Finding My Roots: More DNA Surprises

After I took my Ancestry DNA test a year ago, the results were quite underwhelming because I realized that I was as vanilla as any typical "Filipino" should be. Probably because their data sources are based primarily on mostly gene pools from a majority American customer base. With that being said, there's probably not that much Filipino DNA that would help them classify and help us narrow down the breakdown of our ancestry.

My old Ancestry DNA results

A few months later though, Ancestry has updated their DNA results so that I can see a breakdown of my DNA. I could have chosen other DNA services from 23andMe, LivingDNA, MyHeritage, and others but it seems getting it shipped here and submit my samples here from the Philippines can be problematic. Anyway, the update from Ancestry was even better than the last time.

Previously, I was 97% Filipino but have a minute 1% Greek, 1% Italian, and 1% Basque in my blood. The updated results have significantly changed the proportions though.

My updated Ancestry DNA results

It seems that my Filipino blood has dropped a little bit since I have only 95% of that blood in me at all. Good thing, I can break it down further. I have 66% "Cebuano" blood in me because I have at least 3 grandparents from this side of the country. My 27% Northern Philippines part comes from my mother's biological father who has deep roots in Malabon, Bulacan, and Nueva Ecija. I haven't been to those places yet and never had the chance to meet my mom's biological dad. So from my family tree is concerned, it explains it very well.

However, I have some interesting foreign admixtures that didn't appear in my previous DNA results that I find interesting. One of the significant admixtures is my 2% Vietnamese and 2% Southern Chinese blood. I know for the fact that the old Vietnamese kingdoms of Annam and Champa were once tributary states or had long historical network with the Chinese. The diaspora of Chinese into the Philippines can be traced back mostly to southern China.

My 3% European admixture is kind of puzzling because my 1% Italian part suddenly didn't register in the updated DNA results. I somehow got 1% Scottish blood in return! My Basque admixture now shows as Spanish. I still have my Greek admixture but somehow mentioned Albania into the equation. As far as my family tree is concerned, I haven't seen where I got my European ancestry, it's probably from mom's paternal line since their ancestors had significant mixed-race individuals due to intermarriage with prominent and powerful families like the Padillas and Aranetas.

Not satisfied with the Ancestry results, I decided to upload my DNA data to Living Data, another DNA test results site. Although I didn't purchased their test kits, I managed use the data from Ancestry. Although it didn't provided detailed results, I can see that the results do add up although slightly different proportions.

My LivingDNA results based from my Ancestry DNA data

I have 86.1% East Asian admixture so probably it comes from my Filipino, Chinese, and Vietnamese blood combined. However, it probably means that my "Filipino" blood has probably dropped significantly. My European admixture has also increased to 4.9% so that would account my Spanish, Greek, and Scottish blood. And the biggest surprise here? I have 4.6% Oceanian blood so that would probably mean that I may have ancestors from the South Pacific, Papua, aboriginal Australian, and even Maori? It gets even more fascinating that I also have 4.4% South Asian blood that would cover the Indian subcontinent.

Trying to check another DNA site, I tried to upload my Ancestry DNA data to MyHeritage to see if they anything different for me to see. Since I haven't bought their test kits, I won't be able to see a more detailed test result. But that's fine with me.

My DNA matches

I found out that I had a lot of DNA matches from the United States, Australia, Spain, Netherlands, Canada, Germany, Denmark, and Italy. I wonder who could they be and how we're all related. I already managed to keep in touch with some DNA matches already but most of them, I still don't know how we're connected. My family tree research continues even though both my mom and dad are no longer here, I will continue this and hopefully, share it with my children.

If you are keen on connecting with me by sharing information about our common ancestors or you just want to know about your family tree. Keep in touch. I am currently doing research on my Canonigo, Cabigon, Roa, Duterte, Pañares, Mañacap, Suarez, Alburo, Martinez, de Gracia, and Tabelon roots. You can also donate if you want to contribute and help continue the project.