Filipino mestizo is a term used in the Philippines, to designate Filipinos of mixed indigenous Filipino (Austronesian or Malay), and foreign ancestry. The word Mestizo (Portuguese: Mestiço; French: Métis; all from Late Latin Mixticius, meaning "mixed"), is a "Spanish term" that was formerly used in the Spanish Empire to designate people of mixed European (Spaniard) and Amerindian ancestry living in the colonies. In the Philippines, the term "mestizo" originally bore the connotation of mixed Spaniard and indigenous Filipino. Up to the 1980's, the “Diccionario de Filipinismos” of Wenceslao Retana, misleadingly defined the term “mestizo” as individuals who are descendants of Chinese Christians and their indigenous Filipino wives. Some Filipinos are mestizos and most likely have Spanish ancestry. This is because some Filipinos have European blood than others most of them who are rich, and often, only those Filipinos who possessed mixed appearances are considered by most as mestizos.
After the defeat of Spain during the Spanish-American War in 1898, the Philippine Islands and other remaining Spanish colonies were ceded to the United States in the Treaty of Paris, for 20 million dollars. Civil government was established by the Americans in 1901, with William Howard Taft as the first American Governor-General of the Philippines. English was declared the official language. Six hundred American teachers were imported aboard the USS Thomas.