Publications

Current conversations around Philippine sports treat the 1980s as a ‘golden era’ of sporting achievement due to a marked increase in medals won internationally under Project: Gintong Alay, the Marcosregime’s elite sport development (ESD) program. Yet the nostalgia has yet to generate a critical assessment of the policy factors behind the program’s success. This article examines the meso-level policy factors and macro-level contexts that contributed to the Philippine sports achievements in the 1980s. Historical analysis of newspapers, magazines, and presidential documents between 1978and 1982 reveal how Gintong Alay’s success can be attributed to three (3) broad policies: 1) efficient funding allocation that prioritized sports with higher potential medal returns, 2) provisions for athletes’ basic needs in training camps, and 3) continuous exposure of elite athletes to international competition. However, the project’s success cannot be separated from the era’s legacy  and plunder. This article also argues that the conditions for the possibility of elite sport success rested on the centralization of authority under the executive director of Gintong Alay– presidential nephew Michael Keon – and the ill-gotten wealth of Marcos cronies who were tasked to finance the decade of Philippinesport’s revival

Prior to 1746, Samar and Leyte, along with the smaller islands of Biliran and Maripipi, were governed as a single political entity. However, in 1747, Samar and Leyte were officially separated into two distinct provinces, each with its own capital and provincial governor (alcalde mayor). However, just six years later, in 1753, authorities decided to revoke the partition. Throughout the latter half of the eighteenth century, the decisions made by the authorities, both in the Philippines and Spain, regarding the division or reunification of the two islands were continuously influenced by an interplay of political, economic, and religious forces.

This paper delves into the political and social history of Leyte during the latter half of the eighteenth century. It is structured into two primary sections. The first part explores the origins of Leyte and Samar as separate provinces in the mid-1700s and sheds light on the reasons behind the fluctuating territorial status of these islands until their final division at the end of the century. The second part documents the resistance of the local population to tribute payments in Leyte during the mid-century, a problem perceived by colonial authorities as stemming from the administrative reconfiguration. The colonial government viewed this unrest as a compelling reason to revert to the previous administrative arrangement for Leyte and Samar as one political jurisdiction. Drawing upon underutilized archival sources from the Archivo General de Indias (AGI), this paper aims to enrich the understanding of Leyte´s local history by utilizing eighteenth-century primary sources. Particularly noteworthy are the previously unused archival documents written in the local language, Bisaya Samar-Leyte/Waray.

Meteorology, as a science that has colonial roots, was cleverly devised to advance and increase the capabilities of colonies to be more beneficial for the state and the public. Its character as a public science was a by-product of a profusion of necessities—commercial demands, disaster mitigation mechanism, and scholarly pursuits.

The Philippine experience in the development of meteorology is reflected in the institutional progress of the Observatorio Meteorológico de Manila (OMM) and the Philippine Weather Bureau (PWB). Originating as an atmospheric observation facility of the Jesuit professors at a burgeoning secondary school in Manila in 1865, it was absorbed and expanded by various state regimes in the Philippines for governmental programs and activities. The OMM’s and PWB’s scientific activities offered a form of public engagement and service under the pretext of various state projects instigated by the Spanish, American, and Japanese regimes, as well as the postwar-era Filipino governments. Essentially, these regimes used meteorological science to harness the benefits of modern weather forecasting to serve imperial programs in various fields—from trade, shipping, and agriculture to civilizational and war efforts. In congruence with the period of birth and formation of the Philippine nation, the institutional development of meteorological science accorded further intricacies to an already convoluted national narrative. The project of a state bureaucracy with proactive Filipino presence and participation coincided with the development of meteorology as a primordial agent of scientific development.

When the M.T. Princess Empress sank off the northeast coast of Mindoro in the early morning of February 28, 2023, she became yet another addition to the list of vessels that have met their fate along the treacherous Tablas Strait. The unusually large number of disasters that have taken place in that vicinity, including one of the worst maritime tragedies in history, has created a contemporary narrative about the existence of the so-called "Romblon Triangle," which has become the watery grave of thousands of souls since the beginning of the twentieth century. While the death toll from the sinkings and collisions that have taken place in that area is irrefutable, there are logical explanations that could dispel the myth about the Tablas Strait being cursed. Hence, this article revisits official accounts of tragic events that took place in that waterway to provide analysis that could dispel the myth about the Tablas Strait being cursed. Regardless, no amount of fact-based historical accounts or even scientific analysis may be enough to dispel the mysteries and lore about this waterway, which is among the most heavily traversed in the archipelago.

This paper shows how the perceived relationship between comets and disasters developed and deepened among the Philippine communities through time. Lexicographic data show how indigenous Filipinos thought about comets and their passing, while ethnographic and historical accounts provide a glimpse to the knowledge processes which put into reason these cometary perceptions and predictions. Ancestral tradition, historical experience, and generations of observations can be cited as causes that established and strengthened this mentality. The arrival of Spaniards in the sixteenth century, nevertheless, made these perceptions more durable and tenacious. As shown in select historical accounts, Spanish priests and soldiers possessed the popular lore of the comet-fearing West. Gradual permeation of modern science in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries combatted these “primitive superstitions ” and “popular apprehensions” through an army of scientists, scholars, and schoolbook writers. However, comet astrology persisted among the Filipinos, as seen in print and folklore. The historical period covered is from 1566, when a comet was sighted in Cebu, to 1910, the year when the Halley’s Comet graced the Philippine sky. These comet apparitions marked not only the astronomical events but also the complementing and conflicting discourses they caused.

In his The Mysteries of Taal, Hargrove (1991) describes the Taal volcano as a blessing and a curse. This miscible trait of being a hazardous geological landform and the character as being a culturally significant and economically providing geographic territory symbolizes Taal volcano’s location in Philippine history and culture. This paper illustrates the aforementioned dynamic nature of the Taal Volcano. Using scientific analysis as well as cultural anecdotes in history, I attempt to describe and analyze Taal’s visualizations across time: the Taal as physical landscape that has been a subject of scientific studies, and as a cultural landscape imagined in select cultural materials. Through this approach, this study offers a way of looking at how volcanoes, as one of the potentially-loaded destructive natural landforms, tend to be read and appreciated not only as a source of hazard but also as a derivation of economic survival and intellectual production.

Hindi lamang makikita ang pagiging tradisyonal na akdang pangkasaysayan sa uri ng datos na ginagamit, kundi maging sa tinutuntungang perspektiba at praxis pangkasaysayan na ginagamit ng may-akda. Ibabahagi sa papel na ito ang isang uri ng ekspresibong kultura tulad ng larong sungka bilang pamanang bayan at ekspresibong kultura. Bilang isang halimbawa ng panlipunang produksyon, ang larong sungka sa pangkalahatan ay pumapapel hindi lamang libangan ng mamamayan sa panahon ng kahupaan at kalungkutan, kundi gumagampan din ito higit sa lahat ng kapahayagang kultural at mayamang batis ng impormasyon sa pagbuo ng kaalamang pangkasaysayan sa Pilipinas.

Sa pangkalahatang sipat, tinutugunan ng pag-aaral na ito ang kakulangan ng tradisyonal na historiograpiya na sumasalok lamang ng impormasyon mula sa dokumentaryong batis sa pagbuo ng kaalamang pangkasaysayan. Sa pagsasakasaysayang Pilipino, marapat samakatuwid ang paggamit ng perspektibang pangkasaysayang nakaugat sa sariling pook- kalinangan, aplikasyon ng interdisiplinaryong lapit, paghagilap sa di-kumbensyunal na mga batis, ekplorasyon ng mga paradigm o mga modelong pangkasaysayan, at paghahabi ng naratibong pangkasaysayang sandig sa metanaratibong pangkasaysayan.

Tinitindigan ng may-akda na nakasalalay sa organiko, ingklusibo at nakasalig-sa-kalinangang uri ng historiograpiyang magsasakapangyarihan sa bayan ang nararapat na isasagawang pagtuklas hinggil sa epistemolohikal na batayan ng pagbuo ng kaalamang pangkasaysayan, ontolohikal na konsiderasyon sa pagsasakasaysayan, at pagpagpapalawak ng larang pangkasaysayang lampas sa naratibo o pagsasalaysay ng mga fact o detalye.

Sa kabuuan, bibigyang liwanag sa akdang ito ang pag-igpaw papalayo sa positibismo at interpretibismong historiograpiya para sa panloob na pagdadalumat ng kaalamang pangkasaysayang tumutugon sa simulaing pangkaunlaran sa Pilipinas. Sa pagpapaksa hinggil sa larong sungka, inaasahang ang akdang ito ay maghahatid sa atin tungo sa pagsasakatuparan ng nasabing mga layunin.

This paper explores the Dominican missionaries' unsuccessful but interesting project of purchasing and transporting children from China to the Philippines in the mid-nineteenth century set against the broader economic development and the ‘labour question’ in the Philippines during that period. Using primary sources from Philippine and Spanish archives, it aims to examine why and how the Dominicans conceived this project; identify the actors, institutions and processes that should have been involved in its execution; determine the factors that prevented its implementation; and discuss some events that happened as a consequence of the failed project. Ultimately, the analysis intends to demonstrate that through this undertaking the Dominicans attempted to address not only the religious but also the economic concerns – specifically related to labour – on the Spanish colony at that time.

This paper explores how different groups in the Philippines invoked and utilized the 1864 Sino-Spanish Treaty to protect, maintain, and promote their economic interests, and how some of its provisions affected the lives of the Chinese in late-nineteenth century Philippines. Three cases—based on underexplored archival materials from Philippine and Spanish archives—that occurred in the last three decades of the Spanish colonial period were examined to address these concerns. These cases include (1) the Spanish colonial government’s implementation of new immigration and residence policies directed to transient Chinese (1871); (2) a complaint filed by the German Ambassador to Spain regarding the importation of Chinese coolies (1889); and (3) a complaint filed by the Chinese legation in Spain regarding the increase in the disembarkation fee imposed upon Chinese immigrants (1894).

Malimit na ginagamit bilang halimbawa ng ulirang sistema ng transportasyong pampubliko ang trambiya na bumaybay sa Kalakhang Maynila noong panahon ng pananakop. Ngunit maliban sa pananaw ng publiko, mahalagang malaman din kung paano tinatanaw ng mga akademikong iskolar ang trambiya, sapagkat mayroon silang kakayahang bigyan ng intelektuwal na lalim ang paksa ng trambiya sa pamamagitan ng kanilang masugid na pananaliksik. Samakatuwid, mainam na tanungin - nakita ba ng mga iskolar ang trambiya bilang isang moda ng transportasyong pampubliko na naging kapaki-pakinabang para sa mga tao ng Kamaynilaan sa kabila ng pagiging likha nito ng kolonyalismo? Sisikapin ng sanaysay na ito na sagutin ang katanungan sa pamamagitan ng pagbibigay ng detalyadong diskusyon ng diskursong historiograpikal ng trambiya ng kolonyal ng Kamaynilaan.