Why don’t Filipinos speak Spanish?

A Philippine flag in hand || Credit: Kurious-679098 via Pixabay

The Philippines were under Spanish rule for 300 years — over 10 generations; not too dissimilar to much of Latin America. Manila and Cebu were centres of colonial administration, and in fact, rolled up into the Viceroyalty of New Spain.

Why then are the Philippines not a Spanish speaking nation, unlike so many Latin American ones?

The answer lies in the amount of immigration, disease, and limited speakers when Independence came.

Fewer people emigrated from Spain to the Philippines. Reasons for this include:

• Distance. Prior to the Suez and Panama canals, Manila was 12,300 nautical miles away. This is in contrast to 3,800 nautical miles to Cuba or 8,900 nautical miles to Santiago (source: https://sea-distances.org/)
• Commercial opportunity. Gold, Silver and Salt were being extracted from Latin America — and these were also the greater centres of power. As such, those looking to make a fortune, or names for themselves would be attracted to this region
• First mover advantage and momentum. With greater established populations in the Americas, there was already momentum — many knew others on the other side of the pond, and life was probably closely resembling Europe than the Asian alternative