From: francis@mpl.ucsd.edu (Francis C Felizardo)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.filipino
Subject: Re: Strange last name for a Filipino
Date: 3 Sep 1992 20:09:34 GMT
Organization: Scripps Institution of Oceanography
NNTP-Posting-Host: kiko.ucsd.edu

In article <1992Sep3.180053.17542@sbcs.sunysb.edu> albert@xi.mathlab.sunysb.edu (Jose Ramon Albert) writes:

>In article 17437@u.washington.edu, sue@byron.u.washington.edu (Shu-Chen Eclipse) writes:
>>Uhh, I thought the P.I. barred the ethnic Chinese minority from citizenship?
> 
>this is not true.  

Agreed. I don't know where Shu-Chen got his information but this is 
news to me. Maybe he's not familiar with Cory Aquino's or Cardinal Sin's 
backgrounds.

>most family names though have been 
>hispanized following the order of a Spanish governor general
>(was it claveria?).  

If I'm not mistaken, the order was for everyone to get surnames which 
were not common in pre-Hispanic Philippines. Some of the Chinese 
surnames were Hispanized when the Chinese forbears converted to 
Christianity. Some of the more notable ones are Cojuangco (Cory's maiden 
name), Tuason (my wife's maiden name), Tiongson (my mother-in-law's 
maiden name), Consunji, etc.

>what is barred is having a dual citizenship (w/c
>if i am not mistaken, is to be changed if some current lawmakers have
>their way).

I always thought this was more an issue with Filipinos who have Filipino 
and American citizenships. For example, a child born in the US to 
Filipino parents would have both Filipino and American citizenships. 
Under the principle of 'jus sanguinis' (which is the basis of  
Philippine law), a child of Filipino parents is Filipino. US law works 
under the principle of 'jus soli' where anyone born in the US is a US 
citizen.

In theory, a person reaching the age of majority (21 years) should 
renounce one of the two citizenships. In reality, nobody bothers to 
enforce this law. An example: The parents of one of my former Filipino 
roommates came to the US in the 1960s to do a residency at one of the 
Harvard Med School programs. He and his two sisters were born here. 
They went back to the Phils after his Dad finished his studies. He 
asserted his Filipino citizenship to get into med school in the Phils 
(many of the best programs are restricted to Filipino citizens). He 
then came to the US on an American passport to do advanced studies 
and work here.

>i have noticed though that filipinos by and large treat chinese as
>the americans treat the jews ( w/ both respect and contempt ) though
>perhaps not in the same form.

This was definitely true in the old days but I'm not sure if this is 
true now. I have asked some of the Chinese-Filipinos (CF) I know if 
they have felt any discrimination when they were growing up because of 
their being Chinese and the answer is usually no. Actually, if you read 
s.c.asean long enough, you'll realize how harmonious chinese Filipino 
and malay Filipino relations are compared to some of our neighbors.

However, I think the best people to answer this question in this forum are 
the CFs who read and post here. Maybe some of the CF lurkers would like to 
speak up on the subject. 

Comments invited.

   - Francis

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Francis C Felizardo				francis@mpl.ucsd.edu
Scripps Institution of Oceanography, 0213	      (619) 534 1085
La Jolla, CA 92093-0213