As you know Jose Rizal was an enthusiastic chess player, we know he played in Spanish coffees and with their friends. One of them Fernando Cañon won the first Catalonian ch., played in the city of Barcelona. Even we have one game of this tournament, so I think two initial players of Philippines was Canon and Rizal !.
Canon,Fernando - De Flaquer,Enrique [C33]
Camp. Catalunya, Barcelona, 1905
1.e4 e5 2.f4 exf4 3.Bc4 Ne7 4.Nc3 d6 5.d4 g5 6.h4 Ng6 7.h5 Ne7 8.g3 fxg3 9.Bxg5 Rg8 10.Nd5 1-0 A poor game, but is the first of Phipipinian player
Alejandro Melchor, Barcelona, Spain