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Filipino Mexicans are Mexican citizens who are descendants of Filipino ancestry. The actual population of Filipino descendants is not known, but there are approximately 1,200 Filipino nationals residing in Mexico.
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History
Most of their Filipino ancestors arrived in Mexico during the Spanish colonial period. For two and a half centuries, between 1565 and 1815, many Filipinos and Mexicans sailed to and from Mexico and the Philippines as sailors, crews, slaves, prisoners, adventurers and soldiers in the Manila-Acapulco Galleon assisting Spain in its trade between Asia and the Americas. Some of these sailors never returned to the Philippines. Most settled in and integrated into the Mexican society. In the late 19th and early 20th century some Filipinos came to Mexico as refugees from Spain during Francisco Franco’s dictatorship. These Filipinos were descendants of Filipino and Filipino mestizo settlers who entered Spain after the Spanish–American War.
Smaller waves of Filipino migration to Mexico took place in the late 19th and 20th centuries after the Philippines was annexed by the U.S. during the Spanish–American War of 1898–1900. A number of Filipino farm laborers and fishermen arrived to work in the Mexican west coast. These areas included the Baja California, Sonora and Sinaloa, while some had awaited to enter the United States to reunite with family members in Filipino American communities in California, and elsewhere. Mexican immigration law continues to grant special status for Filipinos.
Their descendants are found in communities particularly in the state of Guerrero, and Colima. Most of these individuals are mixed blood peoples, and trace half or a quarter of their ancestry and origin back to the Philippines during the Manila-Acapulco Galleon period.
Today, newly arrived Filipinos are overseas or contract workers who came to Mexico to obtain employment. Most of these individuals speak at least one of the Philippine languages.