The Spanish needed Chinese merchants and craftsmen for the sake of the colony's prosperity, but also feared Chinese economic control of the archipelago. The colonial government therefore expelled and massacred the Chinese on six occasions, and kept them segregated in designated zones.
當時的西班牙政府，一方面需要華商工匠來維持殖民地的繁榮，一方面又害怕華人對菲律賓經濟力的掌控，於是西班牙殖民政府不僅先後六次驅逐、屠殺華人，同時劃定區域，不准華人隨處居住。