Enrique Iglesias, Isabel Preysler and the Filipino Identity

So I watched the TV Española 2-part special on her "Hormigas Blancas", and I thought it was fantastic. I think many Filipinos, since I debuted her on my other celebrity site a few years (which until then, most didn't have a single idea that Enrique Iglesias' mom is Filipina) have a rather distorted viewpoint on her life, reflecting their being raised in Filipino movies which espouse a "mestizo elegance" lifestyle in which they, the public, and even the tv networks assume that affluent Filipinos walk around in luxurious silk bathrobes all the time, lounge around the pool drinking wine, and bossing their servidumbre around.

But of course that's not reality, Filipinos born in the middle to upper class still have to work hard for what they have, if that lifestyle in the movies were true where they were just lying around all the time, then for sure, the money would be gone in a second because they didn't have to time to work because they were too busy lounging around!Many Filipinos assume that Filipinos who migrated to Spain (like Junior Morales, and Isabel Preysler) speak only Spanish and don't know how to speak Tagalog, even if they grew up in the Philippines, and that's a ridiculous notion, stereotype, and belief, because you cannot be born and raised in the Philippines, talk to your neighbors and childhood friends, and attend Philippine schools by just speaking Spanish, of course they speak Tagalog. I do know that Isabel Preysler has hired Filipino women to be the yaya of her kids in Spain, and many members of her staff are Filipino, and Enrique Iglesias has said that he always heard Tagalog being spoken around the house growing up.

This assumption comes from the assumption that the Filipino identity is completely separate from the Latin/Spanish identity, forgetting that the Spanish identity has already been incorporated in the national Filipino identity along with the Malay elements, molding into one unifying culture - the Filipino culture.

Many Filipinos are also saying that Isabel Preysler is not Filipina, she's actually of pure Spanish blood, and that's not true either, and you only have to take one glance at her beautiful face and almond-shaped eyes to see that.

Isabel Preysler does speak Tagalog and English, and I know this because I've spoken personally to her in person before, and she is the nicest person you will ever meet. She's a true Filipina woman, and she always represents our country to the highest degree in Spain.

Filipinos also should stop referring to her as a Spanish mestiza, because even if she is, that doesn't make her special or unique or anything because a lot of our people are Spanish mestizos, not just among the rich because there is a lot of untraced Spanish ancestry in Spanish colonies due to the way things were, but that does not take away from the fact that she's a Filipina. In fact, it's politically incorrect to continue to use words like "mestizo", "mulato", and other terms from the colonial period that refer to race in Spanish-speaking society, because everyone is trying to look past race now. So when I see Filipinos are still doing it, I'm okay with it because I understand that they don't speak Spanish and so they're not so attuned as to the cultural norms of a completely different society than what they're familiar with. The Filipino race doesn't exist, the Malay race exists, but Filipino is not a race, it's a nationality.

I just know that there are a lot of stereotypes in the Philippines that need to be erased, such as: Mestizos are Rich, Chinese are Rich, Filipino-Americans are all rich, Filipino-Americans are all snobby and mayabang (conceited), and finally, celebrities of Filipino descent (Enrique Iglesias, etc.) are not proud of their heritage. These are detrimental to our national pride and we need to stop all of this miseducation among our people.

The Filipino heritage has already been infused with Spanish/European heritage, so to continue to refer to a Filipino person as a "Spanish mestizo" as if it was something special is redundant in itself, because many of us Filipinos are Spanish mestizos, but our nationality and identity are as Filipinos.

So this was my latest revision, someone keeps changing her second apellido to Arrástia, which is incorrect, it's Arrástria. Also, someone keeps saying she comes from a Spanish-Filipino family, which is redundant and not doing anything to promote Filipino pride, because remember, even if a Filipino is of Spanish descent, he still a Filipino because that's his nationality and his country. Many Filipinos don't understand this and always view Spanish as a separate "race" than Filipino, forgetting that Filipino is not a race, it's a nationality, and the two are many times one in the same (as in part of the same person, a Filipino of Malay/Spanish descent, like many of us are).

Here is Isabel Preysler's bio from Wikipedia:

Isabel Preysler Arrástria (born February 18, 1951 in Manila, Philippines) is a Filipina journalist, model and former TV talk show host in Madrid, Spain. She is known in the Spanish press as "La Reina de Corazones" (the Queen of Hearts) ever since a best-selling biography by the same name was published about her. She is the mother of international pop superstar Enrique Iglesias, Julio José Iglesias, Chabeli Iglesias, Tamara Falcó and Ana Boyer.

Preysler was born in the middle-class neighborhood of San Lorenzo, Manila, Philippines, the third of six children to a middle-class Filipino family. She attended the Colegio de Monjas de la Asuncion, a private Catholic school. Due to her good behaviour, she was often selected to represent the Virgin Mary in the local Christmas parades.

Her nickname as a child was "Chabeli", which would later be the nickname of her first child. According to the book "Reina de Corazones" by Paloma Barrientos, she dated Gregorio Araneta, Charlie Lopez, and Bobby Santos, among others, as a teenager.^[1] Her older brother Enrique died in Hong Kong due to a heroine overdose. She named her second son Enrique Iglesias, in honor of her deceased brother. Joaquin, her second oldest brother, also had problems with drugs, but overcame them and now lives in Canada.

During her youth, Isabel participated in a charity beauty pageant for the Sheraton Hotel in Manila and was crowned queen. Jun Ikalav, a playboy with a bad reputation, started dating Isabel. This worried her parents, and at the age of 18, she was sent to live in Madrid with her uncle and aunt to study at Mary Ward College, an Irish Catholic university in Spain, where she studied Accounting. It was at a party in 1970 that she was introduced to a family friend by the name of Julio Iglesias, who at the time was not yet a famous singer. The couple had their wedding just seven months later and were married for seven years, during which time they had three children, Chabeli, Julio Jr. and Enrique. In accordance with their rising careers, Julio as a singer, and Isabel as a model in Spain and Europe, they exploded onto the scene in 1971 and became overnight superstars in Spain and Latin America.

Following their divorce in 1978, Isabel launched her own career as a journalist for Spanish magazine ¡Hola! and her first interviewee was Julio himself. She also interviewed Richard Chamberlain. She married the Marquis de Grignon, Carlos Falcó, on 23 March 1980, a short-lived marriage resulted in the birth of a second daughter, Tamara. She later married former Spanish finance minister, Miguel Boyer, with whom she has another daughter, Ana. This marriage symbolized for critics the alliance of the ruling Spanish Socialist Workers Party, part of the leftist opposition to Francisco Franco, and to the "beautiful people" (aristocracy and bourgeoisie).

Often dubbed "La Perla de Manila" by the Spanish media ("The Pearl of Manila"), readers at Hola magazine have voted Isabel as the most elegant and best-dressed woman in Spain for 1991, 2002, and 2004, and she has consistently topped the best-dressed lists over the years in various Spanish magazines.

In 1984, she hosted the Spanish lifestyle TV programme, "Hoy." She has been chosen by several companies to be an image sponsor for their products, including Ferrero Rocher, Suárez jewelery, and, most notably, the Spanish tile company, Porcelanosa.

In 1987, her two sisters moved to Spain with their families to be closer to Isabel.

Her father, Carlos Preysler, has passed away. Her mother, Beatriz Preysler, still lives in Manila where Isabel is known to visit frequently with her children. She is close friends with Maurice Arcache, a local Philippine journalist and socialite. She frequents social events in Manila, including events hosted by the Spanish Embassy of the Philippines. She is also friends with Miriam Quiambao, Miss Philippines-Universe 1999, ever since they met at a party hosted by the Philippine Daily Inquire, a national newspaper, and with fellow Filipina and acclaimed fashion designer Monique Lhuillier, who she met in Los Angeles during a trip. She is known to wear Lhullier gowns at social events in Spain.

In May 2001, she was Prince Charles' guest of honour for the opening of his Spanish Garden at the Chelsea Flower Show in England. She was his guest of honor again in 2005 at a garden party during a trip to Spain by the Royal Crown.

In 2004, the became Spain's welcoming host for David and Victoria Beckham when she hosted a welcoming party at her house for the celebrity couple. She became close friends with Victoria and was often photographed shopping with her during their stay in Madrid. ^[2]

Most recently she launched her official website at the suggestion of her son Enrique, who is one of her biggest fans. She continues to be the national spokesmodel for Ferrero Rocher, Suárez jewelery, and Porcelanosa, for which American actor George Clooney recently joined her in Fall 2006 to represent the brand in a new advertising campaign. ^[3]

As Enrique points she is noted for conserving her beauty in spite of her age. She, her family, and her home are frequent presences in Spanish magazines. She also helps participate in events for the Philippine Embassy in Madrid.

References

1. ^ "Hormigas blancas" Isabel Preysler - TVEspañola http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oe2IMgnY04s
2. ^ www.20minutos.es/noticia/234551/0/vicky/bree/desembarco/
3. ^ Hola! Magazine November 8 2006 http://www.clooneystudio.com/articles/hola110806.html