The first Filipinos to have worked professionally in Hong Kong were these groups who went to Hong Kong during the post-World War II years and following the fall of the Mainland to the Communists in 1949. Many Filipinos also work in service industries in the Central business district, and also in Hong Kong Disneyland as entertainers or other cast members.
Eastern District has the highest concentration of Filipino residents of any district in Hong Kong, with 3.24% of the district's population being of Filipino descent (14,596 people).
Most Filipinos in Hong Kong communicate with the local population in English . However, they communicate with their own friends and community in Tagalog or in another Filipino language. Most of them have also picked up a few Cantonese phrases in everyday life. A few are adept at Cantonese usage.
Filipinos haven't settled long enough in Hong Kong to have a large number who know Cantonese fluently, unlike some of the other ethnic minorities such as the Pakistanis and the Indians who often speak Cantonese as well as their Chinese neighbors. This is because most Filipino workers are transients who do not intend to settle in Hong Kong—each year, a large number of these leave Hong Kong permanently, to be replaced by a different set of Filipinos who have to learn Cantonese from the beginning.
Most Filipinos in Hong Kong are Christians, the majority Roman Catholic. There are also a sizeable number who congregate in Protestant and non-denominational churches. A minority are Muslims or Buddhists. Many spend at least a part of their Sunday mornings attending Mass and various church services. Numerous Catholic parishes in Hong Kong offer Masses in Tagalog or English geared towards the Filipinos. According to the Roman Catholic Diocese of Hong Kong (2011), there is an estimated 120,000 Filipino Catholics who make up a large part of the non-local parish membership.
