Before the Philippines was colonized, Portuguese explorers recorded that some people from Luzon-Philippines called Lucoes participated as soldier-mercenaries in the Burmese-Siamese wars between Myanmar and Thailand, whose territories included parts of modern-day Cambodia.

[3] Having witnessed the Lucoes ' involvement in the Burmese-Siamese Wars, in 1594, Cambodia sent an embassy in Manila, requesting military assistance against the invading Siam (now Thailand) from the rulers of Luzon (which had now changed hands from Native Filipinos to Spaniards).

The embassy delegation, headed by Blas Ruiz and Diego Belloso, persuaded the Spanish governor general to the Philippines, Luis Perez Dasmarinas, to send an expedition to Cambodia to aid the king.

The Spanish officers together with their Filipino and Mexican troops plus Portuguese and Japanese allies briefly restored the Christian Cambodian King Satha II who was in exile in Laos, back to the throne.

However, after that, a reinvasion by the Thais supported by Chams and Malays killed King Satha II and the royal family was once again exiled.

[6] Cambodia's King Norodom I once made a state visit to the Philippines and brought back home with him several Filipinos who have since served in the royal court.