Why do Filipinos try to hide being Filipino?
I've noticed a lot of Filipino women try to hide that they're Filipino. They'll bring up mixed ancestry going back three or more generations, and honestly, who even digs that up? I've heard women claim to be half Japanese, half Korean, half Vietnamese, half Mexican, half Spanish, half Indonesian, half Malaysian, and the funniest one, half Singaporean. Before 1957 there wasn't even such a thing as 'Singaporean.' Then there are the ones who claim a completely different nationality: Vietnamese, Mexican, Spanish, Malaysian.
How do I know they're not? You can tell from their reaction when I call them on it and say 'prove it.' They panic, get embarrassed, make excuses, and pull out the classic 'I don't have to prove anything to you.' That alone is the perfect proof.
My experience is somewhat limited: the dating scene inside and outside the Philippines, plus of course social media, dating apps and online. But then a cobbler (a man) working outside my hotel in Kuala Lumpur told me he was Malaysian when I asked. I only asked because he looked like the textbook stereotypical Filipino, and we were outside a Filipino shopping plaza in the middle of the Filipino community.
There's a second part to this too. Adults tell lies at a child's level, as if they've never been called out before, with an attitude that I can't prove otherwise. But flip the burden of proof onto them and, again, their reaction is all the proof you need.
Yes, sadly, I've formed an opinion of Filipinos as a whole.
I've never met a Filipino like that in my whole life. The only time I've heard Filipinos say they're part Chinese, American, Spanish or whatever is when it comes up naturally in conversation, when someone asks about their ancestry, or when they're talking about their family background. I've never seen a Filipino randomly claim to be another race or pretend to be one. Sure, it exists as a meme, same as in Mexico, Brazil and the rest of Latin America. But it's literally just memes. Unless you take those memes as a picture of every Filipino, you'd never get the impression this is something people actually do regularly.
I've wondered about this too. The classic is being half Spanish, which is BS. At the height of the colonial era there were only about 7000 Spaniards in the Philippines. And with all the time that's passed, any mestizo would be about 3% Spanish at most, unless it's a specific mestizo family like the Ayalas. I put it down to crab mentality: wanting to look better than others or 'special' one way or another. It's twisted thinking.
Colonialism.
Maybe you're talking to the wrong filippinos (double P). My wife never hides it, even with a European passport. And FYI, most Filipinos are very mixed.
In Thailand too they sometimes try to pass as Thai, since they can look similar. But their suspiciously good English and their accent give them away.
Sounds like Americans. 'I'm three-quarters Irish, a quarter Italian, with a few drops of Iroquois in there.'
A much better question is why you think demanding that strangers 'prove' their ethnicity is normal. They're probably not panicking because they got caught lying. More likely they're reacting to a stranger interrogating them about their ancestry. They owe you zero proof, and frankly, who appointed you border control of identity?
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