Publications

Dubbed as a one-stop tourist spot, Nayong Pilipino (Philippine Village) Park is an amalgamation of everything “Filipino” designated in a compact site for people to conveniently explore and experience. It can be traced back from the revival of a defunct plan to establish a souvenir shop for native crafts and products in the Cultural Center Complex. This historical research paper focuses on the institutional history of the Nayong Pilipino Foundation and itspark from 1970 to 2015, being that 1970 was the year that the park was inaugurated and 2015 was set as the year that will be apt for hindsight about the foundation. Moreover, this paper presents a historical outline of the park and its foundation, therebytraces and draws patterns of its dynamic changes throughout time. Furthermore,the narrative will be divided into two periods: (1) Nayong Pilipino Parkin Pasay (1970 - 2004) and; (2) Nayong Pilipino Park in Clark Exposition(2007 - 2015).  Discussion about the in between the years of its hiatus is also provided in the paper. The methodology of the research is a mixture of archival sources (composed of official reports and newspaper clippings), an oral interview and secondary sources, primarily exploring the philosophy and nature of cultural heritage and tourism in the country vis-à-vis the international scene. Ultimately, in its almost six decades of existence, this paper asserts its continued relevance in the contemporary times and humbly offers insights for the future administration, researchers and enthusiasts alike to consider and ponder.

This article examines how the ilustrados, particularly Marcelo del Pilar, Mariano Ponce, and Antonio Luna, sought to revive José María Panganiban’s campaign for reforms in Philippine higher education by resuming the publication of the “La Universidad de Manila” columns in La Solidaridad. I first discuss the salient points of the columns published between December 1890 and September 1891. I also illustrate that the new series juxtaposed the programs of study enforced at the University of Santo Tomas with their counterpart royal universities in Madrid. Finally, I offer a counterpoint to Fidel Villarroel’s assessment of the new series, that these “renewed attacks” added nothing to Panganiban’s litany of the defects of the university. A closer look at the columns however reveals that the new La Universidad de Manila series underscores new issues such as Santo Tomas’ ‘royal’ character and therefore belonging to the state and also its discrepant programs of study relative to its counterpart universities in Spain.

This article interrogates Teodoro Agoncillo’s oftcited argument in the second volume of The Fateful Years (1965) that Filipino active resistance against the Japanese began only after the Fall of Corregidor on 6 May 1942. Documentary evidence however—evidence Agoncillo himself cites—suggests otherwise. By examining three key guerrilla units in Luzon, namely the Ablan Madamba Guerrilla Forces of Ilocos Norte, the Tangkong Vaca Guerrilla Unit of Camarines Sur, and the Filipino-American Irregular Troops of various Tagalog provinces as well as their respective network and breakaway guerrilla units, I present counterexamples to Agoncillo’s claim and argue that the formation and operations of these resistance units as early as December 1941 render his claim untenable. Finally, I make the case that what Agoncillo may have considered as “active resistance” included only those that have been part of the organized resistance and fought on after Corregidor fell, those units who have been granted guerrilla recognition by the United States, or those inducted into the United States Armed Forces in the Far East (USAFFE).

While the precolonial balangays and Manila-Acapulco galleons are etched into our historical narrative as a maritime nation, hardly anything has been written about domestic shipping. Accounts about companies such as William Lines or Aboitiz Shipping may seem trivial in the context of Philippine economic history, but they are part of a narrative that actually dates back to the Spanish colonial era when Cebu was opened up to foreign trade in 1860. This article will therefore give an account of how domestic shipping transformed from the colonial era until the present day. Specifically, it will also highlight the historical agency of certain personalities from Cebu who created institutions that were part of everyday life, yet remain invisible in the historiography of our development as an archipelagic nation.

Trinidad Hermenegildo José María Juan Francisco Pardo de Tavera y Gorricho (1857–1925), a distinguished Filipino doctor and language scholar, was the Philippines’ foremost intellectual from the late nineteenth to the early twentieth century. He assumed the inaugural chairmanship of the Department of Linguistics at the University of the Philippines Diliman, established on August 28, 1922. His timeless legacy is intricately woven into Filipino intellectual history, particularly through his scholarly pursuits, including groundbreaking research on Philippine medicinal plants.

In his 1892 masterpiece, Plantas medicinales de Filipinas (Medicinal Plants of the Philippines), Pardo de Tavera not only conscientiously documented Filipino healing practices but also affirmed the Philippines’ distinctive role in the global scientific community. As contemporary global interest increasingly focus on local medicinal knowledge, Pardo de Tavera’s work stands as a timeless bridge connecting the past to the future. It sheds light on the brilliance of Filipino intellect and underscores the enduring relevance of local healing knowledge, emphasizing its significance in the ongoing discourse on traditional medicine.

This article focuses on the sailors who served during the initial years of the Carrera del Pacífico, one of the globalizing projects of the Spanish Monarchy. In particular, the paper aims to examine the sailors who took advantage of the Pacific trade circuits by actively participating in various income-generating activities created by the Carrera. Using the sailors’ economic endeavors, especially as sailor-merchants, as a lens can elucidate how early global trade was conducted and demonstrate the dynamics of the early Pacific trade. The paper argues that by seizing the opportunities presented by the Carrera, primarily by assuming the dual roles of sailors and merchants, these laborers helped consolidate the Spanish-Pacific region and reshape the consumption pattern of its local population. The sailors engaged in the transportation, sale, and purchase of global commodities during the early modern period, including textiles and chinaware, which catered to the demands of the broader consumer base in Spanish America. The sources draw data from the Royal Treasury of Acapulco registers during its first decade (1590-1600), where 1,574 sailors were identified. It belongs to Archivo General de Indias’ Contaduría (Account) records, which contain the duties of commodities entering and leaving the port of Acapulco.

Pinagmumunihan sa sulating ito ang ilang pamamaraan sa pagtuturo ng kasaysayan ng Pilipinas, partikular ang sentralidad ng teksto at talastasan. Sa pagtutuon sa teksto at talastasan, mapalilitaw ang mga kaisipan at praxis ng kasaysayan-bilang komunikasyon. Gamit ang mga kaisipan hango sa set theory, inilalatag din ang balangkas ng daloy, interseksyon, at antas ng “may-akda” at “teksto” sa proseso ng pagsasakasaysayan. Tumutukoy ang mga ito sa tao at sa tekstong sangkot sa tekstuwalisasyon ng kasaysayan o produksyon ng mga akdang pangkasaysayan. Mula sa balangkas na ito, mapalilitaw ang mga deviation, o pagtiwalag, pag-alpas, o di-pagsunod sa nakatakdang prinsipyo o daloy ng balangkas, na nakatutok sa pagkawala ng eksperto, o ang historyador. Nagbubunga ang deviation ng mga hamon at problemang historiograpikal na kasalukuyang kinahaharap ng/sa pag-aaral at pagtuturo ng kasaysayan ng Pilipinas.

This article historicizes the use of exotic trees in Philippine greening projects. Highlighting the development of Mount Makiling into a forest laboratory where different exotic species were experimented on before their transplantation, it shows that colonial understanding regarding the role of exotic species in reforestation continued to shape postcolonial efforts. I argue that the use of Makiling as a “natural laboratory” for countrywide projects produced conflicting discourses about the relationship between nature and nation, and that the changing appreciation toward exotic trees was guided not only by biological studies but also by interests framed within the ideas of national identity and development.

One of the consequences of the Carrera del Pacífico (more popularly known as the Manila-Acapulco galleon trade) was the influx of global products in Spanish America and the Asia Pacific, which affected the daily consumption of their broader population. As a contribution to the growing scholarship on the topic, it will also be noteworthy to analyze the workers who transported these trade goods, circulated with them, and brought them to their destination areas. The present study will utilize the microhistorical approach to examine the sailors of the Carrera in the sixteenth century, particularly the case of Baltazar Hernandez. He was a Carrera sailor who died aboard San Martin, a Mexican-bound ship. By surveying the goods that he left when he died as well as those of the other sailors, the research aims to reconstruct their everyday and global lives during the early modern period: their trade and consumer goods, things of enjoyment, working instruments, food, drink, and other objects.

In the second half of the nineteenth century, several colonial nations used meteorology to pursue their colonial interests and to also serve the public. Colonial powers used science for two main reasons: to enhance control of colonial resources, and to encourage local development. Nineteenth-century scientific developments in the Philippines can be viewed as both a process and a product of imperial and local dynamics. This study surveys the initiatives and programs of the Observatorio Meteorológico de Manila, later reorganized as the Philippine Weather Bureau, concerning the field of astronomy in the Philippines from 1891 to 1945. It also discusses Jesuit collaboration with the colonial nations, pioneering astronomical observations and research, and a time service that was maintained from 1892 to 1945.