Turnin g from economic to social matters, it is possible to characterize the condition of the mestizo iri the late nineteenth
century as one of "social Filipinization". Th e concept of "Filipinization", in turn, rests upon my belief that in the late nineteenth century, with the decline of the separate, ethnically-determined gremios, the growth of status by wealth and occupation, rather than by custom or ethnic considerations, and the development of Filipino nationalism, a concept of something "Filipino" came into being in the Philippines. Tha t is to say, traditionally, the term "Filipino" was one used by Spaniards to refer to a Spaniard born in the Philippines. It did not refer to any group of people or to any cultural or political entity that had unique characteristics associated only with thq Philippines. I am arguing here that in the late nineteenth century there was in process of creation a specifically Philippine society, centering on Manila and its adjacent regions,
in which there was a kind of general cultural consensus. That consensus was a blend of Spanish and indio culture that had, been developed and matured over three centuries of Spanish presence