Publications

This paper surveys the early history of the National Center for Mental Health, a psychiatric institution in Mandaluyong City, Metro Manila, which was founded in 1928 as the Insular Psychopathic Hospital during the American colonial rule. As a historical inquiry, this study collects information from a range of primary sources, including government reports, statistical data, bulletins, and correspondences. The study also focuses on three chronological themes: the circumstances surrounding the hospital’s establishment in the late 1920s; the efforts by colonial and later Commonwealth authorities to expand its capacity during the 1930s; and the state of the institution during and after the Second World War. As evidenced by enduring problems such as chronic overcrowding and inadequate facilities, this paper contends that the various initiatives aimed at developing the Insular Psychopathic Hospital into a modern psychiatric facility were largely unsuccessful. However, this failure was not specific to the hospital or the Philippines; rather, it reflected the trend of mental health facilities declining in different areas of the world, which subsequently caused mental health professionals to reconsider the asylum model as an effective approach in treating mental diseases.

Sa kasaysayan ng historiograpiyang Pilipino, malaon nang sinalungguhitan ang puwang ng kasaysayang lokal sa pagpapayaman ng mga salaysay ukol sa iba’t ibang kaganapan at karanasan sa Pilipinas. Mula 1970s, pinaksa ng mga historyador ang kasaysayang lokal bilang paraan ng pagbubuo ng kasaysayan ng mga Pilipino. Gayunpaman, hanggang sa kasalukuyan, nananatili pa rin ang mga hamon sa pananaliksik at pagsusulat ng kasaysayang lokal na una nang binanggit ng mga historyador gaya nina John Larkin (1972), Leslie Bauzon (1978), Romeo Cruz (1984), at Jaime Veneracion (1992).

Gamit ang halimbawa ng Zambales, layunin ng papel na ito na lumahok sa talastasan kaugnay ng kasaysayang lokal sa pamamagitan ng pagsusuri sa mga naisulat nang kasaysayan ng lalawigan at pagtukoy sa mga suliranin sa pagbuo ng isang kasaysayang lokal. Sa pamamagitan ng pagsusuring historiograpikal sa mga nailimbag na mga akda tungkol sa Zambales, nais patunayan ng artikulong ito ang pangangailangan ng higit na masusing pagsasakasaysayan sa lalawigan sa pamamagitan ng angkop na metodolohiyang pangkasaysayan.

Works on the Propaganda Movement have given us many examples of individuals whose lasting friendship with each other transcended geographical and ethnic boundaries. We know of the deep friendship between Jose Rizal and the Austrian scholar, Ferdinand Blumentritt. Another example can be seen in the close working partnership between Marcelo del Pilar and Mariano Ponce as the two province mates worked tirelessly over the newspaper, La Solidaridad. On the other hand, history also speaks of the friendship that dissolved between two of the movement’s leading individuals, Jose Rizal and Marcelo del Pilar.

Despite all these examples, we know little of what friendship actually meant for the propagandists themselves. How did they define friendship? What qualities constituted a friend for these young Filipino men? More importantly, how did they utilize these friendships in their struggle for reforms in the country? In this paper, I explore the concept of friendship from the points of view of the propagandists. I maintain that friendship for these young men was linked intimately with their love for the Philippines, and subsequently, it became an integral component in their work for reforms. I argue that if not for the networks of friendships that the propagandists established across transnational boundaries, the whole business of propaganda may not have even been possible in the first place.

Sa pamamagitan ng magkasalikop na historiograpiko at semiotikong lapit, sinusuri sa artikulong ito ang ‘1872’ bilang sagisag ng mga kaganapan at pangyayari, nang may diin sa dalawang ‘kaganapang di-naganap’ na mababasa sa mga pagwiwika nina José Rizal noong 1889 at Teodoro Agoncillo noong 1958. Kabilang sa pagbasa ang pagkasangkapan sa konsepto ng ‘sagisag,’ gayundin ang pagdadalumat sa ‘pangyayari’ at ‘kaganapan,’ na iisa lamang sa pagwiwikang Ingles, kung hindi man Kanluranin—event.

In 1698, Chinese mestizo chiefs in the town of Bacolor, Pampanga petitioned the Spanish colonial government for relief from tribute collection duties, citing the financial burden imposed by the composición de tierras—a land regularization policy requiring payment to legalize land tenure. Their appeal triggered an investigation that revealed the complex social and economic roles of Chinese mestizos in 17th-century Pampanga. Using archival sources, particularly the composición dossier from the Archivo General de Indias, this study traces how Chinese migrants and their mestizo descendants acquired land through pioneering settlement, intermarriage with local women, inheritance, and financial instruments like the pacto de retroventa. Despite being considered as legally different from natives, the Chinese mestizos were recognized by native elites as legitimate members of the pueblos, largely due to their maternal lineage and social integration. This recognition proved crucial during the composición proceedings, helping mestizos retain their land and status. By the end of the 17th century, Chinese mestizos had emerged as landowner and creditors—roles that laid the foundation for their enduring influence in Pampanga’s colonial society.

This article analyses how American colonial-era cabotage laws (1899–1946) entrenched monopolies in the Philippine maritime industry, exemplified by firms like Compañía Marítima. Despite partial liberalization via Republic Act No. 10668 (2015), protections for domestic operators persisted until 2024, when foreign vessels were first permitted on domestic routes. Through an examination of colonial and legislative records, this study reveals how post-colonial elites perpetuated colonial institutions under the guise of nationalist rhetoric, sustaining high costs, weak competition, and a recurring pattern of maritime disasters. Institutional mechanisms such as the 1936 Public Service Act reinforced this path dependence. Applying the framework of Acemoglu and Robinson's ‘Colonial Origins of Comparative Development’ (2001), the article argues that the Philippine cabotage regime evolved from an extractive colonial institution into a rent-seeking system protecting elite interests. In doing so, it contributes to broader debates on the persistence of colonial economic structures in South East Asian maritime policy.

The Nutribun, a ready-to-eat meal developed by a United States Agency for International Development program, became tied to Ferdinand E. Marcos when his administration claimed credit for its nationwide distribution through feeding programs. His children later used nostalgia for the Nutribun to cast the Marcos years positively, aiding their political rise. This article reframes nostalgia politics by tracing the Nutribun's changing political and emotional meanings. It shows how the bun functioned as a symbol for reimagining authoritarian rule as a time of prosperity and national pride, and how nostalgic health messages were used to deflect attention from present problems. The study links public health communication, nutrition policy, and political memory to show nostalgia's role in shaping historical narratives.

The Philippines, recognized today as one of the two remaining countries that do not allow absolute divorce, once had an absolute divorce legislation, Act No. 2710, which was in force from 1917 until its repeal in 1950, a fact unknown to many Filipinos. This article, however, focuses on the reinvention of marriage and divorce from 1898 to 1917. It contextualizes this development within the transition from Spanish to US colonial rule since the military occupation on 13 August 1898, and the evolution of the Philippine legal system as a mixed legal system. The Marriage Law of 1899, Gen. Order 68, was one of the most important laws created at the time that instituted secular/civil marriage, but it had one glaring problem – the law did not provide anything on divorce. Historical literature on US imperial rule suggests a nuanced view on policymaking that accommodated existing local conditions of their colonies. In a similar light, through an examination of two case decisions, this article shows how the Supreme Court reinvented the divorce policy to incorporate new (American) and to accommodate existing (Spanish) legal characteristics, a divorce that was ecclesiastical in design but secular in jurisdiction.

Since the late nineteenth century, meteorological institutions were established and have flourished in various territories in the western Pacific region. These institutions served as significant scientific enterprises that served both the local economic objectives of government and the regional and global initiatives on scientific knowledge production on weather and the environment. Meteorological observatories became centers of a calculative approach and sources of more scientific knowledge on atmospheric phenomena such as tropical cyclones and typhoons, as well as up-to-date support for mercantile shipping and trade.

This paper narrates the scientific textualizations on tropical cyclones, and typhoons in particular, through the examination of the institutional scientific activities of the Observatorio Meteorológico de Manila (OMM) and the Philippine Weather Bureau (PWB) from the 1860s to the 1940s. The scientific textualizations were manifested through local initiatives to investigate the scientific nature of Philippine tropical cyclones and typhoons and how the institutional work on meteorology expanded to various territories and contributed to the regional and global growth of knowledge networks on tropical cyclones and typhoons. The scientific work and activities of the OMM and PWB laid down the foundation of meteorological infrastructure in the Philippines in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, and they became active scientific institutions in the western Pacific region.

In this report I will delve into the intricate ways nations around the globe engage with each other and the interactions they form. We will explore the perspectives and theories put forth by esteemed scholars such as Keone, Kissinger, Mearsheimer, and Kaplan. It is essential to grasp the historical engagement between countries and the profound impact these interactions have had on the world. This scholarly exploration will encompass diverse elements including historical contexts, societal beliefs, power dynamics, geographical influences, strategic approaches, economic repurcussions, international organizations, societal and cultural perspectives, and the enduring consequences over time (Huntington 1996; Brzezinski 1997; Nisbett 20023; Slaughter 20027; at Kissinger 2015). This essay is structured into three sections: (1) Geopolitical and IR Concepts, Ideological Systems and the Invented Social Technology in the Formation of World Empires; (2) Religious Ideological Systems, Invented Social Technology and the Rise of the World Empires; at (3) Political Ideological Systems, Invented Social Technology and the Rise of Nation-States.