About Filipino Americans

Filipino-Americans are the second largest subgroup among Asian-Americans, after the Chinese. There are now about four million Filipino Americans in the United States, approximately 1.5% of the country’s population.

Filipino Americans are known for looking down on real Filipinos — those who were born, grew up, and/or continue to have their primary residence in the Philippines. Filams regards those who have not made it out of the country as losers without enough skills, education or ambition.

Fil-Ams are also notorious for pirating Filipino brands and using those brands without asking for legal permission from the original brand developers or owners. The most egregious case of this is how Ramar Foods has been using in the United States the Magnolia brand of ice cream, which is owned in the Philippines by San Miguel Corporation.

Worse, Filipino Americans have been inventing their own concept of what Filipino food is and are marketing their versions to clueless mainstream Americans as “authentic” Filipino food. Philippine-born Filipinos who call them out on this are publicly branded as “ignorant” by Fil-Ams, who go on identity-critical rants about the irrelevance of authenticity. Apparently in the United States, it is perfectly acceptable, if not cool or hip, to label a dish with an exotic name, regardless of whether the newly created dish has anything directly related to the original dish — just add a token “exotic” ingredient or an American counterpart to said ingredient and market it with an exotic-sounding name.

Filipino-American Population

Fil-Am or FilAm is short for Filipino-American. A slang word used by some is Flip. Most Filipino-Americans have a fondness for the words Pinoy and Pinay, meaning Filipino and Filipina, respectively.

Fil-Americans are the second largest subgroup among Asian-Americans, after the Chinese. Filipinos began emigrating in significant numbers to the United States in 1898 after the Spanish-American War.

There are now about four million Filipino Americans in the United States, approximately 1.5% of the country’s population. They speak a wide array of Philippine languages — Tagalog, Ilokano, Kapampangan, Bikolano, etc.

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Filipino-American History Month in California Law

Published: October 2009

Did you know that the earliest documented proof of Filipino presence in the continental United States was on October 18, 1587, when the first “Luzones Indios” set foot in Morro Bay, California?

On September 9, 2009, the California State Assembly voted to “designate the month of October 2009, and every October thereafter, as Filipino American History Month.”  The bill was introduced by Senator Leland Yee with Senators Carol Liu, Pat Wiggins and Lois Wolk as co-authors.

There are now about four million Filipino Americans in the United States, approximately 1.5% of the country’s population. They speak a wide array of Philippine languages — Tagalog, Binisaya, Ilokano, Kapampangan, etc.

It is common to see Filipino doctors, nurses and other healthcare workers in hospitals and other health institutions across the United States. Many immigrants or their descendants hold jobs in government or private industry or operate their own businesses.

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