The history of Hispano-Filipino culture

The Philippines is the only former Spanish colony that does not have the Spanish language as its national language.

- ELFREN S. CRUZ

One possible reason for this is a personal theory of mine — that while Latin America attracted Spanish settlers who eliminated most of the local tribes and replaced them with Spanish-speaking settlers, the geographical distance of the Philippines precluded any significant number of migrants from Spain.

During the early period of Spanish colonization, the rulers of the Philippines were actually the Spanish friars. During this period, the majority of Filipinos, then called indios, were actually banned from any formal education and were not allowed to learn the Spanish language.

A very recent book, “El Español en Filipinas: The History of the Spanish Language, the Academia Filipina, and Hispano-Filipino Culture, 1924-2024” by Gaspar A. Vibal (Vibal Foundation, 2025) writes about the history of the Spanish language and Spanish culture in the Philippines.

This book offers a deeply researched history that confronts the complex legacy of the Spanish language in Philippine society, tracing its decline, resilience and ongoing cultural significance over a full century.

In his introduction to the book, the author explains his motivation for writing the book: “I wrote this book as an eyewitness account of a living culture I uniquely experienced in the 1960s and 1970s. Although I do not have Spanish ancestry, I have always been intellectually intrigued by families of mixed Filipino and Spanish heritage, commonly known as Kastilas. This book is not just a distant history; it reflects the diverse experiences that have shaped my identity from a distinct and outsider perspective.”