Filipinos are unique because they’re too common. We have one of the most dispersed diaspora in the world. There isn’t a continent on earth except Antartica, of course, that doesn’t have a Filipino minority.
We’re common because we can relate to so many cultures. We can travel the whole world and find something that could bring us home. US pop culture is as important as FilPop. East Asian and Mediterranean food taste similar to ours. Latin America shares the same religion. There is a sizable Muslim minority in the Philippines so we have basic understanding of Islamic culture.
We have Chinese, Japanese, Thai, and Malay tidbits in our culture. There’s also tons of Spanish spices there. As well as American beef. The way we’re presented looks really similar to the rest of South East Asian countries.
To sum it up; we look like South East Asians, eats a lot of Chinese and Japanese, believes in Mediterranean/Iberian values of machismo, chivalry, and Catholicism, act like Americans, and make up a pretty awesome mess. We’re a puzzle. An abstract identity that piques the interest of everyone. Yet we’re literally everywhere.
