Pre Colonial - Commonwealth

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Breaking News: President Ramon Magsaysay died on plane crash

In the night of March 16, 1957, there was President Ramon Magsaysay having his farewells as he leaves Cebu and he went inside the Douglas C-47 then fifteen after his departure followed a devastating news: The President is dead including the other twenty-five passengers. The plane was crushed at the slopes of Mt. Manunggul in Cebu on one to two o’clock in the morning of March 17, 1957. The most powerful person in the nation had perished. Minutes after the crash, the one and only survivor, journalist Nestor Mata, would awaken to the pitch-black of Cebu’s mountain range, he called “Mr. President, Mr. President” several times but there was no response.

Right before the plane was crashed; Magsaysay spent the whole day speaking engagements; politically strategic dinners; meetings with the officials of the province and labor leaders; courtesy calls (including one on former President Sergio Osmeña, who would twice bid the party to spend the night), and at around midnight, there was an unscheduled inspection of the new housing for the poor. The Douglas C-47, which travels one hundred eighty miles per hour would leave Cebu and return to Manila within three hours. Moments later, First Lady Luz Banzon-Magsaysay was asking reports where her husband is and it’s been seven hours.

March 17, 1957, the first twentieth-century-born President of the still-too-young Republic of the Philippines had died. The nation would wait hours to mourn their beloved leader and would say their goodbyes a little longer since he gave them good service throughout his term as president. 

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Jose Rizal

Jose Protacio Rizal Mercado y Alonso Realonda or commonly known as Jose Rizal was born in Calamba, Laguna in the Philippines on June 19, 1861. His parents were Francisco Rizal Mercado y Alejandro and Teodora Alonzo y Quintos. He was the seventh son of an eleven children family. His first teacher was his mother and at a very young age, Rizal demonstrated astounding intellect as because at the age of three, he had already learned the alphabet and at the age of five, already learned how to read and write. Rizal was one in a million. He was polymath who exceeded in everything he put his mind and talent to. He studied in Europe, America and in Asia. In the process, he learned 22 different languages. While in Europe, he became part of a Propaganda Movement that composed of Filipinos that wanted reform. There, he wrote his first novel entitled “Noli Me Tangere (Touch me not/The Social Cancer)” which reveals the dark aspects of the Spanish colonization. The novel particularly focuses on the role of the catholic friars.      This book was banned in the Philippines for it tarnishes the Spaniards reputation but some copies of the book were smuggled in the Philippines although anyone who possesses a copy of the novel will be arrested. Because of this, he was cut short when he returned to the Philippines as he was targeted by the police. He then returned to Europe and wrote his second book entitled “El Filibusterismo (The Reign of Greediness)” which he dedicated to the three martyrs who was executed, the Gomburza. Jose Rizal fought for reform through his novels and articles in” La Solidaridad”, a paper aligned to the propaganda movement which was published in the Philippines. He also is part of an organization called “La Liga Filipina” which is a non-violence organization. Jose Rizal sought equality with the Spaniards, never did he fought for independence. Even though his organization is a non-violence organization, he was still exiled to Dapitan. During his exile, he met a man who have a message for him inviting him to be a part of an organization called “Katipunan” that was lead by a man named Andres Bonifacio. Rizal refused to be a part of a violence organization and what he wanted was equality and not independence. He then later requested the Spanish officials to let him travel to Cuba to be an army doctor. In this time, a revolt took place that was led by the Katipunan and as the fighting took place, the people who revolted shouted Jose Rizal’s name even though Rizal had no connections at all with Katipunan. Because of this, he was accused to be a part of the revolt that happened and was sentenced to death by firing squad. Rizal’s execution was carried out on December 30, 1896 at Bagumbayan. Although before he died, he was able to give us the last poem he wrote which is the “Mi Ultimo Adios”. Jose Rizal was truly worthy of his title as the national hero of the Philippines because he fought not with violence but with intellect. 

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Gomburza

Gomburza is an acronym of the surnames of the three Filipino martyr priests who were executed by the Spanish colonial authorities because of the false accusation of being the leaders who initiated the 1872 Cavity mutiny. Gomburza stands for Father Mariano Gomez, Father Jose Burgos and Father Jacinto Zamora. As Filipino priest, the three sought the secularization of all legislation tending to discriminate against Filipinos. They worked for secularization of the Filipino clergy and fought for their rights. Because of their liberal ideas and their published book called “La Verdad” (The Truth) which describes the deplorable state of the country, The Spanish friars did not tolerate their actions. When the cavity mutiny broke out, the Spanish friars took this opportunity to blame the three priest of the uprising revolution and this offense was enough for the three to be condemned to death. When the trial took place, there was no defense put up for the three Filipino priests. It’s not that hard to tell that the three priests was already set up to die even before they were tried. They were sentenced to die by “garrote” (device used to strangle someone).  On February 17, 1872, the field of Bagumbayan was full of spectators for the execution of the three Filipino priests. The first to be executed was Father Gomez, who is the oldest of the three and he died heroically with his honor and pride. The second was father Zamora, who is the youngest and who died in a whimper and lastly was Father Burgos who died soaked in his own tears. This execution gave an influence to the Filipino people to revolt against the Spaniards because the Filipinos knew that the three priests were innocent. The Filipinos knew that the three martyrs had nothing to do with the Cavite Mutiny for the revolt was merely the uprising of the laborers at the Cavite Arsenal by Veteran soldiers who felt aggrieved because despite their long services, they still had to pay tributes. This execution also affected Jose Rizal for he had witnessed the injustice done to the Filipinos and now, even Filipino priests. In honor of the three Filipino martyrs’, he dedicated his novel “El Filibusterismo” (The Reign of Greediness) to them because of the greediness and injustice the priests suffered in the hands of the Spanish friars.

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Pres. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo - Pres. Benigno Aquino III

The year 2000 after the impeachment of Joseph “Erap” Estrada, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo was seated as President of the Philippines. Arroyo studied economics at Georgetown University and graduated magna cum laude from Assumption College in Manila. She earned her master’s degree in economics at the Ateneo de Manila University. Having been able to accomplish those before being seated president, people may assume and expect that Arroyo is both intelligent and hard working, characteristics that would describe a good president.

During the time of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, the Philippines’ economy actually rose from the meltdown during Erap’s presidency, although there occurred several protests by the Estrada supporters.

In 2004, Arroyo was once again elected as President of the Philippines. Together once again with her projects for the Philippines, she made the Philippines’ economy to a gradual growth.

In the later part of her presidency however, many political issues occurred, including that of a massacre (the Maguindanao massacre). She had been charged guilty after being proven responsible for the massacre so she was arrested.

The Arroyo period is an excellent example of a leadership with a brain but without a heart. Yes, she had a good start, but later on she was absorbed by the temptations of the power of being a president. Intelligent, hard working, but missing one important thing: Passion. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo had a vision when she was seated as president. That vision faded gradually as time went by. She forgot what a President should be and should do for his/her country.

Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino, son of Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino and Corazon “Cory” Aquino, was elected president in 2010. He spent all levels of his education in Ateneo de Manila University and graduated college with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics.

Noynoy Aquino ran for presidency after the death of her mother, Cory Aquino, which might have actually been the reason why he ran for presidency. After winning the elections, he had to do his first State of the Nation Address (SONA). In his SONA, which he had relayed using the Filipino language, he had promised and introduced many of his project plans for the country. One of which was to reduce poverty, even remove it. From what I am experiencing today, I see no reduction to poverty, and it is also impossible to remove it, otherwise we’d be a communist country. To add to my observations, I see no development going on in the country. In fact, in the Aquino administration, most of the news I watch and hear are issues about the government. Not to be one-sided, but instead of being a developing country, we’re more of a country that’s not even moving forward. Noynoy Aquino’s administration is about to reach its fourth year, but there has not been much development in the country’s economy. Though most people say “Noynoy can’t do everything at once” and “Napapagod din ang tao”, it looks as if Noynoy has not even been “pagod” for almost 4 years.

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Pres. Cory Aquino - EDSAPP2

The triumph of the peaceful People Power Revolution and the ascension of Corazon Aquino into power signaled the end of authoritarian rule in the Philippines and the dawning of a new era for Filipinos. The relatively peaceful manner by which aquino came into power drew international acclaim and admiration not only for her but for the Filipino people, as well. 

During the first months of Aquino's presidency, the country experienced radical changes and sweeping democratic reforms. One of Aquino's first and boldest moves was the creation of the which was tasked to go after the Marcos ill-gotten wealth. 

Aquino, being a revolutionary president by virtue of people power, abolished the 1973 "Marcos Constitution" and dissolved the Marcos allies-dominated Batasang Pambansa, despite the advice of her vice-president and only prime minister Salvador Laurel. She also immediately created a Constitutional Commission, which she directed for the drafting of a new constitution for the nation.

On the over-all, the Aquino administration made important gains in the aspects of bringing back democracy, restoring investor confidence in the economy and enacting legal and constitutional reforms. Despite these achievements, her presidency faced several threats from both right-wing military elements and extreme left-wing communist rebels. Further, her administration dealt with numerous problems such as major natural disasters which struck the country and severe power shortages which took a toll on doing business in the Philippines. It was also during her tenure that the United States finally ended its military bases and presence in the country.

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American - Japanese Period

Deceived. Betrayed. Tricked. These were basically the things that the Americans did to us.

Before America colonized the Philippines we had a great relationship with them. Back then, America had helped the Philippines in order for us to get back our independence but what happened was that America used that kind of situation in order for them to have the opportunity to rule over the Philippines since it has been said that Philippines is rich in natural resources. The Americans also want to benefit from it and so they also had made an agreement with the Spaniards for them to be able to colonize the Philippines. Emilio Aguinaldo, the president during that time, was unhappy that the United States did not conform to their promise of support for Philippine independence.  The Filipinos felt betrayed after all the things that they did to benefit the Americans like providing them with military support and the loyalty of the Filipinos towards them but what they did was just unacceptable. After all those things, Philippine-American war began.

The happening in the said period was less cruel compared to what the Filipinos had experienced during the Spanish era.

In retrospect, during the Spanish period the Spaniards had given enormous land properties to the Catholic Church. One of the first things the Americans did was to take care for the redistribution of these land properties. To do so, they had to pay an amount of US$7.2 million to the Vatican in 1904. The small farmers or tenants didn’t get any land however. The land became the property of some large landowners. Most of the small farmers couldn’t pay the asked price or couldn’t prove that they were the former owners of the land.

The economic development during the “American period” was rather typical colonial. The Philippine economy was strongly related to and depending on the US. The Philippine economy was focused on mining and exporting crops. Industrial growth didn’t take place. But we couldn’t deny the fact that during this period our country had developed.

The Philippines was controlled by the Americans from 1900-1942. In 1934 an act was established, which made it possible that the Philippines could have a “Commonwealth of the Philippines”. The first president of this commonwealth was Manuel Luis Quezon and he was given certain power for some internal affairs.

The Americans were still in the Philippines when the next foreign ruler came, Japan. The Japanese army and rulers occupied the Philippines from 1941-1945.

Ten hours after the attack on Pearl Harbor in Hawaii, the Japanese started to invade the Philippines. Filipinos were shocked with the attack of the Japanese army in our country. No one didn’t expect that the Japanese army would launch an attack to our country. Series of events happened after the attack. The Japanese military authorities immediately began to create and organize a new government structure in the Philippines. The change in the Philippines continued and series of wars occurred. There was also a restoration of the Commonwealth in the Philippines but the fight between the Philippines and Japan worsen. Many Filipinos were affected and the war just caused devastation, great loss and destruction in our country. The Japanese army finally surrendered on September 2, 1945.

The American and the Japanese periods were only two of those periods that brought struggles and hardships to our country. Although, these happenings brought trouble or chaos to our country but still we are benefited from it because due to all of the things that happened, it strengthened our country as one nation and we were able to stand up and fight against all of our invaders.

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After The Death of Rizal - Revolution

The Philippine Revolution was launched after the execution of Dr. Jose Rizal on December 30, 1986 and was led first by Andres Bonifacio and then by Emilio Aguinaldo. The rebels were then led by Emilio Aguinaldo as president and they were revitalized with new determination because of Rizal’s martyrdom for the Philippines.

There were two groups from the Katipunan in Cavite; the first one was the group Magdiwang which was led by Mariano Alvarez who was Bonifacio’s relative by marriage. The other group was called the Magdalo and it was led by Emilio Aguinaldo. There were some leadership conflicts between Aguinaldo and Bonifacio which resulted in the assassination of Bonifacio by Aguinaldo’s soldiers. In the Pact of Biak-na-Bato Aguinaldo agreed to a truce and together with his fellow revolutionaries they were then exiled to Hong Kong but not all the revolutionary generals agreed with the compromise. Francisco Makabulos, a general created a Central Executive Committee to stand as a temporary government until a better fitting one was formed. Conflicts from almost all of the Spanish-governed provinces in the Philippines arose.

In 1898, conflicts in the Philippines continued. The USS Maine which was sent to Cuba because of U.S. safety concerns for the citizens of Cuba during a Cuban revolution in progress blew up and sank in the Havana harbour. This event caused the Spanish-American War. April 1898 is when the Spanish-American War started. The fleet of Spain was easily defeated at Manila. Aguinaldo then returned while his troop of 12,000 fought the Spanish forces in Manila until troops from the U.S. arrived. The foundation of the Spanish force was destroyed but the Americans did nothing to help Aguinaldo’s inclusion in the succession. Conflict between the American and Filipino troops started as soon as the Spanish had been defeated. The U.S., hoping that Aguinaldo would gather the Filipinos against the Spanish colonial government invited him to return to the Philippines. On May 19, 1898 Aguinaldo arrived and by the time the land forces of the U.S. landed, the Filipinos already had the entire island of Luzon under their control excluding Intramuros. Aguinaldo declared the independence of the Philippines in Kawit Cavite on June 12, 1898.

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Barter in Ancient Philippines

The Philippines is one of the countries that are the most abundant in natural resources in Southeast Asia, especially in minerals and metals. This rich variety of natural resources has made the Philippines attractive to other countries hence, during pre-colonial times, there were many countries that would barter with the ancient Filipinos, and we also need to take note that this was also the primary reason why the Spanish became so interested to conquer the archipelago.

Gold was one of the most used ornaments during the pre-colonial times, and the ancient Filipinos would make everything out of it which would range from decorative ornaments to clothes and jewelries to funerary accessories. The variety of how much ancient Filipinos used gold would be impressive as you can imagine that they were literally covered by it. An evidence of how the ancient Filipinos used gold is the gold collection of The Ayala Museum which exposes and exhibit of almost 1,000 pre-colonial gold artifacts. As you visit the museum, you would imagine how much the Spaniards eyes grew in wonder seeing the quantity of gold that the archipelago has and you would not doubt that they didn’t even think twice in colonizing the country.

We can also boast that the Philippines is not that uncivilized as the Spaniards have been describing it during the colonial days. A proof is in seen in a jar found at the Tabon caves in Palawan. Have you ever heard about the Manunggul Jar? The Manunggul is burial jar dating to the late Neolithic Period or around 700 B.C. The jar is special in its own way as archeologists can derive so much information from it on about how the ancient Filipinos lived. The jar became a cultural reference as it shows a sculpture of what is believed to be the belief of how the ancient Filipinos imagined life after death. The vase features two men riding a boat which is believed to be the ride to the next life. This is also an evidence of how much maritime travel was important to the ancient Filipinos, which was a mean of not only finding food but also to communicate, and do barter with other civilizations or tribes.

There were accounts from historical records of the Sung dynasty of China, which is believed to be the very first records about the Philippines. The records tell about the barters trades of the Chinese to the ancient Filipinos, with Mindoro and Sulu as centers for trade. The Filipinos would trade different products which would vary from forest products to sea products. Eventually due to the frequent trades and barters, the ancient Filipinos had obtained a good reputation of honesty towards other countries like Japan, Thailand and China. There were also Spanish accounts talking about an advanced trading system of which the Filipinos had towards other Southeast-Asian countries.

Pre-Hispanic Philippines was not so bad as it was described to be and our ancestors were not really that uncivilized, yet had been a maritime economic power with great relationship towards its neighboring countries. If our country became that great in trade as our historians are stating as a fact due to pre-colonial overseas trade, who knows that maybe in the not so near future we can rise again to re-achieve the lost maritime power.

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Philippine Food: A Mixture of World Flavors

The Filipinos are known all over the world for their remarking hospitability towards their visitors. Such hospitality is shown on how much welcoming we can be, especially the way we like to accommodate guests with extraordinary varieties of food, especially in our festivals. Filipinos are so proud of their food that they celebrate many festivals to commemorate the different dishes of Filipino cuisine; examples of such festivals would be the “Sisig Festival” in Pampangga, the “Lechon Festival” in Cebu and many more. Each festival would be incomplete without a great public banquet or a simple buffet in the local households. But have you ever wondered how Filipino cuisine got its very colorful flavor which makes people go crazy?

The secret would be in the mixture of flavors from all over the world especially from other Asian countries. The Philippine cuisine have evolved from Austronesian-Malayan origins, their methods of cooking primarily consisted in boiling, grilling and steaming, and their diets consisted predominantly of domesticated animals like carabaos, chickens, pigs and cows. As the Austronesians settled in the archipelago, they brought with them their staple food, rice. But the cuisine became richer as barter system with other civilizations, especially China and Malay, started, thus bringing a more variety of flavors together with the other products. Since then soy products, bagoong, fish sauce, coconut milk dishes like ginataan, and noodles entered the Philippine cuisine.

Filipinos adopted the new methods of cooking taught to them by the Chinese and other civilizations, and they combined them with the local ingredients to create new innovative dishes that would satisfy their palate. When the Spaniards arrived, the cuisine evolved even more with the taste and touch of European cuisine, thus food like menudo, adobo, longganisa were born. and as many more civilizations made contact with the archipelago the food changed and became richer in taste providing the marvelous taste we have today.