Deep-seated Spanish suspicion of the Chinese in…

Deep-seated Spanish suspicion of the Chinese in the Philippines had given way to recognition of their potentially constructive role in economic development filin the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries.

Chinese expulsion orders issued in 1755 and 1766 had been repealed in 1788.

Nevertheless, the Chinese had remained concentrated in towns around Manila, particularly Binondo and Santa Cruz.

In 1839 the government had issued a decree granting them freedom of occupation and residence.