Why do Filipinos deny that they are Asian?

I have noticed this alot as well(I live in California,U.S.A.)many will literally fight with you and insist they're not racially Asian,but only "Pacific Islander",and "Spaniard ancestry".The only thing I can say is that the Philippines as well as other countries/Islands where European imperialism took place possess natives populations that possess self racial hatred and in order to feel better about themselves they identify themselves with their oppressors.