(10) the term “Pinoy,” a slang endonym for Filipinos, was first recorded in the 1920’s by immigrant laborers mostly of Ilokano descent in America known as “manongs.” it was later adopted back in the Philippines during the 60’s during the psychedelic rock movement.

(9) the first Prime Minister of Spain with “Indian blood” is Marcelo Azzcaraga, the son of a Penisulares that owned a book shop in Escolta, Manila, and a Mestiza mother from Albay. Marcelo himself is a graduate of UST, the oldest university in Asia.

(8) the famous Filipino desert halo-halo was introduced around the 1920s by Japanese confectioners in Binondo, the oldest Chinatown in the world. it was was based off of the popular Japanese shaved ice treat, “Kakigori.”

(7) Ferdinand Magellan actually battled against inhabitants of what would be known as The Philippine Islands. 10 years before landing on Mactan, he encountered “Luzonians,” which were mostly warriors from the Kapampangan Empire, during the conquest of Malacca with Portugal.

(6) the coconut species in the western coast of both Americas are descendants of the coconuts from the Philippines. from Mexico up to the US in California came via the Manila-Galleon trade, while the ones found in S. America came from ancient Austronesian-speaking travelers.

(5) “champurrado” is a traditional drink that inspired the popular Filipino chocolate rice porridge, “champorado.” in a fun twisty coincidence, the terms are derived from the Spanish “champurrar,” which means to mix, which they got from the Portuguese who got it from the Malay “campur”

(4) at one point, when coming up with names for what would become the Republic of the Philippines, Jose Rizal proposed “Malaysia.” this was also considered and debated upon by the Philippine senate in 1962.

(3) singer and actor, Enrique Iglesias, is a distant relative of the current head of the Brunei government and ruling royal family, Sultan Hussein Bolkiah. this can be traced through his matrilineal heritage, as his Spanish-Filipino mother has royal Kapampangan heritage.

(2) almost four decades before Rizal’s birth, an insulares with radical ideas after studying in Paris during the French Revolution named Manuel Luis Rodriguez-Valera was exiled by colonial officials. He was colloquially called “El Conde Filipino” (“The Philippine Count”)

(1) the term “Filipino” was originally reserved for “full-blooded Spaniards” born in The Philippines, the only colony in Asia that was administered by the viceroyalty of New Spain, whose power was mostly located in what is now southern or central Mexico.