Editing Chavacano (section)

===Demographics===
The highest number of Chavacano speakers are found in '''[[Zamboanga City]]''' and in the island province of [[Basilan]]. A significant number of Chavacano speakers are found in Cavite City and Ternate. There are also speakers in some areas in the provinces of [[Zamboanga del Sur]], [[Zamboanga Sibugay]], [[Zamboanga del Norte]], Davao, and in Cotabato City. According to the official 2000 Philippine census, there were altogether 607,200 Chavacano speakers in the Philippines in that same year. The exact figure could be higher as the 2000 population of Zamboanga City, whose main language is Chavacano, far exceeded that census figure. Also, the figure doesn't include Chavacano speakers of the [[Overseas Filipino|Filipino diaspora]]. All the same, Zamboangueño is the variety with the most number of speakers, being the official language of Zamboanga City whose population is now believed to be over a million; is also an official language in Basilan.

Chavacano speakers are also found in [[Semporna]] and elsewhere in Sabah via immigration to Sabah during the Spanish colonial period and via Filipino refugees who escaped from [[Zamboanga Peninsula]] and predominantly Muslim areas of Mindanao like [[Sulu Archipelago]].<ref>{{cite book|author=Susanne Michaelis|title=Roots of Creole Structures: Weighing the Contribution of Substrates and Superstrates|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pPUeQLcGMOMC|year=2008|publisher=John Benjamins Publishing|isbn=978-90-272-5255-5}}</ref>

A small number of Zamboanga's indigenous peoples and of Basilan, such as the [[Tausūg people|Tausug]]s, the [[Samal people|Samals]], and the [[Yakan people|Yakan]]s, majority of those people are [[Sunni Islam|Sunni Muslims]], also speak the language. In the close provinces of Sulu and [[Tawi-Tawi]] areas, there are Muslim speakers of the ''Chavacano de Zamboanga'', all of them are neighbors of Christians. Speakers of the ''Chavacano de Zamboanga'', both Christians and Muslims, also live in [[Lanao del Norte]] and [[Lanao del Sur]]. Christians and Muslims in [[Maguindanao]], [[Sultan Kudarat]], [[Cotabato]], [[South Cotabato]], [[Cotabato City]], and [[Saranggani]] speak ''Chavacano de Zamboanga''. Take note that [[Zamboanga Peninsula]], Basilan, Sulu, Tawi-tawi, [[Maguindanao]], [[Cotabato City]], [[Soccsksargen]] (region that composed of [[Sultan Kudarat]], [[Cotabato]], [[South Cotabato]], and [[Saranggani]]) and Davao Region became part of short-lived [[Republic of Zamboanga]], which chose Chavacano as [[official language]]. As a result of Spanish colonization, according to a genetic study written by Maxmilian Larena, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States, the Philippine ethnic groups with the highest amount of Spanish/European descent are the Chavacanos, with 4 out of 10 Chavacanos having detectable Spanish descent, followed by [[Bicolanos]], with 1–2 out of 10, while most of the lowland urbanized Christian ethnic groups have some Spanish descent.<ref>{{cite web
  | author = Maximilian Larena
  | title = Supplementary Information for Multiple migrations to the Philippines during the last 50,000 years (Appendix, Page 35)
  | publisher = Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
  | date =  2021-01-21
  | url = https://www.pnas.org/content/pnas/suppl/2021/03/17/2026132118.DCSupplemental/pnas.2026132118.sapp.pdf
  | pages = 35
  | access-date = 2021-03-23
}}(Appendix)</ref>