MEXICO CITY — Mexico left a deep imprint on the Philippines but what is not generally realized is that the Philippines left an equally deep imprint on Mexico. They were practically one and the same country during the Spanish colonial era, linked by the galleon trade for 250 years, becoming separated when Mexico gained independence from Spain in 1821.
This is the theme of a discussion which I had with a remarkable man in Mexico City, an architect by the name of Jorge Loyzaga whose knowledge of Philippine-Mexican links is unequalled. Mr. Loyzaga has traveled frequently to Manila and counts with many Filipino friends.
An expert in church restoration, he has trained l0 Filipino architects in this esoteric task. His collection of books on Mexico and the Philippines, particularly on the Manila galleons, is the most extensive that I have seen. I was referred to him by the Mexican envoy in Manila, the genial Ambassador Enrique Hubbard.
In the following paragraphs, I will compress some of the fascinating facts narrated to me by Mr. Loyzaga, as well as information provided by another noted Mexican historian who specializes on the Philippines, Maria Cristina Barron.
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Forty percent of the stored documents in Mexico’s national archives pertain to the Philippines, mostly records of the Manila galleons that sailed to Acapulco from Cavite from 1570 to 1815. Majority of the galleon crew were Filipinos from the very beginning up to the end of the trade.
An American historian estimates that 60,000 Filipinos, natives and mestizos, made the crossing to Mexico, with many electing to stay in the New World. The important records relating to the Manila galleons are in Mexico, not in Manila or Madrid.
Many Mexican scholars have been writing about the Manila galleons and Mexican-Philippine relations with many books, papers, and journals already published.
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Filipino influence on Mexican life and culture is most evident in the Pacific coast of Mexico, from Colima in the north to Oaxaca in the south, more than a thousand miles distance. Acapulco is in Guerrero province north of Oaxaca.
In Guerrero alone, scholars have found about 300 Filipino names. Their descendants are concentrated in the barrios of Espinalillo and Coyuca in northern Acapulco. One family in this area has produced a lady senator by the name of Maganda. In Mexico City, there are many professionals with Filipino heritage.
Many families descended from Filipinos are also found in Bajas California. The son of a soldier from Intramuros by the name of Manuel Canseco became governor of Baja California in the l9th century. The Canseco family are among the most affluent in Baja California today.
"We Cansecos all came from Manila," a family patriarch in San Jose del Cabo told me.
A Filipino shipbuilder by the name of Gaspar Molina built two brigantines for the Jesuit mission in Baja in l760 and l764. The boats were used by the missionaries to get around in their proselytizing missions.
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The language spoken on the galleons on the trip to Acapulco was Spanish and Tagalog. The language spoken on the trip back to Manila was Spanish and Nahuatl, a dominant Indian dialect.
The ships usually laid over at Acapulco for three months, allowing the Filipino crew to disperse and go to other towns of Mexico where they usually got married to local girls. The Filipino crew were usually replaced by Mexicans, usually Nahuatl Indians and Mexican criollos (Spaniards born in Mexico) and mestizos (of Spanish and Mexican parentage).
There are about a thousand Nahuatl words spoke in the Philippines today, word such as tianggi, palenque, zacate, zapote. There are also many Filipino words in the Mexican language, such as palapa, tuba, ylang, ylang., mangga.
(To be continued)
