Filipinos enjoy Seoul’s Little Manila

Daehangno, an area in central Seoul chockablock with theaters and eateries, is a place where Koreans often venture on special occasions, such as dates or family outings.
It is also a gathering place for Philippine expatriates craving some food from home. Every Sunday for the past decade, the district has hosted an open-air market set up by Filipinos, where Filipino foods and other products are sold. From 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., a 100-meter sidewalk linking Dong Sung High School and Hyehwa Catholic Church is crowded with Filipinos, and increasingly, Koreans, too. Some things that may be rarities in the eyes of Koreans, say, a boiled duck egg, are must-buys for many of these Filipinos.
According to Edgar Balista, a Filipino who has lived in Seoul for 17 years, the open-air market was set up by Filipinos attending mass at the Catholic church. The church has been providing Filipino expats a one-hour Sunday mass beginning at 1:30 p.m. The mass attracts around 2,000 attendees every Sunday. On Easter, the number rose to 5,000. Balista said such a huge turnout at the mass is little surprise given that more than 90 percent of Filipinos back home are Catholic.
Working as an English teacher in a private language institute in Seoul, Balista is now leading a 300-member Filipino community. The community, Balista says, serves members by exchanging information and providing knowledge of labor rights, Korean laws, including international marriage. According to Balista, Filipino communities are also sprouting in other parts of the Seoul metro area, such as Ansan, Suwon, Goyang, Namyangju, Maseok and Pocheon, as well as in other big cities, including Daegu, Busan and Daejeon. But so far no place has overtaken the Daehangno community, he said. The Daehangno market, however, did encounter some hardship in the course of growing to its current size. According to some members of the Catholic church, when the market was formed, some Korean members frowned upon it, saying it could hurt the image of the church as a sacred place. But those Koreans came to accept it over time as a symbol of friendship between Koreans and Filipinos deepening within the church. Balista estimated the number of Filipinos living in Korea to be about 60,000. The number shrank by 10,000 from last year, as many Filipinos are moving to countries that are friendlier to migrant workers, such as Canada, he said.
As word of mouth spread over the last decade, the Daehangno market is now known by many as Little Manila. According to vendors there, more Koreans are visiting to taste Filipino foods. Foods sold at the market include lumpia, a Filipino fried spring roll filled with ground pork, minced onion, carrots, and spices, as well as sinangag, a fried rice dish, and pancit canton, a noodle dish with vegetables, chicken, pork or shrimp.
Kim Young-woong, 28, an employee at a local firm, recently went to the market to try lumpia. Song A-ram, 22, accompanied him.
“We chose it after the Filipina owner explained about it in Korean and it was delicious,” Kim said. “We are now thinking of eating dessert. Maybe we will also drink coconut milk,” Song said. The gathering place extends to the playground at Dong Sung High School, where the Filipinos host a basketball league with 18 teams each Sunday. The league also dates back 10 years.

By Sung Si-yoon JoongAng Ilbo [joe@joongang.co.kr]