Filipino Ancestry Help!?

Question

Born in San Antonio Zambalez Philippines. I am trying to find out more on my ancestry. Currently in US and have been since I was 2. My mother doesn't really talk about her family there because it makes her sad but, I would like to find out more on my heritage. Tribe? Culture? etc... I know there are a lot of general info out there but not much specific to each region. She mentioned that I grew up in Subic Bay..

Also... Family name is Calcis

Answer 1

My wife is a Filipina from Antique.
First, check out this and other websites: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zambales

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Family_name#The_Philippines
is the source for the following:

The Philippines
Until the middle of the 19th century, there was no standardization of surnames in the Philippines. There were native Filipinos without surnames, others whose surnames deliberately did not match that of their families, as well as those who took certain surnames simply because they had a certain prestige, usually ones dealing with the Roman Catholic religion, such as de los Santos and de la Cruz.
In 1849, Governor-general Narciso Clavería y Zaldúa decreed an end to these arbitrary practices, the result of which was the Catálogo Alfabético de Apellidos ("Alphabetic Catalog of Surnames"). The book contained many words coming from Spanish and the Philippine languages such as Tagalog and many basque surnames like Zuloaga or Aguirre.
The actual application of this decree varied from municipality to municipality. Some municipalities received only surnames starting with a particular letter. For example, the majority of residents of the island of Banton in the province of Romblon have surnames starting with F such as Fabicon, Fallarme, Fadrilan, and Ferran. Thus, although there perhaps a majority of Filipinos have Spanish surnames, such a surname does not always imply Spanish ancestry.
The vast majority of Filipinos follow a naming system which is the reverse of the Spanish one. Children take the mother's surname as their middle name, followed by their father's as their surname; for example, a son of Juan de la Cruz and his wife Maria Agbayani may be David Agbayani de la Cruz. Women take the surnames of their husband upon marriage; so upon her marriage to David de la Cruz, the full name of Laura Yuchengco Macaraeg would become Laura Yuchengco Macaraeg de la Cruz.
There are other sources for surnames. Many Filipinos also have Chinese-derived surnames, which in some cases could yield clues to Chinese ancestry. Many Hispanicized Chinese numerals and other Hispanicized Chinese words, however, were also among the surnames in the Catálogo Alfabético de Apellidos. For those whom it may indicate a Chinese ancestry, analysis of the surname may indicate when those ancestors immigrated to the Philippines. A hispanicized Chinese surname like Cojuangco suggests an 18th-century immigration while a Chinese surname like Lim suggests a relatively recent immigration. Some Chinese surnames like Tiu-Laurel are composed of the immigrant Chinese ancestor's surname as well as the name of that ancestor's godparent.
In the Muslim-dominated areas of the southern Philippines, adoption of surnames was influenced by connections to that religion, its holy places, and prophets. As a result, surnames among Filipino Muslims are largely Arabic-based, and include such surnames as Hassan and Haradji.
There are also Filipinos who to this day have no surnames at all, particularly if from rural tribes.

[edit] Unique Spanish Surnames in the Philippines
Examples of this, are the surnames Baltero Cruz (which means "balt cross"), Iglesias (means churches), Orante, Escribano (means actuary), Ronquillo, and Damasco (means apricot).
Prior to the establishment of the Philippines as a US territory during the earlier part of the 20th century, Filipinos usually followed Iberian naming customs. However, upon the promulgation of the Family Code of 1987, Filipinos begin to adopt the American system of using their surnames.
A common Filipino name will consist of the given name (mostly 2 given names are given), the initial letter of the mother's maiden name and finally the father's surname (i.e. Lucy Anne C. de Guzman). Also, women are allowed to retain their maiden name or use both her and her husband's surname, separated by a dash. This is common in feminist circles or when the woman hold a prominent office (e.g. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, Mirriam Defensor-Santiago). In more traditional circles, especially those who belong to the prominent families in the provinces, the custom of the woman being addressed as Mrs. Husband's Full Name is still common.
For widows, who chose to marry again, two norms are in existence. For those who were widowed before the Family Code, the full name of the woman remains while the surname of the deceased husband is attached. That is, Maria Andres, who was widowed by Ignacio Dimaculangan will have the name Maria Andres viuda de Dimaculangan. If she chooses to marry again, this name will still continue to exist while the surname of the new husband is attached. That, if Maria marries Rene de los Santos, her new name will be Maria Andres viuda de Dimaculangan de los Santos.
However, a new norm is also in existence. The woman may choose to use her husband's surname to be one of her middle names. Thus, Maria Andres vuida de Dimaculangan de los Santos may also be called Maria A.D. de los Santos.
Children will however automatically inherit their father's surname if they are considered legitimate. If the child is born outside wedlock, the mother will automatically pass her surname to the child, unless the father gives a written aknowledgment of paternity. The Father may also choose to give the child both his parents' surnames if he wishes (that is Gustavo Paredes, whose parents are Eulogio Paredes and Juliana Angeles, while having Maria Solis as a wife, may name his child Kevin S. Angeles-Paredes.
In some Tagalog regions, the norm of giving patronyms, or in some cases matronyms, are also accepted. These names are of course not official, since surnames in the Philippines are inherited. It is not uncommon to refer to someone as Juan anak ni Pablo (John, the Son of Pablo) or even Juan apo ni Teofilo (John, the grandson of Theophilus).

I do not mean to discourage you, but from what I have been able to find out, if none of your relatives can help you out, you are going to have a difficult time of it.

I have had the same problems trying to find my wife's genealogy; add to that the Filipino custom of "family" (i.e., most of her "uncles" are not at all related; the use of "Nay" or "Tay" for someone REMOTELY [if at all] related. I have hundreds of pages of names, dates, places for my Mom's side; about 50 pages for my Dad's side; not even a half page for my wife.

Best bet is to get some good books on the history of the Philippines (such as from the Philippine Book Store) or Philippine web sites and learn as much as you can about the history and culture; then you can generalize about your genealogy. Also, I would VERY HIGHLY recommend a DNA test. I used www.familytreedna.com; I have Filipinos in my DNA, so it may be of use. There are probably some DNA tests better suited for Filipinos, but I am not aware of them.
Good luck!

Answer 2

You could try http://www.familysearch.org/ the site the other person is referring to, if you look at the drop down bar for the countries available the Philippines is actually on there.
Hope this helps.