New | Amid tension in Philippines, a Chinese enclave of powerful, influential businessmen thrives
For centuries, ethnic Chinese have built strong ties with Filipinos through business and charity
Despite the tension between China and the Philippines, many ethnic Chinese businesspeople continue to thrive in the Southeast Asian country, building unofficial ties between the nations.
One of the latest to hit the headlines is Filipino-Chinese tycoon Lucio Tan, who owns the Century Park Hotel in Manila, where President Xi Jinping stayed during last week's Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit.
Tan, a famed patriot who joined other dignitaries at Tiananmen Square in September for Beijing's military parade to mark the end of the second world war, is just one of many powerful ethnic Chinese members of the Philippine business community.
Chinese families have prospered in, and influenced, the country. Many who arrived during Spanish rule (1521-1898) were Cantonese and Fujianese. Mostly male, they were encouraged by the Spanish government to convert to Catholicism and marry indigenous women.
On October 3, 1603, Chinese workers and Chinese-Filipinos organised their first of many uprisings against the Spanish government's heavy taxes and other harsh rules. The colonial government responded with a heavy hand. Between that first uprising and 1857, the Spanish killed more than 100,000 Chinese, according to documents kept by the Kaisa Heritage Centre.
Rufino Ko Pio, managing director of the Grand Family Association of the Philippines, said their ancestors' painful history during the Spanish and American colonial periods deterred Chinese from entering politics.