Filipino Isolationism

Filipino isolationism is the direct result of colonial re-engineering of Filipino education and culture. Colonizers, such as the Spanish, intentionally prevented the natives to communicate with their Austronesian counterparts to stop alliances from forming and toppling the colonial power structure. If the natives had formed alliances they would have easily overpowered the colonial entities by sheer numbers. By losing their Austronesian (primarily Malay) roots and heritage, the Filipinos would have forgotten their royal lineages and blood alliances within the region. They also utilized tribal feuds between the kingdoms and polities to their own advantage to destabilize the region for easier takeover.

In summary, Filipino pre-colonial history is truncated not just due to natural disasters, or wars, but also intentional rewriting and erasure of Filipino culture to isolate the region from their Austronesian brethren. By breaking the islands off from the rest of the Southeast Asian kingdoms physically and culturally, the Spaniards (and later the Americans) were able to centralize and govern a manageable amount of islands and native population for over four centuries with minimal revolt.

Filipino isolationism continues to this day due to residues of colonial era education. By recognizing the impacts of this harmful rewriting of our culture, we can undue the damages done. We must look at commonalities instead of differences with our Southeast Asian neighbors, such as Malaysia and Indonesia, and realign and refocus our history with our Asian heritage instead of our malevolently manipulated Eurocentric past. We are Asian. Not Spanish or American.