Filipino Mestizo - Colonial Caste System

Colonial Caste System

The history of racial mixture in the Philippines occurred on a smaller scale than other Spanish territories during the Spanish colonial period from the 16th to the 19th century. A caste system, like that used in the Americas (Spanish America), existed in the Philippines, with some major differences. The indigenous peoples of the Philippines were referred to as Indios and Negritos.

Persons classified as 'blancos' (whites) were the filipinos (persons born in the Philippines of pure Spanish descent), peninsulares (persons born in Spain of pure Spanish descent), Español mestizos (persons born in the Philippines of mixed Malay and Spanish ancestry), and tornatrás (persons born in the Philippines of mixed Malay, Chinese, and Spanish ancestry). Manila was racially segregated, with blancos living in the walled city Intramuros, un-Christianized sangleys in Parían, Christianized sangleys and mestizos de sangley in Binondo, and the rest of the 7,000 islands for the indios, with the exception of Cebu and several other Spanish posts. Only mestizos de sangley were allowed to enter Intramuros to work for whites (including mestizos de espanol) as servants and various occupations needed for the colony.

Indio was a general term applied to native Malays, but as a legal classification, it was only applied to Christianized Malays who lived in proximity to the Spanish colonies.

Persons who lived outside of Manila, Cebu, and the major Spanish posts were classified as such: 'Naturales' were Christianized Malays of the lowland and coastal towns. The un-Christianized Aetas and Malays who lived in the towns were classified as 'salvajes' (savages) or 'infieles' (the unfaithful). 'Remontados' (Spanish for 'situated in the mountains') and 'tulisanes' (bandits) were Malays and Aetas who refused to live in towns and took to the hills, all of whom were considered to live outside the social order as Catholicism was a driving force in everyday life, as well as determining social class in the colony.

Persons of pure Spanish descent living in the Philippines who were born in Spanish America were classfied as 'americanos'. Mestizos and mulatos born in Spanish America living in the Philippines kept their legal classification as such, and usually came as indentured servants to the 'americanos'. The Philippine-born children of 'americanos' were classified as 'filipinos'. The Philippine-born children of mestizos and mulatos from Spanish America were classified based on patrilineal descent.

The Spanish legally classified the Aetas as 'negritos' based on their appearance. The word 'negrito' would be misinterpreted and used by future European scholars as an ethnoracial term in and of itself. Both Christianized Aetas who lived in the colony and un-Christianized Aetas who lived in tribes outside of the colony were classified as 'negritos'. Christianized Aetas who lived in Manila were not allowed to enter Intramuros and lived in areas designated for Indios.

Persons of mixed Aeta and Malay ancestry were classified based on patrilineal descent; the father's ancestry determined a child's legal classification. If the father was 'negrito' (Aeta) and the mother was 'india' (Malay), the child was classified as 'negrito'. If the father was 'indio' and the mother was 'negrita', the child was classified as 'indio'. Persons of Aeta descent were viewed as being outside of the social order as they usually lived in tribes outside of the colony and resisted conversion to Christianity.

This legal system of racial classification based on patrilineal descent had no parallel anywhere in the Spanish-ruled colonies in the Americas. In general, a son born of a sangley male and an indio or mestizo de sangley female was classified as mestizo de sangley; all subsequent male descendants were mestizos de sangley regardless of whether they married an india or a mestiza de sangley. A daughter born in such a manner, however, acquired the legal classification of her husband, i.e., she became an india if she married an indio but remained a mestiza de sangley if she married a mestizo de sangley or a sangley. In this way, a chino mestizo male descendant of a paternal sangley ancestor never lost his legal status as a mestizo de sangley no matter how little percentage of Chinese blood he had in his veins or how many generations had passed since his first Chinese ancestor; he was thus a mestizo de sangley in perpetuity.

However, a 'mestiza de sangley' who married a blanco ('filipino', 'mestizo de espanol', 'peninsular', or 'americano') kept her status as 'mestiza de sangley'. But her children were classified as tornatrás. An 'india' who married a blanco also kept her status as india, but her children were classified as mestizo de espanol.

A mestiza de espanol who married another blanco would keep her status as mestiza, but became an india if she married an indio (which would force her to pay the indio tax rate). But her status will never change from mestiza de espanol if she married a mestizo de espanol, filipino, or peninsular.

On the contrast, a mestizo (de sangley or espanol) man's status stayed the same regardless of who he married. If a mestizo (de sangley or espanol) married a filipina (woman of pure Spanish descent), she would lose her status as a 'filipina' and would acquire the legal status of her husband and become a mestiza de espanol or sangley. If a 'filipina' married an 'indio', her legal status would change to 'india', despite being of pure Spanish descent.

The social stratification system based on class that continues to this day in the Philippines has it's beginnings in the Spanish colonial area with this caste system.

The system was used for tax purposes. Indios paid a base tax, mestizos de sangley paid twice the base tax, sangleys paid four times the base tax, and the blancos or whites (filipinos, peninsulares, mestizos de espanol, and tornatrás) paid no tax. Negritos who lived within the colony paid the same tax rate as the indios.

The Spanish caste system based on race was abolished after the Philippines' independence from Spain in 1898, and the word 'Filipino' expanded to include the entire population of the Philippines regardless of racial ancestry.