#tondo manila

[meta-holott]

1978 Philippines, Manila, Tondo, April 7th, Ferdinand Marcos reelection, martial law

[kavalyera]

fighting against the camarilla in your city with your childhood best friend

[shipwreckguy]

Everwin Star II

MV Everwin Star II explosion; 1 killed, 2 injured #manila #philippines

Photo: gmanews.tv On August 27, the 70 meter long, 1,500 dwt cargo vessel Everwin Star II (IMO: 9140279) suffered an explosion while berthed in Tondo, Manila, Philippines. Reports state the explosion occurred during cargo loading when a spark ignited paint and LPG tanks stored in a forward compartment.  The explosion and resulting fire took several hours for local fire fighters to extinguish.  No…

[gagoarts]

Do you know what pagpag is in Manila?

[episcopalphl]

NUESTRA SEÑORA DE CANDELARIA DE TONDO Tondo, Maynila 1789 Arkidiyosesis ng Maynila

Kapistahan: Ika-2 ng Pebrero Petsa ng koronasyon: 18 Nobyembre 2022 Dambana: Pang-arkidiyosesis na Dambana at Parokya ng Banal na Bata

Kaugnayang lathalain: Tondo’s Nuestra Señora de Candelaria granted episcopal coronation (cbcpnews.net) Our Lady of Candelaria de Tondo granted episcopal coronation (mb.com.ph) Nuestra Señora de Candelaria of Tondo gets episcopal coronation (businessmirror.com.ph) The Candelaria devotion in Tondo (pintakasi1521.blogspot.com)

[jinxtravel]

What is the most dangerous area in the Philippines? 🇵🇭

[trnsfrmtn111]

Ivan was fucked.

A man in his late-20's, he had decided to take a solo trip to Manila not as one of those tourists, but to investigate an odd phenomenon. In the more impoverished and working class neighborhoods, there was a strange rumor of a particular (and illegal) liquid which could help someone gain a sort of "macho" energy. He'd only found out about it when an anonymous tipper who later went missing sent him an odd video recording. It was of a group of Filipino men, all muscular and topless, drinking some sort of purplish liquid from a small glass, before simultaneously flexing and grunting.

And it was apparently making the rounds in his city.

After a long-haul flight, he navigated the busy roads and tight alleyways before finding himself at the location of the video. It was a dingy corner near the river. There was barely any people around, except for a group of men. They looked similar to the ones in the video.

Trying to get a closer peek to gather some evidence, he inched closer with his phone camera, pretending to just be another lost tourist. But just one small thing.

He accidentally left his flash on.

The moment the flash went off, all the men's heads turned to his direction. "Oy! He wants da liquid!" One of the guys blurted out, chuckling silently as the others quickly tackled him to the ground.

"You ah, you want our secret? Putangina mo, katulad ka lang ng huli. Gusto mo kaming ilantad!" The guy with the towel around his neck shouted as the others continued pinning him to the ground, their sweaty bodies causing Ivan's nose to scrunch up.

The guy in the red, their leader, quickly pocketed the liquid he was searching for. In its place, he brought out a smaller vial. It was a strange greenish hue. Taking the cap off, the man smiled and laughed. "Inumin mo." He said in a stern voice.

Ivan tried fighting the men off, but it was no use. When the man in red forced his mouth open, he could do nothing but allow the warm liquid to slide down his gullet as the men around him undressed him. It was time.

Immediately, Ivan felt everything shift and change. It started with his legs, as they ballooned with muscle with his calves thickening. Then his torso bulked up too, his pecs turning into mountains and his abs pushing out. His cock pushed against his underwear, becoming a solid 8 inches.

His arms rippled and grew, while he felt his neck and face shift. His lips became fuller, his nose wider, as his once long locks of blonde hair fell off and became replaced with a buzzcut. His once pasty white skin eventually darkened into a beautiful bronze, as he started to smell his own sweat. He felt awful.

Then came the mental changes.

While his physical form changing caused him great distress, the pain rummaging through his brain became unbearable as he cried out. "S-stop it p-please....Ayaw ko ng g-ganito!" He screamed as his tongue became rewired to just speak Filipino. He felt memories of his old education in Australia cease to be, as they became replaced with newer, harsher memories. He remembered having to drop out early, earning himself a local job in one of the bars as a dancer, before turning to construction work. His intelligence plummeted, while he felt something stir in his pants. Before long, he cummed his old life away, to be replaced with a newer one.

...

It has been a couple of weeks since then. Ivan's disappearance back home was all but overlooked. But in the streets of Manila, there was a new man, Ligaya.

A stocky and well-built man in his late-40's, he worked in the local construction yard with a few of his buddies. Quite a fool himself, he was often made the laughingstock of his "barkada", as they went around drinking and occasionally fucking each other.

And for Ligaya, the latter half of that sentence was all but true.

"Name: Ligaya Age: 49 Location: Tondo, Manila Description: maliboggggg. luking for seks."

As for the mystery of the "macho" liquid, it remains safe, becoming a well guarded secret among many in the area. Unless of course, you want to come looking for it 😈.

[pissplasmicpantom]

for the last couple of months now ive been workin on reinventin my cyberpunk ttrpg NEON SPIRITS to be more evocative, more explicitly southeast asian, more in-line with my current politics and worldview and also just, more actual textual conveyance of the themes i originally wanted to impart. and part of that was a move away from the traditional 70s to 80s retrofuturist aesthetics that to late 90s to y2k retrofuturism

im far from the first to do it (ttrpgheads, go look up cybermetal 2012) but i realized another reason why i was drawn to the change, besides just the novelty. my primary aesthetic inspiration for NEON SPIRITS' setting is the congested concrete heart i grew up in, the filipino capital of manila, specifically my neighborhood in tondo. living here, u can sense a distinct *old-ness* in its tech culture that u only ever rly see in other parts of the philippines, & the global south more broadly

like some examples:

theres a piso-net near my house (if u dont know what that is, google it), and just a day or two ago, i saw a little kid there playing on one of the pcs; the graphic quality of the game told me it was absolutely made between the late 90s to early 00s. i remember watching on an old box tv and using a landline phone waaay into the 2010s until eventually we switched to a flatscreen and people stopped ringing up the landline. our living room cd-stereo is just collecting dust upstairs now, but we put that shit on play late into noynoys presidency. facebook, THE social media platform that ppl in the west see as for old people, continues to be the hotspot for social media activity in the ph; young ppl have started gravitating to twitter in the last decade or so, but fb is still where we message and post and keep up on online announcements

advanced technology as a class barrier is extremely charted territory for the cyberpunk genre. but in ttrpg worlds, it tends to come in the form of "high tech is commonplace, but the even higher/cooler tech is only affordable to the wealthy"; very "everyones got a phone but only rich people have the iphone 15" kind of energy. it sorta has basis in reality, but its also a perspective that comes from a privileged position, primarily from countries at the core of the geopolitical economy

for countries that live out in the periphery of this economy, we r always the last to get new commercialized technology—even when a household has the kind of wealth to be in proximity to the core. were almost always the source for this tech—whether its the manufacturing materials stolen from our soil or the manufacturers themselves—but its always too expensive to proliferate here at the same time it does for the us or uk or spain or elsewhere in the global north

we hafta wait till it hits the bargain bin for us to actually use it; and by the time we do, its already out of date by a couple years (this is also why piracy is so frequent a practice here even among bougie families like mine)

[realjaysumlin]

A Glimpse of Slum life in Tondo Manila #4k #walkingtour #philippines

Everywhere that the Christian Colonizers went they left Black Indigenous People globally poor and destitute and we are still feeling this today.

[shinmiyovvi]

「Call of Duty Black Ops Zombies Oc Information: Salvatorix Crew」

NAME: Marcelito Gonzalez

FULL NAME: Marcelito Crisanto E. Gonzales

AGE: 38

HEIGHT: 6'0"

DATE OF BIRTH: May 28, XXXX

PLACE OF BIRTH: Talisay, Cebu, Philippines

NATIONALITY: Filipino

LANGUAGES/DIALECTS:

Filipino

English

Japanese

Bisaya (Dialect)

ALIASES:

Marcelito (By Nicholas and Florina)

Marcel

Lito (By Valena)

Cel (By Armando)

Crisanto (By Romulo and Ermelinda)

Tinyente Gonzales

Tol/Pare/Pre (By Javier)

Marci/Cris/Mahal/Sinta (By Leonora)

Marchel (By Lorenzo)

OCCUPATION:

Farmer (formerly)

Carpenter (formerly)

Radio operator (formerly)

Lieutenant from the Philippine Scouts Tamaraw Unit

AFFILIATIONS:

US Army, Philippine Scouts, Tamaraw Unit, Salvatorix Crew

RELATIONSHIPS:

(Note: The names that are crossed out are considered deceased)

GONZALEZ-EVANGELISTA FAMILY

Nicholas Gonzalez (Father)

Florina Evangelista (Mother)

Romulo Gonzalez (Uncle)

Ermelinda Gonzalez (Aunt)

Sgt. Armando Gonzalez (Cousin)

FRIENDS AND OTHERS

Cpl. Javier Serrano (Childhood friend)

Valena Villanueva (Childhood friend)

Agatha Villanueva (Childhood friend)

Leonora Sanchez (Childhood friend, ex lover)

Ramil Belmonte (Rival)

SALVATORIX CREW

Dr. Stefan von Hoffmann (Ally)

Cmdr. Elliott Rousseau (Ally)

Capt. Gavrilo Petrović (Ally, best friend)

Sgm. Lorenzo Beneventi (Ally, best friend)

Lt. Ryuji Tanaka (Ally, best friend)

Rochelle Levesque (Ally)

Mirabelle Hawkins (Ally, potential love interest)

PERSONALITY:

Marcel is an easygoing man who is relaxed and laid back. He rarely gets angry and always finds a way to solve a problem. He is the breadwinner of his family and a caring person towards his loved ones. Marcel likes to spend time with his friends and his cousin Armando as he is also one of the heartthrobs of the village but his heart belongs to Leonora only. He may not be the smartest but at least he is on average. Marcel is known for being the guy who you could always count on and the friend that everyone wanted to be with. He is skilled in Arnis which he and Licia usually spar together as he learned along the way with the help of his friend's guidance. But once you get him into his bad side, he will never let you slide. Only a few people know what Marcel looks like when he's angry and it's best to keep him sane and relaxed.

BACKGROUND:

Marcel was born in Talisay, Cebu, Philippines from a low-income family. He was the only son of Nicholas and Florina Gonzalez and he felt alone and his mother couldn't bear a child anymore due to some complications. They moved to Tondo, Manila where his uncle Romulo let them stay at their second house, which was now handed to them. He and his cousin Armando don't get along that well which makes Ermelinda, his aunt, scold the two daily. He works with his parents at the farm and at the carpentry shop with Romulo and Armando to earn money at such an early age. He met Licia and her younger sister Agatha when they were spending time reading under the tree when Licia saw him getting a mango before falling on the ground, causing him to have some scars on his face due to his recklessness. Licia went to treat his wounds as Armando spotted the two together. Both cousins fight not just for their usual quarrels, but to get Licia's attention. As years pass by, he and Armando are on good terms as he befriends Javier Serrano, the son of a businessman who lives in a rich household but is a down-to-earth person. The four went to the same school as Marcel fell in love with a beautiful woman named Leonora Sanchez. He began to learn how to play the guitar with the help of his father who used to sing songs for his mother when he was courting Florina before. Marcel then goes to Leonora's house and sings love songs as a way of courting her and showing his feelings towards his soon-to-be lover. As he finished his studies and became a radio operator, he was reunited with Leonora as the two confessed their feelings and became lovebirds. When Marcel plans to marry her, the news strikes him when he finds out Leonora is being arranged with his high school rival and the son of a rich family, Ramil Belmonte who is Javier's acquaintance. Leonora doesn't like Ramil but her mother forces her to marry him, which Marcel doesn't want to cause any problems, and simply lets go of Leonora to follow her mother's wishes. Of course, it was a gut-wrenching decision as he could feel the guilt building inside him. Instead of fighting for his love, he lets that person he loves go.

He attends Leonora and Ramil's wedding, smiling a bit to see Leonora one last time before leaving the chapel. When WW2 came in, he joined the Philippine Scouts together with Armando and reunited with Javier soon after their deployment. When he heard about Licia's parents being held captive during the Bataan Death March, the three went after to look for her parents as he met Licia who was also trying to save her parents, and Agatha who became a comfort woman for the Japanese. They got separated when their plan of saving Ernesto and Lumina failed as Armando went with Licia and Marcel went with Javier. During their time in the jungle, Marcel and Javier see Leonora who is now a guerilla fighter which worries the two. He quickly goes up to Leonora, begging her to leave the Philippines for her own safety, but Leonora declines and she vows to herself that she will fight the war until her last breath. Marcel then got involved in a gunfight as he grabbed Leonora's hand and handed her to Javier, telling him to protect her while he and the other soldiers tried to repel the Japanese soldiers. As the IJA began to advance within the country, Marcel was now lost within the tropical forest where he met an American woman named Mirabelle Hawkins, a member of the US Army Nurse Corps who was seeking refuge in a nearby village outside the forest. The two stayed in an abandoned house as they hid from the Japanese soldiers. Mirabelle and Marcel began to have an exchange conversation with each other as Mirabelle felt pity for what he had been through, comforting him as she could. Her smile and sweet voice make Marcel feel like he's with Leonora, talking to him as they face this chaos together. This is where Marcel begins to have feelings for Mirabelle but he knows it will end up drastically for him so he keeps it to himself.

The two were spotted by the Japanese soldiers as they began to escape them, Marcel lost sight of Mirabelle but got reunited with Javier and his other comrades. Javier told Marcel that Leonora was in safe hands, meaning she was now with an American soldier he said that Leonora would still continue to fight until the war was over, which frustrated Marcel a bit but he calmed down soon after. Marcel found out that Armando died protecting Licia but she was later captured by the IJA as Marcel was starting to lose hope. As the years go by, Marcel becomes sick and gets fatigued while fighting the Japanese. As he was looking for an abandoned house for medicine, a portal suddenly opened and Marcel lost his balance and entered the portal. He was now inside a bunker where he saw Dr. Stefan von Hoffman and his assistant Dr. Alfred Fischer who was the one opening the portal. He also saw three men, that being Sgm. Lorenzo Beneventi, Cmdr. Elliott Rousseau, and Capt. Gavrilo Petrović. He was too sick to identify those people around him as he didn't realize that Mirabelle was there. Marcel slowly stood up while holding his rifle in a fragile manner before losing consciousness and dropping to the floor Gavrilo and Mirabelle quickly helped the unconscious lieutenant. As he was recovering from his sickness and fatigue, Stefan told him that he would need his help and the others for something crucial: Stopping Richtofen from his plans and retrieving the test subjects from his grasp. Stefan also told Marcel about a woman; implying that maybe Marcel knew about her until the doctor showed him a photo of Licia, which he quickly tells him that he knew her and is indeed her friend. As the other chosen people are being welcomed by the two German doctors, Marcel agrees to help them save Licia and go back to the Philippines together and live a normal life as the group, now called Salvatorix Crew, begins their chaotic journey into the lands of Aether.

[meta-holott]

1978 Philippines, Manila, April 7th, Ferdinand Marcos reelection, martial law, fire in Tondo

[kavalyera]

𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐝 𝐚 𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐝 ?

𝐬𝐮𝐦𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐲 : Two friends meet again as kindred in an unfamiliar world

𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭 : oc x oc, can be read as romantic or platonic, use of filipino words, emotional comfort

An embrace was painful, and living beyond that—knowing that one has a second chance was even more painful. David didn’t want to be embraced. He didn’t want to become this, he’d much rather die in the fire than become whatever the Anarchs and the Camarilla thought him about to be.

His motorcycle set aside, and David is looking over the Pasig on the Binondo-Intramuros Bridge. He has a short while before he’s back on the run again, on the run from everything. The Camarilla, the Anarchs, and his fellow clanmates.

He wasn’t—in his own thoughts—meant to live this long.

How long has it been since his embrace? Seven years maybe. Maybe eight. Time passes by with no reason and David doesn’t care much about it anymore. He’s grown past being that kalye kid that they say keeps fighting. Maybe he’ll turn back to God if God listens. Maybe he’ll listen, the Father almighty is just like his own father. Powerful, neglectful, significant in the eyes of others. He’s been abandoned in more ways than one—

“Oks ka lang, pre?” You good, bro? Asks another voice that’s all too familiar. David almost flinches when a hand touches his back, resting near the back of his neck. It’s almost instict to fight or run.

“Marianne?” David looks up at her and there she is again. Marianne. Mary. Marie. Anne. Mars, as their classmates once called her from elementary to senior year of high school. She hated that nickname, it was “too overused” she frequently said.

“I’m May.” She sits down next to him on the edge of the bridge, her forearm resting on her knee and the other foot dangling off the bridge, her sandal seemingly about to fall into the river but it doesn’t.

“Why are you here?” David asks.

May looks at him, taking his red tinted glasses and the world is clear and bright again. Manila in the night. There was her again, wearing his glasses and had seemingly changed herself. She was different, but still so familiar.

“I heard you died. I didn’t want to miss your funeral, you know?” May replies back with. “I went there, they told us your body was burned. I cried a lot, I remember our math teacher from grade-ten was there. Sir Oscar, yata.” Sir Oscar, I think.

“Miss niya ako?” He misses me? David asks back in return. “Di ako naniniwala sa ‘yo.” I don’t believe you. David smiles. Of course he knows Sir Oscar.

Sir Oscar was always a good man. David couldn’t bring himself to visit the old man past his retirement. He didn’t want to bring chaos to an elderly man’s life, he had a wife and kids. Well, his kids were grown and were in different places. His wife was dead, the man was living in peace, close friends with the teachers he called his coworkers still.

“Of course he misses you, whenever no one was raising their arms he called you back then ‘cause he knew you’d always get the answers right.” May says. “I thought you died.”

“Well…” David looks at her.

Does he really want to tell her what he’s become? In an instant, he was in agony, sharp burning engulfing him whole. His arm, he remembers, felt so cold from the burning sensation that it hurt. He was a tough boy, everyone knew that. But at that moment, David cried. He felt tears as pain washed over him. He was not tough at that moment.

“I heard you were making a name for yourself.” May says. “Tondo made you their Baron.”

David’s eyes shoot up to her back from the black waters of the Pasig river in the night. She knew of Barons, she knew of the Anarchs, she knew of the Camarilla.

“Hm?” David asked back for her to clarify.

“I got embraced.” May said. “Gangrel, or however you say it.”

“Oh, right.” David nodded slowly.

Cars passed by behind them. Manila was glimmering as the lights from buildings seemed to twinkle like stars in their warm, golden lights. Some were cold lights, cold and harsh.

“I’m a…” David rolls his hand. “Brujah.”

May snorted. Then she laughed. They both laughed. David found himself laughing with her and suddenly they were high school students again coming back home after a long day of quizzes, shit-talking, and writing lecture after lecture in their notebooks.

“Mangkukulam?” A sorcerer? God, David wishes. It’s probably much better than feeling the urge to resolve everything with his fists.

“I wish.” David shakes his head. “That’s Tremere, I think.”

“Ah.” May clicks her tongue, tilting her head to the side. “How have you’ve been?”

“On the run, and stuff.” David says. “I don’t…”

He’s not sure. He doesn’t know why he doesn’t like kindred life. Everyone else seems different, like they’ve settled into this reality of theirs fairly easily and David, even with being crowned Baron of Tondo, he still doesn’t seem to know what he is or what he wants exactly. He doesn’t know what to do, he’s alone, he’s afraid. He knows those three facts all too well.

“I’m not sure.” David says.

“Ohhh….” May replies back with. “On the run, why? What happened? They didn’t tell me anything, they just told me they made you Baron of Tondo.”

“De Silva doesn’t have an official blood hunt on me yet but it’s clear she wants me dead.” He puts it simply. Crossing her path is a death sentence on its own.

The entirety of Manila is a Camarilla paradise. Every kindred coaxed into submission by the higher authority, forced into obedience through fear and lies. David is fighting a losing game, he knows that. Fighting against a city with monsters much older is a loss.

“But why are you still here?” May asks.

David thinks. Why is he even in Manila? Everything was without a label and yet everything was tying him down to Manila.

“I need to try.” David says. “Try and fight. I’m not going to let Prince de Silva have total control. I’m not gonna let her have that peace of mind.”

May looks at him through his red tinted glasses, before she rests her head on David’s shoulder. “I’ll join you. You don’t have to do it alone.”

thank u sm for reading ueue ! ^_^

[sgcruz21-blog]

My review of 'Below' for Reader Views. A must-read for fans of literary horror.

[onenettvchannel]

FLASH REPORT: American YouTuber 'IShowSpeed' arrives in the Philippines, causes Fan Frenzy for meet-and-greet in BGC [#TeleRadyoSerbisyoEXCLUSIVE]

(Written by Rhayniel Saldasal Calimpong / Freelanced News Writer, Online Media Reporter and News Presenter of OneNETnews)

TAGUIG, NATIONAL CAPITAL REGION -- The American variety and veteran YouTube sensation 'Mr. Darren Jason Watkins Jr.', finally set foot in the country today, part of his highly anticipated Southeast Asia tour. This arrival of the 19 y/o Ohio state native, straight from the United States of America (U.S.A.), created frenzy among his Filipino fanbase, which led to huge masses of crowds and traffic jams across Metro Manila.

Indeed, his Philippine adventure started off with a bang. He played at a local basketball court in 'Brgy. 39, Zone 3, District 1' in 'Tondo, Metro Manila, National Capital Region'. The place was thronged with fans as the eagerness got the better of everyone to get a glimpse of the male YouTube star. It set the tone for a day that became truly frenzy-filled and filled with fervor.

Before going to the heart of the city, IShowSpeed made a quick detour to a local Chowking branch on Bustos Street, Sta. Cruz, this said city and province. The fast-food stop served as an emergency impromptu meet-and-greet location, where he was sat and hydrate himself in plain cold water, as eager fans were gathered outside to catch a glimpse of their online male YouTuber idol. He followed up his interest in Filipino culture by riding on top of a Kalesa, a horse-drawn transportation contraption, waving a Philippine flag to the delight of all that watched, helping spur his growing entourage on in excitement.

The joyride to BGC turned out to be a spectacle in its own right, as the male YouTube star replaced Kalesa with a motorbike, knowingly called as 'habal-habal'. The ride through busy Manila attracted even more attention; traffic came to a halt with fans trying to stay alongside their idol.

The chaotic night concluded before 7:30pm at 5th Avenue, BGC, in a Mercedes-Benz showroom, where IShowSpeed found refuge amidst a sea of people. Outside the unforgettable local dealership at Cats Motors Incorporated (CMI), chaos was at nothing less than pandemonium. If this day wasn't exciting enough, IShowSpeed teasingly posted to the internet media, including 'TeleRadyo Serbisyo: Dumaguete' and 'OneNETnews' that he would be meeting the Boxing legend and former senator "Manny Dapidran 'PacMan' Pacquiao", scheduled for tomorrow on Thursday (September 12th, 2024 -- Manila local time) when social media would once again go ablaze in the star-studded encounter.

In LIVE chats throughout the night, rumors are rife that the IShowSpeed Philippine Tour may well extend to the Visayas region on Day 2, including Cebu, Bacolod, Dumaguete and Siquijor. For now, unfortunately much however, Mindanao appears to be out of its itinerary.

IShowSpeed's arrival most certainly has left an indelible mark within the Philippines, and his livestream drew in more than 300,000 viewers from around the world, over half from the Philippines with 56% online audience share in this video sharing platform. And as this male YouTube star still goes on a rampage in this South East Asian adventure, one thing is for sure: IShowSpeed fever has finally swept the nation of the Philippines, and it isn't going away anytime soon.

This ongoing tour to South East Asia would be continued across the continent, first stopping in Thailand and later adding probably with the likes of Cambodia, Malaysia and Indonesia -- all for this month of September 2024.

SCREENGRAB COURTESY: IShowSpeed via YouTube LIVE VIDEO

SOURCE: *https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qWuJYrEZBkw [Referenced YT LIVE VIDEO via IShowSpeed] and *https://www.youtube.com/post/Ugkx685Idjol8tdYoSpnEhUNmxqKLfMVUOTW [Referenced YT Poster PHOTO via IShowSpeed]

-- OneNETnews Online Publication Team

[agentomato]

Any headcannons about the interactions between Piri, Mexico, and Spain? Since Piri was technically directly administered by Mexico for the majority of their time as colonies of Spain, how do you think their relationship would have been? And then what are your thoughts on how it would have been like when the colonial link between Piri and Mexico abruptly ended, and Spain was suddenly in and around Piri more often than before?

small note: I'm not as familiar with the histories of spain and mexico respectively, so i apologize for any errors or inaccuraries on my part! there's a lot i'm missing here as well because of how expansive this period was (literally 300+ years) but if you want any specifics feel free to send an ask anyway. as always, i'm defaulting to my PH OC for this, but you may use what i have for your interpretation of canon PH if you wish

i have the current personification of the philippines originally be the precolonial polity of tondo in my personal headcanon (and there's a lot to unpack and discuss there), so when she met spain for the first time they were pretty close in physical age with both more or less being in their teens (philippines being a younger teen at the time, but still); mexico, however, i see as being a result of colonization, born from the ruins of tenochtitlan as spain fashioned new spain into being, and as a result was very much a child in comparison. the hilarity that it's mexico-- still a kid-- who technically had more authority as the spanish east indies (philippines) were administered under new spain ensues

mexico being young also meant that a lot of the time she was operating under spain's instructions and influence, and often his authority superseded her's when it came to the spanish east indies, which was really more of a region part of the viceroyalty of new spain; i want to acknowledge the different power dynamics that were at play under the spanish empire, and that mexico was very much an important jewel to the spanish empire, but both she and philippines were still, at the end of the day, colonies under the spanish empire's eyes

that said i do think mexico and philippines interacted regularly with each other, mostly through trade (manila-acapulco galleon trade ties); the disparity between their physical ages helped to even out their dynamic a bit, and they often shared and exchanged aspects of their cultures with one another, influencing each other whether it be in food (ie. the evolution between the mexican drink champurrado and the rice porridge champorado, both utilizing chocolate, or the evolution of champoy/kiamoy in chinese-filipino communities to the chamoy sauce in mexico) or clothing or theater; both left an undeniable mark upon one another, and despite the disagreements and issues they had they were more or less very good friends-- a childhood friend on mexico's end even

that said, there were disagreements; it's bad enough philippines had gradually lost her sovereignty (although the conditions of that were complicated), spain had decided to put her under the technical administration of a viceroyalty whose personification was more or less a child, and the differences in that power dynamic on was felt; philippines did understand mexico was only doing what was instructed of her and much of her resentment fell more towards spain, but that didn't mean she and mexico didn't have disagreements from time to time

philippines (as tondo) had first met spain when he arrived together with the command of miguel lopez de legazpi at the shores of what is now manila bay (when spain had arrived with ferdinand magellan prior he had met a different polity), and while mexico was the one technically administering philippines spain was certainly still present, often intervening especially during times of more expansive military conflict such as the seven years war-- the spanish empire was expansive, and a lot of the basic tasks of administration as a result fell on mexico's shoulders, but that doesn't mean spain wasn't present in his own way as well, stepping in even at mexico's own protests at times

philippines and spain's close physical age gap and the fact both met as personifications with centuries already under their belts evidently means i don't see them as parent-child, but it doesn't mean spain wasn't also a big influence on her; the nature of their relationship during the colonial period was Complicated(tm), and i could probably expound on this another time, but essentially spain was sort of like an upperclassman mentor she was suspicious of but still drew influence from regardless; there's a lot more i could go into, from the colonial violence to the ways in which spanish cultural influence in religion and otherwise came with the creation of systemic structures that would make their adoption an implicit pressure that required conformity to access any amount of privilege under colonialism, but i don't want to discount hers (or even mexico's tbh but i'm less familiar with that history) agency for that matter either; philippines did feel the pressure to conform in a lot of areas, but sometimes she did adopt influences because she thought it was fashionable, and a lot of times even made some of those influences her own (indigenization/filipinization); it's messy and complex and maybe someday i'll expound on this in the future, but that day isn't today

whether it came from mexico or spain though, philippines did often more or less carry on doing her own thing; the physical distance between the spanish east indies and spanish crown did mean a lot of the time philippines pushed forward with doing what she wanted anyway, sometimes even ignoring missives from above completely if she could get away with it. mexico was usually far and only administering on a technical level, and spain was often too far away in europe or elsewhere in some other colony to do much anyway, so insert shrug emoji here

philippines had watched mexico grow, probably was bewildered by how fast she grew too (as these new world kids often did grow exponentially fast), and overall i do think she was sympathetic as insurgencies grew and she began demanding independence from spain; ultimately though i don't think philippines saw her fate tied with mexico. mexico did await the day philippines would gain her own independence again though, so that they could restart their relations as true equals; of course the road to ph independence... definitely had a lot of setbacks

after mexico became independent full administration of the philippines came fully under the spanish crown, and spain was more present in philippines's life; evidently she didn't receive it well as by the end of the century she would fight for her own independence, and even prior revolts against colonial authority were a regular par of the philippine experience under spain (although definitely complicated in its own right, something i'll also need to expand on someday)

there's. a lot more i would have wanted to go into and some stuff here is tentative but!! here's a rough idea basically

[jinxtravel]

How Bad is the Poverty in the Philippines? 🇵🇭