By Bobby M. Reyes

My online friend, Frosty (as he wanted to be identified, as he refused to give his full name), sent to me the following data about Filipino brides several years back. He posted the data also in the then HispanoFilipino e-forum. For this article, this writer tried to contact Frosty (the Filipino-American ‘Snowman’?) to no avail. But here are Frosty’s earlier data that we can all discuss, update and prove or disprove.

1. Filipino-Japanese Mestizos: In an interview with PHILIPPINES TODAY (March 2002 issue), Philippine Ambassador to Japan Domingo Siazon, Jr., noted that there are as many as 5,000 to 7,000 Filipino-Japanese marriages per year. If these couples bear an average of 3 offspring, that would be 21,000 nikkeijins or Japanese-Filipino children entering the local population, he said.

Since this trend has been going on for more than two decades, there are potentially 500,000 Japanese of Filipino descent amongst the natives - and counting. One Japanese Catholic priest predicts that in 50 years, half of all Japanese will have Filipino relatives, while a bulk of Filipinos back home will also have Japanese kin here.

This forecast is very realistic, especially considering the statistics. According to the Tokyo Immigration Bureau, of the 120,707 entertainers that entered Japan in 2001, roughly 60 percent or 72,230 are Filipinos. The remaining 40 percent is divided among 10 or more countries. If even only half of these attractive, talented and malambing ladies find Japanese husbands, that would be around 30,000 mixed marriages in the next few years. And as the good ambassador surmised, three offspring per couple would mean 210,000 cute Japanese-Filipino children joining the gene pool as quickly as we can say "kampai!" Source: PHILIPPINES TODAY (March 2002 issue),

2. Filipino-Finnish Mestizos: Of the total of 500 Filipinos in Finland over 400 are women and only 97 men. When we add to these figures the Filipinos who have already gained Finnish citizenship, the total number is approximately 750, including children. A majority of the "men" in these figures are in fact male children of Filipino women living in Finland. Most of the Filipinas in Finland are spouses of Finns. Source: Speech delivered during a Forum organized by Kakammpi and the Finnish-Philippine Society on 23 February 2000.

3. In 1994, 19,000 Filipinas left to join husbands and fiancees in other nations, mostly in the U.S.

4. Filipino-German Mestizos: There is also a significant number married to German nationals. In the past years, an annual average of 1,000 women applied at the Philippine Embassy for a Certificate of Legal Capacity to Contract Marriage. An estimated 1,500 Filipinos are added each year to the current migrant population of Germany through marriage.

5. Filipino-American Mestizos: Based on an article by Marc Lerner published in the US, the Manila Standard reported: "The US Embassy estimates, according to the Times, that nearly 100,000 private US citizens live permanently in the Philippines, 90 percent of whom are naturalized US citizens of Filipino descent... The Time correspondent goes on to explain that many Americans decided to remain in the Philippines because they are "attracted" by the leisurely lifestyle and by romance. About 250 Americans marry Filipino brides per month.

6. In 1989 alone, over 700,000 Filipinas were married and became fiancées to Australians, Germans, Taiwanese and British nationals. In Australia, a total of 20,000 Filipino women is married to Australian men, some 90% of whom came through the system of serial sponsorship; In 1995-96 hundreds of Filipino women were married in a mass ceremony to the members of a religious organization called the "Moonies", majority of which are South Korean men; and in the US, some 50,000 Filipinas married through mail-order (sic) practice. Source: http://www.ncrfw.gov.ph

Any ethical, moral or social points related to Filipinas marrying foreigners is another whole issue. What I am showing through the above excerpts is a small sample of what I mean that the Filipino today is more tisoy or more mixed blood than a century ago. Tisoy to me is from the word mestizo or mexclado, which in English means mixed as in mixed blood. As to the percentages of foreign blood, I am not going to split hairs on that. For more complete statistical data, go to the Department of Health (DOH) which has the average heights of Filipinos today (Its about 5'5" to 5'7" for males) whereas at the turn of the 19th century most foreign visitors in their old books would say Filipinos were about 5 feet or slightly over 5 feet (average height).

The increasing height is a combination of better nutrition (e.g. vitamins) and more and more intermarriage. Height is a combination of environment and heredity. One genetic principle that you can read in any genetics textbook is hybrid superiority which means that the offspring of 2 different parents may be bigger or taller than either parent. This principle applies to plants and animals. As to whether this applies to humans that is for everyone and anyone to decide for themselves. This I learned when I took genetics in university.

For a complete statistical data on intermarriages from Filipinas going abroad, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) has this information while data on the thousands of foreign retirees who have migrated to the Philippines and married Filipinas can be requested from the Philippine Retirement Authority (PRA).

Another illustration. In the 1960s till the 1970s, the average Filipino basketball guard was around 5'8" and the center was around 6'2". Into the 1980s, 6-foot guards and 6'5" centers became more common and now in the 1990s and 2000s, 6'8 centers are now commonplace what with the influx of Filipino-American players. In fact, the average height of the Filipino basketball team at the current Busan games is 6'4.5".

Another effect of good nutrition and intermarriage is the taller average height of Filipino-Americans kids. All my cousins who were born in the U.S. are taller than their parents and so are all their Filipino-American friends who are also taller than their parents. # # #