Any studies of the Philippines & Spanish gene mix?

[tombseye]

Greetings. I was wondering if anyone knew of any genetic studies that have shed light upon the background of people from the Philippines. The common belief by Filipinos is that they are all part Spanish. Yet records seem to show that most Spaniards went to the Americas and few went to the Philippines. Most Filipinos I know immediately emphasize their Spanish origins, but is there any genetic evidence to support this belief? I am doubtful of the claims as it sounds like a case of identifying with the conqueror and confusion over similar names etc.

[asdf]

You don't really need genetic studies. The government's census is rather reliable. 95% of Philipinos are not mestizos nor have any degree of European ancestry.

So the study indicates clearly that there were 28 samples (28 people) from the Philippines, only 1 sample (1 person) was found to carry any European markers. As a fraction that is represented as "1/28", or as a percentage , "3.57%" of the people sampled had European markers. Rounded up one decimal point it becomes "3.6%"; which is exactly the findings of the study. For the enth time, 3.6% does not refer to the amount of European admixture in Filipinos, but to the frequency of Filipinos which are found to have European markers. Additionally, it DOES NOT state what the average European admixture was amongst those found with the markers (he could've been one sixteenth European, were a great-great grandparent was Caucasian).

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Demographics_of_the_Philippines#Mexicans_in_Philippines

[asdf]

hpgl.stanford.edu/publications/AJHG_2001_v68_p432.pdf

[tombseye]

Actually, most Filipinos still believe that they are part Spanish. As a group most believe that mestizos are one group while the majority have some Spanish ancestry as part of a larger whole. I would say that genetic tests would help as censuses and wikipedia are merely reflections of public opinion. Tests could shed light from scientific view.

[tombseye]

Ah thanks Will. Just what I was looking for.

[aroundtheworld]

Many have Spanish surnames and thus claim to be Mestizo when they are obviously not. There are very few true Mestizos there. Many of the fair-skinned Filipinos are mixed with Chinese, Northern Indian and some with Australian, British, German, and Dutch.

[tonynatuzzi]

I have never confused a Filipino for a Mestizo before and where I live there is a large number of both.

[asdf]

Do you understand what "Mestizo" means here? It means "aboriginal" (of whatever sort) with Spaniard.

Philipino mestizos are not supposed to closely resemble Latin American ones.

[tonynatuzzi]

Yeah but since Filipinos are Mongoloids just like Latin American Indians than somebody who is actually 50/50 half Spanish and half Filipino would have atleast some resemblance to a Hispanic Mestizo right.

[asdf]

Well, you would think, and often times yes, but about as frequently, Indian mestizos look distinct.

[aroundtheworld]

The current definition for Mestizo in Philippines is an average phenotypically Filipino person with 1/2 Spanish blood, which usually ends up looking like average South American/Mexican Mestizo but with a bit more noticeable mongloid features. An "average" Filipino would resemble bi-racial(half black/half filipino) Real World New Orleans star Melissa Howard. Ok, if Melissa Howard had a child with Antonio Banderas, that would be what is "accepted" as Mestiza.

She is 1/2 Black but appears to many as "full" Filipina

[Drooperdoo]

I actually saw a genetic study of Filipinos and the "admixture rate" was within the 1% mark. Extraordinarily low levels of mixture. Filipinos have Spanish surnames because of Catholicism. As part of conversion they were given "Christian" names. So, contrary to what so many Filipinos claim, they don't Spanish surnames due to some imaginary Spanish ancestor. And the genetic tests bear that out. I'm going from memory, but it was something like 1% of the population or less had Western European dna.
That 1%, of course, just refers to Spaniards. (Recently, in our global world, there are more Europeans in the Philipines than at any other time in its history. So there are new strains entering the gene-pool: German, Dutch, French, American, etc. So this new influx of European dna raised the percentage of Caucasoid dna to something like 3%. When you factor out the new admixture and go back to the original Spaniards, it plumets back to the 1% figure.)

Filipinos have low levels of admixture from neighboring countries: China, Japan, Southeast Asia, etc. But even that was extremely low--like 3- 5%, if memory serves.

[aroundtheworld]

Drooperdoo, you are correct. There is a small population in the north in Luzon above Manila where there is a slight Chinese admixture. In the South of Luzon south of Manilla there is an area where many people have a European admixutre via Amsterdam,Germany,and Australia but it's absorbed so much it's not enough to make the people look like a Mexican Mestiza or nearly Caucasoid "White".

[Drooperdoo]

Yeah,
I had a friend who was a Philipino and he told me that Philipinos were offended if they were called Asians. They view themselves as "Hispanic," he said. I was awe-struck, seeing as how he looked Japanese. Furthermore his country was south of Japan.
How could he not expect to be called Asian? He was from Asia!
As I got older, I realized that it was a relic of colonialism, where the oppressed identify with the oppressor. I read an article by a Phillipino-American girl who confronted the issue head-on. She had been told all her life that she was part-Spanish. She did a genealogy and discovered that she had 0% Spanish ancestry. Not a single Conquistador in her line, yet her family insisted on referring to itself as "Hispanic" and made mythical claims about bogus relatives (who, upon closer inspection, turned out to be 100% aboriginal).

So the next time you hear a Phillipino claim to be Spanish or "part-Spanish," smile politely, nod and cringe silently.

[kampilan]

tombseye said:

The common belief by Filipinos is that they are all part Spanish.....

Care to back this assertion with evidence? Because last time I checked that is not true and I should know . Which sould make you a liar.