Publications

One of the enduring hallmarks of American colonial rule in the Philippines was the establishment of a public school system criticized by scholars over the years for having been a tool to subjugate the minds of Filipinos by neglecting local knowledge and culture as well as repressing most forms of nationalism. This “miseducation” of the Filipino people is often argued to have continued long after Philippine independence in 1946.

However, efforts of Filipinos to shape a national identity that was independent of American policy were present during the colonial era, even among those who worked within the colonial bureaucracy. A culturalist form of nationalism characterized the efforts of elite Filipino intellectuals to mold the identity of an infant nation under the so-called “tutelage” of America. It is a form of nationalism often absent in the common reductivist view of American-trained Filipino intellectuals as miseducators of their countrymen. The recent identification of this form of nationalist heralds a need to revisit the works of Filipino nationalists in the 1930s, reading them with fresh eyes and thereby discovering new ways of appreciating their contributions to the history of Philippine national thought.

One such intellectual was Dr. Encarnacion Alzona. This study revisits her writings on Filipino education and culture from the 1910s to the 1960s, examining her contributions to Philippine nationalism under a lens of nationalist internationalism. A reading of her doctoral dissertation, published articles, and public speeches reveals that Dr. Alzona’s educational philosophy does not easily fit within the neat boundaries of yesteryear’s nationalist historiography. Her understanding of the relationship between nationalism and education—as well as their role in the formation of new generations of Filipino citizens—consistently portray the need to appreciate the perspectives of other nations to locate Philippine history within the broader history of mankind. This situates her in a more nuanced position outside the easy binary categorization of being either pro- or anti-American imperialism.

Tinatalunton sa papel na ito ang interes at ambag ng historyador na si Dante L. Ambrosio (1951–2011) sa pagsasakasaysayan ng etnoastronomiyang Pilipino. Binansagang “ama ng etnoastronomiyang Pilipino,” napatanyag si Ambrosio dulot ng kaniyang mga pananaliksik, na primaryang kinakatawan ng kaniyang aklat na Balatik: Etnoastronomiya: Kalangitan sa Kabihasnang Pilipino (2010). Inilahad niya rito ang kabang-yaman ng mga pananaw, paniniwala, kaalaman, at kaugalian ng mga katutubong Pilipino hinggil sa kalangitan, na kinakasangkapan din para sa mga gawaing pangkabuhayan at pangkalinangan. Isinasalaysay sa papel na ito ang henesis ng kaniyang interes sa astronomiya mula 1965 matapos niyang masaksihan ang pagdaan ng Kometa Ikeya-Seki, hanggang sa kaniyang pag-alam sa mga katutubong bituin noong 1982 bilang mag-aaral ng kasaysayan sa Unibersidad ng Pilipinas, hanggang sa panimulang pananaliksik tungkol sa etnoastronomiya mula 1992 bilang bahagi ng programang doktorado, pagsasagawa ng fieldwork sa Tawi-Tawi noong 1995–2000, at pagsulat ng kaniyang disertasyon na pinamagatang “Balatik: Kalangitan bilang isang Saligan ng Kabihasnang Pilipino, 1582–Kasalukuyan” (2003).

Iginigiit din sa papel na ito na bagaman may malaking pagkakaiba ang paksa niya para sa tesis masterado, na tungkol sa militanteng kilusang pangmanggagawa, sa paksa niya sa disertasyon, may masisilayan tayong pagpapatuloy at pagsasalikop ng dulog at ideya sa dalawang pag-aaral—lalo na ang isinusulong niyang historiograpikong konsepto ng “kapaligiran.”

Ang mga siyentista sa Pilipinas noong ika-20 dantaon ay malaki ang ginampanang papel sa magkatambal na usapin ng produksiyon ng kaalaman at pagbubuo ng bansa. Ang mga siyentistang ito, na bahagi ng mga institusyong akademiko at ahensiyang pang-agham ng bansa, ay nagsulong ng porma ng pananaliksik at pagbubuo ng mga larangan ng kaalaman tungo sa pagbubuo ng intelektuwal na pundasyon ng pagkabansa.

Ilalahad ng papel na ito ang isang historyograpikong pagsusuri sa mga akdang siyentipiko at historikal ni Padre Miguel Selga mula 1920s hanggang 1972, lalo na sa panahong siya ang direktor ng Philippine Weather Bureau (PWB) mula 1926 hanggang 1945. Titingnan ang produksiyon ng kaalaman tungkol sa kapaligiran, klima, at mga penomenong meteorolohiko, sismolohiko, at astronomiko, gayundin ang kanyang ambag sa larangang historikal. Sa pagsusuring ito, makikita ang isang takbo ng historyograpiyang nakatuon sa kalagayan at prosesong pangkapaligiran, na mahalaga sa pagpapalawak ng unawa sa ebolusyon ng lipunan at pagpapayaman sa historiograpiyang Pilipino.

When President Corazon Aquino directed the National Development Company (NDC) to transfer its shipping assets to the National Government for eventual privatization in March 1988, the fifty-year effort of the state to participate in the development of a national merchant marine fleet effectively ended. Such an undertaking had been in place since the Commonwealth Period and was meant to make the Philippines competitive as a center for world trade and provide a revenue stream for the government. However, despite the potential of this undertaking and the support of Malacañang, sustained government participation in a national marine fleet never took hold. This paper will, therefore, show how changes in the political landscape got the Government's major stakeholder (the NDC) embroiled in a complex rent-seeking environment that prevented its shipping program from taking off despite the induced demand created by a steady rise in the volume of Philippine exports. It is a testament to how certain historical actors undermined formal institutions and effectively prevented the Philippines from developing an international fleet despite its storied past as a seafaring nation.

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).