+ All Categories
Transcript
Page 1: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

Page 2: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar
Page 3: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar
Page 4: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

Bon Jovi Bernardo

Page 5: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

Towards a Filipino HisTory: a FesTscHriFT For Zeus salaZar

Portia L. ReyesEditor

Page 6: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

Towards a Filipino HistoryA Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

Copyright @ 2015

Published byBahay-Saliksikan ng Kasaysayan/Bagong Kasaysayan, Inc. (BAKAS)

ISBN 978-971-8755-09-9

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner or form without the permission of the authors and publishers, except in the form of brief quotations embodied in critical articles of reviews.

EditorPortia L. Reyes

Book Cover DesignNicole Angela V. Canseco

Book Lay-outEugene P. Crudo

Page 7: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

This book is dedicated to my wonder-twins Ami and Sam.

Page 8: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar
Page 9: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

i

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This volume will not be possible without the help of numerous colleagues and friends. Special thanks to the contributors, who have been patient and cooperative throughout the production of this work. We appreciate Suri Sining: The Art Studies Anthology which allowed us to republish Cecilia de la Paz’s essay and Itinerario. International Journal on the History of European Expansion and Global Interaction which also granted our request to reprint my essay. Mary Jane Rodriguez-Tatel, Atoy Navarro and Vic Villan who are in charge of the festschrift volumes in Filipino have been very reassuring and always ready to assist. In particular, Prof. Navarro provided the impetus and sustained our dedication throughout this project. Kindly Prof. Rodriguez-Tatel edited my Filipino translations of some portions of the volume; while Prof. Villan connected us with personages who helped in its production. We are grateful to Eugene P. Crudo for the skillful lay-out of this festschrift and to Nicole Angela V. Canseco, for its striking cover design. We appreciate Lorenz Lasco and Jimmy Tiongson of the Bahay-Saliksikan ng Kasaysayan/Bagong Kasaysayan, Inc. (BAKAS) as well as Ferdinand Victoria for their prompt and competent assistance at the publication of this volume. Maraming salamat to my husband Jamie Davidson for reading parts of the work; and also to our kids—Ami and Sam—for being patient and understanding of their Nanay. Finally we thank Zeus Salazar for his support and inspiration. Truly he is a giant not only in Philippine historiography, but in the Philippine academy as a whole. We wish you all the best, sir. Mabuhay po kayo!

Possible mistakes that might arise from the editing of this volume are mine and do not involve the aforementioned names.

Page 10: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

ii

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Acknowledgments i

Table of Contents ii

List of Tables iv

List of Maps v

List of Pictures vi

Celebrating Zeus Salazar 1

Portia Reyes

The Role of Language in the Philippines in a 29

Colonial and Postcolonial Context

Marlies S. Salazar

Amlat and the Kapampangan Historical Tradition 53

(The Case for Upper Pampanga)

Lino L. Dizon

“The Most Humane of any that could be Adopted” 88

The Philippine Opium Committee Report and the Imagining of the

Opium Consumer’s World in Colonial Philippines, 1903-1905

Ferdinand Philip Victoria

Page 11: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

iii

The Appropriation of Local Culture in Museum Practices: 157

Problems and Possibilities for Philippine Communities

Cecilia de la Paz

Yearning for Nativeness 179

Wilfried Wagner

Eyes on the Prize: Colonial Fantasies, the German Self, and 196

Newspaper Accounts of the 1896 Philippine Revolution

Portia Reyes

Human Rights Protection for “Naija Pinoys”: 246

Overseas Filipino Workers in Nigeria

Saliba James

Prominent Minangkabau in Java (Indonesia) 261

during the Japanese Occupation

Gusti Asnan

About the Contributors 297

Page 12: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

iv

LIST OF TABLES

Rough Estimate of the Number of Opium Users as 107Submitted by Presidents of the Provincial Boards of Health and Interviewees, 1903-1904

Rough Estimate of the Amounts and Mode of Opium Use as 113Submitted by Reporting Presidents of the Provincial Boards of Health, 1903-1904

Opium Imports to the Philippines per Opium Report, 1151899-1903 (Values and duties in US currency)

Singapore Opium Exports to the Philippines and Sulu, 1181898-1903

Profiles of Filipino Respondents in the Opium Report 130

Estimate of the Amounts of Opium Used per Consumer as 135Submitted by Reporting Presidents of the Provincial Boards of Health in Select Provinces and Towns, 1903-1904

Actual, Estimated Opium Revenues and 143Spanish Budget Projections in Pesos

Page 13: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

v

LIST OF MAPS

Streets with Known Opium Storehouses in Intramuros, 941903

Streets with Known Opium Dens in Binondo District, 991903

Street with Known Opium Dens in Santa Cruz/Quiapo District, 1021903

Residential Places of the Minangkabau People in Java 280

Page 14: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

vi

LIST OF PHOTOS

Zeus Salazar Portrait Frontispiece

Dedication of Paul Fejos to Rev. Heinz Wagner 183

Kinder der Wildnis: Filmfreuden und Filmstarallüren 186mitten im Stillen Ozean

Siuban House 187

Siuban Men 187

Siuban Dance 188

Page 15: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

1Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

CELEBRATING ZEUS SALAZAR

Portia L. Reyes

Dito rin mahuhulo: pagpapalitanNg sangkaisipan nang walang pangatlo,Saklaw ng ating Loob na parang belo

-Z. Salazar, “Doctrina Cristiana,” 19921

In this volume, we celebrate the life and scholarly achievements of Zeus Salazar,

the Father of Pantayong Pananaw (for-us-from-us perspective). Salazar has

dedicated his life to an intellectual project that has sought to bring a distinctly

Filipino mindset to pedagogy, historiography and national history. I was one of

his students, and one among many students and staff alike at the University of the

Philippines (UP) in Diliman, Quezon City that were attracted to Salazar’s ideas

and ideals, not to mention his personal charm. Uncompromisingly, he drilled

into his students to be wary of a historical narrative’s perspective and underlining

analytical philosophy. He provoked thought on the role and responsibilities of

a historian; his incessant refrain was: ‘para kanino?’ (for whom [is this history/is

this historian writing]?). Demanding disciplinal rigor, he ensured his students

would be ruthless in their examination of source materials used. Specifically,

Salazar was at pains to demonstrate what a history of the Philippines without

colonialism as the pivot would look like. His enthusiasm for history, historical

Page 16: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

2 REYES: Celebrating Zeus Salazar

research and teaching was contagious. He remains an inspiration not just

among Filipino historians but to scores of researchers on Philippine culture

and society. This essay provides a brief retrospective of Salazar as an historian,

educator and public intellectual.

Filipino Language and Culture

Salazar’s professional career began in 1968 when, fresh from completing

graduate school at the Sorbonne in Paris, France, he returned to the Philippines

with his young family in tow. As a faculty member of the History Department of

UP Diliman, he vigorously tackled the demands of his new post. Among other

things he led the charge to transform the pedagogical practice and discourse of

history at the university. He railed against the norm of using the English language

as the medium of academic exchange and encouraged his students to use the

Filipino language (Filipino) in the classroom and in their exam papers and essay

assignments. A brief two years after his return from abroad, he published an

article entitled “Ang Pagtuturo ng Kasaysayan sa Pilipino” (Teaching History

in Pilipino) that introduced his understanding of the intimate interlocation

between language and culture. Adopting a Marxist standpoint, he argued that

the historical march of Filipino culture is inseparable and inescapable from the

struggle between the elite and the masses. He claimed that

Maliwanag na ang pagpapalago sa kalinangang Pilipino ay may kaugnayan sa kasalukuyang pagkakasalungat ng mga uring panlipunan at sa pamamalagi mismo sa bansa. Ang “kulturang” kolonyal sa wikang inggles o kastila ng mga mapagsamantalang uri ay kasalungat ng kalinangang bayan, na kasalukuyang nagpapalaya sa sarili.2

Page 17: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

3Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

<Clearly the development of Filipino culture is related with the present struggle among the social classes and with the persistence of the nation itself. The colonial “culture” which is based on the English or Spanish language of the exploitative class contrasts with the people’s being which presently perseveres to free itself.>

For Salazar, the culture (kultura) of the exploitative classes is borrowed and

artificial. Neither organic nor truly posssessed, it only extracts from or gnaws

at foreign knowledge. The exploitative classes and, specifically, their writings

in Spanish or English offer little to enrich the sources of the people’s being

(kalinangang bayan). In fact, society’s upper classes tend to ridicule the

underclasses and their own knowledge for being unschooled and uncouth, a

practice which Salazar deplores. He writes,

ang pagpapayabong sa kalinangang Pilipino sa Pilipino ay isang napakamakabuluhang bahagi ng pakikibaka para sa isang pambansang kaayusang bunga ng (at batay sa) mapagpabagong pagpapasiya ng mga uring bayan. Isang gawaing napakamahalaga, sapagkat tumitiyak at nagbibigay-katuturan sa kakanyahang Pilipino, humuhubog, nagbubuo’t nagbibigay-saklaw sa tanaw, isip at damdaming bayan: ang tunay na kalinangan.3

<the development of Filipino culture in the Filipino language is a salient portion of the struggle towards a national order brought about by (and based on) the radical will of the people. This is an important task, for it distinguishes and gives meaning to the Filipino being; it shapes, unifies and encompasses people’s view, thought and passion: the real culture.>

The domination of a foreign language in schools, for Salazar, has led to

the estrangement of the formally educated from most of her countrywomen.

Academic work in a foreign language aims to address foreigners, while treating

Filipinos as mere subjects of study and inquiry. In Salazar’s terms, they propagate

Page 18: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

4 REYES: Celebrating Zeus Salazar

a pangkaming (for-us) perspective, which exposes the pagkaiba (otherness) of

the Filipino vis-à-vis other peoples and cultures. Unwittingly or not, knowledge

becomes relevant to a foreign or foreign-educated audience but distant and

even harmful to those, who are under the scholarly gaze, for they are considered

different, exotic, odd or even abhorrent.

Salazar was writing and espousing these ideas at a time when a

liberation struggle overwhelmed UP Diliman and the country more broadly. In

protest against the repressiveness of the Ferdinand Marcos regime, intellectuals

collectively mounted what came to be known as “The First Quarter Storm”

and the celebrated “Diliman Commune.”4 The regime clamped down on the

protesters, jailing and/or torturing numerous left-leaning staff members and

students. This included Salazar, who was interred from 1971 to 1973.5 Salazar’s

experience of detention weighed on him and his family profoundly, whose lives

were upended amid getting accustomized to their non-European surroundings.

Upon release, Salazar returned to teaching and writing. He continued

to hone his ideas on the intimacy between language and culture, insistent that

local academics should accept, study, understand and privilege the Filipino

language. According to Salazar, if a Filipino uses Filipino, she or he will be forced

to think and process the world in her or his own language and in its own terms.

Language is the center piece of an individual, his or her culture and society.

Illustratively, Salazar notes that

wika ang natatanging paraan upang matutuhan ng isang tao ang kulturang kinabibilangan niya at kahit na iyong hindi taal sa kanya. Habang nasasanay ang bata sa wika ng kanyang ka-kultura, unti-unti siyang nahuhubog sa isip, gawi, damdamin at karanasan ng mga ito—mula sa mga pinakasimpleng kanta sa sanggol at bugtong hanggang sa mga kataas-taasang katha’t likha ng diwa at kaluluwa sa

Page 19: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

5Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

sining, agham at literatura.6

<language is the only way with which a person could understand the culture s/he belongs to and even those s/he is not accustomed with. As a child becomes skilled in the language of her/his people, s/he is formed in accord with their systems of thought, custom, passion and experience—from the simplest children’s songs and riddles to the most complex creation and products of the mind and soul in the in the arts, science and literature.>

As both a repository and source of culture, language changes and adapts

to the needs and requirements of its speakers over time. Every speaker, in this

regard, contributes to the development of her or his own language. Even a

bilingual or a polyglot speaker, Salazar claims, enriches Filipino, since he serves

as a means to the understanding of other peoples and cultures in the national

language.

In the discourse on the national language and culture Salazar found

a like-minded scholar and an ally in the late Virgilio Enriquez, the father of

Sikolohiyang Pilipino (SP/Filipino Psychology).7 As a psychology brought about

by Filipino experiences, ideas and orientation,8 SP paved the way towards the

indigenization of the theory, method and practice of psychology. To realize SP,

Enriquez urged psychologists and interested social scientists to 1) appropriate

untried and unproven theories which could be meaningful to Filipino life and

society; 2) avoid blindly following any developments in psychology abroad; 3)

communicate with and recognize other psychologists in different portions of the

Philippines; and 4) enrich one’s trust and respect of his abilities to analyze data

and information toward meaningful theories on Filipino society and culture.9

For Enriquez the fundamental basis of SP is the sincere appreciation of Filipino

language, culture and perspective.10 His evaluation of the Filipino language in SP

found a parallel in Salazar’s, who claims

Page 20: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

6 REYES: Celebrating Zeus Salazar

Ano ba ang magiging pamamaraan ng Sikolohiyang Pilipino upang mapag-aralan ang sariling mga katangian bilang grupong sosyo-kultural? Pundamental dito ang wika sapagkat kahit na ang mga tradisyong sosyal, pangrelihiyon at ano pa man ay nakasalalay sa wika. Lalo nang dapat pag-ukulan ng pansin ang paksang ito sapagkat maraming mga katangian ang inilapat sa Pilipino mula pa nang madiskubre ng mga banyaga ang Pilipino.11

<Which method should Sikolohiyang Pilipino adapt in order to evaluate our own traits as a particular socio-cultural group? Here, language is fundamental because our traditional social, religious and other norms are based on a language. We need to particularly pay attention to this topic for Filipinos have been subjected to many traits since they were discovered by foreigners.>

Together with Enriquez and other colleagues, Salazar participated in the

SP discourse and contributed in enriching and propagating some of its tenets. SP

became a particular school of thought that advocated (and still advances) social

scientific inquiry in the Filipino language. In SP meanings are distinguished

through a careful consideration of the development of language as a process in

Filipino culture and history where the researcher and her/his discipline are also

integrated.12 SP treats Filipino culture as a source and motivation to research;

it does not treat Filipinos as targets or subjects for foreign hypotheses and

experimentation.

For Salazar, the Filipino intellectual, trained and practicing his

profession in English in both the private and public contexts, is lost to her own

people. The language that she privileges contributes to her isolation, or even

entrapment, in the toreng garing (ivory tower). According to Salazar, every

people, just like every individual, is rooted in their own language; their memory

and understanding are processed in their own language. An intellectual, who

solely thinks in and works with a foreign language, not only becomes estranged

Page 21: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

7Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

from her own language and culture, but remains distant from the ills inflicting

his society and indifferent to their cures. She is a ‘useless intellectual,’ one

alienated from her own culture.13

Salazar notes that the historian, whose preoccupation is “to determine

historical data upon which he can write history,”14 could easily be carried away

in his pursuit to provide a rigorous account of what has really happened. For

instance, in an effort to extract data from a document, he is confronted with an

idea (or ideas), encoded as socio-linguistic symbols in the written source. He

plunges into the symbolic world of the document, hoping it would be a fragment

that lights up an heretofore ambiguous picture of the past. Yet, for Salazar, this is

a one-sided picture of what a historian is trained to do or who he is. The historian

is also a living person, breathing amid his times. He “belongs to his people,

by conscious choice or through the simple operation of socio-cultural laws, his

yearning for (and occassional attainment of) universality notwithstanding.”15

The Filipino historian needs to work with and/or rebel against his country’s

intellectual tradition—from the formulation of his research problem through

his struggle with the sources to his determination and use of historical data,

because his primary audience is his countrymen, “just as the context of his

comprehensibility can only be his country’s intellectual-cultural tradition.”16

In 1974 Salazar joined other UP historians to collaborate on Marcos’s

project to compose a series of history books on the Philippines.17 In the midst of

his controversial involvement with this project, Salazar expressed concerns over

the attempts to fit foreign theories (progressive, communist, liberal, or otherwise)

in plotting the linearity of Philippine history.18 While he largely persuaded his

fellow historians on the project, he failed to convince its financier, Marcos, to

write the books in Filipino. Salazar’s participation in the project allowed him

Page 22: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

8 REYES: Celebrating Zeus Salazar

to conduct research, to travel abroad and to contribute to the production of

scholarly tomes. But it also put a stain on his reputation for having collaborated

with the notorious regime. Salazar left the project in 1979, almost five years after

his services were commissioned.

Kasaysayan: Significance in History

Salazar took a leave of absence from UP and for five years, starting in the

summer of 1980, held the directorship of one of the departments at the Ecole

des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales in Paris. His tenure did not require him

to live in the city, however. As such he was able to accept research fellowships

with the Deutsche Akademische Austauschdienst (DAAD) and the Deutsche

Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) that allowed him to be based at the University

of Cologne.19 He and his family then spent the next five years in Germany—his

wife is German—where he continued to write on Philippine history and culture.

While at Cologne he helped to establish Bahay-Saliksikan sa Kasaysayan

(BAKAS), a history discussion group which became the publishing arm of Bagong

Kasaysayan (new history) that Salazar later pioneered in the Philippines. His

article, “A Legacy of the Propaganda: the Tripartite View of Philippine History,”

which laid out what he deems as the Filipino concept of history and historicity,

was also during this time. For an English language reading audience, he writes:

our word for “history” in Tagalog does not refer to knowledge, to the search for information or to what happened in the past as such. Kasaysayan comes from saysay which means both “to relate in detail, to explain,” and “value, worth, significance.” In one sense, therefore, Kasaysayan is “story” (like the German Geschichte or another Tagalog term salaysay, which is probably simply an extended form of saysay). But Kasaysayan is also “explanation,” “significance,” or “relevance” (may saysay “significant, relevant”; walang saysay or walang kasaysayan, meaning “irrelevant, senseless”).20

Page 23: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

9Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

Salazar claims that kasaysayan—the historical sentiment behind

myths, legends and rituals of the inhabitants of the Philippines—see history

as cyclical. Yet this understanding of historical time was undermined in the

sixteenth century by the Spaniards, who in their chronicles (cronica, historia),

categorized the lives and actions of the island’s peoples through the mindset of a

foreign historical consciousness. Inherently linear, the latter saw the archipelago

and its peoples at a stage where its people would be the grateful recipients of

the benevolent actions and practices of the Spanish colonizers. Their chronicles

and histories of the Philippines featured themselves as saviours and/or agents of

change among a pagan population.

In the nineteenth century this form of historical consciousness was

inculcated by a group of educated Filipinos (ilustrados) who used the Spanish

frame of reference in their intellectual campaign, known as the Propaganda

Movement, for colonial reforms. To counter Spanish vilification of Filipinos in

prevailing narratives, such ilustrados as Jose Rizal, Graciano Lopez-Jaena and

Marcelo del Pilar introduced a new perspective and utilized what Salazar would

later coin as the metaphor of light-darkness-light (hence tripartite) view of

Philippine history. According to this standpoint, before the Spaniards, ancient

civilizations thrived and people prospered. Then came the Spanish clerics, who

extinguished this “light” and brought about a period of “darkness” (or a social

cancer, according to Rizal; monastic supremacy, for del Pilar; or friarocracy, to

Jaena). It follows, hence, that the friars’ expulsion would resurrect a period of

light and prosperity. In two critical ways, however, the ilustrado tripartite view of

history remained rooted in European judgement, form and historiography. One

is the insatiable and iresistable need to prove that one’s peoples have History—

that they have great men and great traditions. The other is that this History hence

forms a natural basis from which a Nation emerges. This lineage, Salazar notes,

Page 24: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

10 REYES: Celebrating Zeus Salazar

was carried forward by subsequent generations of Filipino scholars. In fact,

it outlasted the Spanish period, gained considerable ground under American

tutelage and has thrived in the country’s post-colonial period.21

In its modern incarnation, the tripartite view remains, but with a twist—

it associates the precolonial period with prosperity, denounces the Spanish

colonial period and glorifies the American occupation. Americans are equated

with the arrival of democracy, equality, and public welfare, including education

and hygiene. Here Filipino historians inadvertently associate developments in

Philippine history to exogenous factors. According to Salazar, the historians’

entrenchment to this historiography needs to be further scrutinized, because

by attaching the unfolding of our people’s history to the colonial phenomenon and other exogenous factors, our historians and Filipinos in general fail to see that we are responsible for our own history, that there is (or there must be) an internal mechanism for our becoming one people, a particular thrust to our national history. In any case, there is an urgent need for rethinking the periodization of Philippine history.22

Towards a Filipino Historiography

Salazar returned to teaching at the University of the Philippines in 1986,

henceforth building a reputation for his steadfast conviction on rethinking

Philippine history and history-writing and the use of Filipino as the language

of historical discourse. Respectful of his achievements in the academy, his

cohort named him chairman of the History Department (1989-91), after which

he was tabbed dean of the College of Social Sciences and Philosophy (1991-94).

Coming after the fall of the Marcos regime and the return of electoral democracy

to the Philippines, his tenure as chair and dean saw the resurfacing of left-

Page 25: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

11Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

leaning intellectuals to public life at the university. Salazar’s ideas on history

and historiography found allies among them. Like Salazar, most preferred to

mitigate, if not totally eliminate, the habit of associating the Philippines with

their former colonial masters and using history as a means to uplift the poor.

It was at this juncture that Salazar truly began to heed his own advice

and exerted efforts at rethinking the emplotment and historiography of

predominant historical narratives. Like-minded colleagues and students were

his interlocators in the dialogues that took place in the context of seminars,

discussion groups and conferences. Traditional historiography, they agreed, is

informed by four discursive mechanisms. The first is the ‘discourse of influence,’

which refers to the conceptualization of the Philippines as a weak or empty

cultural zone that perpetually needs assistance from the outside. Second,

traditional historiography is obsessed by the so-called ‘first-Filipino discourse.’

Here, while history illustrates the ‘first Filipino engineer, doctor and so on,’

ultimately it implies that s/he is second to American or European predecessors.

Third is the ‘discourse of discovery,’ which again signifies a lack of significance

against that which came before, especially with regard to the arrival of Europeans

in the archipelago. The final mechanism is the ‘discourse of reaction,’ which

treats the Filipino as a pawn under the colonizer’s will and desire.23

For Salazar, in the periodization of history, historians should be more

aware of their historical judgement. Changes that occur in history should not

be measured with external exigencies and demands, but with internal needs

and circumstances. An internal mechanism must facilitate the becoming of the

archipelago’s inhabitants into a people; Filipinos must regain prime agency in

their own history. It is in this context in which Salazar argues for his well-known

pantayong pananaw (for-us-from-us perspective) in history. Narratives should

Page 26: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

12 REYES: Celebrating Zeus Salazar

consider the meanings behind the particular discourse among Filipinos and give

credence to the individuality of Filipinos as a nation. For him, when a group

of people communicate about themselves and among themselves in their own

language, they comprise a closed circuit for

nagkakaintindihan ang lahat. Samakatuwid, ang lipunan at kultura natin ay may “pantayong pananaw” lang kung tayong lahat ay gumagamit ng mga konsepto at ugali na alam nating lahat ang kahulugan, pati ang relasyon ng mga kahulugan, pati ang relasyon ng mga kahulugang ito sa isa’t-isa. Ito ay nangyayari lamang kung iisa ang “code”—ibig sabihin, may iisang pangkabuuang pag-uugnay at pagkakaugnay ng mga kahulugan, kaisipan at ugali. Mahalaga (at pundamental pa nga) rito ang iisang wika.24

<understanding one another. Therefore, our society and culture could only have a “pantayong pananaw” (for-us-from-us perspective) if all of us use ideas and traditions with which we are all familiar—including the connection among meanings and the particular relationship between each of those meanings. This only happens when there is a singular “code”—meaning, there is a wholistic organization and interconnection of meanings, thought and tradition. Significant (even fundamental), in this regard, is language.>

Salazar is sincere in his belief that pantayong pananaw (PP) would

inspire collective and individual responsibility for the Filipinos’ own past;

blaming others for their own plight was sociologically and psychologically

crippling. Prosperity and pride would be obtained through the recognition (and

acceptance) of one’s own mistakes.

Intellectually Salazar attributes a matrix of four meanings to PP as

an historiographical strain. They are: 1) an internal correspondence and

interrelation of traits, values, knowledge, expertise, goals, tradition, attitude and

experience of a culture; 2) a holistic culture that is enshrouded and expressed in

language; 3) a self-enclosed cultural or civilizational discourse; and 4) a reality

Page 27: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

13Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

within any ethnolinguistic group that is integral and sovereign.25 It follows that

every culture has PP; it is a people’s worldview and understanding of themselves

and their surroundings—as such, it forms the basis of their union as a group with

a particular language and culture.

Salazar’s introspection on Filipino agency in their own history found

an ear and and interlocator in Prospero Covar, champion of Pilipinolohiya

(Filipinology) which refers to the systematic study of the Filipino psyche and

Filipino culture and society. Here, Filipino culture pertains to the language and

all the branches of art including music, painting, sculpture, dance, architecture,

drama, literature, film, philosophy and even religion.26 Pilipinolohiya aims at

using social scientific research to ‘free’ (distinguish and emphasize the Filipino-

ness of) Filipino ideas, culture and society and not compromise them through

ill-fitting foreign theory and valuation.27 According to Covar, unlike a Philippine

Studies scholar who treats Filipinos or their country as mere research cases,

a Filipinologist commits himself and his work towards the realization of a

kabihasnan (national civilization). In Pilipinolohiya, Covar continues, the basis

of the Filipino Self are Filipino experiences, while the Filipino system of thought,

culture and society are markers of the Filipino nation and nationhood.28 Studies

in Pilipinolohiya discusses the Filipino people with Filipinos in Filipino; they

employ an emic approach to research.

In agreement with Covar, Salazar suggests the potential of Pilipinolohiya

in furthering research:

Implicitly, Pilipinolohiya’s concern is to report and explain about Pilipinas to Filipinos in their own terms and with a view to strengthening Filipino nationality, to pursuing Filipino national goals and ideals (pambansang adhikain at mithiin). It is in this sense that Pilipinolohiya constitutes the basis for knowing or studying (and understanding) other nationalities

Page 28: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

14 REYES: Celebrating Zeus Salazar

and cultures in the world within “area studies” which the University of the Philippines is just beginning to develop.29

Salazar envisions Pilipinolohiya as a disciplinal platform to privilege

the Filipino I/eye over the institutionalized practice of appropriating the

Eurocentric and/or Anglocentric perspective in social scientific inquiry about

the Philippines, the Filipinos and their related concerns in the region and

around the world. Along with Covar, he strove (and still strives) to convince

colleagues and students, who have otherwise written their works in English, to

write in Filipino (including me!).

Increasingly Salazar and his interlocators among colleagues and students

at UP became convinced of furthering a systemic approach in which to propagate

the possibilities of this new historiographical strain. In 1989 they established the

history organization ADHIKA (Asosasyon ng mga Dalubhasa, may Hilig at Interes

sa Kasaysayan ng Pilipinas/Organization of Experts, Curious, and Interested

in the History of the Philippines). It sought to advocate bagong kasaysayan

(new history), bagong historiograpiyang Pilipino (new Filipino historiography),

and pantayong pananaw through seminars, discussion, national conferences

and publication of variegated historical works.30 Like Salazar, founders of this

organization, who included respected scholars Bernadette Abrera, Ferdinand

Llanes, Nilo Ocampo and Jaime Veneracion, were convinced ADHIKA would

facilitate the realization of their historical philosophy and convictions—

they were going back to the sources of Filipino history, to the Filipino people

themselves, for the Filipinos themselves.

Reiterating his claims from the 1960s, Salazar asserts that a dambuhalang

pagkakahating pangkalinangan (great cultural divide) exists in contemporary

Filipino society. In his 1991 article “Ang Pantayong Pananaw Bilang Diskursong

Page 29: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

15Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

Pangkabihasnan” (Pantayong Pananaw as Civilizational Discourse) he claims

Sa kalahatan ay dalawang kalinangan sa pakahulugang antropolohikal ang nakapaloob at maaring sumaklaw sa kasalukuyang lipunang Pilipino—ang “kulturang nasyonal” na nagmula sa Propaganda bilang resulta ng pagkatatag ng nacion/nation (nasyon) sa pamumuno ng elite at ang “kalinangang bayan” bilang kinalabasan ng proseso ng pagkabuo ng mga pamayanang Pilipino sa isang Bayang Pilipino, ang Inang Bayan ng Himagsikan 1896.31

<In the anthropological sense, two cultural entities comprise and encompass today’s society in the Philippines—one, the “national culture” which stems from the Propaganda and the establishment of the nation [nation-state] led by the elite and two, the “people’s culture” which is the consequence of the processual development of numerous Filipino communities into a Filipino nation, the [ideal] motherland of the 1896 Revolution.>

Filipino intellectuals of the Propaganda Movement first conceived

“national culture” in the Spanish language (la nación/patria filipina);

revolutionists appropriated this conciousness in their armed campaign for

political independence; and successive presidents of the country promoted it

during their terms of office. “People’s culture,” Salazar reasons, is borne out of

the collective historical experience of Filipino communities who were forced to

become a nation in order to rebel against Western colonialism. Neither a foreign

language nor foreign ideas had been used to express this historical experience.

While the elite expressed their thoughts and vision in a foreign language,

the Filipino revolutionary underclass—especially members of the so-called

messianic movements of the sixteenth to the twentieth centuries—used either

Tagalog or other Filipino languages. They communicated among one another,

wrote and sung in their local tongue. However, their voices (and hence, their

way of thought) were lost in the official accounts written by members of the

elite class.

Page 30: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

16 REYES: Celebrating Zeus Salazar

At this juncture Salazar and his colleagues in the campaign to develop

Bagong Kasaysayan urged other intellectuals to consider another method at

discovering historical data. For this school of thought, language is not just a

tool for communication, but a reservoir of a people’s history. Words provide

clues about a mindset of a period and of a people and so serve as a rich source

of information across time. In the 1990s, when the country was gearing up for

the centennial anniversary of the 1896 Revolution and the 1898 Declaration

of Philippine Independence, this analytical philosophy found a receptive

audience among intellectuals interested in the study of the ideas of heroism and

nationhood. For Salazar, a particular pook pangkasaysayan (place in history)

frames kabayanihan (heroism). He explains:

Dinaranas pa rin ng Pilipinas ang kawalan ng kabuuan. Hati pa rin ang lipunang nasyonal na katumbas ng pagkakahiwalay ng kulturang maka-kanluranin ng elite at kalinangang bayan ng nakararami. Dito umiinog ang kabayanihan ng Pilipino na nagsimula sa pagkaunawa sa bayani bilang tagapagsagawa ng gawain at tungkulin para sa kabuuang lipunan, bayan man ito o estadong bayan. Ang kalagayang ito ay unti-unting nawasak sa karamihan sa mga grupong Pilipino sa pagsapit ng kolonyalismo. Sa pakikipagtunggali rito nabuo ang nasyon sa halip ng bayan bilang kabuuang sumasaklaw sa arkipelagong Pilipino. Ang ibinunga nito ang pagkakahating pangkalinangan ng mga Pilipino: ang elite na maka-Kanluranin at ang bayan na naka-ugat sa Kalinangang Pilipino.32

<The Philippines continues to experience a lacunae of unity. National society is still divided between the Westernized culture of the elite and the people’s culture of the majority. It is in this context that the concept of Filipino heroism could be understood. A bayani (hero) was first conceived as a person, who worked and fulfilled duties for the whole society, either for the nation or the polity. Slowly colonialism eroded this order for many Filipino communities. It is in the clash with colonialism that ‘nation’, instead of ‘people’, evolved to refer to the entity that encompasses the Philippine archipelago. This led to the cultural divide among Filipinos: the West-

Page 31: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

17Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

leaning elite and the culturally rooted bayan.>

The heroism associated with the revolutionary leader Andres Bonifacio

and Jose Rizal, for Salazar, is emblemic of two national projects that aimed to

compete with or substitute for the Spanish colonial order of the nineteenth

century. While Rizal was identified as the Spanish heroe among the elite

‘Filipinos’ (educated class), Bonifacio was recognized as the Filipino bayani

among the poor Tagalogs. Salazar illustrates the difference between the two

concepts by identifying the subtext of bayani, glimpsed through historical

dictionaries and a complex array of ethnographical materials. He concludes that

whereas heroe is borrowed,

Ang katagang “bayani” ay taal sa Tagalog, tulad ng “bagani” sa Bagobo—ibig sabihin, hindi hiram. Mga manang kataga ang dalawa, mula pa sa mga ninunong Austronesyano. Magiging hiram na kataga ang “bayani” sa Bahasa Melayong “berani” halimbawa, kung ang anyo ng katagang Tagalog ay naging “balani” tulad ng “balani” sa “batu balani” na katagang hiram sa Malayong “batu berani”…Bukod dito ginamit ni Otto Dempwolff ang Tagalog na “bayani,” kasama ng Malayong “berani” at Dyawang “wani” sa muling pagbuo ng katagang Austronesyanong “bagani” o “kawalang takot.”33

<The term ‘bayani’ is indigenous to Tagalogs, like ‘bagani’ to the Bagobos—meaning, it is not borrowed. These two words are cognates, directly inherited from the Austronesian forefathers. ‘Bayani’ will be borrowed in Malay as ‘berani,’ for example; and if the Tagalog form is ‘balani’ like the ‘balani’ in ‘batu balani’ (magical stone, magnet), it would be borrowed in Malay as ‘batu berani’… Otto Dempwolff has also used the Tagalog ‘bayani,’ along with the Malay ‘berani’ and Javanese ‘wani’ in reconstructing the Austronesian word ‘bagani’ or ‘fearless.’> [emphasis in the original]

That Bonifacio is regularly documented as bayani across time signifies

recognition that he embodies the qualities assigned to the term by early

communities of the archipelago. Bonifacio belongs to the line of leaders who have

Page 32: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

18 REYES: Celebrating Zeus Salazar

striven to either reconstitute or unify bayan. According to Salazar, Bonifacio’s

execution at the hands of his rival Aguinaldo and his henchmen signals not just

the end of a cultural project, but represents the triumph of the political project

nación Filipina (Philippine nation) of his executioners, namely, the elite.

Historiographically Salazar draws on the hermeneutical tradition. In

his use of a complex array of ethnographical materials, oral custom and old

lexicons, he has enjoined his readers to embark on rehabilitating authority and

tradition in historiography. His work unravels the historical significance of a

dizzying etymology of concepts vis-à-vis particular contexts and events, relaying

that the Filipino culture’s being and understanding are inherently linguistic.

Interestingly, Salazar also integrates playfulness in his work. For example, by

linking batu belani with bayani, Salazar conjures Filipino folktales that feature

a magical stone that ordinary folks need to swallow before they could become

their superhero Self and serve their people. But similar to other works leaning

towards hermeneutics as an analytical philosophy, his research provides

carefully selected, interconnected fragments of historical meanings to buttress

his argument about history. He relates his complex narrative to a phenomenon

that an audience experiences and understands, therewith showcasing a complete

hermeneutical circle of understanding. 34

‘Retirement’ from Teaching

In 2000 Salazar retired from teaching at UP. But he soon proved to not have

sitzfleisch—he held a Visiting Professorial Lectureship with De la Salle

University in Manila for four years.35 Meanwhile, he has continued to write

prodigiously. Since his “retirement,” he has written more than ten single-

authored and collaborative books, some five short monographs and countless

Page 33: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

19Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

essays. Colleagues and students imbibed in the PP project followed suit and also

wrote history essays and monographs, further distinguishing and reinforcing

their group’s position as a school of thought in historiography. In 2003, members

of this school of thought participated in what would become the annual history

seminar workshop of the history organization BAKAS (Bahay-Saliksikan sa

Kasaysayan), which was established in Germany about twenty years earlier. In

2004, its members distinguished Salazar as the Ama ng Pantayong Pananaw

(Father of Pantayong Pananaw) and Ama ng Bagong Historyograpiyang Pilipino

(Father of New Filipino Historiography).

BAKAS has not been alone in celebrating Salazar’s storied academic

career. Across the years institutions have recognized Salazar’s contribution to

the Philippine academy. The Pambansang Samahan ng Sikolohiyang Pilipino

(PSSP/National Union of Filipino Psychology) awarded him Gawad Pagkilala in

1980; the Linangan ng mga Wika ng Pilipinas (Development of Languages in the

Philippines) distinguished him with Gawad Pagkilala in 1991; the UP Sentro ng

Wikang Filipino (UP Center for Filipino Language), with Gawad Lope K. Santos

in 1996; the UP Dalubhasaan ng Agham Panlipunan at Pilosopiya (UP College of

Social Sciences and Philosophy), with Natatanging Alumnus in 2000; the PSSP,

with Gawad Sikolohiyang Pilipino in 2002; the Naga City Council for Culture and

the Arts and the Bicol Regional Council for Culture and the Arts, with Gawad

Bikolinismo: Most Outstanding Bikolano Artist for the Literary Arts in 2009; the

Unyon ng mga Manunulat sa Pilipinas (Union of Writers of the Philippines),

with the Gawad Pambansang Alagad ni Balagtas in 2009; the Wika ng Kultura

at Agham, Inc. (Language of Culture and Sciences, Inc.) with Gawad Bayani

ng Wika in 2009; the Municipality of Tiwi, Bicol, with Gawad Tibay Tiwinhon

in 2010; the San Beda College Alumni Association, with Bedan Alumni Award/

Distinguished Bedan for Social Science Award in 2012; and the Kolehiyo ng Agham

Page 34: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

20 REYES: Celebrating Zeus Salazar

at Sining, Poletiknikong Unibersidad ng Pilipinas (College of Arts and Sciences,

Polytechnic University of the Philippines), with Gawad Kalatas in 2013. In the

following year, on the occasion of the BAKAS annual conference on history, he

was awarded with Gawad Bagong Kasaysayan to recognize his extraordinary

contribution in advocating PP and the new Filipino historiography.

Salazar has been instrumental in the Filipinization of the country’s

historiography. PP established a new breed of Filipino historians who persevere

in determining the internal mechanism(s) that allow for change in Filipino

history. PP as a school of thought has contributed in establishing Filipino as the

language of history, discourse, and intellectual exertion. Not coincidentally, the

number of MA theses and Ph.D. dissertations in Filipino at UP and universities

in Manila has grown exponentially.36 In an effort to influence historical views,

pedagogy and the profession, PP proponents continue to reach out and discuss

their research with primary and secondary schools’ teachers in annual history

conferences.

Salazar, his students and colleagues have not been spared of critique

among fellow scholars in the Philippines. Detractors have accused PP proponents

of provincialism, ethnocentrism, closed mindedness and dismissive of the

politico-economic factors that underpin change in modern history, charges that

Salazar refutes. The movement’s advocates continue to carry on with the PP

discourse in print and other fora, serving as dynamic proof of the entrenchment

of Filipino and the Filipino perspective in the study of the Philippines and

Filipinos. A foreign scholar may no longer claim to study Philippine history,

culture and society without first learning Filipino or/and any other Filipino

language.

Page 35: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

21Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

Celebrating Zeus Salazar

The essays contained in this volume serve to celebrate Zeus Salazar’s career and

service to the Filipino academy. In “The Role of Language in the Philippines in a

Colonial and Postcolonial Context,” Marlies S. Salazar tackles the development

of language studies in the Philippines. She argues that the Spaniards and

Americans used language studies to perpetuate their authority over the islands.

She notes that from the sixteenth century onwards Spaniards rendered some

Philippine languages “understandable” by measuring and awkwardly associating

them with Latin and Spanish grammar and rhetoric. Rendering them thoroughly

knowable, however, remained elusive. The Americans, for their part, mistakenly

measured the languages of the mountainous regions of northern Luzon against

other Indo-European languages. Salazar claims that it was only in the 1930s when

Filipinos started to push back against the extensive external influence on the

study of Philippine languages. It took another forty odd years, she continues, for

Filipino to be studied seriously and used as a language of intellectual exchange

in the country’s premier state university.

Lino L. Dizon’s “Amlat and the Kapampangan Historical Tradition” is

a plaidoyer for the adoption of an autonomous historiography in Pampanga’s

local histories. Dizon laments that early Pampanga histories, even those in the

Kapampangan language, relied on colonial sources to the detriment of oral

accounts and local histories. He finds it ironic that an outsider, John Larkin,

wrote what is considered as the first serious history of the region. Nevertheless,

Dizon asserts that Larkin glossed over nuances in Pampanga’s narrative for

he had not fully harnessed available Kapampangan historical materials. This

pertains especially so to the participation of the people of Pampanga in the

Philippine Revolution. For Dizon, Pampanga’s history would be more complete

Page 36: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

22 REYES: Celebrating Zeus Salazar

if it accounted for amlat (legend) and kaselaysayan (history) in addition to

colonial sources. Dizon champions the mining of knowledge from folklore,

folktales, folksongs and literature in history-writing.

In Ferdinand Philip Victoria’s chapter on the 1905 Report of the Philippine

Opium Commission, he claims that the Report catapulted the United States’

campaign against drug trade and, consequently, its rise as a morally upright

empire. Initiated by the newly arrived American administrators, the Report

featured interviews with Filipino physicians and administrators concerning

opium use, bringing to the fore the ethnic, cultural and socio-economic

dimension of drug abuse across the islands. According to Victoria, the Report

convinced American policy makers of the viability of “progressive prohibition.”

He asserts, however, that the American officials were not entirely to blame for

the state’s punitive stance against users. Responsibility should be shared by their

Filipino interlocutors.

Cecilia de la Paz examines the repercussions of contemporary museum

practice of displaying objects of everyday life, as these displays play a prominent

political role in the identity construction and the imagination of the Filipino

nation. She contends that at the national museum such displays tend to exoticize

and estrange the Filipino to the viewing Filipino audience. As reified objects, the

collection and the displayed embody representations of loss—innocence, purity,

meaning—in Filipino culture. Instead, De la Paz champions the establishment

of living museums. Drawing on her experience in Negros Occidental, she

asserts that communities should be (with assistance) responsible for conceiving,

collecting, displaying and maintaining objects at their local museums. Regularly,

displays could be changed as views of the community changes. In this way, the

museum would serve as an ideal place of learning and engagement for the

Page 37: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

23Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

community upon which is also on display.

In Wilfried Wagner’s “Yearning for Nativeness,” the European fascination

with and search for his natural self, first articulated by Jean-Jacques Rousseau,

is intertwined with the colonial conquest of the Asian and African world.

Wagner purports that the Europeans’ hunger to see and experience their lost

innocence encouraged the collection and display of ensembles and appendages

of ‘discovered’ peoples in museums or, sometimes, ‘universal exhibition’ in

Western metropolises from the nineteenth century onwards. Wagner intimates

that a similar drive--a yearning to capture nativeness--was behind celebrated

director Paul Fejòs’s pursuit, in 1937, to capture the Siuban on Mentawai of the

Netherlands East Indies in a documentary. But Fejòs’s yearning might have been

compromised by his equally urgent desire to relay a visually engaging ‘scripted’

film--for dramatization, for instance, he falsely inserted foreign objects as

objects of the Siuban’s daily life. His financiers in Stockholm found the outcome

inferior, so they dispatched a company official to ostensibly assist Fejòs in filming

further documentaries.

My essay recounts the unique progression of German consideration of

the Filipino Revolution through previously untapped sources--the newspapers

from the north-western city-state of Bremen. I argue that the newspapers’

extensive coverage of the uprising went beyond the typical narrative for it sought

to demonstrate the German Self and its place in Asia and Europe for readers at

home. The reports fed the German desire for and fascination with establishing a

colonial presence in the Pacific, which, in turn, was considered a valuable ticket

that would enable Germany to participate in and be respected as a power in late

nineteenth century Weltpolitik (world politics).

Saliba James provides an overview of the narrative of the Filipino

Page 38: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

24 REYES: Celebrating Zeus Salazar

immigrant workers in his “Human Rights Protection for “Naija Pinoys”: Overseas

Filipino Workers in Nigeria.” James claims that, lured by the attractive salaries

and living packages offered by Nigerian companies, Filipino workers started

migrating to Nigeria in the 1960s. Only the economic misfortunes brought about

by the country’s political volatility in the mid-1980s briefly disturbed the steady

arrival of Filipinos. For James, Filipinos continue to take up posts in Nigeria

for they have always enjoyed freedoms and protection of their human rights

there; the dialogue between the United Nations Global Forum on Migration

and Development and Civil Society Organizations assures their safety. In the

1990s, as James explains, Filipino workers increasingly declared their trust in

the Nigerian system by taking up permanent residency. They began to call

themselves “Naija Pinoys” (colloquial for Nigerian Filipinos), leading expatriate

lives punctuated with the injection of elements of Filipino culture. According

to James, the Filipino experience in Nigeria signals the efficacy of combining

economic benefits with respect for human rights.

Using a heretofore unused book Orang Indonesia jang Terkemoeka di

Djawa (Famous Indonesians on Java, or OITD) published by the Japanese Army

Information Services in 1944, Gusti Asnan illustrates that the Minangkabau of

West Sumatra, well-known for their migratory habits, comprised the largest

immigrant ethnic group in Java during the Japanese occupation. The OITD

shows that the well-known Minangkabaus were highly educated and long

established on Java, even during Dutch rule, for the Dutch had introduced a

Western system of education in West Sumatra in the 1840s. In addition to their

traditional migratory practice, Minangkabau who benefitted from their modern

education either filled positions or furthered their education throughout Java.

Unwittingly, they played instrumental roles in the public and private sectors

during the Dutch and subsequent Japanese regime. According to Asnan, the

Page 39: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

25Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

national prominence of the Minangkabau declined in the 1960s, consequent

to the establishment of the Pemerintah Revolusioner Republik Indonesia

(Revolutionary Government of the Republic of Indonesia) that aimed to form a

Sumatra-based central government against Sukarnos’ Guided Democracy. The

Jakarta-based military suppressed the rebellion quite handily, thereby denying

Minangkabau from holding civil and military office.

In all, the contributions in this volume attest to some of Zeus Salazar’s

academic achievements—they showcase the scholarship of individuals he has

touched and they demonstrate a myriad of research topics in Philippine history

and historiography, Philippine Studies and Southeast Asian Studies with which

he relates. They are illustrative of Salazar’s dedication to progressive pedagogy

and scholarly inquiry. Bringing to fore some of his ideals, they provide a window

onto his project for the international academy.

Endnotes

1 Zeus Salazar, “Doctrina Cristiana,” in Zeus A. Salazar, Mga Tula ng Pag-iral at Pakikibaka (Lunsod Quezon: Palimbagan ng Lahi, 2001), p. 210.

2 Zeus Salazar, “Ang Pagtuturo ng Kasaysayan sa Pilipino,” in General Education Journal 19-20, 1970-71 (Quezon City: University of the Philippines, 1971), p. 37.

3 Ibid.

4 On these topics, see: Patricio Abinales, Fellow Traveler. Essays on Filipino Communism (Quezon City: University of the Philippines Press, 2001; Ferdinand Llanes (ed.), Tibak Rising. Activism in the Days of Martial Law (Mandaluyong City: T’bak Inc. and Anvil Publishing Inc., 2012); Susan F. Quimpo and Nathan Gilbert Quimpo, Subversive Lives. A Family Memoir of the Marcos Years (Mandaluyong City: Anvil Publishing Inc., 2012); Mark Thomson, The Anti-Marcos Struggle. Personalistic Rule and Democratic Transition in the Philippines (Quezon City: New Day Publishers, 1996); Kathleen Weekley, The Communist

Page 40: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

26 REYES: Celebrating Zeus Salazar

Party of the Philippines, 1968-1993: A Story of its Theory and Practice (Quezon City: University of the Philippines Press, 2001).

5 Atoy Navarro, “Ama ng Pantayong Pananaw: Bayan sa Buhay ni Prop. Dr. Zeus Salazar (1934-Kasalukuyan),” in Bahay-Saliksikan ng Kasaysayan. Natatanging Lathalain (Quezon City: BAKAS, 2004), p. 4.

6 Zeus Salazar, “Ukol sa Wika at Kulturang Pilipino,” in Mga Bagong Pag-aaral sa Wika, Literatura, at Kultura: Dyornal ng Malawakang Edukasyon, XXIII-XXIV, 1972-1973, p. 63.

7 On Sikolohiyang Pilipino, see: Marie Madelene Sta. Maria, “Die Indigenisierungskrise in den Sozialwissenschaftern und der Versuch einer Resolution in Sikolohiyang Pilipino,” Ph.D. Diss., Universität Köln, 1993.

8 Virgilio Enriquez, “Sikolohiyang Pilipino: Perspektibo at Direksyon,” in Rogelia Pe-pua (Pat.), Sikolohiyang Pilipino. Teorya, Metodo at Gamit (Lunsod Quezon: University of the Philippines Press at Akademya ng Sikolohiyang Pilipino, 1989), p. 6.

9 Ibid., pp. 17-18.

10 Virgilio Enriquez, “Mga Batayan ng Sikolohiyang Pilipino sa Kultura at Kasaysayan,” in Pe-pua, Sikolohiyang Pilipino, p. 69.

11 Zeus Salazar, “Ilang Batayan Para sa Isang Sikolohiyang Pilipino,” in Pe-pua, Sikolohiyang Pilipino, p. 53.

12 Sta. Maria, “Die Indigenisierungskrise in den Sozialwissenschaften,” p. 227.

13 Salazar, “Ukol sa Wika at Kulturang Pilipino, p. 72.

14 Zeus Salazar, “Historiography and the Idealist-Romantic Attitude in Philippine Historical Writing,” Lecture at a Graduate Seminar, 17 January 1979, p. 3.

15 Ibid., p. 12.

16 Ibid., p. 14.

17 Out of this project came: Ferdinand Marcos, Tadhana. The History of the Filipino People. Vols. I-VI (Manila: 1976-86).

18 For an account of the involvement of historians, including Salazar, in Marcos’s Tadhana project, see: Zeus Salazar, “Ang Historiograpiya ng Tadhana: Isang Malayang Paggunita-Panayan”; Romeo V. Cruz, “Ang Paggawa ng Tadhana Mula 1980”; Virgilio Enriquez, “Ang Hangganan ng Kapantasan: Isang Reaksyon

Page 41: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

27Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

sa Historiograpiya ng Tadhana”; “Malayang Talakayan” in Ma. Bernadette Abrera and Dedina Lapar (Mga Pat.), Paksa, Paraan at Pananaw sa Kasaysayan (Quezon City: UP Departamento ng Kasaysayan, UP LIKAS, BAKAS, 1992), pp. 193-217.

19 Navarro, “Ama ng Pantayong Pananaw,” p. 5.

20 Zeus Salazar, “A Legacy of the Propaganda: The Tripartite View of Philippine history,” in The Ethnic Dimension. Papers on Philippine Culture, History and Psychology (Cologne: CARITAS, 1983), p. 108.

21 Ibid., p. 125-26.

22 Ibid., p. 126.

23 Ramon Guillermo, “Expositions, Critique and New Directions for Pantayong Pananaw,” Kyoto Review of Southeast Asia 3, March 2003, pp. 2-3.

24 Zeus Salazar, “Ang Pantayong Pananaw: Isang Paliwanag,” in Philippine Currents Vol. IV, No. 9. September 1989, p. 56.

25 For a further analysis, see Portia Reyes, “Fighting over a Nation: Theorizing a Filipino Historiography,” in Postcolonial Studies Vol. 11, No. 3, p. 248.

26 See: Prospero Covar, “Pilipinolohiya,” Typescript, College of Social Sciences and Philosophy, UP Diliman, Quezon City, 9 November 1989. Also in: Prospero Covar, Larangan. Seminal Essays on Philippine Culture (Manila: National Commission for Culture and the Arts, 1998).

27 Pilipinolohiya is an offshoot of a Ph.D. program on Philippine Studies, which was introduced at the University of the Philippines in 1974.

28 Covar, “Pilipinolohiya,” in Larangan, p. 27.

29 Zeus Salazar, “Philippine Studies and Pilipinolohiya: Past, Present and Future of Two Heuristic Views in the Study of the Philippines,” in Zeus Salazar, The Malayan Connection: Ang Pilipinas sa Dunia Melayu (Lunsod Quezon: Palimbagan ng Lahi, 1998), p. 313.

30 Navarro, “Ama ng Pantayong Pananaw,” p. 7.

31 Zeus Salazar, “Ang Pantayong Pananaw Bilang Diskursong Pangkabihasnan,” in Bautista at Pe-pua, Pilipinolohiya: Kasaysayan, Pilosopiya at Pananaliksik (Maynila: Kalikasan Press, 1991). Also in Atoy Navarro, Mary Jane Rodriguez and Vicente Villan (Mga Pat.), Pantayong Pananaw: Ugat at Kabuluhan. Pambungad sa Pag-aaral ng Bagong Kasaysayan (Lunsod Quezon:

Page 42: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

28 REYES: Celebrating Zeus Salazar

Palimbagang Kalawakan, 1997), p. 103.

32 Zeus Salazar, “Ang Bayani Bilang Sakripisyo: Pag-aanyo ng Pagkabayani sa Agos ng Kasaysayang Pilipino,” Balangkas ng Panayam. Kumperensya ng ADHIKA, Unibersidad ng Tarlac, 29 Nobyembre 1994, p. 6.

33 Zeus Salazar, “Si Andres Bonifacio at ang Kabayanihang Pilipino,” in Bagong Kasaysayan 2, 1997, p. 8.

34 Reyes, “Fighting over the Nation,” pp. 248-9.

35 I thank Ma. Carmen Peñalosa for this detail.

36 For a preliminary look on this development, see: Nilo Ocampo, “Mga Disertasyong NakaFilipino: Tungo sa Pambansang Iskolarsyip,” in Lagda. Publikasyon ng Departamento ng Filipino at Panitikan ng Pilipinas (Quezon City: UP KAL, Hulyo 1993).

Page 43: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

29Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

THE ROLE OF LANGUAGE IN THE PHILIPPINES IN A COLONIAL AND POSTCOLONIAL CONTEXT

Marlies S. Salazar

Abstrak:

Tinatalakay ng sanaysay na ito ang papel ng wika sa kasaysayan ng Pilipinas. Matagal nang pinag-aaralan ang mga wika sa Pilipinas sa pananaw ng mga banyaga. Parehong ginamit ng Kastila at Amerikanong kapangyarihang kolonyal ang pag-aaral ng mga wika sa Pilipinas hindi dahil sa kanilang maka-agham na pang-uusisa, ngunit dahil sa kanilang pangangailangang sakupin ang kapuluan. Para sa mga Kastila, hindi mapaghihiwalay ang kolonisasyon sa Kristiyanisasyon sapagkat kinakailangang ang lahat ng sakop ng Hari ng Espanya ay Katoliko rin. Nagsulat ang mga Kastilang misyonero ng mga balarila at diksiyonaryo ng mga pangunahing wika sa Pilipinas upang akitin ang mga katutubo sa Katolisismo at maging matatapat na sakop ng Espanya. Dahilan dito, naging kasangkapan ng kolonisasyon ang lingguwistika. Sapagkat hindi nasakop ng mga Kastila ang mga pamayanan sa kabundukan at ang mga Muslim sa Timog, hindi rin nila napag-aralan ang kanilang mga wika. Matagal pa bago mapag-aaralan ang mga ito. Sa ikalabinsiyam na siglo binigyang-pansin ng mga Europeong siyentista, kabilang na si Wilhelm von Humboldt, ang Pilipinas. Noong 1898, matapos sakupin ang Maynila, nagtatag ang mga Amerikano ng mga eskuwelahang elementarya kung saan Ingles ang wikang panturo. Sinimulan dito ang Amerikanisasyon ng Pilipinas. Noong 1953, sa panahon ng Cold War, nagtungo ang Summer School of Linguistics sa Pilipinas upang pag-aralan ang wika ng mga grupong minoridad. Sa sanaysay na ito susuriin ang papel ng mga aspetong nabanggit kaugnay ng mga pagpupunyagi ng Pilipinong espesyalista sa lingguwistika na pag-aralan ang kanilang mga wika upang makabuo ng teorya kaugnay ng mga disiplinang lingguwistika, antropolohiya, sikolohiya at kasaysayan mula sa loob ng Pilipinas, katulad ng minimithi at tunguhin ng Pantayong Pananaw.

Page 44: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

30 SALAZAR: The Role Of Language In The Philippines

Introduction

This paper is an attempt to describe the role of language in the history of the

Philippines in a colonial and postcolonial context, from the “discovery” of the

Philippines by Magellan to the Americanization of the country in the twentieth

century. For almost five centuries Philippine languages were described primarily

from the perspective of foreigners. Both colonial powers, the Spanish as well as

the Americans, studied Philippine languages not out of scientific interest, but

as a means of colonizing the country.

The Philippines are an archipelago of 7107 islands, where more than

100 languages are spoken, of which the majority belongs to the Malayo-

Polynesian language family, a branch of the Austronesian languages. Since 1946

the Philippines have been an independent country; but from 1521 to 1898 they

were a Spanish colony, and after a short interlude of independence, which they

had declared in 1898, they were sold by Spain to the United States of America

in the Treaty of Paris. Although the Filipinos continued to struggle for their

independence until 1902, they eventually became a colony of the United States

of America until 1946.

The archipelago consists of three main groups: the Northern island of

Luzon with the capital Manila, a group of islands in the center called Bisayas,

and the southern island of Mindanao, which is partly inhabited by Muslims.

Since 1973 the official languages of the Republic of the Philippines are Filipino

and English. 82.9 % of the population are Catholics, a result of the long Spanish

colonial period, and only 5 % are Muslims. The population growth is enormous:

if at the beginning of the twentieth century, in 1903, there were only 7,635,426

inhabitants, in 1948 there were already 19,234,182; in 1980, 48, 098,410; in 2000,

76,458,614; in 2010, 92,337,8521; in 2013, presumably 95 million inhabitants.

Page 45: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

31Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

This enormous population growth leads to great social and economic problems,

forcing many people to look abroad for job opportunities.

The Spanish Period (1521-1898)

The Philippines were “discovered” in 1521 by Ferdinand Magellan, a Portuguese

adventurer in the service of Spain, who lost his life in the course of events. But

one of his companions the Italian Antonio Pigafetta brought an interesting

report back to Europe, which also includes a very interesting word-list.2 Further

Spanish expeditions followed, and in 1541 the archipelago was named after the

Spanish Infant Felipe, “Islas Filipinas.” In 1565 the first Spanish settlement was

founded in Cebu by Miguel López de Legaspi and in 1571 Manila was declared

capital of the colony. For the Spaniards colonization and mission always went

hand in hand--the subjects of the Spanish king had to be Catholics. This was a

logical consequence of the Reconquista, i.e. of the expulsion of the Muslims from

the Iberian Peninsula between 1213-1492, followed by the expulsion of the Jews

and the Moriscos (converted Muslims) from Spain, as well as of the colonization

of Latin America.

The evangelization in the colonies was supposed to be done in Spanish,

because Spanish was, according to them, after Latin, the highest language, i.e.

the language closest to God’s word. This had already been the practice in the

Spanish colonies in Latin America half a century earlier and was supposed to

be the practice also in the Philippines. But the missionaries soon found out

that this was practically impossible because there were simply too few of them

living among the many indigenous people to teach them Spanish. Therefore the

missionaries started to write grammars and dictionaries of the most important

Philippine languages from the early seventeenth century on, in order to convert

Page 46: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

32 SALAZAR: The Role Of Language In The Philippines

the people to Catholicism and to make them loyal subjects of the King of Spain.

It is in this regard that linguistics became an instrument of colonization. Since

the Spaniards could not conquer the peoples in the mountainous north and

the Muslims in the south, they initially did not study their languages. That

happened much later.

In 1580 the Franciscans issued the order to publish dictionaries

and grammars of Tagalog, the language spoken in and around Manila. The

first grammar was by Juan de Plasencia (not preserved); the second, by San

Buanaventura (1613). The grammars were written according to the grammatical

system of Latin, because Latin grammar was considered to be the universal

grammar created by God. They followed the model of the Spanish grammar

of Antonio de Nebrija3 and did not take into consideration the structure of

Philippine languages. Still the amount of work done was enormous: the known

number of grammars and dictionaries is very high. According to Joaquin Sueiro

Justel4 there are 119 of these works, alone for the most important Philippine

languages: Tagalog, Bisaya and Ilocano, followed by Bikol and Pampango.

In the early Spanish Period there were four religious orders in the

Philippines: the Augustinians, the Dominicans, the Franciscans and the Jesuits.

To avoid quarrels among them the colonial government decided that all four

orders were allowed to work in Manila, but otherwise they were assigned

different regions. The Augustinians, who had arrived in 1575, were assigned to

Manila, Cebu and Iloilo; the Franciscans (1578), to Manila, Southern Luzon and

Bikol; the Dominicans (1581), to Bataan, Pangasinan and the Cagayan Valley;

the Jesuits (1581-1773), to Manila, Samar and Leyte; the Augustinian and the

Jesuits had to share Mindanao. The Augustianian Recollects who arrived in 1612

had to build their church outside Intramuros and worked mainly in Zambales,

Page 47: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

33Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

Pampanga, Negros and Palawan. But all of them considered Tagalog, which was

spoken in and around the capital Manila, as the most important language of the

Philippines, and they wrote many dictionaries and grammars for Tagalog. The

missionaries first converted the lowlanders, because they were easier to reach

and offered less resistance than the highlanders.

On the one hand these grammars and dictionaries are valuable sources

for the language and culture of the Filipinos in the seventeenth and eighteenth

century. On the other hand they suffer from the fact that the Spaniards described

Philippine languages according to the model of the Latin grammar, just as Nebrija

had described the Spanish language according to the Latin model. A marked

disconnection occurred here. Nebrija had chosen an appropriate analogy--the

Spanish and the Latin language belonged to the same language family. Philippine

languages, however, belong to the Malayo-Polynesian language family and are

structurally different from Latin. In their effort to read Philippine languages

through Latin, hence, the Spaniards introduced declensions and conjugations,

which do not exist in Philippine languages. They introduced concepts like

nombres, verbos, adjetivos, voces (passiva/activa), ablativos, preteritos, pretiritos,

futuros etc. and subjected Philippine languages to the grammatical categories

of Latin. And since they could not imagine a language without the auxiliary verb

“to be,” they often adopted the mysterious verbal form “sung,” which does not

really exist, in their manuscripts.

They also rejected the ancient Philippine alphabets called “baybayin,”

which were syllabaries, where the Spaniards could not find their own vowels and

consonants. These alphabets were widespread and were written on palm leaves

or bamboo. They were used not only for letters and contracts, but also for things

which had to do with traditional religious beliefs. Therefore the Spanish friars

Page 48: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

34 SALAZAR: The Role Of Language In The Philippines

considered them as works of the devil and burned them.5

Today the baybayin are used only by the Mangyans in Mindoro and the

Tagbanuwa in Palawan, but they have fascinated European scholars for a long

time. For example Wilhelm von Humboldt devoted most of the volume III of

his monumental work On the Kawi Language on the Island Java6 to Tagalog. He

thought that the Philippine alphabets were related to South-Indian alphabets;7

he considered Tagalog to be the most important and highly developed language

of the Malayo-Polynesian language family. Although Humboldt based his study

of the language on Spanish grammars of Tagalog, especially on the famous

grammar by Sebastian de Totanes,8 he also criticized him for dividing arbitrarily

Tagalog verbs into 17 different conjugations and conjugating them according to

the Spanish tradition.

The Spaniards translated Christian beliefs into the Philippine languages,

but kept words like Dios, Espiritu Santo and Jesucristo, because they could not

find an equivalent for them or they did not want to use the indigenous words

for God like bathala or anito. The indigenous words for gods, spirits or ancestors

were considered to represent superstitions and their statues as idolos, which had

to be burned. This condemnation of indigenous gods, ancestors and spirits did

not prevent Filipinos from continuing to believe in them and to integrate them

somehow into their religious practices. There are examples of this syncretism

up to now.

In his book on the role of translation in the conversion of the Tagalogs

in the early Spanish period, Vicente Rafael gives very interesting examples of

the misunderstandings which occurred in the translation of Spanish concepts

into Tagalog.9 The Spaniards translated soul to loob, which refers to the inside

of a person, the inside of a house etc. and can be used in many other contexts

Page 49: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

35Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

in the Tagalog language. Sin was translated as hiya, which means shame. The

last sacrament given to the dying became baon, meaning food one takes on a

journey. Unwittingly the Tagalogs interpreted the new religion in their own

way and continued to believe that you have to pacify the souls of the dead by

providing provisions for their travel to the other world.

Filipinos were called Indios like the South American indigenous

groups, which had been colonized half a century earlier. This came from the

original misunderstanding of Christopher Columbus, who thought that he had

discovered India when he arrived in the Caribbean.

The Philippines were not administered directly from Madrid; until 1821

it was considered a province of the Spanish Vice-Royalty of New Spain (Mexico)

which was represented by a Governor General in Manila. In the villages outside

Manila Spanish power was represented mostly by the friars, who conspired to

transform the scattered rural settlements into bigger villages (poblaciones)

around the church. These poblaciones provided the friars better control of the

newly converted population, making the church collection of tributes and taxes

from them easier. Their knowledge of the native languages and spiritual authority

gave the friars more power than the Spanish colonial administration, which

sat behind walls of the fortified city of Manila Intramuros. The friars’ desire to

retain this position of power fuelled their strong opposition to the Filipino elite’s

plea for liberalization and independence in the nineteenth century. The Spanish

friars had a dual role in Philippine history: their linguistic studies contributed

to the knowledge of the major Philippine languages, but these selfsame studies

also contributed to the Spanish colonization of the country.

Many Spanish words found their way into Philippine languages, mostly

in family and place names, but are also integrated in Philippine grammatical

Page 50: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

36 SALAZAR: The Role Of Language In The Philippines

structures.

Creole or Chabacano, which is based on Spanish, still exists and has

existed for 400 years. Today it has only very few speakers in Cavite, Zamboanga

and Davao, and is already extinct in Ermita, a district of Manila.

Very few Filipinos spoke Spanish. Towards the end of the Spanish

period only 10% of the population could speak this language and they

belonged mostly to the Spanish-Filipino elite. Until the 1920s the elite fought

against the influence of English and wrote their literature and newspapers in

Spanish. Interestingly the Spanish-speaking elite tried to establish contact

with the regime of General Franco in Spain and became part of the so-called

“Falange Exterior.” The President of the University of Santo Tomas even named

General Franco Honorary President of the university and expressed the hope

that Franco would one day reestablish the Spanish empire that included the

Philippines.10 The elite’s hope was of course not realized, but they did achieve

the preservation of Spanish as one of the official languages of the Philippines

until 1973. Nowadays only 3% of the Filipinos speak Spanish, although it has

been an obligatory subject in the universities for many years.

When the Austrian specialist on the Philippines Ferdinand Blumentritt

published his “Attempt at an Ethnography of the Philippines with an

Ethnographic Map of the Philippines” in 1882 he concluded that the Spaniards

only knew the areas near the coasts and the plains, and had very little knowledge

of the areas in the mountains and on far-away islands of the archipelago.11 The

population of a part of Mindanao and the islands of Basilan and Tawi-Tawi are

Muslim, but the Spaniards had never been able to colonize them. The Spaniards

called them “Moros.” And even the colonization and conversion of the peoples

from the mountainous region took a long time. These peoples were not easily

Page 51: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

37Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

reached and they defended themselves very well. The Spaniards called all of

them “Igorot,” a general term they used to refer to all “wild”, i.e. not baptized,

people.

In reality the linguistic situation in the Philippines is much more

complicated than the Spaniards ever knew. Every ethno-linguistic group has its

own name and there are about 100 of them in the Philippines, maybe even more.

Linguists differ on this subject, which is dependent on their standards on the

limits between language and dialect.

As far as this essay is concerned with minor languages, I will limit myself

to the history of the discovery of the ethno-linguistic groups in the Cordillera

Central. The Apayao, Tingguian, Kalinga, Bontok, Kankanai, Ifugao, Ibaloy,

Gaddang, and Ilongot live in this mountainous region of Northern Luzon. In

William Henry Scott’s The Discovery of the Igorots the Spaniards’ vision of gold

mines in the mountains fanned the Spanish desire to conquer the Igorots.12 In

1571, six months after the fall of Manila, Miguel de Legazpi’s grandson Juan de

Salcedo went on an expedition to north Luzon and came back with 50 pounds

of gold. Four years later he died on his way to the gold mines. Many Spanish

expeditions succumbed to the superior fighting ability of the Igorots. The

missionaries didn’t fare any better; in 1584 the Augustinians had their first

martyr--Fray Esteban Marin, who was tied to a tree and beheaded. Henceforth

the Igorots were believed to be headhunters and cannibals. By the 18th century

the Spaniards knew that conquering the Igorots was indeed difficult; in fact, they

could not even prevent their comings and goings from their mountain homes

and their trade with the Christianized lowlanders. Therefore the colonizers tried

to employ a new strategy: they encircled the Igorots by establishing so-called

reducciones (from reducir i.e. to subject) halfway up the mountains. Reducciones

Page 52: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

38 SALAZAR: The Role Of Language In The Philippines

were fortified settlements of baptized Filipinos, under Spanish military

administration. This soft approach to the colonization of the north changed

in the 19th century, however. Fueled by the desire to take advantage of the gold

and copper mines and missions in the mountains and irked by its inhabitant

Igorots, who undermined the Spanish tobacco monopoly and hence deprived

the government of revenues, the Spaniards renewed their quest of conquering

the region. With better firearms they raided Igorot villages, destroyed houses

and rice-terraces and established military commands. The year 1880 marked

their intensified occupation of this region, punctuated by the arrival of Don

Fernando Primo de Rivera, Marquis de Estrella, who was Governor General of the

Philippine from 1880 to 1882, and again from 1897 to 1898. When their military

expeditions failed, the Spaniards tried to forge alliances with Igorots. Some

of those who cooperated were sent to Madrid to man the Igorot village at the

colonial Exposición de las Islas Filipinas in June 1887. José Rizal was extremely

upset about this degrading exhibition of Igorots in Madrid, as he wrote to his

friend, Ferdinand Blumentritt:

Kümmern Sie sich nicht über die Exposicion de Filipinas in Madrid. Meinen Nachrichten, und den spanischen Zeitungen nach, ist es keine Ausstellung von den Philippinen, sondern nur von Igorotten, die Musik spielen werden, Küche machen, singen und tanzen. Aber ich fürchte mich ob den armen Leuten. Sie sollen in dem Madrider Zoologischen Garten sich ausstellen, mit ihren Kleidern: sie werden eine köstliche Lungenentzündung bekommen, da dies die häufigste Krankheit in Madrid ist: es bekommen die Madrider selbst trotz dem Überzeug.

<Don’t bother about the Exposition of the Philippines in Madrid; from my informants and what the Spanish papers write, it’s no Exhibition of the Philippines at all, but of the Igorots who will play music, do their cooking and dance. I am afraid for the poor people. They have to expose themselves in the Madrid Zoological Garden in their clothes: they will

Page 53: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

39Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

catch a severe pneumonia, since this is the most frequent illness in Madrid, even the inhabitants of Madrid get it in spite of their warm clothes.> 13

This exhibition, which took place in the Retiro Park in Madrid, was an

attempt by the Spanish government to show to the public its colonial possessions

in the Far East, not only the Philippines, but also Palau, the Marianas and the

Caroline Islands. It displayed the flora and fauna of the islands, as well as the

scientific publications on their ethno-linguistic groups and their languages.14

Prepared by Spanish officials and friars in the Philippines, the exhibition

emphasized the necessary continuation of the “civilizing mission” of Spain. It

contrasted “advanced” Spain, symbolized by the Crystal Palace, and “backward”

Philippines, symbolized by the nipa huts of the Igorot village. It showcased

Igorots, one Negrito and Moros, and set aside lowlanders as well as the political

claims of the indigenous intellectual elite. However, the exhibition did not attain

its goal of contributing to the continuation of Spanish power in the Philippines.

In his article on the intentions and consequences of the exhibition,

Reinhard Wendt notes that the 1887 exhibits have been preserved. Devoid of

any comment on the colonial context in which its components were collected,

this exhibition comprises the core of the Philippine collection of the Museo

Nacional de Antropología in Madrid today.15

The Spaniards had to leave the mountains of Northern Luzon after

the Philippine revolution and the arrival of the Americans in 1898, i.e. 325

years after the first attempt by Juan de Salcedo to reach the gold mines. They

had not acquired much knowledge about the Igorots. They didn’t even know

that the Igorots were actually many different mountain tribes with their own

languages. These observations were made only by some nineteenth century

Page 54: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

40 SALAZAR: The Role Of Language In The Philippines

German travelers, who were driven more by scientific curiosity than by military

or religious interest.

European scientists like Peter Simon Pallas, Franz Carl Alter, Johann

Christoph Adelung, Lorenzo Hervas, Wilhelm von Humboldt, Franz Bopp,

Friedrich Müller, Hans Conon von der Gabelentz and his son Hans-Georg

Conon von der Gabelentz, and Hendrik Kern had been interested in Philippine

languages.16 Purely scientific interest in comparative linguistic studies in Europe

interested them, not colonial linguistics.

It was only in the nineteenth century, after the end of the Galleon Trade

between Manila and Acapulco in 1815 and especially after the opening of the

Suez Canal in 1869 that more non-Spanish traders and explorers came to the

Philippines, among them German travelers like Fedor Jagor, Carl Semper, Hans

Meyer and Alexander Schadenberg. Fedor Jagor, son of Russian immigrants in

Berlin, traveled between 1859 and 1860 to the Philippines and wrote his Travels

in the Philippines, which still makes very interesting reading.17 He did not travel

to the Cordillera Central, but to the Bikol provinces and the Bisayas. He was one

of the first Europeans who climbed the Mayon volcano in Albay. In Camarines

Sur, while climbing the Yriga volcano he noticed that the Spaniards called the

small groups of Negritos living there ‘Igorots’, and so he wrote that the term was

apparently a general term for wild tribes.18 Jagor found the Negritos to be very

peaceful hunters and gatherers.

Carl Semper was a young scientist who traveled between 1858 and 1863

in the Philippines and Palau. In May 1860 he hiked across the Sierra Madre

mountains to Isabela province and visited the Kalinga ethno-linguistic group, of

which he made the first ethnographic description.19 Later he became professor

in Würzburg and published three volumes about the Philippines and a book

Page 55: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

41Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

about Palau.20

In 1882, during his voyage around the world, German geographer

Hans Meyer spent four months in the Philippines and particularly went to the

provinces Benguet and Lepanto and the east of the province Abra. On March

27, 1883 he discussed this visit in his lecture before the Ethnological Society of

Berlin, emphasizing the customs and traditions of the inhabitant non-Christian

tribes he encountered in the region.21 He claimed that the Igorots in Benguet and

Lepanto speak four different dialects: Inibaloi, Kankanai, a northern variant of

Kankanai in the Abra valley and Lepanto. Hans Meyer wrote a few articles on

the Igorots and a book about his voyage around the world, where he dedicated

chapter 12 and the appendix on the Igorots.22 Upon his return he entered the

publishing house of his father Hermann Julius Meyer, publisher behind Meyers

Konversations-Lexikon. In Germany Hans Meyer is better known for being the

first to climb mount Kilimanjaro in 1889.

Alexander Schadenberg was a German pharmacist who lived in the

Philippines for many years and used all his free time for ethnographic studies.

He wrote the first serious ethnological and linguistic study of the Negritos,

which attracted much attention among specialists.23 Then he explored the

South and East of Mindanao, climbed Mount Apo two times and published his

geographic, ethnological and linguistic findings in 1885.24 When Schadenberg

opened his own pharmacy in Vigan (Ilocos Sur) he used it as a point of departure

for many expeditions to the interior of the Cordillera, on which his wife always

accompanied him. One of his most successful expeditions took place in 1886,

when he visited the Tinguians, then the Banaos and finally the Guinaans.25 He

wrote comparative word-lists of Bontoc, Banawe, Lepanto and Ilocano, and for

the first time, opted to use the German transcription, which is phonologically

Page 56: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

42 SALAZAR: The Role Of Language In The Philippines

closer to the Philippine languages, over the Spanish transcription.26 He liked

photography and published together with Adolf Bernhard Meyer, who later

became director of the Royal Zoological and Anthropological- Ethnographic

Museum in Dresden, Album of Types of Filipinos.27 Alexander Schadenberg died

in 1896 in the Philippines at the age of 44.

The aforementioned German explorers could be mistakenly taken as

the vanguards of the colonial ambitions of the German Reich, which after 1880

became especially active in South Africa and the Southern Pacific. However, all

of them acted out of scientific curiosity and were in constant communication

with professor of medicine Rudolf Virchow, who was long renowned for his

many discoveries, for being one of the founders of social medicine, and for

his keen interest in anthropology. In 1869 he founded the German Society for

Ethnology, Anthropology and Prehistory and became one of the co-founders

of the Ethnological Museum in Berlin. In politics he was a liberal opponent

of Bismarck and criticized colonialism. In 1887, upon recommendations by

Fedor Jagor and Ferdinand Blumentritt, Virchow invited José Rizal to become

a member of the “Society of Ethnology”, which was a great honor for a 26- years

old young man from the Philippines.

Another German who did a lot for Philippine linguistics and who also

corresponded with Blumentritt was Otto Scheerer. He came from Hamburg to

Manila, where he worked from 1882 to 1896 as a merchant and later became

owner of the cigar factory La Minerva. For health reasons he left Manila and

moved to the mountain province, where he bought land in the Ibaloi village

Kafagway. His interest in the Ibaloi culture led to his quick mastery of their

language. When the Americans occupied the Philippines in 1898 Scheerer

showed them the area and wrote reports on Ibaloi customs and agriculture

Page 57: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

43Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

for the Taft Commission. The Americans referred to him as “a bizarre German

scientist gone native.”28 They preferred the cool climate in the mountains over

the hot and humid climate of Manila and decided to establish their future

summer capital on the grounds of the Ibaloi village Kafagway. Scheerer’s initial

cooperative attitude towards the Americans turned awry, when, in their efforts

to build country clubs and military camps, the new colonizers displaced the

Ibaloi from their land without compensation. In 1901 Scheerer went to Japan

and Formosa for a few years and wrote about the indigenous languages of

Formosa and their relationship with Philippine languages. After his return to the

Philippines in 1911, Scheerer devoted himself mostly to Philippine linguistics.

He published a number of linguistic studies and in 1924 became chairman of

the Department for Oriental Languages at the University of the Philippines. He

trained the first generation of experts on Philippine linguistics; and so, rightly

he can be called a pioneer of Philippine linguistics. One of his best students

was Cecilio Lopez, who later worked on his Ph.D. at the University of Hamburg

under the tutelage of Otto Dempwolff. Lopez kept contact with Dempwolff and

helped another German, Hermann Costenoble, who worked as an agricultural

advisor in the Philippines, to study Philippine linguistics. In 1943, during the

Japanese occupation of the Philippines, Costenoble died and left the manuscript

of his Proto-Philippine Dictionary with Cecilio Lopez, who translated and

published it.29 A certain continuity of German-Philippine relations, in the area

of linguistics, exists. Ernesto Constantino, who was the successor of Cecilio

Lopez, was my Ph.D. supervisor for Philippine Linguistics at UP.

The American Period (1898-1946)

From 1898 to 1902 (in some parts of the Philippines until 1912), while the Filipino-

American war raged, the Americans began to plan the future of their new colony.

Page 58: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

44 SALAZAR: The Role Of Language In The Philippines

This included a new language policy. Soon after their occupation of Manila,

they began to open elementary schools, in which English was the language of

instruction. In the beginning soldiers taught in these schools, then in 1901 the

Americans sent hundreds of young teachers, who were distributed everywhere

in the Philippines, to establish secular schools and teach in English. They were

called Thomasites after the converted cattle transporter, the Thomas, on board

of which many of them arrived. Some of these young teachers were frustrated

by the clash of culture, while others grew roots, got married and stayed in the

Philippines.30 This was the start of the Americanization of the Philippines.

The Spanish friars lost their privileges and much of their influence.

They were partly replaced by American and European missionaries, for example

the Protestant Episcopalian Church from the United States, which as early as

1901 already named its first bishop in the Philippines, Charles Brent. To avoid

unnecessary competition with the Catholic Church, they concentrated their

missionary efforts on the Chinese in Manila and on the not yet Christianized

minority groups in Mindanao and the northern Luzon. The Sagada Episcopalian

mission in the mountain province, which is the only place in the Philippines

where 95 % of the population is protestant, is a well-known example.

But the Catholic Church did not give up, far from that. Instead of Spanish

bishops it nominated American bishops for the Philippines. Thus Dennis

Dougherty was appointed to the diocese of Nueva Segovia, to which belonged

practically all of North Luzon. In 1906 the bishop asked the Belgian religious

order CICM (Corona Immaculata Cordis Mariae) to send some missionaries.

In September 1907 their first missionaries arrived and proceeded to evangelize

the Igorots in Bontok. Today they have nine universities and seminaries in the

Philippines. Two CICM missionaries have become quite famous because of their

Page 59: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

45Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

ethnological and linguistic researches on the main ethno-linguistic groups of

northern Luzon: Fr. Morice Vanoverbergh und Fr. Francis H. Lambrecht.

Fr. Morice Vanoverbergh spent almost eighty years in the Mountain

Province, from his arrival in Bauko, Lepanto in 1909 to his death in Baguio in 1987.

He wrote numerous linguistic and folklore studies on the languages Kankanay

(Lepanto-Igorot), Isneg (Apayao), Ilokano and the Negritos of Northern Luzon.

Francis H. Lambrecht came to the Philippines in 1924 and stayed until his death

in 1978. He has devoted his entire life not only to the mission, but also to research

on the language, epics and folklore of the Ifugao.

A third important religious order that came to the Philippines in the

twentieth century was the SVD (Societas Verbae Divinae). Since 1909 the SVD

has been active in Abra and has spread all over the Philippines. Besides their

missionary and educational work (they operate forty-seven schools, several

seminaries and colleges, as well as two universities), they specialized in linguistic

and ethnological research, which they publish in their journal Anthropos.31

In 1904 the American colonial government followed the imperialist

tradition of the Spaniards and brought different groups from the Philippines

to the St. Louis World’s Fair. A group of Igorots, who were exhibited in a

reconstructed native village, was among them. They were treated like animals

in a zoo and were forced to eat dog meat every day.32 This display justified

American imperialism and proved that the Filipinos still had to be civilized. A

by-product of this exhibition was a Grammar of Bontoc Igorot by Carl Wilhelm

Seidenagel,33 who taught Greek and Latin at the University of Chicago. Regularly

Seidenagel met the Igorots to learn their language, unknowing that he conversed

with people from different dialects. He made many mistakes in transcribing

the language. “SDL was supremely confident of his ability to recognize and

Page 60: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

46 SALAZAR: The Role Of Language In The Philippines

represent the sounds that he heard, and of his own erudition, frequently citing

examples from Greek, Latin, Russian, French, Spanish, Scotch and German.”34

His phonology and syntax were also problematic because he analyzed the Igorot

language on the basis of “Indo-European” languages.

A long overdue reaction to the extensive linguistic influence from

outside the Philippines, first by the Spaniards and then by the Americans,

was the establishment of the Institute of National Language in 1936. Seven

members, each representing a different linguistic group, comprised the founding

committee: Jaime C. Veyra (Samar-Leyte Visayan) chairman, Santiago A.

Fonacier (Ilocano), member, Filemon Sotto (Cebu Visayan) member, Casimiro

F. Perfecto (Bicol) member, Felix S. Salas Rodriguez (Panay Visayan) member,

Hadji Butu (Moro), member, Cecilio Lopez (Tagalog), member and secretary.

Thus the most important languages of the Philippines were represented in this

committee. A year after its establishment, the committee decided to create the

national language based on Tagalog. In 1938 the Institute of National Language

(ILN) was renamed National Language Institute (NLI), which was tasked with

creating a dictionary, a grammar and a unified spelling system for the national

language, which was to be taught in the last years of high school from 1940

onwards. It was not yet a language of instruction at that time.35

Language policies in the Philippines since independence (1946 to the present)

In 1946 after World War II the Philippines became an independent state.

American and European missionaries and linguists continued to come to the

country, however. Filipino linguists themselves study the different languages

of the Philippines and continue to disagree on their number and on the further

Page 61: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

47Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

development of their national language. A persistent bone of contention among

them concerns the allegation that the national language does not sufficiently

consider the other important regional languages and disregards the numerous

minor languages of the Philippines. The quarrel between the “mono-language”

and the “multi-language” protagonists, as well as the discussion whether the

national language should be called “Filipino” or “Pilipino” perseveres. The 1973

constitution acknowledged Filipino as one of the two official languages of the

Philippines, the other one being English.36 The 1987 constitution prescribed the

formation of a national language committee, consisting of representatives of

different regions and professions, to promote and coordinate researches “on the

development, propagation and conservation of Filipino and other Philippine

languages.” The discussion seems to continue unabatedly.

The smaller linguistic groups’ reactions against the predominance of

Filipino and English also abound. Since the “International Year of Languages”

in 2008, when the UNESCO Secretary General warned that within a few

generations more than 50% of the 7000 world’s spoken languages could

disappear, the awareness of this problem has grown in the Philippines. Speakers

of minor languages, who prefer to speak in Filipino or English, are perceived

as threats to the existence of their mother tongues and a part of their cultural

heritage. Elementary education tends to favor a multilingual education based

on the mother tongue and a curriculum stressing local culture. This has been

tried before and it remains to be seen how successful it will be in the long run.

The agreements of the Department of Education with foreign

specialists, like the SIL International (Summer Institute of Linguistics), are

highly questionable. The SIL began to work in the Philippines in 1953 during the

Cold War. An American organization, the SIL started its activities in the 1940s

Page 62: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

48 SALAZAR: The Role Of Language In The Philippines

in North and South America and now works on a worldwide scale. Everywhere it

studies the languages of ethno-linguistic minorities. Its American staff members

learn the languages of these minorities and develop alphabets and dictionaries--

always with the ultimate goal of translating the Bible and influencing people.

The quality of their linguistic studies appears trustworthy, but their ultimate

goal is apparently not a scientific one. My Filipino colleagues were always very

suspicious of them. SIL works on the basis of an agreement with the Philippine

Government. Right now in 2013, after sixty years of work in the Philippines,

the SIL managed to sign another MOA (Memorandum of Agreement) with

the Department of Education.37 Evidently an end to postcolonial influence on

linguistic studies in the Philippines is not yet in sight.

Since the 1970s Filipino was slowly adopted as a language of instruction

in schools and universities. The University of the Philippines in Diliman

spearheaded the movement to intensify the study in and of Filipino, first in

the Department of Linguistics and the Department of Pilipino and Philippine

literature, followed by the Psychology Department with Virgilio Enriquez’s

“Sikolohivang Pilipino,” in the Anthropology Department with Prospero Covar

and last but not least in the History Department with Zeus A. Salazar. Trained as

a historian at the U.P., Salazar studied anthropology and linguistics at the Freie

Universität Berlin, the Sorbonne and the Ecole Nationale des Langues Orientales

Vivantes in Paris and the University of Leiden (Holland). He earned his Ph.D.

from the Sorbonne with his comparative study of Austronesian religions, using

the concept of anito as central motif.38 In 1968, after his return to the Philippines

and to the UP Department of History, linguistics and anthropology continued

to play an important role in his work. He used an interdisciplinary approach

in developing his idea of Pantayong Pananaw, which can be translated as “our

view.” The idea is to see Philippine history and society through the insider’s, not

Page 63: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

49Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

the outsider’s eyes. But since it uses the exclusive pronoun tayo for we and not the

inclusive kami, the followers of this idea have a tendency to be concerned only

with their singular, shared destiny and seek to exclude others who are dissimilar.

In her Ph.D. dissertation Portia Reyes defines it as: “Pantayong Pananaw is

the point of view where the author and the audience are exclusively one, in a

specifically closed circuitry, most especially in the face and in consideration of

the others, who do not belong therein.”39 It does this by the exclusive use of

the Filipino language and represents the exclusively Philippine perspective in

different scientific fields, like psychology, anthropology, linguistics and history.

It is a school of thought that wants to create a scientific language in Filipino and

to develop specific Philippine concepts.

Pantayong Pananaw in history developed into Bagong Kasaysayan,

meaning “New History,” a history only by and for Filipinos, devoid of many

foreign influences. Zeus A. Salazar developed its theory--a philosophy of history

and a method of research; and many of his students and colleagues followed his

example. It has produced many publications on Philippine history, including

textbooks for schools and colleges, but also translations of foreign texts, the idea

being that “Translation is, in this regard, a significant procedure in the whole

process. It is a procedure toward indigenization, the elemental step towards

Filipinization.”40

Filipinization is an important step to overcome colonial language

policies, but it should not be exaggerated. At least graduate students and

professors should be able to read foreign sources in the original languages and

to communicate with their fellow scientists abroad.

After all, as the poet John Donne wrote: “No man is an island unto

himself.”

Page 64: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

50 SALAZAR: The Role Of Language In The Philippines

Endnotes

1 National Statistics Office (Manila, 2012).

2 Antonio Pigafetta, Relazione del primo viaggio intorno el mondo (Madrid, 1524).

3 Antonio de Nebrija, Gramatica de la lengua castellana (Salamanca: 1429).

4 Joaquin Sueiro Justel, Historia de la linguistica española en Filipinas (1580-1898) (Lugo, 2003).

5 Pedro Chirino, Relación de las Islas Filipinas (Rome: 1604).

6 Wilhelm von Humboldt, Über die Kawi Sprache auf der Insel Java (Berlin: 1836-1839).

7 Wilhelm von Humboldt, “Lettre à M. Jacquet sur les alphabets de la Polynésie Asiatique” in Historisch-philologische Abhandlungen (Berlin: 1832), pp. 78-79.

8 Sebastian de Totanes, Arte de la lengua Tagala y manual Tagalog (Sampaloc: 1745).

9 Vicente L. Rafael, Contracting Colonialism – Translation and Christian Conversion in Tagalog Society under Early Spanish Rule (Quezon City: Ateneo de Manila University Press, 1988).

10 Allan Chase, Falange: The Axis secret Army in the Americas (New York: 1943), p. 68.

11 Ferdinand Blumentritt, Versuch einer Ethnographie der Philippinen mit einer Karte der Philippinen (Gotha: 1882).

12 William Henry Scott, The Discovery of the Igorots- Spanish Contacts with the Pagans of Northern Luzon (Manila: New Day, 1974).

13 Rizal’s Letter from Berlin to Blumentritt, November 22,1886, in Teodoro M. Kalaw (ed), Epistolario Rizalino, Vol. 5 (Manila: 1938), p. 27.

14 cf. Catálogo de la Exposición de las Islas Filipinas celebrada en Madrid inaugurado por S.M. Reina Regente el 30 de Junio de 1887 (Madrid: 1887).

15 Reinhard Wendt, “La Exposición general de las Islas Filipinas” in Madrid 1887. Zu Intentionen und Nachwirkungen einer Kolonialausstellung” in

Page 65: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

51Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

Jahrbuch für Europäische Überseegeschichte 3, Wiesbaden,2003, p. 114.

16 Marlies Salazar, Perspectives on Philippine Languages - Five Centuries of European Scholarship (Quezon City: Ateneo de Manila University Press, 2012).

17 Fedor Jagor, Reisen in den Philippinen, (Berlin: [1873], 1982).

18 Jagor, op. cit., p. 149 ff.

19 Carl Semper, “Reise durch die nordöstlichen Provinzen der Insel Luzon” in Zeitschrift für allgemeine Erdkunde, 10, 1861, S. pp. 249-266.

20 Carl Semper, Reisen im Archipel der Philippinen. 3 vols. (Wiesbaden: 1867).

21 Hans Meyer, “Die Igorotten von Luzon”, Zeitschrift für Ethnologie, 15 (Berlin: 1883).

22 Hans Meyer, Eine Weltreise: Plaudereien über eine zweijährige Erdumseglung (Leipzig: 1885).

23 Alexander Schadenberg, “Über die Negritos der Philippinen,” Zeitschrift für Ethnoloige, 12 (Berlin: 1883).

24 Alexander Schadenberg, “Die Bewohner von Süd-Mindano und der Insel Samal,” Zeitschrift für Ethnologie, 17 (Berlin: 1883).

25 Alexander Schadenberg, “Beiträge zur Kenntnis der Banao-Leute, und der Guinanen, Gran Cordillera Central, Insel Luzon, Philippinen,” Zeitschrift für Ethnologie, 19, (Berlin: 1887).

26 Alexander Schadenberg, “Im Innern Nordluzons lebende Stämme,” Zeitschrift für Ethnologie, 21, (Berlin: 1883).

27 A.B. Meyer und Alexander Schadenberg, Album von Philippinen-Typen. Nord-Luzon: Negritos, Tiangianen, Banaos, Guinanen, Silipanen, Calingas, Apoyaos, Kianganen, Igorotten und Ilocanen (Dresden: 1891).

28 Stanley Karnow, In Our Image. America’s Empire in the Philippines (New York: Ballantine Books, 1989), p. 215.

29 Hermann Costenoble, Dictionary of Proto-Philippine, Trans. by Cecilio Lopez (Quezon City: 1979).

30 Mary Racelis Hollnsteiner and Judy Celis Ick (eds.), Bearers of Benevolence: The Thomasites and Public Education in the Philippines (Manila: 2001).

Page 66: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

52 SALAZAR: The Role Of Language In The Philippines

31 Anthropos is an International Journal of Anthropology and Linguistics founded in 1906 by Wilhelm Schmidt, and published by the Anthropos Institute in Sankt Augustin, Germany.

32 Jose D. Fermin, 1904 World’s Fair. The Filipino Experience (Infinity Publishing, Diliman, Quezon City, 2004).

33 Carl Wilhelm Seidenadel, The First Grammar of the Language Spoken by the Bontoc Igorot with Vocabulary and Texts, 592 pp. (Chicago, 1909). Also available online through the Chicago: Open Court Publishing Co.

34 Lawrence A. Reid, “Seidenadel’s Grammar of Bontoc Igorot: One Hundred Years on,” in Philippine Linguistics Before the Advent of Structuralism (Berlin: 2011), pp. 141-161.

35 Leopoldo L. Yabes, History of Filipino as the Common National Language, Language Planning and the Building of a National Language, Ed. by Bonifacio Sibayan and Andrew Gonzalez, FSC (Quezon City: 1977).

36 Andrew Gonzalez, Language and Nationalism: the Philippine Experience so Far (Quezon City, Ateneo de Manila Universsity Press, 1980).

37 See: http://www.sil.org/about/news/celebrating-60-years-partnership-philippines.

38 Zeus A. Salazar, Le concept AC’/anitu’ dans le monde austrnésien: vers l’étude cmparative des religions ethniques austronésiennes. Ph.D. Diss, Sorbonne (Paris, 1968).

39 Portia Reyes, Pantayong Pananaw and Bagong Kasaysayan in the New Filipino Historiography. A History of Filipino Historiography as a History of Ideas. Ph. D. Diss, University of Bremen, 2002, p. 552.

40 Reyes, op. cit., p. 593.

Page 67: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

53Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

AMLAT AND THE KAPAMPANGAN HISTORICAL TRADITION1

(THE CASE FOR UPPER PAMPANGA)

Lino L. Dizon

Abstrak:

Sa pamamagitan ng Amlat o kasaysayan (o kaya’y epiko pa nga) sa Kapampangan, pinag-aaralan sa sanaysay na ito ang mga posibilidad ng nagsasariling historyograpiyang lokal sa dating rehiyon ng hilagang Pampanga, kung saan matatagpuan ang Kapampangang nakarating sa hangganan ng bayan ng probinsya ng Tarlac. Iginigiit ng artikulo na ang katangian ng itinuturing na makasaysaysang tradisyong Kapampangan ay may ekstensibong kaugnayan sa larangan ng folklor, lingguwistika, at panitikan, at iba pa.

Introduction

Until today, a still recurrent and necessary Filipino theme is that of the

revolutionary turn two centuries ago, particularly the Philippine Revolution of

1896 and its vicissitudes. Due to the constricted attitude of early academics and

their conventional view of history, much of the actual experience has been left in

the hands of the orthodox historians who did not see anything historical except

in the general that has been calcified by facts and extreme documentation. In

this process, glorious and phenomenal details, which could have been optimized

with a more localized historical form, have been either filtered or left out. These

details could be gathered again and resurrected, as the essay hopes to achieve,

through a historical technique that can accommodate a variety of data to unify

or coalesce them later. This is the domain of local historiography.

Page 68: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

54 DIZON: Amlat And The Kapampangan Historical Tradition

It is ironical that what is local is the least understood and attended.

This is basically the transpiration of local history as a discipline in the historical

spectrum. Local history, “which was practiced long ago with carefulness, zeal

and even pride,” as a French scholar blurts out, “was later despised (especially

in the nineteenth and the first half of the twentieth century) by the supporters

of general history.”2 He was quick to add, however, that “since the middle of this

<twentieth> century, local history has risen again and acquired new meaning;

indeed, some even maintain that only local history can be true and sound.”

There are enormous particularities in the resurrection and self-

manifestation of local history, both in technique and content. For example, in

the 1960s, synchronous with the belligerent attack on apartheid, segregation

and other racist policies in the United States and other parts of the world,

historians, particularly those from Africa, were doing the same thing in history.

This was the “prime” of Jan Vansina and his colleagues who propagated the role

or the auxiliary role of oral history in place of conservative written history.3 They

insisted that oral traditions can supplement the study of societies without a

formal script. In other words, one must not be effaced of his history because of

the misrepresentation of his past by another, whose determinants are outlandish

to him in most cases.

Local history, as in the case of oral history, is the common tao’s

interpretation of history, bereft of the qualities and requirements of formal

historiography. In our communities, we could still encounter an unschooled but

respected individual, who could relate the story of the founding of a sitio or a

barangay with a concoction of facts handed down from generation to generation.

Usually the community would lead a researcher to him, not to an academic

or a history teacher; his seniority is his only qualification. In this instance,

Page 69: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

55Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

the authenticity of facts is already immaterial; the workings of an historical

process inherent in the ordinary man, divorced from the dictates of alienating

methodologies, is more important. We could always collect these stories for the

sake of our folklore, yet it is always possible that these can also serve as missing

links in the proper understanding of our history.

A breakthrough in scholarship and certainly an answer to the above

conundrum was Reynaldo Ileto’s Pasyon and Revolution which came out in

1979.4 This book did not delimit history to the conventional or the orthodox

as predecessors did; and it did not have what David Lowenthal proposes as

‘Eurocentric bias.’5 Ileto used oral traditions in documenting its subjects: the

Katipunan and the Revolution of 1896. He used the pasyon, kantahing bayan

and folk songs that told the people’s experiences in rhyme and verses; and so

undermined the practice of traditional historians who confined their history-

writing around the principal actors of history (usually the so-called ilustrados

and the intellegentia). His contentions were fruitful and replete with possibilities.

Ileto stated that “when errors proliferate in a patterned manner, when

rumors spread “like wildfire,” when sources are biased in a consistent way, we

are in fact offered the opportunity to study the workings of the popular mind.”6

Convincingly he mentioned that this is applicable not only to “folk” sources like

riddles and epics but to works whose authors are known. Consider the following:

The latter are usually analyzed as products or expressions of individual creative minds, despite the fact that poetry or history can only be written within the context of a system of conventions which delimit the text. As long as the writer intends to communicate, he has to imagine the reactions of his readers who have assimilated the system of conventions used. Knowing something of this underlying system enables us to transcend questions of authorship, which is problematic in many Tagalog sources. Once we have gained some idea of

Page 70: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

56 DIZON: Amlat And The Kapampangan Historical Tradition

the structure of the popular mind, data from conventional sources like official reports and outsider accounts can be fruitfully used. For example, we can get at the full significance of the observation that Katipuneros wept after their initiation, only after we have analyzed and understood the complex of meanings behind acts of compassion, weeping, and empathy, which are abundantly illustrated in literature. In other words, “weeping” acquires meaning only if it is integrated into a system of unconscious thought.7

Such interpretation tempts us to conceive a sort of a Kapampangan

historical tradition, which could also be associated with another ethnolinguistic

group in Central Luzon particularly in Pampanga and the border provinces of

Bataan, Nueva Ecija and especially Tarlac that used to comprise what was known

as Alta Pampanga (Upper Pampanga) during the Spanish Colonial Period. This

is far from being definitive, however. This enterprise is ambitious and hard to

establish, primarily hampered by the Kapampangan past itself.

Like other Christianized, lowland Philippine ethnolinguistic groups,

the long Spanish colonial domination affected the sway of pre-existent

Kapampangan cultural tradition. This period inevitably waylaid the early system

of thought and knowledge in favor of those of the Western colonizers.

In 1571, Pampanga was one of the initial provinces to be subjugated and

subsequently created in the Spanish mold by the Adelantado, Miguel Lopez de

Legazpi. Eventually most Kapampangans deemed it their duty to be nostalgic

of the bygone vast Kapampangan country that “stretched from the bank of the

Rio Grande northward to the country of the Pangasinans on one side and that of

the Ilongots on the other ”8 or, as a Kapampangan historian puts it, “tutuldua na

ing sucad at dagul na ibat ya Menila anga ya Ilocos, cayabe la ding Capitna ning

Bataan, Tarlac, daque ning Bulacan, Pangasinan, at Zambales.”9 No amount of

explanation could make them understand that this ‘vastness’ was no more than

Page 71: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

57Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

an inutile demarcación de encomienda by the Spanish conquistadores rather

than a signifier of the eminence of this linguistic race, whose region, right down

to the middle of the nineteenth century, “kept losing one town after another to

Tarlac and Nueva Ecija because its center of political gravity had continued to

remain fixed around the delta.”10 A catalyst that further beefed up this nostalgia

was the alleged arrival in Pampanga of Prince Balagtas, son of noble chief Araw

of Borneo and wife Lady Maylag during the Javanese Majapahit Empire. Crossing

the seas through daungs between 1335 and 1380, more than a century prior to the

start of the Philippine historical period, Prince Balagtas was, as Kapampangans

love to relate, to sire the royal blood of this race (Aku ing meging supling da ring

pipumpunan a sugi.../Menibatan la Borneo at karing pampangan naniti Sinadsad

la’t menuknangan, memalipi,menatili...).11 Adopted from a supposed 17th

century will of Fernando Malang Balagtas, this out-of-Pampanga sentimentality

became popular in the early 20th century through archaeologist H. Otley Beyer,

proponent of the migration theory on the peopling of the Philippines. The 1960s

discovery of the Tabon Man debunked Beyer’s theory; still, some Kapampangans

continued to be convinced of its veracity, particularly to their supposed non-

Philippine royal origins.

Considered by some, certainly by the non-Kapampangan Carmen

Guerrero-Nakpil, to be the ‘constant fraternizers of the Spaniards’ and by Fray

Gaspar de San Agustin in the 1600s as the “Castilians of these Indians” (with

a Spanish alcalde-mayor Jose Canovas in 1897 calling Pampanga as “muy

Española”) Kapampangan folkways have been sadly replaced, assimilated or

truncated by Western thoughts and practices.

Most of the Kapampangan socio-cultural ways had to take the dictates

of the domineering, colonial culture. Preliminary assessments show that the

Page 72: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

58 DIZON: Amlat And The Kapampangan Historical Tradition

areas immune from the prescriptions of the latter are only some areas of the

narrative lore and literature, e.g., the polosa, the canta- istorya puwesiya, and

other folksongs, the drama (comedia, moro-moro, zarzuela), and the folk

speech (bugtungan, kasebian). The language--even with the inevitable seeping

of adoptions, borrowings and translations--has managed to encapsulate certain

strands of idiosyncratic compositions that could have merely given in and

coalesced, like the rest. Here we also acknowledge Vicente Rafael’s warning

that the survival of a language is not a guarantee that it is totally free from the

adulteration of colonialism.12

Even then, it will still be quite hard to identify an indigenous

Kapampangan historical tradition; unlike its feasibility in folklore, as shown in

the studies of many scholars to be presented later. It is even more exacting if this

tradition has to be sieved in the standards of endemic, unadulterated taxonomy.

For example Ricardo Galang’s Ethnographic Study of the Pampangans amply

illustrated types and examples of various Kapampangan folklore areas and

ethos, but neglected to discuss history. It used a certain ‘authority,’ as a specimen

(as “one in his field”), in the field of research and not in history itself. He was

Lubao native Angel Morales, author of Ing Capangpañgan, which was “a sketch

of Pampanga’s achievement with the history of the towns of the province,”13 of

1919.14

This was the same predicament of those who followed suit in their

history of Pampanga and the Kapampangans, without or with lackadaisical

use of the history or historical methodology by the Kapampangans. Mariano

Henson was one of the acknowledged Kapampangan historians; he came up

with a number of works dealing with genealogy, local history, and other aspects

of Pampanga and its people. His The Province of Pampanga and Its Towns,

Page 73: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

59Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

which had four editions between 1955 and 1965, continues to be the bible of

Kapampangan history. However, this book and Henson’s other historical works,

some even written in Pampango, preferred to use the more standard, colonial

sources over local history accounts. Meanwhile, in an effort to heal some of the

cultural ravages wrought by the Second World War, the Philippine government

encouraged the preservation of local history through oral methodology. It

supported the release of the Velasco handbook.15

Kapampangan anthologists, including Lacson, Icban-Castro and

Manlapaz, rode on this wave. Though their main concern was Kapampangan

literature, their anthologies also provided ample data on the prosaic non-

fictional literary forms of the ethnolinguistic group, as biography, memoirs, and

essay. Unfortunately, though each of them included a history of Kapampangan

literature and language, they have not discussed a local historiographical genre

and minimally used historical works by or in Kapampangan. A similar paucity is

found in the recent listing of Kapampangan studies by Anicia Del Coro.16

Henson and other Kapampangan scholars are not entirely to blame. An

identical otiose situs plagues regional and local histories of other Philippine

ethnolinguistic groups. “In the past,” local historian Marcelino Foronda stated,

“local history has not merited the attention not to say the dedication and efforts

of our more notable historians, relegated as it was by and large to souvenir

programs of town fiestas and athletic meets, or to volumes commemorating

the anniversaries of some city, town or province.” He added that “(though) the

writing of local history in the Philippines is not actually new...(it) would only be

towards practically the end of Spanish colonial rule that the first book length

work in local history written by a Filipino, the Historia de Ilocos by Isabelo de

los Reyes was published in 1890.”17

Page 74: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

60 DIZON: Amlat And The Kapampangan Historical Tradition

The beginning of a Kapampangan historical tradition could be found

in Pampanga and with the Kapampangans or in particular, in the premier

grabadores and minervistas Tomas Pinpin and Antonio Damba. In 1610, Tomas

Pinpin built the first Philippine movable-type printing press (“Imprenta

Incunabula”) in Bataan, which was then a distrito of Pampanga. Pampanga’s

Bacolor, Macabebe, and Lubao had printing presses long before other Philippine

major cities. In his Conquista de Filipinas Gaspar de San Agustin mentioned that

the Augustinians bought a good imprenta that was transported from Japan to

Manila and Pampanga between 1618 and 1621. He said that it “had printed much

books, in Spanish and also in Kapampangan and Tagalog.”18 Francisco Coronel’s

Catecismo y doctrina christiana en lengua pampanga, presumably the first

Kapampangan printed book, was published in Macabebe in 1621--presumably

through the very press that San Agustin had mentioned.19 Described by historian

Juan de Medina as “a man of vast learning and of whom very great hopes were

entertained for the future,”20 Coronel, who was a native of Torija, Guadalajara,

Spain, served in Kapampangan town-missions Mexico (1611), Lubao (1613),

Bacolor (1617, 1629) and Macabebe (1620, 1626). After he familiarized himself

with the language, he wrote the first known Kapampangan grammar, Arte y

reglas de la lenguapampanga, in 1621.21 Kapampangan Studies scholars failed to

acknowledge this work.22

During the remainder of the Spanish period Kapampangan printed

materials were confined to translations and reprints of bulas (papal bulls),

catechisms, awits and corridos and a couple of grammars and dictionaries. In

1831 Kapampangan priest and “Father of Kapampangan literature” Anselmo

Fajardo wrote Comedia Heroica de la Conquista de Granada o sea Vida de Don

Gonzalo de Cordova Llamado el Gran Capitan, which was performed in a fiesta

for San Guillermo in Bacolor in the same year.23 The play transformed the town

Page 75: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

61Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

into the “Athens of Pampanga” and inspired a string of homegrown writers like

Sotto himself, Cornelio Pabalan Byron, Felix Galura, and others. Printed in 1912,

this comedia has 832 pages and 31,000 lines, one of the longest of its kind in the

Philippines. Displaying the richness of the vernacular language, it imparted

an early historico-geographical curiosity among its captivated audience-- the

jornadas of Don Gonzalo de Cordoba to Granada, most especially.

Uli nita ing España,ngeni ala nang Corti na,nun e na iting Granadangmamuc acua ning Castilla.Ing Granada misnang sampating pangabili na ganap,carin pin macatalacadqñg pun ding Sierras Nevadas.Matas a pangabilianIng Granadang cabilugan,At qñg sabla-sabla na nganEncantos ing pacabusal.

<Now, because of this, Spain has no Cortes to speak of, and all that is left is Granada to be won by the Castillians.Beautiful Granada stands at the foot of the Sierra-Nevada chain of mountains Granada stands on a plateau, a place full of enchantments.>24

According to historian Bonifacio Salamanca, the first serious work on

Philippine local history was on the Kapampangans and ironically by a non-

Filipino. 25 In 1972 American John Larkin’s The Pampangans: Colonial Society

in a Philippine Province came out. He did his fieldwork in Pampanga from 1964

to 1965, when local history was hardly recognized as a Philippine discipline.

His experience informed his “The Place of Local History in Philippine

Page 76: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

62 DIZON: Amlat And The Kapampangan Historical Tradition

Historiography,” a treatise on local historiography. Still, his treatment of

Philippine local history was criticized for being inadequate, biased, and

alienating by Filipino scholars.26 Some Kapampangan scholars even adamantly

declared that his findings “downplayed the role of Kapampangans in the

Philippine Revolution.”27 They claimed Larkin said that “Pampangans played a

relatively minor role when compared with that of their Tagalog neighbors to the

south.”28

In some respects The Pampangans is more Filipino, or more

Kapampangan, than other works written by Filipino historians before. Written

in English, the book fully took advantage of local Kapampangan sources that

were either scorned or taken for granted by earlier scholars. Amply it utilized

local histories. One of these is a manuscript--Macario Siccion’s untitled history

of Pampanga (1896-1932).29 Commenting on this book, Larkin said that “there

is probably no better example of Pampangan local pride and suspicion than is

found in a history of the province written in the dialect by a native of Apalit. In it

the author complains bitterly of the increasing role of the Tagalogs in Philippine

society, and he fears that Tagalog dominance will work to the detriment of

Pampangan culture and literature.”30

Larkin also utilized other collections that contained considerable data

on Kapampangan history and culture, including the Beyer and Luther Parker

collections and the Historical Data Papers (HDP) for Pampanga, thereby

leading future historians to them. The Beyer collection, entitled “Ethnography

of the Pampangan People,” contains three volumes of unpublished manuscripts

collected between 1916 and 1931 by Dr. H.O.Beyer. Kapampangan students wrote

these papers for Beyer’s anthropology class in U.P. before the Second World

War.31

Page 77: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

63Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

Former principal Luther Parker of the Bacolor School of Arts and Trades-

-presently the Don Honorio Ventura College of Arts and Trades--collected the

materials from 1904-1910. Together with Juan Crisostomo Soto and Modesto

Joaquin, Parker prepared An English-Spanish-Pampango Dictionary in 1905.32

Presently housed at the Filipiniana Section of the University of the Philippines,

the collection contains historical accounts of the various towns of Pampanga.33

Larkin used this collection alongside Parker’s correspondences, available at the

US Library of Congress and the Yale University Library.

“The Historical Data Papers” or HDP are deposited at the Philippine

National Library. In the 1950s, in an effort to retrieve local historical accounts,

the Bureau of Public Schools mandated public school teachers to submit

historical data on their barangays, towns/cities, and provinces, patterned after

the Velasco handbook.34 For lacking appropriate documentation, the HDP is

not highly regarded by some historians. Ileto, however, found them useful for

they “contained old songs and stories about anting-anting and other unusual

occurrences associated with the revolutionary period.”35 According to Larkin,

only the second of the two Pampangan volumes is still left and this contains

information on nine municipalities of the province.

Larkin’s The Pampangans also used souvenir programs and local

newspapers. The centennial anniversary souvenir program Capagmasusian

Qñg Aldo Pañgasilang Ning Magalang, Diciembre 1963 was among these. He

thought local newspapers Ing Emangabiran36(San Fernando, Pampanga), with

some issues for December 1907, May 1908, and April 1911, and El Imparcial (San

Fernando, Pampanga), with issues for November, December 1907, May 1908,

April, December 1909, and April 1911 were useful. Historian Galang came up

with a comprehensive listing of pre-war Kapampangan newspapers, but most of

Page 78: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

64 DIZON: Amlat And The Kapampangan Historical Tradition

them are no longer available.

Galang mentioned Ang Kalayaan: Tagapamalitang Tagalog at

Capampangan, one of the pioneering newspapers written in Kapampangan,

juxtaposed with Tagalog. An edition of the third issue of this newspaper, dated

1899, exists at the Philippine National Library. It features the visit of President

Aguinaldo in Tarlac and Pangasinan in the month of February, before the fall

of his Malolos Republic. Gen. Makabulos was notably the publisher of this

paper, which circulated primarily in the Tarlac Province.37 This Tarlaqueño-

Kapampangan general initiated Soto in the Katipunan and most likely had a lot

to do with the translations for the Kapampangan portion of the newspaper. He

had previously worked for La Independencia, Gen. Antonio Luna’s revolutionary

newspaper.38 During his incarceration at La Paz, Tarlac on February 22, 1899,

former Bamban Recollect curate Mariano Morales charged this “un periódico

seminal editado en tagalog y pampango ...Ang Kalayaan (La Libertad) se llamaba

la infame hoja (weekly newspaper edited in Tagalog and Kapampangan ... Ang

Kalayaan being the name of this infamous sheet)” for heartening personal

attacks on the Spanish Archbishop of Manila, instigated by a pro-revolutionary

native clergy (most probably by Fr. Eusebio Natividad, the military vicar of

General Makabulos).39

I am not familiar with any exhaustive study or a catalog on

Kapampangan newspapers. It is unfortunate, since these usually contain tidbits

of data on local history.

The Pampangans also cites the Philippine Insurgent Records (PIR) and

the holdings of the Philippine National Archives. During its research, however,

the Taylor book (on the PIR) is yet to be published by E. Lopez Foundation

(it was to be printed in 1971). The PNA had also only released its catalogs,

Page 79: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

65Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

particularly the finding aids for the Erecciones de Pueblos, in 1990. Documents

related to Pampanga and Tarlac are in volumes 4 and 5 of this catalog. Rightly

Larkin claimed that “the PNA in Manila contains one of the largest collections

in the world of documents on the Spanish regime in the archipelago; the papers

number in the millions.”40 Many documents about Pampanga and Tarlac are still

in their search stage.

Larkin’s treatment of the Philippine Revolution, as bewailed by

Kapampangan scholars, was indeed meager. “A la yapa king kalingkingan

(cannot yet accommodate even the little finger),” a Kapampangan would most

likely to say. Larkin just presented the tip of an iceberg. The PIR contains so many

documents about the phase and peculiar situados of the Revolution in both

Pampanga and Tarlac. Day-to-day and trivial developments, as are discernible

in the communications of General Tomas Mascardo, Don Antonio Consunji

(president of San Fernando), Don Juan Nepomuceno (president of Angeles) and

other revolucionarios, abound. Dated July 12, 1898, a letter by writer and Soto’s

friend Col. Modesto Joaquin to General Makabulos is of interest here. Joaquin

congratulated Makabulos for his successful siege of Tarlac two days earlier. He

requested the immediate release of Colonels Bañuelos and Simeon Cabigting

and Commandant Lorenzo Camaya from the Makabulos brigade; so they could

come back to and help restore peace and order in Pampanga.41 The letter proves

the existence of cooperation among the Kapampangan “linguistic” brethren,

who were then already living in separate provinces.

As I have suggested in earlier publications, the prision accounts or the

journals of Spanish friars, who were imprisoned by the Filipino revolutionaries,

constitute some of the hardly utilized sources of the Philippine Revolution.

Notably most of these friars were stationed in Tarlac and Pampanga prior to and

Page 80: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

66 DIZON: Amlat And The Kapampangan Historical Tradition

during their incarceration. Prisoners included the last Spanish curate of Porac,

Pampanga, Fr. Bernardo Martinez, O.S.A., who wrote Apuntes históricos de la

provincial Agustiniana de Santísimo Nombre de Jesús de Filipinas.42 Another

inmate was former Macabebe curate Fernando Garcia O.S.A., whose Ing macuyad

a pa(g)magsalita diquil qñg bie nang delanan at pañgatimaua ning metung a

mebijag of 1900 was an important contribution to Kapampangan historiography.43

Sixteen years earlier Garcia also wrote a Kapampangan arithmetic book.44 He was

49, when he surrendered to the Filipino revolucionarios in Hagonoy, Bulacan.45

Another facet of Kapampangan historiography that needs to be

harnessed is oral history. From 1964 until the 1970s, prior to the publication of

his book, Larkin interviewed some citizens of Pampanga, including politicians,

landowners, and peasants.46 This is commendable; what is unfortunate, however,

was that as a non-speaker of Kapampangan, Larkin failed to observe innate

historical perceptions among the people. For example, among the holdings

of the CTS was a pawaga (testimony) of a Tarlaqueño in 1966 concerning his

reminiscences about the 1898 Tarlac Siege. In Kapampangan, the interviewee

remembered that the siege was when it was “maralas nang mumuran at ding

bunga da ring dutung a’ manga lagad-lagad la mu…panaun nang Apung Alfonso

Ramos (raining often with fruit-bearing among trees almost over … during

the time of Don Alfonso Ramos).47 Larkin would not have deduced that the

interviewee was referring to the month of June, during the onset of the rainy

season and the end of the fruit-bearing period of the mango trees.

A Kapampangan Historiography

It was only around 1987 that I was able to take hold of histories written in

Kapampangan. Instead of amlat pirulunan or borderline history, these narratives

Page 81: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

67Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

were written by Kapampangans or former Kapampangans, now living in Tarlac

province. I thought I would be seeing some local terms for history in them for

the first time. In their analysis, however, we should also be aware of the caution

of Marc Bloch that “the worst danger of such careful definitions is that they only

bring further limitations.”48 “This subject,” declares the divine lexicographer,

“or that means of treating it, is, no doubt seductive, but take care, o young

apprentice! it is not history!”

Published in 1956 by Matias Press of Tarlac, Marcos Tañedo’s Makuyad

a Kasalesayan o (Historia) Kñg Pangatatag ning Balen Tarlac a Ngeni Meguing

Lalawigan (Provincia) is foremost of these Kapampangan narratives. Don

Marcos had utilized two Kapampangan taxonomic terms for history: one, as the

moldy cover of this rare book states, was Kasalesayan; the other was Amlat. As

I have indicated in earlier publications, I derived the title of my column Amlat

in some Tarlac newspapers (and part of the title of this essay) from this book.

Kasalesayan, highlighted by the term salese or “order”, is roughly a rigid

equivalent of the Tagalog Kasaysayan. It shares similarities with the Western

concept history--an orthodox, conservative, and empirical treatment of facts.

The grammarian priest Fr. Antonio Bravo, then the “cura parroco qñg balean

Uaua”(Guagua), was among its early users in 1873.49 Casalesayan was used in a

number of publications during the Spanish period.

For proponents of pantayong pananaw the Spanish historia is a mere

chronology of events while the Tagalog kasaysayan could be deduced from may

saysay (with meaning) and the end-user of the discipline (ka-).50 With the use

of glottochronology and other means of lexical comparison, especially with

a neighboring language like Kapampangan, we could claim that kasaysayan

evolved from salaysay or sanaysay (e.g., kasalaysayan and kasanaysay being the

Page 82: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

68 DIZON: Amlat And The Kapampangan Historical Tradition

original form of kasaysayan). It was primarily concerned with the reportage and

process of story-telling, not with ethnocentrism. E. Manuel pointed out that

kasaysayan (importance, value, utility) was from a reduplication of the Chinese

sái; but added that it has a second meaning (“history or narrative”), as cited by

Tomas Pinpin in 1610. Manuel stated that this second meaning “seems not to

be embraced in the Chinese concept, or if it is, an extension of meaning has

probably occurred.”51

Amlat might have been akin to Alamat or “legend” in most Philippine

languages. In amlat history is purportedly a by-product of a simple story. This is

not a far-fetched opinion. The Kapampangans tend to metathesize the language

of others; for example, Kapampangan speakers transformed the Tagalog tubo,

sugar cane, to atbu or äbu in the distinctly slurring Magalang-Concepcion

diction. In Amlat, there is no barrier between people, between the intellegencia

and the ordinary, between the rich and the poor, between the educated and the

uneducated. What remains, therefore, is a history of the people, by the people

and for the people.

In his etymology of Tarlac, Luciano Tabaquero submitted to the

Tarlac Historical Society in 1966 a testament from his grandfather Mapilan A

Amanu Ning Kasalesayan Dikil King Amlat Ning Balayan Ning Tarlac52 (Some

historical words concerning the History of the Town of Tarlac) that used the

aforementioned Kapampangan terms for history.

Recently, I have seen Qñg Tula Ra Ding Capampangan (With the Joy of

the Kapampangan People)--a 1956 souvenir program prepared for the Nuestra

Señora Virgen De Los Remedios as the patroness of the Diocese of San Fernando.

A rare discovery and not cited by more recent Kapampangan studies, it includes

the histories of the towns and parishes of Pampanga and Felix B. Punsalan’s

Page 83: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

69Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

“AMLAT (Historia) NING CAPAMPANGAN.” Most of these accounts, however,

are already available in Mariano Henson’s English language books. Like Tañedo’s

book of the same year, Qng Tula regularly used amlat--though often substituted

with the Spanish historia--to refer to history. This suggests the prevalence of the

term in that period. In contrast, however, Henson stressed the historical process

pangatatag (establishment) rather than the discipline in his Kapampangan

histories.53

Another Kapampangan-Tarlaqueño historian was Vicente Catu, from

Victoria, Tarlac. In his heyday, he wrote Tarlac historical sketches that would

be utilized by celebrated writer Nick Joaquin in his work on the Aquinos of

Tarlac. In 1977, Catu wrote the histories of a couple of barrios of Tarlac town

in Kapampangan in the Tarlac Star. He used the term Ystoria in his historical

writings.54 The hypothesis that amlat was a metathesis of alamat is related to

the jokingly told contention that since Kapampangan speakers do not aspirate h,

they also do not know the distinction between historia and istorya.55

Vestiges of a Historical Tradition

In his observation of the early communities on the archipelago of the 1600s Fr.

Pedro Chirino, in his Relacion de las Islas Filipinas, stated:

(That) government and religion are for them founded on tradition and on the practices introduced by the devil himself... and are preserved in songs which they have committed to memory and learned from childhood, having heard them sung while sailing, while at work, while rejoicing and feasting, and above all while mourning the dead. In these barbaric songs they relate the fabulous genealogies and vain deeds of their gods...They deal with the creation of the world and the beginning of human lineage, with the deluge, and with glory and grief and other intangible things, telling a thousand absurd stories and even altering their stories a

Page 84: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

70 DIZON: Amlat And The Kapampangan Historical Tradition

great deal so that some tell it one way and others...56

The historical tradition was already a moiety of Filipino prehistoric

culture, as was manifested in their folklore, narrative forms (epics, myths, and

tales) and folksongs. During the centennial celebration of the 1896 Philippine

Revolution University of the Philippines Professor Vivencio Jose called for a

creation of a revolutionary paradigm, since “in this more complex age, we need

to expand the frontiers of the Revolution and adopt an appropriate praxis.”57

For him, this coherent paradigm will “galvanize the internal revolution among

our people” and feature certain appropriate elements. He claimed that the basic

among these elements, called the “first historic tradition,” is “rooted in popular,

millennial struggles that are embodied by our epics and heroic songs.” Jose

already established earlier that “the early myths and epics give us glimpses of

probable beginnings of mass movements in Philippine history.”58

Unfortunately, Kapampangans do not have an extant epic, unlike the

ethnolinguistic group Ilokanos, who have their Biag ni Lam-ang; the Ifugaos,

their Hudhud at Alim; and the Bikolanos, their Ibalon. The Kapampangans also

have minimal myths. Recently, the academic group Akademyang Kapampangan

came up with an epic for Pampanga, entitled “Y Mariang Sinukuan” of Mt.

Arayat. Though I am a member of this group, I was against this project. For me,

an epic is woven by a culture through a passage of time; it is only in this manner

that the integrity and applicability of an epic is tested.

The importance of the project was undeniable, especially in its use of

cultural themes and culture heroes who, at one time, might have been mortals

like us. For example Sinukuan might have been either a nymph or a lord, as

some tales referred to her/him as Mariang Sinukuan or Aring Sinukuan [King

Sinukuan].59 Despite of doubts over her/his gender, however, we are sure that

Page 85: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

71Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

s/he could foster cultural identity among Kapampangans. The epic Biag-ni-

Lam-ang has served this purpose for the Ilokanos; and the Ibalon and Daragang

Magayon (Mayon), to the Bikolanos.

Legends are aplenty. Known as alamat, Kapampangan legends

include stories on the origin and the naming of barrios and sitios, as well as

people and events. Both folklore and history are now considering toponymy or

place-name study. Numerous Philippine toponyms indicate historical events

like Pinaglabanan of San Juan, which refers to the battle fought between the

Katipuneros under Andres Bonifacio and the Spanish soldiers on August 30,

1896; Bayakitos of Nagcarlan, Laguna which is a corruption of “Bayan ng mga

Insurektos”; Pinagbateriahan of Amadeo, Cavite, which comes from the Spanish

word bateria (battery); and Pinaglagdaan of Paombong, Bulacan which refers

to where the members of the Revolution signed their names.60 Barrio Ligtasan

of Tarlac was believed to have been so named because it afforded a sanctuary or

‘saved’ the revolutionaries from the Spaniards. Concepcion’s barrio Telabanca

used to be called Mabuloc (foul smell) for it allegedly acted as a swampy

receptacle of fatalities from the Filipino-American War. Citizens of Pampanga’s

Sasmuan (a.k.a. Sexmoan) were convinced that the name of their town came

from tabnuan, a Kapampangan term for gathering and assembly, and is the place

where “a band of patriotic Pampangos from nearby towns used to assemble

and plan attacks against Chinese61 and Spanish insurgents <sic>.” 62 Magalang’s

barrio San Francisco was formerly known as Batiawan, since it housed Spanish

general Ricardo Monet’s torre heliografia (watchtower) that allegedly guarded

Central Luzon from Filipino violators of the Pact-of-Biak-na-Bato ceasefire

agreement like General Makabulos and his Kapampangan cohorts. Finally, Sta.

Rita, Pampanga’s barrio San Matias was earlier known as Lacbañgan for it was

where the so-called “dragones” (probably a corruption of the Spanish cazadores)

Page 86: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

72 DIZON: Amlat And The Kapampangan Historical Tradition

established a “check-point in a narrow bridge and halted everyone that passed,

shouting ‘Quien vive?’ ”63

Some Kapampangan legends focus on the role of cultural and historical

heroes, the feat of the revolucionarios and the like. For example, some Tarlac

streets were named after heroes who feature in local lore. “Rizal Street” was

named after the national hero, who supposed to have stayed in the area when

he visited Leonor Rivera in Camiling; while “Mabini Street” was named after the

Sublime Paralytic, who supposedly had sojourned in the place, which was then

known as Calle Real, etc. In this genre we could include the “biographies” of

famous Kapampangan participants of the Revolution like Francisco Makabulos,

Servillano Aquino, and Maximino Hizon. Most of the chapters in their lives

are handed down to us in packets of legendary tales about their superhuman

bravery and courage. Makabulos, for example, was said to be dexterous in arnis-

de-mano. 64

There are also a lot of folktales among the Kapampangans. Examples

of this type include the drolls, the fables, the tricksters’ tales, and other stories.

In this genre, we could also classify various stories about our heroes, especially

their childhood lives. Books about Rizal, Bonifacio, and others were usually

filled-up with tales about their extraordinary childhood feats. This tendency is

comparable with the way older people related their experiences, or the ‘good

old times’ to their descendants. Aniang malati ku (When I was small) and the

Ketang Milabasan (In times passed) genre among Kapampangan tales are good

sources of history. Like their peers, Kapampangan grandparents love to tell their

accomplishments during historical events, like the Katipunan, Revolution, and

the Japanese Period in Philippine history.

Folk songs are genuine memento of a nation’s rich and glorious past.

Page 87: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

73Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

They help trace back the lifeline of a country’s history and development.

Listeners to a country’s folksong will be transported to the land and its people

and get a closer perspective of their characteristic traits, customs, and tradition.65

A handful considered the 1960s proliferation of folk songs and hootenanny

(folksong singing) in the United States as “singing history.” “At its best,” as one

puts it, “(a folk song) unpretentiously calls up a sense of history. It shines with

language in which short words and images go long distances.”66

Folklorist Alejandrino Q. Perez classified Kapampangan folksongs in

1968.67 They include farming songs (pantatanam), love songs (dalit, pamuri, and

silimi, of which Atin Ku Pung Singsing is the most popular) and nonsensical

songs (basulto).

In an interview in the 1960s an old Kapampangan (Lorenzo Garcia of San

Fernando, Pampanga) related that the basulto was originally a form of marching

song accompanied by the music of the flute and drums sung during tribal wars

and so, confirmed the connection between folklore and social movements. The

stronger the beating of the drums in the basulto, the stronger the tribal army

was. Here is an example:

Lalaki, babae, menako keniBaraping abalu dening taung deniIsadya yong sibat yuAt lumibut tamu---Bara pin gakit ding taung lilu!

<Men, women, come hereSo that these people will seePrepare your spearsAnd we will go around ---So these traitors will see!>68

Page 88: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

74 DIZON: Amlat And The Kapampangan Historical Tradition

The same rhythms of the basulto found its place in the patriotic songs

of the Kapampangan revolucionarios. An equivalent of the patriotic songs is

the Kantang patriota like the Katipunan and the Amanung Sisuan. They are

remnants of our fight against Spain; Tarlac and Pampanga were among the eight

provinces which first revolted. 69

Some Kapampangan kanta-istorya poesiya (chanted narrative poems

like the polosa or an extemporaneous song presented in verse) are also replete

with historical events. Certainly carry-overs of what Chirino described as

‘barbaric songs that relate the fabulous genealogies and vain deeds of their

gods’ or the ‘devil’s handy-work’, these poems merely purport that, as elsewhere,

the first poets were the storytellers. They tell us that long ago, hunters would

gather around the fire at night while the storyteller would tell them of the

day’s adventures or recount legends of their ancestors. In the period prior

to the Japanese Occupation or ‘peace time’ a popular istorya-poesiya among

Kapampangans was the Berding Dikut, sometimes entitled Maria Dolores,

which poetically tell the story of the ill-fated love of Dedina and Elias and the

legend of the makahiya (mimosa pudica) grass:

Berding dikut atinubu libutad ning marangle,Tagkilan me mangayungkung, agtalan me mamamate.Nung bakit mikasuksuk ya itang kayang baling tanke,King salitang makarima, idalit ke keko ngene.

<A green grass that grows in the middle of the rice-fieldTouch it, it folds; pluck it, it diesWhy it has a thorn in every stemIn words that rhyme, I will now share you the story>

Page 89: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

75Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

During the crescendo of political patronage in the Philippines, especially

during the first taste of local elections in the American period (1910s-1930s),

the townspeople eagerly await momentous events concerning the politico (e.g.,

birthdays), leading to the composition of songs about him. Some of these songs

survived as reminiscences of the era. For example, the people of Concepcion,

Tarlac sung the Ing Suging Don Benignu (The Honorable Don Benigno),

honoring then political caudillo Benigno Aquino, Sr.70 A part of this song goes:

Ngeni ye damdaman ing kadiwang istoriaTungkul kang Don Benignu kanitang minunaItang depatana king milabasan a aldoServiciu king balen kareng parang tau...

<Now you will hear in a form of a storyAbout Don Benigno in the early timesHis accomplishments during the pastService for his country and his fellowmen>

In the early times, the story-poems endured because of the troubadours,

or those who were paid to sing stories. They usually exaggerated the feat, heroism,

and virtuous life of their masters and lords. In Kapampangan gatherings,

especially during fiestas, one can still see the mamulosa (the polosa singer) who,

for a certain amount, will instantly compose a song for you, with a dexterous

accompaniment of his guitar. One of the most requested polosa is Cuarenta

Dias, which tells of the town of Porac during the great floods of central Luzon

in 1972 (due to the monsoon rain, or uran a siyam-siyam, which lasted for forty-

days).

Makalunus-lunus ing bie ming delananKing bagyu at uran, albug a malalam.

Page 90: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

76 DIZON: Amlat And The Kapampangan Historical Tradition

Alus patingapun misan kami manganPauli nanitang uran e tutuknang.71

<It was pitiful, what we have experiencedWith typhoons and rains, deep floodsAlmost the whole day we could eat only oncedue to the incessant rain.>

There was even a polosa about Magsaysay that went:

Añang mabieya’y Magsaysay, Mekumbira ya qñg CebuBilang bisitang pandangal, Ketang metung a colegiu...Añang iba’t neng megsalita, Memun ne qñg pesitagunAgad-agad sinake ya, Ketang eroplanu.Eroplanung sekayan, Apin ing Mount Pinatubu...72

<When Magsaysay was still alive, he was invited in CebuAs the guest of honor in a collegeAfter his speech, he bid farewell to those who were presentImmediately he rode his airplane, the name of the airplane being Mount Pinatubo>.

Another remarkable source of the Kapampangan historical tradition,

though rarely seen, is literature. Foremost Kapampangan writers like Juan

Crisostomo Soto, Aurelio Tolentino, Zoilo Hilario, and others used historical

backdrops in their zarzuela, comedia, novels, poems, and essays. Wenceslao

P. Guzman’s recent story-poem, Ing Ditak Kung Kamalayan King Istoryaning

Magalang,73 displays the endurance of the historical tradition as a marriage

between local history and literary form among Kapampangans. Other

Kapampangan histories-in-poetry, though more general in scope, include

Magin Torres’ Sintang Pilipinas74 and Gon C. Sta. Maria’s Istoria Ning Filipinas.75

Page 91: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

77Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

The literary products of some movements, albeit leftist or rebellious,

are also similarly interesting. These include the songs (kantang ukbu) and tales

of the Hukbalahaps, collectively known as HukLore.76 During the campaigns

against the Japanese Occupation of the Philippines they emerged as guerilla-

lore (kantang gerilya) and persisted among the peasantry in the following

period, during their fight for agrarian reforms against their own government. In

this genre, we could include Pilipinas, Mipakdeka and Pangawanted Na.77

The former is a patriotic song that entreats the Philippines to be calm in

spite of the catastrophes of the war:

Pilipinas, mipakde ka,Sulyapan mo ring anak mung mibabata,Telakad de ing guerillaUling lugud da king karelang bansa...E bala ing mate kamiAlakwan da kasang maili.

<Philippines, be calmlook upon your children who are sacrificingThey put up the guerillaBecause of their love for their country...It does not matter if we dieWhat matters is that we see you smiling>.

The latter, Pangawanted Na, tells the story of two brothers from

Masantol, Pampanga who were seized by the Japanese Army, headed by a

MAKAPILI or a Filipino spy named Captain Serrano. The guerilla activities of

a ‘wanted’ comrade, Kayabe (or Ka) Del Pilar, comprises the backdrop of the

brothers’ story. The unfruitful hunt for Del Pilar angered the Japanese, who then

directed their anger against the captured civilians. Before the brothers’ scheduled

Page 92: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

78 DIZON: Amlat And The Kapampangan Historical Tradition

death through a firing squad, however, the good guys came (sundalus usape

or the USAFFE). In the end the bad guys (Apon ampong PC or the Japanese

and the PC <sic>) were successfully eliminated. Here, the unknown author of

the song probably used PC or Philippine Constabulary to mean the dreaded

Japanese police or the kempetai. This istorya-puwesiya goes as:

Ing pangawanted nang Kayabe Del PilarLalu lang mebangis ding kayang kalabanKibkuban do bale, tambing dong gepusanI Fred yang pangane matua ya karelaMetung yang artistang lalabas sursuwelaRuben ya ing metung yapping ing bunsu raBinatilyu neman iting labing pitung banwa...Apon ampong PC tunnel no miglulanAnyang merakap no Apon a dakalKeti Pilipinas tilamong pelisan.

<When Comrade del Pilar became ‘wanted’his enemies became fiercerThey search housesimmediately tying the (suspects)Fred was the eldest, older than the restan actor in the zarzuelaRuben was the youngesta youth of seventeen years...The Japanese with the PC hid in tunnels and when the many Japanese were capturedIn the Philippines, they were like cleansed by a broom>.

Lino Gopez Dizon’s monumental Pasion ding Talapagobra78 which

presaged most of the Philippine proletarian literature, including Amado

Guerrero’s Philippine Society and Revolution, is included in this genre. Prepared

Page 93: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

79Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

during the infancy of the Socialist Party in Pampanga of the 1930s, it tried to

view history from the perspective of those who were from “below” through the

passion--as historian Ileto would also see thirty years later--as an apt allegory to

recite in verse a “history of long oppression:”

Kapilan ta pa mipasnoIta mung maldang obreromakikiupa’t ortelanopilan la pa King kalbariopusanan ta karing pago?

Maluat tang pibabataning bye king pangayalipanatbusabus king kabyayan,kapilan tapa labananing milalung kasakitan?

Samasan yung pibulayankapatad king kapalarannung atin tang katuliran,keting Pasion akit tanganing kekatang sukat daptan79

<When shall we be relieved,we the common laborer,the wage-earner and the farmer;how many crossesshall our shoulders still bear?

Long have we been sufferingthe life of the slavesand that of the scorned,when else shall we fightthis overwhelming greed?

Page 94: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

80 DIZON: Amlat And The Kapampangan Historical Tradition

Reflect on it carefully,brothers in fateif we have the rightin this Passion we shall findall that we have to do.>

Paralusdus:80 By way of a conclusion

The dearth and immaturity of the Kapampangan historical tradition, as it was

felt in the recent historiographical trends about the Philippine Revolution,

should not be a hindrance in coming up with substantial Kapampangan histories

or maging quipnuan amlat (‘be historical’) as a speaker may simply say. Like

everybody else, a local historian needs to be enterprising so as to be able to find

suitable sources, as “hidden” in folklore, the humanities, and other “knowledge-

mining” fields. S/he would be amazed at how many possible sources there could

be. It is also the propitious moment to mount a multi-dimensional approach to

the social sciences, including history. Historians and enthusiasts now recognize

that in history we could perceive and present the cultural development of an era

and, as has been presented, vice versa.

Naturally, the local historian, even in the name of historical enterprise

or a crusade, still ought to properly filter his sources and resources. S/he, like

his culture heroes, may only perpetuate myths and legends as such; for her/his

failure to do so might do more harm than good to her/his people.

Page 95: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

81Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

Endnotes

1 An earlier version of this article appeared as: Lino L. Dizon, Amlat. Kapampangan Local History Contours in Tarlac and Pampanga (Tarlac: Center for Tarlaqueño Studies, 2000).

2 Pierre Goubert, “Local History,” Daedalus, 100(1)Winter, 1971, p. 113.

3 Jan Vansina, Oral Tradition as History (Madison, Wisconsin: The University of Wisconsin, 1985). See also David Henige, Oral Historiography (Essex: Longman Group Limited, 1982). As I once stressed in a cultural forum I am reminded of this genre of Alex Haley‘s experience in Roots. What led Haley to his hasty beginnings were the oral accounts of the local historians of Gambia, called “griots.” Alex Haley, ROOTS ( London: Picador Books, 1976), p. 626.

4 Reynaldo Clemeña Ileto, Pasyon and Revolution. Popular Movements in the Philippines, 1840-1910 (Quezon City: Ateneo de Manila University Press, 1979).

5 David Lowenthal, Possessed by the Past.The Heritage Crusade and the Spoils of History (New York: The Free Press, 1996), pp. 240-243.

6 Ileto, op. cit., pp. 14-15.

7 Ibid.

8 E.Aguilar Cruz. Maynila and Other Explorations (Hong Kong: Raya Books, 1978), p. 181.

9 “(The Capangpangan) extends its area and immensity from Manila until Ilocos, including half of Bataan, Tarlac, portions of Bulacan, Pangasinan, and Zambales.” See: Felix B. Punsalan, “AMLAT (Historia) NING CAPAMPANGAN” in Qñg Tula Ra Ding Capampangan, Ntra. Sra. Virgen De Los Remedios (San Fernando: Diocese of San Fernando, 1956).

10 Ibid.

11 (I am the offspring of great forbears...They came from Borneo and along its banks They anchored, stayed, raised families, and lived forever... ) from Silvestre M. Punzalan, “Metung Kung Kapampangan (Bistat Muli Kumu King Aun),” in Evangelina Hilario-Lacson, Kapampangan Writing. A Selected Compendium and Critique (Manila: National Historical Institute, 1984), pp. 108-109.

12 Vicente Rafael, Contracting Colonialism. Translation and Christian Conversion in Tagalog Society under Early Spanish Rule (Quezon City: Ateneo

Page 96: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

82 DIZON: Amlat And The Kapampangan Historical Tradition

de Manila University Press, 1988).

13 Ricardo E. Galang, Ethnographic Study of the Pampangans (Manila: by the author, 1940), p. 129.

14 Here is the complete entry: Angel Morales, Ing Capampañgan (Manila: Tip. y Lit. de Santos y Bernal, 1919). As cited by E. Arsenio Manuel in Dictionary of Philippine Biography. Vol. I (Quezon City: Filipiniana Publications, 1955), p. 436.

15 Severino I. Velasco, Outline of Philippine Local History and Folklore (Manila: Dept. of Education, 1963). The original, in mimeograph form, came out in 1938.

16 Anicia H. Del Coro, “Ding Aklat Misulat King Salitang Kapampangan,” Ing Susi. Vol.I, No.1, n.d.(1987?), p. 12.

17 Marcelino A. Foronda, Jr., “Bibliographic Sources and Regional History,” The Journal of History, Vol. XXII, Nos.1-2, January-December, 1977, pp. 12-13.

18 As quoted by Jose Toribio Medina, La Imprenta en Manila. Desde Sus Origines Hasta 1810 (Santiago de Chile: Impreso y grabado en cas del Autor, 1896), p. xlv.

19 Bibliographer Medina criticized the exageración of Fr. Gaspar; aside from the fact that there was only a handful of publications in the cited time-frame, the catechism of Fr. Coronel was the only Kapampangan book printed.

20 Juan de Medina, OSA, in Emma Blair and James Robertson (trans and eds), The Philippine Islands, Vol. XXIV (Cleveland, Ohio: A.H. Clark and Co, 1903-08), p. 158.

21 Here is the complete entry on the book’s title page: Arte y reglas de la lengua pampanga, Compuesto por el padre predicador Fr. Francisco Coronel, Dedicado al dulcissimo nombre de Jesus, Acabado el año de 1621. Containing 33 folios, this book is the oldest among the manuscript holdings of the Augustinian College of Valladolid. See: Helen R. Tubangui, A Catalog of Filipiniana at Valladolid (Quezon City: Ateneo de Manila University Press, 1973), no. 2746, p. 289.

22 See Del Coro, op. cit., who cited the later grammars of Benavente (1729), Bergaño (1732,1736), and Bravo (1868) [all Augustinians, like Coronel] but not this 1621 work.

23 Rosalina Icban-Castro, Literature of the Pampangos (Manila: UE Press, 1981), p. 129.

24 Ibid., p. 134.

Page 97: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

83Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

25 See “Foreword” in Rosario Mendoza Cortes, Pangasinan, 1572-1800 (Quezon City: University of the Philippines Press, 1974). When American historian Lewis E. Gleeck, Jr. wrote that “only Larkin’s The Pampangans is a serious and systematic effort to fill the gap” he alluded to the imbalance of production between Pampanga’s provincial histories compared with those of Manila. Americans on the Philippine Frontiers (Manila: Carmelo & Bauermann, Inc., 1974), p. ix.

26 Jaime B. Veneracion, “Kasaysayang Pampook: Ilang Paglilinaw,” in Ma. Bernadette L. Abrera and Dedina A. Lapar, Paksa, Paraan at Pananawsa Kasaysayan (Quezon City: UP Department of History, 1993), p. 130.

27 Tonette Orejas, “Pampanga honors rebel poets who fought US,” in Philippine Daily Inquirer, July 10, 1998. See also Rafaelita Hilario Soriano, A Shaft Of Light. Revised Edition (Quezon City: Printon Press, 1996), pp. v-vi.

28 John Larkin, Pampangans. Colonial Society in a Philippine Province (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1972), p. 126.

29 Macario Siccion, “Untitled history of Pampanga, 1896-1932,” ms. Unfortunately, Larkin did not provide the original Kapampangan term.

30 Larkin, p. 15.

31 Some of the papers and materials in the collection include: “A Brief History of Pampañgan Literature” by Primo G. Quizon (1916), “An Account of the Moro-Moro Play as It is Given in Pampanga Province” by Manuel G. Carreon (1916), and the folktale “Sinukuan” by Leon Ma. Gonzales. For excerpts of the latter (in Kapampangan and English), see Castro, op. cit., pp. 23-32.

32 Manuel, op.cit., p. 423,

33 These include “Datos historicos sobre el pueblo de San Fernando, cabecera de la Pampanga, I.F.” by Clemente Ocampo; “Municipio de Guagua, Pampanga, I.F.” by Felino Simpao, “Minalin, Pampanga, I.F., documentos historicos” by Cristino Lagman and “Documentos historicos del municipio de Bacolor, Pampanga, I.F.” by Pedro Malig.

34 The actual year is unknown. Larkin cited it 1946, immediately after the war. However, some municipalities, particularly that of Concepcion, were written only in 1953.

35 Ileto, p. 333.

36 Presumably published in 1907, this was the oldest newspaper in Kapampangan. Galang, op. cit., p.130. With office in Manila (and not San Fernando, as cited by Larkin), one of its early editors was Don Magno Gosioco

Page 98: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

84 DIZON: Amlat And The Kapampangan Historical Tradition

of Sta. Rita, Pampanga. “From 1770 A.D.: The History of Sta. Rita Town,” Roses for Sta. Rita. ’74 Town Fiesta, Sta. Rita, Pampanga, May 21-22, 1974. E. Manuel was to cite, however, that the editor/publisher was actually Juan Crisostomo Sotto, loc. cit.

37 This information was from Don Isaac Elias, then the Information Officer of general Makabulos. From Leonardo Guevarra. Central Luzon Monitor, 1958 issue.

38 Manuel, op. cit., pp. 422-423.

39 “Memoria de su prision,” in Boletin de la Provincia de San Nicolas de Tolentino de Filipinas. Año XVI, Num.182, Agosto de 1925. Capitulo XXIII, p. 253.

40 Larkin., p. 317.

41 Philippine Insurgency Records 183, Folder #2.

42 Madrid: Imp. del Asilo de Huerfanos del S.C. de Jesus, 1909.

43 Manila: Imprenta del Colegio de Sto.Tomas, 1900, 22 pp.

44 Fernando Garcia, OSA, Macuyad a pipagaralan qñg aritmetika, Manila: Imprenta “Amigo del Pais,” 1884.

45 “Appendice” in Ulpiano Herrero y Sampedro, O.P. Nuestra Prision en Poder De Los Revolucionarios Filipinos (Manila: Imprenta del Colegio de Sto.Tomas, 1900), pp. 874-875.

46 A list of interviewees is provided in Larkin, pp. 330-331.

47 Pawaga of Evaristo Medina at Tacoba, in a Tarlac Historical Society (THS) Resolution of 1966. A native of Tibag, a suburb of the present Tarlac City by the Tarlac River, Mr. Medina was 13 years old during the Makabulos siege. He was interviewed by the members of the THS. CTS File.

48 Marc Bloch, The Historian’s Craft, Trans. by Peter Putnam (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1954), p. 21.

49 Casalesayan ning pangadding biñagan a magapalaman quing catecismong picudta na ning P. Astete a macayagpanganaman qñg Catecismoning P.Ripalda. Gueuane ning licenciado D. Santiago Jose Garcia Mazo, magistral qñg cathedral carin Valladolid, ampon bildug ne qñg amanung capampanganning, R.P. Fr. Antonio Bravo (Manila: Imprenta de los Amigos del Pais, 1873).

50 See: Zeus A. Salazar, “Historiograpiyang Pilipino: Tungo sa Pagbubuo ng ‘Pantayong Pananaw’ sa Kasaysayan” in Abrera and Lapar, op. cit., pp. 220-

Page 99: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

85Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

221. Also Atoy Navarro, et al., (eds.), op. cit., p.172.

51 E.Arsenio Manuel, Chinese Elements In the Tagalog Language (Manila: Filipiniana Publications, 1948), p. 52.

52 Ms., CTS File. An abridged English translation was published as “How Tarlac Got Its Name,” in Central Luzon Weekly Monitor. December 25, 1966, p. 36. In the note Luciano was mistakenly identified as a son; he was, as written in the ms., a grandson of Esteban, who allegedly was “one of the early settlers of Tarlac.”

53 For example: Mariano Henson, Ing Pangatatag ning Balen Angeles (Angeles, Pampanga: by the author, 1954).

54 For example: Vicente Catu, “Ystorianing Barrio Mapalacsiao, Tarlac, Tarlac,” in Tarlac Star, May 15-21, 1977.

55 T.H. Pardo de Tavera, Antiguos Alfabetos Filipinos, 1884, pp. 12-13. As cited by Galang, pp. 66-67.

56 Pedro Chirino, S.J. Relacion de las Islas Filipinas. (The Philippines in 1600), Trans. by Ramon Echevarria (Manila: Historical Conservation Society, 1969), pp. 296-297.

57 Vivencio R. Jose, “The Centennial Paradigm’ A Testament of History, A Covenant With the Future,” in U.P. Journal of English Studies and Comparative Literature. Vol. 1, No.1, December 1996, p. 8.

58 Vivencio R. Jose, “Folk Literature and Social Movements,” in Philippine Humanities Review, Vol. 1, Nos.1-2, July-December 1984, p. 42.

59 Some available stories point to Sinukuan as Ari, a patriarch as opposed to the academe’s view that she is Mariang Sinukuan, a sister of Mariang Makiling. See Leon Ma. Gonzales, “Sinukuan,” in Rosalina Icban Castro, op. cit., pp. 28-32.

60 Data taken from Isagani R. Medina “Ang Alamat Batay sa mga Tunay na Pangyayaring Pangkasaysayan at ang mga Pangalanng Lugar sa Pilipinas,” in Proceedings of the Symposium of the UP Folklorists, Inc. and the Folklore Studies Program, UP, Sept. 19-20, 1981. Philippine Social Science and Humanities Review, 46, 1-2, Jan.-June 1982, pp. 173-79.

61 The Guagua (near Sexmoan) revolt of December of 1762 was the last of the famous Chinese revolts against Spain in the Philippines. Gregorio F. Zaide, The Pageant of Philippine History. Vol. I (Manila: PECO, 1979), p. 450.

62 “Brief History of Sexmoan,” Sexmoan Town Fiesta Souvenir Program, December 12-13, 1983. Here the writer mistook Spaniards as insurgents. In most

Page 100: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

86 DIZON: Amlat And The Kapampangan Historical Tradition

cases, as propounded by the late Monico R. Mercado or EMERME who was from Sasmuan, it was the collaborative effort of the Kapampangans and the Spaniards.

63 “From 1770 A.D.: The History of Sta. Rita Town,” Roses for Sta. Rita. ’74 Town Fiesta (Sta. Rita, Pampanga, May 21-22, 1974).

64 See: L. Dizon, Francisco Makabulos Soliman: A Biographical Study of A Local Revolutionary Hero (Tarlac: CTS, 1994).

65 Luz A. Pelayo, “World Peace Through Folk Song,” Angeles University Foundation Journal (XB, 2, Nov-March 1982).

66 “Listen to the Folk Singers!,” Time, November 23, 1962.

67 Alejandrino Q. Perez, “Pampango Folklore,” Unitas. Vol. 41, no. 1, March 1968.

68 Ibid., p. 90.

69 Pelayo, op. cit.

70 This song, collected in the 1982, was contributed by Josefina Pineda when I was still teaching at the BS Aquino Memorial High School.

71 Contributed by Pedro Tiglao, a teacher of Aquino National High School.

72 Contributed by Enrico Tulio, 1982.

73 In Ing Susi, Year 4, no.1, June 1997, p. 15.

74 This was serialized in Campuput. I have seen only Dangca 5-9, in Vol.II, no.2, pp. 1921. Incidentally, Magin Torres is a native of Sapang Tagalog, Tarlac City.

75 Campuput. Vol. III, No. 4, pp. 19, 24 (First Part).

76 See Romeo G. Dizon, “Huklore” and “Mga Gerilyang Filipino: Literaturang Laban sa Hapon” tss and publications of Philippine Folklore Society. Prof. R. Dizon of UP is Kapampangan, a native of San Fernando, Pampanga.

77 Both of these were collected by Enrico Tulio of Santiago, Concepcion, Tarlac in 1982.

78 Lino Gopez Dizon, Pasion ding Talapagobra (Azcarraga, Manila: Dallosa Press, 1936). See also Teresita Gimenez-Maceda, “Ang Pagsanib ng Tradisyon at Radikalismo sa Sosialistang Partido ng Pilipinas,” Diliman Review, Tomo 38, Blg. 1, 1990, pp. 51-61.

Page 101: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

87Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

79 Excerpts from “Ding Tau Sukat Lang MyeAntimong Tau,” in Lino G. Dizon, op. cit. Quoted and translated by Lacson, op. cit., pp. 227-228.

80 Also known as sampelut, this is a favorite dessert/delicacy among Kapampangans.

Page 102: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

88 VICTORIA: The Most Humane Of Any That Could Be Adopted

“THE MOST HUMANE OF ANY THAT COULD BE ADOPTED”

THE PHILIPPINE OPIUM COMMITTEE REPORT AND THE IMAGINING OF THE OPIUM CONSUMER’S WORLD IN

THE COLONIAL PHILIPPINES, 1903-1905

Ferdinand Philip F. Victoria

Abstrak:

Para sa mga historyador ng internasyonal at Amerikanong polisiyang pandroga, mapagbago ang publikasyon ng United States’ 1905 Report of the Philippine Opium Commission kaugnay ng regulasyon ng kalakalan at pagkonsumo ng droga at sa pagsusulong ng kagalingang moral ng imperyong Amerikano. Higit pa sa isang makahulugang polisiya, masaklaw na inilalarawan ng Report ang kalagayan ng paggamit ng opyo sa Pilipinas. Sentral sa survey ng Report ang mga nakasulat na interbyu sa mga Pilipinong nakaaalam at opisyal na lokal na tinipon sa loob ng dalawang taon. Sinusuri sa sanaysay na ito kung paano tinalakay ng mga ininterbyu at opisyal ang lawak at kinahinatnan ng paggamit ng opyo. Kahit na pagtitiyak lamang ang kanilang kontribusyon sa Report ng posisyong malawak at dapat itigil ang okasyunal na paggamit ng at abuso sa opyo, hindi maitatangging ang kanilang pananaw sa konsumsyon ng opyo ay kaugnay ng umiiral na pampamayanang pagtingin sa droga sa panahong ito. Sa pamamagitan ng larawang ito ng mundo ng paggamit sa opyo sa Pilipinas, nakikita sa kaisipan ng mga nasakop ang diskurso ng tinaguriang “Suliraning Opyo.”

Introduction

Drugs and Professor Salazar never mixed, at least this is how I would justify

why such a piece as this would oddly stand out in a volume celebrating his

contribution to the advancement of Philippine historiography. Nonetheless, my

Page 103: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

89Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

experience as his former graduate student drove home the point of the limits

of applying external historical tools and frameworks to analyze Philippine

history and Southeast Asia in general. Historians of Southeast Asia fall into the

trap of emphasizing distinctiveness without looking into a common heritage

or experience. National and nationalist histories are born as an offspring of

anti-colonial discourse that obfuscates the deeper fraternal experience among

Southeast Asians. It turns out that Southeast Asia’s involvement with opium

and its association with the overseas Chinese in the region transcends the

boundaries of colonial and national histories as well.

The current prohibitionist strategy in the global war against illegal

drugs was an American legacy that was rooted in the Philippines’ encounter

with opium. While historians generally credit American officials’ views, public

opinion and pressure groups involved in the anti-opium movement for their

role in the formulation of the United States’ antinarcotics policy, little has

been said as to how the impressions, assumptions and attitudes by Filipino and

even Philippine Chinese towards opium use contributed to the shaping of the

American position. One reason for this marginalization was the perception

that American policy realities were monopolized by American policymakers

and non-state actors and perhaps motivated more by racial considerations

than otherwise. While to a certain extent “Chinese and Filipino opinions on

the opium [policy] could be, and were, ignored by policymakers in Manila and

Washington,” it was not a cut-and-dried case. Filipino nationalist sentiment

in the years following the Philippine Revolution of 1896 were instrumental

in making American officials realize that Filipino aspirations and views could

trump the intention of its civilizing mission.1

Understanding how Filipinos perceived the opium consumer in the

Page 104: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

90 VICTORIA: The Most Humane Of Any That Could Be Adopted

Philippines as someone apart from society is important because it provides

the historical context to the meanings and associations that were ascribed to

a commodity such as opium. In the Philippine case, little has been discussed

on what Zheng Yangwen calls the “social life of opium” by looking at ‘Mr.

Opium’ biographically--that is, investigating the evolution of the culture

of opium consumption. Frank Dikotter’s critique of some research done on

opium’s history in China is more to the point: there is the tendency to grant

inanimate substances agency “while human beings become passive objects…

However, opium pipes and morphine needles do not have lives of their own:

they are granted social lives by their users.” A similar call has been made by

James Francis Warren “in order to understand the various manifestations and

shifts between the representation and meaning of culture and power, on the one

hand, and on the other, the history of a commodity and the history of the body.”

Keith McMahon’s postmodern approach to understanding how opium smokers

in nineteenth century China were imagined by various people offers a unique

path of study.2 In a general sense, the imagined perceptions of the Filipino

elites, as communicated to the American colonial officials in this case, was a

classic example of how they distinguished themselves as a group apart, as opium

non-users, worthy of tutelage in contrast with the user/addict/wastrel who

parodied the Filipino national vision and the American social order. I argue that

these meanings, associations, assumptions, impressions and attitudes towards

opium consumption by the Filipino elites helped validate the official views that

made the progressive implementation of a punitive regime a model worthy of

replication in the international level.

A landmark 1905 report, tasked to survey the prevailing practices by

neighboring regimes in regulating the nonmedical use of opium and formulate

policy recommendations for the Philippines, offers a glimpse into the views

Page 105: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

91Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

towards the opium user as the ‘Other.’ Entitled Report of the Committee

Appointed by the Philippine Commission to Investigate the Use of Opium and

the Traffic Therein and the Rules, Ordinances and Laws Regulating Such Use and

Traffic in Japan, Formosa, Shanghai, Hongkong, Saigon, Singapore, Burmah, Java

and the Philippine Islands this 300 plus-page opium study was commissioned by

the American government and published by the War Department’s Bureau of

Insular Affairs in 1905. It was the product of the Philippine opium policy debate

of 1903. The three-man investigative committee conducted interviews both

in the Philippines and overseas and gathered statistical information within a

seven-month period. The Committee hoped that the recommendations--“the

most humane of any that could be adopted”--would finally clarify the American

Government’s official attitude towards the opium question in Asia.3 The Report

was later translated in Chinese, distributed in Qing China and made its way to

the halls of the American Congress. It would lay the foundation for the United

States’ federal narcotics regulation and drug consumer rehabilitation policy, an

instance where colonial law set the standard for the metropole to follow.4

To be sure, several recommendations made in the Philippine Opium

Report were implemented between 1906 and 1908. Its real value, however,

was twofold: (1) that it was an attempt at a broad-ranging survey of policies

of opium regimes throughout colonial Southeast Asia; and (2) it provided a

comprehensive look at Philippine conditions qualitatively and quantitatively.

The report was the first of its kind in the Philippines. To compare, by 1895 the

British Government had already published a massive six-volume Report of

the Royal Commission on Opium which provided detailed information on the

production, distribution and consumption of opium in India, Hongkong, the

Straits Settlements and China. Through his Opium Report of 1888 Dutch Chief

Inspector of Opium Affairs Charles TeMechelen produced “the first relatively

Page 106: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

92 VICTORIA: The Most Humane Of Any That Could Be Adopted

complete study of the opium farms” for the Netherlands East Indies. Earlier still,

in 1888 the French conducted a series of hearings which led to the abolition of

the opium farm system in Indochina and its replacement by a government-run

monopoly two years later.5

Perhaps because of the primary importance they placed on the politics

involving American policymakers, missionaries and persons of the anti-opium

movement historians hardly explored three features of the report. The first is a

series of written interviews from nineteen Filipino resource-persons throughout

the colony. The second are reports and opinions compiled by the Presidents of

the Provincial Board of Health describing the state and scope of opium use at

the time. A brief interview with an unnamed Chinese Manila merchant, eliciting

his personal views on the current policy, makes up the last feature of the report.

We take caution in taking this Report at face value for the testimonies it contains

formed part of an official source and has not taken into account existing private

or internal correspondence from the Filipino respondents although other

sources tended to supplement the findings. Instead, we put value in the way

these insights, attitudes and perceptions were expressed in the official record

and projected towards the prevailing culture of opium consumption.

Opium Consumption in the Philippines: a Background

When the American Asiatic fleet turned up in Manila Bay in May 1898, it

stumbled upon a Spanish regime struggling to regain control and credibility

as a result of a twenty-one month revolution launched by its Filipino subjects.

The disruption of the fifty-four-year-old opium farm system, a fairly lucrative

source of colonial revenue, was a casualty of this war. In 1896, the regime earned

Page 107: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

93Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

more than 500,000 pesos from the farm system; in the following year, because

of the outbreak of the Philippine Revolution, it only earned half of this amount.

Although paltry, compared to those generated by its counterparts in Singapore

and the Netherlands East Indies, the Spanish government’s earnings from the

opium farms, which comprised four percent of the total revenues at its height,

kept the government financially solvent and at one point even paid for the

expense of the colony’s courts at the local level. Similar to its Southeast Asian

counterparts, the system of licensing opium-smoking venues (or dens) was left

in the hands of private entrepreneur-contractors for a fixed term. It appeared

distinct because, similar to Burma, the license was made exclusive only to the

immigrant Chinese as the end-users. Several Spanish writers explained that

the government imposed this sanction partly to cater to the disinterest of

the Hispanized natives in smoking opium or to protect them from their own

weaknesses. This legal impediment did not prevent Filipinos from obtaining

opium but it did pre-determine the limit by which the market could legally grow.

The limited official demand for opium therefore made the Spanish Philippines

less dependent on opium revenues.6

At the center of the opium farm system was its legal and target

consumer, the immigrant Chinese, mostly from Fujian province in Southern

China. Chinese immigration accelerated in the second half of the nineteenth

century after the Spanish government adopted a series of policies intended

to promote economic development, colonial self-sufficiency and profitability.

From just 5,700 in 1847 the Chinese population increased dramatically to

around 90,000 in the 1876 to 1886 period. By 1894, only 48 percent of the

50,000 Chinese were residing in Manila. Their economic activity consisted of

retail of export crops and services. Their interactions with Filipino society went

beyond the purely commercial, allowing for social transactions that resulted

Page 108: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

94 VICTORIA: The Most Humane Of Any That Could Be Adopted

Map 1

Streets with known OpiumStorehouses in

Intramuros, 1903

PASIG RIVER

A. Basco (2)B. Cabildo (1)C. Legaspi (1)*D. Palacio (2)E. Real (1)F. Solana (3)G. Victoria (5)

Streets not shown are:

Bangkusay (5) Tondo districtGallera (1) Ermita districtUnindentified place in Paco and San Marcelino districts.

*Also had a separate den where opim was sold and used.

LEGEND: (With corresponding number of establishments.)

Source: Philippine Opium Report, p.168-169.

500 ft. 100 m.

Page 109: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

95Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

Source: Philippine Opium Report, p.168-169.

in intermarriages. However, the Spanish always thought that the Chinese

remained culturally-oriented towards China; and so, expectedly, their income

in the Philippines could also be invested in China. For the Spanish government,

hence, opium revenue farming was a way to “force the Chinese to leave part of

their income in the Philippines.”7

Opium consumption in China and Southeast Asia has a long history.

The Chinese initially regarded opium (yapian, yarong, afuyong, afurong,

hepurong, wuxiang, yangyan and yangyao, to name some) as medicine,

providing relief from diarrhea, dysentery, sunstroke, coughing, asthma, pains

and other ailments. By the late 1400’s, however, the Ming Imperial Court began

experimenting with opium as an aphrodisiac or as “medicine that helped to

induce sexual desire, vitalize intercourse and control ejaculation and emission.”

Chinese medical science believed that the kidney was where the male body fluid

and sperm was stored. Opium helped retain and replenish the male essence in

the kidney, thus strengthening it against sexual excesses. This signified opium’s

cultural transformation from its role as a medicinal herb/wonder drug to its

recreational use as a commodity.8

Opium smoking began with the introduction of tobacco to Southeast

Asia and China via the Spanish in Manila in 1570. Prior to this, opium was

consumed as decoctions, soups or chewable substance which left a bitter taste;

but when it was smoked it “released a sweet, pleasurable aroma which rapidly

became known [in China] for relieving boredom (jiemen) and anxiety (xinjiao).”

This Southeast Asian tobacco-opium-herbal blend became known as madak/

madat in Java and the Malay Peninsula and yapianyan (opium for smoking) in

China. This led an eighteenth century writer named Zhu Jingying to believe that

the “opium smoke is from Batavia [Jakarta], Luzon and other ocean countries.”9

Page 110: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

96 VICTORIA: The Most Humane Of Any That Could Be Adopted

Smoking was a significant step in opium’s transformation into a recreational

commodity because it made consumption far less dangerous. A person was less

likely to die from overdose since s/he would lose consciousness from the fumes

first than pass out from actually ingesting the drug. By the eighteenth century,

opium smoking spread among the poorer classes of Chinese; coinciding with

the introduction of the opium pipe, pure opium smoking and expansion of the

opium trade. This shift heralded a new system of preparation and refinement

which became associated with the Chinese. From this point on, Trocki argues,

“the smoking of opium came to be seen as something that was peculiarly Asian.”10

Opium became more affordable to the coolie classes who derived from it “the

physical and psychological strength to survive the day.” A coolie can endure long

hours of physical work because from a “clinical point of view morphine [opium’s

active ingredient] does not act as a stimulant in humans, [but] by removing the

dull irritation of routine aches and pains opium would surely induce a feeling of

vigor, alertness and energy.”11

Although known generically as anfion in Spanish the concentrated

paste of “cooked” or refined opium was called chandu in Java and in the Malay

world, apiyan, opio cocido, opio preparado or opio confeccionado in the Spanish

Philippines. The affluent Philippine Chinese offered opium in their private

homes as a symbol of hospitality, a marker of social status and as part of

a household’s medicine kit. Their poorer classes consumed opium as a work

drug and the dens served as their places of interaction and escape from the

vicissitudes of life as migrant workers in an alien land. While there were no

official estimates on the number of opium smokers during the Spanish regime,

Gamella has suggested that the consumer population was in the order of fifteen

thousand with an average dose of 3.1 grams, which as will be shown below, was

indicative of mild addiction.12

Page 111: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

97Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

Spanish writers were already aware of the medicinal properties of opium

in the form of theriac, a sovereign cure-all and antidote popular in Europe,

which was raw opium flavored with herbs or honey. Among Filipinos opium

appeared to have been first introduced as an exotic product and was used by the

social elites, including warriors; by the nineteenth century it became popular

among the migrant working-class Chinese. The court of Sultan Barahaman of

Maguindanao (r. 1671-1699) was familiar with it, and a later observer of this

community noted that they “universally chew the betal and areka but make

more moderate use of opium than any inhabitants of the Eastern Seas.” The

Taosug aristocracy of the Sulu Sultanate smoked opium during social gatherings

as they discussed trade and politics. An American admiral visiting Sulu in 1842

thought that it was “considered polite that when refreshments [i.e., tea, coffee

and opium] are handed they should be partaken of.” In fact, opium was one of

the traded commodities the English introduced into the area from 1773 onwards.

This had the effect of realigning the Sultanate’s economy, transforming it into a

formidable power over the next century.13

Filipinos such as Jose Rizal criticized Spain’s opium policy through his

novels. Despite his fictional generalization that it was the Chinese “who smokes

the most opium” and that opium fumes formed part of a “certain odor peculiar

to Chinese homes,” he characterized the rich native Capitan Tiago as the

consummate opium user, whose depression led to his addiction, as an allusion

to the corrupted state of the Philippines in the throes of a revolution.14 However,

soon after the Philippine government headed by Emilio Aguinaldo declared

independence in June 1898, it resumed the operation of the opium farm system

for it provided an important source of revenue and the “Chinese are unable to

stop smoking opium” anyway. As the government decentralized and reverted

to guerilla warfare in the Filipino-American War, despite the alarm raised by

Page 112: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

98 VICTORIA: The Most Humane Of Any That Could Be Adopted

a Filipino governor that opium use was spreading among the Filipinos in his

province Filipino local officials continued to auction opium contracts, indicating

that the republic found opium revenues vital in funding the war effort. In this

regard, the Aguinaldo-led government was not only the first Asian republic, it

was also the first Asian nationalist regime to profit from opium sales.15

The Creation of the Philippine Opium Investigation Committee

The circumstances that led to the incidental creation of the Opium Investigation

Committee have been the focus of most American historians on the subject.

According to Foster, two considerations were in the American mindset: first,

was the belief that opium users posed a threat because they were inconsistent

with the colonial vision of a “model society of industrious, thrifty citizens;”

and second, American officials viewed the Philippine Chinese as outsiders and

thought prohibition “might help the whole ethnic Chinese problem…literally

go away,” and thus enable the Americans to focus on reforming the Filipinos in

their image. Another factor was the American public’s “association of Chinese

migrants with lurid, filthy opium dens which ensnared and corrupted innocent

whites.”16 In fact, however, some users were white, middle-class women and Civil

War veterans who consumed opium socially or as a relief for old war wounds. One

scholar estimated that at the turn of the twentieth century, there were 250,000

estimated addicts in the United States out of a population of 76 million.17

Almost immediately after the occupation of Manila’s capitol in August

1898, American soldiers noted the proliferation of opium use. In his entry for

August 16, 1898, Private John Bowe of the 13th Minnesota Volunteer Infantry

noted that “Chinese hop-joints [i.e.,opium dens] were open to the street.”18

His regiment, assigned to police duty around Manila, was featured in the first

Page 113: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

99Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

definitive photograph of opium use in the Philippines. They arrested four Chinese

opium smokers in a raid conducted sometime in the latter part of 1898, although

the nature of the violation was unclear.19 An American army officer recounted that

Chinese coolies assisted troops to do menial tasks such as cooking and driving

the carts since the Filipino workers defected to the revolutionaries’ side during

the Philippine-American War. He complained that the one thing “that made it

hard to keep Chinamen in the field was that they missed their ‘hop’ (opium).”20

As they interacted with the Filipinos and Chinese American soldiers al

MAP 2

Streets With Known Opium Dens in Binondo District, 1903

A. Aceiteros (3)B. Asuncion (4)C. Caballeros (2)D. Carvajal (8)E. Clavel (2)F. Dasmarinas(2)G. David (5)H. Elcano (4)J. Fundidor (1)K. Hormiga (5)L. Jaboneros (5)M. Lavezares (4)

LEGEND: [With corresponding number of dens.]N. Marquina (1)P. Nueva (1)Q. Poblete (1)R. Sagunto (2)S. San Jacinto (6)T. San Nicolas (6)U. San Vicente (1)V. Santa Elena (1)W. Ilang Ilang (1)Y. Lemery (3)

PASIG RIVER

RR. Binondo Church

Not shown:Olivares (2)Turco (5)

Sources:

Chu 2012, p.60Philippine Opium Report, p. 168-169Carlos Quirino, Maps and Views of Old Manila

500 ft.100 m.

Page 114: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

100 VICTORIA: The Most Humane Of Any That Could Be Adopted

As they interacted with Filipinos and Chinese, American soldiers soon learned to

smoke opium. In fact, during the American military occupation of Capiz town,

its mayor noted that some “foreigners” (perhaps referring to American soldiers)

were smoking it.21 This development alarmed the American Pharmaceutical

Association (APhA) in 1903; in the report of its Committee on Acquirement

of Drug Habits, it noted that a number of U.S. military personnel had been

discharged for being users. The discharge rate due to this was several percent

higher during the previous five years than any ten years before that.22 In 1908,

Dr. George A. Zeller, who served for three years in the Philippines estimated

that probably an average of three American soldiers to the company became

addicted to the opium habit.”23

William E. “Pussyfoot” Johnson, later a well-known Prohibitionist

advocate, reported in 1900 that he visited the owners of a dozen opium dens

and asked to see their license to dispense opium. All of them informed him

that since the American occupation, they no longer paid a license but rather

“they paid so much, at stated intervals” to the Chinese merchant Carlos Palanca

[Chen Qianshan] who in turn “squared things with the authorities.” Palanca,

it seemed, paid a duty on all the opium imported and practically established

a monopoly of the opium business. Den owners who did not buy their opium

from Palanca were prosecuted by the American government, “but the five or

six hundred dives which buy their drug in the proper place are not disturbed.”

Johnson also found that the dens allegedly operated brothels located on their

upper floors. The women occupying these brothels actually possessed licenses

to sell beer and wine, which in Johnson’s view was a clever scheme by American

officials of virtually legalizing prostitution. In fact, brothel operators developed

a code that conveyed the double meaning of alcohol and women: ‘margaritas

topsede [topside]’, which Johnson decoded as ‘prostitutes upstairs.’ For him,

Page 115: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

101Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

there was no question that the owners of these “opium hells” had “slave girls

upstairs” being rented out for “immoral purposes.” 24

Since the Philippines was under the direct control of the American

federal government and not part of the union of states Major General Elwell

Otis’s abolition of opium farms in 1899 and imposition of an import tariff legally

allowed the importation of opium for whatever purpose to the islands. Local

governments were allowed to decide on the banning of opium dens under their

jurisdiction. Since Manila did not impose such a ban, around 200 Chinese-

owned and managed opium dens thrived in the Chinatown districts of Binondo

and Santa Cruz. The cholera epidemic of 1902 also contributed in the persistence

of the opium habit; a report noted, for instance, that “opium vendors used the

opportunity to increase the sale of opium among Filipinos as an antidote or cure

for the disease.” A Filipino also recalled that when cholera struck his town in

Marinduque in September 1903, some of his compatriots tried smoking opium

“to protect themselves from the disease and were successful.” A surge in opium

import to major ports followed and Sulu’s opium traffic raised concerns among

the Americans.25

The Philippine Commission headed by William Howard Taft tried to

forge a workable opium policy that considered the local conditions and views

of Washington policymakers. In 1903, it proposed a revival of the opium farm

system. American missionaries and members from the Chinese Chamber of

Commerce opposed this proposition while supporters like former North Borneo

opium farmer Cheak Kee Ee, who visited Manila during the debate, thought

that “A Chinaman is just as entitled to his opium as a German to his beer, a

Scotchman to his whiskey [and] a Philippino [sic] to his cigar... The habit is

national and cannot be eradicated.” This debate had long preoccupied Filipinos.

Page 116: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

102 VICTORIA: The Most Humane Of Any That Could Be Adopted

The writer for the Philippine newspaper El Renacimiento published

a satire mocking those opposing prohibition during the Opium Bill debates

while Cebu City mayor Florentino Rallos in 1901 thought that prohibition was

an unpopular and impractical measure and that opium farming would become

a welcome revenue stream for local governments. Governor Taft believed that

MAP 3

Streets With Known Opium Dens in Santa Cruz/Quiapo District, 1903

Z. Alcala (1)AA. Arranque (3)BB. Benavides (3)CC. Echague (3)DD. Ezpeleta (3)EE. Gandara (3)FF. Lacoste (23)GG. Padre Ducos (2)HH. Plaza Sta. Cruz (6)

LEGEND: (With corresponding number of establishments.)

JJ. Santa Rosa (1)KK. Soler (1)LL. Tetuan (5)MM. Villalobos (1)NN. Carvallo (1)

PP. Sta Cruz ChurchQQ. Quiapo Church

Not shown are: Chando (2)Dolores (4)Padre Blanco (3)

Sources:Chu 2012, p.60Philippine Opium Report, p.168-169Carlos Quirino, Maps and Views of Old Manila

PASIG RIVER

Page 117: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

103Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

while Filipinos were unable to control their use of opium, the Chinese assigned

a social value to it like drinking whiskey in moderation. He also felt that most

Filipinos “did not consider opium smoking to be an ‘immoral offense or one that

ought to be punished.’” 26

When Secretary of State Elihu Root requested information on opium

policies from other countries, Taft proposed the creation of an expert committee

(officially called Opium Investigation Committee) to study the opium issue

and make impartial recommendations. He hoped that the findings would

convince Washington of the monopoly approach and affirm the authority of the

Philippine Commission over Philippine affairs while the White House placated

its constituents who were upset about the bill. The proposal was not novel. In

1894, the nine-man British Royal Opium Commission was created to review

Britain’s opium policy. It also assessed the conditions of its territories and studied

the opium policies of neighboring colonies and countries through information

provided by British diplomats, missionaries and persons of interest. What

would make the American Committee distinct was its willingness to conduct

a hands-on investigation by directly visiting these foreign colonies (the British

Commission limited its direct investigation to India) in so short a time.27

The Committee was carefully selected by Taft to “represent the medical

and moral aspects of the opium issue and to downplay the revenue considerations

that had incensed the missionaries.”28 It was chaired by U.S. Army Surgeon Major

Edward Champe Carter (1854-1910), the concurrent Philippine Commissioner

for Public Health.29 The Philippine Episcopalian Bishop Charles Henry Brent

(1862-1929) was one of the most popular missionaries in Manila, a critic of the

opium farm system and close friend of U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt.30 Dr.

Jose Albert (1867-1946) was a famous Filipino pediatrician who worked at St.

Page 118: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

104 VICTORIA: The Most Humane Of Any That Could Be Adopted

Luke’s Hospital, which Brent founded in 1903. He was also a member of the

Federalista Party, a Filipino political party that originally advocated for Philippine

statehood.31 Ironically, the Chinese were not represented in the Committee;

the immigrant doctor Tee Han Kee (1880-1943) only served as its interpreter.

On August 17, 1903 the Committee left Manila for Hong Kong to begin the

investigation; it reconvened in Manila in February 1904, before adjourning the

following month. The Philippine Commission extended the submission of its

Report to June 30, 1904 to allot time for typing.32

In its initial remarks, the Committee acknowledged the assistance

provided by the foreign governments and the American diplomats in securing

the information used in the Report. It also lauded the cooperation of Filipino

provincial officials who courteously provided “uniformly serviceable” information

and statistics. However, the Report criticized the non-participation of the Manila

Chinese in the Committee’s proceedings. It singled out the Chinese Chamber of

Commerce because it insisted on certain conditions “such as no government

committee could accept.” Only the testimony of an unnamed Manila Chinese

merchant, undertaken just two weeks before the Committee’s adjournment,

made the Report. He was not an opium seller.33 Also conspicuously absent were

formal interviews with Philippine-based missionaries. The rationale behind

this absence might have been Brent’s presence at the Committee; the interviews

with other missionaries based elsewhere and their public opposition during the

Opium Bill hearing of 1903 made up for this absence.34

The Committee furnished questionnaires to nineteen Filipino resource-

persons from seven Philippine provinces. Ten of the respondents were from the

Visayas; six, from Luzon and three, from Mindanao. The Report does not explain

who or how the interviewees were selected since some of them came from the

Page 119: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

105Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

same province. However, the respondents appeared to be prominent Filipinos

--doctors or politicians from their respective towns and provinces.35 The twenty

questions covered the following topics: race, class and gender profiles of opium

users; dosage and method of consumption; acquisition of addiction; perceived

physical and social effects on the user; comparison with alcohol consumption;

and the respondents’ opinions on public policy.

Supplementing the interviews were reports from the heads of twenty-

two Provincial Boards of Health, which in December 1901 the Philippine

Commission established to exercise “general supervision over the health and

sanitary condition of its province” including enforcement of health laws,

containment of epidemics and control of the local or Municipal Boards of Health.

The Provincial heads were, in turn, supervised by Philippine Commissioner

of Public Health Edward Champe Carter. Both boards were to be headed by

Presidents. The Provincial President, who was appointed by the Governor-

General, should be a qualified doctor; while the municipal president was either

a doctor or an undergraduate of medicine. A list of the Provincial Presidents

of the Boards from 1902 to 1904 provided by Dean Worcester suggests that the

majority of the provincial heads were Filipinos while it is most likely that the

municipal heads were overwhelmingly Filipinos.36 Three of the interviewees

concurrently served as Provincial Board of Health head: Paulino Quisumbing

for Capiz, Pablo Araneta for Iloilo, and Antonio Fernando for Surigao.

The Provincial Boards consolidated the opium use data provided by the

local boards or governments in their jurisdiction and submitted their reports

from October 1903 to March 1904. The data was by no means complete since

the report from Manila and other major provinces such as Morong (Rizal),

Pampanga, Albay and Cavite was not included in the publication. Provinces

Page 120: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

106 VICTORIA: The Most Humane Of Any That Could Be Adopted

Zambales and Paragua (Palawan) only provided a comment while far-flung

towns failed to submit their data on time. There is no indication that addenda

were inserted when it was republished as a United States Senate Document.

Nonetheless, the Report still managed to cover more than half of the provinces

representing Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao. 37

In some instances, the provincial heads provided first-hand observations

through their experience as physicians or their private contacts. None of them

were actual opium users. Some met resistance from the smokers, experiencing

difficulty in the identification of exact numbers of users. The unidentified

author of the Cagayan Report, decried the refusal of some towns to provide data

on Filipino smokers “on account of some fear which they harbor.” The author

of the Pangasinan report attested to the “comparatively accurate” data he

obtained, “considering the indifference and ignorance of some of the municipal

officials and the tendency of the smokers to conceal themselves.” He felt that

these attitudes had skewed the data for the two main towns of Lingayen and

Dagupan, and offered his own estimate.38 The Iloilo provincial report stood

out; Dr. Araneta must have certainly been its author because it is similar to his

responses in the questionnaire. His detailed statistics on opium smokers in the

province and responses influenced the estimates in general.

Profiling the Opium Consumer: how many, how much and how they used

The number and class profile of opium consumers

American official estimates on the number of users were in the vicinity of forty

thousand.39 In 1904 the Philippine Opium Committee estimated that there

were 10,000 Filipino addicts; and by 1908 the figure was 20,000. The unnamed

Page 121: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

107Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

Chinese merchant interviewed by the Committee thought that around 20

percent of Manila Chinese residents smoked opium and “very few women” used

it but not the children.40

Table 1 below reflects this statistical gap while also providing a rough

picture of the extent of opium use in Philippine provinces and towns. Four

observations could be gleaned from the data. One, large concentrations of users

outside Manila lived in Northern Luzon, Panay, Negros, Cebu and Northern

Mindanao, where there was significant Chinese presence.41 Two, except for

Negros Oriental and Paragua, where almost all Chinese were reported users,

the percentage of Chinese users per the Chinese population appears to have

varied. Only 35 percent of Iloilo’s resident Chinese were users; La Union’s

Chinese residents did not smoke opium at all. Three, around 10 percent of

the Filipino users were women and most of them resided in the Visayas and

northern Mindanao regions. And four, only two non-Chinese foreigners were

reportedly users: an American and a Spaniard; despite Mayor Mariano Chiyuto’s

observation that some foreigners (perhaps American) were smoking opium

during the American military occupation of the Capiz town.

Table 1

Rough Estimate of the Number of Opium Users as Submitted by Presidents of the Provincial Boards of Health and Interviewees, 1903-1904

Province Filipino/Native Chinese

(% per Chinese population)

Others Unspecified Towns with

opium users

Towns without opium users

Towns Unre-ported

Male Female

Antique 76 80 15 5

Bataan 1 4 3 8

Batangas 13 13 9 13

Bohol 94 47 13

Bulacan 74 8 17

Page 122: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

108 VICTORIA: The Most Humane Of Any That Could Be Adopted

Cagayana 122 248 15 9

Capiz b 138 6 147 (62) 1 37 6 28

Cebu 224 613 29 23 5

Ilocos Norte 28 4 11

Ilocos Sur 18 3 21

Iloiloc 97 77 659 (35) 22 29

Isabela 315 11

Laguna d 8 1 52 (42) 14 5 15

Leyte e 30 15 (66) 2

Masbate 10 4

Misamisf 1849 20 4

Nueva Ecija 35 10 13

Negros Occidentalg

232 256 1 26 8

Negros Orientalh

8 10 306 (99) 4

Pangasinani 655 24 10 3

Paraguaj 75 (100)

Sorsogon 34 7 5

Surigaok 112 12 204 (50) 14

Tayabasl 21 (53)

La Unionm 16 (0) 11 3

Total 1,171 106 2,737 1 3,074 265 222 8

Grand Totaln Estimated Users 7,088 Towns Covered 495

a. In an observation by Board of Health Medical Inspector Robert F. Bartlett, he notes that while there are “quite a number” of Filipino opium smokers, the practice “seems to prevail” throughout Cagayan Valley. p. 164.

b. For Capiz proper only. Chiyuto reports 27 (or 23 percent of Chinese) while Quisumbing reports 120 Chinese who were all users, pp. 129-130. On Filipino users, Chiyuto estimates 2 for every 1,000 Filipino residents of whom 6 were women, although figures provided by Quisumbing and Villasis range from 1 in 4,000 to 1 in 3,000, or 4 to 6 women, respectively, p. 131. Quisumbing reports that 1 American was known to smoke opium, p. 132.

c. Dr. Araneta notes in his Iloilo Report that the number of opium smokers did not include “numerous” other consumers of opium pills and small balls. However, he contradicts himself later in the interview when he refers to figures on pill users as “insignificant”, p. 133. His interview figure of 856 Chinese smokers also does not tally with his Report. Of the 170 Filipinos, 93 men and 77 women were reported users. I retained the figure for

Page 123: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

109Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

women and adjusted the figures for the men. Compare p. 129 and p. 156. There were only 14 Iloilo towns with opium dens in 1896. Philippine National Archives (PNA), Anfion: Iloilo, 1868-1896, Exp. 7, Fols. 1-2b.

d. For Pagsanjan, Biñan and Santa Cruz only. Pagsanjan had 10 (or 15 percent of Chinese), Binan had 4 Chinese or 12 percent of users and Santa Cruz had 38 Chinese and generally used opium, p. 129. However, the Provincial Report declared Pagsanjan opium-free, p. 159. On Filipino users, there were 2 in Biñan (1 male and 1 female) and 7 persons in Santa Cruz, p. 131.

e. Naval and Malitbog towns only. All of Naval’s 4 Chinese were users while Malitbog had 11 users or 33 percent, pp. 129-130. On Filipinos in Naval, only 1 in 1,000 was a user, of whom women made up 1 percent. No population data was given to obtain a solid estimate. Malitbog had 30 Filipino users with a small undetermined number of women users, p. 131. Vaño noted that the users concealed themselves during the investigation, making it hard to determine the exact number of users in Malitbog, p. 148.

f. Smith rounded down the Report’s list of the number per thousand inhabitants.

g. Smith incorrectly states that thirteen of the Filipinos were Spanish. In fact, the Report noted that in the town of Bacolod, of the 13 Filipinos, only one was classified as Spanish.

h. Bais and Dumaguete towns only. All the 4 Chinese in Bais and 5 from Amlan smoked opium while 99 percent of Chinese in Dumaguete also smoked opium. pp. 129-130. On Filipino users, Bais had 3 percent users and for every 2 men there was 1 woman user. But another town to the north, Tayasan, had 25 percent users. Approximately 1 percent of Dumaguete’s Filipinos were users of whom 6 to 8 were women. Unfortunately, there was no population figure for the towns given for a solid estimate so it appears as though there are more female than male users. There were 10 Filipino users reported in Amlan and 2 were women, p. 131.

i. The formal transmittal indicated a figure of 467. However, in the remark on the statistics furnished, the Provincial President of the Board of Health believed that both Lingayen and Dagupan towns had 150 users each, p. 162.

j. The actual Report mentions that “very few natives use opium.”

k. Dr. Fernando’s figures appear more reliable than his

Page 124: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

110 VICTORIA: The Most Humane Of Any That Could Be Adopted

submitted Report. 50 percent of the Chinese smoke in his province, pp. 129-130. He also mentions that for every 10 male Filipino users, there is 1 woman user, p. 131.

l. For towns of Tayabas (20 Chinese or 40 percent) and Lucban (4 Chinese or 40 percent) and Torrijos, Marinduque (1 Chinese) only, p. 129. As to Filipinos, San Agustin estimated a ratio of 1 in 2,000 for Tayabas while it is 1 percent for Lucban, p. 130.

m. The transmittal actually mentions only 15 Filipinos. n. This excludes Manila and Zambales, of which the figures

went unreported. Sources: Smith, p. 17, POR, pp. 130, 150-165.

Twenty-five percent of Filipinos in northern Negros Oriental towns,

particularly in Tayasan town, were addicted to opium and the vice continued to

spread throughout the area. Convinced that opium smoking “cures all kinds of

disease,” an unspecified number in Zambales expressed a “great liking” for the

habit, wrote Board of Health Inspector L. Abella. In La Union, the fifteen opium

smokers were Filipinos, of whom seven smoked daily, the others, occasionally

“smoking every two to three days.”

According to the Pangasinan report the majority of users in the province

were between thirty to forty years of age, with small numbers ranging from

twenty up to seventy.

In Paragua (present-day Palawan), only a few Filipinos used opium.

Twenty-five of the seventy-five known Chinese opium users lived in the southern

part of the province, “living among the Moros and other tribes, who all use

opium in unknown quantities,” since opium was smuggled through Borneo.42

Respondents had mixed views on the issue of social classes and opium

use. Some interviewees believed that opium use pervaded all social classes in

their towns--including the Manila Chinese--but most thought that the lower

classes were most affected. A few, however, did note that members of the upper

Page 125: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

111Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

classes consumed it as well. Those who believed that all social classes in their

towns used opium, including Mssrs. Fernando and Montenegro, thought that

persons coming in frequent contact with the Chinese would be the most likely

users. In Capiz town Mayor Chiyuto thought that the poor Chinese were mostly

users.

For Mr. Araneta, the middle classes, along with a rich few, were mostly

the users in Iloilo. Some members of the middle class in Biñan and Dumaguete

were also users, but in Surigao, the educated class “who are able to understand

the pernicious effects of opium” did not become users. The Antique report

identified the Filipino users as members of the middle class, whose consumption

was limited “owing to their impoverished condition.”

Consumption among the upper classes was noted in the towns of Iloilo,

Bais and Santa Cruz. Interestingly, Mr. Gonzalez stated that in Bais, opium

was considered an item of luxury that those who used it boasted of “having

attained the triumph of civilization.” Mayor Chiyuto appeared to have a similar

view, reporting that among the rich in Capiz, opium was used as a “means of

distraction and pastime, offering it to guests making social calls.”43

Dosage

The survey question on dosage was phrased as “How much opium is daily used

by a person addicted to the vice?” Responses to this were varied, since some

of interviewees used different systems and qualified their answers. However,

they all assumed that the question referred to the smoking dosage. Depending

on the means and tolerance of the user, the interviewees estimated the daily

consumption range to be as follows:

Page 126: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

112 VICTORIA: The Most Humane Of Any That Could Be Adopted

One-fourth to one tahil44 (San Agustin, Eleazar, Fernando, Salazar)One-third to two-thirds tahil (Anonymous)One-half tahil (Sorvera)One-half to two tahils (Araneta)One tahil (Chiyuto)One to one-and-a-half tahils (Villasis)Two to four tahils (Roxas)Six to eight tahils (Vizmanos)One to three ounces (Montenegro)Ten to twelve ounces (De Jesus)Ten grams (Ocampo)One and one half-dollars worth (Palomares)One to two dollars (Vaño)

1 tahil= 1.3 ounces = 38 grams ½ tahil= 0.67 ounces=16 grams ¼ tahil= 0.34 ounces= 8 grams 1 ounce= 28.3 grams

Roxas’ response was more specific. He indicated that while a user with

a high tolerance--his definition of a vice--could use up to two to four tahils,

a moderate user or one who uses it for disease treatment consumes only one-

fourth to one-half tahil. According to the Pangasinan Report a novice can smoke

between 1.5 to 2 grams daily for the first six months but can take as much as 10

to 15 grams once becoming experienced. For Cagayan, it was 360 ounces per day

per smoker, although this is very improbable.45

Dr. Araneta’s 1903 report clues us in on the retail price of opium. In

Iloilo city dispensaries sold opium from 1.25 to 1.50 pesos (or US$ 0.63 to 0.75

in 1903) per tahil, grossing 1,038 to 1,237 pesos daily. In Surigao, Dr. Fernando

noted, opium cost 1.50 pesos per tahil.46 Dr. Albert would testify in 1906 that a

very poor man paid half a peseta a day while a rich person could spend as much

as four pesos a day (US$2.00) for opium. Years later, Dr. Victor Heiser recalled

that a pipe of opium and a table space rental cost twenty cents; as such, a ¼

tahil of opium likely amounted to 0.38 pesos or US$ 0.19. A Filipino smoker

recounted that his week’s supply of a full opium tin cost 5 to 7 pesos. To put this

in perspective, in 1899, a carpenter in American Philippines earned about 0.80

Page 127: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

113Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

to 0.90 pesos for a day’s work; a cook, some 50 to 60 pesos per month or 2 pesos

a day. By 1900, the cost of a quarter tahil of opium would have been equivalent

with the price of almost a pound of Australian beef, two pounds of white fish,

sugar or C grade coffee or six-and-a-half pounds of rice.47

Table 2

Rough Estimate of the Amounts and Mode of Opium Use as Submitted by Reporting Presidents of the Provincial Boards of Health, 1903-1904a

Province Grams Ounces Tahils Town(s) with most number

of users/ largest dose

How used

Day Month Day Month Day Month

Antique Tibiao Smoked.

Bataan 21 Dinalupihan Eaten and smoked.

Batangas 512 30-40 Lipa Medicinally and smoked.

Bohol 71 Talibon and Tubigon

Smoked.

Bulacan Hagonoy Smoked.

Cagayan 360 Tuguegarao and Aparri

Smoked.

Capiz Kapiz Smoked and pills.

Cebu Cebu City Smoked.

IlocosNorteb 4 138 Laoag Smoked.

Ilocos Sur 1 Santa Maria Smoked.

Iloilo 387.6 Iloilo City Smoked, pills and small balls.

Isabela 2030 Ilagan Smoked.

Laguna 157.1 San Pablo Smoked.

Leytec Smoked, pills and liquid form.

Masbate 12 1 Masbate Smoked and pills.

Misamis Catarman Smoked and pills.

Nueva Ecija 106.5 Aliaga Smoked and pills.

Negros Occi-dental

Valladolid Smoked.

Pangasinand 1.5-2,

10-15

Dagupan and Lingayen

Smoked and inter-nally.

Paragua Not given. Not given.

Page 128: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

114 VICTORIA: The Most Humane Of Any That Could Be Adopted

Sorsogon Juban Smoked and pills.

Surigao 993 Surigao Smoked.

La Union 20.1 San Fernando and Aringay

Smoked.

a. The basis for the figures varied but most were calculated based on the number of users per province. This excludes Manila and Zambales, of which the figures are unreported. Other major provinces like Albay, Cavite, Pampanga, Rizal (Morong) and Tarlac went unreported.

b. Does not include the 2 ounces a smoker in Batac uses. The average consumption of the 20 users in Laoag is at 1 tahil per 4-6 days. I used the average 5 days to calculate the estimate.

c. Per Gonzalez and Vaño interviews, p. 133. d. Lower limit is for first six months of smoking. Higher

limit is for experienced smoker. Source: POR, pp. 150-165.

Respondents estimated that addicted smokers consumed one-fourth to

one tahil or 8 to 38 grams of opium daily.

In the course of their investigation in Shanghai, the Committee

interviewed two officials from the New York Life Insurance Company to get

information as to what dosage of opium consumed would be acceptable for an

insurance applicant. Examining physician Dr. N. McLeod declared that it was

difficult to determine what constituted moderate and excessive opium use since

it depended on the person’s constitution and tolerance of the drug. However,

as a matter of company policy, two mace or 7.6 grams of opium a day was the

acceptable limit for an applicant to be able to obtain insurance.48

To compare, the American delegation to the International Opium

Conference in 1909 estimated that 17,700 ‘Heavy smokers’ or an average of 15

percent of the Chinese population in the United Stated minimally used two

mace or 7.6 grams of opium a day. ‘Light smokers,’ or those who smoke when

Page 129: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

115Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

they thought they were ill used opium once or twice a week; they numbered

23,600 or 20 percent of the populace, smoking half a mace or 1.9 grams daily.

‘Social smokers,’ who smoked opium during holidays and ceremonial occasions,

made up 10 percent or 11,800 at 1 ounce a year or less than 0.08 grams a day.49

In his analysis of opium smoking patterns, Dr. John Kramer argued that

heavy smokers tended to reach for the optimum level of satisfaction instead of

the maximum. For fear of social sanctions like the public disdain of drunken

persons smokers avoided undesirable symptoms. Using an 1880 survey of 1,000

opium smokers in China, he concluded that 75 percent of smokers consumed

only 8.5 grams or less a day. Since substantial withdrawal symptoms could only

occur with a minimum of 12 grams of daily consumption, the surveyed Chinese

smokers were “at, most, mildly addicted.” Twelve grams of opium contained about

800 milligrams of morphine and only one-tenth (80 mg) of this was absorbed by

smoking. Hence, “20 or 30 mg. of morphine taken daily is marginally addicting

while 60 mg. is clearly so.”50

Table 3

Opium Imports to the Philippines per Opium Report, 1899-1903a

(Values and duties in US currency)

YEAR POUNDS % SHARE OF POUNDSb

VALUE in USDc % SHARE OF

VALUE

DUTIES PAID IN

USD

% SHARE OF DUTY OVER

TOTAL VALUE

P.I. ILOI-LO

CEBU ILOILO CEBU P.I. ILOILO ILOILO P.I. P.I.

1899 120,066 - - - - 328,713 - - 111,469 33.9

1900d 224,115 7,726 - 3.4 - 639,193 22,698 3.5 168,301 26.3

1901 369,037 20,013 9,968 5.4 2.7 1,070,431 57,238 5.3 332,692 31.1

1902 137,583 13,426 20,331 9.7 14.7 411,513 32,895 7.9 191,199 46.5

1903 254,547 14,578 29,528 5.7 11.6 685,088 38,865 5.67 348,388 50.85

TO-TAL

1,105,348 55,743 59,827 5.66 7.86 3,134,938 151,696 5.4 1,152,049 36.7

a. Another set of figures were given by the United States delegation in the 1909 Report of the International

Page 130: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

116 VICTORIA: The Most Humane Of Any That Could Be Adopted

Opium Commission: Shanghai, China, vol.2, p. 26:

YEAR POUNDS VALUE IN USD

DUTY IN USD

% of DUTY over

VALUE

INTERNAL REVENUE

TAX

TOTAL REVENUE

1899 91,823 255,310 64,586 25.2

1900 155,672 477,027 132,392 27.8

1901 221,683 619,338 187,020 30.2

1902 285,443 819,625 263,406 32.1

1903 259,473 721,551 357,575 49.6

1904 268,128 770,596 338,422 43.9

1905 265,128 850,381 366,893 43.1

1906 150,292 440,464 272,955 61.96 47,144.82 320,099.82

1907 169,933 513,287 308,277 60.0 292,140.85 600,417.85*

1908 50,776 143,670 92,126 64.1 152,208.25 244,334.25

*The total revenue for that fiscal year was $17,445, 489.49 or 3.5 percent of the total Philippines’ revenue. p. 25. Another set of import volume figures was provided in the same report from 1903 to 1907, but it went by fiscal year. It closely mirrors the table above. The figures were as follows, converted to pounds:

1903 258,933.41904 249.251.21905 267,570.61906 149,978.4 1907 169,578.2

Source: Op.cit., p. 378 insert. b. Calculated share computed on the totals for those

corresponding years only. c. See above explanation.d. July to December only.

Source: POR, pp. 165-167.

The exact level of opium dependence in the Philippines is unclear. If

we apply Kramer’s measure to the estimates per person of the 85 Philippine

towns that had reported daily consumption figures from Table 2 above, we

find that 52 percent or a little more than half (44) of these towns consumed

8.5 grams or less of opium daily. Twenty-five towns or 29 percent reported

consumption between 8.5-12 grams and sixteen towns or 19 percent had an

estimated level of consumption of over 12 grams a day. Remarkably, if we use

Page 131: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

117Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

the same measurement to the 75 Philippine towns that had 1,423 reported users,

we find that 796 persons or 56 percent consumed more than 12 grams daily.

Only 484 persons or 34 percent were using 8.5 grams or less. To illustrate the

variations of an individual’s consumption, we can look at the 16 towns with only

one user and their respective amounts of opium used. Ten users or 62 percent

were using 8.5 grams or less; only two used more than 12 grams--the user

from Batac, Ilocos Norte, who reportedly consumed 56 grams of opium daily,

consumed most. We can only make the following tentative conclusions on the

above assumptions. Low levels of opium consumption (8.5 grams or less) were

widespread geographically, with high levels thought to be concentrated in 16

towns. More than half of the sampled users consumed more than 12 grams per

day.

Modes of consumption

The Report affirmed that the mode of opium consumption in the Philippines

was smoking. However, other forms of consumption such as in small pills, liquid

form or eating the residue ash were also noted. The Committee found that

subcutaneous injections of morphine as a practice “were unknown.”

Opium pills were “soft aqueous extract of opium prepared ad hoc;”

they deemed economical, for they could be consumed while traveling or when

smoking in the reclining position was impossible. Called aguiw, opium ash/

dross was supposedly the burnt “dark, hard residue clinging to the mouth of

an opium pipe” after it has been smoked. A Filipino smoker recalled using two

pinches of aguiw in two fingers of tepid water every three hours as an “ultimo

remedio” (last drug of recourse) during his bout with cholera. Mr. Roxas noted

that the smokers shaped the ashes into one to two-gram pills which they took

Page 132: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

118 VICTORIA: The Most Humane Of Any That Could Be Adopted

daily; he claimed, dependents usually did this out of desperation “owing to a

lack of means on the part of the user.”51

The Epidemiology of Opium Use and Observed Practices

The Committee also tried to determine the motivations behind opium use.

Eight of the Filipino interviewees were convinced that “continuous and intimate

association or intercourse with the Chinese” was responsible for the spread of

opium use. The Chinese allegedly led people to believe that opium was a panacea

or that it was a way to attract people to purchase goods from them. Mr. Gonzalez

apparently knew some individuals, who distributed opium to novices for free

since they were certainly going to become regular customers. In turn, Filipino

users and opium-smoking “quack doctors and healers,” who also viewed opium

as a panacea, perpetuated its spread by telling friends that opium makes them

“insusceptible to disease”.

Table 4

Singapore Opium Exports to the Philippines and Sulu, 1898-1903

YEAR DESTINATION Benares Opium Prepared Chandu

Chests Dollars Tahils Dollars

1898

Philippines 29 20,272

Sulu 32 22,468

Total 61 42,740

1899

Philippines 56 45,111

Sulu 30 24,136

Total 86 69,247

1900

Philippines 76 69,568

Sulu 54 49,569

Total 130 119,137

1901

Page 133: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

119Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

Philippines 96 86,634

Sulu 10 8,879

Total 106 95,513

1902

Philippines 30 27,800

Sulu 30 27,250

Total 60 55,050

1903a

Philippines 34 33,796 78,600 94,320

Sulu 17 16,889

Total 51 50,685

a. First to third quarter only. A chest of opium had 40 raw opium balls and weighed around 133 lbs. or 60 kgs.

Source: POR, p. 170.Trocki 1999, 185.

Race figured in tracing the spread of opium use in the provinces. Some

acquired the habit while “living with the Chinese.” The Antique report shared

Mr. Gonzalez’s view that some unscrupulous Chinese spread the drug to certain

Filipinos. Initially they offered free opium to cure headaches and colic among

Filipinos and once they had them hooked, they charged high prices for the drug

to recover the initial cost. Bataan province partly attributed its low number of

opium users to the presence of “not more than ten” permanent Chinese residents.

According to Dr. Araneta, in Iloilo the Filipino middle class affected by the habit

were employees, dependents and spouses of Chinese residents who adopted the

latter’s custom. He also theorized that since the affluent class, the Americans

and other foreigners had less social dealings or relations with the Iloilo-based

Chinese, opium use was rare among them.

The Pangasinan report echoed most of the aforementioned observations

on the spread of opium in the province. The largest number of opium users was

in Dagupan town, a commercial center with a lot of Chinese residents, who were

deemed responsible for spreading the practice. Other towns, populated with

Chinese merchants, had the largest contingent of Filipino opium smokers. This

Page 134: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

120 VICTORIA: The Most Humane Of Any That Could Be Adopted

racial interaction fostered the spread of opium use. For medicinal purposes the

Chinese offered opium ash to their Filipino friends for free at first. Relieved,

the Filipino patient becomes a regular client, seeks pleasure by smoking opium,

then “finds his satisfaction in communicating the good effects to others.” A

few took opium pills and ash, “adopting these methods only when they can no

longer bear the expense of smoking.”52

In Masbate province some women reportedly acquired the habit

“through imitation or at the suggestion of their husbands.” In turn, according to

a 1930 interview with Philippine Customs collector Vicente Aldanese, Filipino

women of the Spanish period introduced their relatives to the pipe through

their Chinese husbands. 53

The Isabela report provided another theory behind the spread of opium

use. Although the Chinese introduced it to the province during the Spanish

regime, it rapidly spread since 1900 due to the: (1) unrestricted importation and

sale of opium and (2) marked ease of smoking opium in a user’s own home. This

ease of access facilitated the acquaintance and acquisition of the habit among

a user’s family, nearest relatives and friends, “for many women and children

are seen to use more or less of this narcotic.” Importantly, Isabela had more

recreational opium users than those who used it for medicinal purposes.

For eleven of the interviewees opium users were usually exposed to

the drug as treatment of their medical conditions. Dr. Araneta thought that

most users did not acquire it primarily for medical treatment, but nonetheless

used it as a sedative. Opium was believed to be a cure for “gastralgia, fatigue,

rheumatism and other diseases in which pain was the principal symptom.” Dr.

Cordero confirmed this by using a case of a San Juan de Dios Hospital patient

with chronic gastralgia, who was administered with morphine for his pain.

Page 135: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

121Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

Mssrs. Eleazar and De Jesus also thought that opium was not a treatment for

malaria, and neither did it relieve fatigue nor rheumatism. Opium allayed

hunger pangs, not because of its special properties but because its user falls

asleep. Others acknowledged it as an effective sedative but not a cure.

The Ilocos Sur report also attested that some users were introduced with

opium smoking while seeking relief from their symptoms. They only smoked it

occasionally and when unable to smoke “they eat the ashes or residue left in the

pipe after the opium has been smoked.” Several Masbate users added that they

consumed opium for medicinal purposes for a number of years already but with

moderation.

For some a few Filipino users acquired the habit out of curiosity,

imitation or peer pressure. Mr. Sorvera noted that a sprinkling of users smoked

out of pride since spending much money on opium enhanced one’s social status.

Using could have also started “by reason of friendships of such a nature that one

cannot refuse a person when he offers him opium to smoke.”54

Interviewee Montenegro noted that certain parents in Dumaguete

taught their young children to inhale opium smoke to keep them sedated or

quiet. Bais resident Gonzalez affirmed this, claiming he chanced upon certain

parents administering puffs of opium smoke to their newborn baby because,

they said, “it was good to put it to sleep.” He thought that such a child would

grow to be an “excessive user” like his parents because of its opium-saturated

environment.

Mr. Vizmanos estimated that addiction occurs when one continually

smokes opium for nine days; after which the user would crave for opium or

experience guian. However, he did not state the dosage involved. Certain Chinese

Page 136: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

122 VICTORIA: The Most Humane Of Any That Could Be Adopted

informed Mr. Roxas that one also becomes addicted “by smoking the drug and

at the same time swallowing the saliva.”

That opium use had not spread to the European population in the

Philippines was another interesting issue in the Report. Some believed

Europeans did not acquire the habit for they had less contact with the Chinese;

were better educated on the side-effects of opium use; or were more indulgent

towards alcohol. Dr. Quisumbing, however, retorted that while it was true that

Europeans were not smoking opium, “you need only to look around you” to find

Europeans using morphine instead.

Fifteen of the respondents were convinced that the old Spanish system

of opium farming had the effect of spreading, instead of containing, opium

use among Filipinos. Reasons given included the existence of smuggling, lax

government enforcement and its exclusive sale to the Chinese. Those who

believed in the system thought that the stiff penalties imposed against the

Filipinos were enough to deter widespread use or that stricter enforcement was

only needed.55

Twelve of the respondents opined that the absence of a comprehensive

legislation under the American regime had led to an increase in opium use.

Under the farming system, opium price increases with the contractor’s overhead

for this was theoretically passed on to the consumer. Its abolition caused opium

price to plummet. The removal of colony-wide legal sanctions against access

to opium dens by Filipinos, which was in place during the Spanish regime,

was thought to have further encouraged domestic consumption. Still, as Dr.

Quisumbing noted, opium use continued to be limited among Filipinos due to

“the poverty that exists throughout these islands.”56 His view supports Trocki’s

hypothesis on why Filipinos did not become significant opium consumers, vis-

Page 137: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

123Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

à-vis their Southeast Asian counterparts.57 Poverty was not a problem with some

of the Negros Oriental elites, however. Mr. Gonzalez was appalled that in some

towns it was impossible to find prominent residents eligible to hold a municipal

office, “since they are all opium habitués and incapacitated through lack of

moral and physical energy.”

Interestingly, only the anonymous respondent from the neighboring

town of Amlan thought that opium use decreased due “to the growth of culture

that is taking place in our country.”58 He did not elaborate what “growth of culture”

meant but as we shall see below, some members of the Filipino elite became

increasingly aware of the negative effects of recreational consumption. Three

decades later, numerous interviewees testified before the League of Nations that

because the new generation were better educated, had an improved standard of

living and had more access to entertainment and sports, they were less likely to

engage in opium use.59

Two provincial reports also noted that opium consumption was either at

a standstill or on a decline. The Bataan and Nueva Ecija reports partly attributed

this to the penalties and restrictions imposed by the town ordinances to curb

opium use. The author the Nueva Ecija report also mentioned that opium use

was an issue of “slight importance” since it “has decreased notably during the

past seven or eight years” and that the combination of the two developments

had led him to believe that the province would become opium free “within a

short period of time.”

Profiling the Physical and Social Impressions of the User

Physical description

Page 138: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

124 VICTORIA: The Most Humane Of Any That Could Be Adopted

Most of the interviewees negatively perceived the opium user. For them opium

use led to “emaciation, general debility, dyslepsia, costiveness, stupor or mental

apathy, loss of memory, and dullness.” Some described users as “anemic,” of a

“sickly and stupid appearance” and since opium addiction “enervates the vital

forces” it induced “moral viciousness,” “continual drowsiness” and laziness,

making them “stupid and unfit for work.” They produced copious amounts

of phlegm, salivated like teething children and were “tuberculous.” Similar

observations were made in the provincial reports. Users had yellowish to pale

complexion indicative of “slow intoxication,” were anorexic, were malnourished

and constipated “due to a lack of tone in the intestines.” They also had “profound

disturbances” in their nervous system.

Opinions on opium’s effect as an aphrodisiac were divided. Araneta, San

Agustin, De Jesus, Quisumbing, Roxas were convinced that it was an aphrodisiac;

while an anonymous author thought that it moderated aphrodisia. Eleazar,

Fernando, Gonzalez, and De Jesus thought that it made one sterile or impotent;

while Palomares opined that it did not have any effect at all. Interviewees were

also asked whether opium use affected birth rate and life expectancy. Most

attested that because opium produced “nervous and cerebral derangement, the

general debility, the cerebral dejection”, it decreased birth rate and increased

mortality risk. This “debility” made a user “indifferent to his wife.” It even made

one age prematurely. In particular, Dr. Fernando noted, “it is rare to find an

opium smoker who has reached the age of seventy, while at the age of forty they

look like decrepits of eighty years.” Furthermore, since users were thought to

be undergoing a “slow process of poisoning,” their eventual illness could not be

treated with ordinary medicine. Some thought that opium use had little or no

connection with the birth rate but had some link with mortality rates. Others

did not know or rejected any connections at all.

Page 139: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

125Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

Children born to opium-using parents were thought to be weak, anemic

and easily susceptible to disease or certain nervous ailments such as eclampsia.

But for interviewee Montenegro, the perceived weakness could be attributed to

the practice of the parents letting young children “inhale opium smoke when

they cry or are supposed to be indisposed.”

Social, psychological and racial disposition

Because of their odor, complexion and their “dislike of work,” opium users were

not “lovers of progress and are repugnant to society.” To satisfy his craving, the

user wastes work hours “lying down on his bed to smoke, or sitting down on

the side of the candle, after which he goes to sleep.” At times, “they are drowsy”

during gatherings and did not seem to be attentive. This “physical and moral

weakness makes the user indifferent” and predisposes them to commit crimes

or renders them “useless to society.” Some thought that opium use resulted in

“forgetfulness” and neglect of familial obligations. This laziness, according to a

report, made the user susceptible to other vices like cards and cockfighting and

made the user slovenly and careless.60 This physical and mental disposition of

the user became the basis of the pejorative epithet apyan lelot (opium sot) to

refer to a pale, listless person.61

In Pangasinan, opium smokers “refused to confess their habit” even to

their spouses. They were secluded in “secret rooms where they smoke, and if a

physician should call at the house they would never tell the fact that they use

opium, even though they were questioned.”

When their hour of smoking arrives, users become “peevish” and

“irritable,” writes the author of the Isabela report. Those who crave opium usually

Page 140: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

126 VICTORIA: The Most Humane Of Any That Could Be Adopted

have “a general feeling of depression, suffer from headache or other temporary

ailments.” This depressing sensation, or guian according to Montenegro, led

the user to commit robbery or other crimes. It sets in when the user failed to

receive his dose at the expected time. He becomes “drowsy and pale-faced” then

“mute and quiet, has a tendency towards morbidness, or reaches a condition of

imbecility.” A novice would only acquire this condition after nine days of opium

smoking. In fact, attested the Opium Report, guian was associated nationwide

with the “irresistible craving which seizes the opium smoker at regular hours,

forcing him to yield to the vice, and when unable to do so, seeming to place his

life in suspense.”62 These withdrawal symptoms remind us of Rizal’s description

of Capitan Tiago, the “monster of the vice”, who whenever “he felt depressed for

lack of a dose of opium… would accuse, maltreat, insult” his aide. This term is

still used today; giyan or giyang in Binisaya (Cebuano), for instance, is “craving

for something favorite or addicted to.”63 Insanity or dementia cases involving

opium use had not been generally observed by the interviewees except one who

noted that it “seldom” occurred.

The Committee also asked the interviewees to compare the effect of

opium between Filipinos (Malays) and Chinese. Some believed that Malays

were more “sensitive” to opium’s side-effects than the Chinese. Dr. Araneta

thought that this was because the latter were in the “habit of drinking tea,

which produces an action antagonistic to opium.” Here, the doctor appeared

to understand Chinese custom. Opium houses in China served food, sweets

and tea since the yin element of opium had to be counterbalanced by ingesting

yang elements like tea, meat, shellfish or herbal tonics such as garlic or ginger,

among others. For interviewee Gonzalez Malays tended to use opium without

moderation. Others thought that race was irrelevant as the effects were uniform

and that variations of effects were caused by the quantity of opium intake.64

Page 141: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

127Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

Criminal tendencies and social consequences of opium use

Most interviewees and some of the provincial reports shared the view that as

users become more dependent, they committed crimes to obtain money to buy

opium. Theft was one crime. In Iloilo, Dr. Araneta narrated, fathers prostituted

their daughters and even husbands prostituted their wives; similar cases also

occurred in Antique.

Stories on consequences of drug dependence were also mentioned.

Families were driven to financial ruin, shame and sometimes even addiction.

The Pangasinan report mentions cases where families tried to conceal that

one or two of their members were users. In Antique, according to the report,

numerous families who once lived comfortably in their towns are now “on the

verge of the most shameful misery and indigence.”65 Mr. Eleazar recounted

how a previously rich Chinese person squandered his fortune by neglecting his

family and business and lived in poverty for ten years prior to his death. He

spent eight dollars a day to purchase “opium, relishes and wine,” for, according

to Mr. Eleazar, the user “becomes an epicure as well.” After realizing the negative

impact of opium use towards her business interests and health, a rich lady from

Isabela who once consumed large amounts of opium daily tried to gradually

limit her intake to the lowest possible dose. But just as “she was about to free

herself from it, she was seized with convulsions and died.”

Addiction and the possibility of withdrawal without injury

Users found it difficult, if not impossible, to withdraw from opium consumption

without any difficulties or the risk of dying. Some interviewees, like Dr. Cordero,

Page 142: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

128 VICTORIA: The Most Humane Of Any That Could Be Adopted

reported that users suffered from “insomnia, loss of appetite, debility and

gastrointestinal troubles” while undergoing withdrawal. Mayor Chiyuto claimed

that a few individuals who “under great stress and through the exercise of much

patience” were able to abandon it. A withdrawal technique entailed substituting

“pills and decreasing the amount daily used;” another one concerned the use of

“some alcoholic liquor in sufficient quantities to produce inebriation, this being

a mere palliative” to assist in the withdrawal process. An interviewee noted a

user who had switched to consuming pills in an attempt to moderate his use.

The Isabela report marked that those who have “just commenced the use opium”

were able to transition to another vice like wine drinking but did not work for

long-time users.

Most--including the Chinese merchant--thought, however, that

moderate opium usage could not be sustained in the long-term since consumption

has always led to a downward spiral of excessive use and early death. The Bais

smokers informed Mr. Gonzalez that the more they used the drug, the stronger

their craving for it became. In fact, of the four “inveterate smokers” Mr. Eleazar

knew in Lucban, two had died while the remaining became “sickly and rachitic.”

A few, like Mayor Chiyuto and Dr. Quisumbing thought otherwise. Chiyuto was

convinced that opium smoking as a hospitality gesture qualified as moderate

use. Dr. Quisumbing acknowledged the benefits of opium as part of a treatment

regimen.

Comparisons with alcohol consumption and other vices

Eleven of the respondents believed that recreational opium use was more

damaging to society than alcohol consumption. For Dr. Araneta while

alcoholism was far more potentially disastrous, the widespread opium use was

Page 143: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

129Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

more disconcerting. Dr. Fernando believed that many drank alcohol moderately

and continued to lead long lives. Mr. Gonzalez preferred to see a drunkard than

an opium smoker.

Most respondents remained unconvinced that opium users engaged in

drinking alcohol or other vices at the same time or as a possible alternative to

their habit. Mayor Chiyuto noted that alcohol was uninteresting, at least among

the Chinese users in Capiz. Mr. San Agustin observed, however, that in Tayabas,

opium users also engaged in gambling and cock-fighting. Mr. Ocampo guessed

that 70 percent of users drank alcohol while Mr. Sorvera thought that users

drank alcohol to strengthen them, “but not as the result of abandoning the use

of opium.”

Views on the Existing Policy Environment

There was a general sentiment against opium use among observers. Mayor

Chiyuto noted, however, that in Capiz town Filipinos remained indifferent

because they take “turns with the Chinese in smoking from the same pipe.”

Whether he meant it literally or as an allusion was unclear. Dr. Fernando believed

that in Surigao town, only the local elites (“the cultured class”) detested the

opium vice because they understood its ill-effects. The rest of the people cared

less, if not favorable, towards opium use because of its novelty and promise of,

“as their friends make them believe, pleasure and a palliative for their ailments.”

Mssrs. Montenegro and Vizmanos from Dumaguete thought that only a large

part of the cultured class or 20 percent of its residents expressed sentiments

against it. The interviewed Chinese merchant also observed that most of

the Manila Chinese despised its use, “although they continue to take it.” The

Masbate report author proudly noted that its residents expressed their dislike of

Page 144: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

130 VICTORIA: The Most Humane Of Any That Could Be Adopted

opium and resisted the persistent advice of local Chinese residents to use it as

medicine. Twenty-four out of the thirty-seven towns in Pangasinan denounced

the use of opium while ten declared their jurisdictions opium free. 66

The Committee solicited the interviewees’ opinions on the policy options

being considered at the time. The first question was whether they believed in

the practicability of enforcing an immediate and absolute prohibition of the

vice. The second was whether an alternative system of gradual suppression by

granting high fees for licenses to adult Chinese and Filipino users was a more

preferable policy.

Table 5

Profiles of Filipino Respondents in the Opium Report

Province Respondents and Town of Origin

Capiz Mariano Chiyuto (Capiz)a

Dr. Paulino Quisumbing (Capiz)b

Felipe Villasis (Capiz)c

Iloilo Dr. Pablo Aranetad

Laguna Dr. Narciso Cordero (Pagsanjan)e

Vicente D. Ocampo (Biñan)f

M.V. Palomares (Santa Cruz)g

Leyte F. E. De Jesus (Naval)PolicarpioVaño (Malitbog)

Negros Oriental S. Gonzalez (Bais)Juan Montenegro (Dumaguete)h

Jose Vizmanos (Dumaguete)i

Anonymous (Amlan)

Surigao Dr. Antonio Fernando (Surigao)j

Hugo Salazar (Surigao)k

Benito Sorvera (Surigao)l

Tayabas SilverioEleazar (Lucban)m

Primitivo San Agustin (Tayabas) n

I. Roxas (Torrijos, Marinduque)

a. He became the first mayor of Capiz town under the American regime in 1901. Juan L. Pastrana, “A Historical Brochure on Capiz” (1951), cited in Bienvenido P. Cortes, comp. “Flashback on Capiz” Madyaas Pen,

Page 145: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

131Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

http://madyaaspen.blogspot.com/2013/05/flashback-on-capiz.html. Accessed October 20, 2013.

b. Quisumbing (1871-1923) later served as a District Health Officer. http://www.mundia.com/ph/Search/Results?surname=QUISUMBING&birthPlace=Philippines.Accessed October 20, 2013.Worcester, Asiatic Cholera, p. 114.

c. Villasis served as the Capiz Clerk of Court and notary public from 1901 and was still active in 1912. Roster, p. 67.

d. Araneta (1864-1943) was a surveyor and doctor who became a brigadier general of the Philippine Revolutionary Forces in Panay that fought against the Spanish in 1898. He was part of the council of the Visayan Republic. He became Mayor of Molo in 1902, then the President of the Iloilo Provincial Board of Health from 1903 to 1907. He later became a member of Iloilo’s Provincial Council. National Historical Commission of the Philippines, Pablo Araneta y Soriano Marker Inscription, “National Registry of Historic Sites and Structures in the Philippines” http://nhcphistoricsites.blogspot.com/2013/02/pablo-araneta-y-soriano.html. Accessed October 20, 2013.

e. Cordero had a medical practice in Pagsanjan and served the Philippine Revolutionary Forces. Gregorio F. Zaide, Pagsanjan in History and Legend (1975), ch. 7, p.5 in http://www.pagsanjan.org/hometown/historychap7_pg5.html. Accessed October 20, 2013.Gilda Cordero-Fernando, “Dr. C, Dr. Dee and Dr. T.” Philippine Daily Inquirer (August 22, 2010) http://lifestyle.inquirer.net/sundaylifestyle/sundaylifestyle/view/20100822-288099/Dr-C-Dr-Dee-and-Dr-T. Accessed October 20, 2013.

f. Ocampo became the First District Representative to the 5th Philippine Legislature (1919-1922). Philippine House of Representatives, “Online Roster of Philippine Legislators”, http://congress.gov.ph/orphil/index.php. Accessed October 20, 2013.

g. No data could be found on Palomares, De Jesus, Vaño, Gonzalez and Roxas.

h. Montenegro (d. 1927) served as Governor of Negros Oriental (1911-12), Official Roster, p. 86. Negros Oriental Province Official Website, http://www.negor.gov.ph/index.php/history. Accessed October 20, 2013.

i. There is no data obtained on Vizmanos. However, he may be related to the Saenz de Vizmanos family who was the 1850 contractor for the expanded opium farm that included Manila, Bataan, Batangas, Bulacan, Cavite, Laguna, Pampanga and Zamboanga.

j. Fernando later became a District Health Officer and

Page 146: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

132 VICTORIA: The Most Humane Of Any That Could Be Adopted

was transferred to Nueva Ecija. Official Roster, p.15. War Department, Annual Reports 1909 (Washington: Government Printing Office, 1910), p. 187.

k. Became Governor of Surigao Province. Report of the Philippine Commission to the Secretary of War. (Washington: Government Printing Office, 1915), pp. 625-628.

l. Sorvera or Corvera later served as a Municipal Census Board Advisor for Surigao town. Census Office of the Philippine Islands, Census of the Philippine Islands taken under the Direction of the Philippine Legislature in the year 1918: Appendix to Volume I- Organization, Census Acts and Regulations. (Manila: Bureau of Printing, 1920), p. 382.

m. Eleazar was a local historian and researched on the Cofradia de San Jose. Philippine Magazine, vol. 26 (1929), p. 428.

n. Later became governor of Tayabas province (1910-12), Manuel L. Quezon’s private secretary and First District Representative to the 7th Philippine Legislature (1925-1928). Official Roster of Officers and Employees of the Civil Service of the Philippine Islands (Manila: Bureau of Printing, 1912), p.89. William Guerauche, “Sociability and Personal Bonds in the Philippines under American Colonisation.” Posted by Manuel Quezon III, http://www.scribd.com/doc/6000051/Sociability-and-personal-bonds-in-the-Philippines-under-American-Colonisation, “Online Roster of Philippine Legislators”. Accessed October 20, 2013.

Supporters saw an immediate and absolute prohibition as a radical,

“practicable and expedient” policy but a necessary solution. For Mr. Gonzalez, it

“matters not that a few hundred may be killed as a result” if only to protect the

Filipino people. The user should not be allowed to hold public office because of

his perceived incapacity and because he would be too ashamed to rehabilitate

himself. Wrongly Mr. Sorvera thought that a gradual suppression system might

lead to a permanent set-up since “there will always be opium smokers.”

Others, like Dr. Araneta, were convinced that opium should be

immediately prohibited to Filipinos who were not yet users. However, for the

Chinese and known Filipino users, heavy license fees should be imposed with

higher fees for the latter. Mr. Villasis agreed granting licenses to the Chinese

Page 147: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

133Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

but supported absolute prohibition to all Filipinos. The anonymous Amlan

interviewee did not agree to a high license fee system but favored gradual

prohibition where only a grace period “which the vice may be practiced without

restriction” would be granted “with a view to its final extinction.”67

Advocates of the gradual suppression strategy of imposing high license

fees to known users thought their measure would: (1) avoid filling up the jails

with indigent opium users; (2) also avoid injuring the personal health of the

user; and (3) deter more users from hitting the pipe. Most believed that this

strategy should only apply to known users and that a monitoring system should

be in place to ensure compliance. Dr. Fernando preferred the establishment

of public dens with licenses to be graded in price according to the number of

customers. Higher license fees for smoking in private and first time smokers

should be charged, along with a more rigorous system of identification and

enforcement of violations.68

There were those who did adopt an ambivalent position. Mr. Vaño

preferred gradual suppression, but found the “very violent measure” of absolute

prohibition acceptable, since it was practicable and expedient for the authorities.

The interviewed Chinese merchant was also convinced that most Chinese

favored gradual prohibition since he thought that it would take ten years before

opium use is fully controlled or eliminated. He argued that the authorities should

first set up special hospitals, where users could go to for voluntary treatment.

Should the government compelled users to go to the facilities, he added, “four

weeks to two months would be sufficient to stop the practice” depending on the

gravity of addiction. The caveat was that if immediate prohibition were to be

implemented, the American government would have to buy off all the opium

in the merchants’ possession. Either way, he opposed any return to the revenue

Page 148: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

134 VICTORIA: The Most Humane Of Any That Could Be Adopted

farm system and that “no monopoly should be given to the Chinese.”

Other suggestions were made by the interviewees. Some suggested that

the accruing license fees for opium use should benefit the municipal funds.

Others wanted to designate opium houses outside the village, where they would

not become a nuisance to residents and passers-by due to the annoying smell

of opium. Finally, some suggested that opium-using Filipino officials should be

disqualified from holding office in order to force them to rehabilitate themselves-

-a view later reiterated by Dr. Albert in his 1906 testimony. 69

The Aftermath of the Report

To sum up the Committee made four general observations. First, while opium

use was widespread in all provinces, the number of Filipino consumers in

proportion to the whole population was “only to a small degree” as to be

“insignificant” (defined as “slightly more than one-eighth of one percent”) and

“fortunately does not constitute so grave a social calamity” compared to their

Southeast Asian brethren. Users were concentrated in Negros Oriental, Negros

Occidental, Capiz, Surigao, Cagayan and Isabela and opium was unknown in

towns where there was no social contact with the Chinese. Second, Filipino

women rarely used opium and the drug was never administered to children.

Third, the most prevalent method of opium use was smoking; pill swallowing

was “exceptional,” while hypodermic injection was unknown. Finally, for the

Committee, containing the current situation in order to prevent the spread

of recreational opium use from reaching epidemic proportions was the real

challenge. It was convinced that the keys towards the regulation of the opium

problem was the combination of active government intervention through

internal regulation of opium use and the continuous imposition of the Chinese

Page 149: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

135Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

exclusion act that ensures that “there can be no influx of opium smokers from

without.”

Table 6

Estimate of the Amounts of Opium Used per Consumer as Submitted by Reporting Presidents of the Provincial Boards of Health in Select Provinces

and Towns, 1903-1904a

Province Town Grams Daily

Number of users

Province Town Grams Daily

Number of users

Bataan Isabela

Abucay 1 Cauayan 6.25 80

Dinalupihan 10 Echague 7.05 85

Orani 10 1 Gamu 4 5

Batangas Ilagan 7.6 92

Batangas 4 Naguilian 4 5

Bauan 2 Reina Mercedes

4 6

Lemery 0.16 Santa Maria 4 5

Balayan 8 4 Tumauini 4 19

Lipa 0.2 15 Laguna

Tanauan 0.26 Biñan 0.5 1

Santo Tomas 2.4 2 Los Baños 1.6 1

San Juan 38 9 Nagcarlan 2.3 3

Bohol 14.25 Santa Cruz 4 5

Ilocos Norte San Pablo 11.3 10

Batac 56 1 Masbate 4 10

Laoag 6.5 20 Nueva Ecija

Paoay 22.8 6 Aliaga 34 11

San Nicolas 3.7 1 Bongabong 8 2

Ilocos Sur Cabanatuan 20 4

Vigan 1 1 Cabiao 4 2

Iloilo Cuyapo 10 3

Ajuy 15.2 5 Gapan 2 1

Banate 11.4 3 Nampicuan 8 2

Barotac Nuevo

11.4 1 San Antonio 10 2

Page 150: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

136 VICTORIA: The Most Humane Of Any That Could Be Adopted

Cabatuan 11.4 2 Santo Domingo

5 1

Dumangas 9.5 6 San Isidro 5.5 7

Estancia 14.25 8 Pangasinan 1.5-2, 10-15

Guimbal 11.4 6 Surigao

Iloilo 18.2 637 Bacuag 11.2 6

Janiuay 11.4 3 Butuan 8 28

Jaro 11.4 32 Cantilan 7.5 1

Jordan 9.5 4 Dapa 2.5 5

La Paz 22.8 15 Gigaquit 5 2

Leon 11.4 2 Lianga 10 3

Maasin 11.4 1 Maynit 10 1

Mandurriao 11.4 3 Surigao 8.2 33

Miagao 11.4 3 Tagana-an 14.8 17

Molo 17.86 63 Tandag 25 1

Oton 15.2 20 Tubay 10.8 5

Pototan 15.2 8 Bislig 9 3

Santa Barbara

11.4 2 La Union

Sara 6.46 6 Agoo 2.1 1

Zarraga 11.4 3 Aringay 6.3 1

Isabela Balaoan 1.58 13

Angadanan 4 10 San Juan 0.63 1

Cabagan Nuevo

4 5

Cabagan Viejo

4 3

a. The claim of the author of the Cagayan report is not included here. He claimed that 360 ounces or 10 kilos (22 pounds) of daily opium consumption would be improbable. In his analysis of opium smoking patterns, John Kramer argues that heavy smokers tended to reach the optimum level of satisfaction rather than the maximum. Some figures were determined by converting ounces and tahils into grams. 1 ounce was equivalent to 28.3 grams.

b. The total was around 2,009.3 grams. Since the Report’s author estimated users at 141, each of those users consumed some 15 grams on average.

c. For Masbate, the amounts in grams were put together and divided into 10 for the noted smokers in the province.

Page 151: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

137Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

d. Lower limit is for first six months of smoking. Higher limit is for experienced smoker.

Source: POR, pp. 150-165.

The Committee thought that opium consumption would not be

contained by the continuation of the Spanish farm system and policy of

segregation that was making opium only available to the Chinese. Significant

commercial and social interactions among Filipino and the Chinese communities

made the spread of opium use inevitable. “The process of contamination might

be slow, but it would be unerring,” it argued.70 As it turned out, the colonial

governments in Taiwan, the French Indochina and the Netherlands East Indies

already enforced a government-monopoly system on opium that rendered the

farm system obsolete, even before the Americans arrived in the Philippines.71

Other racial and cultural considerations were at play. For instance, according

to Wertz, the “notion that opium presented a special danger to Filipinos” was

“…premised on a hierarchical idea of race.” Filipinos were thought to have a

“relatively low degree of vitality” and so, would be less able to retain self-control

or moderate the habit. Some assumed that if opium consumption lowered the

capability of a Chinese person, then it is “more immediately disastrous” to the

Malay who “with fewer gifts…reduces his vitality in the same measure but in

so doing touches the bottom of worthlessness.” Others perceived Filipinos to

be culturally vulnerable to the habit. The Committee argued that in “the case

of the Christian Filipinos no religious sentiment regarding opium prevails of

a sufficiently definite character to protect them with similar armor [against

Chinese influence], while among the Moros the consumption of the drug has

already reached considerable proportions.”72

The American government eventually adopted the final strategy

of progressive prohibition that set a March 1, 1908 deadline for Chinese and

Page 152: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

138 VICTORIA: The Most Humane Of Any That Could Be Adopted

Filipino users to submit to rehabilitation or face incarceration. Brent and Albert

would later affirm their findings during the 1906 hearing on the Anti-Opium

Bill. Only licensed Chinese users were allowed to purchase opium until the

deadline while Filipinos were immediately banned from opium use in 1906. The

lackluster response to the strategy prompted the American officials and even the

Catholic Church to mount a public campaign about the upcoming ban. By the

so-called “Black Sunday,” 5,000 persons still smoked opium and addicts “fought

and screamed, threatened and sulked” as they went to San Lazaro Hospital for

treatment. Others simply stopped using, took substitute cures, returned to

China, obtained opium from the black market, or simply switched to substances

such as morphine or cocaine which was easier to conceal and more potent. At

this juncture the opium user was no longer a victim but a ‘fiend,’ whose decision

to resist being “saved by legal force” will now have to be punished if only to be

“cured of the habit by force.” The global war against the drug user had begun.73

Conclusions

“I believe that if a vote were put to the Filipinos,” Major Carter conceded in the

course of his interview with an American missionary in Shanghai, “there would

be an overwhelming decision against the use of opium.” This was the consistent

tone of all the interviews.74

The implementation of the prohibitionist and punitive regime in the

Philippines, therefore, was not purely the result of policymaking monopolized

by American officials and pressure groups. The Filipino contribution to the

Opium Report clearly influenced the subsequent formulation of the American

regime’s opium policy. By providing an “on the ground” impression on opium

consumers in the Philippines, the interviewed Filipino medical and political

Page 153: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

139Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

elite assisted the regime into thinking that a prohibitive policy could be worked

out in a short time.

The Spanish restriction on opium consumption among the Chinese

predetermined the limit by which the market on the islands could grow and

made the Spanish Philippines less dependent on opium revenues. Consequently

the American government could easily resist or be ‘weaned’ from the lure of

opium money. Without being fiscally compromised, the regime could pursue

a prohibitionist policy as a feasible option towards the suppression of the

drug. Still, American officials would emphasize the “sacrifice” it made when it

seized the moral high ground of prohibition. The 1909 Report of the American

Delegation to the Shanghai Opium Commission stressed this point.

The revenue from opium for the last complete fiscal year (1907) prior to prohibition amounted to $600,417.85, out of a total revenue of $17,445,489.49, being 3 ½ per cent of the total revenue. This fact is presented as indicating the strength of the conviction of the Government regarding the necessity of the legislation enacted [i.e., The Anti-Opium Law].75

Filipino elites, except in Southern Mindanao, seemed to limit the use of

opium partly because cheaper substitutes such as betel or tobacco were readily

available. Poverty or the limited exposure to a cash economy impeded the

popularity of opium among Filipinos and allowed the authors of the Report to

confidently declare that the ‘opium plague’ could be contained and suppressed.

In fact, Dr. Albert insisted before the Philippine Commission during the 1906

hearing that “[I]t is on the account of the small number of smokers that [the

Opium Investigation Committee] had formed the opinion that it would not cost

the Government much to have a thorough inspection and surveillance of opium

smoking in the Islands.”76 Other substances such as cocaine and morphine also

emerged as alternative, more potent and portable recreational drugs, although

Page 154: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

140 VICTORIA: The Most Humane Of Any That Could Be Adopted

the incidence of their use became noted around 1908. In the late 1920s, the

anonymous Filipino user recalled securing a morphine injection from a doctor

--also a consumer himself--for only 30 cents (US$ 0.15) compared to a pipe that

cost 1 peso (US$ 0.50).77 It also appears that Carter’s impression of the Filipinos’

“overwhelming” aversion or disinterest towards opium was partly influenced

by their racist perception of drug use. Despite the views that certain elites in

Philippine society used opium as a marker of social affluence, “a triumph of

civilization” or a symbol of hospitality, its recreational use became entangled

in assertive expressions of ‘suppressed’ Philippine nationalism that involved

emphasizing fears of economic domination by the migrant Chinese and their

involvement in opium smoking and smuggling. The Filipino interviewees and

reporters saw a direct proportional correlation between the Chinese and the

spread of opium in certain localities.78 Nonetheless, the licit opium trade and the

cholera epidemic of 1902 did lead to fears that 20,000 Filipino consumers in 1908

needed to be cured. Some of the Filipino interviewees in the Report perceived

this dependence on opium as a marker of defiance to the new colonial agenda of

uplifting the physical and social condition of Filipinos and other inhabitants of

the Philippines. The Filipino depiction of an addict as phleghmatic, tuberculous

and cerebrally debilitated readily implies drug dependence as a disease. Only

by the timely intervention of the enlightened and scientific American regime

can this threat be contained, checked and eradicated in the colony before it

encroached on the metropole, even if it meant deportation of the Chinese ‘alien’

or the death of the inveterate users.

The Philippine Opium Report, according to Gamella, also laid the

groundwork for the present-day discourse on drug use. Its effort in analyzing

and defining key concepts such as drug use, abuse and dependence would

be later developed and integrated in international efforts in dealing with the

Page 155: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

141Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

proliferation of recreational drugs. The Committee defined opium use as a vice

because it was an enslaving habit. Addiction was not an abstract concept but

one that could easily be ascertained regardless if it was used or abused. While it

anticipated modern concepts, such as the recognition of withdrawal symptoms,

the Report also suffered from nineteenth-century perceptions of race and culture

and moral superiority.79 On the issue of the Filipino predisposition to opium, the

Filipino interviewees were evenly split between acknowledging the ‘sensitivity’

or lack of self-control of the Filipino and the more ‘modern’ view that race was

irrelevant and that what mattered was an individual’s physical constitution and

level of tolerance. This is understandable because the present paradigm was laid

out as a result of an aggressive American international campaign in the early

twentieth century to replicate the Philippine model that entailed a punitive

regime towards the drug consumer.

Even into the 1950s opium use in the Philippines persisted and so

was the correlation of one’s cultural and ethnic predisposition with drug use

and socially deviant behavior. In 1959, the sociologist Ricardo Zarco offered

several explanations to understand why the Philippine Chinese of his time

were involved in narcotics use. His first argument was that some Chinese

were “already conditioned to opiates.” This conditioning may have occurred

as a result of their exposure to home remedies for ordinary ailments or they

may have simply picked up the habit from China. He also argued that the

Chinese were “culturally predisposed to narcotic use whenever hard pressed

for a means of ‘escape’.” Applying the concept of ethnic anomie, he explained

that the history of discrimination against the Chinese in the Philippines and

cross-cultural intermarriages had produced a generation of Filipino-Chinese

with an “unintegrated personality” or a feeling of marginalization, further

exacerbated by the realization that he circulates in a society with American and

Page 156: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

142 VICTORIA: The Most Humane Of Any That Could Be Adopted

Hispanic influences. Four different sets of cultural forces pushed and pulled

his marginal personalities--“not fully accepted in any but persecuted in most.”

These social stresses combined with the knowledge of narcotics use made

the person vulnerable to addiction and the “narcotic social system; a semi-

institutionalized, deviant, sub-society lending continuity to narcotic activity.”80

These observations may no longer ring true today for the Philippine Chinese

or to Philippine society in general, but the changing socio-cultural attitudes

and the ongoing debates on the acceptability of recreational drugs, alcohol and

tobacco; the perceptions and misperceptions they create and the standards we

impose as to whether one is included or should be set apart from the “healthy”

body politic deserves a deeper introspection.

Page 157: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

143Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

Tabl

e 7

Act

ual,

Esti

mat

ed O

pium

Rev

enue

s and

Spa

nish

Bud

get P

roje

ctio

ns in

Pes

os

YEA

RA

CTU

AL

OPI

UM

REV

ENU

ES

ESTI

MAT

ED

OPI

UM

REV

ENU

ES

DIR

ECT

TAX

ES A

ND

IMPO

STS

CU

STO

MS

DU

TIES

REV

ENU

E FA

RMS

TOTA

L RE

VEN

UES

ARM

YN

AVY

GO

VER

NM

ENT

TOTA

L EX

PEN

-

DIT

URE

S

1859

a43

,333

.24

1,928

,607

.92

600,

000.

007,

199,

950.

5910

,017

,341

.102,

216,

669.

4490

4,33

1.27

272,

528.

6210

,452

,728

.27

1860

b49

,000

.00

49,0

00.0

01,9

88,5

99.15

664,

100.

007,

381,7

18.6

410

,368

,646

.38

2,54

4,71

9.25

1,961

,891

.48

199,

642.

1212

,266

,610

.15

1865

70,0

00.0

0

1866

103,

500.

00

1868

123,

235.

002,

724,

100.

0091

9,50

0.00

7,30

4,77

0.50

11,92

4,82

5.50

c2,

111,3

73.0

01,2

28,5

24.5

029

3,90

8.00

10,2

28,5

75.0

0

1870

d18

7,16

8.00

1871

171,5

91.0

0

1872

126,

508.

00

1873

165,

228.

00

1874

216,

565.

00

1877

331,6

09.0

03,

037,

332.

001,2

00,0

00.0

07,

846,

841.0

013

,824

,140.

003,

608,

659.

002,

366,

755.

0073

6,48

3.00

15,2

52,2

17.0

2

1880

e30

9,82

0.00

3,69

2,66

6.00

1,605

,700

.00

7,50

2,52

0.00

14,6

30,4

86.0

02,

939,

526.

651,9

43,9

86.5

364

4,13

4.58

15,4

40,5

17.6

1

1884

f46

6,12

5.00

460,

208.

825,

862,

626.

002,

175,

242.

001,5

60,19

1.00

11,29

8,50

8.98

3,31

0,94

1.00

2,44

0,54

9.00

1,226

,013

.00

11,34

1,057

.00

1885

g45

0,00

0.00

417,

512.

306,

262,

738.

002,

176,

500.

001,2

54,4

00.0

011,

528,

178.

003,

483,

325.

002,

398,

747.

001,2

65,10

8.00

11,52

6,75

3.40

1886

482,

700.

0048

2,03

8.46

11,55

4,37

9.00

h12

,930

,558

.00

1887

241,3

00.0

024

7,25

9.31

1888

483,

400.

0052

0,37

1.35

5,20

6,83

6.93

2,02

3,40

0.00

1,181

,239

.00

9,83

7,89

6.93

3,01

6,18

5.91

2,57

3,77

6.27

n/a

9,82

5,63

3.29

Page 158: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

144 VICTORIA: The Most Humane Of Any That Could Be Adopted18

9043

7,50

0.00

462,

607.

165,

091,8

80.0

0i3,

432,

400.

0085

6,80

0.00

10,8

12,7

60.0

02,

842,

214.

591,8

87,7

10.10

1,821

,567

.78

10,9

28,7

58.2

8

1891

458,

716.

66

1892

507,

519.

319,

009,

464.

53j

4,92

7,50

0.00

1,483

,695

.00

16,9

36,2

74.7

05,

089,

723.

182,

756,

595.

403,

114,14

4.64

16,8

05,5

52.5

0

1893

567,

592.

0052

7,43

1.00

3,37

0,94

0.19

k2,

274,

528.

4250

9,99

1.67

6,33

2,79

3.52

2,22

1,709

.95

1,062

,158.

001,0

00,9

80.9

66,

921,4

24.4

6

1894

602,

300.

006,

659,

450.

004,

565,

000.

001,1

12,8

50.0

013

,579

,900

.00

4,04

5,06

1.00

2,45

0,17

1.00

2,22

0,12

1.00

13,2

80,14

1.00

1896

576,

000.

0017

,474

,020

.00l

17,2

93,8

79.0

0

1898

104,

574.

78m

NO

TE 1:

Onl

y th

e th

ree

larg

est i

tem

s in

the

reve

nue

and

expe

ndit

ure

sect

ions

by

1894

wer

e ta

ken

for

com

pari

son.

a.

Jo

hn B

owri

ng, A

Vis

it to

the

Phili

ppin

e Is

land

s (L

ondo

n: S

mit

h an

d El

der,

1859

), p.

320

.b.

O

pium

rev

enue

s fo

r 18

60,

1865

and

186

6 w

ere

valu

ed i

n es

cudo

s. S

ee F

eodo

r Ja

gor,

Via

jesp

or

Filip

inas

, S. V

idal

y S

oler

, tra

ns. (

Mad

rid:

Ari

bau

y C

o., 1

875)

, p. 3

26. I

use

d th

e co

nver

sion

rat

e of

0.

5 pe

so f

or e

very

esc

udo

for

the

thre

e ye

ars.

On

budg

et,

seeP

resu

pues

tosG

ener

ales

de

Ingr

esos

y

Gas

tosC

orre

spon

dien

tes a

l Año

de

1860

apr

obad

ospo

r Rea

l Ord

en d

e 18

de

Ener

o de

l mis

moA

ño (n

.p.,

1860

), pp

. 12,

199.

c.

Info

rmep

rese

ntad

o en

18

de D

ecie

mbr

e de

187

0 al

Exc

mo.

Sr.

Gob

. Sup

. Civ

il de

Fili

pina

s, p

or la

Ju

nta

de r

efor

mas

econ

omic

ascr

eada

al

efec

topo

r la

mis

maa

utor

idad

sup

erio

r (B

inon

do:

Impr

. D

e Br

uno

Gon

zale

s M

oras

, 187

1), p

p. 4

7, 4

9.d.

Opi

um re

venu

es fr

om 18

70-1

874

and

budg

et fo

r 187

7 ar

e fr

om R

amon

Gon

zale

z Fe

rnan

dez,

Anu

ario

Fi

lipin

o pa

ra 18

77 (M

anila

: Tip

o. D

e Pl

ana,

1877

), p.

94.

e.

Gre

gori

o Sa

ncia

nco,

El

Prog

reso

de

Filip

inas

: Es

tudi

osEc

onom

icos

, A

dmin

istr

ativ

os y

Pol

itic

os:

Part

e Ec

onom

ica(

Mad

rid:

Imp.

De

la V

iuda

de

J.M. P

erez

, 188

1), p

p. 16

, 25.

f. A

ctua

l and

pro

ject

ed o

pium

rev

enue

s fr

om 1

884-

1892

and

pro

ject

ed r

even

ue fo

r 18

93 t

aken

from

C

omen

ge, p

p. 16

2-16

3.g.

Bu

dget

for

1885

and

189

4 ar

e fr

om O

nofr

eCor

puz,

Bur

eauc

racy

in t

he P

hilip

pine

s (Q

uezo

n C

ity:

Page 159: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

145Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

Uni

vers

ity

of th

e Ph

ilipp

ines

, 195

7), p

p. 13

7, 13

9.h.

Act

ual r

ecei

pt fr

om Jo

hn F

orem

an, T

he P

hilip

pine

Isla

nds,

Thi

rd E

diti

on(M

akat

i: Fi

lipin

iana

Boo

k G

uild

, 198

0 [1

906]

), p.

227

.i.

Pres

upue

stos

Gen

eral

es d

e G

asto

s e In

gres

os d

e la

s Is

las

Filip

inas

par

a el

Año

1890

.j.

The

proj

ecte

d re

venu

es a

nd e

xpen

ditu

res

for t

his y

ear w

ere

calc

ulat

ed fo

r 18

mon

ths.

Pre

supu

esto

s 18

92.

k.

The

proj

ecte

d re

venu

es a

nd e

xpen

ditu

res

for

this

yea

r w

ere

calc

ulat

ed fo

r 6

mon

ths.

Pres

upue

stos

18

93.

l. Ba

sed

on a

ctua

l rev

enue

. Est

imat

ed r

even

ue w

as 17

,086

,423

.00

peso

s pe

r Fo

rem

an, p

. 227

. Cor

puz,

A

n Ec

onom

ic H

isto

ry o

f the

Phi

lippi

nes (

Que

zon

Cit

y: U

nive

rsit

y of

the

Phili

ppin

es, 1

997)

, pp.

193,

194.

m

. Col

lect

ions

mad

e by

the

Phili

ppin

e Re

publ

ic e

ndin

g D

ecem

ber 1

898.

Bam

ero,

p. 6

7. N

OTE

2:

The

se fi

gure

s w

ere

pres

ente

d by

the

Am

eric

an d

eleg

atio

n at

the

190

9 Sh

angh

ai O

pium

C

onfe

renc

e, b

ased

on

data

pro

vide

d by

the

Arc

hive

s in

Man

ila, a

s fol

low

s:

Year

Am

ount

in P

esos

1890

440,

675.

15

1891

460,

409.

28

1892

746,

470.

58

1893

545,

223.

84

1894

568,

933.

24

1895

562,

044.

02

1896

542,

808.

88

1897

250,

463.

20

Sour

ce: I

OC

R, v

ol. 2

, p. 2

5.

Page 160: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

146 VICTORIA: The Most Humane Of Any That Could Be Adopted

Endnotes

1 Daniel J.P. Wertz, “Idealism, Imperialism, and Internationalism: Opium Politics in the Colonial Philippines, 1898–1925” Modern Asian Studies 47, 2 (2013) pp. 467–499, first published online 31 October 2012, p. 480.While there is yet to be a general, book-length study on the subject, there is a growing corpus of significant studies, references or relevant discussions related to the history of opium in the Philippines. For a general overview, see Ricardo Zarco, “The Philippine Chinese and Opium Addiction,” in Alfonso Felix, ed. The Chinese in the Philippines, 2 vols. (Manila: Solidaridad, 1969), vol.1, pp.96-109; “A Short History of Narcotic Drug Addiction in the Philippines, 1521-1959,” Historical Bulletin 3 (December 1959), pp. 87-100; and his “A Sociological Study of the Illegal Narcotics Activity in the Philippines” M.A. Thesis, University of the Philippines Diliman, 1959. On state policy during the Spanish period, the discussion by Edgar Wickberg, The Chinese in Philippine Life: 1850-1898 (Quezon City: Ateneo de Manila University Press, 2000) originally published in 1965 still remains the starting point for research into the history of opium policy in the Philippines. Other works are: Alma N. Bamero, “Opium: The Evolution of Polices, the Tolerance of the Vice, and the Proliferation of Contraband Trade in the Philippines, 1843-1908” Social Science Diliman (January-December 2006) 3: 102, pp. 49-83; and Juan Gamella and Elisa Martin, “Las Rentas de Anfion: El Monopolio Español del Opio en Filipinas (1844-1898) y su Rechazo por la Administracion Norteamericana,” Revista de Indias, Num. 194 (Enero-Abril 1992), pp. 61-106. On state policy from the American Period: David T. Courtwright, Dark Paradise: Opiate Addiction in America before 1940 Second Edition(Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2001); Anne L. Foster, “Opium, the United States, and the Civilizing Mission in Southeast Asia,” in Social History of Alcohol and Drugs, Volume 24, No.1 (Winter 2010), pp.6-19; “Prohibiting Opium in the Philippines and the United States: The Creation of an Interventionist State,” in Alfred McCoy and Francisco Scarano (eds.), Colonial Crucible: Empire in the Making of the Modern American State (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 2009); “Models for Governing: Opium and Colonial Policies in Southeast Asia, 1898–1910,” in Julian Go and Anne L. Foster (eds), The American Colonial State in the Philippines: Global Perspectives (Durham: Duke University Press, 2003), pp. 91-117; “Prohibition as Superiority: Policing Opium in South-East Asia,” The International History Review 22, no.2 (June 2000), pp.253-273; David F. Musto, The American Disease: Origins of Narcotics Control (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1987); and Nathaniel Lee Smith, “Cured of the Habit by Force: The United States and the Global Campaign to Punish Drug Consumers, 1898-1970,” Ph.D. Dissertation, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 2007, dc.lib.unc.edu/cdm/ref/collection/etd/id/1495 (Accessed November 18, 2013). On race relations, see Richard T. Chu, Chinese and Chinese Mestizos of Manila: Family, Identity and Culture, 1860s-1930s (Manila: Anvil, 2012); Chinese Merchants of Binondo in the Nineteenth Century (Manila: UST Publishing

Page 161: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

147Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

House, 2010) and Andrew Wilson, Ambition and Identity: China and the Chinese in the Colonial Philippines (Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 2004). On the economy, see James Francis Warren, The Sulu Zone, 1768-1898: The Dynamics of External Trade, Slavery and Ethnicity in the Transformation of a Southeast Asian Maritime State, Second Edition (Singapore: National University of Singapore Press, 2007); The Global Economy and the Sulu Zone: Connections, Commodities and Culture (Quezon City: New Day, 2000). This writer particularly thanks Professor Gamella for graciously sharing his research and Professor Dikotter for his comments.

2 Zheng Yangwen, The Social Life of Opium in China (Cambridge University Press, 2005), p.1; Frank Dikotter, Lars Laamann, Zhou Xun, Narcotic Culture: A History of Drugs in China (University of Chicago Press: 2004), p. 7; Warren 2000, p. 29; Keith McMahon, The Fall of the God of Money: Opium Smoking in Nineteenth Century China (Lanham: Rowman and Littlefield Publishers, 2002).

3 Philippine Opium Report (hereafter POR), p. 13.

4 See Smith, pp. 7-65. American officials, according to him, “forged a punitive response to opium smokers in their Philippine colony in the early 1900s as part of what they regarded as a modern and progressive solution to a moral and practical problem. The Philippine experience served in turn as the basis for a punitive model abroad” and has remained the international norm (p. 6). On Chinese translation, see Gamella and Martin, p. 29. As Foster (2003) notes: “There is a certain irony in U.S. leadership of the regional prohibition policy, because opium remained a legal commodity in the United States throughout most of the period 1898-1910.” p. 93.

5 Report of the Royal Commission on Opium (London: Eyre and Spottiswoode, 1894-1895), 6 vols. (Hereafter RCOR) For an analysis of the British study, see John F. Richards, “Opium and the British Indian Empire: The Royal Commission on Opium of 1895,” Modern Asian Studies 36:2 (February 2002), pp. 375-420. James R. Rush, Opium to Java: Revenue Farming and Chinese Enterprise in Colonial Indonesia, 1860-1910 (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1990), p. 6. Carl A. Trocki, “Chinese Capitalism and the British Empire,” Conference paper presented to the International Association of Historians of Asia, 2004, pp. 13-14. http://eprints.qut.edu.au/679/1/trocki_chinese.PDF (Accessed December 10, 2013).

6 Rafael Comenge, Cuestiones Filipinas, 1a Parte: Los Chinos (Manila: Chofre y Compania, 1894), p. 141 ff. See Table 7 on revenues. These pro-opium views were articulated by Manuel Pizarro Bernaldez, Rafael Diaz-Arenas (d.1866) and Sinibaldo De Mas (1809-1868), who also supported the idea of encouraging local cultivation and export of opium to China as a source of revenue. De Mas thought that the government was wrong to argue that to let Filipinos smoke

Page 162: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

148 VICTORIA: The Most Humane Of Any That Could Be Adopted

would further encourage laziness. To the contrary, he argued, “because laziness among the natives of the Philippines is due to the fact they do not have needs, and if they were to start smoking opium, they would have to work to pay for it.” Manuel Pizarro Bernaldez, “Reforms Needed in Filipinas,” Emma Blair and James Robertson, trans. and eds., The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898, Antonio E.A. Defensor, comp. (CD-ROM, 2000 [1827, 1903]), Vol. LI, pp. 251-253. See also Gamella and Martin, pp. 6-7, 42, n19. Rafael Diaz-Arenas, Report on the Commerce and Shipping of the Philippine Islands (Manila: National Historical Institute, 1979 [1838]. De Mas, L’Angleterre, la Chine et l’Inde (Paris, 1857), pp. 96, 118. On opium revenues, see Carl A. Trocki, Opium and Empire: Chinese Society in Colonial Singapore, 1800-1910 (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1990), p. 199 and his Opium, Empire and the Global Political Economy: A Study of the Asian Opium Trade, 1750-1950 (London: Routledge, 1999), pp. 138-140.

7 Gamella and Martin, pp. 11-12. On economic policies, see Wickberg, pp. 59-61.

8 Zheng, pp. 10-24. As Peter Lee explains, opium use before sex enabled a user to exercise better control during the act instead of firing up the libido. “By delaying ejaculation, [one] prolonged the pleasure of sex, enhancing [one’s] appreciation of the experience and giving [one] time to enjoy [the] partner’s responses.” Peter Lee, Opium Culture: The Art and Ritual of the Chinese Tradition (Rochester: Park Street Press, 2006), p. 65.

9 Dikotter, et al., p. 32. Quoted in Zheng, p. 45. McMahon, p. 36.

10 Trocki 1999, pp. 36-37.

11 Zheng, p. 149. Rush, p. 35. James Warren’s prosopographic study of the rickshaw coolies in Singapore vividly describes how opium use contributed to the survival strategies coolies employed in their daily lives. Warren, Rickshaw Coolie: A People’s History of Singapore, 1880-1940 (Singapore: Oxford University Press, 1986).

12 On terms, see Balanza Mercantil del Comercio de las Islas Filipinas 1854, p. 70 and Balanza Mercantil de las Islas Filipinas Correspondiente al Año 1859, p. 67. On social uses, see Richard T. Chu 2012, pp. 145, 150; POR, p. 150; and Jose Rizal, El Filibusterismo, Ma. Soledad Lacson-Locsin, trans. (Makati: Bookmark, 2008 [1891]), pp. 168, 282, Gamella and Martin, p. 16 and the anonymous account of a Filipino user-turned-dealer from Negros, “Confessions of an Opium Addict as told to Pershing F. Ganao,” Philippines Free Press, vol. 33, no. 44 (November 4, 1939), p. 22. I argue, however, that the basis of calculating the dosage should not be the weight of raw opium but instead after refinement. Processed malwa opium lost 28 percent of its weight while Patna lost 42 percent. What it lost in weight was offset by the increased concentration of morphine. Dikotter, et al., p. 51. Comenge, p. 141 ff. describes opium smoking in detail.

Page 163: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

149Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

13 On Spanish use, see Pedro Velarde, SJ (1749), in Blair and Robertson (hereafter BR),Vol. XLIV, p. 48. On the early use in Sulu, see Francisco Combes, SJ, (1667), BR, Vol. XL, p. 180. On theriac, see Trocki, 1999, pp. 17-21. On Maguindanao, see Ruurdje Laarhoven, Triumph of Moro Diplomacy: The Maguindanao Sultanate in the 17th Century (Quezon City: New Day, 1989), pp. 78, 157. Quotation from Warren 2007, p. 21. Warren charts the rise and fall of the Sultanate in this work. Charles Wilkes (1844), in BR, Vol. XLIII, p. 169.

14 Rizal, El Filibusterismo, pp. 16-17, 255-258, 261, 282.

15 Philippine Revolutionary Records (PRR), Circular dated April 20, 1899, Indice Official, p. 1. 222.6; Nicolas Mola to Aguinaldo dated August 8, 1899, 260.2; 222.7 and 222.4. English translations of first two documents in John R.M. Taylor, The Philippine Insurrection Against the United States (Eugenio Lopez Foundation, 1971), vol.4, pp. 453-454 and vol.3, p.213, respectively. On Asian regimes, see Alfred McCoy, The Politics of Heroin: CIA Complicity in the Global Drug Trade (Brooklyn: Lawrence Hill Books, 1991) and Robert Cribb, “Opium and the Indonesian Revolution,” Modern Asian Studies 22 (4) (1988), pp. 701-722.

16 Foster 2003, p. 94; Wertz, p. 470.

17 David F. Musto, “The History of Legislative Control over Opium, Cocaine and their Derivatives,” (n.d.), p.3. http://www.druglibrary.org/schaffer/history/ophs.htm (Accessed April 20, 2014).

18 John Bowe, With the 13th Minnesota in the Philippines (Minneapolis: A.B. Farkham, 1905), p. 38. A hop joint was a 19th-century slang for “a room or apartment where patrons gather together to smoke opium” or a “saloon bar”. Jonathon Green, Cassell’s Dictionary of Slang, 2nd edition (London: Weidenfeld and Nicholson, 2005).

19 Karl Faust, Campaigning in the Philippines (San Francisco: Hicks-Judd Co., 1899), p. 90 and H.C. Kirk, “Life in the Philippine Capital” The National Tribune, (June 14, 1900), p. 8. The latter is captioned “Rounding up an Opium Joint in Manila.” See Arnaldo Dumindin’s blog, “Philippine-American War, 1899-1902,” http://philippineamericanwar.webs.com/americansoccupymanila.htm (Accessed Nov. 10, 2013).

20 “Chinese in [the] Philippines: An Army Officer’s Experience with Celestials under Fire,” The National Tribune (July 19, 1900), p. 5. From the United States Library of Congress digital newspaper collection.

21 POR, p. 131.

22 Peter Brush, “Higher and Higher: American Drug Use in Vietnam,” Vietnam Magazine, vol. 5, no. 4 (December 2002). The American delegation to the 1909 Shanghai Opium Commission denied this occurrence, claiming that

Page 164: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

150 VICTORIA: The Most Humane Of Any That Could Be Adopted

“there is not the slightest evidence that the use of opium or its derivatives has been introduced” to American Army or Navy personnel “except for medicinal purposes.” Report of the International Opium Commission: Shanghai, China. (Shanghai: Shanghai Daily News and Herald, 1909), vol. 2, p. 20 (hereafter IOCR).

23 Zeller’s letter to Opium Commissioner Luke Wright, September 7, 1908, quoted in Courtwright, p. 239, n.96. Based on the estimate of 125,000 American troops became engaged in the Filipino-American War, we can deduce that there were 3,750 American soldier-dependents. Gamella and Martin, p. 23.

24 Excerpted from The New Voice issue of August 16, 1900. Quoted in Wilbur F. Crafts, et. al, comp., Intoxicants and Opium in All Lands and Times (Washington: The Reform Bureau, 1905), p. 208 n.16. See also Maria Luisa Camagay, Working Women of Manila in the Nineteenth Century (Quezon City: University of the Philippines Press, 1995), p. 110 for another reference to opium dens and prostitution.

25 IOCR, vol. 2, p. 23. POR, pp. 91-92, 135, 137, 139. See Table 4 on figures of Benares opium shipped from Singapore to Manila and Sulu. On American concerns, see Warren 2007, p. 130 and BR, Vol. XLIII, p. 154, note 59. In 1910, an American horticulturist reported that young girls were reportedly being trafficked for opium in Mindanao. He stated that “no white man is engaged in this traffic” and was limited among the datus in the Cotabato region and the Chinese traders of Southeast Mindanao. The Moro, according to him “will trade anything short of his life” to obtain opium including the “primitive” marriage custom of having the groom provide a dowry of 100 to 150 pesos or its equivalent in opium. “Trade Girls for Opium,” New York Times (June 12, 1910), http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=F50C11FE395D11738DDDAB0994DE405B808DF1D3. (Accessed April 29, 2014). See Maps 1 to 3 on Manila streets where opium was sold and stored. Of the 200 proprietors of Manila opium dens, the name Suiliong stands out. He was Uy Suiliong, a business partner of Mariano Cu Unjieng. In 1901, Cu Unjieng declared his residence at 12 Hormiga Street in Binondo district, the same address where the den was located. Chu 2012, pp. 372, 382.

26 Cheak Ee quoted in Wertz, p. 480-481. Taft quoted in Smith, pp. 27-28. The debate was documented in the Public Minutes of the Philippine Commission (Sept. 1, 1902-Sept. 1, 1903), typescript, vol. 5, p.469 ff. (hereafter PMPC.)

27 RCOR, vol. 6, Appendix XXV, XXVII.

28 Smith, pp. 28, 33. Foster, however, contends that Taft already began to move away from his pro-opium farm stance prior to the creation of the Committee. His appointment of the anti-opium advocate Bishop Charles Brent “ensured that the final report would have at least some strongly moralistic, anti-

Page 165: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

151Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

opium sentiment.” Foster 2003, pp. 100-101, 106-107.

29 Carter also wrote an article “Some Observations Concerning the Controlling of Epidemics,” Journal of the Association of Military Surgeons of the United States, Vol.XVIII, No. 2 (February 1906), pp. 89-95. It appears that he was later assigned to the United States Army and Navy General Hospital at Hot Springs, Arkansas, where he died on April 24, 1910. Email communication entitled “Inquiry on access to the AMA Deceased Physicians List” dated November 15, 2013 with Anne Rothsfield, History of Medicine Division, National Library of Medicine.

30 Smith, p. 28. Brent was born in Newcastle, Ontario, Canada and moved to Buffalo in 1887 and Boston in 1888. He became a United States Citizen in 1891. As the Philippine Episcopalian Bishop, he served from August 1902 until 1918 and was the Senior Chaplain of the American forces in Europe during World War I. He died in Switzerland. “Career of the Rev. C.H. Brent,” The New York Times (October 13, 1901); Elinor Betts, et al., comp. “Charles Henry Brent: A Register of his Papers in the Library of Congress” United States Library of Congress, Manuscript Division (2008) http://lcweb2.loc.gov/service/mss/eadxmlmss/eadpdfmss/2008/ms008040.pdf (Accessed Nov. 2, 2013); “Memorial Sermons for Charles Henry Brent” http://anglicanhistory.org/asia/brent/memorial_sermons1929.html (Accessed Nov. 2, 2013).

31 Smith, p. 28, Wertz, p. 482. On the Federalista Party, see Ruby Paredes, ed., Philippine Colonial Democracy (Quezon City: Ateneo de Manila University Press, 1989). Albert took up medicine at the University of Santo Tomas and the Universidad Central de Madrid in 1887. He returned to the Philippines to specialize in Pediatrics. He was a signatory to the Malolos Constitution in 1898 and appointed by the Philippine Republican Government as the Director of the Committee on Sanitation and Hygiene. He supported the founding of the Liga para la Proteccion de la Infancia and its subsidiary the Gota de Leche. Dr. Albert later joined the Philippine General Hospital. National Historical Commission of the Philippines, “Jose M. Albert (1867-1946), Pioneer Pediatrician,” http://nhcp.gov.ph/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/sm0004.pdf (Accessed Nov.4, 2013). On St. Luke’s Hospital (now St. Luke’s Medical Center), see Project Canterbury: Handbooks on the Missions of the Episcopal Church,Vol. III. Philippine Islands (New York: National Council of the Protestant Episcopal Church Department of Missions, 1923), p. 20 (Accessed April 10, 2014).

32 Assisting the Committee was Mr. Carl J. Arnell, who served as disbursing officer, stenographer and interpreter. The Committee did not, at times, stay as a panel in the course of the investigation. POR, pp. 1-9.

33 Ibid., p. 1-11, 148-150.

34 For a summary of the Opium Bill hearing see Homer Stuntz, The

Page 166: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

152 VICTORIA: The Most Humane Of Any That Could Be Adopted

Philippines and the Far East (Cincinatti: Jennings and Pye, 1904), p. 277-278 and John Bancroft Devins, An Observer in the Philippines (Boston: American Tract Society, 1905), pp. 138-145. See also Gemma Cruz-Araneta, “Legalizing Opium,” Manila Bulletin (April 14 and 16, 2014), http://www.mb.com.ph/author/gemma-cruz-araneta/ (Accessed April 28, 2014).

35 See Table 5 on the interviewees’ profiles.

36 Act No. 307 (December 2, 1901) and Act No. 308 (December 2, 1901), 57th Congress, House of Representatives, Annual Reports of the War Department for the Fiscal Year Ended June 30,1902: Vol XI: Acts of the Philippine Commission (Washington: Government Printing Office, 1902), pp. 69-73; Dean C. Worcester, A History of Asiatic Cholera in the Philippine Islands (Manila: Bureau of Printing, 1908), p. 40.

37 POR, p. 130, 161, 162. In 1904, there were 40 Philippine provinces, 32 of which had Provincial Boards of Health and 286 Municipal Boards of Health out of 706 towns established. War Department, Bureau of Insular Affairs, Fifth Annual Report of the Philippine Commission 1904, Part 2. (Washington: Government Printing Office, 1905), p. 14.

38 POR, pp. 150-151, 153-154, 156, 158, 162-165. Similar concerns were echoed by Vaño and the Bulacan report, pp. 148, 153.

39 Another estimate was offered by a member of the Chinese delegation to the 1909 Shanghai Opium Conference. He mentioned a figure of 23 to 25 percent of Chinese residents in the Philippines were opium smokers. “Minutes of Proceedings,” IOCR, vol.1, p. 33. In 1906, around 13,000 Chinese had applied for opium user licenses. American officials agreed that thousands of Filipino users were still obtaining the drug through the black market. Smith added all of the provincial figures and came up with a total of 5,981. A closer reading of the interviews and the reports indicated a higher tally. For variations of estimates see Smith, p. 15, n25, 37.

40 POR, pp.40, 148.Archbishop Jeremiah James Harty, “Males resultantes del uso del opio.” Libertas, January 31, 1908, p. 2. Harty (1853-1927) was the first American Catholic Archbishop of Manila, serving from 1903 to 1916. “Archbishop Jeremiah James Harty,” http://www.catholic-hierarchy.org/bishop/bharty.html (Accessed April 12, 2014).

41 See Table 4.

42 POR, pp. 130-131, 162-165. A Filipino user later recalled that opium was smuggled from Borneo to Davao by vinta-riding Chinese and Moros and redistributed from Mindanao through Filipino contacts since Chinese travelers were being profiled by constabulary agents. “Confessions,” pp. 22-23.

Page 167: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

153Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

43 Ibid., pp. 133, 139, 148, 150.

44 Although the Report used “tael”, the more accurate term to use is tahil, a Malay term for a Chinese standard of measure. The term was used in the Malay Peninsula, Singapore and Java. The term “tael” actually refers to a standard unit of Chinese currency roughly worth 1,000 copper cash. Trocki 1999, p. 185; Rush, p. 259.

45 POR, pp. 132, 154, 163, 164. Roxas mistakenly estimated the tahil at 22 grams. Dr. Fernando was more accurate when he estimated a tahil to be at 37 grams. See the following discussion of Dr. John Kramer.

46 Ibid., pp. 157, 164. I used pesos to refer to Mexican or Spanish dollars.

47 On Albert testimony, see PMPC (Sept. 1, 1905 to Sept. 1, 1906), pp. 272-273. Victor Heiser, MD, An American Doctor’s Odyssey (New York: Norton and Company, 1936), p.167. “Confessions,” p. 21. Ronaldo Mactal, Ang Pang-araw-araw na Buhay sa Maynila sa Panahon ng Digmaang Pilipino-Amerikano, 1898-1901 (Manila: UST Publishing House, 2010), pp. 172, 176-177. A can or tin of opium usually contained 5 tahils of chandu. “Opium cans or tins,” in Chinese in Northwest America Research Committee, http://www.cinarc.org/Opium.html#anchor_85 (Accessed April 27, 2014).

48 POR, Interviews XIII and XIV, p. 75.

49 IOCR, vol. 2, p. 8.

50 John C. Kramer, MD, “Speculations on the Nature and Pattern of Opium Smoking,” Journal of Drug Issues, Spring (1979), pp. 247-256.

51 POR, pp. 43, 133, 139, 156, 161. Dr. Quisumbing also noted users who were “morphomaniacs”—most likely those accustomed to morphine injections— suffering from the same effects as those who smoked or took pills, but it was unclear whether he was just expressing his expert opinion or was stating a fact based on an observed case. By 1907, it was clear that morphine hypodermic injections were already being used in the Philippines. “Confessions,” p. 20. Opium ash use was already reported under the Spanish regime. The ashes (cenizas) were also to be used with the proper documentation. Anfion, Binondo, 1884-1886, Exp. 1, Fols. 1-178. Ramon Aenlle v. Lim Chuco (December 18, 1884), Case No. 5755. See also Ilocos Sur report on description of opium ash eating, p. 156. Opium ash was also called jicing in Java. Dikotter, pp. 56-57, Rush, p. 31,Warren 1986.

52 POR, pp. 142-143, 151-153, 156-158, 163. The other factor was the effectiveness of the severe penalties imposed by the towns on the sale of opium. Dr. Araneta also noted that it was also gradually spreading in nearby towns of Molo, Jaro and La Paz. The anonymous Filipino user first took aguiw and was

Page 168: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

154 VICTORIA: The Most Humane Of Any That Could Be Adopted

later introduced to the pipe. His initial dose was three pipes a day after meals but his dependence increased his consumption from one to up to three tins a week, “Confessions,” pp. 20, 23.

53 POR, p. 159. Cited in Smith, p.19. Aldanese (1883-1947) was from Cebu and later headed the Bureau of Customs under the Philippine Commonwealth. Filipinas Heritage Library, Photo archive. http://www.retrato.com.ph/list.asp?subject=82 (Accessed December 12, 2013).

54 POR, pp. 142-143, 156, 158-159. It should be noted that the Cagayan and Isabela provinces were once part of a single opium farm in Spanish times and provided one of the most stable opium revenues outside of Manila. See Wickberg, Gamella and Bamero.

55 POR, pp. 136, 141-145. There appeared to be some confusion whether the question pertained to Europeans in Europe or those residing in the Philippines. Dr. Araneta’s reply, for example, was directed to those living in Europe. On the Spanish system, see Wickberg, pp. 115-116.

56 POR, Replies of Quisumbing and Vizmanos, pp. 145-146, 151.

57 Trocki 1999, p. 89. “Only natives of the Philippines seem to have been relatively free of the drug plague, but this was probably more a function of their poverty than the ethical principles of their rulers.” See also Foster 2003, p. 94.

58 POR, p. 145.

59 Aldanese noted that only the elder generation of Filipinos and Chinese were now known to have smoked opium since childhood. Smith, p. 64.

60 POR, pp. 134-136, 151-152, 157, 161.

61 Armando J. Malay, “From Parian to Forbes Park,” The Sunday Times Magazine (July 23, 1989), pp. 20-21.

62 POR, pp. 44, 134, 138, 143, 151, 158, 162-163. The anonymous Filipino user recalled that his opium dealer justified guian as a “natural bodily reaction on the part of those unaccustomed to opium.” He began experiencing this after regularly smoking thrice a day for three months, “Confessions,” p. 21.

63 Rizal, El Filibusterismo, p. 255. Virgilio Abueva, Binisaya-English Dictionary (Quezon City: Great Books, 2012) p. 192. It is currently a Filipino slang term for “harsh craving/longing but with mild addiction to something/someone or action.” Ron Bulaon, “Street Talk Tagalog: Salitang Kalye in English,” http://tunogkalye202.blogspot.com/ (Accessed October 25, 2013). This appears to have been repopularized in a song “Giyang” by a Filipino rock band, Razorback, to describe the irrepressible craving for alcohol. “Hebigat Sounds Volume One”

Page 169: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

155Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

(Alpha Records, 1995). It also exists as “giyan”, an archaic term in a Tagalog dialect conveying the same meaning (craving, longing or lusting for). E. Arsenio Manuel, “A Lexicographic Study of Tayabas Tagalog in Quezon Province,” Diliman Review, 19, 1-4 (1971), p. 126.

64 POR, pp. 134-135, 137, 151. Dikotter, et al., p. 65-68.

65 POR, pp. 134-135, 151, 162, 157. Sorvera did not believe that addiction led the user to commit theft; “at the most it may cause him to pilfer, in order to save his means.”

66 POR, pp. 134, 138-141, 143, 148-149, 153, 158-159, 162. Dr. Fernando mentioned that there were “rare instances” of long-term moderate use of opium. Quisumbing, Villasis and Anonymous also believed it was possible for a user to drink alcohol as well. Fernando contradicted Sorvera, who believed 99 percent were against opium use in Surigao.

67 Ibid., pp. 146-147. Others who supported absolute prohibition were Cordero, De Jesus, Ocampo, Palomares and Roxas.

68 POR, pp. 146-147. Replies of Chiyuto, Fernando, Quisumbing and Vizmanos. Others who supported this position were San Agustin, Eleazar and Salazar. See: Wertz, p. 483.

69 Ibid., pp. 147-149. The Chinese merchant mentioned that there might be “ten to fifteen importers and wholesale dealers” and numerous retail dealers who might be interested in the “exploitation of opium.” On Dr. Albert, see PMPC 1906, p. 273.

70 POR, pp. 41-47.

71 Foster 2003, pp. 104-106.

72 POR, pp. 40-41, Wertz, p. 483.

73 Smith, pp. 35-60. Smith quoted Victor Heiser and Internal Revenue official Robert C. Round, respectively. On this hearing, see PMPC 1906, p. 235 ff.

74 POR, Interview with Dr. J. N. Cushing, p. 115.

75 IOCR, vol. 2, p. 29.

76 PMPC 1906, p. 273.

77 “Confessions,” p. 24.

78 On Chinese policies and perceptions at the beginning of the American period see Chu 2012, pp. 281-332.

Page 170: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

156 VICTORIA: The Most Humane Of Any That Could Be Adopted

79 Gamella and Martin, p. 31.

80 Ricardo M. Zarco, “A Sociological Study of the Illegal Narcotics Activity in the Philippines” M.A. Thesis, University of the Philippines Diliman, 1959, pp. 84-86. Zarco profiled the immigrant Chinese addict of his time as one who was 40 to 50 years old and from Fujian (Amoy), Guangzhou (Canton) or Chingkiang.

Page 171: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

157Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

THE APPROPRIATION OF LOCAL CULTURE IN MUSEUM PRACTICES:

PROBLEMS AND POSSIBILITIES FOR PHILIPPINE COMMUNITIES1

Cecilia S. De La Paz

Abstrak:

Sa pagsusuri ng kasanayang pangmuseo na may kinalaman sa paglalahad ng “pang araw-araw na pamumuhay” bilang representasyon ng ilang aspeto ng kalinangang lokal, nakikibahagi ang sanaysay na ito sa diskurso ukol sa politika ng pampublikong kultura ng Pilipinas. Habang isinasaalang-alang ang pag-aalinlangan kaugnay ng eksotikong pagtingin ng museo sa ini-Ibang etnisidad at pamayanan para sa pagkonsumong urban, inuusisa rito ang uri ng estetiko, gayundin ang kadahilanan ng ipinapahayag sa bawat pagtatanghal ng museo. Paano tinatalakay ang isyu ng kakanyahan sa ganitong uri ng museo at para kanino? Mga espasyo ang museo kung saan ang diskurso ng tunay na kultura na nagtatanghal ng “pang araw-araw na pamumuhay” ay nagiging “itinanghal na pamumuhay.” Kinakailangang muling suriin ang papel ng mga pampublikong institusyon katulad ng museo upang makibahagi sa politika ng paglikha sa kakanyahan at sa sariling pagtingin ng bayan. Layunin ng papel na ito ang mga sumusunod: 1) suriin ang kasanayang pangmuseo na naglalahad ng “pang araw-araw na pamumuhay” bilang mga espasyo ng “paglikha ng kakanyahan” ng pangitaing bayan; 2) pag-aralan ang isyu ng representasyon ng “kulturang lokal” sa kasanayang museo at ang kaugnayan nito sa turismo; at 3) pag-isipan ang mga suliranin at posibilidad ng pagsisimula ng pampamayanang museo sa mga kabayanan ng Pilipinas bilang kapalit ng tradisyunal na kasanayang pangmuseo.

Page 172: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

158DE LA PAZ: The Appropriation of Local Culture in Museum Practices

Introduction

This paper would like to contribute to the discourse on the politics of public

culture in the Philippines by examining the museum practice that deals with

displays of “everyday life” that represents notions of local culture. In an era

where ‘globality’ is encroaching in a nation’s political, economic, social and

cultural agenda, the presence of significant variety of museums dealing with

traditional life ways (peasant) and folk objects, presents a problematic issue of

representation and identity construction of Philippine communities which are

grappling with modernity and its effects on everyday life. While recognizing

the dangers of museums presenting an exotic gaze on “othered” ethnicities and

communities for urban consumption, we can ask: what kinds of aesthetics are

being constructed and for what purpose? How is the issue of identity being

addressed in such a museum and for whom?

Keeping in mind the importance of differences in the mode of

production and reception of displayed objects, people as individuals and as a

collective construct meaningful signification to what the museum represents in

civil society. Museums are spaces where the discourse of an authentic culture

through exhibits of ‘everyday life’ is transformed into ‘displayed life’. In the midst

of criticism of the prevalent ‘self-orientalization’ or ‘nativism’ in ethnographic

and folk museums, or even national museums, there is a need to re-evaluate

the role of such public institutions so that it can address the politics of identity

construction and a nation’s imagination of itself. Therefore, the paper aims to

explore the following ideas: 1) evaluate museums practices dealing with ‘everyday

life’ as “identity construction” sites of an imagined nation; 2) problematize the

issue of representation of “local culture” as appropriated in the museum practice

and its relation to tourism; and 3) explore the challenges and possibilities of

Page 173: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

159Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

initiating community museums in the Philippine localities as alternative to

the traditional museum practice. Navigating through these concepts would

hopefully reveal new paths in understanding different communities in the

Philippines, seeking guidance in directions that their cultural program can take.2

At this point, I must explain that I am part of a non-governmental

organization which gives value to local cultural research as the basis of

“appropriation” of certain motifs of local culture whether it’s for community

theater, festival management and community museum. As such, I had to

work with various local government units in what may be described as “critical

collaboration,” persevering to instill societal change from within the much

maligned political structure of the Philippines. It is this context that I am

presenting my thoughts on museums and communities, hoping that they could

throw some light on the larger discourse on appropriating indigenous cultural

resources.3

The Museum Gaze and Public Culture

Working on the premise that culture is a social construct, a contested and

negotiated field of knowledge and articulation, then a critique of the museum

gaze is timely in the Philippines as it is implicated in questions of identity

in the context of encroaching globality. In more ways than one, museums

communicate to a disparate audience or communities, forging an artefactual or

artificial experience of homogeneity-–a space where social tensions are ironed

out and made sensible. With the intention to reveal the politics of collection and

display to an enlightened viewer, the times call for more sensitivity to people’s

lives that are sometimes exploited in the name of culture.

Page 174: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

160DE LA PAZ: The Appropriation of Local Culture in Museum Practices

This paper is concerned with the museum’s role in creating a public

culture as part of civil society. Economic activities, social life and cultural affairs

are all constructed within civil society and the strength and resilience of a social

order resides in the capacity of civil society to aid in shaping the direction of

change. As Ivan Karp aptly puts it, “Civil society is the crucible in which citizenship

is forged…more than a mosaic of communities and institutions, civil society is a

stage, an arena in which values are asserted and attempts at legitimation made

and contested.”4 As an important element in civil society, museums articulate

social ideas. They define relations with communities whether they intend to

or not. They construct central and peripheral identities because of particular

narrations, of aesthetic privileging and political-economic interests. So that

if we consider museums as integral parts of civil society, we often justify their

existence on the grounds that they play a major role in expressing, understanding,

developing and preserving our objects, values and knowledge.

However, questions remain: who decide on what to collect, that can

represent people’s lives and experience? How are social relations forged in the

politics and aesthetics constructed in the museum practice? What values are

silenced by the museum practice and what is advanced as true and authentic?

As Karp has observed, the traditional roles of museum–-collecting, preserving,

studying, interpreting and exhibiting–-are now scrutinized by communities

who are marginalized by the museum gaze. The realization that the museum

audience does not passively accept what they are made to see is to point to the

complex and changing nature of public culture. For better or for worse, civil

society widely accepts that museums are spaces for defining who people are and

how they should act; and so they are also places for challenging outdated and

oppressive representations.5

Page 175: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

161Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

The Display of Everyday Life and Cultural Appropriations

Museums, dealing with things used in everyday life, assume that urban culture

which is marked with ‘stranger mentality’ or absence of community solidarity

could be taught with specific ways of seeing and valuing. We do not actually

‘know’ our neighbor because there is nothing in our neighborhood that ties us

beyond our family, network of friends and professional colleagues. Therefore

the modern city has to create cultural symbols so that people can have a sense of

commonality and communality that will allow its dwellers to imagine, feel and

acquire the same things together. As a state apparatus, a museum contribute to

the notion of a homogenous culture and serve as an arbiter of what is acceptable

and not. It engages in the production of knowledge that vie for space in the

modern Filipino consciousness, especially in the urban centers of power.

Old museum practice is sustained by the idea of “authenticity”-–a

perspective that says there are factual and unchanging truth claims on cultural

ethnicities. It is also an emotional issue because collective identity, territoriality

and historical claims are involved. In all, it should be noted that the discourse on

authenticity always revolves around “power” and “authority” on the one hand,

and “misrepresentation” and “marginalization” on the other. We should note

that in the museum practice of starting a collection, objects in themselves have

no authority, people do. We ascribe meaning to objects; then we label them as

“material culture” or “cultural heritage.” But as a kind of discourse, we must ask

“what does the label of authenticity privileges and what does it deny?”

A collector’s objects or artifacts control the focus of an exhibition

in museums; in this regard, her/his rejected objects become “silences” in the

selfsame collection. The colonial experience becomes important in determining

the nature of most museum collection which we now consider as collection of

Page 176: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

162DE LA PAZ: The Appropriation of Local Culture in Museum Practices

the Philippine “nation.” One can easily conclude that this collection was guided

by the exotizing eye, the “Filipino” as the European’s “other.” If we wish to

overcome the colonial trap, then we must re-orient the museum practice in order

to give more importance on people and their capacity to interpret and create

contemporary meanings, rather than on collecting “objects” that stereotypically

represent indigenous “Filipino-ness.” An indigenous community, for instance,

would not see the importance of displaying the objects that represent their

everyday life that is still lived and experienced in their community. However, an

urban audience, which experiences the systemic loss of identity brought about

by colonization and globalization, has more of a need for an appropriated life

experiences in order to feel a sense of a nation, in which ethnic identities are

deemed to possess a sense of authenticity.

National Museums, the Culture of Collecting and Appropriated Local Cultures

The idea of a nation is intimately intertwined with the idea of a national

museum as a marker of its achievements in the passage of time. We remember

the story of Noah in the Bible, where he saved as much living things as he can

in his famous ark, and felt the need to classify and organize god’s creations for a

promised future.6 The birth of a national museum follows a similar pattern: first,

a need to collect a past to be brought to the present is felt; second, the impetus

to organize and classify so that collections become meaningful is realized; and

lastly, the language of display becomes a concern: how does one publicly exhibit

collections that would be cohesive and representational of interests of the state

and its people? Objects from everyday life are imagined to be saved from the

deluge of time, natural catastrophe and social upheaval to serve as a stable past

Page 177: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

163Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

for a continuously changing present.

The chosen sites of national museums are also symbolic of the cultural

claims of the economic and political centers of the nation. The concept of a

national museum is a claim to civilization, so that more than its objects, the

context of its viewing and attendant atmosphere become as important.

The concept and collection of the Philippine National Museum started

in the late 19th century under Spanish colonialism. This Museum has experienced

a tumultuous history during the American rule; it suffered bombings in World

War II and lost important artifacts to influential museums abroad. During the

last decade, the museum was rehabilitated as it was transferred to the Finance

Building, originally constructed in the American occupation. Claiming to be “The

Museum of the Filipino People,” it modernized its method of display to include

interactive programs alongside archeological, ethnographic and thematic

displays. The collection relays a strong awareness of the diversity of ethnicities

that forms the nation, although it is mostly silent on its Muslim populace and

their history of wars with the colonizers and continued oppression.

Without an organized group tour, it is difficult to persuade people to visit

museums. It is possible that people have yet to feel the need to view their life as

a displayed piece for it is still played out in their everyday. It is also possible that

the everyday landscape in the country’s urban culture has not rapidly changed;

traditions are still meaningfully played out with social change. Yet, whether they

are visited or not, as part of civil society, museums in the Philippines appropriate

various ethnic emblems and objects as the bases of the Philippine nation.

The term “art” and “craft” would be problematic to Filipino traditional

communities where spheres of knowledge are intimately intertwined despite

Page 178: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

164DE LA PAZ: The Appropriation of Local Culture in Museum Practices

modern encroachment. In the academe, there are attempts towards a discourse

on folk art called sining bayan or katutubong sining which has its own aesthetics

based on environmental and social context. Since fine arts come from a western

tradition, traditional folk crafts--shaped by the diverse Philippine landscape--are

seen as bastions of ethnicity, honesty and purity. There are no specific museums

in the Philippines dealing with folk art, but the former Museum of Philippine

Ethnography in the Nayong Pilipino Park deals with displays of everyday life and

objects such as textiles and farming implements mainly from the indigenous

groups of northern Luzon and southern Mindanao. The display underscores

the cultural context of the textiles, although the orientation is mainly visual

and discourages interaction. In addition, the touted representations of the

Philippine village as an open museum looses much of its credibility when the

attitudinal concerns of the guides or docents are mainly economic–-to make

visitors buy the varied array of souvenir folk art items or tourist art. The staff

of each ‘regional’ house openly welcomes visitors with flashy cameras for they

signify ‘buying power.’

Another thematic exhibit on life ways is the Diwa: Buhay at Ritual or

the Museo ng Kalinangang Pilipino, housed in a small gallery at the Cultural

Center of the Philippines. The main problems here are accessibility to the public

and the symbolic meaning still associated with CCP, however misplaced, as a

Marcosian creation.

Both museums attempted in situ (context) displays by using

mannequins that approximate how people have lived and still live today.

But the resulting display is one of exoticism--far-away static communities

that is untouched by modernity (except for the converse shoes worn by the

male mannequin of the araquio tableaux at CCP). The contemporariness of

Page 179: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

165Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

culture and its possible emergence is relayed with a subliminal message of an

unchanging past--a ‘narrative of loss’--loss of innocence, loss of purity, loss of

meaning--for the benefit of tourists and an urban based audience. In our own

history, indigenous communities have experienced many encroachments and

exploitation from the outside world in the name of imperial dreams and display.

They have been exploited in International Expositions at the turn of the 20th

century when they were shipped to the United States to perform/live as display

objects in the middle of winter. Many died during that journey, forgotten and

lost in historical memory.

Today the state attempts to correct such past sins by giving awards

like the “Gawad Manlilikha ng Bayan” (National Living Human Treasures)

to traditional artists in weaving, pottery, basketry, music and performance

and promote traditional art as high art.7 Centers for Living Tradition, where

indigenous knowledge can be taught and transmitted, are established. We have

yet to see the effects of these government-funded initiatives on indigenous

communities, particularly on the relations, inside and outside their communities.

What is significant at the concept of these “centers” is that it takes the place of a

traditional museum where it is clearly not needed.

In light of local realities in the Philippines, we have begun to re-

assess the museum practice, coming face to face with political and economic

marginalization, as well as globalization in the form of diasporic communities,

comprised of millions of Filipinos working abroad. And recently, a widening

interest in the institution of local museums are springing in the regions, as

local communities grapple with their own sense of identity and the political

symbolism of a small town museum.

Here it is noteworthy to cite the case of the Museo Ilocos Norte where

Page 180: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

166DE LA PAZ: The Appropriation of Local Culture in Museum Practices

traditional life is represented through farming implements and the Spanish

influence on everyday life. The story of this historical tobacco factory turned

museum is a story of how elite patronage hastened the establishment of a local

museum. However, a conversation with one of the guides reveals this interesting

feedback: non-Ilocano visitors and tourists appreciate the display more than the

Ilocano themselves. The reason is that Ilocano visitors expect fine art objects in

museum displays, and certainly not objects of everyday life that is easily found

in their homes. While the intention of the museum was to promote Ilocano

heritage among its people, the museum has also begun to widen the definition

of art. 8

Turning Museums into Spaces of Engagement of the Constitution of Local Culture

What we construe as “Filipino culture” is always mediated by invented concepts

and agencies of modernity-–nation-state, school, media and museums. As

Stuart Hall has suggested, “The nation-state was never simply a political entity.

It was also a symbolic formation-–“a system of representation,” which produced

an ‘idea of the nation as an imagined community,’ with whose meanings we

could identify and through which this imaginary identification constituted its

citizen as ‘subjects.’9 Yet, as we are citizens who are shaped by our particular

society and culture, we must also recognize that people are also active social

actors who have the capacity to re-create or re-invent selves in every context

and milieu. Museums then can be an instrument of both suppression and

empowerment because they address the issue of perspective on what constitute

the everyday: for whom is the representation? Who benefits from the discourse

of authenticity? Why is the discourse of an idyllic everyday life of the past

important to a modern audience?

Page 181: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

167Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

In the projects of imagining a nation, a lived experience by its indigenous

communities becomes the carrier of ethnicity, perhaps also a reminder of what

the nation was before modernity. Towns in the Philippines are now all vying to

become the Destination--or the focal point of the privileged gaze. With this

title comes much needed income for towns where “tourism” becomes equated

with “jobs.” Attracting a bored citizenry who have lost their identity and sense

of self because of modernity is now a big business. The arts and tradition of the

Filipinos have answered this need in contemporary times. However, excesses

have occurred many times: cultural practices and traditions, not culturally

rooted to the place, were appropriated or invented; through costumes and

street dancing competitions, indigenous traditions were exoticized. The desire

of local communities to create an identity of its own-–in other words, to be a

destination--is the context of today’s folk craft. Folk craft and everyday objects

have been appropriated to embody regional and local identities and counter-act

their perceived marginalization vis-à-vis the favored large urban centers.

How then do we turn museums into living cultural spaces of engagement

and not as ‘narratives of loss?’ As a component of public culture, one must redefine

a museum’s role beyond ‘collection and display,’ turning the museum audience

into a community which has stakes in its representation. It would be of people

and communities and would have the power to reclaim historical memories and

create meaning for them, not given didactically to them. The role of nation-

states and its relation to museum must be reviewed also as to be more engaging

with the public, to be more people oriented rather than object oriented. This

means more programs of dialogue and museum education on viewing, in the

hope of encouraging a multi-perspective view on issues concerning a changing

society and the connections that bind the community in the museum’s gaze with

other communities. We hope for museums that will develop an audience of not

Page 182: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

168DE LA PAZ: The Appropriation of Local Culture in Museum Practices

primarily of connoisseurs but socially aware individuals. We must encourage

collaborative curatorship as this is a terrain of hybrid meanings that involve

multidisciplinary approaches and knowledge, working with the community

people themselves. Only then could everyday displays of life be valid for they

would articulate unsaid hopes and tensions in civil society--the past and present

are clearly connected; the center and periphery, actively resolved. Our task then

is to surface the issue of local cultures that are manipulated by partisan interests

and locate culture within the context of people’s social realities. If a Philippine

local culture is born out of a negotiation, we envision its museum as a place

where an audience/visitor becomes “stakeholders” in its very constitution,

definition and relevance in its locality.

The Direction: Community Museums

What is a community museum? By appending the word “community” to the word

“museum,” the phrase redirects the museum practice to face existing realities in

many communities which experienced exploitation and loss of cultural justice

due to the project of an “imagined nation.” According to Carlisle Levine, it is

a “museum which is in the hands of the community: born out of, developed,

and administered by and for the community.”10 According to a workshop in

Asian community museums in 1997, a community museum faces issues that

concerns being 1) “centers of local development, conserving and recuperating

community history, cultural values and traditional technology, and serving as

focal points for local organizational strengthening;” 2) a locale for “preservation

of both tangible and intangible heritage” such as oral traditions, folklore,

rituals and indigenous knowledge;” and 3) “a place to rediscover the community

identity and to empower community members in the face of rapid economic

Page 183: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

169Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

development and the globalization of mass culture.”11

Community museums purposely tries to get out of the old museological

practice of colonial mapping, careless and decontextualized appropriation

of indigenous cultural resources as representations of people and nations.

A community museum’s new role is to “empower the many peripheral rural

communities, touching endangered livelihoods, environment and resource

base, customs and rituals, oral and performing traditions and elements of

their knowledge and skills.”12 Japanese theorist Toshiro Ito explained that “a

community museum is oriented primarily to the local community, as opposed

to the nation’s center or the needs of tourism…new community values are

discovered by adopting an approach based in the community’s own agenda; in

other words, a revival of the overall identity belonging to the community…”13

Rather than presenting everyday life as an unchanging past, exhibits are

meant to provoke dialogues that can help in community development. Many

countries have adopted this perspective. In Australia, where the aboriginal people

are marginalized from a white dominated society, some museums have devised

policies that would ensure the rights of the aborigines to their material culture

and encourage them to pinpoint what they consider as meaningful research

topics.14 In Japan, where modernity has rapidly altered the life ways, community

museums are seen not an end in itself, but as tools that local people can use to

evaluate a modern lifestyle that has become too uniform. A community that

conducts its own research whether through beach combing or bird watching

allows for the discovery of the community itself--an ordinary citizen’s stimulus

to become a “stakeholder” in the community and its future. For this is what

it is all about: we want to build a conscious community of people who are

convinced that Philippine localities are cultural spaces which are important in

Page 184: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

170DE LA PAZ: The Appropriation of Local Culture in Museum Practices

understanding a negotiated identity in this complex world.

The Project: A Community Museum in Bago City, Negros Occidental

The initial idea for this project was simple: how can we transform a museum into

a people oriented space rather than an elite space for objects that gather dust?

How can a museum contribute in building a sense of a community rather than

in causing a community’s alienation? The answer was difficult and long--but

certainly this project provided a fruitful journey of rediscovery and commitment

to our land and culture.

With the help of the Asian Public Intellectuals Follow-up Grant, I was

able to collaborate with the Balay ni Tan Juan Historical House Museum in

initiating a community exhibit in Bago City, Negros Occidental. From April 2004

to April 2005, we conducted a series of workshops with representatives from the

different sectors and barangays of Bago City. The workshops aimed to create a

community exhibit that the people themselves conceptualized, collected and

installed, as well as to provide a context towards a sustainable museum education

program. The workshop output on cultural research methods, local culture and

history, curatorship and museum education program were integrated into the

visual design and concept of the exhibit called “Kabuhi sa Bago: A Community

Exhibit” or “Life in Bago: A Community Exhibit.” It opened on November 5,

2004 as a joint project of the API Follow-Up Program of the Nippon Foundation

(Japan) and the City of Bago in time for their annual festival called “A Cinco

de Noviembre,” which commemorates the Negros province declaration of

independence from Spanish colonizers in 1898.

The site of the exhibit is the residence of Don Juan Araneta, popularly

Page 185: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

171Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

known as Tan Juan, who led the revolution against the Spanish regime in Negros.

At present, Tan Juan’s house was bequeathed to the local government to be used

as a museum. While the house is undergoing the much-needed reconstruction

and renovation, its curator, Mr. Clemente Del Castillo was open to the idea

of developing it into a community museum—turning the “elite” space into a

“community” space, where people can go, learn and discuss the culture and

history of Bago City. The structure is currently being restored to firm up its

structural support. Managed by the local government, the museum houses a

paltry collection, lacks a sustainable museum education program and has not

established a relationship with its immediate community. It has a budget to pay

for the staff but has no significant funds for exhibition and museum education

programs.15

The local government welcomed the museum project as it could help

in promoting Bago City as a tourist attraction in Negros, in competition with

well-preserved old towns such as Silay and Talisay. However, for the participants,

who devoted time, effort and talent to the project, the community museum is

really meant for them–-understanding where they are now in Bago history. The

concern for Bago tourism was secondary. A community museum can only be

possible in this manner. If the main concern behind a museum project is the

tourist, then its exhibit will only lead to exoticization. But if its main concern is

the articulation of people’s voices, then its installations might be an “authentic”

voice from below.

The Community Exhibit: Kabuhi sa Bago

The exhibit has two components: the first is the barangay exhibit which includes

Page 186: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

172DE LA PAZ: The Appropriation of Local Culture in Museum Practices

their historical memories, collected objects from the past and cultural map

where the people’s own valuation of their local history and cultural tangible

heritage were given meaning and importance. The second features the place of

rice and sugar in their everyday life-–which includes farm, storage and cooking

implements. Photos, drawings and the Negrense language were incorporated in

the exhibit. Cultural research is crucial to the museum project as it points to the

community’s cultural heritage such as the old simburyo or sugar mill chimneys,

made of river stones, and the ‘re-discovery’ of the traditional cookie alfajor (sun-

dried rice and sugar cookies) which is in danger of being forgotten.

In contrast to the old museum practice, we started with cultural

research in the local culture and not with a collection. Workshop participants

were taught various research methodologies such as cultural mapping and

cultural calendar. We redefined the interview in their traditional concepts of

kuwentuhan and kapihan. The gathered data were processed in workshops that

yielded dialogue and interpretation. Local stories surrounding particular sites

emerged, whether historical or mythical. As a group, everybody went around

each other’s barangays and became interested in each other’s problem beyond

their own political territory. They saw connectedness and similarities in their

experiences. Finally, they were asked to gather objects that would have “value”

for the people in their barangay--the result was a very human interpretation of

their community’s experiences. Over 200 objects were borrowed, ranging from

antique “santos” to an ordinary “arinola”--every single one tells a story about the

war, about a loved one, about spirits in nature, about their life as farmers. Here,

a community museum’s objective is clearly not just aesthetic, nor is it about

culture per se; it is about the community, as it tries to recuperate the past and

understand the present.16

Page 187: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

173Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

Possibilities and Challenges of a Community Museum in the Philippines

The project aims to realize an “imagined community” in the context of social

actors, actively responding to issues of power or disempowerment in terms

of historical memory, economic direction, social inequity and cultural

representation. Through a collaborative and participative museum installation

of its diverse and common cultural life, the Bago City community underwent

a process of creating and re-creating ‘selves’ in the hope of claiming a space in

historical memory as well as social and cultural empowerment. A community

museum is not the structure per se; it is the continuous process of producing

knowledge by the people, in order to better understand present realities and

inspire the capacity to ‘create,’ concurrent with the possibility to change.

It is in this perspective that I also argue for the experience of lowlanders

who experienced colonization, migration and dislocation are also societal

experiences that are part and integral to concepts of local history and culture

and may be viewed as “indigenous cultural resource.” These are silences in our

national history--the voice of our people and their crucial understanding of what

is tangible and intangible heritage, from their unique perspective of oppression,

poverty and continuing feudal relations.

Transforming the elite space of Balay ni Tan Juan into a community space

is significant. A community museum will have a great impact on many levels.

First, it benefits the people of Bago, providing a platform for the assertion of

history among their sugar workers, who have plowed these lands in the last 150

years against the backdraft of the elite view of Negrense history. Second, other

Negros Occidental towns and districts will welcome a community museum more

than its highly urbanized counterpart in Bacolod for it will improve local eco-

Page 188: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

174DE LA PAZ: The Appropriation of Local Culture in Museum Practices

tourism that is people-oriented and not prone to stereotyping. Third, museum

workers will be trained in curatorial work and a museum education program

will be developed and maintained. Fourth, local artisans and craftsman will

have a chance to engage with the community in a dignified manner and will

be recognized as keepers of knowledge and traditions. And last, through the

school system, audience development will primarily be given importance so

that the youth may learn the importance of their local history and culture.

Overall, the development of a community museum in the Philippines could

be an important step in mitigating the Manila-oriented version of a ‘national’

culture by empowering people in the margins to imagine themselves based on

their experiences and realities.

The vision to turn the museum from an elite-oriented space into a “space

of engagement” and a meaningful community space is an important initiative

in the Philippines where the elitist connotation of culture predominates.

Significantly, an artistic and cultural perspective is a tool of empowering people

to look at themselves in their own context and not just passively accept the elite

families’ version of their history and culture. There is a rich undercurrent of a

‘history from below’ that is only now being realized in Negros; and working in a

‘community museum’ set-up will encourage a dialogue that has not frequently

happened. In addition to working with the Bago community of farmers and

sugar workers, folk weavers, potters and contemporary artists, the project wishes

to mount an exhibit that will deal with historical memory, folk culture and the

community’s agricultural life cycle that is always connected with national and

global concerns.17

For this project, the community museum is reconstructed not as a

status symbol of a nation or as a ‘narrative of loss’ but an active reclaiming of

Page 189: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

175Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

cultural and historical memory, which is always in process and not a fossilized

fact. Therefore, the heart of a community museum is not just its collection, but

the process of a collaborative undertaking associated with its establishment. Its

educational program component will enliven the museum space. The citizens

of Negros Occidental will also have a chance to ‘mirror’ themselves in such a

museum; it will be a space, where they can reflect on their history and culture.

Such a museum might also serve as a model for other community museums in

the country or in Southeast Asia. Many local government units in the Philippines

are clamoring for museums in their own towns with the mistaken agenda of

purely touristic purposes. Beginning this initiative and working with a local

government unit could prove that alternative voices can come out in the open

without the fear and influence of partisan politics.

Finally, let me say that at the heart of my belief in cultural empowerment

is the realization that without an aware citizenry at the local level, there would

be no significant changes in the national political-scape in the Philippines, nor

will there be empathy with the larger concerns of Asia and the world. The work

for a cultural worker is here-–and it cannot wait. As for the academic in me,

learning from people and communities (and their lessons of resiliency in the

face of adversities) has been very rewarding experience–-a journey that I hope

will continue in the future.

Endnotes

1 An earlier version of this essay appeared as: “The Appropriation of local culture in Museum Practices: Problems and Possibilities for Philippine Communities,” Rueben Ramas Cañete (ed.), Suri Sining: The Art Studies Anthology (Quezon City: The Art Studies Foundation, Inc., 2011).

2 At this point I need to explain that I’m speaking from two voices--as an

Page 190: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

176DE LA PAZ: The Appropriation of Local Culture in Museum Practices

academic and as a cultural worker. I have been teaching Art Studies for 18 years and I realize that theory is not enough. For theories to be “useful” I embarked on a community work through Baglan Art and Community Initiatives which believes that the key to people empowerment and human development is through the arts.

3 This paper was initially presented to the National Congress on Appropriating Indigenous Cultural Resources in Festivals and other Spectacles, October 20, 2006 at the Philippine Social Science Center, Quezon City.

4 Ivan Karp, et al. (eds). Museums and Communities: The Politics of Public Culture (Washington and London: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1992), p. 6.

5 Another issue that the paper deals with is the concept of representation that arises from imagining selves, nations and communities in the museum gaze. Taking off from Benedict Anderson’s notion of ‘imagined communities’ (See: Benedict Anderson, Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism [London: Verso Edition, 1983]) and Eric Hobsbawm and Ernst Gellner’s ‘invented tradition,’ we can examine the Philippines as a cultural construct created by the intellectual elites and appropriated in political and economic policies of the state. As Hobsbawm has suggested, it is a mistake to think of a ‘nation’ as an unchanging social entity. It is rather of a “particular and historically recent entity, relating to a certain kind of modern state.”(See: Eric Hobsbawm, Nations and Nationalism since 1780: Programme, Myth, Reality [Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 1990]) Therefore, the concept of a nation is a kind of project--an artefact, an invention and a product of social engineering--it is not static, but rather imagined and constructed through active engagement by a group of people.

6 John Elsner and Roger Cardinal (eds), The Cultures of Collecting (Massachusets: Harvard University Press, 1994), p. 1.

7 Felipe de Leon, “Traditional Art is High Art: A Question of Perspective,” National Living Treasures Awards, (Manila: National Commission for Culture and the Arts, 1998).

8 Reification of folk art objects happens when everyday things become acquirable possessions. In 1992 such a process happened at the Cabanatuan City Museum. I am from this fast-changing city; and so I helped the local government start its historical and thematic exhibit. Initiating an on-loan temporary collection from the rural baranggays, we borrowed a huge kawa or talyasi that this village used for cooking during collective celebrations and events. On the day the exhibit opened, the decontextualized talyasi is transformed--the everyday object becomes art, by virtue of the museum space, and was eyed by antique collectors. Museums appropriating everyday folk materials contributed

Page 191: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

177Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

to the idea of acquirable art mostly for urban consumers of culture, pointing to a democratization of symbolic and material culture. Yet a revaluation of folk art is in order to widen its definition that would incorporate notions of ‘cultural justice,’ facing the fact that the objects we admire so much also connotes meanings of unequal relations of urban and regional development, and of marginalization in the national imaginary. We only need to be reminded of the T’boli people whose land was taken by a multinational corporation which grow pineapples for a global market. The circulation of the T’boli textile and brassware are now so popular and widely accepted as a national treasure in our country, yet the province of South Cotabato time and again becomes a site of recurring and unresolved violence in Philippine society.

9 Stuart Hall, “Culture, Community, Nation,” in David Boswell and Jessica Evans (eds.), Representing the Nation: A Reader (Histories, Heritage and Museum) (London: Routledge, 1999), p. 38.

10 Community Museums in Asia (Japan: Japan Foundation Asia Center, 1997), p. 8.

11 Ibid.

12 Kalyan Chakravarty, “The Legitimate Mission of a Post Colonial Museum in the Indian Context,” in Community Museums in Asia (Japan: Japan Foundation Asia Center, 1997), pp. 24-25.

13 This was cited in: Takeshi Asaji, “The Osaka Human Rights Museum as a Community,” in Community Museums in Asia (Japan: Japan Foundation Asia Center, 1997), p. 167.

14 Philip Gordon, “Museums, Indigenous Peoples and the 21st Century; Or is There a Place for Museums in this Brave New World?” in Community Museums in Asia (Japan: Japan Foundation Asia Center, 1997), pp. 34-41.

15 In terms of finances, the API grant paid for the cost of materials including the electrical needs of the exhibit, airfare, services, board and lodging of staff, workshops, and honoraria of consultants. As their financial counterpart, Bago City shouldered the local transportation needs, workshop venues, provided carpentry services, promotion and opening day ceremonies. More than 150 people directly participated in the project, including the active participation of the 24-barangay representatives of the city and 100 more that contributed or loaned objects for the exhibit, which dates from the 18th century to the 1960’s. The curatorial process was collaborative--Dr. Brenda Fajardo (who hails from Bago City) and Mr. Tanni Pangilinan of Digerati (a multimedia company) served as co-curators with the participants while the BTJ staff helped out in any way they can. Hopefully the exhibit will last 5-8 years, given the quality of the tarpaulin materials that were used. Although in keeping with the idea of community

Page 192: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

178DE LA PAZ: The Appropriation of Local Culture in Museum Practices

empowerment and knowledge transfer, the participants may choose to revise it according to their felt need and availability of resources. Indeed, from my point of view, a dynamic changing exhibit is more desirable than a static one.

16 The objects that were collected from the 24 barangays are on-lease basis. The staff has been given training in conducting guided tours. An organization called Abyan (Friends) also evolved from the participants to the workshops that support the programs and promotions, including members of the Araneta family. A museum education program was also started by holding an art workshop for the youth sector and senior citizens of the community. Many were eager for such an event because they said that there are no venues and opportunities to learn about artistic methods and discussions. The exhibit space provided a gallery for their works wherein they draw landscapes and genre scenes of their villages. Art materials were donated to each barangay hall so that they can continue to practice and maybe even encourage people to explore the possibilities of art making. All in all, the project experimented with the possibilities and challenges in realizing a community exhibit in the Philippines. Other local government units have expressed their desire to emulate the project and hopefully it will provide an alternative way of creating a cultural program for their communities.

17 Today Mr. Del Castillo is thinking of converting the second floor into an exhibition of a history of Bago through a genealogical approach--family histories. It will be composed of both elite and poor families, both political and cultural roles, family of boxers, weavers, kakanin makers, etc. It is also hoped that the process of reconstructing memory from the point of view of the disempowered in official history along with the understanding of the role of living traditions in contemporary society will enhance the goal of creating a vibrant community responsive to the needs of the times. A realistic community museum program and activities throughout the year has been set up. Hopefully, it will be sustainable, dynamic, responsive and empowering. Using local resources and practices, a year-long museum program will be coordinated with the school curriculum that is envisioned to be participative and engaging.

Page 193: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

179Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

YEARNING FOR NATIVENESS

Wilfried Wagner

Abstrak:

Iginigiit sa kontribusyong ito ang mithiing gagapin ang pagka-katutubo bilang produkto ng Panahon ng Kaliwanagan. Matapos ang isang maikling paglalahad ukol sa ilang kilalang ekspedisyon, tinatalakay dito ang ‘di pa nabibigyang-pansin na “Ekspedisyong Fejòs.” Noong 1937 pinaniwalaan ng direktor sa Hollywood at arkeologong si Dr. Paul Fejòs na natuklasan niya ang isang lipunan sa kanilang kauna-unahang estado sa Sipora ng kapuluang Mentawai, sa kanlurang bahagi ng Sumatra. Habang ginagamit ang modelong “Nanook of the North” ni Flaherty, kumatha ng isang pelikulang may script ukol sa lipunang ito. Bagamat may malakas na probisyong pinansyal at may pitong buwan ng pagsasapelikula, tatlong maikling pelikula lamang ang naging produkto ng ekspedisyon. Pinagtangkaang suriin sa sanaysay na ito ang mga dahilan sa likod nito. Bilang pangwakas, ipinugay ang pagpupunyagi ni Zeus Salazar na ilantad ang mapagkunwaring “pagkakatuklas” at kagilagilalas na pagpapakita sa mga Tasaday bilang isang lipunan sa kanilang pinakaunang estado.

Aveyron

In 1797, a “wild boy” was sighted in the forests of Aveyron and finally captured in

1800. The news spread rapidly. After all, here, at last, was an opportunity to find

out how a human being, who had grown up completely unspoilt by culture and

its constraints, thought and felt. As a belated contemporary of Adam and Eve,

prior to the fall of mankind, what language would he speak--perhaps the oldest

in human history? Hebrew, perhaps?

Page 194: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

180 WAGNER: Yearning for Nativeness

Fifty years had not yet passed since Jean-Jacques Rousseau1 had thrown

down the gauntlet to “his age of enlightenment, reason and science”2 and was

awarded the prize by the Academy of Dijon in 1750. The task was to answer the

question as to whether the restoration of the sciences and the arts had contributed

to refining moral practices. Rousseau added a self-doubting “or corrupting it”3

to the question and answered it with a “No.” Although he did not pen the frequently

cited phrase “Back to Nature,” he did institute a discourse that was to determine the

second half of the 18th century and feed the French Revolution. Accordingly, the

“cultural world had smothered the natural world that is simultaneously recognised

as the true home of the soul, the centre of the recently acquired self.”4

The educational novels Julie ou la Nouvelle Héloïse (1761)--a global

success--and Émile ou De l’éducation (1762) in connection with the magnum

opus of political philosophy Du Contract Social, ou Principes du Droit Politique

(1762), transpose Rousseau’s educational concepts with the stylistic means

of constructed biographies. Rousseau experimented hypothetically with

alternative life designs “to get to the question as to what humans could have

become.”5 Man in his primitive state was “a being, weaker than the others, less

agile, but overall the most favourably equipped of all. As a wild creature he lived

among the animals and gradually prevailed over them [...]. Afflictions plague

him less in his primitive state than in over-saturated cultures, where nights

spent without sleep, debauchery, exhaustion and spiritual fatigue (as Rousseau

says) wear down the soul.”6

“Émile,” in particular, was banned and burnt due to its attacks on court,

state and church. Rousseau experienced neither the storming of the Bastille nor

the capture of the “wild boy.” He died in 1778. The capture of the “wild boy” gave

his discourse on the primitive state of man an authentic twist--albeit not as one

Page 195: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

181Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

might have expected.

Indeed, the very first examination of the approximately ten-year-old

yielded perplexing results: he did not speak a word, understood no language,

did not react to pantomime or gesture, music left him cold, and he sought no

physical contact with others. But he was wide awake as soon as a nut was cracked

behind his back. Eventually, a young physician and teacher of deaf-mutes, Jean

Itard, took over his education and put him through a rigorous programme of

conditioning that lasted for many years. With moderate success--as the diary,

made into a film by François Truffault, serves to demonstrate. The intellectual

audience of the age of enlightenment had long since anticipated that the

expansion of Europe would lead to the discovery of the “noble savage,” perhaps

even of entire societies in a primeval state, instead of mere reports of a single

“wild boy.”

Paris

Whilst the verification or falsification of the biblical story of creation were

considered of cognitive interest at the beginning of the age of enlightenment,

the expectations and requirements of irrefutable proof of man in his primal

state were subject to change. Because most Europeans were unable to travel

overseas to seek out, find and study the ways of life practiced by yet to be

‘discovered’ peoples, these peoples’ presumed detailed ensembles should at

least be brought to the metropolises of the old world. As such in 1815 the first

international industrial fair7 the “Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of

all Nations” had presented “colonial” departments in London; while the 1878

Paris “Exposition Universelle” imported “aboriginal villages” as attractions

for visitors. Moreover, they served to justify the colonial and cultural project

Page 196: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

182 WAGNER: Yearning for Nativeness

against the background of the rise of Social Darwinism. In the meantime,

the Hagenbeck Company had recognised that the “villages” were losing their

appeal over time. The people from faraway lands were by no means emotionally

cold and no longer played a convincing role as dull and indifferent extras in a

“primal state” akin to still life. The wax models began to wink with their eyes,

as it were, and to offer demonstrations of unusual motor activity, strength and

humour. Hagenbeck’s ambulatory “aborigine shows” became successful events,

during which the astonished and delighted audience were presented with a

display of intoxicating physicality and acrobatics, amazing requisites, non-

European animals and inventive clothing and finery. A new kind of exoticism

broke away from the meanwhile academic ethnology and “colonial exhibitions

within the scope of world and industry fairs.” The emergence of tropical

photography in a colonial context progressed, parallel to this development.8

The new instrument promised an extension to the visual organ of sight and

seemed to offer results of sheer inimitable accuracy. Eventually, movement

came to film, followed later by sounds, speech and music in “talkies.”

Gradually, however--and not least as a consequence of a rapidly

expanding film production--viewers became weary of the obviously staged

scenes. It was the 1920’s film “Nanook of the North,” German title “Nanuk, der

Eskimo,” by Robert Joseph Flaherty that treated the people at its centre not only

as objects at the line producer’s disposal, but rather as components of creative

filming. Film production played second fiddle to Nanook’s rhythm of work,

and the hidden choreography of his construction concept for a new igloo and

securing his provisions made sense. The term ‘scripted fictional film’ came into

use.

Page 197: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

183Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

Mentawai

The following section addresses Dr.Paul Fejòs9 who, in 1937, believed he

could capture nativeness in a scripted fictional film made in the village

of Siuban on Sipora in the Mentawai archipelago, west of Sumatra.10

Until today this expedition is unknown to the field of research. Fejòs brought

Hollywood to Mentawai.

11

This dedication in a copy of Theodor Mommsen’s “Das Weltreich der

Caesaren”12 is possibly the only handwritten comment Fejòs ever made on his

Mentawai expedition. How did he get to this location?

Paul Fejós, in Hungarian Pal Fejös, grew up in a wealthy, cosmopolitan

family in Budapest. The good-looking, adroit grammar school pupil dreamed of

a career in film, whilst his father forced him to study medicine. After successfully

completing his studies there was nothing in Europe to hold him back.

In Hollywood, the autodidact forged a career as an inventive director of

silent movies Charlie Chaplin called him a genius, and Albert Einstein visited

Page 198: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

184 WAGNER: Yearning for Nativeness

him at the studio in 1930.13 The Frankfurt film sociologist Kracauer reviewed

Fejòs’s film “Lonesome” in 1929.14 He wrote the following: “The film…,which

comes from Hollywood, is one of the best films made for a long time…The two

protagonists are a telephonist and a factory worker—little people who are not

seen at all in the usual German films.”15 Fejós was the first to install a camera

platform on the extended ladder of a fire engine.16 That is how “Broadway”

was made in 1929. Completely disillusioned, he returned to Europe in 1931,

declaring “I simply didn’t fit into the Hollywood picture.”17 He successfully

managed the transition to films with sound at Nordisk Films of Copenhagen.

But he soon became bored with studio productions. “No sitzfleisch,”18 as

he is described by his American biographer. His old friend Lothar Wolff (1909-

1988) provided Fejós a new direction by introducing him to anthropology and

archaeology, but most of all, away from Europe. In 1936 he boarded a ship

to Madagascar--“because,” according to him, “there are native people”19 in the

south, particularly in “the most untouched part”20 to the Tanosi and Bara. Later,

he claimed “(F)or the first time in my life I met primitive natives and I found

them adorable.”21 Ten months in Madagascar were followed by three in Mahé

and other locations in the Seychelles.

In 1937, at the recommendation of Thomas Thomsen, the director of the

Copenhagen Museum of Ethnology, the Swedish Film Industry furnished Paul

Fejós with significant funds--to which the king of Sweden had also contributed.22

Thomsen commissioned him to produce films of untouched societies and collect

ethnological artefacts in today’s Indonesia or the former Dutch East Indies. This

assignment became Fejós’s extreme field research project--and his longest. He

visited virtually every island of the Indonesian archipelago, but also Singapore,

where he met the Swedish cinema industrialist Axel Wenner-Gren (1881-1961)

who would become his lifelong patron, friend and companion. In 1938, he

Page 199: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

185Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

directed the film “A Handful of Rice” in northern Siam, a simple story “told with

native ‘actors’ about the rigors of jungle life.”23 He returned to Europe and then

emigrated to the USA, where he directed the “Wenner-Gren Foundation for

Anthropological Research” and held various professorships for anthropology.

In 1937, at the end of his expedition through Indonesia and before he

starts filming in Siam in 1938, we find him as a guest of my parents, Erna and

Heintz Wagner at the mission station of the Rheinische Missionsgessellschaft

on the Mentawai island of Sipora in the village of Siuban.24 “My husband went

with him to Siuban before dusk on the day he arrived,” my mother explained.

Fejós’s initial encounter with a society, living in a primitive state and embedded

in the poetry of unspoilt nature, left him awestruck. He returned to the mission

full of enthusiasm, claiming “I have at last found what I have been looking for on

all of my travels: primitive humans.”25 He used Flaherty’s “Nanook of the North”

as template for his scripted fictional film. The team lived at the mission for

seven months. Mrs. Fejòs took photographs and used still scenes from the film

production to illustrate her article for the Münchner Illustrierte Presse, “Kinder

der Wildnis. Filmfreuden und Filmstarallüren mitten im Stillen Ozean.”26 It is

the only representation of filming on Mentawai. She noted,

Thick atlases were browsed at the studio offices of the Svenska Film Company and many geographers were interviewed until the destination of film director Dr. Fejós’s expedition in the Pacific Ocean was determined: the Mentawai group of islands, with the main island of Sipora as the central filming location. The utensils used by the natives there was in part reminiscent of artefacts from the Stone Age. After exceptional communication difficulties had been overcome to a certain extent, filming began with shared enthusiasm. The film topic was the last tribal wars. The island’s medicine man acted as “consultant director.” Previously isolated from the world, the children of the wild easily picked up what the white men wanted from them and played their parts full of joy and astoundingly natural talent.

Page 200: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

186 WAGNER: Yearning for Nativeness

Another one of the scarce sources concerning Fejós’s island sojourn is an

essay on poisoned arrows and ethnographic notes from the Mentawai archipelago

(East Indies).27 In addition to an analysis of the arrows and ethnological artefacts

it also tells us that the sojourn in Siuban lasted for seven months, confirming the

statement made by Erna Wagner.28

Page 201: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

187Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

Page 202: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

188 WAGNER: Yearning for Nativeness

Erna & Heintz Wagner, family photo album. The dance scenes had to be filmed outside due to light conditions.

Some information about Fejòs’s trip to Mentawai could also be found

in the volume Geschichte der Kultur (History of Culture), which feature two of

the film maker’s still photographs and his detailed account of the expedition.29

Fejòs envisaged a film with the Mentawaiian title “Saggak” (War). It

would tell of two hostile villages at war with each other. Out of probably some

20,000 metres30 of sound film, only three short films were made: “The Tribe Still

Lives” (9’ 10‟), “The Age of Bamboo” (10‛ 40‟) and “The Chief’s Son Is Dead”

(10‛ 37‟).31 They were compiled from the raw materials and subtitled in Swedish

in Copenhagen after 1945.32 The original Mentawaiian dialogues could only be

heard when the Swedish commentator pauses. The Siuban amateurs obviously

took great pleasure from their acting. Fejòs, however, seems to have mislaid

the philosophy of the scripted fictional film. His wife writes: “The natives

played their roles as directed, void of all shyness of the camera.”33 Apparently

the director only needed to issue a few instructions. But Erna Wagner pointed

out, however, that Fejòs helped out with a few dramatization effects. The men’s

Page 203: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

189Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

loincloths of beaten tree bark were replaced with white textile material for a

better contrast. The fight between a mongoose and a python was staged as there

were no mongooses on Mentawai. Moreover, the fight was ended by a gunshot.

Finally, one of the short films shows schoolchildren competing in a tug-of-war

under the instruction of Batak missionaries, although the film commentator

speaks of ancient contests. Only one scene depicts the raid-like storming of a

village accompanied by loud cries of “Saggak.”

What caused the concept of the scripted fictional film to fail? In contrast

to his subsequent film “A Handful of Rice” which focused on a young couple’s

fight for survival, Fejòs’s Siuban film project obviously lacked a consistent script.

His expectations of a nativeness that could merely be caught on camera remained

unfulfilled. “The film material was sent to Sweden for developing and copying

[...]. But the company in Stockholm did not consider the material to be good

enough. Perhaps partially due to the fact that the expedition had encountered

much greater difficulties than initially anticipated [...]. In February 1938, Svensk

Filmindustri therefore officially dispatched the Swedish film documentary and

newsreel producer Gunnar Skoglund to assist Fejòs, but in reality to take over

shooting ‘A Handful of Rice’.”34

Speculations on Fejòs motives/prejudice are also conceivable. As a

Hollywood director he must have been aware of the film “King Kong,” made in

1933.35 A comment by the captain and a brief camera shot of a map of the west

coast of Sumatra positioned this film on a yet undiscovered island in roughly the

same location as the Mentawai islands to the west of Sumatra.36 Additionally,

the image of the primitive inhabitants in this film is based partially on elements

of Mentawaiian culture. In the 1930s this had caused a significant stir among

anthropological circles. At this time, so-called “primitive” art and culture was

Page 204: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

190 WAGNER: Yearning for Nativeness

of intellectual and popular interest. The scenes in “King Kong” and, in fact, the

entire film have nothing to do with the biogeographic features of Sipora and its

inhabitants. Nonetheless, there are some astounding similarities between “King

Kong” and Fejòs’s approach. Alone the working title of “Saggak” is evocative

of the King Kong film. There are mentions of “much-used atlases” before the

destination was defined, both in the film and from Mrs Fejòs. The archive at

the National Museum in Copenhagen, however, contains the correspondence of

four years between Heintz Wagner and the director of the Copenhagen museum

dealing with the preparation of the expedition.

“King Kong” and all of its remakes work with an almost unnaturally

delicate and beautiful, blond white woman that the monster gets between its

giant paws. Her sheer presence causes “King Kong” to melt. There are indeed

some peculiar associations, as Mrs Fejòs, Denmark’s beauty queen of 1931 under

her maiden name of Inga Arvad (1913-1973), seemed to represent the then

popular ideal of a tall, slim, blond northern European.37 She was an actress,

“but could not act.”38 Did Fejòs intend to give her a role in “Saggak”? It would

be in keeping with his erratic, open-ended planning. Could Fejòs, in his search

for nativeness, have perhaps found inspiration in the “King Kong” film? Does

the encounter with reality explain his conspicuous silence? A huge divergence

between high-flying expectations of nativeness and mute answers? Or was it the

disappointment of his sponsors? The seven months of the Mentawai expedition

continued to be omitted in every biographic publication on Fejòs. It almost

appears like his seven months in Siuban have been covered up by more than

mere coincidence--if it weren’t for the dedication from Dr. Fejòs to missionary

Wagner.

Finally, it should be noted that the missionary station was closest

Page 205: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

191Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

and maintained friendly relations with Siuban.39 The contact alone with the

Christian mission could possibly have led to a civilising alienation. Hostile

villages were already forbidden to engage in active warfare; and so, recreating

a war in front of the camera developed into an extraordinary event. Obvious

indicators, such as clothing made from natural materials and self-made tools

and utensils, appeared primitive and prehistoric, whilst Christian liturgy and

songs had replaced animistic incantations and rituals that were tabooed as

heathen. Perhaps the pleasure gained from moving between two worlds might

explain the amusement of the actors.

Ultimately one can suspect that Fejòs was anything but a non-directive

documentalist. After all, he and his team spent seven comfortable and well-

financed months at the missionary station. As cannibalism and attacks

against whites were prohibited, they could have filmed the archaic methods

of production, weaving, whittling, canoe-building, cooking in a bamboo oven,

fishing, hunting and slaughtering without risk. Seven months was more than

enough time to carefully investigate initial impressions. Although a clan house

did not afford the necessary light for taking photographs and filming, they

would have experienced the interaction among the inhabitants during all-

day sojourns and overnight stays--in brief, actual everyday life. As a qualified

tropical physician, Fejòs could have quickly engaged in conversation with the

inquisitive medicine men.

It is very probable that the scripted fictional film “Saggak” never came

into being because Fejòs and the team on location failed to critically question

their experiences and observations and discuss them with the Siubans. Caught

between distance and closeness, they chose to remain distant and rely on the

suggestive force of the film. Is not the notion of finding and filming nativeness

Page 206: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

192 WAGNER: Yearning for Nativeness

on a par with trying to isolate the golden hue of sunlight?

An attempt at reconstructing Fejòs’s expedition on the basis of the

dedication and the narrated pieces of mosaic is indeed possible. After seven

months Fejòs made no attempt to sugar-coat his rather meagre results, in

contrast to his initial impression which he regarded as epiphany, nor to blame it

on external factors.

Mindanao

The “Tasaday Controversy” serves to show just how easy it is today to visually

exploit the yearning for undiscovered nativeness by means of transportable

filming technology and traceless editing. In 1972, the Tasaday, a small, indigenous

people in the south of Mindanao, raised a global media stir due to their apparent

stone-age technology and total isolation from Philippine society. Enthralling

films and photos depict gracious and agile people, expertly choreographed, in a

sustainable symbiosis between man and nature. The list of literature indicates to

the reader that predominantly American anthropologists have taken possession

of the subject. The “stone-age people” once again became the focal point of the

world’s media in 1986, after the fall of President Ferdinand Marcos, this time as

the victims of manipulation.

Among Zeus Salazar’s many merits are his efforts to initiate the

demystification of this elaborate fraud with “stone-age people.” He exposed this

ruse in his two essays,40 published in December 1971 and 1972, and put his entire

academic and political reputation at risk. He had, after all, challenged Manuel

Elizalde, the director of the governmental organization PANAMIN, which was

established in 1968 to protect the interests of cultural minorities. Elizalde was

a protégé of President Marcos and protected “his” Tasaday from critical, and in

Page 207: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

193Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

particular, Philippine researchers with police force.

Zeus Salazar celebrates his 80th birthday this year. Vivat!

Endnotes

1 Jean-Jacques Rousseau, 1712-1778.

2 Hans Maier, Rousseau. Klassiker des Politischen Denkens II (Munich: 1968), p. 104-134; here, p. 111.

3 Ibid., p. 112.

4 Ibid.

5 Ibid.

6 Ibid.

7 On this point and in the following see the deeply reflective and content-rich essay by Kristina Starkloff, “Eigene Fremde. Die Aussagekraft “Kolonialisierter” auf Welt- und Gewerbeausstellungen,” in Jahrbuch für Europäische Überseegeschichte, 11. 2011, pp. 117-152.

8 On this point see Thomas Theye (Ed.), Der geraubte Schatten: Die Photographie als ethnographisches Dokument (Munich/Lucerne: 1989).

9 On Paul Fejòs (*1897 Budapest, † 1963 New York), see John W. Dodds, The Several Lives of Paul Fejòs: a Hungarian-American Odyssey (New York: Wenner-Gren Foundation, 1973); Paul Fejòs. Filmkritik magazine, dedicated to a film director, in Filmkritik No. 272 Aug. 1979; and David Bidney, “Paul Fejòs 1897-1963,” in American Anthropologist 66, 1964, pp. 110-115.

10 The National Museum of Denmark, Department of Ethnography Archive.

11 Wagner family archive.

12 Theodor Mommsen, Das Weltreich der Caesaren. Vol. V (Vienna: 1933), in the estate of my parents Erna Wagner, née Michel, and Heintz Wagner.

13 Filmkritik, p. 341.

14 Frankfurter Zeitung 9 April 1929. Siegfried Kracauer (born in Frankfurt/Main in 1889; deceased in New York in 1966), co-founder of the undogmatic

Page 208: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

194 WAGNER: Yearning for Nativeness

Marxist “Frankfurter Schule” around Theodor Adorno and Max Horkheimer, reviewed a total of four films by Fejòs in the newspaper, of which he was an editorial staff member. Siegfried Kracauer, Kino, Essays, Studien, Glossen zum Film, Ed. by Karsten Witte (Frankfurt: Suhrkamp Taschenbuch 126, FFM, 1974).

15 Kracauer l.c. p. 202

16 Ibid., p. 340.

17 Dodds, l.c. 43.

18 Ibid., p. 52.

19 Ibid.

20 Ibid.

21 Ibid., p. 54.

22 Erna Wagner, “Erinnerungen an Mentawai,” Video Interview, (University of Bremen, 1988).

23 Dodds, l.c. p. 59.

24 Erna and Heintz Wagner worked as a married missionary couple on the Mentawai islands from 1931 to 1938.

25 Erna Wagner, l.c.

26 “Münchner Illustrierte Presse,” edition 16, 1939, No. 17, btw. p 616 and 617. Erna Wagner received the article by post from Mrs. Fejòs in 1939 and assumed that she had written it. The name “Pacific Ocean” for the localisation of the smaller Indonesian islands was commonplace at the time.

27 Carl Gustaf Santesson, “Pfeilgifte und ethnographische Notizen von dem Mentawei-Archipel (Ostindien),” in Ethnos Vol. IV, 1939, pp. 129-146.

28 Erna Wagner, l.c.

29 Kaj Birkett-Smith, Geschichte der Kultur, (Zurich: 1956). Fig. 130 between pp. 196 & 197, Fig. 263 between pp. 412 & 413. The medicine man, Fig. 263, is clearly wearing a loincloth made from white textile material as distributed by Fejós, instead of wearing beaten tree bark.

30 Erna Wagner, l.c.

31 Source: Sveriges Television, Stock Shot Library, Stockholm. Translation of title and sound from Swedish gratefully received from Hennig Eichberg.

Page 209: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

195Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

32 Message from Inger Wulff 1982.

33 Kinder der Wildnis (Children of the wild). Signature on one of the photos.

34 Werner Gösta in Filmkritik, No. 272 August 1979, p. 388.

35 On this point and in the following: Adrian Vickers, Bali. A Paradise Created (1969), p. 126.

36 This is also referred to by Reimar Schefold, Harmonie en Rivaliteit (Leiden: 1990), p. 12.

37 During conversations relating to the expedition held in Siuban in 1974, the author was asked about the white woman who wore trousers “like a chicken that wants to be a rooster”.

38 Lothar Wolff, “Ueber Paul Fejòs,” Filmkritik l.c. p. 385.

39 My mother published a story about her friend, Si Alai Gerat.

40 Zeus Salazar, “Footnote on the Tasaday” in The Philippine Journal of Linguistics, XI, 2, December 1971, pp. 34-38, and again with “Second Footnote on the Tasaday,” 1972. Salazar argues purely linguistically by pointing out in detail that the Tasaday was a splinter cell of the ethno-linguistic group of the Manabo and did indeed have words for products made of iron (an appreciated contribution from Marlies Salazar).

Page 210: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

196 REYES: Eyes On The Prize

EYES ON A PRIZE: COLONIAL FANTASIES, THE GERMAN SELF AND NEWSPAPER ACCOUNTS OF THE 1896

PHILIPPINE REVOLUTION

Portia L. Reyes1

Abstrak:

Inilalahad ng sanaysay na ito ang natatanging pagtatanghal ng mga Aleman sa Rebolusyong Pilipino sa hindi pa nagagamit na batis pangkasaysayan—ang mga pahayagan mula sa hilagang-kanlurang estadong siyudad ng Bremen. Iginigiit ng may-akda na lumampas pa sa karaniwang pagsasalaysay sa himagsikan ang pagpapahayag ng mga diyaryo, sapagkat nais din nilang ilahad sa kanilang mga salaysay ang katuturan ng kanilang Sarili bilang Aleman at ang partikular na lugar nito sa Asya at sa Europa para sa kanilang mambabasa sa Alemanya. Pinag-ibayo ng mga salaysay ang pagnanasa at kasiyahan ng mga Aleman sa pagtatatag ng kolonya sa Pasipiko—kolonyang itinuturing na mahalagang kasangkapan noong ikalabinsiyam na siglo upang magkaroon ng pagkakataon ang Alemanya na makibahagi at igalang bilang isang Kapangyarihan sa larangan ng Weltpolitik o pandaigdigang politika.

Introduction

Hundreds of German traders and residents were living in the Philippines when

the 1896 Revolution against the Spanish broke out. Representing different

religious, regional and economic backgrounds, they routinely met and mingled

in such social organizations as reading clubs or, later, the Casino Union.2 Save

for the Spanish, Germans formed the most numerous European community. As

latecomers vis-à-vis other Europeans, they painstakingly maintained working

Page 211: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

197Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

relations with the Spanish colonial administrators and local Filipino elites to

bolster their businesses. The outbreak of the revolution, however, threatened

the deepening economic inroads this community had striven so hard to make;

and as the fighting grew they feared that their lives were also threatened. As a

consequence, they turned to their government in Berlin for protection. A warship

was duly deployed to the islands in case evacuation was deemed necessary.

Significantly, this request provided the German navy a prime opportunity to

assess developments in the Spanish colony, which, in turn, might facilitate

direct state intervention in the rebellion.3

While it is not a surprise that the German community in the Philippines

closely followed the twists and turns of the revolution, it is a revelation that

German newspapers extensively covered the revolt for their domestic readers. At

the end of the nineteenth century German newspapers swelled in number and

began to take on the commercial and industrial characteristics of modern media,

which aided broader coverage of world events.4 Reports transformed abstract,

obscure, and complex political events abroad into comprehensible, daily

occurrences for the papers’ increasingly curious readership.5 These monumental

changes were occurring as the Philippine Revolution unfolded, and German news

editors took full advantage of this fact. Reports about the unprecedented event

filled the papers and over time domestic readers became familiar with a distant

territory and its people who were, from a European perspective, intricately linked

to the nearby Spanish monarchy. Thus newspaper accounts of the revolution not

only demonstrated the growth of print capitalism, which would be critical in

imagining the German nation,6 but they also shed light on the complexities and

intricacies of intra-European competition for domination in Asia—in this case,

growing German expansionism vis-à-vis established Spanish (as well as French)

colonial interests.

Page 212: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

198 REYES: Eyes On The Prize

Using previously untapped sources on the Filipino Revolution, this

article traces the growth of German interest in this seminal event through the

newspapers from the northwestern city-state of Bremen. A long-established

trading and commercial entrepôt through which passed goods from around the

world,7 Free Hanseatic (Hansa) Bremen was not a stranger to the Philippines.

Before its assimilation to the German empire in 1871, the sovereign state of

Bremen had a consulate in Manila that helped to oversee the aforementioned

trading community.8 Manila was a fairly important business station in European-

Asian trade and travel. Bremen ships regularly carried Manila sugar to England,

and the archipelago’s sugar, hemp and dark wood to the east coast of the United

States, and a combination of variegated freight to its west coast. In the 1880s and

1890s Bremen ships routinely docked in southern Philippines, took part in the

East Asian coastal travel network, and assumed a significant role in the region’s

larger and more complex trade and transport system.9

Like other foreign traders, Bremen merchants were subject to the

Spanish colonial administration in the archipelago and suffered under its

notoriously strict trading tariff regime.10 While these restrictions discouraged

further growth of German trade on the islands, they also convinced a number

of traders of the advantages of colonisation and empire in the Pacific region.

The idea of expansion split merchants into opposing camps, however. Wary of

competing with and earning the animosity of their long-time British trading

partners, a number of Bremen merchants, who distributed English goods on

the continent, opposed German overseas expansion.11 Others, heartened by the

growing power of the navy and the apparent expansionist orientation of the

Berlin government, pushed for full protection of trading investments abroad

and subsequently for the establishment of an overseas empire.12 This divide

mirrored the split between conservative and liberal sentiments on the issue of

Page 213: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

199Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

colonisation among Germans as a whole, as became evident in the newspapers

coverage of the revolution in the Philippines.

This article examines in-depth two Bremen-based newspapers: Der

Courier an der Weser and Weser Zeitung. Professing contrasting viewpoints,

these two papers provided their readers with uniquely German perspectives on

the revolution. Looking to guard against destabilising Germany’s diplomatic

relations with Spain, Der Courier an der Weser (hereafter CW) covered the

rebellion in an understated manner, treating it rather matter-of-factly for its

readers. Locally known as a progressive paper, the Weser Zeitung (hereafter

WZ) recognised the uprising’s significance in terms of German interests in

the region, an importance it displayed through a near daily recounting of the

insurgency. More than the CW had done, the WZ expressly illustrated the place

of the unified German nation-state and its enterprising subjects in the rebellion.

The WZ saw the revolution as a proxy for European competition over profit and

influence in Asia and at home; and through its coverage, it projected a mature

and diplomatic image of a powerful Germany in world politics.

Using news reports published in the important trade port of Bremen,

this paper makes two interlinked arguments. First, the newspapers’ extensive

coverage embodies a unique account of the revolution in the Philippines. The CW

and WZ painstakingly published minutiae of events, issues and controversies on

the islands. They showcased a conceivably inclusive narrative of the uprising,

preserving unique sources of historical data on the struggle for independence

in the Philippines. Second, through these reports the newspapers sought to

distinguish the German Self and its place in Asia and Europe for the benefit of their

domestic readership. For example, they showcased the contemporary German

hero—the trader—who boldly embarked on trade adventures abroad to bring

Page 214: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

200 REYES: Eyes On The Prize

prosperity to Germany. The reports also fed the German desire for and fascination

with establishing a colonial presence in the Pacific. For colonialists, the region

represented an opportunity to participate and subsequently be respected as a

power in Weltpolitik (world politics).13 Taken together, the news reports comprise

a unique narrative on the Philippine Revolution as a spectacle consumed by a

German readership. By foregrounding an ideal of German distinctiveness as a

people, the accounts, through an intensive narration of an Other, brought to

the fore the manifold roles that came to define the omnipresent German Self: an

observer, a victim, an expert, an outraged European, a sympathetic advocate for

freedom, a potential coloniser, and ultimately a decision-maker in international

affairs.

Competition for Empire: German-American Encounters in the Philippines

In May 1898, in the context of the Spanish-American War, the armada of

American Commodore George Dewey destroyed Spain’s aging Pacific fleet in

Manila Bay.14 Soon thereafter, Dewey’s men sought to enforce a blockade of

incoming ships along the archipelago’s coasts, preventing the arrival of aid to

the Spanish administration and marking the territory to ward off the colonial

designs of other nations. Yet, to the Americans’ consternation, foreign ships

continued to crowd Manila Bay.15 In response to the escalating tussles between

the Spanish and Filipinos on the ground (see below), Britain, France, Russia,

Japan and Germany sent vessels for the possible evacuation of their citizens.

For the Americans, the increasing number of German ships was particularly

worrisome.16

By mid-June a formidable contingent of German ships under the

command of Vice-Admiral Otto von Diederichs, aboard the ironclad Kaiserin

Page 215: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

201Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

Augusta, had gathered in Manila Bay, dwarfing the American armada.17 Having

been instrumental in Germany’s acquisition of Qingdao (Tsingtao) and the

adjacent Jiaozhou (Kiaochow) Bay area in China, the German fleet under

Diederichs was looking for more opportunities to show its mettle.18 Sensing this

growing German presence, leaders of the Filipino revolution submitted a plea

for Germany to intervene on their behalf against the Spanish.19 Dewey, for his

part, distrusted the Germans. He kept Washington, however, unaware of the

tense situation in Manila and took matters into his own hands.20 For instance,

as the comings and goings of German ships without American permission made

a mockery of the blockade, an infuriated Dewey communicated his impatience

to the German foreign ministry and inquired about the intended length of stay

of the German squadron. The ministry responded diplomatically, relating the

message that Germans harboured no ill intentions towards the United States,

and that Diederichs’ ships were there merely to safeguard German, Austrian,

Dutch, Italian, Portuguese and Swiss interests, and to facilitate the exchange of

relief crews from Germany.21 Diederichs claimed to have no political instructions

from Berlin on the Philippine situation.22

Tensions between Dewey and Diederichs continued to escalate. Still

awaiting reinforcement, Dewey feared that the 1,400-strong relief crew on

board the newly-arrived Darmstadt was a pretext for a landing force that might

establish a more permanent German presence on the islands.23 Rumours swirled

that Germans were helping the Spanish to build torpedo boats in Manila’s Pasig

River in order to gun down American warships. That Diederichs and the Spanish

governor-general in Manila, Basilio Augustín y Dávila, exchanged personal visits

added fuel to the fire.24 Meanwhile the German vessel Irene headed for Isla

Grande, an island in Subic Bay, to evacuate Spaniards under attack by Filipino

rebels. Learning about the impending German intervention, Dewey sent the

Page 216: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

202 REYES: Eyes On The Prize

Raleigh and the Concord to investigate. With guns drawn and heated words

exchanged, the Irene retreated. Subsequently the Americans took custody of

some thirteen hundred Spaniards on Isla Grande.25

US-German tensions eased once the Kaiserin Augusta was recalled

to the Netherlands East Indies. At the same time, the arrival of an American

monitor, the Monterey, re-established American dominance.26 An armoured

vessel, the Monterey had two 12 and two 10 inch-guns which could be effectively

used for enemy bombardment on both sea and shore. It provided the Americans

with more than sufficient firepower to withstand any encroachment on their

blockade of Philippine waters. By the end of the year Spain sold the Philippines

to the Americans, and the Marshall and Caroline islands to the Germans,

securing for themselves long-sought after coaling stations in the Pacific. In the

end, these events--collectively known as the ‘Manila Incident’--had generated

much controversy that strained US-German diplomatic relations. Subsequently

the leaders in Berlin resolved to keep a low profile and sought to reconcile with

their American counterparts.27

The Americans had correctly gauged German colonial ambition. From

the outset of the Philippine Revolution in August 1896, Germans had adopted

a watchful stance. The consul’s request for protection of local subjects led to

the arrival of the battleship Arcona, later relieved by the Irene.28 Mindful of the

possible loosening of Spanish hold over its Pacific possessions, the Germans

were poised to seize a share of the spoils,29 and Diederichs’s squadron had this

in mind in 1898.30

Other historians have detailed this late German colonial ambition.

William H. Carr, for one, suggested that colonialism became fashionable among

German politicians once the European powers partitioned Africa after the Berlin

Page 217: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

203Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

Conference in 1880. Agitating for colonies on economic and nationalist grounds,

pressure groups were established in different German states.31 Additionally, this

new enthusiasm for empire was reinforced by a firm belief that the possession of

colonies was in itself profitable.32 For Robert-Hermann Tenbrock, the economic

drive for colonisation, anticipated by a clamouring for ‘a place in the sun’ among

the populace at-large, stemmed from a genuine rivalry with England and France

for the partition of the world.33 Others like Woodruff D. Smith have emphasized

the political nature of this drive for empire by pointing to a set of ideologies

prominent in Germany at the time that was a result of the economic and social

changes brought about by industrialization.34 Mary Evelyn Townsend has taken

a similar stand. She argued that after the unification of the German empire an

enhanced national consciousness among Germans at home and abroad put

great stock in blood relations. In this way, the protection of German emigrants

and ventures overseas was seen as a logical course of action. Moreover as the

industrial revolution generated great wealth, German industrialists set their

sights abroad, both to alleviate domestic overproduction and to penetrate new

markets—just as Karl Marx had theorised would happen almost four decades

earlier. A tight labour market brought about by a growing population also made

emigration overseas (Auswanderung) a practical safety valve. And an increasingly

buoyant navy itching for imperial-like encounters transformed many of these

changes in worldviews and society into very realistic options.35

Agitation for a colonial empire was prevalent in Wilhelminian Germany.

In 1890 William II diverged from the Bismarckian policy of strengthening a

European Germany. With parliamentary support, he embarked on what was

called the New Course, characterised by an aggressive, overseas colonial push.36

Having built trade centres, plantations and naval coaling stations—and thus

from time to time subject to strict Spanish tariff laws and customs regulations in

Page 218: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

204 REYES: Eyes On The Prize

the Pacific basin—German entrepreneurs from such Hansa cities as Hamburg,

Bremen and Lübeck as well as Prussia expressed mixed feelings about this. While

some saw colonisation as a means of boosting trade and investment overseas,37

others feared that such expansion might threaten their special relations with

Great Britain, thereby spoiling their lucrative position as middlemen in the

British-central European trade.38 Nonetheless, as the Kaiser’s mania for colonies

grew, he found firm support from various sources: the Colonial Department that

took charge of administration in the African colonies, the reinvigorated navy

that lobbied for overseas expansion, and public organisations that distributed

colonialist propaganda. Soon privately-run newspapers jumped on board and

contributed to the popularisation of the benefits of colonisation. The Bremen

newspapers—and their extensive coverage of the rebellion in the Philippines—

exemplified this trend.

The Philippine Revolution as Read in Bremen

Between them, Bremen’s Weser Zeitung (WZ) and Der Courier an der Weser

(CW) published 121 news items concerning the Philippine Revolution from

1896 to 1898. Managed by the R. Oldenburg group, the WZ was recognised as

the area’s politically pragmatic newspaper,39 whereas the E. Fitzer group’s CW

championed the conservative view. Their contrasting outlooks were reflected

in their coverage of the revolution. While the CW essentially promoted the

official Spanish line on the uprising, the WZ took pains to gather its information

independently, and deployed its findings to both supplement and at times

question the Spanish position. Despite these differences, both papers covered

the rebellion extensively, and in so doing shed instructive light on German

aspirations for possession of a Pacific colony. In a dispatch from Manila on 23

August 1896, the CW reported the discovery of a Filipino conspiracy against the

Page 219: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

205Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

Spanish.40 In response, authorities made twenty-one arrests and confiscated

a number of important documents from the Spanish-Filipino Club in Manila.

In Madrid the senate, committed to protect the integrity of the motherland,

officially gave its support to extirpate the disturbance. In conveying this news,

the CW sought to portray a formidable and well-informed Spanish government

that took decisive measures in handling any problems it faced in its colonial

possession. This initial report also unexpectedly established the CW as a savvy

German paper familiar with and up-to-date with the goings-on in a territory

‘across the world’ from Germany.

Days later the CW incorporated the same report on the conspiracy into

a larger exposé on the Spanish colonial empire, again praising the government

for maintaining control over its territories.41 For example, with regard to the

Philippines, the CW recounted how the Spanish minister-president in Madrid

dealt sternly with filibusteros (violators of state regulation and/or Church

dogma) and reported that if necessary, the government was prepared to send

additional troops to the islands.

Similar themes were related in its report of 3 September, when the

governor-general in Manila, having gained knowledge of the insurgency, began

detaining conspirators who were ‘all natives to the islands’.42 The CW did note,

however, the seriousness of the uprising; insurgents captured an armoury in

Cavite, a coastal province south of Manila, for instance. In response, Spanish

authorities brought an additional four thousand soldiers based on the southern

island of Mindanao to Manila as reinforcements.

The CW reported on the rebellion for weeks. Its 8 September edition

reprinted parts of a dispatch from the governor-general in Manila that told of

more arrests in Cavite. To reassure its readers, the article also highlighted that the

Page 220: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

206 REYES: Eyes On The Prize

reinforcements from Mindanao had arrived safely in Manila, while others from

Spain were to set sail shortly from Barcelona.43 While its September coverage

continued to spin developments in a positive light, the CW’s intermittent

mention of the rebellion’s spread—which of course necessitated additional

reinforcements—betrayed its politically-conservative and pro-Spanish stance.

A careful reader could glean the growing precariousness of Spanish control of

the situation.44

The WZ took a noticeably different position. For one thing, rather

than spotlighting the strong-willed nature of the Madrid-based government,

the paper kicked off its coverage by foregrounding the apprehensions of an

unnamed colonial administrator who feared the contagion of the anti-colonial

rebellion in the Greater Orient (Grob-Orient).45 Subsequent reports further

distinguished the WZ’s position from that of the CW. On 10 September, for

instance, the former recounted the lightning-like spread of the revolt.46 This

coverage featured a telegram from a soldier stationed in Manila who estimated

the number of armed revolutionaries in Cavite alone at two thousand; at this

point, the CW had not offered any estimates. This same WZ report detailed how

four hundred revolutionaries (die Aufständischen) had captured San Isidro, a

town in the province of Nueva Ecija, some one hundred thirty kilometres north

of Manila, and how Spanish soldiers were immediately dispatched to confront

them.47

As important, this lengthy WZ report situated the rebellion in the larger

context of Franco-German competition for prominence in Europe and Asia.

Tellingly, it published a telegram from a German living in Manila who reported:

[T]he Press here, which is briefed by the Agencia Fabra from Paris, talks about rumours that are circulating and

Page 221: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

207Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

cheerfully passed [in Paris] about German agents who are fighting with the revolutionaries. It is rumoured that at the least, prominent Germans [in Manila] are leading members of secret societies. Other telegrams negatively report on Germans leading the revolution. Whichever way one chooses to see it, the French use every opportunity to smear our name against other nations.48

While the CW avoided publishing such politically provocative

accusations against the French, the WZ sought to refute the above accusations

against the Germans. In doing so, it published an announcement by the Governor-

General Blanco, who swore that affluent members of the native population, and

not Germans, were behind the insurgency. The WZ further opined on reasons

behind the revolution’s outbreak. Focussing on Spanish religious despotism

and corruption, the WZ essentially suggested that the Spaniards were now

reaping what they had sown. Here, the figurative German Self, embodied by

the apparently well-informed and more sophisticated WZ, appeared to be

concerned and sincerely interested in the rebellion while underlining the wrong

done to Germans on the archipelago.

Accusations of German involvement in the revolution reflected

nationalist animosities. The French kept a wary eye on an increasingly powerful

neighbour at home and one seemingly threatening to its Asian colonies.49

Germany, meanwhile, enjoyed pointing out what it saw as its neighbour’s follies

as an attempt to divert attention from its own strategic colonial aims. The WZ’s

reports on the Philippine affair were illustrative of these cat-and-mouse games.

On 13 September the WZ again drew attention to the ‘laughable

allegation that Germans started the uprising in the Philippines’.50 A telegram

by a German in Spain narrated that the Carlist newspaper, El Correo Español,

picked up on the French accusation. Under the headline ‘Die Deutschen auf

Page 222: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

208 REYES: Eyes On The Prize

den Philippinen’ (Germans in the Philippines), El Correo attested to the charge

against the Germans. It reported that visitors to Manila were greeted by a

suspiciously large number of resident Germans, most of whom could not explain

their activities or occupations. These Germans, according to El Correo, were

members of the so-called Nactajau Club, which sponsored concerts and balls. It

also housed a bar that catered to Malays and Mestizos. Germans were also guilty

of being too numerous and of being found in distant outposts like Mindanao.

More damningly, El Correo suggested that the Nactajau Club sponsored dubious

elements by hosting a known autonomist who had fled to Hong Kong after the

uprising’s outbreak and José Rizal, a champion of the separatist cause and well-

known friend of the Austrian professor Ferdinand Blumentritt. A respected

ethnographer of the Philippines, Blumentritt was a liberal constitutionalist who

publicly sympathized and worked with the reform movement of the Filipino

intelligentsia in Spain. Other Spanish newspapers followed El Correo’s lead and

contributed to the smear campaign against German subjects and companies in

the Philippines.

The WZ would not let the matter rest and continued its own campaign

to defend German honour. As an aspiring player in world politics Germany, after

all, could not afford a tarnished record. Hence the WZ published a letter by

a resident German who wrote that Englishmen, not Germans, comprised the

Nactajau Club, which was locally known as the English Club.51 Germans, on the

other hand, organized themselves under the name Casino Union, commonly

called the German Club. In his four years of membership at the Casino Union,

the writer said, the club had ceaselessly avoided suspicious German-speaking

elements. Originally from Galicia and Wallachia, these unsavory characters

tried to pass themselves as Germans and sold questionable jewellery. Still,

the writer could not hide his pride in the fact that most businesses in the

Page 223: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

209Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

Philippines were in German hands thanks to their tenacious business spirit

(Unternehmungsgeist) and industry (Fleib), qualities conspicuously lacking in

their Spanish counterparts.

The issue of German involvement (and even leadership) in the

revolution was revisited in December.52 A WZ correspondent in Manila reported

that the Spanish colonial government denied this claim, pronouncing there

never had been any evidence to back such accusations. But the story would not

die. On 29 December, according to the WZ, another Spanish newspaper, the

‘French-friendly’ Heraldo de Madrid, sought to connect the actions of German

researchers and the German embassy to the outbreak of the revolution. Taking

the Heraldo’s lead, the Spanish paper Epoca added that German businessmen

in Borneo had sold weapons to the insurgents.53 It further warned its readers

to be wary of German interest in Spain’s colonies. To dissuade the Germans of

such intentions, the Epoca urged the Cánovas government to crush the so-called

Tagalog uprising, which would fittingly demonstrate its power to its upstart

European neighbour.

Such Spanish diatribes fuelled further WZ reporting on the revolution.

For instance, it found that the ‘enemy in Cavite was stronger than what was thought

of in the beginning’.54 Unimpeded, the revolutionaries rampaged through the

countryside and small towns because the colonial army lacked enough soldiers

to confront them. Although casualty figures were not cited, the WZ believed

them to be quite high. Yet the WZ’s coverage was not entirely biased against

the Spaniards. It reported on Spanish successes such as the bringing to light of

a number of anti-colonial conspiracies and arrests. And while the uprising was

concentrated in Cavite and a few parts of Nueva Ecija province, colonial troops

did seem to have the situation generally under control. Still, leaving nothing to

Page 224: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

210 REYES: Eyes On The Prize

chance, the Cánovas government decided to send reinforcements in the form of

two army battalions, four hundred fifty artillery pieces, one battalion of marines

and (if necessary) a battalion of cavalry.55

Following the Cortes’s (Spanish empire’s house of representatives)

decision to give the effort to repress the Philippine uprising an unlimited

budget, the WZ wondered how many military reservists the crown could afford

to summon.56 Following the Cuban revolt that erupted in February 1895, the

crown’s armed forces grew from eighty-four thousand to one hundred thousand.

Spain was now clearly in crisis as revolts in its colonies seemingly spun out of

control, and the question of where it would get soldiers to combat the Philippine

insurrection remained unanswered.57 The WZ ensured this problem would not

go overlooked by its readers.

Even the conservative CW was forced to admit that the Philippine

revolt was more advanced than had been believed. In early October it reported

on the fighting’s spread to Batangas province (some one hundred kilometres

south of Manila) as casualties grew.58 The CW continued to trust in the power

of the Spanish empire, however. Later that month it reported on the subduing

(gemächtigt) of Nasugbu, a town in Batangas, by General Jaramilla.59 According

to the CW, the Spanish spilled the blood of over one hundred insurgents, while

only losing two men—an unquestionable success. And with its publication of

impressive figures of Spain’s military might in late 1896—some 368,930 men, of

whom 128,815 were stationed in Spain; 200,000 in Cuba; 34,115 in the Philippines;

and 6,000 in Puerto Rico—the paper confirmed its belief in the crown as a world

power, strong-arming its hold on empire.

But a close reading of the CW shows that at times it did report on

the growing tenuousness of Spanish control. While it recounted the Spanish

Page 225: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

211Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

expectation of regaining full control of Manila,60 via a report in the Spanish

newspaper Imparcial, the paper in early November touched on disturbing news:

the number of armed rebels had grown to an estimated twenty-five thousand;

Cavite and Batangas provinces were in revolt; Spaniards from the far reaches

of the archipelago were fleeing to the capital; and the archbishop declared

the situation perilous. The CW added that Governor-General Blanco seemed

helpless (thatlos). In the meantime, the rebels took control of a fort in Cavite

and waited for assistance (or intervention) from the increasingly powerful

Japanese.61 A full-scale war was on hand.

War Atrocities

War-related violence between Spaniards and Filipino rebels escalated. The

number of acts of cruelty by each side was so great that neither the CW nor

the WZ could ignore the horrors. In early November 1898, the CW published a

letter by an English businessman in Manila, which attested to this ugly turn of

the war, including the execution of priests and other Spaniards by Cavite rebels.

Not to be outdone, colonial troops routinely shot and tortured prisoners-of-

war. Executions had become a public spectacle and social activity, and Spanish

townswomen gleefully gathered to witness their occurrences.62

Elaborating on Spanish cruelty, both newspapers published a letter

of a German businessman that also detailed such atrocities.63 It graphically

illustrated the commonplace use of thumbscrews, so-called Spanish boots and

other medieval torture apparatuses to force confessions from captured rebels.

And stories circulated about the infamous ‘dark hole’ incident in which dozens

of suspected rebels drowned in a subterranean cell in Fort Santiago in Manila.

In Nueva Ecija, some one hundred thirty kilometers north of Manila, Spaniards

Page 226: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

212 REYES: Eyes On The Prize

drowned prisoners in the river–a practice, according to the correspondent,

deemed more economical than transporting them to Manila.

Holding to its anti-Spanish bias, the WZ reported on rebel intransigence

in the face of such cruelties. Advances in the provinces of Batangas and Laguna

provinces, for instance, forced Spanish forces to split, which threatened the

security of Manila.64 And despite ferocious encounters, the insurgents kept their

hold on Cavite.65 Nor did the WZ fail to point out how newly arrived casadores—

renowned Spanish foot soldiers—suffered under tropical conditions and from

rebel fortitude. In fact, as conditions deteriorated, the once-aloof, non-Spanish

Europeans like the English grew increasingly concerned. An English gunboat,

Pigmy, harboured in Manila Bay, while another, the Daphne, was expected to

arrive shortly.

The WZ derided English fear of an imminent rebel attack on Manila.

Its reporter lavishly described the state of panic among Englishmen, while

betraying a false sense of security among their German counterparts. Although

the WZ’s correspondent acknowledged rebel victories elsewhere, he trusted in

the security that Manila seemed to offer. For one thing, the roads leading to

the capital across which the rebels might traverse were impassable due to the

monsoon rains. He was also critical of the insurgents’ firepower and claimed

that ‘only their poor weapons kept us safe from harm’.66

Outside Manila, things grew dim for the Spanish, as the WZ covered

in typical detail.67 The rebellion, for example, had reached the southern island

of Mindanao, where in highland Lana(o) locals murdered a Spanish officer. In

addition, there was a sizeable prison break in Cavite in which prison guards

were killed.68 Although Spanish troops slaughtered scores of escapees, this

fighting drew Spanish manpower and energies away from other trouble spots

Page 227: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

213Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

like Batangas, where, in addition to bloody clashes, the prison break forced the

Spanish to prevent a similar incident.69 Inmates found to be plotting such an

escape were transferred to more secure surroundings in Manila.

The Death of Rizal: A German Kin Wasted

As the Spanish public at home grew increasingly concerned over the deteriorating

conditions in the Philippines, the Spanish government trumpeted the capture

and execution of the supposed leader of the revolt, the intellectual Jose Rizal.70

Expectedly, the CW’s coverage of his death recycled Spanish propaganda.71

Its reporting on Rizal and his 1896 execution was decidely mechanical and

methodical. It recounted that Rizal had studied in Europe, particularly in Paris,

where purportedly he collected three doctorates, one of which was in medicine.

Upon returning to the Philippines after his studies, he was immediately

captured and deported to Mindanao. Instructively, the CW failed to mention

why the Spanish considered him a threat to the regime. Instead, it reported on

the bizarre tale of Rizal’s final months, during which Rizal, who had asked to

serve the crown as an army doctor in Cuba and had reached Barcelona in this

quest, was promptly rearrested and redeported to Manila. There, he was tried

and sentenced to death. His last day was spent in a chapel, where Jesuit priests

unsuccessfully pried information about the uprising from him. The CW also

detailed Rizal’s last wish to wed his Canadian girlfriend72 and his family’s failed

petition to have him pardoned, and failing this, to recover their slain son’s body.

The Spanish government had achieved, for the CW, a great moral (and tactical)

victory against the rebels.

For the WZ, Rizal’s death meant more. It put on display the inhumanity

of the Spanish empire, whose leaders had sacrificed not only an intellectual who

Page 228: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

214 REYES: Eyes On The Prize

was not physically leading the revolt, but more damningly, one who had strong

German ties. Rizal was shown to have had personal and professional relations

with the renowned Professor Blumentritt, who helped Rizal with some academic

assertions in his writings.73 In all, Rizal was pictured as a man of German integrity

who became a scapegoat at the hands of Spanish arrogance.

WZ’s sentiments on this matter came across clearly in its two extensive

reports on Rizal’s life and execution.74 The first resembled that of the CW’s

account, in that it recounted the main facts of Rizal’s life and his capture and

subsequent execution, although it did dramatize his death far more than the

CW had done to draw attention to the cruelty behind this ill-advised Spanish

plot. With dramatic flair, the paper painted the following picture:

[W]ith his last steps, the sentenced walked towards the square, packed with Spaniards and Mestizos. He refused to bow and refused a blindfold. He uttered his last words: ‘Consumatum ést!’ (It has been done!) A troop of indigenous soldiers then fired. As he fell, the gathered crowd broke into exaltations of Spain and [Governor-General] Polavieja.75

While for the Spanish—and even the CW—Rizal’s death marked the

triumph of empire, the WZ thought otherwise. Its second report comprised a

letter from a member of a German family with whom Rizal briefly lived while

studying in Heidelberg.76 For two months in 1886 Rizal was a guest at their

farmhouse in Wilhemsfeld (Obenwald) while he worked on his German language

skills and on his novel Noli Me Tangere, which would later inflame anti-Spanish

and anti-clerical sentiments among Filipinos back home. When the book was

finished in Berlin, Rizal sent his host a copy along with the author’s photo. Rizal

and this family, according to the letter, engaged in friendly correspondence for

another three years. The writer of the letter attested to Rizal’s gift for languages,

Page 229: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

215Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

his devotion to his native land and people, and the number of friends he made

while in Germany. The news of Rizal’s execution filled those who had known

him with great sorrow, and only convinced them of Rizal’s lifelong struggle

to promote dignity and respect for those living under colonised oppression

everywhere.

The WZ shed further light on Rizal’s humanity by publishing one

of his letters to a German priest named Ullmer. The head of the family who

had once hosted Rizal, Ullmer had been transferred recently to a church far

from their farmhouse in Wilhelmsfeld. Rizal’s letter expressed the poignancy

behind the tensions of balancing professional commitments and attachment

to home, which—as the newspaper implied—was impressive for a foreigner

unaccustomed to such typical German conundrums. Happy for the priest who

would be venturing into a new parish, Rizal also sensed the sadness that would

beset the priest upon leaving his beloved home. He wrote,

I would be most happy to greet his [Ullmer’s] wife, Eta and Friedrich [their children]. We could relive the old days of strawberry punch and woods games and mushroom collection. Those were good, jovial days. Because of my book I had left my fatherland; the governor wanted to make an example out of me; the priests were not impressed. Some wanted to put me on trial, but did not know why or with which crime; because everything that I have written was historically proven and true.… You will make me very happy, if you would write me once in awhile. I will never forget the pleasant, quiet days that I spent with you.77

Rizal’s letter went on to speak of the hardships he and his family had

suffered under the tyranny of the governor-general and the priests. He felt

remorse at having involved his family in his quandaries; and as much as he

would have loved to stay at home, such political pressure forced him into exile

in Europe.

Page 230: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

216 REYES: Eyes On The Prize

In all, compared to the CW’s coverage, the WZ reports illustrated the

heartless execution of a kind, soft-spoken man of intellect. As importantly,

the WZ played up Rizal’s German connections, his intimate understanding of

German language, family and culture that further coloured Spain’s folly. For the

WZ Rizal’s death was the slaying of an adopted son; he was a loyal friend, a

hard-working scholar and a resolute intellectual, whose only wish was to expose

Spain’s tyrannical oppression of his people.

The Violence Continues

To the dismay of German observers at home, the executions in the Philippines

did not stop with Rizal. In fact, as the WZ pointed out, they increased. In Manila

eighteen conspirators, including a wealthy banker named Rojas, were found

guilty of conspiring against Spain and sentenced to death. Papers captured by the

Spanish showed that as leaders of the secret, separatist organization Katipunan78

that was leading the revolt, they had smuggled some three thousand muskets

and other weapons into the country.79 The motivation behind Rojas’s arrest,

however, the WZ implied, came from a different source. The evidence against

him was sketchy, but the clerics, who were bound to receive a large portion of

Rojas’s estate, pushed hard for his conviction.80

Like the torture and cruelty committed against the insurgents, the

public killings did little to stem the uprising. The WZ narrated battle after battle,

as if they were the daily episodes in a long running, serial story.81 In Bulacan, for

instance, the insurgents lost a staggering number of men—over one thousand—

including the famed General Eusebio. The Spaniards lost a ‘mere’ twenty-three

in the battle.82 But a Spanish commander admitted that rebels had taken control

of key monasteries and offices further south in Cavite.83 As dutifully reported in

Page 231: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

217Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

the WZ, he further detailed how the insurgents dug trenches around captured

buildings and used monasteries as warehouses of supply. Insurgents even had

guns with a range of two thousand meters. The commander concluded that only

wide-ranging and immediate reforms could bring the revolution to heel. And,

according to the WZ, his proposal was taken seriously by Madrid, where after

thorough study the queen was set to announce such reforms.84

Once again, rumours circulated throughout Manila that German

soldiers were leading the uprising, for no one believed that such sophisticated

trenchworks could have been built by local insurgents. The only explanation

was that the insurgents must have had European help. This time, as reported

by the WZ, these accusations had spread so wide that when the German consul

in Manila, von Möllendorf, arrived in Berlin to deliver his report, he was forced

to answer directly the charges whether four German officers had participated in

the uprising. Von Möllendorf denied any knowledge of their involvement, and

the WZ, not surprisingly, backed him.

This latest allegation of German involvement, however, drove the

activist WZ to pay the issue of leadership in the revolt more heed. In late January

1897, for instance, it featured a story of a mestizo named Edilberto Evangelista,

a Belgian-trained engineer who was the alleged leader of the uprising in a part

of Cavite. And in so doing, the paper sought to prove that he was not German.85

Quick to include details, the WZ expounded that Evangelista was influential,

but he answered to the leader of the revolution, Andres Bonifacio.

Both men were members of the previously mentioned organization

Katipunan, which, according to the WZ, collected from citizens monthly

contributions ranging from fifty cents to one peso.86 For the WZ, the rebel’s war

chest in Cavite—estimated at some one hundred thousand pesos—reflected the

Page 232: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

218 REYES: Eyes On The Prize

amount of support the working folk (heimischen Laboranten) lent the revolt’s

leaders. As for the revolt’s expenditures, the WZ reported that fighters received

half a peseta daily and a regular ration of rice. Bonifacio even promised them

a pension when the revolution was won. Purportedly the rebels also spent a

considerable amount of money in Hong Kong paying for shipments of Belgian-

made weapons.87

A Democratic Government?

Despite the seemingly systematic manner the rebels employed in procuring and

administering their money for the war, their vision for a national government

remained ambiguous to outside observers. The WZ proceeded to tackle this issue

and update their German audience in 1897. The paper reported that the Filipino

rebels’ agenda for a governmental system outstripped the democratic reforms

that Cuban revolutionaries had championed.88 Emilio Aguinaldo, a prominent

leader of a revolutionary faction in Cavite, even sent their proposal for future

self-governance to Washington, D.C., to enlist a ‘fellow democracy’, the United

States, to support their struggle against Spanish feudalism and colonialism. 89

Notably, in the same article, the WZ mentioned the suspicions that in fact an

American, not the revolutionaries, was behind the design of a future Philippine

government. Along with the doubts about the sophistication displayed by the

insurgents in the field, this foregrounded the prevailing European belief that

anything smart or clever coming from the rebels had to have European (or, in

this case, American) origins.

Page 233: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

219Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

Small Spanish Victories, Big Filipino Gains

Even as the rebels reached out to enlist international help, bloody encounters

between the administration forces and the rebels raged on the islands. The

Spaniards were quick to claim victories, which led the WZ in February 1897 to

report on the growing anticipation in Spain that the uprising would soon draw

to a close.90 Such events as the gory retaking of a fort in Cavite that resulted in

the deaths of some two hundred rebels and the conquest of Imus and Cavite

Viejo, where four hundred rebels were purportedly killed, gave credence to these

expectations.91

These victories were not lost on the conservative CW. In March it

revisited its reporting on the revolution, recounting the death of one hundred

rebels at the hands of Spanish troops in northern Luzon.92 It also noted that the

Spanish had retaken Malabon (a district in greater Manila), where they killed

four hundred rebels, captured another thirty, and seized a number of cannons

and weapons.93

As the WZ was at pains to show, all was not well for the Spanish on the

warfront, however. They had already lost thousands of men in their campaigns

against the rebels, most of whom succumbed to tropical diseases.94 As important,

the war was a drain on the crown’s financial reserves.95 As of early 1897, the war

ministry claimed to have spent six hundred million pesetas.96 And this fiscal pinch

was felt by Spain’s generals in the field. Governor-General Polavieja, for instance,

had rebels on the run in Bulacan province and thus requested a reinforcement

of twenty thousand men from Madrid to finish the job.97 However, citing fiscal

concerns and threats by the Carlists in Spain—who supported the establishment

of the Carlist dynasty within the Spanish Bourbons as the legitimate heirs to the

throne—the government denied Polavieja’s request. Astonished at the refusal,

Page 234: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

220 REYES: Eyes On The Prize

Polavieja threatened to resign,98 whereupon Madrid promised him an extra ten

thousand soldiers. Published in the WZ, a letter by a German seemed to confirm

Polavieja’s fears: ‘[W]hen the rebellion would end, no man could even come near

answering this’. 99

The WZ highlighted the fact that Filipino rebels continued to elude the

grasp of Spanish troops. With Aguinaldo at the helm, rebels fled to the hills,

thereby disappointing the Spanish soldiers who were hoping for a decisive

battle.100 In June they ambushed and killed some fifteen hundred rebels, but

failed to capture Aguinaldo and about three thousand of his well-armed men.101

The WZ asserted that Spanish control of the islands was continuing to ebb, as

rebel movements were reported in the southernmost islands of Sulu.102 Adding

to Spanish woes was the severe sickness and eventual resignation of Polavieja as

governor general.103

As the fighting approached its one-year anniversary, even the

conservative CW was forced to acknowledge the seriousness of the situation.

Instead of elaborating on the situation on the islands, however, the CW

concentrated its report on the woes that the Spanish government was facing at

home.104 In contrast, the WZ continued its watch on the Philippines, where the

Spanish government now believed a full-scale suppression of the rebellion was

unlikely without significant reinforcements.105 For one, the rainy season hindered

Spanish advance, while Aguinaldo’s ten thousand-men army was receiving a

steady flow of ammunitions from abroad. In Cavite, recounted the WZ, lethal

ambushes by mountain-based rebels were now commonplace and not a day

passed without the murder of a Spanish soldier. Newly-appointed Governor-

General Primo de Rivera complained to the central government in Madrid of

his diminishing supplies and logistics. To make matters worse, wealthy Filipinos

Page 235: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

221Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

increasingly felt estranged from the colonial government, which, in turn,

facilitated increased collaboration of the former with the rebels. A damaging fire

on 28 September 1897 that ravaged more than two dozen buildings in Manila did

not help the newly appointed governor-general’s cause either.106 For the Spanish,

things were not going well.

An uncharacteristic turn in the war

In November 1897 Spanish fortunes took an unexpected turn for the better. The

CW was quick to pounce on this development, publishing Polavieja’s earlier

claim that he would soon bring peace to the islands. As evidence Polavieja

pointed to an increase in the number of insurgent Filipino officers who wished

to surrender.107 Expectedly, the WZ qualified this latest development, noting the

following preconditions for surrender: a prescribed place and date, a general

amnesty for all rebels, and a grant of ample compensation for the officers to live

in exile.108

For the CW, Spanish triumph was near. Its confidence stemmed from

the 26 November 1897 surrender of rebel leader Aguinaldo, who—according to

the CW—was convinced that the rebellion was lost.109 As negotiations for peace

began, Aguinaldo requested that his life and that of his comrades be spared in

exchange for the surrender of arms and ammunitions and recognition of Spain,

once Aguinaldo had arrived safely in Hong Kong. He promised to forever respect

Spanish rule. The Spanish authorities accepted these conditions.

About a month later, the WZ solemnly announced that hundreds of

rebels and some seven thousand rebel-controlled districts had surrendered.110 In

the peace of Biak-na-Bato, insurgents were expected to march behind Spanish

Page 236: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

222 REYES: Eyes On The Prize

lines, surrender their weapons and, along with Aguinaldo, formally recognise

Spain’s sovereignty over the islands.111 According to the WZ, in celebration of

the end of the uprising, the central square of Madrid was fully lit on 22 January

1898.112 The fighting ceased and peace seemingly prevailed in the Philippines.

Coverage of the Philippines slipped from the pages of the CW and WZ. This

peace would be brief, however.

Resurgence of War

In March 1898 the vigilant WZ reported that the new governor-general of

the Philippines, Basilio Agustín y Dávila, left for the islands from the port of

Barcelona. An inexperienced politician, Agustín was tapped for the job due to

his his military background.113 His appointment proved prescient as fighting

would soon flare up once again.

On 14 March, the WZ reported that that rebels had seized control of

a small town some 275 kilometres north of Manila.114 Apparently a leader of a

religious cult had declared himself king and led some ten thousand men in a

rampage from Tarlac northwards. His army overpowered the Spanish military,

derailed transport trains, and seized an important telegraph station on the

Bolinao coast. A few days later a combined force of three thousand soldiers from

Manila forced them from the telegraph station.115

Meanwhile, in Manila the authorities discovered new conspiracies

and captured a cache of arms and ammunitions sent by rebel leaders in Hong

Kong.116 Accordingly, Manila residents braced for another escalation of violence.

Businesses stocked up. Numerous members of the local elite previously accused

of collaborating with the rebels fled the country and denounced the colonial

Page 237: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

223Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

government as a magnet for trouble.117

While the CW remained silent on the matter, by late May the WZ was

declaring the uprising resurgent. Apparently, displeasure with the peace pact

of the previous year was rife. On the one hand, Spanish officers, soldiers and

administrators felt dishonoured for not being given a chance to finish the war.

They were also insulted by the government’s decision to pay their enemies to

surrender; clerics grumbled over being forced by the government to assist in

compensating rebel leaders; and businessmen and industrialists doubted the

sincerity of both sides in keeping the peace. On the other hand, rebels treated the

pact, not as an agreement with the Madrid government, but as a personal accord

with Governor-General Rivera. And when he took his leave, they expressed

their discontent. In all, the WZ believed that the future of the rebellion in the

Philippines would hang on the outcome of the impending Spanish-American

War. If Americans provided the rebels with a sufficient number of weapons,

then Spain would lose the archipelago. According to the WZ, only the absence

of modern weaponry prevented the rebels from seizing control from the few

Spanish battalions.118

Ignoring the revolt’s resurgence, the CW opted to discuss Spain’s

quandary in world politics. It reported that Spain would not transfer the

Philippines to Germany.119 This announcement was a strategic decision—the

leaders in Madrid were aware that the English were wary of the increasing

German presence in southwest Pacific. Spain chose to placate England by

publicly acknowledging its dominance in the South Seas, hoping that the

English who were on good terms with the Americans would then support the

Spanish colonial claims to the region. As would be apparent later, the Spanish

government miscalculated that winning England’s favour would temper U.S.

Page 238: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

224 REYES: Eyes On The Prize

antagonism against itself.

The CW prophetically proposed that Spanish-American hostilities were

inevitable. In preparation, the Spanish senate earmarked one billion pesetas for

war expenditures overseas.120Additionally the crown’s defensive capabilities in the

Philippines were scrutinised.121The Ministry of War concluded that Manila was

well enough secured to withstand a protracted attack by an external aggressor.122

This discussion on the archipelago’s defences comprised part of the so-

called ‘Philippine question’ that the CW intermittently tackled in the following

weeks.123 This issue centred on the continuing rebellion and the colonial

scramble for the islands after the predicted exit of Spain. The CW fingered the

United States as the culprits behind the rebellion’s resurgence.124 Meanwhile,

Spanish politicians debated the wisdom of their policies over the deteriorating

conditions on the islands. Acrimonious finger-pointing was only halted by the

prime minister who declared that everyone should be accountable for the past.125

In any event, according to the CW, the Madrid government already viewed the

Philippines as a lost cause. Ministers were hopelessly divided on the issue,

while the situation on the ground remained dangerous.126 Turning pragmatic,

the CW appeared to be cutting ties with the waning Spanish empire. Instead of

discussing details of battles, it became engrossed in the complexities of world

power diplomacy.

At this point Spain was indeed in murky waters. Lurid news reports about

Spanish atrocities in the ongoing Cuban Revolution outraged citizens of the

rising world power, the United States. Fuelled by demands from its Republican

Party to intervene in the conflict and rid the region of a corrupt European power,

the United States demanded that Spain resolve the Cuban Revolution in a

peaceful manner.127 In February 1898 the two country’s mutual antagonism came

Page 239: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

225Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

to a head when an American warship, the Maine, was blown up in Havanna, an

incident the United States used as a casus belli for a declaration of war against

the Spanish Empire.128 Cuba and the Philippines were the two theatres of this

war. As its decisive battles played out, it was not lost to the CW that Germany

might be poised to pounce on the war’s Pacific spoils.

In particular, the CW zeroed in on the so-called Kaiserin Augusta crisis,

which was triggered by the clandestine departure of Spanish Manila’s highest-

ranking official to Hong Kong with the help of the German navy, which had a

more powerful force in Manila than did the Americans. To be sure, the CW noted

that the Americans were fearful of Spanish plans to transfer the islands to the

Germans.129 Clearly, the CW revelled in the political intrigue and controversies

brought about by the Spanish-American War.

According to the CW the Americans had already won this war.130 Four

months earlier the American squadron led by Admiral George Dewey decimated

the Spanish naval force in the Philippines, represented by the fleet under the

command of Admiral Patricío Montojo, in the so-called Battle of Manila Bay.

The CW’s assumption proved to be correct, for soon thereafter the Spanish

conceded victory to the United States. However, they stubbornly refused to

accept defeat at the hands of the Filipino rebels. The CW, demonstrating its

newfound pragmatic turn and an apparent anti-American tendency, highlighted

the fact that the Spaniards demanded that the Americans prohibit Filipino

insurgents from marching into Manila side-by-side with the Americans. Yet, the

American-Filipino relationship appeared to be tense. Despite American orders,

the Filipino rebels entered the city and immediately seized the main arsenal.

In retaliation the Spaniards accused Filipino rebels of committing atrocities

within the city’s walls, which, according to the CW, strained American-Filipino

Page 240: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

226 REYES: Eyes On The Prize

rebel relations. The former, for instance, gave the latter an ultimatum to stand

down or face reprisals. Anticipating both Spanish and American aggression,

the revolutionaries fortified their trenches surrounding the city. Their leader,

Aguinaldo, left Manila and headed northwards to distance himself from

American firepower.131

Paris Peace Negotiations

The complicated nature of the ensuing peace talks in Paris that concerned

the Spanish empire, including the Philippines, attracted the attention of the

CW. From the outset, representatives of the Spanish government refused to

countenance any form of annexation by the United States. Spaniards clung to

the hope that a European power would come to its aid. But in the end, for fear

of antagonizing the United States, France, Germany and Russia all turned down

Spain’s offer to take over the islands.132

Belying its conservative nature, the CW even reported on the ‘café talk’

among Parisians concerning the negotiations. The prevailing view was that

the pact would entail the establishment of an international commission to

administer the Philippines. Spanish government representatives were amenable

to this resolution for it would spare them of the humiliation of defeat by the

United States. Their hopes remained unfulfilled, however. The American

finance commissioner, authorised to transfer money to Spain in exchange for

the Philippines, had already arrived in Paris.133 According to the CW, his arrival

and the further threat of war convinced Spain to give in to U.S. demands.134 For

twenty-five million dollars the United States gained the rights to annex the

Philippines from Spain.135

Page 241: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

227Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

Noticeably these developments appeared to have been lost on the liberal

WZ. It reported on the fate of the archipelago in May 1898, when it rightly

guessed that the future of the Philippines would depend on the outcome of the

Spanish-American War. Behind the WZ’s baffling and subsequent silence might

have been disappointment that the people’s revolution it had painstakingly

covered had failed. It is also possible that the newspaper was reprimanded by

local financiers for displaying an overly liberal perspective on the rebellion. The

WZ adopted a wait-and-see attitude, opting to not antagonise the Americans,

newcomers to the world stage. Picking on a decaying imperial power like Spain

was one thing; taking on a rising global power like the United States was another.

It should be noted that the signing of the Paris accord did not bring

immediate peace to the islands. Revolutionaries still held around ten thousand

Spanish prisoners, and in the provinces, rebel leaders could not maintain order.136

Businesses were routinely plundered.137 Indeed peace seemed to be evasive.

Not unexpectedly, clashes between American and Filipino troops broke out,

plunging the islands into another bloody war. By now, official German interest

in the Philippines had ebbed, as did German newspaper coverage.

Causes of the Revolution

Thus far, we have presented an account of the 1896 Philippine Revolution as

told by two German newspapers from the city-state of Bremen, but postponed

a discussion of what the newspapers believed laid behind the uprising. Why

did a ‘rag-tag’ bunch of insurgents take up arms against their colonial masters?

Only the liberal WZ appeared interested in uncovering its causes. It published

European opinions on the matter that fingered the Spanish religious and colonial

system as culprits. For instance, a month after the outbreak of the rebellion an

Page 242: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

228 REYES: Eyes On The Prize

apparently German correspondent noted that:

I believe that besides religious despotism and administrative excesses, the other reasons for discontent are the manner and way they [the Spanish] went about handling matters before the revolt. Beforehand a big amount of tribute was required of an inhabitant, now an unbelievable amount of taxes was introduced.… It is this point that the separatist propaganda emphasizes, demanding a full report on how these taxes are variously handled. These taxes unfairly burden the peasant Malays because they are at the mercy of the economically influential Chinese mestizo, who stands between the colonisers and the colonised.138

Two months later the paper published an account of a Swiss resident

who confirmed what their German correspondent had stated earlier. Like

the German, this Swiss also blamed Spain and its domineering clerics for the

outbreak of the revolution. He claimed that Spaniards beat everyone, including

local women, who could not pay the required head tariff and other forms of taxes.

Everything appeared to be levied; in fact, the Catholic Church even competed

with the colonial administration in the quest to extract money from the local

inhabitants. He recounted:

[F]or example an Indio may not renovate his house without the government’s consent, which costs $2.50. The house is often worth not more than $2.50.... Even more painful are the taxes incurred through a death in a family. An Indio could manufacture a wooden box as a casket. However, besides charging $4.50 as death tax, the church also requires another $5.00 for permission to bury a corpse in a casket. Unfortunately most Indios consider it a shame not to be buried in a casket; the permission to be buried in a straw mat only costs $2.00. The church only provides holy water; depending on the size, candles can cost twenty-five to thirty cents a piece. Moreover, digging a grave costs $1.00 to $2.00. As such a woman weeps nearby her dead husband while her children howl for food and she has nothing to pay for the burial. The friar yanks her earrings, her last items of value, to momentarily appease the church.139

Page 243: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

229Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

It would seem then that the Catholic Church and its overbearing monks

were to blame for the revolution. In September 1897 the WZ published the

correspondence of a resident Englishman in Manila who attested that indeed

the clerics were the reasons behind the local uprising. He declared that in the

Philippines

… the most powerful monks reign in their earlier glory. They assume to be more than the power of the people, living in worldliness and luxury. They control the Catholic Church along with all its means and enormous wealth, which they have taken from the patient locals. They … are the instigators of the present uprising and the cause of the bloodshed and the torture of the imprisoned.140

This Englishman blamed the clerics for the grim situation of the

archipelago, as most Filipino propagandists of the time had done. The most

prominent among them—José Rizal, Marcelo del Pilar and Graciano Lopez-

Jaena—referred to the dominance of the clergy as a social cancer, a friarocracy,

or a monastic supremacy.141 This view saw the outbreak of the rebellion as the

consequence of the people’s anger with the insidious dominance of the religious,

hardly implicating the colonial government in the process.

The WZ did not publish any retort against the aforementioned

accusations from any member of the clergy in the Philippines, just as it had

not come out with a statement about the reasons behind the outbreak of

rebellion from any representative of the Spanish colonial government. Instead

it printed an interview in Spain with Polavieja, the former governor-general of

the Philippines who had resigned due to tropical illness. On the causes of the

uprising he said,

[F]or me the causes are unclear. The opening of the Suez

Page 244: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

230 REYES: Eyes On The Prize

Canal had facilitated the political awakening of the peoples in the East. The ideas of freedom, independence, and nationalities, which we daily take for granted, were very new for those populations. They thought about these ideas and their consequences. Japan’s fast rise to power, renaissance among nationalised states and brightness of triumphs echoed even in the smallest villages across the oceans of East Asia. The indigenous population of the Philippines wanted to follow the Japanese example, and that was the reason for their rebellion.142

Blind to the failures of the Spanish Catholic Church and the colonial

government, Polavieja blamed everything and everyone else. He discounted the

possibility that Filipinos had revolted of their own volition. For him external

factors that eventually brought about the politicisation of the populace lay

behind the rebellion.

Apparently, the WZ thought that there was some truth in this line of

reasoning. That external factors were behind the rebellion complemented

earlier European pronouncements, which blamed the Catholic Church and the

Spanish administration for the outbreak of the rebellion. Although evidently

liberal, the WZ also trusted in the fact that the rebels were reacting to exogenous

stimulus. It was unthinkable that there were other reasons behind the rebellion.

Significantly, traditional historiography of the Philippines has agreed with

the WZ, perpetuating the interpretation that external factors caused the

revolution.143 Historical scholarship chastised and ultimately displaced Filipino

rebels in their own narrative, situating their rebellion within the seemingly more

relevant context of Spanish (and European) history.

Concluding Remarks

Ultimately, these two Bremen newspapers, the CW and the WZ, despite their

contrasting coverage and divergent politically-inspired perspectives, situated

Page 245: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

231Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

the Philippine Revolution of 1896 in a decidedly European context. Presenting

the minutiae of battle after battle—something to which German readers could

relate—took precedence over understanding what Filipino rebels themselves

thought they were fighting for. The uprising was covered as a linear, unfolding

narrative; events, places and characters of the episode were put on display as a

spectacle for European readers. As Germans, readers were enjoined to witness

not necessarily the exotic but the dangerous side of colonial adventurism, the

hostile and threatening environment in which German traders toiled. In this way,

the imaginary trader-reader relationship illustrated the possible consequences

of being away from and the advantages of being in the homeland (Heimat).144

Through their inevitable simplification and dramatisation of news accounts,145

these reports were written not to impress intellectuals, but to mould public

opinion on both the potentials and abilities of Germans and the German state

as a whole.

In this regard these accounts on the revolution in the Philippines

unwittingly featured the colonial aspirations of the recently unified German

nation. Colonisation appeared to be a convenient outlet for the growing German

trade and industry, and a significant stage where Germany could compete with

and be respected by other European powers. Middle-class aspirations resonated

in this perspective, projecting the dream of a competitive German empire in

the Pacific region. An economically-driven ambition, this position provided a

guide at home as to who the Germans were and the heights to which Germany

could aspire. Ineluctably, the newspapers were at pains to make their mark on

the German nation-state, one not only predicated on a people and culture, but

one that equally fed the imagination of what ‘Germany’ (Deutschland)—near or

far—could mean as well.146

Page 246: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

232 REYES: Eyes On The Prize

Processually the German Self of the news items became reinvigorated

in this process. Besides being omnipresent, the Self was inevitably illustrated

as the more enlightened or the ideal. In particular, unlike the gossipy French or

the negligent and decaying Spaniard, the German was featured as upstanding,

intelligent, masculine and responsible. Like the English—the colonial merchant

par excellence—he was industrious and dedicated to his job as a trader in the

Philippines. That the German was projected as a more enlightened coloniser than

the Spaniard, resolute in providing a humane administration in the archipelago,

implied the moral lessons of what were wrong and right in a German society. Of

prominence was not conveying reality as such, but prescribing what it should be.

Missing in this extensive coverage, of course, was the Filipino her/

himself. That both papers drew solely from European sources—German, Spanish,

English, Austrian and the like—made this inevitable. Fittingly, José Rizal was the

sole Filipino prominent in the news accounts because his person, as portrayed,

could pass as German. Even the ‘pro-rebellion’ WZ only published the opinion

of Europeans on the causes of the rebellion, and not that of Filipinos. Elitist

in perspective, the news accounts tended to criminalize, belittle, exoticize and

demonize the rebels, devaluing their motivations to rebel. Whatever good these

Filipinos were believed to have accomplished, the readers were consistently told,

turned out to be a consequence of external influence: their military prowess was

either German or Belgian in origin, their idea of nationhood American. Why the

rebels doggedly fought a militarily superior enemy was beyond these newspapers

to explain. Law and order were needed in the islands, and sacrificing the lives

of rebels was an acceptable price to pay. Filipinos—rebel and non-rebel alike—

were treated as fleeting shadows in accounts of their own revolutionary struggle.

In the end, this scrutiny of Bremen newspaper accounts as untapped

Page 247: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

233Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

sources of historical data on the 1896 Revolution reveals the complex

entrenchment of Europe (Germany in particular) in written sources of

Philippine history. This European intrusion in the country’s historical record

is something that Filipino historians are forced to recurrently navigate. Ideally

their task here would be, in the spirit of Dipesh Chakrabarty’s counsel, to

provincialize Europe, that is, to seek the connection between violence and

idealism, which serve as primary signifiers in national narratives of citizenship

and modernity.147 To put such linear histories under intense scrutiny and to

highlight their contested, challenged, and renegotiated historiography would

prompt a renewed acknowledgment that history-writing always strives for

something that a historian her/himself engineers, but also, from time to time,

is compelled to change.

Endnotes

1 This work originally came out with Itinerario. International Journal on the History of European Expansion and Global Interaction Volume 32, No. 2 (2008), pp. 105-33.

2 Wigan Salazar, “Uneasy Observers: Germans and the Philippine-American War,” in Angel Velasco Shaw and Luis Francia (eds.), Vestiges of Warand the Aftermath of an Imperial Dream, 1899-1999 (New York: New York University Press, 2003), pp. 22-23.

3 “Philippinen,” Weser Zeitung, 10 February 1897. Supreme Admiral Alfred von Tirpitz, who was responsible for the subsequent shape and direction of the German navy, headed this expedition. On Tirpitz, see Baldur Kaulisch, Alfred von Tirpitz und die imperialistische deutsche Flottenrüstung: eine politische Biographie (Berlin: Militärverl., 1982); Christian Rödel, Krieger, Denker, Amateure: Alfred von Tirpitz und das Seekriegsbild vor dem Ersten Weltkrieg (Stüttgart: Steiner, 2003); and Gerhard Koop and Klaus-Peter Schmolke, Die Schlactschiffe der Bismarck-Klasse: Bismarck und Tirpitz: Hohepunkte und Ende des deutschen Schlachtschiffbaues (Koblenz: Bernard & Graefe, 1990).

4 Peter J. Humphreys, Media and Media Policy in West Germany: The Press and Broadcasting since 1945 (New York: Berg, 1990), p. 15.

Page 248: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

234 REYES: Eyes On The Prize

5 Thomas Schröder, “The Origins of the German Press,” in Brendon Dooley and Sabrina Baron (eds.), The Politics of Information in Early Modern Europe (London and New York: Routledge, 2001), p. 141.

6 Benedict Anderson, Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origins and Spread of Nationalism (London: Verso, [1980], 2000).

7 See Robert Lee, “Configuring the Region: Maritime Trade and Port-Hinterland Relations in Bremen, 1815-1914”, Urban History 32:2 (2005), pp. 247-87.

8 Although the first known contact between Bremen and Manila was in 1836, it was only after Spain allowed the establishment of foreign consulates in the Philippines in 1852 that the Bremen office in the capital was recognised as a consulate. In 1868 it was replaced by the Foreign Representation of the North German Federation. “Bremens Beziehungen zu den Philippinen,” Ausarbeitung durch Herrn Garbas für die Senatskanzlei (9.2.1978), in Bremerische Staatsarchiv: Sammlungwissenschaftlicher Auskunfte, p. 2.

9 Ibid., pp. 1-2.

10 Thomas Schoonover, Uncle Sam’s War of 1898 and the Origins of Globalization (Lexington: University of Kentucky Press, 2003), p. 42.

11 Woodruff D. Smith, The German Colonial Empire (Chapel Hill: University of Carolina Press, 1978), p. 5.

12 Mary Evelyn Townsend, The Rise and Fall of Germany’s Colonial Empire, 1884-1918 (New York: Macmillan, 1930), pp. 54-57.

13 Imanuel Geiss, German Foreign Policy, 1871-1914 (London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1976), pp. 75-95.

14 From the outset, this was a disproportionate battle. Dewey’s modern and more powerful squadron--comprised of four protected cruisers (Olympia, Raleigh, Baltimore and Boston), two gunboats (Concord and Petrel), one revenue cutter service (Hugh McCulloch) and 2 cutters (Nashan and Zafiro)--towered over Montojo’s aging armada of one steel cruiser (Reina Maria Cristina), one wooden cruiser (Castillo) and five small cruisers and gunboats (Don Antonio de Ulloa, Don Juan de Austria, Isla de Cuba, Isla de Luzon, and Marqués de Duero). The Americans destroyed the Spanish fleet, even those vessels in the navy yard (gunboats Elcano, General Lezo and Velasco and trasport Isla de Mindanao) which did not take part in the action. Stephen Howarth, To Shining Sea. A History of the United States Navy, 1775-1991 (London: Weidenheld & Nicolson, 1991), pp. 253-54; Jack Sweetman, American Naval History (Anapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1991), pp. 103-04. For a German account of this battle, see M. Plüddemann, “The Spanish-American War,” in Karl-Heinz Wionzek (ed.),

Page 249: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

235Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

Germany, the Philippines, and the Spanish American War: Four Accounts by Officers of the Imperial German Navy (Manila: Philippine National Historical Institute, 2000), pp. 56-59.

15 Thomas Clark, “Introduction,” in Wionzek (ed.), Germany, the Philippines and the Spanish-American War, xvi-xvii; Salazar, “Uneasy Observers,” p. 23.

16 Ivan Musicant, Empire by Default: The Spanish-American War and the Dawn of the American Century (New York: Henry Holt, 1998), p. 558.

17 This formidable German squadron was composed of the warships Kaiserin Augusta, Kaiser, Prinzess Wilhelm, the cruisers Irene and Cormoran, and transport Darmstadt. Diederich’s flagship was the Kaiser, but he sailed from Tsingtao to Manila on the Kaiserin Augusta. The vessels Deutschland, Gefion and Arcona were still anchored by Tsingtao. See: Admiral von Diederichs, “An Account of Events off Manila,” in Wionzek (ed.), Germany, the Philippines and the Spanish-American War, pp. 1-36.

18 Clark, “Introduction,” in in Wionzek (ed.), Germany, the Philippines and the Spanish-American War, p. xvi; Diederichs, “An Account of Events off Manila,” in Wionzek (ed.), Germany, the Philippines and the Spanish-American War, pp. 1-2.

19 These representatives were Doroteo Cortes, Jose M. Basa and A.G. Medina. See Zeus Salazar, “A Filipino Petition to the Kaiser for German Intervention in Favor of the Philippine Revolution,” in Zeus Salazar (ed.), Ethnic Dimension. Position Papers on Philippine Culture, History and Psychology (Cologne: Councelling Center for Filipinos and Caritas Association for the City of Cologne, 1983), pp. 131-53.

20 George Dewey, An Autobiography of George Dewey. Admiral of the Navy (Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, [1913], 1987), p. 220; Musicant, Empire by Default, p. 58.

21 Diederichs, “An Account of Events off Manila,” in Wionzek (ed.), Germany, the Philippines and the Spanish-American War, pp. 1, 10.

22 Ibid., pp. 5, 10.

23 Musicant, Empire by Default, p. 560.

24 Diederichs, “An Account of Events off Manila,” in Wionzek (ed.), Germany, the Philippines and the Spanish-American War, pp. 12-13. See also See also Musicant, Empire by Default, p. 560. It was believed that the second meeting between the governor-general and Diederichs took place at the Kaiserin Augusta at night, fueling rumours that Spain would secretly trade the

Page 250: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

236 REYES: Eyes On The Prize

Philippines to Germany. Diederichs belied this, however. According to him the second meeting took place at the German embassy in Manila on the same day that he paid a call to the Spanish governor-general in his office.

25 Musicant, Empire by Default, p. 563. For German accounts, see Diederichs, “An Account of Events off Manila,” in Wionzek (ed.), Germany, the Philippines and the Spanish-American War, pp. 20-27; Captain Liutenant Pohl, “The Activities of S.M.S. “Irene” in Philippine Waters,” in Wionzek (ed.), Germany, the Philippines and the Spanish-American War, pp. 43-45.

26 According to Dewey a cable from Washington, dated 18 June 1898, stated that two monitors, the Monterey and the Monadnock, was on the way to Manila. The Monterey was supposed to arrive first; then the Monadnock would follow soon after. Dewey accounted for the arrival of the former in Manila, but not of the latter. (Dewey, An Autobiography of George Dewey, pp. 220-31.) As the arrival of this monitor already eased tensions between himself and Diederichs, Dewey might not found it necessary to narrate further on the arrival of the second vessel. However researchers agree on the flood of American reinforcements after the Battle of Manila Bay. The Monadnock might have certainly been part of that influx.

27 William Harbutt Dawson, The German Empire 1867-1914 and the Unity Movement. Reprint (London: George Allen & Unwin, [1919], 1966), p. 392.

28 “From the Reports of S.M. Ships, Two Reports by Commander Becker, Commandant of the H.M.Cruiser Arcona to the Head of the Cruiser Division,” in Wionzek (ed.), Germany, the Philippines and the Spanish-American War, pp. 47-53. See also Salazar, “Uneasy Observers”, p. 23.

29 Erich Brandenburg, From Bismarck to the World War: A History of German Foreign Policy, 1870-1914. Translated by Annie Elizabeth Adams (London: Oxford University Press, 1933), p. 123.

30 Ibid., pp. 123-24.

31 William H. Carr, A History of Germany, 1815-1945 (London: Edward Arnold Publishers, Ltd., 1969), p. 177.

32 A.J.P. Taylor, Germany’s First Bid for Colonies, 1884-1885: A Move in Bismarck’s European Policy (New York: W. W. Norton, 1970), p. 4.

33 Robert-Hermann Tenbrock, A History of Germany. Translated by Paul J. Dine (München/ Paderborn: Max Hueber/ Ferdinand Schöning, 1968), p. 235.

34 Woodruff D. Smith, The German Colonial Empire, p. 10.

35 Townsend, The Rise and Fall of Germany’s Colonial Empire, pp. 57-58; Mary Evelyn Townsend, Origins of German Colonialism 1871-1885 (New York:

Page 251: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

237Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

Howard Fertig, 1974), pp. 16-17.

36 Brandenburg, From Bismarck to the World War, pp. 18-19; Dawson, The German Empire, p. 380; Smith, The German Colonial Empire, p. 121.

37 Schoonover, Uncle Sam’s War of 1898, pp. 40-42.

38 Smith, The German Colonial Empire, p. 5.

39 Reinhard Allings, Das Bild vom Nationalstaat im Medium Denkmal—zum Verhältnis von Nation und Staat im deutschen Kaiserreich, 1871-1918 (Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, 1996), p. 574.

40 “Spanien,” Der Courier an der Weser, 23 August 1896.

41 “Spanien,” Der Courier an der Weser, 25 August 1896, Morgenausgabe.

42 “Spanien,” Der Courier an der Weser, 3 September 1896, Morgenausgabe.

43 “Spanien,” Der Courier an der Weser, 8 September 1896.

44 See “Spanien,” Der Courier an der Weser, 9 September 1896; “Spanien,” Der Courier an der Weser, 10 September 1896; “Spanien,” Der Courier an der Weser, 15 September 1896.

45 “Spanien,” Weser Zeitung, 24 August 1896.

46 “Spanien,” Weser Zeitung, 10 September 1896.

47 The Weser Zeitung and Der Courier an der Weser were ambiguous in discussing the ethnic make-up of the so-called Spanish army in the Philippines. Research has established, however, that due to insufficient personnel and logistics, Spanish control of the archipelago relied more on Catholic missionaries than on an army. See: Nicolas Cushner, Spain in the Philippines (Quezon City: Ateneo de Manila University, 1971); John Leddy Phelan, The Hispanization of the Philippines: Spanish Aims and Filipino Responses Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1959). Gregorio Zaide claims that the standing Spanish army, which totaled to less than 2,000 in the late nineteenth century, was so small that Spain could not have maintained the islands, if not for their friars. See: Gregorio Zaide, Catholicism in the Philippines (Manila: Santo Tomas University Press, 1937), pp. 59-60. To keep the peace on the islands, the Spanish employed native troops (mainly Tagalogs, Ilocanos, Pampangos and Visayans) to serve under Spanish officers. As such we can safely say that Filipinos comprised a large portion of the so-called Spanish army in the Philippines. Also see Uldarico Baclagon, Military History of the Philippines (Manila: St. Mary’s Publishing, 1975).

48 “Der hierigen Presse wird von der Agencia Fabra aus Paris gemeldet,

Page 252: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

238 REYES: Eyes On The Prize

dab dort das Gerücht verbreitet sei und lebhaft besprochen werde, dab deutche Unterthanen in den Reihen der Aufständischen kämpfen. Es sei wenigstens Thatsache, dab verschiedene in Manila anfällige Deutsche Vorstandsmitglieder geheimer Gesselchaften seien. Andere Telegramme melden schlanweg, dab die Deutschen an der Spitze der Bewegung ständen. Wie man sieht, lassen die Franzosen keine Gelegenheit unbenutzt vorübergehen, um uns bei den andern Nationen zu verdächtigen.” “Spanien,” Weser Zeitung, 10 September 1896.

49 Brandenburg, From Bismarck to the World War, p. 5.

50 “Spanien,” Weser Zeitung, 13 September 1896.

51 “Spanien,” Weser Zeitung, 15 September 1896.

52 “Philippinen,” Weser Zeitung, 6 December 1896.

53 “Philippinen,” Weser Zeitung, 29 December 1896.

54 “Spanien,” Weser Zeitung 12 September 1896.

55 Ibid.

56 “Spanien,” Weser Zeitung, 17 September 1896, Morgenausgabe.

57 On the unlikely support for the Cuban and the Philippine revolutionaries from anarchists in Europe, and on the connection between European anarchism and anti-colonialism in the Philippines more generally, see Bendict Anderson, Under Three Flags, Anarchism and the Anti-Colonial Imagination (Manila: Anvil Publishing, 2005).

58 “Spanien,” Der Courier an der Weser, 1 October 1896.

59 “Spanien,” Der Courier an der Weser, 20 October 1896.

60 “Spanien,” Der Courier an der Weser, 4 November 1896, Morgenausgabe.

61 “Spanien,” Der Courier an der Weser, 4 November 1896.

62 “Spanien,” Der Courier an der Weser, 7 November 1896. Also discussed in: “Philippinen,” Weser Zeitung, 29 September 1896.

63 “Philippinen,” Weser Zeitung, 19 December 1896; “Manila,” Der Courier an der Weser, 20 December 1896.

64 “Philippinen,” Weser Zeitung, 6 December 1896, Morgenausgabe.

65 “Philippinen,” Weser Zeitung, 8 December 1896.

Page 253: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

239Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

66 “Nur ihre schlechte Bewaffnung hat uns bis jebt vor gröberem Unheil bewahrt.” Ibid.

67 “Philippinen,” Weser Zeitung, 17 December 1896.

68 “Philippinen,” Weser Zeitung, 22 December 1896.

69 “Philippinen,” Weser Zeitung, 28 December 1896.

70 Jose Rizal’s novels Noli Me Tangere (Berlin: 1887) and El Filibusterismo (Ghent: 1891), fueled nationalist sentiments in late nineteenth-century Philippines. For some of the more renowned studies on Rizal, see José Arcilla, Rizal and the Emergence of the Philippine Nation (Quezon City: Office of Research and Publications, Ateneo de Manila University, 1991); Austin Coates, Rizal. Philippine Nationalist and Martyr (Hong Kong: Oxford University Press, 1968); Nilo Ocampo, Istilo Ko: Rizal Romantik: Mga Tala ng Pag-aasam at Pag-ibig (Quezon City: Lathalaing P.L., 2001); Rafael Palma, The Pride of the Malay Race. A Biography of Rizal. Translated by Roman Ozaeta (New York: Prentice Hall, 1949); Ricardo Pascual, The Philosophy of Rizal (Manila: Pedro B. Ayuda & Company, 1962.

71 “Spanien,” Der Courier an der Weser, 3 January 1897.

72 Here the CW was referring to Josephine Bracken. However, contrary to the newspaper’s information, she was not Canadian, but Irish. Bracken first met Rizal in Dapitan, where he was in exile.

73 “Philippinen,” Weser Zeitung, 3 January 1897.

74 The WZ came out two times a day, one in the morning and another in the afternoon. The two editions on 7 January contained two extensive reports on Rizal. It should be noted, however, that the WZ first reported about Rizal’s death in “Spanien,” Weser Zeitung, 31 December 1896.

75 The original: “Mit seinen letzten Schritten ging der Verurtheile nach dem Richtplab, wo sich viele Spanier und Mestizen angesammelt hatten. Er weigerte sich, niederzuknien und eine Augenbinde anzulegen. Seine lebten Worte waren: “Consummatum ést!” Eine Abtheilung eingeborener Truppen gab die Salve ab. Als er stürtzte, brack das Publikum in Hochrufe auf Spanien und Polavieja.” “Philippinen,” Weser Zeitung, 7 January 1897.

76 “Philippinen,” Weser Zeitung, 7 January 1897, Mittagsausgabe.

77 The original: “Ich werde mich sehr freuen, wenn ich wieder die gute Frau Pfarrerin, Eta und Friedrich grübe; wir wollen die alten Tage der Erdbeerbowle und Waldmeister und Champignon-aufsuchen, erneuern: es waren gute, freundliche Tage. Meine Buches wegen mubte ich mein Vaterland verlassen: der

Page 254: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

240 REYES: Eyes On The Prize

Governeur lieb mich rufen, um ein Exemplar zu bekommen; die Priester waren sehr aufgeregt. Man wollte mich anklagen, aber man weib nicht, wodurch und weswegen und aus welcher Grunde; da alles was ich schrieb, historisch treu und wahr war.… Sie werden mich eine grobe Freude geben, wenn Sie von Zeit zu Zeit mir schreiben wollen: ich vergesse nie di guten stillen Tage, die ich bei Ihnane gelebt.” Ibid.

78 Shorthand for Kataastaasang, Kagalang-galangang Katipunan ng mga Anak ng Bayan (Greatest, Most Venerable Union of the Children of the Nation).

79 “Philippinen,” Weser Zeitung, 8 January 1897.

80 “Philippinen,” Weser Zeitung, 14 January 197.

81 “Spanien,” Weser Zeitung, 3 January 1897.

82 “Spanien,” Weser Zeitung, 4 January 1897.

83 “Spanien,” Weser Zeitung, 19 January 1897.

84 “Spanien,” Weser Zeitung, 21 January 1897.

85 “Philippinen,” Weser Zeitung, 31 January 1897.

86 The newspaper made little mention of the coercive nature of these “contributions”, however. On this theme, see Telesforo Canseco, Kasaysayan ng Paghihimagsik sa Cavite. Translated by Jose Rhommel Hernandez (Manila: Philippine Dominican Center of Institutional Studies, [1871], 1999).

87 “Philippinen,” Weser Zeitung, 31 January 1897.

88 “Philippinen,” Weser Zeitung, 11 February 1897.

89 In this communiqué, as reported by the WZ, Aguinaldo wrote: “Unsere Regierung wird bestehen aus einem Präsidenten und sechs Mitgliedern. Sie wird also ganz ähnlich wie die Regierung der Verein. Staaten sein. Wir werden eine stehende Armee von 30000 Mann haben und unsere Regierung wird je nach Fortschritten der Revolution eingerichtet werden. Die Gemeinden sollen in Verwaltung und Rechtspflege unabhängig, und nur verpflictet sein, zum Heere Mannschaften zu stellen und Munition zu liefern. Jede Gemeinde entsendet einen Vertreter zum Congreb, der über die Angelegenheiten der gesammten “Philippinischen Nation”.” Ibid.

90 “Spanien,” Weser Zeitung, 23 February 1897.

91 “Spanien,” Weser Zeitung, 1 April 1897; “Philippinen,” Weser Zeitung, 6 April 1897.

Page 255: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

241Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

92 “Spanien,” Der Courier an der Weser, 12 March 1897.

93 “Spanien,” Der Courier an der Weser, 9 April 1897.

94 “Spanien,” Weser Zeitung, 7 April 1897.

95 “Spanien,” Weser Zeitung, 6 March 1897.

96 “Spanien”, Weser Zeitung, 17 March 1897. This figure was confirmed in another news item on the empire of the following day: “Spanien,” Weser Zeitung, 18 March 1897. Government ministries announced slightly different figures regarding this matter: the finance ministry attested that two million pesetas—estimated as then eight million German marks—were needed monthly to suppress the uprising, while the war ministry cited one and an half million.

97 “Spanien,” Weser Zeitung, 4 March 1897.

98 “Spanien,” Weser Zeitung, 23 March 1897.

99 The original: “Wann die Rebellion ihr Ende erreicht, das kann kein Mensch heute auch nur annähernd jagen.” “Philippinen,” Weser Zeitung, 7 March 1897.

100 “Spanien,” Weser Zeitung, 8 April 1897.

101 “Spanien,” Weser Zeitung, 19 June 1897.

102 “Spanien,” Weser Zeitung, 2 May 1897.

103 On May 13, 1897, Polavieja was celebrated upon arrival in Madrid. The Te Deum was played for him at the cathedral. “Spanien,” Der Courier an der Weser, 14 May 1897.

104 “Spanien,” Der Courier an der Weser, 30 August 1897.

105 “Spanien,” Weser Zeitung, 30 September 1897.

106 These included an armoury, a museum, a library and the national archives. “Spanien,” Weser Zeitung, 15 October 1897.

107 “Spanien,” Der Courier an der Weser, 19 November 1897.

108 “Spanien,” Weser Zeitung, 23 November 1897.

109 “Spanien,” Der Courier an der Weser, 20 December 1897.

110 “Spanien,” Weser Zeitung, 24 December 1897.

111 For accounts of actors involved in the negotiations that led to the Pact

Page 256: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

242 REYES: Eyes On The Prize

of Biak-na-Bato, see Emilio Aguinaldo, Resena veridical de la revolucion Filipina (Tarlac: 1899); Pedro Paterno, El Pacto de Biyak-na-Bato (Manila: Imprenta “La Republica”, 1910); and Primo de Rivera, Memoria dirigida al Senado (Madrid: 1898).

112 “Spanien,” Weser Zeitung, 24 January 1898.

113 “Spanien,” Weser Zeitung, 3 March 1898.

114 “Spanien,” Weser Zeitung, 14 March 1898.

115 “Von den Philippinen,” Weser Zeitung, 29 May 1898.

116 “Spanien,” Weser Zeitung, 25 March 1898. See also “Spanien,” Weser Zeitung, 31 March 1898.

117 “Von den Philippinen,” Weser Zeitung, 29 May 1898.

118 Ibid.

119 “Spanien,” Der Courier an der Weser, 21 May 1898.

120 “Spanien,” Der Courier an der Weser, 8 June 1898.

121 “Spanien,” Der Courier an der Weser, 11 June 1898.

122 “Spanien,” Der Courier an der Weser, 11 June 1898, Mittagsausgabe.

123 “Spanien,” Der Courier an der Weser, 22 June 1898.

124 “Spanien,” Der Courier an der Weser, 23 June 1898.

125 “Spanien,” Der Courier an der Weser, 25 June 1898.

126 “Spanien,” Der Courier an der Weser, 25 August 1898, Mittasausgabe.

127 Paul Kramer, The Blood of Government: Race, Empire, the United States and the Philippines (Quezon City: Ateneo de Manila University Press, 2006), p. 82.

128 Renato Constantino, The Philippines: A Past Revisited (Manila: Tala Publications, 1975), p. 204.

129 “Spanien,” Der Courier an der Weser, 26 August 1898.

130 “Spanien,” Der Courier an der Weser, 2 September 1898.

131 “Spanien,” Der Courier an der Weser, 13 September 1898.

132 “Spanien,” Der Courier an der Weser, 14 November 1898. After agreeing

Page 257: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

243Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

to the American annexation of the Philippines, the European powers planned to discuss the transfer of the Spanish Carolines to Germany. According to the CW, rumours about the intentions of Germans to take the Philippines, Carolines and other Spanish colonies were spread by the Americans during its war with Spain. As such, the Germans expected that the negotiations for the Carolines would be long and controversial.

133 “Spanien,” Der Courier an der Weser, 15 November 1898.

134 “Zur Philippinen-Frage,” Der Courier an der Weser, 17 November 1898.

135 “Spanien,” Der Courier an der Weser, 26 November 1898. The quoted amount in this news item is incorrect. For ceding the Philippines to the United States Spain received $20,000,000.

136 “Philippinen,” Der Courier an der Weser, 28 December 1898.

137 “Phlippinen,” Der Courier an der Weser, 30 December 1898.

138 “Spanien,” Weser Zeitung, 10 September 1896. The original: “Abgesehen von religiösen Despotismus und der Ausschreitungen der Verwaltung wird mir als ein Hauptgrund zur Unzufriedenheit auch die Art und Weise der Abgabenerhebung bezeichnet. Während früher einfach ein gröberer Tribut zu zahlen war, sei jetzt eine Unmenge kleinere Steuern an seine Stelle getreten…und hier setze die separatistische Propaganda ein, um ihm völlige Abgabefreiheit künftig in Aussicht zu stellen. Auch belasteten diese Steuern unverhältmäbig mehr die armen ackerbautreibenden Malaien, als die den Handel beherrchenden chinesischen Mestizen, die sich zwichen Herrcher und Beherrschte drängten.”

139 “Philippinen,” Weser Zeitung 24 December 1896: “So z. B. darf der Indier sein Haus nicht ohne eine Regierungserlaubnis ausbessern. Diese kostet 2 Dollars 50 Cents. Häufig ist die ganze Hütte nicht mehr als 2 Dollars 50 Cents werth… Noch schmerzlicher ist der Kirchentribut beim Tode eines Familienangehörigen. Eine hölzerner Kiste als Sarg kann sich der Indier selbst zimmern, aber abgesehen von 4 Dollars 50 Cents, die der Todte der Kirche fürs Sterben zu zahlen hat, verlangt die Kirche noch 5 Dollars für die Erlaubnib, in einem Sarge begraben zu werden, und leider halten es die Indier vielerorts für eine Schande, nicht in einem Sarge bestattet zu werden; die Erlaubnib, den Todten nur in Strohmatten einzuwickeln, kostet nur 2 Dollars. Die Kirche liefert gar nichts als das Weihwasser; die Weihkerzen müssen je nach Gröbe mit 25 und 50 Cts. das Stück bezahlt zu werden, und das Grab graben kostet auch noch immer 1 bis 2 Dollars. Nun steht die Frau weinend an der Leiche ihres Mannes; die Kinder schreien nach Nahrung und si hat nichts, um die Beerdigung zu bezahlen. Da reibt ihr der Pfaffe die Ohrringe aus den Ohren, wohl irh Einziges, das noch einen kleinen Werth hat, und damit mub die Kirche befriedigt werden.”

140 “Philippinen,” Weser Zeitung, 29 September 1897: “Dort regiren die

Page 258: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

244 REYES: Eyes On The Prize

allmächtigen Mönche in aller ihrer früheren Glorie. Sie behaupten mehr zu sein als die bürgerlichen Gewalt, leben in Wollust und Ueppigkeit und troben selbst der katholichen Kirche, und Alles das mittelst des enormen Reichthums, welchen sie den geduldigen Einwohnern abgenommen haben. Während des jebigen Aufstandes sind sie die Anstifter des Blutvergiebens und der Folterung der unglücklichen Gefangenen gewesen....”

141 Zeus Salazar, “A Legacy of the Propaganda: the Tripartite View of Philippine History,” in Salazar, The Ethnic Dimension, pp. 107-126. Also see Magno S. Gatmaitan, Marcelo H. del Pilar, 1850-1896 (Quezon City: Muñoz Press, 1966); Graicano Lopez-Jaena, Discursos y Articulos Varios (Manila: Bureau of Printin, [1891], 1951); and José Rizal, Noli Me Tangere (Manila: Comision Nacional del Centenario de Rizal, [1887], 1961).

142 The original: “Meiner Ansicht nach ist die Ursache nicht klar. Die Eröffnung des Suezcanals hat in erheblichem Mabe das politische Erwachen der Völker des äuberten Ostens erleichtert. Die Ideen der Freiheit, Unabhängigkeit, Nationalitäten, deren wir uns hier täglich bedienen, waren für jene Völker ganz Neues; sie haben über diese Ideen nachgedacht und die Folgen daraus gezogen. Die plöbliche Gröbe Japans, die Renaissance dieses durch und durch nationalisirten Staaten, der Glanz seiner Siege haben bis in die kleinsten Dörfer der Meere Ostasiens einen auberordentlichen Widerhal gefunden. Die Eingeborenen der Philippinen wollten das Vorgehen der Japaner nachahmer und das ist der Grund ihres Aufstandes.” “Spanien,” Weser Zeitung, 10 July 1897.

143 Teodoro Agoncillo, History of the Filipino People (Quezon City: Garotech Publishing, [1960], 1990); Constantino, The Philippines: A Past Revisited; and Gregorio Zaide, The Pageant of Philippine History, Vol. II (Manila: Philippine Education Company, 1979).

144 In contrast with the Vaterland, the Heimat discourse that pervaded Germany during this period featured a warm and resilient homeland. Here the natural beauty of the German landscape was believed to nurture honest, strong and hardworking Germans, anticipating the later nationalist ideology of Blut und Boden (blood and soil). For further discussion, see Elizabeth Boa and Rachel Palfreyman, Heimat: A German Dream. Regional Loyalties and National Identity in German Culture, 1890-1990 (London: Oxford University Press, 2000); Jost Hermand and James Steakley (eds.), Heimat, Nation, Fatherland. The German Sense of Belonging (New York: Peter Lang, 1996).

145 In late nineteenth century simplification and dramatisation characterized popular writings, which, in turn, contributed to the development of the German identity and idea of the nation. See Richard Münch, “German Nation and German Identity: Continuing Change from the 1770s to the 1990s,” in Bertel Heurlin (ed.), Germany in Europe in the Nineties (London: Macmillan Press, 1996), pp. 13-43.

Page 259: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

245Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

146 For an account of the development of German identity, see Harold James, A German Identity: 1770 to the Present Day (London: Phoenix, [1989], 1994).

147 See Dipesh Chakrabarty, Provincializing Europe: Postcolonial Thought and Historical Difference (New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 2000).

Page 260: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

246 JAMES: Human Rights Protection For “Naija Pinoys”

HUMAN RIGHTS PROTECTION FOR “NAIJA PINOYS”OVERSEAS FILIPINO WORKERS IN NIGERIA

Saliba B. James

Abstrak:

Nagsimula ang internasyonal na migrasyon ng mga manggagawang Pilipino sa Nigeria noong dekada 60. Lumakas ito sa pagitan ng dekada 70 at 80 hanggang sa unti-unting humina nang dahil sa mga suliraning pang-ekonomiya ng Nigeria. Muling dumami ang mga migrante noong dekada 90, na nagbadya ng pagbabago ng kaisipan ng mga migranteng manggagawa mula sa pananatili nang panandalian tungo sa pamimirmihan sa Nigeria. Ang mga “Filipino expatriate” ay naging “Naija Pinoy,” mga migranteng may opisyal na pahintulot na mamuhay at magtrabaho sa Nigeria. Dahil dito, naging simbolo ang katawagang “Naija Pinoy” ng integrasyon at pakikiramay ng mga migrante sa pinaghahanap-buhayang lipunan. Nagpapahiwatig ito ng positibong karanasan sa migrasyon. Ipinaliliwanag ng sanaysay na ito ang nasabing penomenon sa pamamagitan ng pagsusuri sa mga karapatang pantao ng mga Pilipinong migrante, gayundin ang mga epekto nito sa kanilang pananaw sa pinaghahanap-buhayang lipunan.

Introduction

This paper is written in honor of one of my academic mentors--Dr. Zeus

A. Salazar. I am indebted to Dr. Salazar for his inspirational role in drawing

my attention to the field of international labor migration, in particular, the

migration of Overseas Filipino Workers (OFW) to Nigeria, which became the

subject of my Ph.D. dissertation. Dr. Salazar had done a similar pioneering

study on Filipino migrant workers in Germany.1 Equally important to note is

Page 261: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

247Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

the fact that the methological approach to such a subject of Philippine social

history fitted into the historical perspective espoused by Dr. Salazar, that is, the

Pantayong Pananaw. It is an historical theory or dialogue that consists of both

active (speakers) and passive (listeners) subjects in their own discourses.2

However, even more important for our purpose is the advocacy and

reliance of Pantayong Pananaw on “oral histories” or oral accounts, as means

of substantiating and buttressing ideas and concepts incongruent with other

common forms of historical sources.3 My study of Filipino migrant workers

in Nigeria over the years have relied largely on oral accounts from the workers

themselves. Thus, even though I do not belong to the Pantayong Pananaw school

per se, partly because I wrote in English instead of Pilipino, the influence of the

perspective on my work is undeniable. It is for this reason that I am honored to

contribute a paper in honour of Dr. Zeus Salazar, especially on Overseas Filipino

Workers.

Migrant Rights in Nigeria

The human rights of migrant workers have always been a significant issue for the

Nigerian state. Since its independence Nigeria was both an important sending

and receiving country.4 Due to an acute shortage of manpower it sent out migrant

students mostly to Europe and North America for training. By the 1980s Asia,

including the Philippines, began to receive large numbers of Nigerian students.

As a continuation of this trend, the Nigerian community in the Philippines today

consists mostly of students and businessmen.5 However, under the Technical

Aid Corps (TAC) of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Nigeria has since the 1990s

sent out professionals to other developing nations.

The same manpower need compelled the new Nigerian state to continue

Page 262: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

248 JAMES: Human Rights Protection For “Naija Pinoys”

with the recruitment of “overseas officers,” began by the British colonial

government before independence. The Federal Public Service Commission

(FPSC), recruited officers from west African countries, especially Ghana and

Sierra Leone. By 1967 this exercise was extended to Europe, North America and

Asia. India, Pakistan, Sri lanka, Bangladesh and the Philippines were among the

first sources of Asian migrants to Nigeria.6

Nigeria’s status as both a sending and receiving country and her

membership to the United Nations Organization necessitated close attention

to the question of migrants’ rights. National and international instruments

for the promotion and protection of the rights of migrant workers were either

promulgated or acceded to. The Nigerian Immigration Act of 1963, guided

by relevant international laws on fundamental human rights of workers,

constituted the basis of immigration laws and policy for the nation. Among

these international instruments were the 1948 United Nations Declaration on

Human Rights, International Council on Civil and Politics Rights (ICCPR),

Convention on the Elimination of All forms of Discrimination Against Women

(CEDAW), Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) and International

Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR).

In 1975 the landmark formation of the Economic Community of West

African States (ECOWAS) led to an even more focused attention on the issue

of migrants’ human rights. Through its Protocol on Free Movement of Persons

and its Community Laws the ECOWAS provided for the free flow of migrants

and their right of establishment.7 The ECOWAS Protocol relaxed immigration

laws on entry, residence and establishment thereby encouraging the emergence

of the ECOWAS citizen. An increased inflow of ECOWAS citizens from poor

neighboring countries to oil rich Nigeria followed suit. The promotion and

Page 263: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

249Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

protection of the rights of these migrant workers from the sub-region accounted

for the highly accommodating immigration laws that were, at some point,

abused through the high influx of illegal migrants.8 Nevertheless, the 1960s and

1970s provided a convenient environment for the accommodation of migrants in

Nigeria and the protection of their rights.

Filipino Migrant Workers in Nigeria

The protection of Filipino migrant workers’ rights in Nigeria was predominantly

determined by their legal status as migrants and their occupational standing as

professionals in different fields. Filipinos were high profile migrants. During the

four waves of migration the occupational characteristics of the workers differed.

In the first wave, 1964- 1975, migrants were made up of doctors, engineers,

architects, radiographers and surveyors. The second wave, migrants from 1975

to 1985, was predominantly comprised of teachers and education officers, who

worked in different parts of the country, especially in the northern states. The

third wave migrants from 1982 to 1992 were few and their sojourn short-lived.

These were mostly entertainers, brought in illegally to serve in clubs in Lagos

and Port-Harcourt. Their presence provided occasions for a few cases of human

rights abuses. During this wave a new class of professionals, mostly aircraft

engineers and technicians, were also brought in by private airlines operating

in the expanding aviation industry. Their presence would dwarf the issue of

entertainers and open a new chapter in the Filipino inflow to Nigeria.9 What can

be described as the fourth wave has been the growing number of skilled office

and professional Filipino workers. Equally important is the growing presence

of entrepreneurs, who are beginning to set up manufacturing outfits in the

country.10 The over 7,200 “Naija Pinoys” or Overseas Filipino Workers in Nigeria

Page 264: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

250 JAMES: Human Rights Protection For “Naija Pinoys”

today fall under this new category.

The 2008 Global Forum on Migration and Development (GFMD),

which focused on migration, human rights and development, identified some

parameters for measuring the enforcement and protection of the rights of

migrant workers. The parameters correspond with the three basic stages in

international labor migration process namely, pre-departure, post-departure

and work stage and the return stage.11 During these stages origin and destination

countries share different responsibilities in promoting migrants’ rights.

The second GFMD emphasized the connection between “mutual benefits of

migration” and “the degree to which migrants’ rights are protected by origin

and destination countries.” However, the People’s Global Action on Migration,

Development and Human Rights, a civil society sponsored alternative forum,

advocated the “mainstreaming of migrant workers voices” into the global

debate on their human rights.”12 Both positions reflect the significance accorded

to Filipino migrants’ rights by the Nigerian state since the beginning of Filipino

migration to the country.

The migrants’ human rights’ indices observed in the three stages of

the migration process include the system of recruitment and contracts at the

pre-departure level; salaries, paid holidays, social security, accommodation,

remittances, gratuity, health care, freedom of association, ownership of

business etc., at the post-departure or work stage; and re-integration measures

at the return stage. The indices in the first and second stages will be discussed

in relation with Filipino experiences in Nigeria.

From the outset the Philippine and Nigerian governments handled

pre-departure issues, mindful of the rights of the migrant workers. Recruited

in 1964, the first batch of 24 Filipino engineers and architects were formally

Page 265: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

251Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

invited by the Nigerian government through the Philippine embassy in Lagos.13

They went through a battery of interviews by the Nigerian Federal Public

Service Commission, headed by Chief S. O. Williams, and during which forty-

five (45) out of two hundred (200) professionals interviewed were recruited.

Contract appointment letters were promptly signed and issued in Manila.

The involvement of the sending and receiving governments and the signed

contracts guaranteed the workers’ rights. During the second migration wave,

migrants signed offers of appointments in Manila at the Overseas Employment

Development Board (OEDB) which later became the Philippine Overseas

Employment Agency (POEA). But the actual contract agreements were signed

upon reaching Nigeria.14

To assure workers of their rights, government agencies processed and

directly returned the migrants’ travel documents. Since Nigeria had no Embassy

in the Philippines, the British Embassy, which covered African Commonwealth

interests, processed travel documents and issued visas on behalf of the country.

The Nigerian High Commissioner in Hong Kong took over the responsibility,

before an embassy was opened in 1981. The OEDB processed the basic travel

documents before the visa issuance. It also received tickets from the relevant

Nigerian agencies and issued them to the migrants. The migrants did the

accreditation of their credentials either at the Supreme Court or Malacañang

(Presidential office) which issued the presidential seal. Later this was done at

the Department of Foreign Affairs. These pre-departure preparations, including

the airplane tickets, were done at no expense to the migrants.15

The involvement of governments and their agencies adequately

protected the rights of the workers, who for several years worked without

experiencing any violation of their rights. A few instances of human rights

Page 266: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

252 JAMES: Human Rights Protection For “Naija Pinoys”

violation happened to some workers, who were recruited by private bodies

and had no formal contracts. For example a hotel management recruited

three male professionals and one female manager without contract or letters

of appointment. The male workers returned home while the female manager

married the manager and stayed. In later migration waves this pattern of abuse

resurfaced among some professionals, recruited through private agencies by

private companies. The involvement of governments and their agencies at the

pre-departure stage is therefore critical to the observance of migrants’ rights.16

The protection of Filipino migrant workers’ rights was clearly manifested

in the working conditions in the work place, that is, the post-departure period.

Since economic gain or the “search for greener pastures” was a strong motive for

accepting the invitation to come to Nigeria, the issue of wages was important.

The Nigerian state offered attractive salaries that were the same as those offered

to nationals. There was no discrimination in salaries, if anything, additional

financial incentives, such as the fifteen percent special contract addition that

were not enjoyed by the nationals, were given to the migrant workers.17

The professionals recruited in the 1960s were paid a monthly salary

of 150 British pounds or 1,800 pounds sterling per annum. After 1973 when

the national currency, the “naira,” was introduced migrant workers were paid

according to existing national salary structure. Since most migrants were

graduates of universities, their starting points were never below Grade level 8,

which was the approved starting point for fresh graduates in the country. The

cash equivalent was ₦4, 104 for step 1 and ₦5, 136 for step 7. Migrant workers

with many years at working experience were placed on higher salary levels such

as Grade level 10 and earned ₦6, 624.18

Apart from the attractive salary package gratuity, amounting to 15

Page 267: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

253Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

percent of the annual salary, was provided for in the contracts and paid to the

workers at the end of each contract period. The contract period was initially 3

years at a stretch with 9 months leave, broken into 3 months each year. This was

later revised to 18 months or 2 years as one tour with 4 weeks’ vacation and paid

round trip ticket at the end of it.19 The round trip vacation ticket was itself an

additional incentive.

Furthermore, another fifteen percent special contract addition was

given to all expatriate migrant workers.20 This contract addition was informally

called “Bush allowance,” a reference to the rural conditions under which many

Filipino teachers served, particularly in northern Nigeria. It was an incentive for

serving in such remote rural locations. An added incentive was the substantial

amount given as car loans to the migrant workers. The amount, sometimes

exceeding six thousand naira (₦6,000.00) or over five thousand, five hundred

United States dollars (US$5,500.00), was described by one migrant worker as

“hospitality incentive” for the migrants.21 Many migrants took the car loans

and bought second hand cars. The balance of the money, together with other

earnings, were pocketed and remitted home.

The freedom enjoyed by the migrant workers in remitting their earnings

in Nigeria was equally a mark of respect for their human rights. The migrant

workers used various methods, both formal and informal in remitting money

back to the Philippines. Initially, remittances were done through “bank-to-bank

transaction, by means of bank draft and also via “mail transfer,” which migrants

said they have used.22 However, most admitted using the informal channels that

is, sending money “through returning Filipinos” on home leave. This enabled

their relations back home to earn more since the bank drafts sent could be sold

at the black market for higher sums than that offered by the banks.

Page 268: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

254 JAMES: Human Rights Protection For “Naija Pinoys”

The migrant workers were also properly accommodated. Some were

given three or four bedroom flats or bungalows, either in school or hospital

premises or even choice areas like Government Reserve Areas, “GRAs,” meant

for top government officials. The migrants at times found the houses too big

since their families were not with them. Some, therefore, moved in to live with

their colleagues to minimize loneliness and acquire a sense of security.23

Their dignified working conditions also served to respect the rights of

migrant workers. Many held positions of responsibility as heads of Departments

and controlled well equipped laboratories where they produced excellent

students. This resulted in job satisfaction and provided a sense of pride among

them. One migrant expressed this, declaring that “the peak of my teaching

career was when I produced a grade one student in biology. I am proud of it. I

felt satisfied that I could go home.”24

The terms of their contracts forbade migrants from directly or indirectly

engaging in any other service or business in Nigeria. However, in the 1980s and

1990s, when conditions began to change, some started small businesses. Kiosks,

selling Filipino snacks like siopao, and mami, lumpia, empanada and cake

were set up. Others exported Nigerian hide and skin to the U.S where it sold

for higher prices. Some Filipino doctors did part time in private clinics. A civil

engineer who had worked with the Nigerian army established a public liability

company called Niger-Filco Nigeria (PLC).25 These actions attracted no official

sanctions or disapprovals, paving the way towards the assumption of freedom of

entrepreneurship among migrants.

Filipino migrant workers also enjoyed freedom of association in Nigeria.

By the 1970s such freedom was expressed in informal birthday celebrations,

Valentines’ Day parties, Christmas and Independence Day celebrations. In

Page 269: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

255Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

different states more formal groupings began to emerge, including the Filipino

Community Association in Borno State (FCA), Filipino Association in Bauchi state

(FA), Samahan ng mga Filipinos sa Sokoto (SAPISO), Filipino Camp Residents

Association in Port- Harcourt (FCRA) etc. In 1974 the Philippine Barangay

Society of Nigeria (PBSN) emerged as the “Mother Association” for all migrants.26

From its inception the PBSN has protected migrants’ rights and welfare through

the promotion of good relations between themselves and their host society. The

PBSN organized Award Nights, Community Awards, Ambassador’s Awards,

and Fiesta Philippines Cultural Show. Recently, under the leadership of Mrs.

Esperanza Derpo, the PBSN embarked on a charity drive that provided informed

and credible advice on the security situation and working conditions of Naija

Pinoys in Nigeria. It helped the government understand and appreciate the high

preference for Filipino professionals “for supervising, management and other

key positions in various industries throughout Nigeria.”27 This effort assisted

in lifting the ban on Filipino workers in Nigeria in 2009. PBSN declared that

the security situation in the Niger Delta only affected sea-based Naija Pinoys in

that region, not their land-based counterparts. This declaration attested to the

human rights enjoyed by Naija Pinoys today.

Recent “Naija Pinoys”

In the 1980s, in relation to the global economic slump, Nigeria’s economic

fortunes changed, leading to negative tendencies that compromised the migrant

workers’ rights. The value of the naira began to drop relative to the dollar. In

1984 the General Mohammadu Buhari military regime imposed restrictions

on remittances. Previously workers could remit as high as fifty to seventy five

percent (50-75%) of their earnings; under the new foreign exchange control

Page 270: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

256 JAMES: Human Rights Protection For “Naija Pinoys”

measures, they were allowed to remit only twenty-five percent (25%) of their

salaries.28 Consequently many Filipino migrants in Nigeria either went back to

the Philippines or moved to the United States of America.

By the mid-1980s the working conditions of migrants were radically

altered, with negative consequences for their human rights. The government

itself stopped recruiting new expatriate workers. Privileges enjoyed by workers

such as remittances, car loans, paid holidays etc. were gradually withdrawn, as

the economic situation worsened in the 1990s. The fortunes of the new wave of

Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) recruited into the Oil and Aviation industries

were negatively affected by the changed working environment. Changes in pre-

departure conditions, especially recruitment by private agencies, opened the

floodgate for the abuse of migrants’ human rights.

In the oil sector, the Japanese company Chiyoda offered Filipino workers

fifteen-months contracts, with a provision for fifteen-days’ vacation and a round

trip ticket for home leave. In order to increase their working hours their home

leave was often converted to cash without the workers consent. Also as their

contracts stipulated their salaries, which ranged from $5, 379 or $358 monthly

to $4, 500 or $300 monthly, would be paid to the workers’ account through

the recruitment agencies in Manila. In Nigeria they were given ₦620 plus an

additional $20 stipend. But the amounts stated in the contracts were not always

paid correctly.29 The rights of these skilled and semi- skilled workers were

violated.

In the aviation industry, technicians and engineers were equally offered

attractive salary packages of up to $1, 500 monthly plus an extra sum of $70 to

be received in Nigeria. But again, payments were not always made according

to the specifications in the contracts. The airline workers were also promised

Page 271: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

257Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

fully furnished accommodation but were kept in one room apartments. Their

contracts required them to work 48 hours a week, but they worked 24 hours

a day, without any overtime payments. Unlike the first and second generation

migrants they enjoyed limited freedom of association within the industry

itself. In recent times, insecurity particularly in the oil-producing Niger Delta

region of Nigeria, threatened migrants’ rights especially their freedom to work

anywhere in the world. The spate of kidnappings of foreign workers threatened

sea-based migrants in particular. Measures, taken by the Nigerian government

to guarantee workers’ security, removed the threat and allowed Naija Pinoy oil

workers to remain in the region. The involvement of some sea-based migrants

in oil theft or “oil bunkering” also posed another threat, which, fortunately, was

resolved amicably.

Conclusion

Naija Pinoys or Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) in Nigeria are among the

active “unsung heroes” of the Philippines, contributing to the over 16 billion

dollars remittances to the country. Protecting their human rights is therefore

a crucial issue. The experiences of Naija Pinoys reaffirm the convergence

of opinion in the U.N. high level dialogue between the Global Forum on

Migration and Development (GFMD) and the parallel forum of Civil Society

Organizations (CSOs) that “the positives of international migration far

outweigh the negatives.”30 Part of the truism here lies in the fact that Naija

Pinoy migration experiences confirms the possibility of combining economic

benefit and respect for migrants’ rights. The PBSN and the Philippine Embassy,

in conjuncture with the relevant agencies and Departments in the Philippines,

have been addressing issues around migrants’ rights. The issuance of Overseas

Page 272: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

258 JAMES: Human Rights Protection For “Naija Pinoys”

Employment Certificate (OEC) by the Philippine Overseas Employment Agency

both in Manila and its regional offices shows the determination to respect the

rights of migrants and make their lives easier. The PBSN has metamorphosed

into a strong association that plays a key role in protecting workers rights in

Nigeria. It has also contributed in promoting bilateral relations between the

Philippines and Nigeria through positive intervention in matters pertaining

to migrants’ rights or in issues that could create friction between the two

states. Overall the prospects for an increasingly positive Naija Pinoy migration

experiences in Nigeria are bright.

Endnotes

1 See: Dr Zeus A. Salazar, “The Outflow of Filipino to the Bundesrepublik Deutschland since the 1960s,” in Philippine Journal of Public Administration, Vol. 31, No. 4, October 1987.

2 Ramon Guillermo, “Exposition, Critique and New Directions for Pantayong Pananaw,” Kyoto Review of Southeast Asia, 3 (2003), p. 1.

3 Ibid.

4 Olaide A. Adedokun, “The Right of Migrant Workers and Members of their Families: Nigeria,” in Unesco Series of country Reports on the Ratification of the UN Convention on Migrants, 14th October, 2003, p. 11.

5 Matikas Santos, “Ph- firms in Nigeria very well foreign minister, July 3oth 2015,” in Philippine Daily Inquirer, http:// globalnation. Inquiver.net/ 81787/.

6 Saliba B. James, Filipino Labour Migration to Nigeria: A study in Labour and Bilateral relations (Ibadan: Loud Books Publishers, 2007), p. 161.

7 Olaide, op. cit., p. 13.

8 During the Second Republic in 1981 Nigeria had to deport hundreds of illegal aliens who violated the ECOWAS Protocol. This created tension between Nigeria and the migrants’ home countries, especially Ghana. The term “Ghana Must Go” became a symbol of that incidence.

Page 273: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

259Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

9 Saliba, op. cit., p. 163.

10 Matikas Santos, op. cit.

11 Global Forum on Migration and Development “Background Paper,” Manila, 27-30 October, 2008.

12 Ibid.

13 This was confirmed by the Philippine Ambassador to Nigeria, S. T Sabalones in New Nigerian, Tuesday, February 21, 1984. It was also reiterated in my interview with Dr. Juan B. Corpuz and Dr. (Mrs) Teresita Barios Corpuz, who were among the first doctors recruited in 1965. Date: February 7, 1994 in Lagos.

14 Interview with Mrs. Aurora Casumbal Minoza, Teacher, Maiduguri, December 13, 1993.

15 Interview with Mrs. Lilian Raz Ng Adikwu, Teacher, Gboko, Benue State, February, 27, 1994.

16 Interview with Mrs. Erlinda Rivera Bello, Medical Assistant, Lagos, February 18th 1994.

17 Interview with Dr. and Dr. (Mrs.) Juan D. Corpuz, Lagos 1994.

18 Interview with Dorina S. Bartholomew, Teacher, Michika, Adamawa State, December 14, 1993.

19 Interview with Mr. Jordan Kapili, Teacher, Azare, Bauchi State, January 6th, 1994.

20 Interview with Mrs Ophelia Lagos Daleon, Teacher, Toro, Bauchi State, January, 1994.

21 Interview with Mrs. Grace Abrazado, Azare, Bauchi State, January 5, 1994.

22 Interview with Mr. Ernesto Faje, Azare, Bauchi State, January 6, 1994.

23 Interview with Ophelia Lagos Daleon, 1994.

24 Interview with Mr. Jordan Kapili, 1994.

25 James, op. cit., p. 242.

26 Ibid., p. 289.

27 “PBSN Chairperson (Mrs. Esperanza Derpo) Meets with VP Noli de Castro”, Nigerian OFWS, posted by Naija Pinoy on htt:// www.gmanews.tv/

Page 274: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

260 JAMES: Human Rights Protection For “Naija Pinoys”

story, March 27, 2009.

28 Saliba B. James, op. cit., p. 250.

29 Ibid., p. 258.

30 Global Forum on Migration and Development, Civil Society Days 19-20 November, 2012, Mauritius, p. 6.

Page 275: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

261Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

PROMINENT MINANGKABAU IN JAVA (INDONESIA)DURING THE JAPANESE OCCUPATION*

Gusti Asnan

Abstrak:

Nakatuon ang sanaysay na ito sa mga kilalang Minangkabau na nakatira sa Java sa panahon ng Pananakop ng mga Hapon sa Indonesia; ginagamit nito bilang pangunahing batis pangkasaysayan ang Orang Indonesia jang Terkemoeka di Djawa (Prominenteng Indones sa Java) na naimprenta sa pamamagitan ng Gunseikanbu, ang Serbisyo Panlathala ng Hukbong Hapon, noong 1944. Sinusuri sa papel na ito ang ibig sabihin ng pagiging kilalang tao para sa mga Hapon habang ginagamit ang Gunseikanbu bilang primaryang batis at pinag-aaralan ang mga rehiyong pinagmulan ng mga kilalalang tao ayon sa aklat. Tinatalakay rito kung bakit itinuturing ang maraming Minangkabau bilang prominenteng tao sa Java at inilalahad ang katayuan ng kanilang edukasyon, hanap-buhay, pamayanan, kaabalahang panlipunan at pampolitika bago ang Panahon ng Hapon, at pinagmulang lugar sa Kanlurang Sumatra. Isinusulong sa sanaysay na ito na una, ang Java ang naging rantau ng mga Minangkabau mula pa sa simula ng ikadalawampung siglo; at ikalawa, ang mga Minangkabau ang pinakamalaking grupong edukado mula sa Outer Islands sa Java. Naglingkod ang karamihan sa kanila bilang empleyado ng pamahalaan, namuhay sa mga pinakaimportanteng siyudad sa Java, naging kabilang sa mga organisasyong politiko-sosyal bago ang Pananakop ng Hapon, at nagmula sa mga pamayanang matatagpuan sa puso ng rehiyong Minangkabau.

Page 276: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

262 ASNAN: Prominent Minangkabau in Java

Introduction

In November 1944, Gunseikanbu, the Japanese Army Information Services in Java

(Indonesia) published a book with the title Orang Indonesia jang Terkemoeka

di Djawa (Prominent Indonesians in Java: henceforth OITD). This book was

reprinted by Biblio Ltd., a Japanese publisher in 1973. In 1986 Gajah Mada

University Press reproduced the Biblio Ltd. edition. No significant changes

were made to the book by Gajah Mada University Press; even the format, the

lay-out, the type and the size of font are the same as the Biblio Ltd. version.

The difference of the new edition with the earlier publication were the two

prologues, one by Akira Nagazumi a Japanese-American historian who had a

great interest in Indonesian history and another by Sartono Kartodirdjo, the

doyen of Indonesian history.1 Both scholars welcomed the publication and

stressed its great significance as a source for students and researchers who are

interested in studying Indonesian history during the Japanese occupation.

As the book would constitute a valuable addition to the scarce sources on the

Japanese period, its publication--both scholars hoped--will stimulate research

and publishing on this period.

This article is inspired by the OITD and uses it as its primary source. I

hope to contribute at realizing the hopes of Nagazumi and Kartodirdjo--that

the publication of their work, now more than two decades ago, would stimulate

research and publication on the Japanese period of Indonesian history.

Whereas the OITD is a “who’s who” for all of Indonesia in Java during the

Japanese period, this article focuses its discussion on one particular ethnic group,

the Minangkabau, who originated from West Sumatra in the island of Sumatra.

There are two important reasons why this group deserves scholarly attention.

First, even though there was a significant group of influential Minangkabau in

Page 277: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

263Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

Java during the Japanese occupation, this group was hardly studied. Second,

this article will fill a gap in the migration history of Minangkabau, and their

experiences in the rantau area (overseas or in a foreign country), in this case, the

migration of Minangkabau to Java, their activities and their experiences there

during Japanese period. It should be pointed out that even scholars such as

Mochtar Naim and Tsuyoshi Kato who specialized in Minangkabau migration

have not written about the Japanese period. 2

The OITD documents the number of prominent Minangkabau people

in Java vis-à-vis the other ethnic group there. In addition, it maps out their

educational level, occupation, their areas of living, and their involvement in

social-political activities in the period preceding the Japanese occupation and

their village of origin in West Sumatra.3 Finally the OITD also illustrates their

date of birth as well as the books and articles they wrote and published. This

article will discuss all these aspects.

OITD as an Historical Source

The OITD is such a rich source for historians and social scientist alike because it

defines why a certain group is influential and gives detailed information about the

individuals that constitute this group. The Gunseikanbu employed four criteria

to define someone as a “prominent person.” The first criterion was a university

degree. The second was, in the absence of a university degree, a membership

at the upper echelon of civil servants who earned at least f. 200 a month, such

as Indisch Arts (native medical doctor) or wedana (sub-district head) in the

Dutch era. This category could include those who held a high position in an

administrative unit, but was not a civil servant. The third criterion referred

to individuals who held high position in important or big privately owned

Page 278: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

264 ASNAN: Prominent Minangkabau in Java

companies or businesses, for example the owner or manager of a factory that

employed at least 50 workers. The fourth category included different kinds of

leaders who were not included in the above four classes, comprising of religious

leaders (ulama or Islamic teacher, Catholic priest, Protestant clergyman, Hindu

or Buddhist priest) or leaders of civil organization such as leaders of women’s

organization, leaders of youth organization, leaders of social organization,

leaders of labor organization, leaders or organizers of art and sport group. This

last category included heads of school, as well as eminent journalists, artists,

sportsmen (athletes), and teachers.4

The numerous curriculum vita in the OITD contained information such

as the featured individuals’ names (some of them completed with the traditional

and academic titles), date of birth (in the Japanese almanac system which

is different from the Christian calendar system by 660 years), place of birth,

education (including the name of schools and dates of graduation), occupation

(completed with the name of institutions/companies and work time), social

or political organizations (alongside their names and dates of association),

articles and books that have been written and published (together with their

full bibliographic details).5

Generally the OITD divided the occupations of the eminent people in

Java into three main-categories, they are: 1) State Administration; 2) Economic

Affairs, and 3) The Other or Non-State Administration and Non-Economic

Group Affairs. The number of prominent figures that were grouped into the first

category was 1,144; the second category, 697; and the third category, 1,168--totaling

to 3,009.6 Gunseikanbu divided the first category (State Administration) into five

sub-groups, namely: Public Administration (117), Civil Service (635), Financial

Affairs (93), Domestic Security (52), and The Court (247). The second category

Page 279: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

265Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

(Economic Affairs) was divided into nine sub-groups; they were Agricultural

Sector (111), Forestry Sector (30), Husbandry and Fishery Sectors (60),

Handicraft Sectors (60), Transportation Affairs (80), Technical Affairs (232),

Trading Activities (41), Finance Affairs or Banks and Pawnshop Services (48),

Associations to Promote National Economy/ APNE (35). The third category,

The Other or Non-State Administration and Non-Economic Group Affairs, was

also divided into nine sub-groups; they were Information Services (60), Lawyers

(Legal Aid Services) (25), Public Health Service (535), Education Affairs (189),

Cultural Affairs (54), Religious Affairs (91), Political and Labor Affairs (103),

Women and Welfare Affairs (54), Sport and Youth Affairs (57).

Here it is evident that the OITD contained important information on

the prominent Indonesian people on Java during the Japanese period. Those

selfsame distinguished people, who incidentally lived in Java at that time,

could have originated from varied regions and ethnic groups in the Indonesian

archipelago. Unfortunately, the OITD did not mention where they came from

(their native regions) and to which ethnic-groups they belonged.7

In order to ascertain their region of origin and their ethnicity this article

uses their birth place as the basis of reference. This consideration is based on

some factors; for instance, until the beginning of the 20th century Indonesians

were generally born in their native region. If they lived outside their places of

origin, they migrated to another region due to personal reasons, politics, or

their duties as colonial soldiers, civil servants or students. People from certain

ethnic-groups and born in other ethnic-group regions were also mentioned, but

their numbers were not so high.8 If we found such a case, for example a Javanese

man was born in West Sumatra or a Minangkabau man was born in Aceh, we

determine their native region based on their name (first name, family name, or

Page 280: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

266 ASNAN: Prominent Minangkabau in Java

name completed with the traditional title). Until the Japanese period, a name

(complete with the traditional title in front of or at the end of the name) could be

said as an identifier of a particular ethnic group in Indonesia and might be used

as a guide on the place of origin or ethnicity of someone. Specific distinctions

of names were generally used by the Javanese, Sundanese, Menado, Maluku,

Batak, Minangkabau and other ethnic groups. Someone named Budiardjo, with

the title Raden Mas, might certainly have been Javanese, although he was born

Sawahlunto in West Sumatra (the traditional title of Rades Mas only used by the

Javanese people); or someone named Burhanuddin Datuak Bandaro Kuniang

could be a Minangkabau, even though he was born in Meulaboh (Aceh)—the

traditional title of Datuak, alongside one or two specific words used only by the

Minangkabau people.9

Based on place of birth and ethnically distinct names and/or title,

one can ascertain 21 different regions where the prominent individuals in Java

originated; Java (2,036), Sunda (547), Minangkabau (137), Menado or North

Sulawesi (61), Madura (53), Batak/Tapanuli (49), Maluku (31), Melayu/East

Sumatra) (18), South Sumatra (18), Betawi (16), Kalimantan (11), Indo (8),10 Aceh

(7), Bali (6), South Sulawesi (3), Lampung (3), Riau (2), Nusa Tenggara Barat (1),

Nusa Tenggara Timur (1), and Jambi (1).

As can be deduced from above, the Minangkabau comprises the largest

immigrant ethnic group on Java. This information raises two questions: firstly,

why did the Minangkabau people decide to live in Java at that time?, and

secondly, in which fields did they play an important role on that island?

Page 281: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

267Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

Java as a Minangkabau Rantau

Two answers could be easily given to the first question: the Minangkabau

settled on Java due firstly, to their traditional practice of merantau (migration)

tradition and secondly, to the fact that Java had been a leading rantau area for

the Minangkabau since the beginning of the 20th century.11

Merantau refers to the voluntary migration of the Minangkabau, who

thereby leave their village of origin, in particular, or their ethnic region, in

general. Several factors formed the background of this movement. Some of

these factors deal with demographical problems--for example, the increasing

village population put more pressure on resources like land, paving the way

towards the formation of new settlements in sparsely populated frontier

regions. Other factors concerned economic problems or rural poverty--

individuals left their village to seek their fortune elsewhere and migrated to

other regions to trade or work as laborers. Some Minangkabau were driven

by their political backgrounds; they went to other regions or countries to save

themselves and/or escape the political turmoil in their native villages. While

a few aimed to improve their stations and resolve certain social problems; for

example, they went to other regions to seek further education.12

Tambo, Minangkabau traditional historiography, and several scholars

who paid special attention to merantau tradition states that merantau has been

done by the Minangkabau people since the legendary era, and continue until

the recent time. The earliest merantau was carried out in relation to village

segmentation, and as a way out of the increasing population in certain villages.

As such, the histories of all villages in West Sumatra are related with each other.

Many villages in Tanah Datar (a luhak or district in traditional Minangkabau

geography) for example associate the beginning of their inhabitants with

Page 282: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

268 ASNAN: Prominent Minangkabau in Java

Pariangan Padang Panjang, the perceived oldest village in that district among

the Minangkabau. Many villages in Agam and 50 Kota districts then relate their

inhabitants with the villages in Tanah Datar.13 According to the Tambo, Tanah

Datar is the oldest luhak in Minangkabau because it was in this luhak that the

ancestors of the Minangkabau appeared for the first time (in the legendary

period). Pariangan Padang Panjang was the first settlement (village) that they

constructed. Agam and 50 Kota were the second and the third luhak for the

Tambo. These three luhak were conceived as the heartland of Minangkabau and

called Luhak Nan Tigo (Three Districts).14

The Tambo does not refer to the villages in Luhak Nan Tigo (especially

in Agam and 50 Kota) as rantau area. It only states that rantau are the regions

outside of the Minangkabau heartland (outside of the Luhak Nan Tigo). As

a cultural area, a rantau is a region that always expands its territories. In the

beginning rantaus were only the surrounding regions close to the Minangkabau

heartland, which included Rantau Pesisir in the western part, Rantau Rao and

Pasaman in the northern part, Rantau Kampar and Kuantan in the eastern

part, Rantau Sijunjung, Solok and Sungai Pagu in southern part, and Rantau

Pariaman and Bandar X in the western part of Luhak Nan Tigo. But parallel with

the development of these regions are rantau areas in the relatively far region

of the Luhak Nan Tigo. These rantaus are located in the western coast of Aceh,

especially around Meulaboh and even in Negeri Sembilan (Malay Peninsula).15

The aforementioned rantaus could also be considered as Minangkabau

“traditional rantau.”16 They are the main rantaus of the Minangkabau people

since the legendary period until at the end of the 19th century. Migrants sought

new land to be opened as new settlements; they would have been traders

(merchants), who left their villages in Luhak Nan Tigo to seek economic/

Page 283: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

269Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

financial fortune; they would have been the Minangkabau royal families, who

left Pagaruyung (the capital of Minangkabau Kingdom) to be appointed as raja in

the tributary kingdoms; or they would have been political exiles (refugees), who

sought safety. Unwittingly genealogical and historical relationships between the

people in the Luhak Nan Tigo and the rantau areas persist. These relationships

are found in the collective memories of the people in both regions, not only in

the past but also in recent times. They apparently are often found in many myths

and folklore in those areas. The oral tradition in the Rantau Pasaman, Kampar,

Sijunjung, Solok and Sungai Pagu almost always insists that the early settlers in

those regions were migrants from Luhak Nan Tigo. They apparently came there

to seek new land, where they could build new settlements.17 Oral traditions

in Rao and Kuantan claim that their noblemen came from Pagaruyung.18 Oral

tradition among the populace Padang, Pariaman, and Bandar X assert that their

early settlers had been traders from Agam, Tanah Datar, and Solok.19 Historical

sources written by the Portuguese, Englishmen and Dutchmen (based on the

oral traditions) attest that migrants from Minangkabau in Negeri Sembilan

especially and Malay Peninsula were generally traders, family members of the

Pagaruyung court, and political refugees from Minangkabau.20

There are two other interesting phenomena on “traditional migration.”

The first involves the migrants’ use of traditional transportation means and

infrastructures. Migration was done through foot, packhorses, canoes and

sailing boats through footpaths, rivers and seas. The second concerns the

migrants’ destinations. They generally moved to uninhabited regions (for

migrants who sought to build new settlements); trading centers (for migrant

who sought economic or financial fortunes); or political center (for members of

the Minangkabau courts or political exiles).

Page 284: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

270 ASNAN: Prominent Minangkabau in Java

The Minangkabau migration to Java is different from the previously

discussed phenomena. This migration began at the last quarter of the 19th

century and increased gradually in the beginning of the 20th century. Initially

migrants moved to attend variegated schools (or education institutions) there.

In this regard, it could be surmised that early Minangkabau migrants to Java

were young and relatively well-educated people. The intended migration region

was an urban area, which offered access to the migrants’ needs (to continue their

studies). Another characteristic that differentiate Minangkabau migrants to Java

with their “traditional” counterparts was their means of transportation. The

former used more modern means of transport compared with the latter.

The change in orientation of Minangkabau migration at the end of the

19th century and in the beginning of the 20th century was connected to several

factors. Since the 1840s the Netherlands East Indië government had introduced

the western educational system in West Sumatra. In its initial phase this school

system only aimed to bring up and recruit cheap labor (equipped with the writing

and reading ability only) to support coffee cultivation system.21 But, in the last

quarter of the 19th century and in the first decades of the 20th century western

schools developed rapidly in West Sumatra. The number and kinds of schools

(educational institutions) multiplied gradually. The colonial government

required a good number of relatively educated people to fill many posts in

several governmental institutions. This demand is parallel with the broadening

of colonial political expansion, economic exploitation, and cultural penetration

in the Netherlands Indië, and the positive response to the Minangkabau who

attended many kinds of schools opened by the Netherlands Indië government

in their region.22

In a sense, the Minangkabau suffered from the syndrome of “knowledge

Page 285: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

271Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

hunger” at that time. Someone who suffered from this syndrome was compelled

to go to school elsewhere, especially to higher schools unavailable in West

Sumatra. Going to educational institutions that were not available in West

Sumatra was the best treatment to this syndrome. Heading to Java became

almost compulsory among the afflicted because this would provide them the

opportunity to go to any of the numerous higher educational institutions there.

The opportunity to take part in institutions of higher learning became

possible for some because most of their parents (fathers) were influential

members of either the Dutch colonial bureaucratic government or the traditional

society. Their fathers were high ranking individuals, native civil servants and

members of the traditional elite. From 1823 until the 1840s, in order to strengthen

and broaden its administrative and political machinery, the Dutch colonial

government introduced the native bureaucratic network (Inlandsche Bestuur or

IB) alongside its European bureaucratic network (Europeesche Bestuur or EB) in

West Sumatra. The Dutch colonial government created several posts for native

leaders, like hoofdregent (supra-district head), regent (district head), larashoofd

(supra-villages head), nagariehoofd (village headman), among others. In the

coffee cultivation system, the Dutch even created positions for the inhabitants

of West Sumatra who were then able to access the colonial government’s

economic exploitation program; among these positions were mandor kopi

(coffee planting supervisor), pakhuismeester (storehouse keeper), klerk (clerk),

and penghulu suku rodi (force labor supervisor). In the beginning of the 20th

century, the government abolished the post of larashoofd and introduced the

position of demang (native sub-district head). At the second half of the 19th

century, parallel with multiplication of the western schools and government

institutions, numerous Minangkabau worked as teachers, civil servants and

other government employees. Until the beginning of the 20th century, the

Page 286: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

272 ASNAN: Prominent Minangkabau in Java

penghulu (adat leaders) was accorded with utmost respect by the people and

special traditional rights by the Dutch government.23

Quite a large number of the Minangkabau became affluent in the new

colonial system; they comprised a new segment of the populace who held

high social standing, important political positions, and even good financial

condition. It was, hence, not a surprise that many Minangkabau young men, the

children of the “new Minangkabau society,” went to several institutions of higher

education in Java. Indeed the Dutch educational policy only allowed children of

distinguished people to enter the higher educational institutions.

Another factor that made migration to Java notably easier concerned

the introduction of modern transportation. After the colonial government

invested on its development, the infrastructure around sea travel in West

Sumatra improved. In the 1860s the government rehabilitated and revitalized

the Muara and Pulau Pisang harbors (both in Padang); and in the last decades of

the 19th century it constructed the Emmahaven (Teluk Bayur) harbor. In 1876 it

founded a subsidiary national shipping company named Nederlandsch Indische

Stoomvaart Maatschapij (NISM); twelve years later, this company changed its

name to Koninklijke Paketvaart Maatschappij (KPM). The ships of this company

connected Padang with Jakarta by two dients (services): service 1.a, which

operated twice a month and service 1.b, operating once a month. The harbor of

Teluk Bayur became officially operational in 1892;24 and this harbor served as a

point of departure and arrival of the Minangkabau to and from Jakarta (Java).25

From the late 19th century to the start of the 20th century, the Netherlands

East Indië government successfully transformed Jakarta as the capital city of the

archipelago. It had successfully subjugated and united all parts of Indonesia and

erected a colonial state of “Hindia Belanda.” The government had also centralized

Page 287: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

273Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

and introduced many kinds of political, economic and social institutions in

Jakarta, in particular and in Java, in general. Corollary to these developments,

the Outer Islands (outer Java) slowly became more dependent to Jakarta (and

Java). Peoples from the Outer Islands also started to depend on Jakarta for access

to institutions of higher learning.

The aforementioned factors both stimulated and forced many

Minangkabau young men, who hoped to have higher education, to go to Java.

Another set of factors drove many Minangkabau to live in the selfsame island

and became prominent there during Japanese Occupation.

Prominent Minangkabau in Java

The data offered by the OITD portrayed the Minangkabau in Java through

the following lenses: their educational attainment; their occupations; their

residences; their activities prior to the Japanese period; and their village of

origin in West Sumatra.

Education

The OITD asserted that a person could be categorized as a member of the

prominent class if he has a university degree.26 There were only five kinds of

educational degrees at the university level in Indonesia in the colonial period;

they were BA (Bestuur Academie/Civil Servant Academy) in Jakarta, GH

(Geneeskunde Hoogeschool/Medicine University) in Jakarta, LH (Landbouw

Hoogeschool/ University of Agriculture) in Bogor, RH (Rechts Hoogeschool/

University of Law) in Jakarta, and TH (Technische Hoogeschool/Technical

University) in Bandung. Most of Indonesian graduates finished their study in

Page 288: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

274 ASNAN: Prominent Minangkabau in Java

these institutions. Some Indonesian young men, however, gained their degrees

from universities abroad--they studied in the Netherlands, England, or the USA.

Most Indonesians of that time considered secondary schools as

institutions of higher learning. The social status of secondary schools graduates

were relatively high, especially if they received high salaries or held important

positions in the governmental or private institutions. As such secondary school

graduates were also categorized as prominent. Among others the secondary

schools which could be considered as schools of higher learning included

the STOVIA (School ter Opleiding van Indische Artsen/Junior High School of

Medicine for the Native), NIAS (Nederlandsh Indische Artsen School/Senior High

School of Medicine for the Native), STOVIT (School ter Opleiding van Indische

Tandsartsen/Dentistry Junior High School for the Native), NIV (Nederlandsch

Indie Veaartsenschool/The Netherlands-Indië Veterinarian School), RS

(Rechtsschool/School of Law), OSVIA (Opleidingschool voor Inlandsche

Ambtenaren/Junior High School for Native Civil Servant), MOSVIA (Middelbare

Opleidingschool voor Inlandsche Ambtenaren/Senior High School for Native

Civil Servant), BS, Bestuurschool/School of Civil Servant), AMS (Algemeene

Middelbare School/Senior High School), KS (Kweekschool/Teaching Staff School

for Elementary School), HIK (Hollandsch Inlandsche Kweekschool/ Teaching

School for the Native in Dutch Language), and HKS (Hoogere Kweekschool

(Teaching Staff School for Senior High School).27

According to the OITD there were 45 Minangkabau university graduates.

Nineteen of them got their degrees from universities abroad--University of

Amsterdam (13), University of Leiden (2), University of Utrecht (1), Nederlandsch

Handelshogeschool Rotterdam (NHR) (1), Lyceum Rotterdam (Lyc. R) (1),

and University of London (1). The graduate from University of London also

Page 289: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

275Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

graduated from University of Amsterdam, thus there were actually 14 graduates

from University of Amsterdam. The rest of the graduates (26) finished their

studies in several universities in Java, RH (13), TH (1), and GH (12).

The book also noted that there were 66 Minangkabau who had a

secondary school education in Indonesia. Five of them graduated from NIAS,

25 graduated from STOVIA, nine graduated from NIV, four graduated from

RS, one graduated from BS, two graduated from MLS, four graduated from

KWS, one from graduated KES, two graduated from KS, two graduated from

Ambachtschool, one graduated from HIS, one graduated from Mijnbouwschool,

three graduated from MULO, one graduated from Prins Andrik Handelschool

(PAH), one from graduated Parmazische School, two graduated from Nippon

Gakku, one graduated from AMS, one graduated from HBS.

The OITD claimed that a number of Minangkabau people (six) also

graduated from non-western (or governmental) educational institutions. They

studied in several “nationalist” higher schools--one graduated from Sekolah

Thawalib, one graduated from Islamic College, one graduated from Diniyah

Puteri, two graduated from Taman Guru Taman Siswa (TGTS), and one

graduated from Sekolah Kepandaian Putri (SKP).

Universities and secondary schools conferred titles to their graduates;

the titles (in form of abbreviation) are written in front of or at the end of their

names. They bestowed a Dr. or Ph.D. (Doctor of Philosophy) to the graduate

at the doctoral level, M.A. (Master of Arts) to the graduate of the magisterial

degree, Mr. (Meester in de Rechten) to the graduate of RH, Ir. (Ingenieur) for

the graduates of TH, Drs. (Doctorandus) for the university graduates in the

humanities and social sciences below doctoral rank, Arts (Doctor of Medicine)

for the graduates of Faculty of Medicine or Medicine University or GH, Ind. Arts

Page 290: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

276 ASNAN: Prominent Minangkabau in Java

(Inlandsch Arts/Native Doctor of Medicine) for the graduates of the STOVIA and

NIAS, and Veerarts (Veterinarian) for graduates of the NIV, Tandsarts (dentist)

for the graduates of STOVIT. In addition they also conferred the honorary title

of ‘Professor’ (a college or university teacher of the highest academic rank) and

Dr.Hc (Honorary Doctor), based on a person’s contribution in a specific field of

study.

Among the 117 universities and secondary schools graduates in the

OITD, 84 achieved several of the mentioned titles. Six of them achieved a Ph.D.

(incl. Dr.Hc.)--five graduated from the University of Amsterdam, Utrecht, and

Leiden and one Dr. Hc. from University of Al-Azhar (Cairo-Egypt). One had

an MA title, 11 had Mr., 2 had Drs., 1 had Ir., 16 had Arts, 34 had Ind. Arts, 9

had Veearts, and 1 had Tandarts. One person even had a title of Prof. (he also

achieved Ph.D.) from the Ika Dai Gakku (University of Medicine) in Jakarta.

As graduates of higher education they had opportunities to hold good

positions in several governmental or private institutions during the Japanese

era (and naturally, in the Dutch colonial era also). We now turn to the kinds of

occupation and position they held in Java during this period.

Occupation

The Minangkabau were found in three main groups of occupation categorized by

the Gunseikanbu. In the first (State Administration) there were 22 Minangkabau

people, in the second group (Economic Affairs) there were 29, and in the third,

(The Other or Non-State Administration and Non-Economic Group Affairs)

there were 86. Except in the first group, the Minangkabau people frequently

ranked as the third in number after the Javanese and Sundanese people (in the

Page 291: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

277Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

first main group the Minangkabau were fourth after the Javanese, Sundanese

and Maduranese).

The Minangkabau were represented in each of the sub-groups of the

first main group (State Administration). The five in Public Administration

worked as civil servants in three governmental institutions, namely Shomin

Ginko (People’s Bank) in Jakarta, Naimubu (Department of Internal Affairs)

in Jakarta, and Shucho (Residency Office) in Cirebon. The one Minangkabau

in Civil Service worked in Tukubetsu Shicho Joyaku (Assistant Mayor of the

Special City) in Jakarta. The four representatives in Financial Affairs worked

as employees in the state treasure bureau, custom office, and financial office in

the Department of Health. The representative in Domestic Security worked as

Nikyu Keishi (Police Commissioner Class Two) in Bandung Dai 1 Keisatsusho

(Bandung Police Station 1). And the eleven in The Courts worked as Judges

of Keizai Hoin (Economic Affairs Court), Judge of Chiho Hoin (Local Court),

Shoki Keizai Hoin (Secretary of Economic Affairs Court), and Koto Hoin Shoki

(Secretary of the High Court).

In the second main group (Economic Affairs), the Minangkabau were

not found in the sub-group of Forestry Sector. Those who worked in other sub-

groups were: Agriculture Sector (2), one was a researcher in the agricultural

research center while the other one was the agricultural supervisor in Bogor;

Husbandry and Fishery (9), all of them worked in the field of husbandry (in

husbandry clinics and husbandry research centers throughout Java); Handicraft

Sector (2), one was the owner of a metal processing firm and the other, worked

as supervisor in an oil mine; Transportation Affairs (2), one worked in land

transportation bureau and the other, in post, telephone and telegraph office;

Technical Affairs (4), all four worked in public works (road, land measuring, and

Page 292: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

278 ASNAN: Prominent Minangkabau in Java

water system offices); Trading Activities (5), they were owners of export-import

trading companies and other shops; Financial Sector or Banks and Pawnshops

(1), worked in the Jakarta’s Pawnshop service; Association to Promote National

Economy/ APNE (3), they worked as members of the executive board of the

Indonesian Shop Owners Association and board of directors of the Indonesian

Brokers Association.

Except for subgroup Cultural Affairs, the Minangkabau featured in

all the other subgroups of the third main-group (The Others or Non-State

Administration and Non-Economic Group Affairs) of occupations during the

Japanese Period. They were actively involved in the Information Services (7)

particularly as employees in the Japanese information bureaus, authors in Balai

Pustaka (national official publisher), journalists and editorial staff in several

newspapers in Jakarta; in the Legal Aid Service (1) as lawyer; in the Public Health

Services (56) as workers in state hospitals throughout Java, private medical

practitioners, or as lecturers in medicine schools or universities in Jakarta and

Surabaya; in the Education Affairs (6) as teachers and employees in the national

education bureau (as student handbooks authors); in the Religion Affairs (6)

as Muslim (Minangkabau is identical with the Islam) and members of MIAI

(Supreme Islamic Council of Indonesia, federation of Muslim organizations)

or as Islamic teachers in two secondary Islamic Schools; in the Political and

Labor Affairs (6) as members of Chuo Sangiin (Central Advisory Council)

and Jawa Hokokai Hokokaigi Fukugischo (Vice-Secretary of the Java Service

Association Council), advisors to the Sendenbu Sendenka (Publicity Section

within the Publicity Department), employees of Sendenbu-sendenka, employees

of Tokubetu-Si (Special City) and former Dutch civil service; in the Women and

Welfare Affairs (3) as teachers in the maid schools and “free-men;” and in the

Youth and Sports Affairs (2) as sport trainers.

Page 293: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

279Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

In all, the majority of the Minangkabau in Java were government

employees or civil servants. They were always known as government employees

or civil servants in the colonial era; they continued in this profession during

the Japanese Occupation, according to the OITD. Both the Dutch and Japanese

needed help from well educated people in running their governments.

There were two other reasons why so many Minangkabau people served as

governmental employees or civil servants; first, the Minangkabau region was

a well known civil servants producer since the Dutch era; and second, the

Minangkabau considered the civil service as a high-status occupation. Civil

servants were held in high esteem in the same manner as medical doctors,

sub-district heads, prosecutors, lawyers, school teachers, among others. A

Minangkabau “three eras” teacher (who lived and served as a teacher in the

Dutch, Japanese and Indonesia periods) testified to this in his diary. He claimed,

“in traditional Minangkabau society a man with penghulu (adat leader) or ulama

(Islamic teacher) titles received high respect from the people, but in the modern

Minangkabau society, a medical doctor, sub-district head, prosecutor, lawyer

and school teacher received high respect from the people. Parents of a maiden

(marriageable women) would be very eager to have such men as possible sons-

in-law.” There were only a small number of Minangkabau prominent people

who worked in the private sector—they were either in the Japanese private firms

or associated with private companies in the export-import industry, workshop

industry, textile industry, husbandry, and private medical practice. The limited

number of Minangkabau involved in the private sector reflected the relatively

stagnant status of the private sector at that time, i.e. the wartime era.

Page 294: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

280 ASNAN: Prominent Minangkabau in Java

Residential Places

Based on the data offered by the OITD, the Minangkabau lived in 26 cities/

regions in Java. They lived in Serang, Jakarta, Bogor, Cianjur, Sukabumi,

Bandung, Kerawang, Cirebon, Pekalongan, Semarang, Solo, Yogyakarta,

Magelang, Kutoarjo, Banyumas, Tuban, Surabaya, Pare, Sidoarjo, Pasuruan,

Probolinggo, Bondowoso, Jember, Malang, Banyuwangi, and Pamekasan. They

lived in almost all the important cities and regions — from the westernmost to

the easternmost areas of Java.

Among the twenty one sub-groups of occupation in the OITD, the

Public Health Service, the Court, and Husbandry contributed the most to the

spread of the Minangkabau in Java. Workers in the Public Health Service lived

in 12 cities/region; those in the Court lived in the 10 cities/regions; and those in

the Husbandry sector lived in 9 cities/regions. The Minangkabau workers in the

other sub-groups lived in about 1 to 5 cities/regions.

Map 1

Residential Places of the Minangkabau People in Java

The biggest number of Minangkabau people (63) lived in Jakarta, the

Page 295: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

281Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

capital of the late “Hindia Belanda” as well as the 16th Japanese Army and, by

far, the largest city with the heavy concentration of governmental, political,

social, educational and cultural institutions. The majority of the Minangkabau

in Jakarta worked as civil servants. A small number of them worked in the

private sector. The Minangkabau in the Public Health Services were 24; in the

Political and Labor Affairs, seven; in the Civil Services, four; and in the other

sectors, between three and one. The city with the second largest concentration

of prominent Minangkabau was Surabaya. Ten of thirteen worked in the Public

Health Service, the remaining three worked in the Court, Husbandry, and

Education Affairs. The other cities which followed Surabaya were Semarang,

Bogor, Cianjur, and Bandung. Their numbers in those cities (regions) ranged

from seven to one. Most judges, as in Jakarta, worked as civil servants or worked

in the private sector (especially medical private practice).

Many Minangkabau medical doctors lived in the big cities (like Jakarta,

Surabaya, and Semarang) due to the relatively good condition of economic

life there. These cities were populated by numerous rich men who were very

concerned with their health. They often visited doctors to get examined or

obtain medicine; and they were known to prefer private doctors to the public

health service, making the private medical practice there a lucrative sector.

This “habit” brought a fortune to private medical doctors, a phenomenon that

had been occurring since the Dutch colonial period. A. Rivai and Moh. Djamil

attested, for instance, that they accumulated copious amounts of money since

they opened a private medical practice in big cities during Dutch era. A similar

trend also happened in the Japanese time.28

The dispersion of Minangkabau people in Java during the Japanese

Period was, in fact, a legacy of the Dutch colonial period. As had already been

Page 296: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

282 ASNAN: Prominent Minangkabau in Java

established, since the beginning of the 20th century, many Minangkabau young

men went to Java to continue their education. They studied not only in Jakarta,

but also in several other cities/regions such as Bandung, Semarang, Solo,

Surakarta, Yogyakarta, and Surabaya. When they are done with their studies,

they worked in those cities/regions or became civil servants in several cities

and regions. The Dutch government intentionally distributed favors among

and rotated their civil servants so that they served only short periods in any

city or region. This policy reduced their chances of building up personal power-

bases and particularly caused the dispersed nature of the concentration of

Minangkabau communities across Java.29

Activities Prior to the Japanese Period

With ‘activities’ we refer to two issues here: firstly, the occupation (or the main

source for living); and secondly, the social and political preoccupation, meaning

actions that did not provide financial benefits. The OITD showed that prominent

Minangkabaus had many preoccupations in the pre-Japanese period. Most of

their activities were unrelated with the jobs they had in the Japanese time.

There are two interesting things about the Minangkabaus and their

jobs in the Dutch era. First, a great number of them worked in many kinds of

activities; they easily hopped from one job to another. Second, in relation to the

first phenomenon, they lived in many cities or region. Two good examples are

the experiences of St. Syahbuddin and Rustam gelar St. Palindih.

The OITD listed St. Palindih under the sub-group of Public

Administration. From 1916 to 1917 he worked as aspirant landbouwleraar (teaching

staff assistant in the agricultural school) in Lubuk Sikaping (Pasaman-West

Page 297: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

283Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

Sumatera); in 1917 to 1921, as aspirant landbouwleraar (teaching staff assistant

in the agricultural school) in Bogor (West Java), in 1921 to 1923, as ambtenaar ter

beschikking (assigned civil servant) and was detailed to the Tapanuli Residency

Government, while also acting as a member of magistraat (local government

body) and beedigd subsituut griffier (sworn substitute secretary of local

government) in Sibolga (Tapanuli); in 1925 to 1926, as sub-district head (and a

member of magistraat) in Lampung; in 1926 to 1938, as regenstchaps secretaris

(district secretary) for the regions of Kuningan, Bandung, Indramayu, Cianjur,

and Jakarta; in 1938 to 1942, as hoofd commies (head of administration affairs)

in Cirebon Residency in Cirebon (West Java).30

Rustam gelar Sutan Palindih in the OITD is registered under the sub-

group Association to Promote National Economy/ APNE. He had 23 jobs in

five cities (regions). His long “journey” started in 1918 to 1919 as a lowly klerk

(office clerk) in the coal mine in Sawahlunto (West Sumatra); in 1920 to 1922

he became the daggelder (temporarily worker) in the post office in Padang

(West Sumatra), the owner of flower shop “Cultuur” in Jakarta, the owner of

flower garden “Den Oord” in Patjet, Cianjur (West Java), a worker in “Evolutie”

Printing House in Djakarta; in 1922 he became a member of editorial staff of

Balai Pustaka (Governmental Printing House) in Jakarta; from 1923 to 1924

he was an editorial staff member of the Neratja newspaper while also serving

as the vice director of “Evolutie” Printing House in Jakarta; in 1925 he was the

owner of a bookstore in Jakarta; in 1926 he was the supervisor of “Indonesia

Maatschappij,” a life insurance firm in Bandung; from 1927 to 1929, he served

as a supervisor of a coffee plantation in Payakumbuh (West Sumatra); in 1930,

editorial staff member of the Radio newspaper in Padang. From 1931 to 1932, he

became the vice director of “N.V. Volkdrukkerij,” a printing house in Padang,

he founded Berita, a daily in Padang while serving as the local head of editorial

Page 298: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

284 ASNAN: Prominent Minangkabau in Java

staff of Aneta (news agency which had its headquarter in Jakarta), published

Hang Tuah magazine and taught in Islamic College in Padang; at the end of

1932, he worked again as a member of the editorial staff in Berita newspaper in

Padang; in 1933, as the head of editorial staff of Sinar Sumatra daily in Padang;

from 1934 to 1935, as the publisher and owner of the Persamaan daily in Padang;

in 1936, as a journalist of Sumatra Bode newspaper and head of the editorial staff

of Radio daily in Padang; in 1939 to 1942, as an editorial staff member of Suara

Nirom in Jakarta; and in March 1942, as the owner of two restaurants in Jakarta,

i.e. “Waroeng Besar Kita” and “Waroeng Kita”. In addition he was a member of

local legislative councils (Gemeente Raad) in Jakarta (1924) and Padang (1938).31

A large number of Minangkabau people in the OITD had similar

experiences with St. Sahbuddin and Rustam gelar Palindih. Only a few of them

worked only in one or two institutions in one or two cities or regions (save for

some young workers who held jobs in the last years of the Dutch colonial era).

The great mobility and frequent change of jobs was brought about partly

by Dutch colonial policy of rotating civil servants. The availability of many kinds

of jobs in many cities/region and the Dutch government civil servant placement

policy made it relatively easy for well educated people to secure positions. As

was already established, the Dutch government checked the development of a

close relationship between its civil servants in its apparatus with local people

and the possible misuse of their position (corruption).

The OITD also pointed out that many prominent Minangkabaus (32

persons) were involved actively in writing. Apart from being mainly medical

doctors and veterinarians, they wrote academic articles and books. Almost

all of the articles were written in the Dutch language and published in Dutch

academic journals. The books--like novels, memoirs, popular books--were

Page 299: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

285Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

written in the Indonesian language and published in Indonesia. The two most

prolific authors were Achmad Muchtar (50 publications)32 and Ahmad Ramali

gelar Sutan Lembang Alam (16 publications).33 The other authors wrote novels

and other non-academic works. Some of the most famous authors were Nur

Sutan Iskandar (the author of Hulubalang Raja), Marah Rusli (the author of

Siti Nurbaya), and Abdul Muis (the author of Salah Asuhan). In addition, there

were several others who could not be separated from the development of the

Indonesian history of literature, especially the history of the well-known Balai

Pustaka and Pujangga Baru.

As noted above, the OITD documented the participation of many

Minangkabau in the world of mass-media. Some have been instrumental in the

founding of newspapers and magazines while others have worked as journalists.

Today the history of the Indonesian mass-media attests that the Minangkabau

people have been involved in the press since the late 19th century. There were

more than 42 newspapers and magazines which were published in West Sumatra

by the Minangkabau until the 1930s. In addition the Minangkabau founded and

published about 8 newspapers and magazines in other regions, for example in

East Sumatra and Java.34

There were only 54 prominent Minangkabau people who provided

information on their social and political activities in the Dutch era in the

OITD. Almost all of the well-educated (Minangkabau eminent people) in

the pre-Japanese period were members of many kinds of social and political

organizations; in fact, several of them were even the founders of those

organizations. Social and political organizations in Indonesia were founded in

great numbers and ‘appeared like mushrooms in the rainy season’, as Abdullah

said (1970), since the second decade of the 20th century. Only a small number

Page 300: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

286 ASNAN: Prominent Minangkabau in Java

of Minangkabaus gave information about their involvement in the social and

political organization in the pre-Japanese period. The most likely reason why

many Minangkabau were reticent about giving information on their prior

involvement in social and political organizations was their apprehension of the

possible consequences of such during the Japanese period. They were distrustful

of those who collected information about a person’s nationalist inclinations or

Dutch connections. Accusations of being nationalist or having close Dutch

connections could lead to severe punishment, even death.35

The small amount of information they gave about themselves were

apolitical and about “safe” activities that would not draw unwanted attention

from the Japanese army. Examples included cultural activities, involvement

in charities or sport, membership with professional organization. Some

Minangkabaus were more daring and listed political organization they

once belonged to such as the JSB (Jong Sumatranen Bond: Sumatran Youth

Organization), JIB (Jong Islamieten Bond: Islamich Youth Organization),

PPI, (Persatuan Pemuda Indonesia/Indonesian Youth Association), and PPII

(Persatuan Pemuda Islam Indonesia/Indonesian Islamic Student Association).

There were only six individuals who dared to list their past political parties:

Permi (Persatuan Muslim Indonesia/Indonesian Moslem Association), SI

(Syarekat Islam/Islamic Union), PSII (Partai Syarekat Islam Indonesia/Party

of the Indonesian Islamic Union), PNI (Indonesian Nationalist Party), and

Parindra (Greater Indonesia Party). Interestingly no one mentioned the banned

PKI (Partai Komunis Indonesia/Indonesian Communist Party).

Villages of Origin in West Sumatra

In this article we posit that the villages of origin of prominent Minangkabau in

Page 301: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

287Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

Java during Japanese time are the villages where they were born in West Sumatra.

Almost all of the Minangkabau people in the 19th century and in the beginning

of the 20th century were born in their own villages. Only a small number were

born outside their villages—among the 167 Minangkabau people in OITD only

three were not born in their native villages.

Giving birth to a child in their own village was an honorable thing for a

Minangkabau couple. Giving birth in their own village had many advantages, i.e.

the mother of the baby will be helped by the family at a critical time (especially

at baby’s birth and its first days of existence), and the father of the baby could

continue his work during this phase. Because of this many Minangkabau couples

preferred that their babies be born in their own village.36

We found complete information on the birthplaces of the Minangkabau

people in the OITD. The book mentioned 23 villages of origin, including Koto

Gadang, Bukittinggi, Payakumbuh, Solok, Padang Panjang, Maninjau, Muara

Labuh, Sijunjung, Talawi, Matur, Batusangkar, Sungai Puar, Bonjol, Suliki,

Singkarak, Sulit Air, Alahan Panjang, Sumpur, Padang, Pariaman, Painan,

Balai Selasa, and Air Haji.

Geographically, the aforementioned villages could be divided into two

main regions: first, the interior region, which covers eighteen villages, and

second, the coastal region, which covers the five others. Upon close study we

conclude that most prominent Minangkabau people in Java during Japanese

time originated from the interior region.

Two of three villages which produced prominent people in the greatest

numbers also lived in the interior region. These villages were Koto Gadang and

Bukittinggi. The number of prominent Minangkabau people from every village

Page 302: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

288 ASNAN: Prominent Minangkabau in Java

were as follows: Koto Gadang (37), Bukittinggi (22), Padang (22), Payakumbuh

(9), Pariaman (7), Solok (6), Padangpanjang (4), Maninjau (3), Muara Labuh

(3), Painan (3), Sijunjung (2), Talawi (2), Matur (2), Batu Sangkar (2), Sungai

Puar (2), Balai Selasa (2), Bonjol (2), Suliki (2), Singkarak (1), Sulit Air (1), Alahan

Panjang (1), Sumpur (1), Air Haji (1).

There are several reasons that made the interior region a great

producer of educated people. Many western education schools, from the

elementary schools to secondary schools, were founded in the interior area.

In contrast to the people at the coast, the people at the interior could have also

been more responsive to the educational opportunities offered by the Dutch.

They found a solution to Dutch discriminatory policies on education in modern

Islamic schools (the colonial government limited and prohibited the children

of the common folk to go to state schools). The people from the interior were

forced to overcome several social and economic problems that whipped them.

Higher learning was a solution to those problems—a degree from a higher school

equated with ease at getting a job. Good job means good salary; someone with a

good job and a good salary received higher respect from the people.37

Authors Amran and Djaja also noted other reasons why many prominent

people came from a certain village in West Sumatra. Two of them were: first,

the Dutch colonial government took a special interest in a certain village; and

second, the people of this village practiced “collusion” and “nepotism” in the

entrance test in schools where the villagers played important roles or in the

recruitment of new governmental employees, as practiced by the villagers of

Koto Gadang.38

Page 303: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

289Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

Epilogue

There were 137 Minangkabau people in the OITD. This number—of course—

did not cover all of the Minangkabau people in Java, who fulfilled the criteria

of prominent people according to the Gunseikanbu. We believe that other

Minangkabaus fulfilled the criteria of being prominent, but their names did not

appear in the OITD. “Forgotten” names include Sultan Syahrir, Tan Malaka, and

Djamaluddin Tamin. These figures were not included in the OITD--probably

due to their political background and ideology. These traits made them

unattractive to the Japanese government (Tan Malaka was listed by the Japanese

as a “wanted” person).

That the Minangkabau people were only behind the Javanese and

Sundanese among the prominent people listed in the OITD meant that the

Minangkabau region contributed to the growth of prominent people in Indonesia

in general and in outer Java region in particular. The national awakening,

concentrated in Java, is inseparable from well-educated Minangkabau young

men. The foundation and action of most social and political organizations,

from Jong Sumatranen Bond, Jong Islamieten Bond, Sumpah Pemuda, Syarekat

Islam, PKI, PNI, Volksraad to Balai Pustaka and Pujangga Baru could also not be

separated from the involvement of the Minangkabau people.

The important role of the Minangkabau people continued in the

revolutionary era (1945-1949). One of two proclaimers of the Indonesian

independence was a Minangkabau (Mohammad Hatta). Hatta acted also as the

first Indonesian Vice President. In that era the Minangkabau also placed two of

his “best sons” as Indonesian Prime Minister, i.e. Sultan Syarir and Mohammad

Hatta (Syahrir even acted as Indonesian PM three times and Hatta twice).

Ten of eminent Minangkabau served as ministers in eight cabinets from 1945

Page 304: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

290 ASNAN: Prominent Minangkabau in Java

to 1949. One Minangkabau served in every cabinet at that period. When RIS

(Republik Indonesia Serikat/ Republic of the United States of Indonesia) was

founded (20 December 1949 - 6 September 1950), a Minangkabau was elected as

its PM (Hatta); and one other Minangkabau was also elected as the President of

Republic of Indonesia in Yogyakarta (A. Halim).

The influence of prominent Minangkabaus was also significant in the

outer islands of Indonesia, where they worked as civil servants, teachers, medical

doctors, judges, and administrators and were involved in social and political

activities. Some examples are A. K. Gani who was the Resident of Palembang,

Hazairin and acted as Resident of Bengkulu, and Natar Zainuddin who was a

member of the Regional Legislative Council of East Sumatra and many others.

The influence of the Minangkabau people remained important in the

social, political, economic, and cultural life of Indonesia during the 1950s.

Mohammad Hatta was still the Vice President of Indonesia. Mohammad Natsir,

the first Prime Minister of one of the early cabinets in the 1950s (6 September

1950-27 April 1951) was also a Minangkabau. In addition, Minangkabaus held

numerous high positions in the government as ministers, members of national

house of representative, Indonesian overseas envoys; and were also owners of

several big export-import companies, well known journalists, famous authors,

influential Islamic teachers and even high-ranking officers. American scholar

Willard, hence, claimed that the Minangkabau was the most influential ethnic

group in Indonesia in the 1950s.39 This changed from the 1960s onwards, however.

The Minangkabau people in Java multiplied significantly, but their influence

in the social, political, economic, and cultural aspects of the island decreased

tremendously. In contrast, previously marginalized ethnic groups like the Batak/

Tapanuli, Bugis and Makasar from South Sulawesi, Minahasas (North Sulawesi)

Page 305: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

291Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

and Malukans successfully overtook the position of the Minangkabau. They

held a great number of important, formerly held positions of the Minangkabau

in the government.

Why did this happen?

The decline of the Minangkabau role in Indonesian history is directly

related to the PRRI (Pemerintah Revolusioner Republik Indonesia/Revolutionary

Government of the Republic of Indonesia), a Sumatra-based movement that

aimed to establish a conservative, national government in place of Indonesia’s

guided democracy. A great number of prominent Minangkabau were involved

in this rebellion. The start of their movement could be traced back to the

dismantling of the military unit in Central Sumatra, from the level of division

to brigade in the last years of the revolution era. In addition, the central

government in Jakarta limited the development budget of Central Sumatra,

neglected the nominations of the Central Sumatra Legislative Assembly, and

appointed a Javanese bureaucrat—Ruslan Mulyohardjo—as Acting of Governor

of the province. Meanwhile, in the national political stage the Communist

Party of Indonesia started to develop. Regional military commanders became

discontented with the national army chief, who in an attempt to strengthen

military discipline and limit corruption, transferred officers from their home

bases. Moreover, in the latter half of the 1950s, political polarization characterized

national politics. The coalition of Sukarno, the PNI, NU, and PKI (all based in

Java) became increasingly powerful, at the expense of Masyumi (Consultative

Council of Indonesian Muslims) Party and outer Javanese powers.

On 20 December 1956, West Sumatran military commander Ahmad

Husein took the provincial government and proclaimed himself as the regional

head (ketua daerah). He found “Dewan Banteng Government” which handled

Page 306: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

292 ASNAN: Prominent Minangkabau in Java

all civil and military affairs in this province.40 On 10 February 1958 the rebels

issued an ultimatum, demanding that Sukarno withdrew from the presidency,

Mohammad Hatta form a new cabinet, and General Nasution be dismissed as

the highest military commander. Jakarta ignored this ultimatum. Five days later

the PRRI proclaimed its cabinet. In the meantime some national politicians, who

were also Minangkabau, joined this movement. The central government in Jakarta

used military action against this rebellion and restricted the Minangkabau from

holding the highest positions in several civil and military institutions nationally.

After the movement the PRRI was suppressed, the military regional government

of West Sumatra proceeded to unfairly treat Minangkabau sympathizers. In

order to leave these bad experiences behind many left their native villages;

and Jakarta was the one their exodus goal region. In contrast to the “exodus”

to Java in the late 19th century or early 20th century, however, most of the 1960s

Minangkabau migrants to Java sought safety from military abuse. They were not

as well educated and merely aimed to make a living in every occupational field.

The fallout from the PRRI rebellion, as the aforementioned factors

illustrated, were the reasons why the Minangkabau people lost their role in the

national history stage. This tendency is still going on. Weather the Minangkabau

prominence in the past--at least as shown in the Japanese period–would reoccur

remains a question. This is a complex problem and, hence, not so easy to answer.

Endnotes

1 Orang Indonesia jang Terkemoeka di Djawa (Java: Gunseikanbu [the Japanese Army Information Services], 1944), vii-xii.

2 See: Muchtar Naim, Merantau: Pola Migrasi Suku Minangkabau, (Yogyakarta: Gadjah Mada University Press, 1977); Tsuyoshi Kato, Matriliny and Migration: Evolving Minangkabau Traditions in Indonesia (Ithaca and London: Cornell university Press, 1982).

Page 307: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

293Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

3 The cultural region of Minangkabau is identical with the administrative unit of today’s West Sumatra Province, which was the Nishi Kaigan Shu in the Japanese period or Residentie van Sumatra’s Westkust in the Netherlands East Indië era.

4 OITD, p. 5.

5 The curriculum vitae of these prominent people covered 488 pages of the OITD.

6 There were 3,322 names in the OITD. However, several names appeared many times in different sub-groups of occupations. For example, Mohammad Hatta appeared three times, Hussein Djajadiningrat appeared three times, Sanusi Pane appeared twice, Mohammad Yamin appeared twice and many others. As such there are only 3,009 names in a special field of occupation. All of these names can be found in pages 507 to 556 of the OITD.

7 Native region here means the administrative unit (region) where someone originated (in many cases administrative unit [region], at the level of residency or province, is identical with an ethnic group’s region), and ethnic group means the ethnicity or the cultural (ethnic group) region.

8 Similar information could be seen in Volkstelling 1930, especially in Book IV and V.

9 A relatively complete information about the names and the traditional titles in Indonesia could be found in Encyclopaedie van Nederlands-Indië (Vol. III; IV) (1919: 1-4; 1921: 361-66).

10 Even though their mother or father might have belonged with an Indonesian ethnic group, Eurasians are not categorized as a member of a certain administrative region or a particular ethnic group in this article. They are referred to as ‘Indos.’

11 Literally rantau means “shoreline,” “reaches of a river,” and “abroad.” But in Minangkabau rantau particularly refers to areas outside of the darek, the heartland of the Minangkabau cultural region. Kato, Matriliny and Migration, p. 78.

12 Taufik Abdullah, “Minangkabau 1900-1927: Preliminary Studies in Social Development,” MA thesis, Cornell University, 1967, pp. 59, 65-69; Naim, Merantau, pp. 57-95; Kato, Matriliny and Migration, pp. 78-86.

13 Monografi Adat Sumatera Tengah (Bukittinggi: Jawatan Penerangan Provinsi Sumatera Tengah, 1953).

14 H. Datoek Toeah, Tambo Alam Minangkabau. 12th Edition, (Bukittinggi:

Page 308: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

294 ASNAN: Prominent Minangkabau in Java

Pustaka Indonesia, 1985), pp. 55-58; A.M. Maruhum Batuah and D.H. Bagintdo Tanameh, Hukum Adat dan Adat Minangkabau: Luhak nan Tiga, Laras nan Dua (Djakarta: Poesaka Asli, 1956), pp. 1-2; Ahmad Dt. Batuah and A. Dt. Madjoindo, Tambo Minangkabau (Djakarta: Balai Pustaka, 1956), pp. 13-19.

15 Toeah, Tambo Alam Minangkabau, pp. 108-32; Maruhum Batuah, Hukum Adat dan Adat Minangkabau, pp. 37-40; Naim, Merantau, pp. 61-73; Kato, Matriliny and Migration, pp. 78-94.

16 The migration itself could be considered as “traditional migration.”

17 Monografi Adat Sumatera Tengah.

18 Kato, Matriliy and Migration, p. 48.

19 Gusti Asnan, “Cerita Rakyat dan Mitologi Laut Masyarakat Pesisir Sumatera Barat,” Unpublished Study, (Padang: University of Andalas Research Center, 2001), p. 12.

20 Gusti Asnan, Dunia Maritim Pantai Barat Sumatera (Yogyakarta: Ombak, 2007), pp. 3-9.

21 The Dutch government called it Koffee Cultuurstelsel, a system of coffee deliveries that required every family to plant and take care of as many as 250 coffee trees. Families were also compelled to process the coffee kernels and bring them to governmental storehouses, where their produce was exchanged at a very low price. This system was introduced in 1847 and abolished in 1908. See: C. Lulofs, “Koffiecultuur en Belasting ter Sumatra’s Westkust,” Indische Gids 26 (II), 1904; Mestika Zed, “Melayu Kopi Daun: Eksploitasi Ekonomi Kolonial Belanda di Sumatera Barat, 1847-1908,” M.A. Thesis, University of Indonesia, 1983.

22 Elizabeth E. Graves, The Minangkabau Response to Dutch Colonial Rule in the Nineteenth Century (New York: Cornell University Press, 1981), pp. vii-ix; Sejarah Pendidikan di Indonesia (Jakarta: Dep. P dan K, 1980/1981), 72ff.

23 Graves, The Minangkabau Response to Dutch Colonial Rule, 77ff; Asnan, Dunia Maritim Pantai Barat Sumatera, pp. 80-104.

24 Gusti Asnan, “Perantauan Orang Minangkabau ke Malaysia,” Paper presented at the “Indonesia-Malaysia: Geografi Melayu dalam Perspektif Budaya,” Padang, 10 September 2007, pp. 274-84.

25 The harbor of Teluk Bayur and the ships that departed and arrived there were especially meaningful among Minangkabau students. This meaning is inscribed in a song. Entitled “Teluk Bayur” and sung by Erny Djohan, a stanza of the song goes as:

Page 309: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

295Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

Selamat tinggal Teluk Bayur permaiKu kan pergi jauh ke negeri seberangMencari ilmu di negeri orang Bekal hidup kelak di hari tua

<Farewell nice Teluk Bayur I am going far away Seeking knowledge in a foreign country As foothold in the future>

26 OITD, p. 5.

27 Sejarah Pendidikan, pp. 90-99, 111-121.

28 Parada Harahap, Riwajat Dr. A. Rivai (Medan: Handel Mij. Indische Drukerij, 1939), pp. 5-13; Gusti Asnan, Pemerintahan Sumatera Barat: Dari VOC Hinga Reformasi (Yogyakarta: Citra Pustaka, 2006), pp. 5-51.

29 Sofyan Aman (ed.), Kiprah Perantau Minang di Malang Jawa Timur (Malang: Yayasan Tuanku Imam Bonjol, 2007), p. 19, 31-ff; Ed Zoelverdi (ed.), Siapa Mengapa Sejumlah Orang Minang (Jakarta: BK3AM, 1995), pp. 15-16.

30 OITD, p. 14.

31 OITD, pp. 273-274.

32 Ahmad Muchtar was born in Bonjol in 1891. He got his Ph.D. in medicine from the University of Amsterdam in 1927, and from April 1943 he served as a Professor in Ika Dai Gakku (University of Medicine) in Jakarta.

33 Ahmad Ramali gelar Soetan Lembang Alam was born in Bonjol in 1903. He received his medical degree from the University of Medicine in Jakarta in 1929, and since 1942, acted as governmental doctor in Jakarta’s Hospital.

34 Asnan, Dunia Maritim Pantai Barat Sumatera.

35 Ishak Taher, “Kisah Orang Tua Kami,” Unpublished Manuscript, n.d., p. 78.

36 Tamar Djaja, Rohana Kudus: Srikandi Indonesia (Jakarta: Mutuara, 1980), pp. 26-28.

37 Abdullah, “Minankabau 1900-1927,” 43ff; Christine Dobbin, Islamic Revivalism in a Changing Peasant Economy: Central Sumatra 1784-1847 (Malmo: Curzon Press, 1983), 241ff; Graves, The Minangkabau Response, 77ff; Rusli Amran, Sumatera Barat Plakat Panjang (Jakarta: Sinar Harapan, 1985), 150ff.

Page 310: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

296 ASNAN: Prominent Minangkabau in Java

38 Amran, Sumatera Barat, pp. 170-74; Djaja, Rohana Kundus, 12-6.

39 Willard A. Hanna, “The Role of Minangkabau in Contemporary Indonesia,” American Universities Field Staff Reports 3, WAH-2’59, 1959, pp. 3-4.

40 The position of the governor and the apparatus of provincial government were symbolic and so do not signify political power.

Page 311: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

297Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

ABOUT THE CONTRIBUTORS

Gusti Asnan is a lecturer at the Department of History and Dean of the Faculty

of Humanities, University of Andalas Padang, Indonesia. He was born in Lubuk

Sikaping, West Sumatra on August 12, 1962. He earned his bachelor’s degree from

the University of Andalas and Dr. phil. from University of Bremen, Germany.

Some of his books and articles include Adabiah: Perintis Pendidikan Moderen di

Sumatera Barat (2013), Penetrasi Lewat Laut: Kapal-Kapal Jepang di Indonesia

Sebelum 1942 (2011), Memikir Ulang Regionalisme: Sumatera Barat Tahun 1950-

an (2007), “’Faktor Jawa’ dan Kecemburuan Sosial di Daerah: Sumatra Barat

Tahun 1950-an” (2013), “Persaingan di Pantai Barat Sumatera” (2012), “Sumatra’s

Regional Government” (2010).

Cecilia S. De La Paz is an Associate Professor and Chairman of the Department

of Art Studies, College of Arts and Letters, UP Diliman. She holds a MA in Art

History (1993) and PhD in Philippine Studies (2011) from UP. She is the co-

author of 3 textbooks on the arts and the humanities and has published articles

for academic journals dealing with cultural studies on Asia, particularly on the

relationship of museums, local cultural research and communities, as well as

the study of religious sculptures through performativity and material religion.

Her advocacy includes the promotion of culture and arts education in the

Philippines through both government (NCCA and CCP) and non-government

organizations, such as Baglan Art and Culture Initiatives and Dalubhasaan

sa Edukasyon at Kultura or DESK. She was a fellow with the Salzburg Global

Seminar (2011) and Asian Public Intellectuals of the Nippon Foundation (2001)

for her work on participatory community museums.

Page 312: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

298 ABOUT THE CONTRIBUTORS

Lino L. Dizon is presently a Professor of Philippine Studies and History

at the Tarlac State University, where he is also the Director of its Center for

Tarlaqueño Studies. He holds a PhD in Philippine Studies from the University

of the Philippines – Diliman and serves as a Writer-in-Residence of De La Salle

University – Dasmariñas. He is the author of more than a dozen books on local

history and culture. He was a Fulbright Research Fellow for 2010-2011 at Bancroft

Library, University of California, Berkeley.

Ferdinand Victoria obtained his degree in history at the University of the

Philippines-Diliman. He worked with the Philippine Department of Foreign

Affairs and served as Vice Consul to the Philippine Consulate General in

Sydney, Australia from 2003 to 2008. A Certified Paralegal, he is a member of

the National Association of Legal Assistants (NALA), the umbrella organization

of paralegals/legal assistants in the United States.

Saliba B. James is a Professor of History at the University of Maiduguri, Nigeria.

He obtained his Ph.D in Philippine History in 1995 and teaches Asian history in

Maiduguri. He was formerly the Assistant Dean of the Faculty of Arts.

Portia L. Reyes is a faculty member of the Department of History at the

National University of Singapore. She obtained her B.A. and M.A. in history

at the University of the Philippines and her Dr.phil. at the Universität Bremen

in Germany. She co-authored A New History of Southeast Asia (Basingstoke:

Palgrave Macmillan, 2010) and wrote Panahon at Pagsasalaysay ni Pedro Paterno,

1858-1911: Isang Pag-aaral sa Intelektuwalismo (Lunsod Quezon: BAKAS at Vibal

Foundation, Inc., 2011).

Page 313: Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

299Towards a Filipino History: A Festschrift for Zeus Salazar

Marlies Spiecker Salazar is one of the respected authorities on Philippine

linguistics. She is the author of Perspectives on Philippine Languages – Five

Centuries of European Scholarship (Quezon City: 2012), which has recently

received the National Book Award; European Studies on Philippine Languages

(Quezon City: 1989); Franz Carl Alter: A Comparative Dictionary of Tagalog

(Quezon City: 1981); and German for Filipinos (Manila: 1973). She was trained at

the Freie Universität Berlin, Sorbonne, Ecole Nationale des Langues Orientales

Vivantes, Leiden University and University of the Philippines. Her research

languages include German, English, French, Russian, Filipino, Spanish, Italian,

Dutch, Indonesian and Latin. She is married to Professor Zeus Salazar since

1960.

Wilfried Wagner is Professor Emeritus with the Institute of History,

Comparative Overseas History at the University of Bremen, Germany. He

specializes in Asia-Pacific Studies, History of European Expansion, Colonial

History and Mission History. He spent several years of field research in Southeast

Asia; and held several Visiting Professorships in the region, including a year at

the University of the Philippines Diliman and in China.


Top Related