Magbago

1945 Battle of Manila: What We Have Lost from the War

As the nation ends its commemoration of the 70th anniversary of the Battle of Manila, it is time to look retrospectively at what we have lost. Many do not realize the intensity of that battle, that razed the capital of the Philippines to the ground. The battle was the fiercest of all the urban warfares in the Pacific theater of the Second World War. It was also the first urban fighting that the Americans have experienced. Moreover, around 100,000 men, women and children (many of whom were mercilessly murdered or indiscriminately killed by Imperial Japanese soldiers) perished as a result. After the battle, Manila became the second most destroyed Allied capital in World War II, next to Warsaw, Poland. William Manchester wrote:

“The destruction of Manila was one of the greatest tragedies of World War II. Of Allied capitals in those war years, only Warsaw suffered more. Seventy percent of the utilities, 75 percent of the factories, 80 percent of the southern residential district, and 100 percent of the business district was razed.”

Heritage advocates agree that the city, 70 years after, has never fully recovered. Even up to now, many of the buildings that survived that battle are in danger of being demolished, while some have already succumbed to the apathy of the city government and the greed of corporations. The scale of destruction brought about by the battle was so immense that it left a lasting mark in Filipino consciousness.

Let us look at the intangible things we have lost.

Books 

(from the research of Vernon Totanes, head librarian of the Rizal Library, Ateneo de Manila University):

Out of 300,000 volumes in the National Library, only 5,000 were saved. Around 500 were saved directly by Professor H. Otley Beyer at his house. In the University of the Philippines Library, out of 198,000 volumes, only 1,167 survived. In the famous Tabacalera Library, the finest collection of Filipiniana books, of the 4,623 titles, only 1,500 survived. Imagine tons and tons of materials on precolonial and Spanish Philippines, forever lost from human memory. 

Films

Among all the films that was incinerated by the fires of the Battle of Manila, only five survived: Zamboanga (1936), Pakiusap (1938), Giliw ko (1938), Tunay na Ina (1938), Ibong Adarna (1941). The last one, Ibong Adarna, was discovered by film historian Nick Deocampo hidden in an archive in the United States in 2004. What makes the said film special was that it used matte painting as part of its visual effects—one of the first films in the world that used the technique. The newly restored reel was relaunched and shown in the the UP Film Center Theater on April 2005, renaming the theater Cine Adarna, in honor of the recovered film. I was privileged to have seen the showing myself as an undergraduate student. 

Paintings and other artifacts

The National Museum lost around 2,500 paintings, sculptures and other art pieces, including artifacts such as the original musical notes of Julian Felipe’s Marcha Nacional Filipina (our national anthem), and the supposed bones of Andres Bonifacio. Now we would never really get to the bottom of that mystery of whether or not those remains were really Bonifacio’s. 

Transportation

(Photo of the Tranvia at Escolta, from John Tewell)

Before the jeepney, there was the tranvia. Similar to San Francisco Cable Car System, the Manila tranvia was installed by the Americans in 1903, and has been the popular public utility vehicle in the city from 1905 to 1944. When the high officials of the Japanese sponsored Second Philippine Republic moved from Manila to Baguio in December 1944, the tranvia partially operated until its ceasing of operations just before the Battle of Manila. After the war, there was a resolve to revive the tranvia lines but because of the surplus of American Jeeps in the country, these were used as the city’s new public utility vehicle eventually leading to the abandonment of the tranvia and the proliferation of the Philippine jeepneys. 

Architectural Wonders

We have many beautiful buildings and heritage houses in Manila lost forever due to the battle. Many of them have never been rebuilt. Even the walls of Intramuros, surviving the Spanish and American periods, never survived the Battle of Manila. Of all the seven Catholic churches in Intramuros, only San Agustin Church survived. After the war, only the San Agustin and the Manila Cathedral was restored. The Insular Life Building at Plaza Moraga, Binondo, once the tallest skyscraper in the city (7 floors) was burned to the ground by the Japanese forces. The Crystal Arcade in Escolta, one of the finest examples of Philippine Art Deco, was one of the first buildings to be burned by the Japanese in early February 1945. After the war, there was an attempt to renovate it but it succumb into neglect and has never been completely rebuilt. Another beautiful building was the Hotel de Oriente, which was also heavily damaged by the Battle of Manila. It fell into disuse and was eventually demolished. The beautiful Protestant church, the Episcopal Cathedral of St. Mary and St. John, was also one of the casualties of the battle. Destroyed by shelling, the church edifice was also never rebuilt. On its site rose the Manila Pavilion Hotel. 

People

Out of the approximately 1 million population of the City of Manila, approximately 100,000 civilians perished, many of whom died from mass murders implemented by the Imperial Japanese forces. Women, men, children, even infants were not spared by the Imperial Japanese forces. Some died of indiscriminate American shelling, and hunger. 

Amidst the great loss, we are left with what we have now. But there is one thing we have gained amidst this great loss. Marcial Lichauco, former Philippine ambassador who survived the Battle of Manila wrote in his diary dated February 24, 1945:

To our country as a whole, this war may prove to be a blessing in disguise after all. For although prior to the outbreak of hostilities we were already assured of independence in 1946, a large section of our populace awaited with dread and fear the advent of that great day. Even our leaders seemed to feel that we were not mentally ready and economically prepared for the serious responsibilities which lay ahead of us. A generation of easy living had made us soft. We were adhering to standards of living far beyond our means and enjoying luxuries which we could never hope to have after the loss of the American market. We were beginning to be afraid of independence and the sacrifices that it would require from all of us…

Now the situation is different. 

We have suffered and we have bled. We have learned that material comforts are nothing and that freedom is everything… Before the war few nations knew much about the Philippines and the Filipino people. Today the whole world knows us and every man and woman living in the Islands is proud to be a Filipino. The future, of course, is by no means alluring. There are still many hardships and difficulties ahead of us. We may stumble and we may fall, but we shall rise again with courage and renewed hope. And we will win in the end for we are no longer afraid. 

Commemorating the 70th anniversary of the 1945 Battle of Manila, the gruelling battle for the liberation of the city that lasted from February 3 to March 3, 1945.

Photo above: Artistic rendition of “The Battle over Southern Manila” by Rodolfo Y. Ragodon as featured in The Sunday Times Magazine dated April 23, 1967. From the photo collection of the Presidential Museum and Library. 

a comic about growing up a queer filipino artist in america

New poem. Reblog from my post only, hearts are welcome.

the Pacific

When tourists talk of the Pacific, they think

white sand - bright colors.

Soft, easy living.

Me, a second-gen American,

I think

of the deep

                                water

                                                 where the devilfish and crocodiles live.

                                                 where the Spanish galleons are torn to pieces

                                                 spilling our gold back into the Pacific.

Haik, my people’s sea-god

           laughs, as deep

           as an earthquake

and thick bracelets on his thick arms glow

                       like he raided them back

                       like a pirate.

I ask him,

        “Why do you love me? I don’t know anything about you.”

This is not merely lack of information

                                      For my people were ordered

                                      by gunpowder

                                      to follow a foreigner’s God

                                      leaving me with wounds

                                      five hundred years deep

where there should be stories

of a god

who comes out of the Pacific

tattooed with crocodile scales

and covered in pagan gold.

I ask

          Haik, my people’s sea-god

                      to tell me his stories

                          so I can make fifty thousand copies

                  and sail them

             across the Pacific

locked in the wounds in my chest.

He laughs

    (but sadder this time)

         wrapping gold-heavy arms across my shoulders

As a history nerd and a fantasy/sci-fi geek, I have long been enamored by the history of the fantasy world of George R.R. Martin’s The Song of Ice and Fire. That world and its myriad of cultures, religions, magic and dragons, with its intrigues and the feudal families’ vying for power, is almost a faint echo of medieval Europe, if not almost mirroring the mudslinging political families in Philippine politics. And so when I saw this video of Filipino musicians performing Game of Thrones’ OST on facebook last weekend, in anticipation of the release of Season 7′s Episode 1: Dragonstone last Monday, I got all the more excited.

The musicians are none other than Kontemporaryong Gamelan Pilipino (Kontra-GaPi), the resident Ethnic Music and Dance Ensemble of the UP Diliman’s College of Arts and Letters. And the musical instruments they use come from some of the indigenous peoples of the Philippines, which are almost similar in shape and size with the other instruments used in some parts of Southeast Asia (a link that certifies our common bond with our Asian neighbors). 

As Filipinos, it is unfortunate that most of us are not familiar with our own musical instruments, as much as (let’s say) a Westerner is familiar with the piano, the flute or the cello, etc. Just trying to study them and appreciate them, even if we don’t know how to play them, dignify these instruments and the peoples who produced music out of them. Indeed, music is a big chunk of our Filipino identity that we still try to redefine. And these musical instruments are evidence of cultures that were already flourishing in the islands even before the Spanish colonization. These instruments are also a testament to the enduring cultural diversity and richness that we have in the Philippines–truly a “nation of many peoples.”

I took the liberty of taking a screenshot of each of these instruments on the Kontra-GaPi music video in order to practice my familiarity. 

1. Kulintang 

While Kulintangs are widespread in Philippine cultural shows, the real kulintangs are found in the Maranao and Maguindanao communities (even in other parts of Southeast Asia), where a friend described it to me as like hearing drops of water hit a thousand crystals. Beautiful and tingling to the ears. Beginning in the 12th century “Kulintang” has come to denote an ensemble of instruments, almost similar to the Gamelan ensemble in Bali and Java in Indonesia. Hence, the video featured here a Kulintang Ensemble. 

2. Agung 

The National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) defines it as “knobbed metal gong of the Philippines used in various communal rituals. Suspended in the air by rope or metal chains, the musical instrument is also employed by some indigenous groups as a means to announce community events, and as an indicator of the passage of time.” 

3. Kubing

It is a bamboo-made jaw harp in the Philippines, used by Maguindanaon, Maranao, and other non-Moro ethnic groups in Mindanao and Palawan.

3. Dabakan

The one used in the music video seem to be a variation of the Dabakan, a goblet shaped drum, usually with inlaid wood carving of okir (intricate patterns common to Maranao design). The drumhead is usually made of goat or carabao skin. It is the only non-gong instrument in the five main instruments of the Kulintang ensemble. 

4. Gabbang

Our counterpart to the xylophone, ours is made of bamboo. Ethnic groups that usually use this are the Yakans, the Palaw’ans and the Tausugs. Kontra-GaPi seem to play two variations of the Gabbang. 

5. Gandingan

It is a set of four hanging gongs, as compared to Agung which may have one gong or two. Gandingan gongs are also thinner than Agung. It is usually seen in the Kulintang ensemble as the second main instrument that follows the melody of Kulintang. The gong can also be used by the Maguindanaons to communicate to each other especially in long distances. It is said that the tune produced by the gong are similar to the Maguindanao language. 

6. Saronai

It is a set of 8 brass/iron plates, and is tuned and played like the regular-size Kulintang. It is considered as a practice instrument for beginners due to its small size, but can also be played by advanced kulintang players. It is common among the Maranao. 

****A tumblr friend corrected me when I called this instrument “small kulintang.” Whoever you are please send me a msg again so I can tag-credit you. The message gets erased when replied to so I lost your tumblr handle. :)

Regions primarily spoken: Pangasinan, Benguet, Zambales, Tarlac, Nueva Vizcaya, and Aurora

Regions primarily spoken: Isabela and Cagayan

Regions primarily spoken: Koronadal, Sarangani, and Davao

Regions primarily spoken: Manila, Central and Southern Luzon, Marinduque, and parts of Mindoro

Regions primarily spoken: Ilocos Norte, Ilocos Sur, La Union, Abra, Isabela, and Nueva Ecija

Regions primarily spoken: Bicol, parts of Catanduanes, Burias Islands, and Masbate

Regions primarily spoken: Maguindanao, Zamboanga, Davao, Cotabato, and Sultan Kudarat

Regions primarily spoken: Cavite, Zamboanga, Basilan, Sulu, and Tawi-Tawi

Regions primarily spoken: Western Visayas, parts of Masbate, and Northern Mindanao.

“We are descended from Voyagers”: How Disney’s Moana point to Filipinos’ Distant Past

I’m not sure if Disney’s Moana will be shown again in theaters after the Metro Manila Film Festival, but if you haven’t seen it yet, you should. It’s a riveting animation about a daughter of a Polynesian chieftain who embarked on a long journey to the sea via a small boat with outriggers, to find Maui the demigod and return the heart of an island goddess back to its proper place and save the world.

*A clip from Moana: Lin-Manuel Miranda, Opetaia Foa'i, “We Know The Way” 

Looking past all the creative license that may have been frowned upon by a few cultural purists from end to end of the Pacific, Disney’s Moana is a breath of fresh air. Make no mistake. It’s not just about a simple Disney Princess stereotype. It’s a laudable exploration of Polynesian culture and a great attempt at that by Disney. But of course, the inclusion of imperialism on a fictional story need not complicate an already good plot, as it did with Disney’s Pocahontas. I’ve read that tremendous research went into the story. I can’t not just put past this film without mentioning that the seemingly Hawaiian or Polynesian story is deeply connected to and enmeshed in our identity as Filipinos. Prior to the Spanish colonization of the islands, we were a people connected to Asia and beyond via the sea.

Archaeological findings and recorded history, point to an earlier past, that if understood fully by us, would make us think bigger when it comes to our origins, beyond the boundaries of our nation-state.

The nearby seas and the large expanse of oceans, for pre-colonial inhabitants of the Philippines, was not a large impenetrable wall that isolated each island in the Pacific as was presupposed. They were in fact inroads to distant lands, never feared but mastered. The people then had excellent navigation skills without the aid of a compass, simply by reading the stars, the ocean currents, and weather patterns. They most probably have learned, thousands of years before the West did, that our world was round and not flat.

Look at the archaeological digs that unearthed enormous balangay (balanghai) boats in Butuan that showed the great craftsmanship that went into our forebears’ shipbuilding. Without using iron nails but wooden pegs, called by archaeologists as “treenails,” hard wood planks called locally as “dongoon” (Heritiera littoralis) were fastened together with the use of these wooden nails to construct a water-proof boat. Such technology is still being done today in Sibutu. The Balangay has so influenced our consciousness that we have called our small communities as “barangay.”

*The “Mother Boat” discovered in Butuan in 2013, analyzed by the National Museum of the Philippines. Graphic belongs to GMA News.

*Archaeological schematics of the Butuan Boat, from the National Museum of the Philippines.

This great art of shipbuilding is only fitting for a people who were well-attuned to the sea. When the Spaniards first encountered early Filipino boats, they were awed by them. Spanish Jesuit missionary Francisco Combes recorded in his Historia de las Islas de Mindanao, Iolo, y sus adyacentes, published in 1667 such skill:

“The care and technique with which they build them makes their ships sail like birds, while ours are like lead in comparison.”

*Sketched reconstruction of the karakoa boat by Raoul Castro, as featured in William Henry Scott’s “Barangay: Sixteenth Century Philippine Culture and History” (1994).

That was why this skill was invaluable for the Spaniards especially at the height of the Manila-Acapulco Galleon Trade, when Filipinos became forced laborers doing shipbuilding under polo y servicio. 

Going back to precolonial shipbuilding, these recently discovered archaeological clues on the life of the precolonial inhabitants of our islands are just the tip of the iceberg. But since what we know of our pre-colonial past rely basically on foreign accounts (Chinese or Spanish), this past remains fragmented. All the more complicated is the peopling of the archipelago which took place earlier. But there are sound theories that were postulated in the academe.

Nevermind H. Otley Beyer’s debunked Wave Migration Theory, that theory that had found its space in our schools’ textbooks–with the Negritos, Indonesians and Malays coming in waves respectively to the archipelago. Analyzing the theory, while well-meaning, have racist underpinnings, with the first wave (Negritos) seen as having less “civilization.” But thanks to the recent scholarship, more alternative theories have come up which are based on the latest archaeological discoveries.

Peter Bellwood posits that around 4,000 years ago, our ancestors, the “proto-Austronesians,” came from mainland China, made their way to present-day Taiwan, and then the Philippines. And from the Philippines, they proceeded southward, eastward and westward, reaching the islands in Oceania, Indonesia, and even as far as Madagascar in Africa. This movement was sustained in long periods of time, not by waves.

*Map of “Mainland Origin of Austronesians” Theory by Peter Bellwood, from French Wikipedia, showing Taiwan and the Philippines as jumping point of the Austronesian migration.

Another theory is by Wilhelm Solheim II. He theorizes that approximately 5,000 years ago, the “Nusantao,” seafarers, through trade, expanded its migration northward from Celebes Sea to Taiwan and to elsewhere in Southeast Asia.

*Map of “The Peopling of the Philippines and Archaeological Sites” from the Historical Atlas of the Republic (2016). The map features both Bellwood’s and Solheim’s theories. 

DNA findings, pottery, linguistic similarities, all point to cultural and ancestral commonalities among the Austronesian peoples, of whom Filipinos are included. Is it any wonder that Philippine languages share many similarities with Bahasa and other Austronesian-related languages? Or how about the Sungka, the Philippine mancala game, which share uncanny similarities with Congkak (Malaysia, Indonesia and Malaysia) and Bao (Madagascar)? Several other cultural manifestations also point to this Austronesian heritage.

*Sungka, the Filipino mancala game, uses pebbles/shells and math. Consider also that all mancala games are boat-shaped.

The Kinilaw, a Filipino dish of raw fish served in vinegar, is popular in the islands, and called by different names in different Philippine languages. Vinegar serves “liquid fire” in the dish as it sort of cooks the food without using fire–a great way of cooking food in long oceanic voyages. It has first been described by Antonio Pigafetta, the Magellan’s chronicler, in his Relazione del primo viaggio intorno al mondo” (Report on the First Voyage around the World, 1550), and may have been imported to Mexico and South America via the Galleon Trade, bringing about the South American version of Kinilaw called Ceviche.

*Kinilaw na Tanigue. Photo by David Conferido.

But why has this not been tackled in classrooms or probed in mainstream discourses? Perhaps it is because of our own myopic view of history, which at times can be self-loathing and at the same time “racist” of others. Take for example this nationalistic article that trended in 2009. Here is an excerpt:

Last year, a friend left the Philippines and went to the United States. In his German class, the students were international. The professor asked who the Asians were and one by one the Asian students introduced themselves. And so it went, the Chinese, the Koreans, the Vietnamese, the Singaporeans etc. all raised their hands. Finally the professor calls this Filipino and asks,

Professor: Where are you from?

Filipino: Philippines

Professor: Oh, Filipinos are not Asians! They are Pacific Islanders! Because ASIANS ARE SMART…

In the United States, it is already being taught in schools that Filipinos are not Asians—that we are Pacific Islanders. While there is a lot of reaction against it, I am surprised that many intelligent Filipinos abroad have accepted this without question.

Pacific Islands are places like Samoa, Hawaii, Tahiti, Guam, Cook Islands, Mariana Islands—and their common denominator? Most of them do not possess their own national and political identities—they are islands under the jurisdiction and protection of more powerful countries like USA, France and New Zealand. Most of these Pacific Islands are still referred to as “indigenous natives.” They have very, very small populations and they have no global role or power. While they have their own unique culture and characteristics, they do not hail from any great civilization in the past. Hindi sila lumaban at tumayo para sa sarili nilang lahi.

The article where that came from had multiple problems of its own, but it was clearly wrong for the professor, and even the article’s writer, to look down on Pacific island groups with prejudice that they had no “civilization” or that they are “not smart.” Yes, we are Asians. Historical precedents point to that. But what’s wrong with the tag “Pacific Islanders”? This prejudice, to put it simply, is a colonial construct that silences certain historical narratives–narratives that would have made our view of history richer, and more in-depth. An example of such silenced historical narratives is that of the existence of a legitimate Hawaiian kingdom before it was subjugated by the United States. Unfortunately, as is proven by the excerpt, we have accepted such constructs hook, line and sinker.

Perhaps, worth mentioning is the controversial article written by National Artist for Literature, Nick Joaquin, entitled “Heritage of Smallness” that basically follows the same train of thought, albeit more convincing. It reads:  

The depressing fact in Philippine history is what seems to be our native aversion to the large venture, the big risk, the bold extensive enterprise. The pattern may have been set by the migration. We try to equate the odyssey of the migrating barangays with that of the Pilgrim, Father of America, but a glance of the map suffices to show the differences between the two ventures. One was a voyage across an ocean into an unknown world; the other was a going to and from among neighboring islands. One was a blind leap into space; the other seems, in comparison, a mere crossing of rivers. The nature of the one required organization, a sustained effort, special skills, special tools, the building of large ships. The nature of the other is revealed by its vehicle, the barangay, which is a small rowboat, not a seafaring vessel designed for long distances on the avenues of the ocean.

The migrations were thus self-limited, never moved far from their point of origin, and clung to the heart of a small known world; the islands clustered round the Malay Peninsula. The movement into the Philippines, for instance, was from points as next-door geographically as Borneo and Sumatra. Since the Philippines is at heart of this region, the movement was toward center, or, one may say, from near to still nearer, rather than to farther out. Just off the small brief circuit of these migrations was another world: the vast mysterious continent of Australia; but there was significantly no movement towards this terra incognita. It must have seemed too perilous, too unfriendly of climate, too big, too hard. So, Australia was conquered not by the fold next door, but by strangers from across two oceans and the other side of the world. They were more enterprising, they have been rewarded. But history has punished the laggard by setting up over them a White Australia with doors closed to the crowded Malay world.

Notice how Joaquin framed his version of the Filipinos’ perception of the ocean. We are small-minded, he said, never really venturing off the shore and into the deeps. He then compared our pre-colonial sails to those of the Pilgrims who risked crossing the Atlantic to colonize, and according to him, even that comparison fell short. Ever a hispanophile, he seem to imply that “civilization” only began in the archipelago upon Miguel Lopez de Legazpi’s colonization of the Philippines in 1565. Joaquin, no doubt, had the best of intentions in writing this article despite the bias. Because it’s partly true. Our tendency as Filipinos is to cower in fear from risks. But I take exception from his opinion, in that, that weakness is not necessarily a Filipino’s weakness alone.  And that, as I have featured here, many historical and archaeological discoveries as of late have debunked that thinking that our forebears were short-sighted people of the “tingi.” And yes, we “crossed oceans into an unknown world.” Paduka Batara, that “eastern king of Sulu,” and his entourage traversed the wider sea from Sulu to China, for a trade mission in 1417. We have become “small” and myopic simply because we have been disconnected from that historical stream of our distant past prior to the Spanish advent.

However, despite the fragmented distant past, we have exemplified our origins by having spread around the world, in almost every country. Filipinos can be found everywhere. Even today, Filipinos are acknowledged as great seafarers.

Taal: A Historical Gem of Southern Luzon

This month, we celebrate the History Month, that time of the year when our national government and historian organizations highlight history, local and national. And as history is all about our past, it has also marked physical landscapes, leaving indelible marks for us to mull over, and study. These structures, these historic quarters and corridors, are a testament to the past and the enduring national memory attached to them. And so this post is dedicated to one specific town that exudes this celebration.

If you hear the name Taal, what may quickly come to mind is the Taal Volcano, a dormant volcano that form a beautiful vista in the highlands of Tagaytay in Southern Luzon.  What many do not know was that the volcano only was named after a very small town adjacent to it… a humble and sleepy heritage town of Taal.

*View of Taal Volcano from Tagaytay

Taal sits quietly on the southwestern side of the Taal Lake. I was given an opportunity to visit the place for the first time in July last year since I’ve heard that the town itself has preserved much of its structures, in that it earned its title “the Heritage Town of the South,” a contender to Vigan in Ilocos Sur, awarded by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site.

While the town is quite small in stature, some great historical figures were born here. One of them was Felipe Agoncillo (1859-1941), the first Filipino diplomat, sent by President Emilio Aguinaldo to the United States and France to plead for the Philippine case for independence amidst the negotiations between Spain and the United States in the 1898 Treaty of Paris. His wife, Marcela Mariño de Agoncillo (1860-1946), also hailed from Taal. She is famous for initiating the sewing of the first Philippine flag in Hong Kong, with the help of her daughter Lorenza Agoncillo, and Rizal’s niece, Delfina Herbosa de Natividad. Imagine, they sewed the flag in only five days! Gliceria Marella de Villavicencio (1852-1929), was another landed lady in Taal, who in the goodness of her heart, donated her ship, the SS Bulosan, to the revolutionary fleet in the Philippine Revolution of 1896 and provided food and resources to the cause of the Katipunan. Not much can be gathered on this revolutionary fleet of the Katipunan, as almost all written accounts refer to the battles on land, especially in its first phase before the intrusion of the Americans. And yet, this lady’s donation of her ship would have heightened the morale of the Katipuneros, who were not only trying to wrest independence from Spain but also trying to advocate the Filipino cause to our Asian neighbors, hence the importance of a maritime presence.

*A historical marker for Gliceria Marella de Villavicencio, installed by the National Historical Commission of the Philippines. 

Another figure relevant to Taal is Leon Apacible, one of the delegates of the Malolos Congress that drafted the Constitution of the first Philippine Republic in September 1898. While he hailed from Balayan, a neighboring town, Leon, together with his wife, settled in Taal and built a home for their family (hence, the Apacible House in Taal). 

When we visited the town, we were led by a tour guide to the main artery of the heritage town, Agoncillo Street, where all the ancestral houses were lined up. We were told that the street would have had the UNESCO World Heritage Status if not for a family there who never cooperated in preserving their own ancestral house, ending in the demolition of the said house. Hence, the street still have ancestral houses but with an interruption of a newly built modern house right smack in the middle. I still have to check this story’s veracity but if true, what a wasted opportunity.

*The Taal Basilica, circa 1900s, courtesy of John Tewell.

The first part of the tour was an exploration deep into the religiosity and folk superstition of the town. We were brought to the main Catholic church structure of the town, the Basilica de San Martin de Tours, otherwise known as the Taal Basilica. The parish itself boasts of a history dating back to 1575, when the town’s first church building was built by the Augustinians. It was destroyed, with the entire town by the Taal Volcano eruption in 1574. Hence, the rebuilding of the church on higher ground, where the present site of the church is. It would again be destroyed by an earthquake. In 1865, the construction of the present church building began, and by 1878 it was finally completed. The church features a trompe-l'œil ceiling (an art technique that gives 3D optical illusion to a flat surface) giving it scale and grandeur, a feature also present in the San Agustin Church in Intramuros, also built by the Augustinians. Both Augustinian churches exudes Baroque designs, heavy pillars and arches. It is a reflection of the deep veneration of the townspeople.

*The trompe-l'œil ceiling of the Taal Basilica, just above the retablo.

*A poster of the rules of proper conduct in the Taal Basilica, written in Old Tagalog circa 1800s. 

*Antiquities of the Taal Basilica, displayed in the church. 

Further we went into this local religious psyche as we went to the Our Lady of Caysasay Shrine where we were introduced to the mysterious rumors of Marian apparitions dating back to 1603. As depicted by the paintings within the church, a certain fisherman by the name of Juan Maningcad from Caysasay (a small barangay in Taal) caught on his fishing net a statue of a Chinese deity. Maningcad observed that the image had a certain glow, and he knelt before it, attributing the image to Mary. The image was entrusted by a parish priest to a certain lady named Maria Espiritu. Then began the rumored disappearances and reappearances of the image, and numerous apparitions and miracles throughout the town. Hence a church was built near where the image was found. A well, called the Sta. Lucia Well, was also said to be miraculous, as rumors of eyewitnesses saw a Marian apparition near it. The water in the well is said to heal sickness.

*The arch above the Sta. Lucia Well, a remnant of the original Caysasay Church building that dates back to the Spanish Colonial Period.

The syncretistic element of the devotion to the Marian apparition known as the Lady of Caysasay is interesting, given that once a year, Chinese devotees would travel all the way to Caysasay to honor the image, which they believe to be the goddess Ma-tsu (媽祖).

While I’m respectful of faiths different from mine, I can’t help but observe the proliferation of faith through rumors, common in local towns in the Philippines, especially during the time of the Spanish Colonial Period. Given that the Spanish friars were outnumbered by the Filipino locals then, faith were used to influence and control the population, even to such an extent as to hesitatingly fuse Catholic faith with folk beliefs. This, I think, only increased their potency to the locals. I am reminded of historian Reynaldo Ileto’s premise that our local social impulses veer towards the religious, even when waging revolutions. One can say, these interstices and convolutions manifested by alleged miracles that are linked to religion is touching into these distinctive Filipino culture, which quite frankly, can be both very weird to us today but very Asian. Local historians who employ scientific historiographical inquiry will find the material in Caysasay interesting and juicy.

Moving on, you’d be lost in a frenzy of ancestral houses and museums that are scattered all over the town. At the time of our visit, the Leon and Galicano Apacible Museum and the Marcela and Felipe Agoncillo Museum were yet to be opened (both were being renovated by the National Historical Commission of the Philippines and are now open to the public since April 20, 2016).

*Panoramic shot of the interior of Villa Tortuga.

Our next stop was Villa Tortuga, a 19th century house restored to its full glory by designer Mr. Lito Perez. It’s location near the Pansipit River used to have turtles, hence the Spanish name it has. The house is fancy, serves delicious Batangueño food, and has an in-house photo studio and Spanish colonial Filipino costumes for tourists who want to have a sepia photo of themselves. I had one myself (see the profile photo on my tumblr). 

*Interior and balconies of the Casa Villavicencio.

After numerous marvelous interiors of houses that lined up the town, one of the amazing interiors I’ve seen was the extension of the ancestral house of Gliceria Marella de Villavicencio. Often called Casa Villavicencio, it is still managed by the political clan. The open patio, balconies the large windows, coupled with restored floor tiles and furniture give a sense of the stature the Villavicencios had.

*Front facade of the Galleria Taal Vintage Camera Museum.

Another house that shouldn’t be missed is the Galleria Taal Vintage Camera Museum. The house itself used to be the ancestral home of a Filipino couple, Domingo Ilagan and Maria Martinez-Ilagan, in the late 19th century. They had six children. The third child, Candida, was married to Antonino Barrion, one of the 202 elected delegates of the 1934 Constitutional Convention that drafted the 1935 Constitution of the Philippines. It was her and Antonino who took over the house in 1944 after their original family home was burned by the occupying Japanese. The grandson of Candida, Emmanuel Inumerable, a photographer and camera collector, took on the restoration of the house in 2004, and by 2010, he and his brother Bobby opened the museum that housed his collection of old photographic equipment. The museum boasts of being “the only one in the country that showcases Philippine antiquarian photographs and vintage camera collection all housed in an actual Spanish-era home.” Surely, the place is worth your visit!

*Rolleiflex cameras displayed at Galleria Taal: the camera model held by the late Senator Ninoy Aquino when he was a journalist, (at 17 years old) the youngest war correspondent to cover the Korean War for Manila Times. 

Taal is but one of the marks left by the past, and such a small town’s impact to national history shouldn’t be underestimated. It has produced pioneers, lawmakers, diplomats, revolutionaries–all heroes in their own right. And as if to remind the nation of its importance, the town has survived the test of time, even spared by the Japanese soldiers (with only minimal damage). Tucked away in southern Luzon, the town deserves to be visited by Filipinos who wish to learn of their history, their heritage and the nuances in between, all leading to a deeper appreciation of who we were and who we are now. 

Make sure that you visit the town if you’re around Batangas. It’s worth it. 

Photos above:

(1) (2) (3) - Snapshots of the Casa Villavicencio

(4) (5) (6) - Snapshots of the Galleria Taal Vintage Camera Museum

(7) - Agoncillo Street, the town’s main artery.

(8) - Interior of the Taal Basilica

(9) - Goco Ancestral House, only one of many ancestral houses in Taal that date back to the Spanish Colonial times.

“I think the Filipino experience varies for everyone—because no two people in the country can say they have exact experiences. What defines the Filipino experience and connects it to everyone, I believe, is the soul of the Filipino nation itself, in all its beauty and tragedy. I think that, despite being a country full of happy and resilient people, there’s an unspoken sadness to it too. Maybe it’s from a history of being ruled by successive colonial powers, or maybe it’s from the powerlessness felt by the people towards our own government. Or maybe it has to do with the vision of what we want the country to be in contrast to how it actually is, whether we want a sense of unity despite its multiplicity, or we hold to it standards we perceive from other countries that we wish we had on our own.

Either way, I think there’s a sadness to this country beneath its fire, and that it’s the thoughts and feelings of other Filipinos and how they see it that ultimately define what the Filipino experience is. I suppose a simpler way to define it would be that the Filipino experience is an experience of many, composed of different fractured pieces to compose something that’s very beautiful.”

Because the Philippines won its case against China in the Arbitral Tribunal (Permanent Court of Arbitration, in The Hague, Netherlands), a milestone for international law, I join all the Filipinos around the world in celebrating this joyous occasion. Of course this is just a beginning, but this is a step forward for peace and stability in Southeast Asia. As such, I’m featuring this photo I took of the West Philippine Sea, from Fortune Island, Batangas.

I have noted in a previous post how maps tell a story. And in the case of contesting claims of states, maps provide strong evidence of the past geopolitical realities. 

Hours before the Permanent Court of Arbitration hands down their verdict over the 9-dash line claim of China over the South China Sea, take time to read about why the historical revisionism of the Chinese have distorted their view of their maritime claim reflected in their foreign policy. 

Philippine Supreme Court Associate Justice Antonio Carpio masterfully makes a strong case against China’s claim of “historic right” by showing ancient Chinese maps as evidence pointing out that the southernmost part of ancient China was not James Shoal (on the southernmost tip of the 9-dash line claim) as claimed by China, but had been consistently Hainan Island. The Chinese imperial dynasties never included the Scarborough Shoal nor the Spratlys on their maps. The claim on these islands was bolstered only by a recent Chinese map drawn in 1947, where the ambiguous 9-dash line was solely based. 

In contrast, Justice Carpio also shows maps dating back to the Spanish Colonial Period that show that Scarborough Shoal had always been a Philippine possession, marked even on the maps made during the American Colonial Period in the Philippines. 

Arm yourselves with knowledge and download the pdf of the cartographical exhibit, courtesy of the Institute for Maritime and Ocean Affairs (IMOA). 

Click this LINK to access the virtual exhibit of evidentiary maps proving the Philippine case. You can click each map thumbnail to have a high-resolution view of the maps. 

Maps above, from IMOA:

(1) Carta Hydrographica Y Chorographica de las Yslas Filipinas (1734) map published by Pedro Murillo and made by Francisco Suarez and Nicolas dela Cruz. It is the oldest map that gives a name to Scarborough Shoal as “Panacot.” 

Filipinos in Los Angeles March to “Break Free from Fossil Fuels”

On May 14, 2016, Filipino Americans joined over 2,000 people in a “Break Free from Fossil Fuel” march in Downtown Los Angeles. The march was part of a global mass action by environmentalists around the world to protest the fossil fuel industry and pressure governments and societies around the world to transition to 100% renewable energy. The march began at Los Angeles City Hall with local leaders and musical performances, then continued to the front of Southern California Gas Company headquarters, one of the largest fossil fuel companies and polluters in California.  

Filipinos from the National Alliance for Filipino Concerns (NAFCON) Southern California and Kapit Bisig Kabataan Network (KBKN) joined the A3PCON Environmental Justice committee in a larger Asian Pacific islander contingent during the march. NAFCON members marched, waved Philippine flags, and carried signs highlighting the effects of climate change and environmental degradation in the Philippines. Dr. Absalon Galat, member of the Filipino American Health Workers Association (FAHWA), stated why he attended the rally, “As health workers we see the effects of climate change and fossil fuels every day. I am a doctor in the San Fernando valley where everyday, after the San Fernando gas leak at Porter Ranch, people are coming in all the time with nosebleeds, dizziness and runny nose. This is the effect I have seen here in the U.S.” Thousands of families in Porter Ranch, CA were poisoned and suffered medical ailments due to a large methane gas leak by the SoCal Gas company that lasted over 4 months. Filipino Americans and many communities are seeing the negative impacts of fossil fuel companies on health and welfare of families.  

Fossil fuels and climate change has led to an increasing amount of storms, typhoons, and severe weather all across the Asia Pacific region. Jewelle Dela Cruz, KBKN Southern California regional coordinator, also attended the march and said, “We are here to make sure that the voices of the communities of the most vulnerable and oppressed people are heard in this space, represented, and advocated for.” Dela Cruz commented on climate change in the Philippines, “As Filipinos, we have seen first-hand the effects of climate change, particularly the effects of large corporations that produce a lot of CO2. That affects third world countries like the Philippines. Typhoon Haiyan was a result of not just natural disasters but man-made disasters through corporate interests and profits causing third world countries to suffer from changes in the climate.” Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines was one of the largest storms in recorded history that killed over 6,000 people, destroyed millions of dollars in agriculture and infrastructure, and displaced thousands of families.  

Many large governments, multinational corporations and military aid have also decimated indigenous communities and natural resources across the globe. In the resource-rich island of Mindanao, Philippines, the forests, mountains, and indigenous Lumad tribes are also threatened. Andrew Esposo, chairperson of Anakbayan Los Angeles and member of NAFCON, stated, “We are here marching to declare an end to U.S. military aid to the Philippines. Because the U.S. military aid that is sent in millions of dollars is aiding the Armed Forces of the Philippines to go to the indigenous lands in Mindanao, to destroy and take the land in order to secure it for multinational corporations like mining and logging companies.” Recently, dozens of Lumad indigenous leaders have been assaulted, harassed and killed by the private security forces of mining companies and Philippine military agents. The Philippine military has sided with many American and European mining and logging firms in violently displacing Lumad tribes for profit and corruption.

Filipino Americans are joining in coalition with the larger environmental justice movement for environmental change and human rights. Esposo highlighted why Filipino Americans should care–“We here as Filipino youth understand that our heritage and our history lies in the rights of the ancestral lands of the Lumads and our communities in the Philippines. As Filipino Americans we pay our taxes. It should go to social services, to youth and students for education, not wars, corporate profit, and human rights violations.” The National Alliance for Filipino Concerns will continue conducting mass actions and movement building to defend the environment while at the same time protecting human rights of indigenous people and other marginalized communities.  

Yes we did! You can find more information on all about that on these following articles by Philippine Studies published by Ateneo de Manila University.

- Counting and Marking Time:From the Precolonial to the Contemporary Tagalog World by Damon L. Woods

A recent militarisation deal between Washington and Manila will have lasting implications for territorial disputes in the South China Sea

In late March, a crew of Philippine sailors was fishing in the South China Sea when they met a Chinese coastguard ship at Scarborough Shoal, which both China and the Philippines claim as their own. Philippine media reported that the Chinese sailors hurled bottles from their ship, while China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs accused the Philippine fishermen of lobbing firebombs.

As tensions rise between Beijing and Manila over contested areas of the South China Sea, the US and the Philippines have announced a deal allowing US forces access to five military bases.

The tussle at Scarborough Shoal was not the first time the two countries have knocked heads in the South China Sea. In 2012, a Philippine warship encountered eight Chinese fishing vessels in a contested area. Philippine sailors said they found illegal coral and fish aboard the ships, leading to a tense standoff, with China ultimately gaining control of the territory. And throughout the mid- to late- 90s, China built structures on the aptly named Mischief Reef, another contested territory.

In response to Chinese expansionism in the sea, the Philippines is shoring up its military capabilities. Philippine President Benigno Aquino III has said Manila is considering investing in its first-ever submarine fleet, and a UK defence contractor is selling two anti-submarine helicopters to the country.

The US – a long-time military ally of the Philippines – has also bolstered its presence in the region. Carlyle Thayer, an expert on Southeast Asia based at the University of New South Wales, said as China “regularly harasses” Philippine military ships and aircraft, the American military build-up is “vital for the Philippines, as it is ill-equipped to deal with Chinese assertiveness”. More than 5,000 US and Philippine troops are currently taking part in the annual Balikatan joint military exercises, where soldiers practice amphibious assault drills and disaster relief operations.

Thayer believes that China will use the recent base deal as pretence for moving its own military units to the South China Sea. But US forces, he says, are needed to balance China’s expansionism. “What would the situation in the South China Sea be like without a US presence?” he said. “The answer is that China would assert its hegemony and intimidate or coerce the region.”

The Philippine presidential elections will be held in May, and President Aquino is ineligible for re-election. The current administration in Manila, said Brendan Thomas-Noone, a research associate at the Lowy Institute for International Policy, wanted to conclude the base deal before the May elections, when a new president will likely not be as friendly with the US.

According to Eric Batalla, professor of political science at De La Salle University in Manila, many in the Philippines welcome the US military. “They are seen as a relief in the effort to contain Chinese activity in Philippine-claimed waters,” he said. “However, there is still small opposition to the agreement.”

The Philippines exhibits two very different strategic cultures, Thayer explained. One is nationalist, anti-imperialist and opposes US military bases in the Philippines. The other is also nationalist, but seeks to shore up the alliance with the US.

Who will win the presidency, and how they will handle Washington, is still to be seen. “It would be hard for the new president to radically change Aquino’s stance – although they are likely to soften it a bit – without criticism of betraying national interests,” said Mark Thompson, director of the Southeast Asia Research Centre in Hong Kong.

Whatever the future holds, the US is unlikely to give up its stakes in the Philippines, as the archipelago offers a unique platform for military projection in the region.

“[The] American military presence in the South China Sea should reassure US allies, including the Philippines, while bolstering its deterrence against China,” said Toshi Yoshihara, professor of strategy and policy at the US Naval War College. “I see this as a stabilising move. China won’t like it, but it has only itself to blame. Its recent actions have stimulated realignments in the region that would have been unthinkable five years ago. “

Despite the ostensible security that US forces will bring to the Philippines, their redeployment is likely to rile Beijing, as in the past it has not shied away from defending its territorial interests. A 1988 skirmish between Vietnam and China military units over the Johnson South Reef in the Spratly Islands, another contested area in the South China Sea, resulting in 64 Vietnamese sailors killed.

“China views itself as having suffered in the past from foreign incursions in its territory,” said Jonathan Spangler, director of the South China Sea Think Tank. “These memories are going to shape its policies and diplomatic interactions with other countries today.”

“From Beijing’s perspective,” Spangler added, “there is a fine line between the US lending its naval expertise to the region and something that feels much more akin to containment.”

With the US at its side, the Philippines is likely to be more brazen toward China than other Southeast Asian countries, said Oliver Turner, research fellow in political economy at the University of Manchester. According to Turner, the US should be doing everything in its power to avoid provoking nationalist sentiment in China, but pushing forward with tactics such as this recent base deal have the opposite effect. “The US is very much stuck in a cold war mentality,” he said.

In news conference on 21 March, Chinese Foreign Ministry representative Hua Chunying spoke to an underlying hypocrisy in the US military build-up. “I also want to point out that recently the US military likes to talk about the so-called militarisation of the South China Sea,” said Hua.

An Atlas of History for the Philippines 

In some countries, citizens are all too familiar with the contours and edges of their homeland. They are familiar with their boundaries, the winding of their rivers, their lakes, their shoreline. They know that when one crosses the border, they have gone out from their homeland and into a foreign territory. A depth of their knowledge of history perhaps aids this familiarity of space connected to national identity. Historical events and milestones that created a national consciousness to these countries are told to the citizenry not only by words lifted from historical accounts, or simple imagination. They are told with view of the landscapes—the terrain of the land.

This reminds me of historian Teodoro Agoncillo’s practice whenever he would write about a historical event. He would go to the exact place where the event happened, and through the written account, try to extrapolate it so as to capture a perspective nearer to the event. The places where the battles were fought, or the historic buildings that once played host to important turning points of our history, gives a clear picture of how it was back then.

What would these battlefields, these war stories, these narratives of history be without maps?

To us Filipinos, unfortunately we have grown too wearisome of maps. Relegated to the elementary school classroom, maps are seldom referred to especially in relation to Philippine history. Why would we do this at all, when our history as taught in the classrooms remain hazy, and simply vague and out of touch to our students? But another question to put forward is that, isn’t it the lack of maps as visual aid that renders our historical narrative with such haziness?

While we are less familiar with our country as a vast hinterland of seven thousand islands (for us here in Manila, we always see the Philippines as that small speck that is the “Imperial Manila”), most of us are not familiar at all with the places in the regions, the place names of distant Filipino towns and cities, and terrains that played a great factor in the unfolding of our story as a nation. Maybe it is time to join the two fields together–cartography (maps) and history–to retell Philippine History in a new light. By so doing, we would aid our people in studying both our own origins and the expanse of land and sea we call our own. As the late Susan Calo Medina said, “Huwag maging dayuhan sa sariling bayan.”

The Historical Atlas of the Republic is the first of its kind in the country. A project of the Presidential Communications Development and Strategic Planning Office (PCDSPO), the atlas includes 44 color-illustrated maps ordered chronologically to tell the unfolding history of the Filipino people, from Prehistory to the present time. While not being comprehensive, it covers the basic historical narrative of the country. It chronicles what we can gather from archaeological sites, the beginnings of polities before the Spanish advent, and their subjugation with the coming of European colonialism. The atlas highlights also the transformation of cityscapes, the city plans that never were, the trains and roads constructed that transformed the plains, the ever-evolving provincial borders, the creation of twelve regions—all told from the viewpoint of the Filipino.

I am proud that I’m part of the team of historians and graphic artists who assembled this book that we offer to the Filipino people for posterity. Being a government-published book, it is not for sale. However, the printed edition of the atlas shall be freely distributed to public libraries, universities and institutions. The Online Edition however, can be downloaded FOR FREE from the Internet Archive.

This book has been more than a year in the making, and entailed painstaking research, and on the side, consultations from the National Mapping and Resource Information Authority (NAMRIA), the UP Institute of Maritime Affairs and Law of the Sea (IMLOS), and reputed historians from the academe. We made friends with these institutions and luminaries and found their passionate insights very enlightening, especially with our country’s case filed in the Arbitral Tribunal of UNCLOS. Finally our hard work has paid off! 

Our team would like to thank our consultant historians: Mr. Jose Custodio, my professor Ricardo Trota Jose, Ph.D., UST Chief Archivist Regalado Trota Jose, National Museum archaeologist Owis Bolunia, my mentor, UP Asian Center professor Tina Clemente, Ph.D. and UA&P history professor Marya Svetlana Camacho, Ph.D.