I consider myself as Filipino, a full blooded Filipino with hispanic tradition and influence and some oriental background. I am not saying I have a Spanish blood or whatsoever feature, because I don't see that in myself. My great grandparents are mestizos (Spanish looking) and would speak fluently and pray in Castilian, but it all wiped out from generations. Some of my relatives still have the feature but I don't see any hispanic feature in me if I compare myself to the full blooded Iberian or Filipino mestizo, none at all, nada!
But Regardless of blood, undeniably. The fact that we are using Spanish words everyday though not a complete sentence, practice the hispanic way of adoring God, hispanic way of preparing food and table, hispanic attitude and manners (e.g. delecadeza y palabra de honor), spanish family names, streets, towns and cities etc... All these things are not from Zimbabwe nor from Iraq but from Spain. Which means deny it or not, latinity is within our realms.
There are still Filipinos who were born at the wrong place and time nowadays, these people still condemns the existence of Spanish culture and would smash you down of their rhetoric antics. Claiming Spain is an oppressor until today. You can't blame them. If by chance they would see a Spanish Armada on Manila Bay today, they'll surely look for their "bolos"(knife) and shout "sulong"(attack)! These are the people when in history class felt the emotion and got fixated to the events and lost their orientation to the present and future.
We cannot change history, we cannot deny those oppression, but we must also cultivate the good things that those foreign countries gave us. We are Filipinos, and the way we are today is the way of our past. It is our rights to reminisce or ignore but we can't change nor twist history.
