中国移民对菲律宾经济增长的影响研究

Chapter 1 Introduction

1.1  Research Background and Problem Statement

At this point in time, it is without doubt that the world is witnessing a great and intensified transformation in Asia which is anticipated to change the face of the global economic dimension. With the advancement of Asia in terms of economy, influence and living  conditions  over  the  past  half  century,  much  of  the  recent  literature  have recognized its potential to be an economic stronghold.

Before the 20th century, while the other countries have started to emerge from the shadow of the first world countries, the Philippines’ on the other hand is still operating in a low-growth trajectory (Alba, 2007). However, these past recent years records show that  the  Philippines’  economic  growth  has  been  observed  to  be  rapidly  increasing, though still not that high in comparison to its counterparts in Southeast Asia: Thailand, Malaysia,  Indonesia  and  Vietnam  which are now described  as  high  performing economies and are even targeting first world statuses. With such recent observations and the  aforementioned  statement  established,  give  rise  to  the  questions:  “If  the economy  of  the  Philippines  is indeed  being  noticed,  then  what  are  the  agents  or determinants causing it to prosper and who are the contributors to this growth? 

The Philippines is an integration of different cultures and influences, partly from Spain and America, but long before the Spaniards’ arrival in the Philippines in 1521, there  has  already  been  a  great  barter  and  trade  system  between China  and  the Philippines. This strongly indicates an early and long economic relationship between the locals of the two countries. In addition,  Augustin Craig (1914) , states that, according to Tome Pires’ writing in 1512 – 1515, gold mining was a principal industry of the Filipinos  prior to the coming of  Ferdinand Magellan  (Magallanes to  the rest  of the world), and that Filipinos “exported gold to China.”

The  acceleration  of  occupancy  and  early  interactions  of  Chinese  with  the  local Filipinos has then greatly led to a pivotal role in the shaping and development of the Philippines  in  various  sectors.  Studies  conducted  show  and recorded  that  Chinese Filipinos are one of the largest overseas Chinese communities in Southeast Asia. The Sangleys—Filipinos  with  at  least  some  Chinese  ancestry—comprise  18-27%  of  the Philippine  population.  Founded  on  the foregoing  statements,  because  Chinese immigrants comprise the largest group of foreign settlers in the Philippines, it has been assumed that they have played significant roles, one way or the other in contributing to Filipino life, culture, cuisine, history, art and greatly on the economy.

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1.2  Significance of the Study

1.2.1  Theoretical Significance of the Study

Year after year, a new study regarding immigration is being conducted; thus, giving rise  to  an  increasing  number  of scholars  and  philosophers  who  are  becoming  more intrigued in regards to what can immigration provide to a country - whether legal or illegal immigration was documented if not by one, then by few of the scholars interested in this subject.

These researches or studies have been made all throughout the world; where most countries are more than intrigued to know their history, and most of these immigration researches are usually pertaining to the country, wherein most of the immigrants are coming since the 19th or even earlier century, - the People’s Republic of China. Due to the high population rate and war in the country in the early ages, most of the Chinese people chose to leave the country and went to different parts of the world, so then marked  their  role  in  the  country’s  society  they  chose  to  live  in.  Now,  in these contemporary  times,  with  the  emerging  rise  of  China  as  a  prominent  power  in  the region,  it  has  posed certain  credit  to  foreign  policies  of  all  Southeast  Asian  states particularly the Philippines. Taking into consideration China’s past glories, Schilling (2001) in fact admits that Asia, especially China has enjoyed technological leadership in the past, and that China also was considered to be the world’s most advanced country a centuries ago. 

On the contrary, most of the conducted Chinese immigration studies only pertain to the immigrants’ role in the country; take for instance, in the Philippines, there has been a lot of documentaries regarding the Chinese immigrants’ contribution in the history, but there are still very limited resources on how have they influenced or given impact on the Philippines’ economic growth during their stay in the country, as well as to explore and give recommendations on how can they still provide assistance for the economy to prosper in the future. In addition, it is also the goal of this research to provide empirical analysis regarding the topic.

This research may alsoprovide guidance for students to come up with their own research paper in the future since the impact of China, more specifically, regarding its fast growing economy can serve as an eye opener and catalyst towards development  of other countries that belong to the third world such as the Philippines. Also, it is apparent that the issue of immigration in every country, among and between scholars as well as philosophers is becoming more and more important.

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Chapter 2 Present Situation of Chinese Immigrants in the Philippines

2.1  Brief History of the Early Chinese Immigrants in the Philippines

The presence of collected Chinese artifacts that were found throughout Philippine waters that dates back to as early as right up to the 10th century indisputably served as evidences that from the 9th century onward, ethnic Chinese sailed around the Philippine islands and frequent interaction with the local Filipinos then was observed. Apparently, these interactions  started  commerce  such  as  bartering  and/or  item  exchanges  which were  done  on  Chinese “sampans”.  Many  Chinese  then  subsequently  settled  in  the islands of Luzon and Vizayas which resulted into intermarriages between Chinese and the local Filipino.

In 1574, several Chinese pirates under the leadership of Limahong proceeded to besiege the newly established Spanish capital in Manila. But in 1575, in vain, with the combined Spanish and native forces under the leadership of Juan de Salcedo  he was subsequently beaten for trying to capture the city of Manila. Almost simultaneously, during the departure of the Chinese imperial admiral Homolcong from Manila where he was  well  received,  he  took  with  him  two  priests, who  became  the  first  Catholic missionaries to China from the Philippines. In May 1603, the previous visit was then followed up by Chinese officials with the official seal of the Ming Empire bearded by the arrival of Chinese ships in Manila. This subsequently led to suspicion on the part of the Spaniards, that the Chinese had sent a fleet to try to conquer the nearly defenseless islands.  On  the  other  handr,  the  Chinese  made  no  hostile  moves  seeing  the  city  as strongly defended as ever. They returned to China without either side mentioning the apparent motive and without showing any particular motive for the journey.

Historical  documentations  reveal  that  the  beginning  of  fortifying  Manila  was marked  when  Engcang  -  a  Chinese settler  in  Manila,  offered  his  services  to  the governor. Records reveal that a plan to massacre the Spaniards quickly spread among the  Chinese  inhabitants  of  Manila  when  he  was  refused.  Ending  in  a  large  scale massacre of the non-Catholic Chinese in Manila, the revolt was quickly crushed by the Spaniards.  Throughout  the  Spanish  Colonial Period,  the  Chinese  outnumbered  the Spanish colonizers by ten to one, and at least one on two occasions tried to grab the power, but their revolts were quickly put down by joint forces composed of indigenous Filipinos, Japanese, and Spanish. 

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2.2   Formation of Chinese- Filipino Identity

The fluctuations in the number of early Chinese in the Philippines are attributed to the variation and contrast of different policies that were carried out during the Spanish regime with  that of China’s.  Notably, the turning point  happened in  the mid - 18th century resulting to an upward trend from the late 19th century when treaty ports in the region facilitated trade from Manila to Hong Kong and Xiamen, and from Xiamen, to Taiwan and Japan (Chu 2012, 32-36). At that time, the Chinese elite in Manila began to assert themselves as a political entity by lobbying the Qing court for a consulate in that city, arguing that the Qing had jurisdiction over the Chinese overseas. However, this was done out of expedience and ambition rather than allegiance to the Qing. In fact, the  overseas  Chinese  in  the  Philippines  and  elsewhere supported  the  revolutionary forces of Dr. Sun Yat-sen and celebrated the success of the revolution in 1912.

Records  reveal  that  the  assertion  of  Chinese  merchant  elite  leadership  over  the Chinese community began in the Spanish period and continued into the American and Independence periods. The leadership position in the Chinese community evolved from Gobernadorcillo  (little  Governor)  to  Consul-General  to  President  of  the  Chinese Chamber of Commerce, but through it all the business elite claimed to represent the interests of the Chinese community (Wickberg 1997, 169; Wilson 2004, 84, 119, 173).

Throughout the colonial era the Chinese had a strong sense of being other in the Philippines. Their confinement to the Parian created physical as well as psychological experiences of being set apart from the local population. Unless one intermarried, one was always a chino, a non-native who could return to China at anytime and who might take advantage of the native population. The mutual suspicion between the Spanish, the Filipinos, and the Chinese resulted in the expulsions and massacres of the Chinese that marred  the  Spanish  period,  and  the  restrictive  policies  towards  the Chinese  of successive Philippine governments in the mid-20th century (Wickberg 1997, 168; Tong 2010, 207) .

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Chapter  3  Analysis  on  Chinese  Immigrants’  Influences  on  the  Philippines’  Economic  Growth ............ 25

3.1  Philippines’ Recent Economic Situation .............. 25

3.2  The Influencing Channels of  Chinese  Immigration  on the Philippines’  Economic Growth  .......... 27

Chapter 4 Empirical Analysis of the Impact of Chinese Immigration in the Philippines and Policy Suggestions ...........40

4.1  Methodology ........................... 40

4.2  Variables and Data .................. 41

Chapter 4 Empirical Analysis of the Impact of Chinese Immigration in the Philippines and Policy Suggestions

4.1  Methodology

In  this  research,  qualitative  research  method  was  used  to  obtain  the  needed information and data, which includes written outputs, published journals and literature or  websites  of  related  institutions  and  agencies  that  can  provide the  empirical  data needed for the quantitative method that is presented in this chapter. The data gathered consists of the yearly observations for each variable from the year 2009-2014. 

In analyzing the collected data, the correlation coefficient - a quantitative measure that  determines  the  degree  to which  two  variable’s  movements  are  associated,  is expected to be exploited. It is hoped that positive significance will turn out to be the outcome, wherein r is expected to have a positive correlation.

In lieu to the hypotheses provided, Correlation coefficient is to be used in order to measure how strong a relationship is between two variables. The formula return a value between -1 and 1, where:

1 indicates a strong positive relationship. 

-1 indicates a strong negative relationship.

A result of zero indicates no relationship at all.

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Conclusion

In this dissertation regarding the impact of Chinese immigrants on the Philippines’ economic  growth,  with  the  objective of  finding  the  extent  of  how  the  Chinese immigrants influenced the country, the researcher therefore concludes that:

(1) With the use of Pearson’s correlation coefficient in finding out the level of impact  the  Chinese  immigrants  on  the Philippines’  economic  growth,  it  has  been realized that there is a positive correlation, however, it is just considered to be moderate. Even so, Chinese immigrants’ playing a significant role not only in the Philippines’ society, but also its economy can never be downplayed.  Moreover, with the use of simple and multiple linear regressions in the analysis of the stated influencing factors, it was  proven  that  the  more  Chinese  immigrants  in  the  country  is,  the  greater bigger chance to experience positive change and growth in the Philippines’ economy.

(2)  In the assessment of the influencing channels,  immigrants - particularly  the Chinese immigrants, supply labor to the Philippines and increase demand for goods and services. Additional and extensive  knowledge  and understanding of the immigrants’ business  area  which  can  be  considered  under  human  capital  and  development  of technology which affect the economy in a positive way have been realized.

(3) Based from the theoretical information,  the presence of Chinese immigrants undoubtedly  help  strengthen  the relationship  of  their  home  country  and  their  host country – in this study, the Philippines through international trade, family ties, social capital,  cultural  and  even  employment.  They  also  brought  a  diverse  set  of  skills, specifically in business industry which affects the economy positively, as well as the social and economic structure of the society they enter.

(4)  Not  all  of  the  hypotheses  provided  may  be  binding  but  the  results  still correspond  to  the  aim  of  the study  which  is  to  lay  out  the  impacts  the  Chinese immigrants  have  and  what  more  they  can  offer.  In addition,  immigration  policy development, particularly in formulating long-term immigration strategies can benefit or use the results of the analysis. 

reference(omitted)