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(Editor’s Note: The Sixth Dr. Jose P. Rizal
Awards for Excellence awarding ceremony will be held on June 14,
2008, 7 p.m., at the Kaisa-Angelo King Heritage Center on Anda and
Cabildo Streets, Intramuros, Manila.)
by Go Bon Juan
Why where the Dys or Lees in the
Philippines mostly in the lumber industry, and the Chuas were mostly
cooks or butchers? What is the origin of the saying, “Ang’s sky
and Te’s earth?”
Many non-Chinese, Filipinos
included, believe that the Chinese are a homogenous group. This is
not so. There are some interesting phenomena that show the
heterogeneity of the Chinese in the Philippines and highlight their
very localistic or regionalistic character.
Take this saying: In Davao, it is
Ang’s sky and Te’s earth. It means that in Davao, there are many
Chinese with the surname Ang and Te, so many that they are enough to
occupy and divide the sky and earth of Davao.
In Cebu, it is the Chinese with
the surname Go, who are dominant to the extent that there are enough
Gos to occupy the sky and earth of Cebu.
There are other prominent and
dominant Chinese surnames in other parts of the Philippines: Say in
Aparri; Pua in Cagayan; Uy, Ng in Batangas City; Dy, Dee, Lee in
Naga; Tan in Lucena; Luy in Zamboanga City; and Tan in Sulu; Pe in
Palawan.
Why is this so? It’s simply
because the Chinese are family—and hometown-oriented. Whenever
early migrants from certain villages in China—the coastal villages
of Fujian province in southwestern China, to be exact–arrived in
the Philippines and settled in certain places, the tendency was for
them to bring relatives and townmates to settle in the same place.
In China, due to its long history of feudal structure, it was common
for people with the same family name to settle in one village.
With regard to the occupation of
the Chinese immigrants in the Philippines, the Gan and Ty or Tee
families were mostly in the jewelry business; the Tys or Tees in
textile; and the Dy, Dee, Lee clans, who originated from the county
of Shi Zhen, in lumber. Many of the Chinese from Ca Tai were cooks;
and those from Da Lun, butchers. They bore the surname Chua.
Circumstances happened to lead
these early migrants into these occupations, and their relatives and
townmates simply followed their lead. Interesting! 
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