Publications

This chapter critically reviews narratives of the Martial Law period in selected Grade 6 Philippine history textbooks, foregrounding how essential yet controversial topics about this contested period are discussed by textbook authors. The review grapples with four key questions: How do textbook authors describe the Marcos authoritarian regime, the Martial Law period, and the EDSA People Power Revolution? What is included and excluded in the textbooks' overall narrative about these tumultuous years? Are there historical discrepancies and distortions found in the narratives of the textbooks examined? To what extent do these narratives perpetuate historical myths, silences, and inconsistencies? By answering these questions, the chapter aims to contribute to the existing academic conversation on the representation of the Martial Law period in textbooks. It also seeks to offer a new perspective on how textbook narratives about this period in contemporary Philippine history are constructed.

Revisiting the question, “how could the same society that expelled the Marcos family in 1986 elect the dictator's son to the presidency in 2022?” this concluding chapter synthesizes findings from across the volume, using the 2016 burial of Ferdinand Marcos Sr. at the Libingan ng mga Bayani as the convergence point where the dynamics documented in individual chapters become visible in relation to one another. The answer confounds scholarly expectations. Democratic institutions themselves became vehicles for rehabilitation, their standard procedures exploited to honor a dictator and marginalize his victims. Factual correction failed because memory operated through affect, embodiment, and regional identity rather than information. Digital platforms amplified distortion but did not create it; the infrastructure was built decades earlier through monuments, textbooks, and institutional capture. The memory architecture that the Marcos regime constructed was never dismantled after 1986. Three decades later, it enabled the very restoration that the democratic transition was meant to foreclose. The Philippine case reveals that how societies remember their authoritarian past shapes not only present politics but also whether such pasts can be reinstantiated in the future.

This study analyzes the Libingan ng mga Bayani (LNMB) and the People Power Monument (PPM) as sites of Marcosian historical distortion, supported by the administration of former President Rodrigo R. Duterte (2016–2022). By examining the contemporary phenomenon of negative historical revisionism, this paper presents two historical observations. First, memories and narratives of the 1986 EDSA People Power Revolution are malleable and are strategically manipulated to suit political ends. Second, the Marcosian project of historical distortion, which sanitizes the Martial Law years and demonizes the legacy of the EDSA Revolution, occurred in the controlled spaces of the LNMB and the PPM. Through Marcos's burial in the LNMB in 2016 and the changes in the EDSA Revolution commemoration since 2017, the Duterte government systematically implemented measures to sanitize the memory of the Marcos dictatorship and to discredit and reframe the “EDSA narrative.” These actions reinvented Marcos's authoritarian rule as a justification for Duterte's own version of iron-fist rule in the country. These two places serve as emblematic representations of both a state-supported program of sanitizing a dark past and the complex nature of historical memory, spaces of memory, and public remembering.

How could the same society that expelled the Marcos family through the 1986 People Power Revolution elect the dictator's son to the presidency in 2022? This introduction argues that Ferdinand Marcos Jr.'s victory reflects a deeper transformation in Philippine historical memory, one shaped by material infrastructure, regional identity, generational dynamics, and digital mediation working in concert. Drawing on memory studies scholarship, the chapter develops a four-dimensional framework that treats memory as actively constructed rather than passively stored, examines the institutional architecture that anchors competing narratives, traces memory's circulation across communities and platforms, and attends to the power relations underlying all memory work. The volume's chapters apply this framework to diverse empirical sites: war memorials, cemetery politics, museum curation, textbook production, transitional justice mechanisms, Ilocano loyalist communities, Moro collective memory, social media nostalgia, and contemporary policy revivals. By mapping these sites, the volume demonstrates that the Marcos political restoration succeeded through the strategic mobilization of memory itself, revealing how struggles over the past can enable authoritarian values' return within democratic frameworks.

Este capítulo examina cómo los trabajadores chinos se convirtieron en un componente esencial de la fuerza laboral que construyó galeones en Filipinas durante la temprana modernidad. Describe y analiza a los actores, instituciones y mecanismos involucrados en la contratación y despliegue de estos trabajadores, enmarcándolos dentro de los contextos políticos, económicos y sociales de la época. Se destaca que, aunque el Estado colonial español dependía principalmente de trabajadores filipi-nos, especialmente de mano de obra forzada o polistas, también recurría a trabajadores chinos, cuya organización, salarios bajos y ética laboral eran altamente valorados no sólo en las Filipinas, sino también en otras partes de Asia. En última instancia, el presente capítulo contribuye a nuestra comprensión de la economía colonial, el trabajo, las relaciones étnicas y la administración del Estado.
Este estudio se divide en tres partes. En la primera, se discute el contexto histórico del periodo que abarca desde finales del siglo xVI hasta mediados del siglo xvIII. La discusión comienza en 1595, año mencionado en los documentos de archivo en el que se empleó por primera vez a trabajadores chinos para talar madera en los bosques de Pampanga, necesaria para la construcción de barcos en el astillero de Cavite.' Abarca hasta 1755, cuando el gobernador general Pedro Manuel de Arandia emitió un decreto para expulsar a los chinos no cristianos de las islas y limitar las actividades de los cristianos a las comerciales? Este decreto también condujo a la abolición del sistema de contratos mediante el cual se empleaba a chinos frecuentemente no cristianos—en los astilleros.

El presente estudio tiene por objetivo comprender la actividad de aproximadamente 5 000 trabajadores globales, quienes, entre 1580 y 1640, sirvieron como marinos en la carrera del Pacífico, dejando tras de sí una abundante evidencia documental. La principal premisa que lo sustenta es que, durante el periodo estudiado, estos trabajadores fueron intermediarios y factores de la naciente economía-mundo, debido no sólo al impacto global del tráfico mercantil entre Manila y Acapulco, sino también a la dimensión de los intercambios culturales que se generaron más allá de Filipinas y Nueva España. Durante el periodo estudiado, la carrera del Pacífico generó un mercado de productos básicos, que fluyó a través de Asia, América y Europa, y dio lugar a un importante mercado laboral, de manera paralela al movimiento global de artículos suntuarios y productos manufacturados de diverso orden. Al desempeñar un papel activo como tripulaciones de la carrera del Pacífico, y transportar mercancías para el consumo en diversas regiones, los marineros se transformaron en trabajadores globales, teniendo la oportunidad de trabajar y comerciar dentro de los circuitos comerciales del imperio español.1 Estos trabajadores globales permanecen en gran medida sin reconocimiento en los anales de la historia global del trabajo. El presente estudio, que destaca la relevancia de los trabajadores de menor rango abordo de los galeones, rinde homenaje a un grupo social que respondió a los desafíos de la globalización temprana, contribuyendo de manera decisiva a la construcción del mundo interconectado en que vivimos hoy.

Plants that heal, plants that nourish 🌿

The Department of History, UP Diliman shares two essays by Dr. Ma. Mercedes G. Planta in Food and Ethnographic Paraphernalia (2025), released under the Museo ng Kaalamang Katutubó imprint.

Food and Ethnographic Paraphernalia is a book about food—and the material culture that surrounds it. It brings together essays by academics and cultural professionals and pairs them with ethnographic objects held in trust by the Museo ng Kaalamang Katutubó, inviting readers into a conversation about food, objects, and everyday life in the Philippines.

In “Interface: Plants that Heal, Plants that Nourish,” Dr. Planta examines the long-standing overlap between food and medicine in the Philippines—how everyday plants in the Filipino diet have also functioned as remedies, preventives, and sources of well-being across centuries. Drawing from historical records, missionary pharmacopoeias, and contemporary scientific research, the essay shows how Filipino plant knowledge consistently blurs the boundary between nourishment and healing. From bawang or garlic (Allium sativum), ampalaya or bitter gourd (Momordica charantia), and bayabas or guava (Psidium guajava), to malunggay or moringa (Moringa oleifera) and siling labuyo or Filipino bird’s eye chili (Capsicum frutescens), plants emerge not merely as ingredients or cures, but as part of the Filipinos’ way of life shaped by the Philippines’ rich biodiversity, environment, and experience.

The essay “Remarkable Three” turns to three of the Philippines’ most enduring plants—langka or jackfruit (Artocarpus heterophyllus), niyog or coconut (Cocos nucifera), and saging or banana (Musa × paradisiaca)—to show how these familiar staples have long sustained Filipino households as part of everyday food and medicine. Consumed regularly yet rich in therapeutic value, these plants reveal how nourishment, healing, and survival have always been closely intertwined.

The banana, in particular, later entered wider circuits of knowledge. Introduced to the Western world—particularly Europe—through the campaigns of Alexander the Great, it later captivated Carl Linnaeus, who formalized the binomial nomenclature system and, in the mid-18th century, became the first to successfully cultivate a fruit-bearing banana in a climate-controlled greenhouse in the Netherlands. Enamored of the plant, he named it Musa × paradisiaca, believing it to be the forbidden fruit of Eden.

Read together, the two essays invite readers to see plants, food, and material culture as interconnected forms of knowledge—rooted in biodiversity, history, and everyday practice, and made visible through ethnographic objects from the Museo ng Kaalamang Katutubó.

📘 Food and Ethnographic Paraphernalia is now available and ready for orders.
For copies and inquiries, please email administrator@muskat.org

#PlantsThatHeal #PlantsThatNourish #FoodAndMedicine #FoodAsMedicine
#PhilippineHistory #HistoryOfMedicine #Ethnobotany #LocalKnowledge
#MaterialCulture #EverydayPractices #BiodiversityAndCulture #LivingHeritage #TraditionalMedicineInTheColonialPhilippines
#MuseoNgKaalamangKatutubó #UPDiliman #UPHistory #PhilippineStudies
@UPDilimanHistory @MuseoNgKaalamangKatutubó

Kapag tinatalakay ang kasaysayan ng mga Tsino sa kolonyal na Pilipinas, malimit na nakasentro ang diskusyon sa buhay at karanasan ng mga Tsinong negosyanteng mayaman at maimpluwensiya.' Hindi ito nakapagtataka dahil ang mga Tsinong ito ay nag-iwan ng maraming dokumentong maaaring pagbatayan ng mga historyador sa kanilang mga pananaliksik. Ilan sa mga dokumentong ito ang may kinalaman sa kanilang mga hanapbuhay sa loob at labas ng Pilipinas, mga dokumento tungkol sa kanilang buhay at buhay ng kanilang pamilya at iba pang lathalaing may kaugnayan sa komersyo. Sa kabilang banda, madalas namang hindi napagtutuunan ng pansin ang kasaysayan ng mga ordinaryong Tsino na siyang bumubuo ng mayorya ng kanilang populasyon sa buong panahong ang Pilipinas ay nasa ilalim ng pamumunong Español. Kaiba sa mga negosyanteng Tsino, kakaunti lamang ang mga dokumento tungkol sa mga manggagawang Tsino. Sa katunayan, sa pangkalahatan, lumalabas lamang ang mga manggagawang Tsino sa mga dokumentong may kaugnayan sa krimen at kriminalidad, at sa mga salaysay ng mga banyagang manlalakbay. Bagama't tila nga may kakulangan sa mga batis, hindi naman ito nangangahulugang walang kasaysayan ang mga pangkaraniwang manggagawang Tsino.

Layunin ng papel na itong talakayin ang kasaysayan ng mga Tsinong manggagawa sa Kamaynilaan noong ikalabingsiyam na siglo. Magtutuon ang pagtalakay sa Kamaynilaan dahil bagama't mayroon nang mga Tsino sa iba't ibang bahagi ng Pilipinas, ang kanilang populasyon ay nakasentro pa rin sa Maynila at sa mga karatig nitong mga kanugnog na bayan (arrabales). Pangunahing ginamit para sa papel ang mga dokumento mula sa Pambansang Sinupan ng Pilipinas,3 partikular na rito ang 148 bungkos (bundles) na may pamagat na "Chinos." Ang mga bungkos na ito ay naglalaman ng samu't saring dokumento tungkol sa mga Tsino sa Pilipinas mula huling bahagi ng ikalabingwalo hanggang sa unang dekada ng ika-dalawampung siglo. Kasama ring kinonsulta ang iba pang sinupan sa España. Mula sa mga dokumentong ito, papaksain ng papel (1) ang buhay at hanapbuhay ng mga Tsinong manggagawa sa Kamaynilaan noon ikalabingsiyam na siglo, (2) ang konteksto ng kanilang buhay at karanasan batay sa mga kaganapan sa Pilipinas, at (3) ang mga halimbawa ng mga manggagawang ito tulad mga Tsinong kargador, corredor, at pancitero. Ambag ng papel ang pagbibigay-puwang sa mga ordinaryong manggagawang Tsinong malimit na hindi nakikita sa mga pahina ng kasaysayan.

Sa Pilipinas, itinuturing na maagang Antropolohiya ang mga pagbabahaging ginawa ng mga kronistang Español (karamihan ay prayle) na nagtala ng mga paglalarawan tungkol sa mga gawain at paniniwala ng mga katutubo. Ang mga tala nina Antonio Pigafetta, Miguel de Loarca, Pedro Chirino, Juan de Medina, at iba pang kronista ang itinuturing na maagang patunay ng Etnograpiya sa bansa. Ang Kasaysayang Etnograpiko ay mahalaga upang mabigyang-linaw ang maraming aspekto sa kultura at kalinangang Pilipino na hindi pa ganap na nauunawaan ng marami. Mahalaga kung gayon na pagtuunan ng pansin ang mga maagang salaysay na ito upang makita kung papaanong binago ng kolonyal na salaysay at/o polisiya ang pamumuhay ng mga katutubo bago ang kolonyalismo at pagpasok ng mga impluwensiyang dayuhan.

Maliban sa mga kronistang Español, interesante ring masuri ang mga tala ng mga manlalakbay na Europeo sa Pilipinas upang makita ang kanilang mga salaysay tungkol sa kultura ng mga Pilipino sa panahong kolonyal. Kaiba sa mga kronista, masasabing hindi gaanong malakas ang impluwensiya ng Katolisismo sa kanilang mga naratibo. Maaaring ihambing kung gayon ang mga salaysay ng mga kronista at ng mga manlalakbay upang makita kung anu-ano ang mga pagbabagong naipasok sa proseso ng kolonyalismo.

Ang papel na ito ay isang pagtatangkang suriin ang mga paglalarawan ng mga Europeong manlalakbay sa mga katutubong babae sa panahon ng kolonyalismong Español. Bagama't masasabing hindi estruktural na etnograpiya' ang kanilang naging gawain, maituturing pa rin itong Etnograpiya at/o Antropolohiya dahil ipinakita ng mga talang ito ang obserbasyon ng mga manlalakbay sa kulturang kanilang nasaksihan—paglalarawan ng mga katutubo at ng babae sa partikular. Pagtutuunan ng pansin ang mga aspektong may kinalaman sa pagiging babae at seksuwalidad at kung papaano ito nakapaloob sa isang partikular na kultura. Layunin ng papel na ito na makapag-ambag sa kasaysayan ng maagang etnograpiya at mga kaugnay na pag-aaral sa Antropolohiya sa bansa.

The year 2024 marked the establishment of Philippine-Indian diplomatic relations. This chapter is a celebration of the recorded historical ties between the two countries as far as ancient times, like the affinity of the Philippine ancient scripts, such as baybayin and kulitan, to Emperor Ashoka's Brahmic script, and the Indianized Laguna Copperplate Inscription of 900 CE, which serves as the country's oldest written historical document. This ties defied colonialism and transcended, even in the awakening of the Filipino nation, the first democracy and constitutional republic in Asia, with an Indian-blooded general from Batangas, Juan Cailles, among the Filipino freedom fighters.