Filipinos : Are we Asians or Pacific Islander ?

Filipinos : Asian OR Pacific Islander ? 

Ano ba talaga tayo kuya, are we Asian or Pacific Islander ? 

Generations to generations of considering ourselves as Asians comes a small doubt that we might not be what we thought we are. Really ? Do Filipinos living a lie ? Are we a nation of false ethnicity ?

In New Zealand and I also heard that even in the US, Filipinos are not considered as Asian as Asian connotes to our neighbours with Chinito eyes and with fair and much lighter skin. Our neighbours who has distinct characteristics that quantifies as Asians and the not a brown skinned people that has American accent and loves denims and Hanes shirts.

Frankly, what’s going on ? Have we gone mad claiming of being Asians ‘tho we have defined features similar to Pacific Islanders ( smaller version 'tho ) ?


Question : What weighs more, the features or the location ?

Sino po ba itong mga Pacific Island Nations ? Pacific Islands are places like Samoa, Hawaii, Tahiti, Guam, Cook Islands, Mariana Islands and most of them do not possess their own national and political identities—they are islands under the jurisdiction and protection of more powerful countries like USA, France and New Zealand.

Let's make a list of  proofs between us being Asian and Pacific Islander. hopefully answers the WHAT(s) and the WHY(s) of who we really are :

Asian

·       Situated closer to our Asian Neighbours

·       Small and has the Asian built

·       Has features same as Malaysians and Indonesians

·       Cooks ethnic oriental Dishes and loves noodles

Pacific Islander

·       Our facial features is 70 / 30 of Pacific Islander than Asian

·       Situated in Pacific Ocean

·       Highly religious and predominantly Christians

·       Very close family ties

·       Love Telenovelas ( but Koreans also do )

·       Loves to sing

·       Coconut and Banana everywhere ( diba Banana Republic nga tayo ) ?

·       We feast and eat like there is no tomorrow ( putok batok  pag kumain )

There has been heated debates among the Filipino group and our other Asian neighbours as to where we really belong?

But regardless of what we think, on paper, we are officially Asians and that we belong to Southeast Asia.

But mind you those who consider us Pacific Islanders are not entirely incorrect?  The Philippine Islands of the Pacific is what we are used to be called.

When the Americans first arrived in the Philippines more than a century ago, they called us the “orphans of the Pacific.”.

Same, they might have reached this conclusion due to the geographical distance of the country from mainland Asia as compared to the Pacific Islands hence they considered us part of the Pacific Island nations.  

The Philippine archipelago, which consisted of 7,107 Islands, was a political creation of Western colonizers. Spain united the major islands of the Philippines during the 16th century when they colonized us and these colonization after colonization makes matters worse as it complicated our ethnicity and our identity as Filipinos.

If you ask me, I don’t really care if we are branded as Asian or even Pacific Islander. We can even be fusion of both groups. What is important is for us to hold on to the good traits of  each ethnicity and by doing so become a better person than what we are today.

This is our country ( whether we are Asian or Pacific islander ) and we should defend and love the Philippines from within not just by words.

Here's an article why I love my country The Philippines :

Philippines : Why do i love Thee ?

 Would you rather stay Asian or won't mind being an Islander ? Or are you ready to be branded as Pacific Asiander ?

 Please share to us your thoughts and comments on the box below.

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Ciao.

 EQ