I think the reason why Filipinos are broken out in terms of education is due the them being a US territory. Due this this, the use of English is prevalent in the Philippines. If you ever watch Filipino TV, they mix English in everywhere.

This gave Filipinos a leg up over other Asians during the 1980s, a recent height of Asian immigration.

I’ve also noticed they break out a group of people called Hmong on some applications. The Hmong are a small group, but known to be the poorest of Asian groups.

As for Pacific Islanders, the term seems to apply to Polynesians.