Publications

This chapter examines the ways in which nature has been conceptualized to define nationhood and citizenship. It builds upon the earlier works on colonial science during the US-occupied Philippines by underscoring the role of nature education in cultivating scientific thinking, citizenship, and nationhood. Inquiring into state instrumentalities such as public education, the paper illustrated how the promotion of scientific understanding of the “Filipino” environment reflected the colonial agenda for cultural reorientation and national imagination. I argue that the “scientific” conceptualization of Philippine natures along notions of nationhood provided the fundamentals of environmentalism.

This study aims to contribute to the growing literature on the importance of non-European actors as prime movers in the early global trade. For this purpose, it locates the Philippines in the intercontinental exchange and reexamines its role, which has been confined to serving as a way-station for Asian and American goods (Schurz 1939). The chapter is organized into three sections. The first part discusses the value of Philippine products as tribute and trade goods and the mechanisms used for their production and circulation. The second part analyzes the flow of the Philippine trade goods in the Pacific leg of the sixteenth-century global trade. Finally, it utilizes archival data and contemporary colonial reports to understand better the Philippine commercial relationship with other “peripheries,” that is, American colonies.

 This paper explores the lives and circumstances of “undesirable” and “proletariat” Chinese in the nineteenth century Philippines set against the broader political, economic and social transitions and transformations in the colony at the time. It highlights the restrictive policies imposed by the Spanish administration upon the Chinese and the developments within the Chinese community that made such measures necessary. Using previously unutilized source materials from the National Archives of the Philippines (NAP) in Manila, it examines the factors that contributed to the “emergence” of these downtrodden individuals. It demonstrates that although the state treated them as undesirable and dangerous, these social outcasts viewed their daily activities as necessary strategies for survival. A collective biography of these “people without history,” provides another facet of the Chinese community in Spanish colonial Philippines.

In his historically celebrated essay Filipinas dentro de cien años (1889), Jose Rizal emphasized the essential importance of studying history in charting a society’s future: “In order to read the future destiny of a people, it is necessary to open the book that tells of her past.”2 Indeed, Rizal was a historian of his time; a dedicated scholar and a conscious thinker, particularly of the importance of his role as a learned individual who involuntarily received yet embraced fully the task of pursuing the production of knowledge toward political reforms and social enlightenment. This paper aims to provide a historical survey of Rizal’s endeavors as a historian. I argue that Rizal’s training as a historian was a by-product of his engagements in the emerging scientific fields in Europe, as history and science both deal with the critical and comprehensive search for empirical knowledge. In particular, this work: (1) revisits Rizal’s thoughts on history and his initiatives in historical research; (2) assesses some of Rizal’s writings on Philippine History, and (3) analyzes how those ideas, initiatives, and writings were vital in the Propaganda Movement’s vision of social and political reforms, and in general, in the quest for a national narrative grounded on the point-of-view of the Filipinos. As an approach, this paper uses C. Wright Mills’ dictum of sociological imagination,3 wherein the critical cognizance of both the life of an individual and history of the society is vital in understanding one another. Rizal’s life, particularly his knowledge-seeking activities, is corroborated by his initiatives related to historical research. Moreover, Rizal’s works and ideas on history are contextualized with the prevailing social and intellectual climate of his time, specifically in Europe, to understand the contemporaneity4 of his legacies as a historian.

Addressing police and military men in his home city of Davao, President Rodrigo Duterte railed against the “firewall … that is the Bill of Rights—due process, right to be heard, lawyer during an investigation, and all of these things. And that is why we can hardly cope up [with drug lords and terrorists]” (Duterte, 2018c). To this “firewall” can be added the International Criminal Court (ICC), which announced early in 2018 that it was conducting a preliminary examination of conditions in the Philippines (International Criminal Court 2018a). Viewed as politically colored, the ICC quickly became the object of presidential ire, starting with Duterte’s instruction to the police not to cooperate with ICC investigators and culminating in his formal withdrawal from the organization on March 17, 2018 (Duterte, 2018d). The “firewall” metaphor not only aptly reflects Duterte’s attitude toward human rights and the rule of law but also hints at the deployment of populism as a political strategy to surmount the wall while remaining a popular leader” “(based on Social Weather Stations, 2017). A populist strategy sits comfortably with traditional Philippine politics, as both owe their popular appeal to promises of an earthly paradise in a land where the incidence of poverty is at 21.6% (as of 2015, Philippine Statistics Authority, 2017). In this chapter, I will demonstrate how populist and traditional political party politics have combined to exert a negative impact on human rights and democratic institutions in the Philippines.

In 1866, a new colonial institution was created to administer the construction of public works in the Philippines. This institution, composed of engineers and technological experts, was called the Inspección General de Obras Públicas de Filipinas (IGOP). Through the IGOP, these colonial engineers were tasked to undertake the study, execution, and supervision of the networks of public works in the Philippines such as roads, bridges, railroads, tranvias, ports, lighthouses, sewage system, street lighting, drinking water system, etc.

The paper tackles how the engineers of the IGOP were instrumental in the last attempts of Spain to bring in the forces of modernization to the colony in the second half of the 19th century. It also explores the role played by the IGOP and its engineers in the beginnings of the institutionalization of civil engineering in the archipelago.

Tampok sa pag-aaral na ito ang dalawang tradisyonal na pamamaraan at gawi sa Marinduque upang mapigilan at malunasan ang lala (kamandag/lason): ang pag-inom ng tawak at ang pagtatandok. Ang tawak ay isang inuming inorasyunan na binubuo ng iba’t ibang sangkap at niluluto ng magtatawak. Iniinom tuwing Biyernes Santo, pinaniniwalaang nakakapagpawalang-bisa ito ng kamandag ng hayop, gayundin ang iba pang benepisyong pangkalusugan. Isinasagawa naman ang tandok ng mga manggagamot sa mga pasyenteng nakagat ng makamandag na hayop. Gumagamit ang magtatandok ng bolang kristal, sungay, patalim, at orasyon upang ilabas sa katawan ng pasyente ang lala. Sinisiyasat ng pag-aaral na ito ang gampanin ng mga naturang tradisyon sa kasalukuyang lipunang Marinduqueño. Sa isang banda, makikitang reaksyon ito ng “taong-labas” sa harap ng kadahupan sa modernong akses-medikal. Sa kabilang banda, nararapat ding kilalanin ang matagal nang pamamayagpag ng mga ganitong tradisyon kung ipopook sa mas malawak na konteksto ng kalinangan at kasaysayan.

Laganap ang pangkalahatang pagtingin sa mga Kristiyano, Katoliko man o Protestante, bilang pasibong mga tagasunod ng gobyerno bago ang Rebolusyong EDSA ng 1986. Hindi ito totoo kung sisiyasatin ang tindig ng iba’t ibang denominasyong Protestante sa bansa. Sa kaso ng Convention of Philippine Baptist Churches (CPBC), tanging pangkating Baptist na kasapi ng National Council of Churches in the Philippines (NCCP) at nakahimpil sa Kanlurang Bisayas, unang nagkaroon ng dalawang hiwalay na tugon ang mga kasapi nito nang unang mailuklok sa kapangyarihan si Pangulong Ferdinand E. Marcos. Sa isang banda, maagang pumanig sa gobyerno ang liderato ng CPBC kasama ang nakararaming matatandang kasapi nito bunga na rin ng malaking takot at pangamba sa paglaganap ng komunismo sa bansa. Sa kabilang banda, mayroong mga kabataang nanatiling Baptist subalit naging aktibo sa paglahok sa mga demonstrasyon laban sa Diktadurang Marcos. Ilan sa kanila ay umanib pa mismo sa armadong pakikibaka. Magkaiba man ang pagtugon ng mga kasapi, humantong kalaunan ang CPBC sa pagkakaroon ng iisang tindig laban sa katiwalian at pang-aabuso ng Diktadurang Marcos na lalong nag-alab hanggang sa pagsapit ng 1986.

Ang papel na ito ay isang pagsasakasaysayan sa karanasan at landas na tinahak ng liderato at kasapian ng CPBC sa isang madilim na yugtong pangkasaysayan. Nilalayon din ng pag-aaral na maihabi ang mga naratibo at ambag ng mga kabataang Baptist sa mahabang kasaysayan ng pakikibaka ng mga Pilipino tungo sa kalayaan at kaginhawahan ng inang bayan.

Tatlong hibla ng pangkating Panayanhon sa kasaysayang Pilipino sa Isla ng Panay ang nagsalubong, nagsanib, at naghugpong para sa kalayaan ng Inang-Bayan – Ati, Bukidnon, at mga Agraviados. Tulak ng karanasang kolonyal, ang nabanggit na tatlong pampamayanang grupong nasadlak sa ekspansiyong kolonyal, at mahigpit na integrasyong sosyo-kultural ng mga mananakop, ang naging malaking salik sa kanilang kaisahan pagsapit ng huling bahagi ng siglo 19. Salig sa kinagisnang kamalayan, ang pagkakapit sa subling panghimanwa (manang paglilingkod-bayan), kabubut-on sang banwa (kaloobang bayan), at pakig-angot pangkatilingban (pakikipag-ugnayang panlipunan) ang nakapagbigay-liwanag sa atin hinggil sa kanilang pagsanib-lakas sa Himagsikang Pilipino.

Tinitindigan na sa pamamagitan ng maragtasong inagihan (pangkasaysayang karanasan), at sosyo-kultural na lente, maipapaliwanag ang pagkakaroon ng ribuk (himagsikan) bilang panlipunang gumuntang (penomeno) noong huling-hati ng siglo 19. Inaasahang sa pamamagitan sa inter-disiplinaryong pagtingin, mabibigyang-liwanag ang naganap na gumuntang (kalakaran) at hitabu (kaganapan) sa pakig-ugyon (pagkakaisa) ng tatlong pangkating pampamayanan at ang naging papel nila sa paglikha ng panghimagsikang tradisyon sa Isla ng Panay.

Nilalayon ng pananaliksik na ito na ilarawan ang kontekstong heograpiko at sosyo-kultural na nagbigay-hugis sa pag-usbong ng nabanggit na pangkating naghimagsik. Ilalatag sa sanaysay pagkatapos ang kalakasang sosyo-kultural ng mga Panayanhon lakip maging ang pagtatampok sa naging kalakaran ng mga entradang kolonyal sa Pilipinas na kinasangkutan ng mga Pintados. Higit sa lahat, isasalaysay pagkatapos nito ang naganap na kalakaran sa himagsikan at kaganapan sa pakikidigmang inilunsad ng mga naghugpong na mga Anak ng Bayan sa nasabing Isla.

The present paper examines the "second coming" of Dante Alighieri and Giovanni Boccaccio through Filipino reception. The four Florentine "presences" in the Filipino milieu are: 1) the 1917 adaptation of La Divina Commedia by Rosendo Ignacio, 2) the 2013 reception to Dan Brown's Inferno, when Manila was called the "gates of hell," 3) Resty Mendoza Ceña's Impyerno (2017) and 4) Virgilio S. Almario's Dekameron (2021). Intertextualities and interstices of these receptions share the common themes of disease, death, and destruction. Reading such texts in light of health, the paper attempts to extract meanings and lessons relevant to our current struggle against the COVID-19 pandemic.