As Toks said the whole of South East Asia is obsessed with trying to be whiter, the sales of and advertisements for whitening products are enormous.
In the Phils of course as well as the Chinese and Malay factor there is the Spanish influence and many of the top 100 families that still run the country are from the old Spanish rule, just check out the senate for Spanish surnames and "linked" dynasties of father, son, daughter, wife, cousin etc.
Personally I like to see Ligaya with her skin darker but of course she gets told off by her mum and family if she goes home "dark". Crazy but true.
When we lived in Hong Kong many visiting mainland chinese would ask her directions in mandarin assuming she was Chinese, she also had the same thing happen with Thailanders.
When I first met her I would point out another girl in HK and say is she Filipina only to be told she is Indonesian. I guess I had that all Asians look alike viiew.
After several years I can usually distinguish between most nationalities and have come to appreciate the uniqueness of our lovely filipinas.
Enjoy Thailand
