods, nails, bolts, and containers.[182] In 1965, the Chinese controlled 32 percent of the country's top industrial manufacturing outlets.[183][184][185] Of the 259 industrial manufacturing establishments belonging to the top 1000 that operated throughout the entire country, the Chinese owned 33.6 percent of the top manufacturing companies as well as 43.2 percent of the top commercial manufacturing outlets in 1980.[162][186] By 1986, the Chinese controlled 45 percent of the country's top 120 domestic manufacturing companies.[117][187][188][189] These manufacturing establishments are mainly involved in the production of tobacco and cigarettes, soap and cosmetics, textiles and rubber footwear.[178]

The Filipino fast food chain, Jollibee, which makes Filipino-style hamburgers was founded by Tony Tan Caktiong, a Filipino entrepreneur of Chinese ancestry.[190] The outlet today continues to remain as one of the country's most famous and beloved fast food franchises.[191]

Today, Filipinos of Chinese ancestry control all of the Philippines's largest and most lucrative department stores, supermarkets, and fast-food restaurants.[9][102] In the fast-food industry, Filipino restaurateurs of Chinese ancestry have been behind the Philippines's biggest fast-food restaurant franchises. A wave of big-name of domestically homegrown restaurant chains such as Chowking, Greenwich Pizza, Mang Inasal, Red Ribbon in addition to the Mainland Chinese-based establishment Yonghe Dawang (永和大王) have made headway into the Filipino restaurant industry with their various constiuent outlets being cropped up across various cities around the country. There are roughly 3000 fast-food outlets and restaurants controlled by Filipino restaurateurs of Chinese ancestry around the country, especially eating establishments specializing in Chinese cuisine have attracted an influx of foreign capital investments from Hong Kong and Taiwan.[192][193] The banker and business taipan George Ty was responsible for securing and franchising the rights of the famous publicly traded American hamburger franchise McDonald's across the Philippines and the Jollibee fast-food joint, whose founder Tony Tan Caktiong is a Filipino restaurateur of Chinese ancestry.[194][190][195][196] Jollibee's popularity around the country has since then led to the expansion of its corporate presence throughout the world by establishing subsidiaries in the Middle East, Hong Kong, Guam, and other Southeast Asian countries such as Brunei and Indonesia.[147][197][198] The chain has since evolved into the Jollibee Foods Corporation with the company having expanded gradually its corporate operating presence throughout Mainland China as evidenced by its foreign acquisition of the Chinese fast food chain Dim Sum in 2008.[199] In the beverage sector, San Miguel Corporation is the among the Philippines's most prominent beverage providers. The company was founded in 1851 by Enrique María Barretto de Ycaza y Esteban and is responsible for supplying the country's entire beverage needs. Two Chinese-owned Filipino beverage companies, namely Lucio Tan's Asia Brewery and John Gokongwei's Universal Robina, along with several lesser-known beverage companies are also now competing with each other to capture the largest share in the Filipino beverage market.[200]

In 1940, Filipinos of Chinese ancestry were estimated to control 70 percent of the country's entire retail trade and 75 percent of the nation's rice mills.[201] By 1948, the economic standing of the Chinese community began to elevate even further allowing them to wield considerable influence by expanding their commercial business presence across the Filipino retail industry. As the Chinese community exercised a considerable percentage of the total commercial investment, including the command of 55 percent of the the Filipino retail trade and 85 percent of the country's lumber industry at this time.[202] After the end of the Second Sino-Japanese war, Chinese Filipinos controlled 85 percent of the nation's retail trade.[203] The Chinese also presided over 40 percent of the retailing imports coupled with substantial controlling interests in banking, oil refining, sugar milling, cement, tobacco, flour milling, glass, dairy farming, automobile manufacturing, and consumer electronics.[204] Although the Filipino Hacienderos owned an extensive array of businesses, Filipinos of Chinese ancestry greatly augmented their economic power coinciding with the pro-market reforms of the late 1980s and 1990s initiated by the Marcos administration. As a result, the Chinese gradually increased their commanding role in the domestic Filipino commercial retail sector over time by acting as an intermediary in connecting Chinese-owned Filipino retailers to the masses of indigenous Filipino consumers through the exchange of various goods and services. The Chinese Filipino business community accomplished such commercial feats as a tight-knit group in an enclosed system via vertical integration by setting up their own supply chains, distribution networks, locating key competitors, making use of geographical coverage, attributes and characteristics, business strategies, staff recruitment, store proliferation, and establishing their own independent trade organizations.[205] Chinese-owned Filipino retail outlets also exercised a vast disproportionate share of several local goods such as rice, lumber products, and alcoholic drinks.[205] Some Chinese Filipino merchant traders even branched into retailing these products in addition to rice milling, logging, saw-milling, distillery, tobacco, coconut oil processing, footwear making, and agricultural processing. Over time, the domestic Filipino economy began to broaden by the multitudinous expansion of commercial business activities long held by the Chinese which also ushered in new forms of entrepreneurship with the Chinese having assidiously devoted and directed their corporate efforts, energies, and capital into cultivating new industries and growth areas over other well-established and matured sectors.[205]

Since the 1950s, Filipino entrepreneurs of Chinese ancestry have controlled the entirety of the Filipino retail industry.[206] Every small, medium, and large enterprise in the Filipino retail sector is now completely under Chinese hands as they have been at the forefront at pioneering the modern and contemporary development of the Philippines's retail sector.[207] From the 1970s onward, Filipino entrepreneurs of Chinese ancestry have re-established themselves as the dominant players in the Filipino retail industry with the community having achieved a collective corporate feat of presiding an estimated 8500 Chinese-owned retail and wholesale outlets that predominate across various metropolitan areas the country.[10][208] On a microscopic scale, the Hokkien community have a proclivity to run capital intensive businesses such as banks, commercial shipping lines, rice mills, dry goods, and general stores while the Cantonese gravitated towards hotels, restaurants, and laundromats.[209][205] Filipino entrepreneurs of Chinese ancestry control 35 percent to upwards to two-thirds of the domestic sales among the country's 67 largest commercial retail outlets.[210][211][212][213] By the 1980s, Filipino entrepreneurs of Chinese ancestry began to expand their business activities by venturing into large-scale retailing.

Chinese-owned Filipino retail outlet's today are among the single largest owners of department store chains in the Philippines with one prominent example being Rustan's, which is one of the country's most prestigious department store brands.[214] Other prime retailers such as Shoe Mart owned by Henry Sy and John Gokongwei's Robinson's percolated rapidly throughout major cities around the country, with the products that they retailed having made their way into the shopping malls situated across various parts of the Manila Metropolitan area.[215] Another prominent business figure in Philippines's retail industry is the Fujian-born and Filipino-bred taipan, Lucio Tan. Tan started off his business career in the cigarette distribution industry and then catapulted himself into entrepreneurial prominence within the major leagues of elite Filipino business circles after masterminding the corporate takeover of General Bank and Trust Company in 1977 and later renamed it as the Allied Bank.[216] Tan, whose flagship cigarette manufacturing company Fortune Tobacco (now a Philippine affiliate of Philip Morris International) controls the largest market share of cigarette distribution in the country and has since then emerged as of one richest men in the Philippines.[217] Aside from taking over the Philippines's tobacco distribution networks, Tan has since parlayed his business interests into a corporate conglomerate behemoth of his own LT Group Inc.. His corporate empire presides over a portfolio of diversified business interests including chemicals, sports, education, brewing, financial services, real estate, hotels (Century Park Hotel), in addition to his company having acquired a majority controlling interest in PAL, one of the Philippines's largest airlines.[218] In terms of industry distribution, small and medium size Chinese-owned retailers account for half of the Philippines retail trade, with 49.45 percent of the retail sector alone being controlled by Henry Sy's Shoemart, and the remaining share of the retail trade being dominated by a few larger Chinese-owned Filipino umbrella retail outlets that include thousands of smaller retail subsidiaries.[219][162][220] Sy built his business empire from scratch out of his Shoe Mart department store chain, and has since made forays into banking and real estate development after purchasing a controlling interest of Banco de Oro, a private commercial bank as well as acquiring a substantial block of China Banking Corporation, another privately Chinese-owned Filipino commercial bank and wealth management house whose services are specifically catered and tailored to the banking and financing needs of up-and-coming Chinese Filipino entrepreneurs.[221]

From small trade cooperatives clustered by hometown pawnbrokers, Filipinos of Chinese ancestry would go on to establish and incorporate the largest financial services institutions in the country. Filipinos of Chinese ancestry have been the chief pioneering influence in the Filipino financial sector as they dominated the country's financial services domain and have had a presence in the country's banking industry since the early part of the 20th century. The two earliest Chinese-founded Filipino banks were China Bank and the Mercantile Bank of China, established in 1920 and 1924 respectively.[222] The country's rapid parallel shift to the industrial manufacturing sector prompted the Chinese to concurrently venture into the nascent banking and financial services sector.[223] In 1956, there were four Chinese-owned Filipino banks, nine by 1971, sixteen in 1974, with the Chinese holding majority stakes in 10 of the 26 private commercial Filipino banks by the early 1990s.[223] Today, the overwhelming majority of the Philippines's principal banks have come under Chinese ownership with Filipinos of Chinese ancestry owning six of the top ten banks in the country.[224][225] Of these six banks, the Chinese collectively control 63 percent of the aggregate assets among the top ten banks in the country.[226] Chinese-controlled Filipino banks include the China Banking Corporation, Bank of the Philippine Islands, Philippine Savings Bank, the Philippine National Bank (owned by LT Group, Inc.), and most notably Metrobank Group that was owned by banker and businessman George Ty, which has been the country's second-largest and most aggressive financial services conglomerate.[227][102] Lesser-known private commercial banks established in the 1950s and 1960s are also owned and controlled by Filipinos of Chinese ancestry.[228][117] The lone exception of a non-Chinese and non-foreign owned Filipino bank was the Spanish Filipino Lopez-owned Philippine Commercial International Bank, which has since been taken over by Henry Sy's holding and investment company SM Investments Corporation, and later reemerged itself as a subsidiary of Banco de Oro in 2007.[117] Banco De Oro, which saw its beginnings as a mere savings bank in 1980, catapulted itself into the ranks of prominence in the Filipino financial services sector when it subsumed Equitable-PCI Bank in July 2005 under the aegis of Sy.[229] With Sy having assumed majority ownership of Banco de Oro, a commercial bank as well as acquiring a 14 percent stake in the China Banking Corporation, he also took a controlling interest in the Philippine National Bank, and 7 percent of the Far East Bank.[230] By 1970, among the Philippines's five largest banks holding almost 50 percent of all assets in the industry, namely China Banking Corporation, Citibank, the Bank of the Philippine Islands, Equitable PCI Bank, in addition to the formerly government-owned Philippine National Bank came under the control of Chinese shareholders.[117] Among the top ten private commercial banks in 1993, Chinese-Filipino business families were in full control of four of them, namely the Metropolitan Bank, Allied Bank, Equitable Banking, and China Banking. George Ty's Metropolitan Bank generated the industry's highest share of gross revenues and net income in addition to holding the Filipino banking industry's largest amount of total assets during that year.[231] In 1993, Chinese-owned Filipino banks controlled 38.43 percent of the total assets in the private Filipino commercial banking sector.[232] By 1995, banks owned by Filipinos of Chinese ancestry had captured an even greater market share of the Philippines's financial services sector after the formerly government-owned Philippine National Bank was partially privatized, along with four of the top five banks that were substantially controlled by Chinese shareholders claiming 48 percent of all bank assets and over 60 percent of all those held by private domestic commercial banks.[117] At the turn of the 20th century, among the plethora of mergers and acquisitions that occurred within the Filipino banking sector due to major industry realignments that were set in motion with regards to how private commercial banks were owned, sparked a flurry of mergers and acquisitions that continued to consolidate the Chinese grip on the Philippines's private commercial banking sector. Among the most notable transactions that took place was George Ty's Metrobank, which at this time acquired Asian Bank and Global Business Bank and with Lucio Tan in 1992 having assumed a 67 percent controlling ownership of the privatized Philippine National Bank, which was once the Philippines's foremost government bank following the aftermath of the country's national privatization program in the 1980s.[233][234] Tan has since then solidified a commanding presence in the Filipino banking sector towards the beginning of the new millennium when he continued his corporate onslaught through the buyout, absorption, and subsequent merger of Philippine National Bank with his own bank, Allied Bank.[235] Fellow taipan John Gokongwei was also a major shareholder in the Far East Bank, Philippine Commercial and International Bank, and controlled a 19 percent stake in the Philippine Trust Company. During the 1999 Filipino banking mergers and acquisition frenzy, Gokongwei realized an immense windfall gain following the high-profit sale of his shares in PCIB and the Far East Bank in the process.[236] In terms of industry distribution, Chinese-owned firms account for a quarter of the Filipino financial services sector.[162] Today, the overwhelming majority of the Philippines's nine principal banks in addition to the formerly state-owned Philippine National Bank are now under the ownership of Chinese shareholders, including the Allied Banking Corporation, Banco de Oro Group, China Banking Corporation (Chinabank), East West Banking Corporation, Metrobank group, Philippine Trust Company (Philtrust Bank), Rizal Commercial Banking group, Security Bank Corporation (Security Bank) and the United Coconut Planters Bank.[237] Most of these banks comprise a larger part of an umbrella owned family conglomerate with assets exceeding ₱100 billion.[238] The total combined assets of all the Philippines's commercial banks under Chinese ownership account for 25.72 percent of all the aggregate assets in the entire Filipino commercial banking system.[10] Among the Philippines's 35 banks, shareholders of Chinese ancestry on average control 30 percent of the total banking equity.[239] There are also 23 Filipino insurance agencies that are Chinese-owned, with some branches operating overseas and in Hong Kong.[222]

Filipinos of Chinese ancestry also wield enormous clout over the Philippines's real estate sector with much of the modern industry's grip being commercially grasped in their shrewdly enterprising and investment-savvy clutches. The line of business and investment opportunities that allowed the Chinese to expand their economic predominance into the Filipino real estate industry presented themselves occurred when the Chinese were finally conferred full-fledged Filipino citizenship during the Martial Law Period in order to gain the privilege to buy, sell, and own land.[240] Initially, the Chinese were not allowed to own land until formally acquiring Filipino citizenship in the 1970s, which later permitted them to be granted with the same economic rights and privileges as their indigenous Filipino counterparts.[241] In the aftermath of such a historically significant legal change that occurred throughout the Filipino geopolitical landscape at this time, its reverberating ramifications afterwards soon led to an upsurge of massive land purchases throughout the country predominated by Filipino investors of Chinese ancestry which started by the next decade following the country's political transition from a dictatorship to a democracy.[242] The acquisition of Filipino citizenship during the 1970s allowed the Chinese to expand their economic presence even more greatly by venturing into larger-scale investment-grade commercial real estate ventures and delving into other investment opportunities that augmented and galvanized their economic grip on the Filipino real estate markets while elevating their respective socioeconomic positions in the process.[243] Since the 1980s, Filipino businessmen and investors of Chinese ancestry have cornered much of the Philippines's real estate investment markets, land, and property development sectors, when much of the industry's grasp had been long held by the Spaniards.[244] Chinese-owned Filipino real estate companies have devoured large swathes of prime commercial and residential real estate across Metro Manila and other urban Filipino cities utilized for the exploitative purposes of profit through commercial property development and investment.[245] Since 1990, the Filipino real estate markets have been dominated by both Chinese and non-Chinese Filipino businessmen and investors alike, betting their impending fortunes by competing fiercely for the potential acquisition of various key strategic property development and prime investment locations around the country that were set to boom entailed by the ripely soaring opportunities for profitability presented in the bounded form of cash flow generation and capital appreciation.[246] Presently, many of the biggest real estate development operators in the Philippines are owned by Filipino businessmen and investors of Chinese ancestry following the exodus of the Spanish Filipino Mestizo landowning elites such as the Araneta's, Ayala's, Lopez's, and Ortiga's.[247] Of the 500 real estate companies operating in the Philippines, 120 are owned by Filipinos of Chinese ancestry with the firms mostly specializing in real estate investment, land, and property development, in addition to construction having much of their commercial presence mainly being concentrated in the Manila Metropolitan area.[248] Well-known real estate companies controlled by some of the Philippines's most high profile businessmen and investors include SMDC owned by the Sy's, Robinsons Land by the Gokongwei's, Megaworld Properties & Holdings Inc. which is controlled by Andrew Tan, Filinvest that is commanded by the Gotianun's, and DoubleDragon Properties, presided by businessman Edgar Sia II of Mang Inasal fame.[249] Large scale commercial real estate projects such as the Eton Centris in Pinyahan, the Shangri-La Plaza in Mandaluyong and the Tagaytay Highlands Golf Club and Resort development in Tagaytay City were testaments of such joint projects undertaken by Filipino real estate developers of Chinese ancestry in cooperation with other fellow Overseas Chinese dealmakers operating throughout the Southeast Asian real estate markets. These corporate partnerships were largely forged by Overseas Chinese business tycoons such as the investor Liem Sioe Liong, businessman Robert Kuok and dealmakers Andrew Gotianun, Henry Sy, George Ty and Lucio Tan.[250] Besides being responsible for spearheading the pioneering development and growth of the Philippines's modern real estate industry, both Sy and Tan have been generous patrons of the Mainland Chinese on top of the local Chinese Filipino community, ardently extending their philanthropic hospitality by actively investing in the economic development and revitalization of their ancestral hometowns back in China.[251] With Sy constructing supermalls in Chengdu, Chongqing, and Suzhou and Tan developing a 30-story banking center in Xiamen.[252]

The Chinese also pioneered the Filipino shipping industry which eventually germinated into a major industry sector as a means of transporting goods cheaply and quickly between the islands. Filipino entrepreneurs of Chinese ancestry have remained dominant in the Philippines's maritime shipping and sea transport industry as it was one of the few efficient methods of transporting goods cheaply and quickly across the country, with the Philippines geographically being an archipelago, comprising more than 1000 islands and inlets.[182] There are 12 Filipino business families of Chinese ancestry engaged in inter-island transport and shipping, particularly with the shipping of food products requiring refrigeration amounting to an aggregate capitalization of ₱10 billion. Taiwanese expatriate investors have participated in various joint ventures by opening up new shipping lanes on the route between Manila and Cebu.[253] Prominent shipping lines owned by Filipinos of Chinese ancestry include Cokaliong Shipping Lines, Gothong Lines, Lite Shipping Corporation, Sulpicio Lines which was infamously associated with a tragedy that led to the deaths of hundreds and Trans-Asia Shipping Lines.[254] One enterprising and pioneering Filipino entrepreneur of Chinese ancestry was William Chiongbian, who established William Lines in 1949, which by the end of 1993, became the most profitable inter-island Filipino shipping line ranking first in terms of gross revenue generated as well as net income among the country's seven biggest shipping companies at that time.[182] Currently, the Filipino inter-island shipping industry is dominated by four Chinese-owned shipping lines led by William Chiongbian's William Lines.[10] Likewise, Filipinos of Chinese ancestry also own all of the major airlines in the country, including the flagship carrier Philippine Airlines, AirphilExpress, Cebu Pacific, South East Asian Airlines, Air Manila and Zest Air.[10]

As Filipino entrepreneurs of Chinese ancestry became more financially prosperous, they often coalesced their financial resources and pooled large amounts of seed capital together to forge joint business ventures with expatriate Mainland and Overseas Chinese businessmen and investors from all over the world. Like other Chinese-owned businesses operating throughout the Southeast Asian markets, Chinese-owned businesses in the Philippines often link up with Greater Chinese and other Overseas Chinese businesses and networks across the globe to focus on new business opportunities to collaborate and concentrate on. Common industry sectors of focus include real estate, engineering, textiles, consumer electronics, financial services, food, semiconductors, and chemicals.[255] Besides sharing a common ancestry, cultural, linguistic, and familial ties, many Filipino entrepreneurs and investors of Chinese ancestry are particular strong adherents of the Confucian paradigm of interpersonal relationships when doing business with each other, as the Chinese believed that the underlying source for entrepreneurial and investment success relied on the nurturing of personal relationships.[178] Moreover, Filipino businesses that are Chinese-owned form a part of the larger bamboo network, an umbrella business network of Overseas Chinese companies operating in the markets of Greater China and Southeast Asia that share common family, ethnic, linguistic, and cultural ties.[256][257] With the spectacular growth of varying success stories witnessed by a number of individual Chinese Filipino business tycoons and investors have allowed them to expand their traditional corporate activities beyond the Philippines to forge international partnerships with increasing numbers of expatriate Mainland and Overseas Chinese investors on a global scale.[258] Instead of quixotically diverting excess profits elsewhere, many Filipino entrepreneurs of Chinese ancestry are known for their penurious and parsimonious ways by eschewing improvident lavish extravagances and frivolous conspicuous consumption but instead adhere to the Chinese paradigm of being frugal by pragmatically, productively, and methodically reinvesting substantial surpluses of their business profits devoted for the purpose of corporate expansion and asset acquisition. A sizable percentage of the conglomerates managed by capable Filipino entrepreneurs and investors of Chinese ancestry that are armed with the necessary managerial capabilities, commercial expertise, entrepreneurial acumen, investment savvy, and visionary foresight were able to germinate from small budding enterprises to making headway into gargantuan corporate leviathans garnering widespread economic influence across the Philippines, Southeast Asia, and the global financial markets.[112] Such massive corporate expansions engendered the term "Chinoy", which is colloquially used in Filipino newspapers to denote Filipino individuals with a degree of Chinese ancestry who either speak a Chinese dialect or adhere to Chinese customs.

As Chinese economic might grew, much of the indigenous Filipino majority were gradually driven out and displaced into poorer land on the hills, on the outskirts of major Filipino cities, or into the mountains.[109] Disenchantment grew among the displaced indigenous Filipinos who felt they were unable compete with Chinese-owned businesses.[259] Underlying resentment and bitterness from the impoverished Filipino majority has been accumulating as there has been no existence of indigenous Filipino having any substantial business equity in the Philippines.[109] Decades of free market liberalization brought virtually no economic benefit to the indigenous Filipino majority but rather the opposite resulting a subjugated indigenous Filipino majority underclass, where the vast disproportion of indigeneous Filipinos still engage in rural peasantry, menial labor or domestic service and squatting.[102][109] The Filipino government has dealt with this wealth disparity by establishing socialist and communist dictatorships or authoritarian regimes while pursuing a systematic and ruthless affirmative action campaigns giving privileges to allow the indigenous Filipino majority to gain a more equitable economic footing during the 1950s and 1960s.[260][261] The rise of economic nationalism among the impoverished indigenous Filipino majority prompted by the Filipino government resulted in the passing of the Retail Trade Nationalization Law of 1954, where ethnic Chinese were barred and pressured to move out of the retail sector restricting engagement to Filipino citizens only.[261] In addition, the Chinese were prevented from owning land by restricting land ownership to Filipinos only. Other restrictions on Chinese economic activities included limiting Chinese involvement in the import-export trade while trying to increase the indigenous Filipino involvement to gain a proportionate presence. In 1960, the Rice and Corn Nationalization Law was passed restricting trading, milling, and warehousing of rice and corn only to Filipinos while barring Chinese involvement, in which they initially had a significant presence.[260][261][262][263] These policies ultimately backfired on the government as the laws had an overall negative impact on the government tax revenue which dropped significantly because the country's biggest source of taxpayers were Chinese, who eventually took their capital out of the country to invest elsewhere.[260][261] The increased economic clout held in the hands of the Chinese has triggered bitterness, suspicion, resentment, envy, insecurity, grievance, instability, ethnic hatred, and outright anti-Chinese hostility among the indigenous native Filipino majority towards the Chinese minority.[110] Such hostility has resulted in the kidnapping of hundreds of Chinese Filipinos by indigeneous Filipinos since the 1990s.[110] Many victims, often children are brutally murdered, even after a ransom is paid.[109][110] Numerous incidents of crimes such kidnap-for-ransom, extortion, and other forms of harassment were committed against the Chinese Filipino community starting from the early 1990s continues to this very day.[35][110] Thousands of displaced Filipino hill tribes and aborigines continue to live in satellite shantytowns on the outskirts of Manila in economic destitution where two-thirds of the country's indigenous Filipinos live on less than 2 dollars per day in extreme poverty.[109] Such animosity, antagonmism, bitterness, envy, grievance, hatred, insecurity, and resentment is ready at any moment to be catalyzed as a form of vengeneance by the downtrodden indigenous Filipino majority as many Chinese Filipinos are subject to kidnapping, vandalism, murder, and violence.[264] Anti-Chinese sentiment among the indigenous Filipino majority is deeply rooted in poverty but also feelings of resentment and exploitation are also exhibited among native and mestizo Filipinos blaming their socioeconomic failures on the Chinese.[110][264][265]

Most of the younger generations of pure Chinese Filipinos are descendants of Chinese who migrated during the 1800s onward – this group retains much of Chinese culture, customs, and work ethic (though not necessarily language), whereas almost all Chinese mestizos are descendants of Chinese who migrated even before the Spanish colonial period and have been integrated and assimilated into the general Philippine society as a whole.

There are four trends that the Chinese Filipino would probably undertake within a generation or so:

• assimilation and integration, as in the case of Chinese Thais who eventually lost their genuine Chinese heritage and adopted Thai culture and language as their own
• separation, where the Chinese Filipino community can be clearly distinguished from the other ethnic groups in the Philippines; reminiscent of most Chinese Malaysians
• returning to the ancestral land, which is the current phenomenon of overseas Chinese returning to China
• emigration to North America and Australasia, as in the case of some Chinese Malaysians and many Chinese Vietnamese (Hoa people)

During the 1970s, Fr. Charles McCarthy, an expert in Philippine-Chinese relations, observed that "the peculiarly Chinese content of the Philippine-Chinese subculture is further diluted in succeeding generations" and he made a prediction that "the time will probably come and it may not be far off, when, in this sense, there will no more 'Chinese' in the Philippines". This view is still controversial however, with the constant adoption of new cultures by Filipinos contradicting this thought.

• China–Philippines relations
• Chinese Filipinos who migrated to Mexico during the galleon trade
• CHInoyTV, a TV program featuring the Chinese community in the Philippines
• Filipinos in China
• List of Chinese schools in the Philippines
• Manila Chinese Cemetery
• Sangley

• Amyot, Jacques, S.J. The Chinese Community of Manila: A Study of Adaptation of Chinese Familism to the Philippine Environment. Philippine Studies Program, Research Series No. 2, University of Chicago Department of Anthropology (mimeographed), 1960.

• Media related to Chinese diaspora in the Philippines at Wikimedia Commons