The Former Philippines thru Foreign Eyes by Fedor Jagor et al - CHAPTER VIII

The Former Philippines thru Foreign Eyes by Fedor Jagor et al - CHAPTER VIII



 
[Importance of Chinese.] An important portion of the population remains to be discussed, viz. the Chinese, who are destined to play a remarkable part, inasmuch as the development of the land-cultivation demanded by the increasing trade and commercial intercourse can be affected only by Chinese industry and perseverance. Manila has always been a favorite place for Chinese immigrants; and neither the hostility of the people, nor oppressing and prohibitory decrees for a long time by the Government, not even the repeated massacres, have been able to prevent their coming. The position of the Islands, south-east of two of the most important of the Chinese provinces, must necessarily have brought about a trade between the two countries very early, as ships can make the voyage in either direction with a moderate wind, as well in the south-west as the north-east monsoon.

[Early Chinese Associations.] In a few old writers may even be found the assertion that the Philippine Islands were at one time subject to the dominion of China; and Father Gaubil (Lettres Edifiantes) mentions that Jaung-lo (of the Ming dynasty) maintained a fleet consisting of 30,000 men, which at different times proceeded to Manila. The presence of their ships as early as the arrival of Magellan in the extreme east of the archipelago, as well as the China plates and earthenware vessels discovered in the excavations, plainly show that the trade with China had extended far earlier to the most distant islands of the archipelago. It formed the chief support of the young Spanish colony, and, after the rise of the Encomiendas, was nearly the only source of its prosperity. It was feared that the junks would offer their cargoes to the Dutch if any obstacle was put in the way of their coming to Manila. The colony certainly could not maintain its position without the “Sangleys,” [246] who came annually in great numbers in the junks from China, and spread all over the country and in the towns as [Industrial and commercial activity.] shopkeepers, artisans, gardeners, and fishermen; besides which, they were the only skillful and industrious workers, as the Filipinos under the priestly domination had forgotten altogether many trades in which they had engaged in former times. I take these facts from Morga.


[Unsuccessful attempts at restriction.] In spite of all this, the Spaniards have, from the very commencement, endeavored rigorously to limit the number of the Chinese; who were then, as they are now, envied and hated by the natives for their industry, frugality, and cunning, by which means they soon became rich. They were an abomination, moreover, in the eyes of the priests as being irreclaimable heathens, whose example prevented the natives from making progress in the direction of Christianity; and the government feared them on account of the strong bond of union existing between them, and as being subjects of so powerful a nation, whose close proximity threatened the small body of Spaniards with destruction. [247] Fortunately for the latter, the Ming dynasty, which at that time was hastening to its downfall, did not think of conquest; but wickedly disposed powers which sprang into existence upon their downfall brought the colony into extreme danger.


[Limahong and the Mandarins’ visit.] In the attack of the noted pirate, Limahong, in 1574, they escaped destruction only by a miracle; and soon new dangers threatened them afresh. In 1603 a few mandarins came to Manila, under the pretence of ascertaining whether the ground about Cavite was really of gold. They were supposed to be spies, and it was concluded, from their peculiar mission, that an attack upon the colony was intended by the Chinese.


[Early massacre of Chinese.] The archbishop and the priests incited the distrust which was felt against the numerous Chinese who were settled in Manila. Mutual hate and suspicion arose; both parties feared one another and prepared for hostilities. The Chinese commenced the attack; but the united forces of the Spaniards, being supported by the Japanese and the Filipinos, twenty-three thousand, according to other reports twenty-five thousand, of the Chinese were either killed or driven into the desert. When the news of this massacre reached China, a letter from the Royal Commissioners was sent to the Governor of Manila. That noteworthy document shows in so striking a manner how hollow the great government was at that time that I have given a literal translation of it at the end of this chapter.


[Chinese laborers limited.] After the extermination of the Chinese, food and all Chinese other necessaries of life were difficult to obtain on account of the utter unreliability of the natives for work; but by 1605 the number of Chinese [248] had again so increased that a decree was issued limiting them to six thousand, “these to be employed in the cultivation of the country;” while at the same time their rapid increase was taken advantage of by the captain-general for his own interest, as he exacted eight dollars from each Chinaman for permission to remain. In 1539 the Chinese population had risen to thirty thousand, according to other information, to forty thousand, when they revolted and were reduced to seven thousand. “The natives, who generally were so listless and indifferent, showed the utmost eagerness in assisting in the [Another massacre.] massacre of the Chinese, but more from hatred of this industrious people than from any feeling of friendship towards the Spaniards.” [249]

[The pirate Kog-seng.] The void occasioned by this massacre was soon filled up again by Chinese immigrants; and in 1662 the colony was once more menaced with a new and great danger, by the Chinese pirate Kog-seng, who had under his command between eighty and one hundred thousand men, and who already had dispossessed the Dutch of the Island of Formosa. He demanded the absolute submission of the Philippines; his sudden death, however, saved the colony, and occasioned a fresh outbreak of fury against the Chinese settlers in Manila, a great number of whom were butchered in their own “quarter" (ghetto). [250] Some dispersed and hid themselves; a few in their terror plunged into the water or hanged themselves; and a great number fled in small boats to Formosa. [251]

[Another expulsion.] In 1709 the jealousy against the Chinese once more had reached such a height that they were accused of rebellion, and particularly of monopolizing the trades, and, with the exception of the most serviceable of the artisans and such of them as were employed by the Government, they were once again expelled. Spanish writers praise the salutariness of these measures; alleging that "under the pretence of agriculture the Chinese carry on trade; they are cunning and careful, making money and sending it to China, so that they defraud the Philippines annually of an enormous amount.” Sonnerat, however, complains that art, trade, and commerce had not recovered from these severe blows; though, he adds, fortunately the Chinese, in spite of prohibitory decrees, are returning through the corrupt connivance of the governor and officials.

[Thrifty traders.] To the present day they are blamed as being monopolists, particularly by the creoles; and certainly, by means of their steady industry and natural commercial aptitude, they have appropriated nearly all the retail trade to themselves. The sale of European imported goods is entirely in their hands; and the wholesale purchase of the produce of the country for export is divided between the natives, creoles, and the Chinese, the latter taking about one-half. Before this time only the natives and creoles were permitted to own ships for the purpose of forwarding the produce to Manila.

In 1757 the jealousy of the Spaniards broke out again in the form of a new order from Madrid, directing the expulsion of the Chinese; and in 1759 the decrees of banishment, which were repeatedly evaded, were carried into effect: but, as the private interests of the officials did not happen to coincide with those of the creole traders, the consequence was that “the Chinese soon streamed back again in incredible numbers,” and made common cause with the English upon their invasion in 1762. [252]

[Anda’s and 1819 massacres.] Thereupon, Sr. Anda commanded “that all the Chinese in the Philippine Islands should be hanged,” which order was very generally carried out. [253] The last great Chinese massacre took place in 1819, when the aliens were suspected of having brought about the cholera by poisoning the wells. The greater part of the Europeans in Manila also fell victims to the fury of the populace, but the Spaniards generally were spared. The prejudice of the Spaniards, especially of the creoles, had always been directed against the Chinese tradesmen, who interfered unpleasantly with the fleecing of the natives; and against this class in particular were the laws of limitation aimed. They would willingly have let them develop the country by farming but the hostility of the natives generally prevented this.

[Expulsion of merchants from Manila.] A decree, issued in 1804, commanded all Chinese shopkeepers to leave Manila within eight days, only those who were married being allowed to keep shops; and their residence in the provinces was permitted only upon the condition that they confined themselves entirely to agriculture. Magistrates who allowed these to travel in their districts were fined $200; the deputy-governor $25; and the wretched Chinese were punished with from two to three years’ confinement in irons.

In 1839 the penalties against the Chinese were somewhat mitigated, but those against the magistrates were still maintained on account of their venality. In 1843 Chinese ships were placed upon terms of equality with those of other foreign countries (Leg. Ult., II., 476). In 1850 Captain-General Urbiztondo endeavored to introduce Chinese colonial farming, and with this object promised a reduction of the taxes to all agricultural immigrants. Many Chinese availed themselves of this opportunity in order to escape the heavy poll-tax; but in general they soon betook themselves to trading once more.


[Oppressive taxation.] Of late years the Chinese have not suffered from the terrible massacres which used formerly to overtake them; neither have they suffered banishment; the officials being content to suppress their activity by means of heavy and oppressive taxes. For instance, at the end of 1867 the Chinese shopkeepers were annually taxed $50 for permission to send their goods to the weekly market; this was in addition to a tax of from $12 to $100 on their occupations; and at the same time they were commanded thenceforth to keep their books in Spanish (English Consular Report, 1859).


[Excellent element in population.] The Chinese remain true to their customs and mode of living in the Philippines, as they do everywhere else. When they outwardly embrace Christianity, it is done merely to facilitate marriage, or from some motive conducive to their worldly advantage; and occasionally they renounce it, together with their wives in Manila, when about to return home to China. Very many of them, however, beget families, are excellent householders, and their children in time form the most enterprising, industrious, and wealthy portion of the resident population.


[Formidable competitors.] Invigorated by the severe struggle for existence which they have experienced in their over-populated country, the Chinese appear to preserve their capacity for labor perfectly unimpaired by any climate. No nation can equal them in contentedness, industry, perseverance, cunning, skill, and adroitness in trades and mercantile matters. When once they gain a footing, they generally appropriate the best part of the trade to themselves. In all parts of external India they have dislodged from every field of employment not only their native but, progressively, even their European competitors. Not less qualified and successful are they in the pursuance of agriculture than in trade. The emigration from the too thickly peopled empire of China has scarcely begun. As yet it is but a small stream, but it will by-and-by pour over all the tropical countries of the East in one mighty torrent, completely destroying all such minor obstacles as jealous interference and impotent precaution might interpose.


[Sphere of futureinflunce.] Over every section of remote India, in the South Sea, in the Indian Archipelago, in the states of South America, the Chinese seem destined, in time, either to supplant every other element, or to found a mixed race upon which to stamp their individuality. In the Western States of the Union their number is rapidly on the increase; and the factories in California are worked entirely by them, achieving results that cannot be accomplished by European labor.


[Mongolian vs. Caucasion in America.] One of the most interesting of the many questions of large comprehensiveness which connect themselves with the penetration of the Mongolian race into America, which up till now it had been the fashion to regard as the inheritance of the Caucasians, is the relative capacity of labor possessed by both these two great races, who in the Western States of America have for the first time measured their mutual strength in friendly rivalry. Both are there represented in their most energetic individuality; [254] and every nerve will be strained in carrying on the struggle, inasmuch as no other country pays for labor at so high a rate.


[Efficiency and reliability of Chinese labor.] The conditions, however, are not quite equal, as the law places certain obstacles in the way of the Chinese. The courts do not protect them sufficiently from insult, which at times is aggravated into malicious manslaughter through the ill-usage of the mob, who hate them bitterly as being reserved, uncompanionable workers. Nevertheless, the Chinese immigrants take their stand firmly. The western division of the Pacific Railway has been chiefly built by the Chinese, who, according to the testimony of the engineers, surpass workmen of all other nationalities in diligence, sobriety, and good conduct. What they lack in physical power they make up for in perseverance and working intelligently together. The unique and nearly incredible performance that took place on April 28, 1859, when ten miles of railway track were laid in eleven working hours along a division of land which had in no way been prepared beforehand, was accomplished by Chinese workmen; and indeed only by them could it have been practicable. [255]

[Chinese cleverness and industry.] Of course, the superiority of the European in respect Chinese of the highest intellectual faculties is not for a moment to be doubted; but, in all branches of commercial life in which cleverness and perservering industry are necessary to success, the Chinese certainly appear entitled to the award. To us it appears that the influx of Chinese must certainly sooner or later kindle a struggle between capital and labor, in order to set a limit upon demands perceptibly growing beyond moderation.


[Chinese problem in America.] The increasing Chinese immigration already intrudes upon the attention of American statesmen questions of the utmost social and political importance. What influence will this entirely new and strange element exercise over the conformation of American relations? Will the Chinese found a State in the States, or go into the Union on terms of political equality with the other citizens, and form a new race by alliance with the Caucasian element? These problems, which can only be touched upon here in a transitory form, have been dealt with in a masterly manner by Pumpelly, in his work Across America and Asia, published in London in 1870.
Letter of the Commissary-General of Chinchew to Don Pedro De Acuña, Governor of the Philippines

To the powerful Captain-General of Luzon:

“Having been given to understand that the Chinese who proceeded to the kingdom of Luzon in order to buy and sell had been murdered by the Spaniards, I have investigated the motives for these massacres, and begged the Emperor to exercise justice upon those who had engaged in these abominable offences, with a view to security in the future.

“In former years, before my arrival here as royal commissioner, a Chinese merchant named Tioneg, together with three mandarins, went with the permission of the Emperor of China from Luzon to Cavite, for the purpose of prospecting for gold and silver; which appears to have been an excuse, for he found neither gold nor silver; I thereupon prayed the Emperor to punish this imposter Tioneg, thereby making patent the strict justice which is exercised in China.

“It was during the administration of the ex-Viceroy and Eunuchs that Tioneg and his companion, named Yanglion, uttered the untruth already stated; and subsequently I begged the Emperor to transmit all the papers bearing upon the matter, together with the minutes of Tioneg’s accusation; when I myself examined the before-mentioned papers, and knew that everything that the accused Tioneg had said was utterly untrue.

“I wrote to the Emperor and stated that, on account of the untruth which Tioneg had been guilty of, the Castilians entertained the suspicion that he wished to make war upon them, and that they, under this idea, had murdered more than thirty thousand Chinese in Luzon. The Emperor, complying with my request, punished the accused Yanglion, though he omitted to put him to death; neither was Tioneg beheaded or confined in a cage. The Chinese people who had settled in Luzon were in no way to blame. I and others discussed this with the Emperor in order to ascertain what his pleasure was in this matter, as well as in another, namely, the arrival of two English ships on the coast of Chinchew (Fukien or Amoy district)–a very dangerous circumstance for China; and to obtain His Imperial Majesty’s decision as to both these most serious matters.

“We also wrote to the Emperor that he should direct the punishment of both these Chinese; and, in acknowledging our communication, he replied to us, in respect to the English ships which had arrived in China, that in case they had come for the purpose of plundering, they should be immediately commanded to depart thence for Luzon; and, with regard to the Luzon difficulty, that the Castilians should be advised to give no credence to rogues and liars from China; and both the Chinese who had discovered the harbor to the English should be executed forthwith; and that in all other matters upon which we had written to him, our will should be his. Upon receipt of this message by us–the Viceroy, the Eunuch, and myself–we hereby send this our message to the Governor of Luzon, that his Excellency may know the greatness of the Emperor of China and of his Empire, for he is so powerful that he commands all upon which the sun and moon shine, and also that the Governor of Luzon may learn with what great wisdom this mighty empire is governed, and which power no one for many years has attempted to insult, although the Japanese have sought to disturb the tranquillity of Korea, which belongs to the Government of China. They did not succeed, but on the contrary were driven out, and Korea has remained in perfect security and peace, which those in Luzon well know by report.

“Years ago, after we learnt that so many Chinese perished in Luzon on account of Tioneg’s lies, many of us mandarins met together, and resolved to leave it to the consideration of the Emperor to take vengeance for so great a massacre; and we said as follows:–The country of Luzon is a wretched one, and of very little importance. It was at one time only the abode of devils and serpents; and only because (within the last few years) so large a number of Chinese went thither for the purpose of trading with the Castilians has it improved to such an extent; in which improvement the accused Sangleyes materially assisted by hard labor, the walls being raised by them, houses built, and gardens laid out, and other matters accomplished of the greatest use to the Castilians; and now the question is, why has no consideration been paid for these services, and these good offices acknowledged with thanks, without cruelly murdering so many people? And although we wrote to the King twice or thrice concerning the circumstances, he answered us that he was indignant about the before-mentioned occurrences, and said for three reasons it is not advisable to execute vengeance, nor to war against Luzon. The first is that for a long time till now the Castilians have been friends of the Chinese; the second, that no one can predict whether the Castilians or the Chinese would be victorious; and the third and last reason is, because those whom the Castilians have killed were wicked people, ungrateful to China, their native country, their elders, and their parents, as they have not returned to China now for very many years. These people, said the Emperor, he valued but little for the foregoing reasons; and he commanded the Viceroy, the Eunuch, and myself, to send this letter through those messengers, so that all in Luzon may know that the Emperor of China has a generous heart, great forbearance, and much mercy, in not declaring war against Luzon; and his justice is indeed manifest, as he has already punished the liar Tioneg. Now, as the Spaniards are wise and intelligent, how does it happen that they are not sorry for having massacred so many people, feeling no repentance thereat, and also are not kinder to those of the Chinese who are still left? Then when the Castilians show a feeling of good-will, and the Chinese and Sangleyes who left after the dispute return, and the indebted money is repaid, and the property which was taken from the Sangleyes restored, then friendship will again exist between this empire and that, and every year trading-ships shall come and go; but if not, then the Emperor will allow no trading, but on the contrary will at once command a thousand ships of war to be built, manned with soldiers and relations of the slain, and will, with the assistance of other peoples and kingdoms who pay tribute to China, wage relentless war, without quarter to any one; and upon its conclusion will present the kingdom of Luzon to those who do homage to China.

“This letter is written by the Visitor-General on the 12th of the second month.”
A contemporary letter of the Ruler of Japan forms a somewhat notable contrast:–

Letter of Daifusama, Ruler of Japan

“To the Governor Don Pedro de Acuña, in the year 1605:

“I have received two letters from your Excellency, as also all the donations and presents described in the inventory. Amongst them was the wine made from grapes, which I enjoyed very much. In former years your Excellency requested that six ships might come here, and recently four, which request I have always complied with.

“But my great displeasure has been excited by the fact that of the four ships upon whose behalf your Excellency interposed, one from Antonio made the journey without my permission. This was a circumstance of great audacity, and a mark of disrespect to me. Does your Excellency wish to send that ship to Japan without my permission?

“Independently of this, your Excellency and others have many times discussed with me concerning the antecedents and interests of Japan, and many other matters, your requests respecting which I cannot comply with. This territory is called Xincoco, which means ’consecrated to Idols,’ which have been honored with the highest reverence from the days of our ancestor until now, and whose actions I alone can neither undo nor destroy. Wherefore, it is in no way fitting that your laws should be promulgated and spread over Japan; and if, in consequence of these misunderstandings, your Excellency’s friendship with the empire of Japan should cease, and with me likewise, it must be so, for I must do that which I think is right, and nothing which is contrary to my own pleasure.

“Finally, I have heard it frequently said, as a reproach, that many Japanese–wicked, corrupt men–go to your kingdom, remaining there many years, and then return to Japan. This complaint excites my anger, and therefore I must request your Excellency henceforth not to allow such persons to return in the ships which trade here. Concerning the remaining matters, I trust your Excellency will hereafter employ your judgment and circumspection in such a manner as to avoid incurring my displeasure for the future.”


 




 
The Former Philippines thru Foreign Eyes
http://www.authorama.com/former-philippines-1.html



Part II
http://www.authorama.com/former-philippines-b-1.html


Authorama

Public Domain Books

Early Chinese in Philippine Is. ; Philippine Independence --manila times

Monday, June 12, 2006


5TH DR. JOSE P. RIZAL AWARD FOR EXCELLENCE



Early Chinese explorations


(Reprinted from Tsinoy: The Story of the Chinese in Philippine Life, published by Kaisa Para sa Kaunlaran, Inc.)



CENTURIES before the Europeans started their search for an alternate route to the Spice Islands or the Moluccas, Chinese merchants already had harmonious trade and tribute relations with the islands at the far end of Southeast Asia.

The Chinese were a literary people who took special interest in noting down foreign lands and curious customs. Dynastic annals, travel accounts, customs records and ancient maps depicting Luzon, Min­danao, Visayas, Sulu, Panga­sinan, Ilocos, Ma­guin­danao, Cebu and Panay, among others, show the depth and breadth of relations between the Chinese and the natives of these islands.

Chao Ju Kua, a Chinese superintendent of trade and an earned customs inspector, wrote vivid descriptions of places such as Ma-I, San-su, Pisho-ye, Papuyan, Pulilu, which are identified to be islands in the Philippines.

His accounts were complied and published into a book, Zhu Fan Zhi, in 1225.

Other early Chinese accounts that mentioned various islands in the Philippines are Wang Dayan’s Dao-I Chi Lue (Barbarians of the Isles) and Tong Xi Yang Kao (East-West Ocean Examination).

Chinese navigational maps from the Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1644-1911) dynasties include the “Map of Observing the World,” “Complete Map of All Nations” and “Maps of the Islands in the Pacific Ocean.” Many of these early maps contained illustrations of major islands like Lu-song, Min-ta-lao, Ma-yi, San-Su and Sulu in the Philippines (before it was so named by the Spaniards).

For example, the “Complete Map of the Four Seas”—which was included in the 1781 Atlas of Maps for Observing Foreign Countries—described Ok-tong Island as a big island and a busy port between Cebu and Panay. Further research of ancient Philippine maps reveal the Ok-tong is actually Ogtong, one of the five major ports in the Philippines, which later became the capital of Panay.

Travel was not limited to the Chinese coming to the Philippines. Dynastic annals and other historical records tell of two-way trade exchanges. The earliest mention of Ma-I is in the Song Shi (History of Song) in 971 AD. The earliest travel of Filipinos to China is also recorded in Song Shi in 982 AD when people of Ba-i (now Laguna) went to Canton (now Guangzhou) to trade. Chinese goods like gold, silver, lead, tin, silk, and porcelain were exchanged for native goods like aromatics, rhinoceros horn, coral, pearls, tortoise shells, sea turtle leather and hardwood. Trading was done through ships that traveled across established and profitable sea routes.

A tributary bond eventually developed between the sultans and rajahs of the various kingdoms in the Philippines and the Chinese emperor through centuries of trade and support. Stories of these friendships are told and retold in Chinese records as the Chinese continued their sojourns to the Islands.

At least 10 rajahs and sultans sent tribute missions to China from the 11th to 15th century. The first mission was from King Qiling of Butuan in 1003, followed by other missions in 1004, 1007 and 1011. The Ming annals also mentioned several tribute embassies, such as Luzon tributes in 1417, 1420, 1421, 1423 and 1424.


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Editor’s Note: The Fifth Dr. Jose P. Rizal Awards for Excellence will be presented on June 19, 2006, 7 p.m. at the Kaisa-Angelo King Heritage Center on Anda corner Cabildo Streets, Intramu­ros, Manila.







Tuesday, June 13, 2006


5TH DR. JOSE P. RIZAL AWARD FOR EXCELLENCE


Early Chinese accounts of the Philippines


(Reprinted from Tsi­noy: The Story of the Chinese in Philippine Life, published by Kaisa para sa Kaunlaran, Inc.)


Part 2 of 2



These maps, dynastic annals, travel accounts and other early records, as well as the wealth of artifacts unearthed all over the country, stand as mute evidence of the extensive and intensive trading and tributary relations between the Chinese and early Filipinos.

The traders also became cultural brokers who introduced a wealth of knowledge and technology to the local people. A peaceful and harmonious relationship strengthened as the two peoples grew to become friends and even family. Their stories and sagas continue to be written to this day.


Trade relations

Chinese jars, vases, ceramics and coins of the Tang Dynasty (A.D. 618-907) have been excavated in various parts if the country, especially in coastal settlements. Panay, Pangasinan, Rizal, Sulu, Butuan, Cagayan, Laguna, Batangas and Santa Ana, Manila, are among the sites that have yielded significant finds.

The trade wares were brought to the Philippines either directly by Chinese traders or indirectly by Arab and Indian traders who dominated Southeast Asia’s maritime trade before the 10th century.

The traders followed the trade winds, heading south before the northeast monsoon and returning home with the southwest monsoon. The Chinese had an advantage over the Arabs and the Indians because of their early discovery of the south-pointing needle—the earliest version of the mariner’s compass—their possession of navigational maps, their extensive knowledge of their trading partners, and their sturdier and bigger junks designed to survive turbulent typhoons in the open seas.

Trade with the Chinese was carried out wholesale. Merchandise loaded in junks were controlled by the flow of trade from the Pasig River, receiving goods from foreign traders and passing them on to people in the provinces through the tributaries of the Pasig and other river systems. The Chinese farmed out their goods to native traders on credit. In turn, the natives brought the goods inland and came back after weeks—even months—with native products for exchange.


Cultural relations

Some Chinese traders settled and intermarried with natives. They built better houses and taught their families technology like bringing water down from the mountains and better ways of living. The Chinese realized that it was economically advantageous to promote the well-being of their communities whose welfare had a district effect on the prosperity or decline of their own commercial activities.

Their efforts at developing their communities, including the extension of credit, allowed the Chinese to prosper in the Philippines. The early Chinese influence during this period is largely economic; apparently they did not interfere with native political institutions. In language, almost all words in Malayan languages that can be traced to Chinese sources are either economic or commercial in origin.

None of the trading ships came on a warlike mission, and those that eventually settled in the Philippine Islands were accepted as part of native communities. The natives adopted desirable Chinese customs and traditions; the settlers, desirable native customs and traditions.



(Editor’s note: The Fifth Dr. Jose P. Rizal Awards for Excellence will be presented on June 19, 7 p.m. at the Kaisa-Angelo King Heritage Center on Anda and Cabildo streets, Intramuros, Manila.)





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Monday, June 12, 2006


Some facts about Philippine Independence


ON June 12, 1898, Filipinos got what they had hoped for a long time—Philippine independence. The declaration of independence asserting the rights of Filipinos to manage their own affairs was read; the flag that embodied their aspirations was unfurled, and the music that carried their hopes was played. But who were behind these elements that made the declaration of Philippine Independence meaningful?

AMBROSIO RIANZARES BAUTISTA authored the Act of Declaration of Philippine independence. He was born on December 7, 1830, in Biñan, Laguna. He was a lawyer known as “Don Bosyong” to peasants and laborers who availed themselves of his free legal services, including their defense in court cases against greedy Spaniards and rich Filipino casiques.

Involved in the propaganda movement, Bautista solicited funds to support the campaign for reforms in Spain, including the publication of La Solidaridad. When revolution broke out in 1896, he was arrested but was soon freed after proving his innocence. Bautista went into hiding before he could be served another warrant of arrest.

Bautista was appointed auditor general de guerra of General Emilio Aguinaldo when the latter returned from exile in Hong Kong. On June 12, 1898, Bautista read the Act of Declaration of Philippine Independence, which he himself prepared. Ninety-eight persons, including one American officer, Col. L.M. Johnson, affixed their signatures on the document. Bautista also waved the Philippine flag before the jubilant crowd.

JULIAN FELIPE gained fame for his masterpiece, the Marcha Nacional Filipina (National Anthem), which when played to this day reminds the present generation of that historic day in 1898 when Filipinos called themselves independent.

Felipe was born on January 28,1861, in Cavite. The youngest of 12 children of a poor couple, he was known for his musical talents. He was a music teacher in Cavite when the revolution broke out. He left his old piano and joined the patriotic cause. He was arrested but his involvement in the revolution was not proven so he was spared from the firing squad that killed 13 of his fellow prisoners on September 12, 1896. He was released from prison in Fort Santiago on June 2, 1897.

On June 5, 1898, General Aguinaldo commissioned him to compose a piece for the upcoming declaration of independence. After six days, Felipe enthralled the revolutionary generals with his composition, the Marcha Nacional Filipina, which was played during the proclamation of Philippine independence on June 12, 1898.

MARCELLA AGONCILLO, or “Roselang Bubog” as her townfolk in Batangas fondly called her because of her beauty, enshrined herself in history as the “Maker of the Filipino Flag.” Doña Marcela Marino Agoncillo was born on June 24, 1860, in Taal, Batangas. Born to a rich couple. Marcela finished her education in the Santa Catalina College, a school in Intramuros run by Dominican nuns. She married Don Felipe Agoncillo, a goodhearted Filipino lawyer who earned the ire of the Spanish authorities for defending his oppressed countrymen.

A brave woman, Marcela stood by the patriotic cause of her husband who went into self-exile in Hong Kong in 1895. The Agoncillo family resided on Morrison Hill Road in Wanchai District, Hong Kong, where Aguinaldo and his generals set up the Junta Patriotica upon their arrival in the country in 1897. The Agoncillo couple found common causes with the revolutionary leaders. It was in Hong Kong, where Marcella Agoncillo was asked to sew the Philippine flag. Assisted by her young daughter, Lorenzana, and Delfina Herbosa Natividad, she finished the flag in five days. The flag reached the Philippines on time for the proclamation of Philippine independence on June 12, 1898, before a big crowd in Kawit, Cavite.

The Act of Declaration could have been written by any lawyer, the music composed by any musician, and the flag sewn by any dressmaker, but the significance of Philippine independence proclaimed 108 years ago today could not have been less.

What is remarkable every time the declaration of independence is read, the music played, and the flag unfurled in the air is the fact that all these were made by Filipinos whose hearts longed for the best of this nation.

Claro M. Recto --Manila Times

Friday, February 10, 2006


Remembering Claro M. Recto

By Rene Q. Bas

IT was Claro M. Recto’s birthday the other day, February 8. He was born in 1890. He would have been 115 years old. He was seven years and 11 months old when that other beloved Filipino was executed at the Luneta.

Recto and Rizal were both intellectual giants. Some say Recto was a better poet than Rizal. Both were great patriots. And both died faithful to the Catholic faith. Few know that for many years before his death, Claro M. Recto had been a daily Mass-goer and communicant.

Although his dying words were: “How terrible it is to die in a foreign country” those who were close to him also witnessed his joy and heard his words about being in Romes, his spiritual home, where he died on October 2, 1960, of a heart attack.

He is remembered mainly for his nationalism, for the impact of his patriotic thoughts—written in English—on modern Philippine political thought. But he was, in fact, the greatest Filipino man of letters in the Spanish language.

Claro Mayo Recto was born in Tiaong, Tayabas, (now called Quezon) province. Because he grew up in Lipa City, he is correctly claimed as a son of both Quezon and Batangas. His parents were Claro Recto and Micaela Mayo, Batangueños of the educated and upper economic class.

He obtained his basic education in Lipa City’s Instituto de Rizal, from where he pursued higher education at the Ateneo de Manila. Like Rizal, he won the highest literary prizes and received ratings of sobresaliente (outstanding) in his academics, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts degree with highest honors as Rizal did.

He went to the University of Santo To­mas to study law and graduated, vale­dic­torian, in 1913. While still in the senior year of law, he took the bar exam—and failed. Chastised and humbled for his arrogance, he took the bar exams again, passed and became a professional lawyer in 1914.

Recto won his first moments of fame as a poet and writer. As a youth, again just like Rizal, he wrote many poems and essays. He was still a UST law student when he became a staff member of the publication El Ideal. Later, the bigger paper, La Vanguardia, took him in. There, young Claro M. Recto wrote a daily column, “Primares Cuartillas” (First Sheets) under the penname Aristeo Hilario. The elegantly written satirical pieces were the talk of the town.

He was 21 when he anthologized some of his poems in Bajo los Cocoteros (Under the Coconut Trees). Some of his poems are, until now, in the classic poetry anthologies of the Hispanic world.

La Ruta de Damasco, The Damascus Route (1918) and Solo entre las Sombras, Alone Among the Shadows (1917)—two of his plays—received high praise not just among Filipino literati but also by critics in Spain and Latin America. Both were staged in Manila to full audiences. In the mid 50s, Dean Alejandro Ro­ces together with other cultural movers and shakers of the country had the play produced. It was great success among audiences who had almost forgotten that only 30 years before, the Filipino intelligentsia spoke both Spanish and English.

In 1929 Monroismo Asiatico was published. This book confirmed his stature an essayist and a political savant. The book has the polemical pieces he wrote in a debate he and Dean Maximo Kalaw of the University of the Philippines conducted on the pages of the Manila newspapers. Kalaw advocated the application of the Monroe Doctrine in Asia. (The original Monroe Doctrine, enunciated in 1823, was US President James Monroe’s (and John Quincy Adams’s) foreign policy keeping the Americas off-limits to European or any power because the American continents were now in the US sphere of influence. In his articles against “Asiatic Mon­roeism” Recto foresaw the danger Japan posed to the Philippines and the other countries of Asia. True enough, the Japanese Empire colonized the Asian countries from 1942 to 1945.

Recto’s literary greatness is recognized throughout the Hispanic world. The Enciclo­pedia Universal says of him that more than being a lawyer and a politician, “Recto … is a Spanish writer” and that “among those of his race (he is pure Tagalog on both sides) there is not and there has been no one who has surpassed him in the mastery of the language of his country’s former sovereign.”

The lawyer Don Claro

In the years before English became the common tongue of the Philippine elite, Recto was known as the abogado milagroso, the miraculous lawyer. This was a tribute to his many victories in the courts of the land.

He wrote a two-volume book on civil procedure, which in those days decades before the Second World War, were standard fare for law students.

He won many great cases in the Supreme Court, causing bad decisions of lower courts to be reversed. He took on, even when he was a very young man, cases against much older, wealthier and famous lawyers of any race. (In those days, Filipinos, Spaniards and Americans practiced law in the Philippines.)

He became a respected member, not just of the Philippine lawyers’ association, but also of American Bar Association, Spain’s Academia Real de Legislacion y Jurisprudencia (Royal Academy of Legislation and Jurisprudence), the Political Science Academy of New York, among others.

His excellence as a lawyer derived from his excellence as a writer, his infallible logic and clarity of mind and his industry. Young lawyers today, especially many of those we see on TV talk shows, would do well emulating Claro M. Recto, especially on the craft of using language correctly and in thinking logically.




(Concluded in tomorrow’s issue)




Saturday, February 11, 2006


Claro M. Recto, a true constitutionalist

By Rene Q. Bas



Second of three parts


The great nationalist and statesman said he himself did not know how he ended up being a politician. “It was one of those steps which are taken without previous deli­beration and reflection,” he admitted.

The Philippine Assembly created by the Americans in 1907 had an all-Filpino membership but real legislative and executive powers were still largely in American hands. The Jones Law passed by the US Congress created a truly Filipino bicameral legislature, the Senate and the House of Representatives. Recto joined the Senate as a law clerk but spent more time reading the tomes at the Supreme Court library than clerking in the Senate that he got fired.

In 1919, Recto was 29 when he ran for and won the House seat of the third district in Batangas as a Democrata Party candidate.

He was re-elected in 1922 and again in 1925.

He retreated from politics after his third term as a Batangas congressman and resumed his law practice.

He could not reject his old Democrata Party colleagues’ call for his presence in the Democrata Party slate for the 1931 senatorial elec­tion of 1931. This time he ran for senator against the Nacionalista Party stalwart and reelectionist Sen. Jose P. Laurel, a fellow Batangueño. Recto won. He served as a senator until 1934.

Throughout his tenure as a congressman and a senator—1918 to 1928, 1931-1934—Recto was acclaimed as an outstanding debater, a skillful parliamentarian, a wise thinker and a statesmanly legislator. He belonged to the opposition party. Many times he single-handedly won the day for the Democratas against the Nacionalistas with their large majority. He had become known as the “Great Dissenter” in those days, a name he had also been given by admiring journalists who witnessed his struggles for anti-colonial and patriotic policies in the post-World War II Senate against the majority parties.

When the Democrata Party disappeared from the political scene, he joined his old opponents in the Nacionalista Party. They embraced him as a brother.

The efforts of the movers for Philippine independence had borne fruit with the passage of the Hare-Hawes-Cutting bill under the new name of the Tydings-McDuffie Act. In this law the United States voluntarily relinquished its formal control of its Philippine colony. The Philippine Legislature unanimously accepted the Tydings-McDuffie on May 1, 1934. Henceforth, governing the Philippines was in the hands of the Filipinos. But first they would have to write their own constitution for the Philippine Commonwealth, a phase in our history that would precede full independence from the United States.

On July 10, 1934, Recto was elected member of the Constitutional convention. He was one of the 202 delegates elected at large to represent every city and province of the archipelago. His fellow delegates elec­ted him, by acclamation, president.

He led his fellow delegates from July 1934 to February 1935 in drafting what was to become the country’s first real fundamental law.

Until today, many experts and patriotic scholars agree, the 1935 Constitution is still the best charter for our country. It author was mainly Claro M. Recto.

Recto and Senate President Manuel Quezon brought the Commonwealth Constitution to the United States. The Philippines was free but only a bit more free than a state of the American Union. The US president still had to agree to what the Filipino constitutional convention wanted. Franklin Delano Roosevelt signed the Philippine Constitution. And the great and lasting deed was done.

Right after signing the Constitution of the Philippine Commonwealth, Recto received a reward: Roosevelt appointed him justice of the Philippine Supreme Court.

Accepting the position was actually a sacrifice. He was earning very much more as a successful practicing lawyer than the P15,000 annual salary of a justice of the High Court. Justice Recto served as Supreme Court justice for only 14 months. He proved to be as tireless, fair and wise in the Supreme Court as he had always been in his other positions.

On his retirement, his fellow justices gave him this tribute:

“You came on this court famed as a man of letters, as a jurist, and as a parliamentarian. Your vast, profound learn­ing and your keen, penetrating power of analysis, which permeate the decisions which you have penned, are a byword to many. You are leaving with a lasting impression of the jurist who has tirelessly and scrupulously sifted the truth from a maze of judicial records, with an eye always to admi­nistering justice to the litigants and to lightening the burden of your colleagues.”

It was a rare tribute that no other justice of the High Court, not even any of the chief justices, had ever been given by their peers.

After his stint with the Supreme Court, Recto resumed the practice of law. He also became a law professor and continued writing political and literary works.

The call of politics came to him again. He was elected to the Senate in November 1941. He got the most number of votes among all the 24 senators elected with him.

Then on December 8, Pearl Harbor and the Philippines were bombed by the air force of the Japanese empire.

During the Japanese occupation, first under the Philippine Executive Commission headed by Jorge Vargas and then under the Second Philippine Republic with Jose P. Laurel as president, Recto served as Commissioner of Education, Health, and Social Welfare and then as Minister of Foreign Affairs.

During the Liberation of Manila in 1945, the Americans arrested Recto with Laurel, Camilo Osias, Quintin Paredes, Antonio de las Alas, Vargas, and other prominent Filipinos who had been officials of the government during the Japanese occupation. They were charged with collaboration and tried by the People’s Court.

All the accused were freed when President Manuel A. Roxas issued his Amnesty Proclamation.




(To be concluded tomorrow)




Sunday, February 12, 2006



Recto’s writings are as relevant today as when he was alive

By Rene Q. Bas


Last of three parts



Despite his detractors’ efforts to stick the collaborator and communist labels on him, Claro M. Recto was elected to the Senate in 1949. As a lawyer, an intellectual and a man sensitive to the dignity of other men, Recto defended friends and ordinary people who were being badly treated by anti-communist authorities for holding nationalist and communist views.

Six years later, in the 1955 elections, Recto was reelected. The “great dissenter” won with a respectably large number of votes despite President Ra­mon Magsaysay’s—and the Magsaysay boys’—efforts to make Recto lose.

And Recto was the Magsaysay presidency’s most nettle­some critic on the issue of nationalism, the preservation of Philippine interests and national dignity in the face of America’s power as the leader of the “Free World” against the Soviet Union with its satellites and the People’s Republic of China.

Recto, the true patriot, could see the dangers Magsaysay’s US-subservient policies posed to Philippine social and economic development. His alternative view was simply for the Filipinos and their leaders to make sure that Philippine national interests were not sacrificed on the altar of the country’s loyalty to the American vision of how the world should be run.

In many ways, Recto’s outlook coincided with those of the neutralists and non-aligned leaders—India’s Nehru and Indonesia’s Sukarno – which earned him the “communist” or at least “pro-communist” label.

But the truth is that Recto’s views about preserving our own patrimony, upholding our dignity —and making sure that our national interests are served first and America’s only served second —were shared and applied to their countries’ relations with the United States by its closest anti-Soviet and anti-Communist European allies, including Britain and France.

Recto’s writings and speeches in the 1950s until his death in Rome in 1960 are where the essentials of Philippine nationalism can be found up to this day.

He never became president. But many of his nationalist ideas are now conventional wisdom in our country. Still, his prescriptions—just like those of Jose Rizal, whose patriotism and thoughts Recto immensely admired—have not been put fully to practical use in our politics, foreign policy and socio-economic development.

The Recto Valedictory (and the Recto Day Program 1985) is a 1985 book published by the Claro M. Recto Memorial Foundation.

The book contains, in both the original Spanish and in Nick Joaquin’s English translation, the ten speeches that Don Claro would have delivered in Spain to various audiences of “Brother Spaniards” had he not died in Rome on October 2, 1960.

The ten speeches written in most elegant language summarize the wisdom of Claro M. Recto and teach Filipinos of today to appreciate our country, to look at history and the world with the mature eyes of modern citizens who have not lost their sense of wonder at a world governed—despite everything—by God’s goodness.

Recto – and these 10 never-delivered speeches – are as relevant today as when he was alive.

For example, those who can’t understand the fuss patriotic Filipinos are raising now about the Visiting Forces Agreement will learn much from “The Military Treaties on Bases between Spain and the United States and between the Philippines and the United States.”

Recto’s thoughts about governance are as grippingly valid today as they were when he first wrote and uttered them in the years before the Second World War and in the 1950s.

To Recto the root of our country’s problems is the corruption of those whose job is to serve the public and the criminal rapacity of the privileged and powerful elite.

About poverty in the Philippines, in 1958 Recto wrote: “We are confronted with problems—economic, moral and political—among the gravest, perhaps, in all our history, which have been the result of wrong policies and malpractices of the government, ranging from incompetence and opportunism to downright dishonesty and perverted morals…”

He saw that corrupt government officials, “…the betrayers of public trust, the influence peddlers and the beneficiaries of all these racketeering or horrendous proportions”—steal from the Filipino people the public services that they need and have the right to enjoy.





http://www.manilatimes.net/national/2006/feb/10/yehey/opinion/20060210opi5.html

http://www.manilatimes.net/national/2006/feb/11/yehey/opinion/20060211opi7.html

http://www.manilatimes.net/national/2006/feb/12/yehey/opinion/20060212opi7.html

Malaya February 06 , 08 & 10, 2007

Lito Banayo:


‘In the end, it is the people who choose … whether so-called dynasties are good or bad for them.’


Is there no one else?

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In a recent television appearance, former Senate President Ernesto Maceda claimed that some 95 of the 216 elected congressmen in the country belong to political dynasties. That’s one-half of the composition of the lower House, he said, so why, he reasons, should friend Kit Tatad fret too much about the possibility of having six members of the Senate coming from so-called dynasties?

In local constituencies where the arithmetic of political control is fairly easy, and the variables are more easy to manipulate, dynasties thrive in the feudal setting of Philippine politics. But in the Senate, it is otra cosa. How do you manipulate the votes of an entire country comprised of 7,101 islands? In the end, it is the people who choose, who discern, whether so-called dynasties are good or bad for them.

For the readers’ appreciation, let me list the so-called dynasties, from Batanes to Tawi-Tawi:

The Abads of Batanes, but haven’t they been a good presence in Batanes politics?

The Marcoses of Ilocos Norte, and their rivals, the Fariñases of Laoag. Chavit Singson, his brothers, nephews and nieces in Ilocos Sur. Eric Singson likewise along with wife Grace. The Ortegas of La Union. The Aspiras family has laid to rest his political clout, but there are the Dumpits now trying to take over. The Valeras of Abra, who have been in the news lately. It was the late Don Quintin Paredes who used to control Abra, but his descendants failed to propagate the dynasty, so it went to the Barberos, and now Governor Vicsid and his brood. You have Dominguez in Mountain Province, after the fall of the Lamens. After Ben Palispis retired, Benguet has passed from hand to hand, with no one in long control, neither Molintas nor Cosalan nor Dangwa.

Of course there is the large Dy family in Isabela. They inherited the mantle from their father Faustino, and you have two governors, two congressmen succeeding in the next generation. In Santiago City, Pempe Miranda and his son, the Mikey and Kampi acolyte, Anthony. Hehe Alvarez is no longer on the scene. The Albanos, from Rodolfo to Rodito, to Cesar the mayor. Juan Ponce Enrile rules northeastern Cagayan, with his son Jackie now set to transfer power to his wife. The Mambas prevail over the southern half. My friend Governor Ed Lara provides the balance of competing powers. In Quirino, it’s Cua and Cua seemingly forever. The Perez dynasty in Nueva Vizcaya has been shattered by the untimely demise of Leonard Byron, the former Comelec chief’s son and political heir.

There are the perpetual Josons of Nueva Ecija, already three generations of successive political control. Now Oyie Umali, Mark Jimenez’ faithful acolyte, wants to be "hulog ng langit" to Novo Ecijanos. Apeng Yap wants to pass control of the kapitolyo to son Victor, but of course the real power is Boss Danding. Maski si Cong Peping, tiklop na, in the province made famous by the Aquinos of Tarlac. In Pangasinan, there are several fiefdoms – the Estrellas and Perezes in the east, Agbayani in the northwest, and of course Joe de V by his solitary self in the center. Tulagan wants to pass the mantle of three terms to his very young son, while Benjie Lim wants to wrest power from Manong Joe, mismo! And Mark Cojuangco has slowly but surely carved his own in northern Pangasinan. In Pampanga, it’s who else but La Gloria herself, with son Mikey in the second district. Sorry for them, Mikey’s wife seems to eschew politics, and Mikaela is far too young. Lito Lapid passed the dynasty to son Mark, but is now in danger of losing it to the Pinedas of Lubao, with La Gloria’s implied blessings, but of course. In the Bataan peninsula, the new dynasty of Tet Garcia, governor and son Albert, congressman, wants to wipe out the Romans and ally Tong Payumo. Will he succeed?

In Bulacan, Obet Pagdanganan, still heartbroken over death of his son and namesake in a recent car accident, now seeks return to his kapitolyo, presided over in the last nine years by high-performing Josie de la Cruz, who wants her brother to inherit it. The Silverios, once of legendary wealth as part of the Marcos cabal of cronies, controls half of the east, with the Roqueros and Sarmientos fighting over the other half centered in populous San Jose City. Will Mayor Felix, Ka Blas’ son, get supremacy over the Sy-Alvarados of Malolos and Hagonoy in the west? My own Tiya Cancion ruled Malolos during all the martial law years after Tiyo Pelis Reyes died. Oh, before I forget, there’s Aurora nestled between the Sierra Madre and Mare Pacifica. There it’s Angara in the Senate, Angara as governor, Angara as congressman, and another Angara is mayor of the capital town of Baler, hometown of the legendary Manuel Quezon. And in Zambales, the Magsaysay-Diaz clan will pass on the mantle to their next generation, and will try to wrest control of Olongapo City from the Gordons.

In Rizal, Ito Ynares seems to be in firm and full control. By May of 2007, he would want to marginalize the third-generation Rodriguezes of Montalban, with his ally Jack Duavit, Manong Bibit’s son. Highly respected NPC president Ka Frisco San Juan is trying his best to have some sort of rapprochement. And super-powerful Ronnie Puno has yet to decide whether to succeed himself or give his vacated seat to a younger brother in Antipolo City. Of course, brother Dong is out to wrest Muntinlupa, with the help of the Bunyes and the Fresnedis, from Pong Biazon’s son Ruffy. There is only one dynasty in power in Quezon City now, and that’s Mat Defensor, who inherited his congressional seat from son Miguelito, who wants to be senator ‘Tol. Chuck Mathay, I heard wants to come back through the second district. Maybe the lovely Ara Mina should shed some excess poundage and battle Senora Dona Anna Susano off her vintage Rolls Royce.

Manila’s Mayor Lito wants to pass the baton to his son Ali, whose youthful energy will be pitted against almost octogenarian but still spritely Fred Lim, and almost septuagenarian Danny Lacuna, with Rudy Bacani and Joey Hizon snapping at their heels. Maybe MJ too? Where will the Lopezes of Tondo locate themselves? The Bagatsings are split, with my friend Don and his father Dondon for Atienza, while politically-estranged brother Amado is for Lacuna. Dondon seeks to reclaim his old Sampaloc seat from Bacani whose term is soon to expire, while Amado wants a comeback in my home fifth district.

"Is there no one else?", to paraphrase Achilles in the movie "Troy". The nation’s capital, the center of politics, also in the grip of dynasties left and right? "Wala na bang iba?", ask weary Manilenos.

In Makati of course, Senator Lapid wants to bring his delicious maja blanca and his fried kamaru to the kapitolyo that fellow-Kapampangan Mesio Yabut used to rule as Marcos’ strong vassal, before Jojo Binay, oppositionist through and through, captured the nation’s small but richest city. Binay, a Batangueno by origin, is expected to win hands down, with Kong Lito battling Baby Pineda for turf supremacy in his native Pampanga. Whatever happens to Senador Lito after May 2007, let’s hope he stops being vassal to La Gloria.

Wala pang kalahati iyan ng buong bansa, and already we are choking from a gaggle of dynasts. Wait till we get to Bicol, the Visayas and Mindanao. Doon panahon pa ni Quezon hanggang ngayon, sila at sila pa rin.

The question, as far as local constituencies are concerned, is whether these political families have been good or bad for them. Some have had a modernizing influence on the progress of their constituencies, such as in tiny San Juan where the Estradas have ruled since pater familia Joseph became mayor after trouncing the Ibunas, the Sto. Domingos and the Pascuals a generation ago.

Some have presided over declining socio-economic fortunes, maintaining power through guns, goons, gold, and Garci, the latest sure-fire formula for electoral "victory". They rule like feudal lords and keep their constituents in perpetual bondage to poverty, so that each election, these are regaled with royal crumbs from their table of ill-gotten plenty, and keep voting and voting for them, their sons and daughters, their siblings.

In terra Filipinensis, familiae bonum. Laudamus. Glorificamus. Et perderemus nostrus.

Is there no one else? My friend Harry Roque stands up and will be counted, for Congress to represent the lone district of Pasay. Thank God there are some valiant others. There should be many more.





* * * * * * *


‘With the internal revenue allotments, local dynasts have found financial muscle, and have made a business out of politics.’



Are there any more?


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South of Manila, we have the Remullas of Cavite, a second-generation set of leaders coming after long-time governor, Johnny Remulla, once the political protégé of the politically-decimated Puyats of Pampanga. Johnvic, the vice-governor, will not seek election to higher office after his third term expires. Kuya Boying will seek a second term as congressman of the uplands, while Gilbert will go for his third term in the hilly and lowland district that now has half of Cavite’s voters.

Don Claro never thought any of his sons would amount to anything in politics, but look at the third generation. A Recto in the Senate, another is vice-governor, a granddaughter-in-law, the famous Ate Vi, is serving out her last few months as mayor of Lipa, and is being pushed for governor.

The third-generation Laurels have gone into the arts, business, and other pursuits, instead of following the footsteps of the wartime president.

In Quezon, a congressman extremely close to GMA, and close to every other president since Marcos, is out to establish a new dynasty. Danny Suarez wants his son Jay-jay to be the next governor, after my friend Willy Enverga relinquishes his seat of three terms.

In Marinduque, it’s Tita Carmencita Reyes as governor, and son Edmundito as congressman. They’re switching positions in May 2007, unless someone else is brave enough to fight the dynasty. In Mindoro Occidental, heaven knows what the Villarosas will try this time, now that Joe is in Muntinlupa. Girlie is always beside GMA and FG, and you can guess what ace they want to pull up their sleeve.

In Camarines Sur, you have Villafuerte, pere et fil, quarreling over power and whatever else. In Rinconada it is still Alfelor, now safely in the Kampi embrace of Louie. In Partido, it’s still the Fuentebellas. Naga City has its irreplaceable Jesse Robredo, one of the best local executives in the entire country. In Albay, who will be the third generation Imperial, now that Carling is ageing and infirm? Wala na ba talagang iba? Of course the Lagmans of the third district are still at it, father and daughter, and a son in Quezon City to boot.

In Masbate, ABS-CBN executive Maloli Espinosa Manalastas has just resigned her well-paying job to run as congresswoman, because there is no one else in the dynasty to perpetuate its hold. Her Tito Miling is past 80, but will still go for governor once again, after three terms as congressman, and a previous three terms as governor. Tony Kho has successfully challenged what was once an Espinosa stranglehold of this beautiful but dirt-poor province.

In Capiz, the Roxases have near full control. Tita Judy, thence Dinggoy, and now Mar have successfully put to pasture the Villareals of the second district, the Dinglasans and the Belos.

In Iloilo, Niel Tupaz will gun for his third term, while his son will go for congressman in the fifth district, if they can get over Rolex Suplico’s brother. Oca Garin has consolidated his control of the first district, with son Jun-jun as mayor, wife Nimfa as another mayor, and daughter-in-law Janet, originally a Loreto from Baybay in Leyte, as congresswoman. Of course, there’s Raul the injustice secretary and his son Raulito in the queen city.

In Negros, almost all are vassals of the Danding Cojuangco political empire. You want to be anything higher than a small-town mayor, you’d have to make "mano" to the boss in Pontevedra. Of course, the other "boss", Don Jose Miguel Tuason Arroyo, is spreading his wings, trying to reprise the dynasty set up by his grandfather Jose and his grand-uncle Mariano Arroyo, the governor whom Quezon caught with his hands in the jueteng racket. There’s Iggy aka Jose Pidal in Kabankalan and other poorer parts, and now sister Marilou to battle Frejenel Biron in Iloilo. (Where do these kasimanwas get their names – Frejenel of Iloilo, Fredenil Castro in Capiz, never mind Rolex?)

Cebu is almost completely dynastic. A gaggle of Osmeñas flit in and out of every elective office you could imagine. As they say, the only Osmeña who’s not into politics is Fuente Osmena. There’s Tony Cuenco, likely the last of the Cuencos. There are the Duranos of Danao. There’s Junie and Clavel and Jun-jun, the Martinezes of Bogo who are related to the Espinosas of Masbate to their north. There are the Kintanars of Argao in southern Cebu. And the Gullas brothers in Talisay. In bustling Mandaue, Ouano pere was succeeded by Ouano fil, and now, the third generation is taking over. Is there no one else?

Only former Senator Boy Herrera is trying to foist a dynasty in Bohol, with brother Julius as vice-governor and a son as mayor of Calape. President Garcia’s only daughter Linda died without going into politics. Gov. Natalio Castillo’s son Chito would rather be king-maker than king, and the Borjas stopped at congresswoman Venice. The Teveses reign supreme in southern Negros. Outstanding governor George Arnaiz will exchange places with former governor, now outgoing central congressman Dodo Macias, whose father once held political sway over the province. Paras madame will fight Paras frere for control of the highlands. Sila na lang pirmi ug kanunay. Wala na’y lain?

In Northern Samar, it’s Raul Daza’s son Paul who will seek his father’s mantle, this time against former ally, Harlin Abayon, the Mormon congressman on his last term.

In Western Samar, Cata Figueroa the congressman is fielding his wife, Mayor Neliphta against a daughter of incumbent Mila Tan.

And in the East, Marcelino Libanan will field gracious wife Alda to succeed him, and indulge in his real vocation – playing the classic guitar of Albeniz and Paco Rodrigo.

Where the brothers Evardone will go I have yet to fathom.

In Leyte, it’s the return of the comeback for the Romualdezes, battling the Loreto-Petilla clan in both north and south.

Biliran is choking with a barrelful of Espinas – governor, congressman, and mayors to boot. Why not title the whole island to their name?

In Surigao, the Barberses want to consolidate their hold on this beautiful province, now that Dinagat has become the private terrain of the Ecleo’s. Ace has declined an offer to run for senator in order to fortify their dynasty, but former governor Francisco Matugas and the Serings will give them battle.

The Plazas and the Amantes have divided Agusan del Norte into uncontested fiefdoms, while Agusan del Sur remains Plaza territory. The Falcons remain in control of the southern half of Surigao del Sur, and Prospero Pichay is on his last term as congressman of the northern half.

Poverty-stricken Davao Oriental remains in the grip of the Tres Marias – Almario, Palma-Gil, and Malanyaon, who has replaced former gobernadora Rosalind Lopez in the all-female triumvirate. The trio have an uneasy love-hate relationship with the Rabats of Mati. Prospero Amatong will field his son against the son of graduating governor Joe Caballero for control of Compostela Valley, with its rich Diwalwal gold fields. The Floirendos will try to maintain hegemony over Davao del Norte, even if political patriarch Rodolfo del Rosario is on retirement mode. Davao City will remain uncontested Duterte, because my friend Digong, hard-hitting Rudy to many, is simply irreplaceable in the minds of many Dabawenos.

South Cotabato has the fortune of having politically-sensitive settlers for a voting population, who keep electing progressive-thinking leaders like Daisy Fuentes and the Antoninos in General Santos. Manny Pacquiao wants to try politics, egged on by GMA who hates the opposition Antoninos. Well, he can try.

Neighboring Saranggani will remain under the sway of the Dominguez-Alcantara clan of Davao.

In Sultan Kudarat, the Ilonggo Montillas are raring for a return bout with the Muslim Mangudadatos, father and son.

In the ARMM, dynasties have been the rule since pre-Spanish times, so what else is new? Which explains why most every elected leader has to be an ally of whoever is the Malacañang occupant. Who has the gold and the guns that it can buy rules.

In Bukidnon, it’s Zubiri, with the Acostas in the Del Monte district. New kid on the block, TG Guingona is expected to win re-election handily, if he is not drafted to run as senator.

In Camiguin, the iron grip of Lolong Romualdo and his son continues, and they are likely to switch posts in May. Dongkoy Emano is on his last term as mayor of the Golden City, and guess what, Bobong Calingin, now of the NPC and former governor of Misamis Oriental, wants to run for Cagayan mayor. If Ambing Magtajas, another former mayor, allows it.

In Misamis Occidental, some entente cordiale has to be worked out among the Parojinogs, Claretes and the Ramiros.

In Lanao del Norte, it’s still Bobby Dimaporo and his Imelda.

In Zamboanga del Sur, an uneasy political peace has been forged between former governor and now Rep. Jun Real and the Cerilles couple.

Zamboanga del Norte has become almost completely Jalosjos territory. Even if Romy is in Muntinglupa, the province and particularly his district centered in Dapitan, is well-run and progressive, which is why voters are loyal.

And in the City of Flowers down south, Mayor Celso Lobregat continues in the afterglow of Tita Caling’s lovable reign as congresswoman and mayor for two decades.

Are dynasties good or bad? Some are progressive and development-oriented, while others, or most, are in it only to perpetuate their vested interests. But one thing stands out – with the internal revenue allotments, local dynasts have found financial muscle, and have made a business out of politics. The good ones use the IRA to pump-prime their local economies and give solid social services, for which they are rewarded with re-election, and the election of their kin. The bad ones use the financial independence merely to buy votes and reward political serfs, and keep the population poor and dependent.

Are there any more brave souls who will buck the wave of local dynasties, specially the obviously unproductive ones? Look at Metro Manila where voters are supposedly more "intelligent", and weep.

Are there any more? When will true democracy win, and feudalism end in these islands of seemingly endless misery?





* * * * * * *






‘It is all about realizing that all of us should be but instruments of the greater good.’


Anguish

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It was not a precipitate reaction to Kit Tatad’s overblown angst against family dynasties. It was a deliberate decision made after weeks of meditation in Tanay and an anguished meeting last Monday night between President Estrada and his son Mayor JV.

As early as January 5, in a meeting where some journalists shared a kamayan lunch with him, Estrada intimated to this writer his personal anguish over the political odyssey of his son Joseph Victor. For one, he was the only senatorial candidate nominated by the leadership of the Partido ng Masang Pilipino, just as Koko Pimentel was the PDP-Laban’s bet in the coalition ticket. His interest in a Senate seat was buoyed up by poll surveys placing him at No. 11 in the derby, if elections were held in November 2006. Despite the brouhaha created by Kit Tatad’s fulminations against looming dynasties in the upper chamber, JV even upped his ratings to No. 9 in the last week of January, precisely at the height of the issue’s newsworthiness.

I asked the former president to "hold his horses" and look at the forthcoming surveys, although I felt deeply impressed by the selflessness he was proferring. On January 17, he met Ms. Sonia Roco, perhaps the first time he had a serious talk with Raul Roco’s widow. The following Saturday, in a one-on-one talk, he confessed that he was on the verge of asking his son JV to withdraw in favor of Ms. Roco. I advised him to wait for further political developments, since it looked like the Wednesday group, which was discussing a political coalition with UNO leaders through Senate President Manny Villar, might not come in intact after all. Talk was rife at the time that a so-called "Unity" ticket was being machinated by the NPC’s Jun Dy and the political tacticians who reside in the bowels of the stinking palace beside the stinking river.

"We could give way to Ms. Roco without having to jettison JV," I reasoned out. I also told him that a decision at that point in time would create an impact against Koko Pimentel and Alan Peter Cayetano, leading to an implosion of the cobbled party alliances.

"I want to enlarge the coalition, to include specially the civil society forces, of which Sonia has become a symbol," he argued. I said I fully agreed, as I personally wanted Ms. Roco in our slate, but I pleaded that he take more time to make a final decision, knowing how it would hurt Mayor JV, who could be the advocate of local governments in the Senate, having proven himself how he, without national government support, and a congressman also from the opposition, Ronaldo Zamora, could even better the services available to his constituents.

"Fasten seat belts muna, Sir," I said, while Tatad was bellowing in the airlanes. But last Monday, February 5, again in Tanay, one-on-one, he told me that he had called for JV and his mom, Tita Guia, who would be there that evening. In our conversation, I had gathered that Erap wanted to lay the predicate, should he finally admonish his son to quit from what would be a certain electoral victory. That evening, on his way to Tanay, I even gave encouragement over the phone to the young mayor, confident that UNO could yet include Ms. Sonia Roco without having to expend JV’s chances.

But early Thursday afternoon, with a voice cracking with anguished pain, the President told me he had asked JV to finally sacrifice for the sake of greater unity among forces opposing GMA. "I don’t want these elections framed as a proxy war between Gloria and Erap," he said. "It has to be the People of the Philippines versus Gloria Macapagal Arroyo and her regime of lying, stealing and cheating." The more there are former political adversaries joining us and siding with the people against GMA, the better, Estrada explained.

Words fail me in describing the class act of Joseph Ejercito Estrada and his son Joseph Victor. He will be in detention for six years by the latter half of this campaign, but he continues to be loved by the descamisados and the masa. Now I fully understand. It is all about sensitivity. It is all about realizing that all of us should be but instruments of the greater good.

***

"Forked tongue" is the best description for the GMA government’s tactical communications policy. A month ago, Mike Defensor was mouthing political reconciliation, and appealing even for Estrada’s release on recognizance. Now, GMA’s national security adviser by what lean credentials I have yet to fathom, tells us that they have ordered him "incomunicado" except to closest kin and his lawyers. "We have intelligence reports of an assassination attempt against the former president," says el otro Gonzales.

The former president resides in Camp Capinpin in Tanay, where battalions of Army officers and soldiers keep him imprisoned, on top of a platoon or two of police officers. And they cannot "secure" him from his "friends"? See how political insincerity rules the thinking of this insensitive government?

***

You have to admire Rep. Gilbert Teodoro of the NPC for his intellectual honesty. He has been inveigled by both his party-mates and the administration’s top honchos to run for senator under their "Unity" ticket. He has refused, unable to reconcile the idea of running for a seat in a chamber which barely two months ago, he along with the same administration leaders, wanted to abolish via a rump constituent assembly.

He stands squarely behind a parliamentary system, and has the courage of his political convictions. His inferiors in the administration machinery find no inconsistency with what they proposed and what they are now doing. Trapos they are with hardly any redeeming value.

***

Congress adjourned the other day after frenzied "overtime" to pass several pieces of legislation at the last minute, as usual. Bills that have been languishing in interminable committee hearings and technical working group deliberations, "kuno," were rushed for approval on the floor. The result? Haphazardly written and haphazardly amended legislation that always gets challenged before the Supreme Court.

Both our senators and congressmen wait until the last minute to approve pending legislation, especially when election time is just around the corner. Franchises and special interest laws are approved always at the last minute. Do not wonder why.

History to judge RP revolution, says US war hero’s assassin --inquirer.net

History to judge RP revolution, says US war hero’s assassin



Agence France-Presse

Last updated 06:04pm (Mla time) 02/07/2007


MANILA, Philippines -- Juanito Itaas drums his short, stubby forefingers across his biceps as if itching to squeeze the trigger one more time.

For nearly two decades Itaas, 42, has been held in the maximum security compound of the National Penitentiary on the outskirts of Manila where he is serving life for the assassination of Colonel James "Nick" Rowe, a Vietnam War hero and one of America's most highly decorated soldiers.

A counter insurgency specialist, Rowe was the highest ranking US officer killed in the Philippines since the communist insurgency began nearly 40 years ago.

His assassination on a crowded Manila street on April 21, 1989 rocked the government of then-president Corazon Aquino and the US authorities in Manila.

Sitting in the backseat of his unprotected chauffeur-driven limousine Rowe was oblivious to the threat. As his car slowed in traffic another pulled up alongside and his murderers opened fire with an M-16 assault rifle and a .45 caliber hand gun, killing Rowe instantly.

Itaas, a former teenage guerrilla who rose through the ranks to become an important commander in the Communist Party of the Philippine's New People's Army (NPA), and Donato Continente were tried and convicted of Rowe's murder.

Continente walked free in 2005 after serving 16 years in jail but Itaas remains behind bars, where he frets that the revolution he fought so hard for is passing him by.

Rowe, a graduate of West Point military academy, joined the US army's elite Green Beret Special Forces and went to Vietnam in the early 1960s.

Captured by the Vietcong and tortured repeatedly, he was held in a bamboo cage for five years before escaping.

In 1985 he was put in charge of the Special Warfare Training Battalion in Fort Bragg before being posted to Manila where he was chief of the army division of the Joint US Military Advisory Group providing counter insurgency training for the Philippine military.

He worked closely with the CIA and was involved in a program to penetrate the NPA and the Communist Party of the Philippines which were both undergoing massive ideological upheavals that resulted in bloody purges.

Not long before he was murdered Rowe warned Washington the communists were planning a series of attacks on high profile figures and that he was on the list.

Despite the threats Rowe insisted on taking care of himself and shunned the idea of having armed escorts. As one of his friends put it after his death: "Rowe was a soldier's soldier."

While conceding the NPA was behind the murder, Itaas claims that he was not personally involved.

"I have always said I had no personal involvement in that action undertaken by the movement," Itaas told Agence France-Presse during an interview at the prison.

Arrested shortly after the murder Itaas signed a confession that was later used to convict him of the murder, along with the testimony of a bystander who told the court she saw him firing an automatic rifle into Rowe's car.

He later disowned the confession, alleging it was extracted by police through torture, but his appeal was turned down in 2001.

Standing no more than five feet (1.52 meters) tall, with bulging biceps, Itaas embodies the Maoists' ideal -- a guerrilla leader of farming stock who dropped out of high school at 14 to join the NPA in the Davao region.

By the time he was 20 he was a grizzled urban guerrilla veteran of Davao's "Nicaragdao," a bloody NPA experiment to speed up the revolution, along similar lines used by the Sandinistas of Nicaragua, by bringing the war to the teeming slums of major cities such as Agdao in Davao, on the far southern island of Mindanao.

When he was arrested in Davao shortly after the Rowe murder, Itaas was 24 years old.

Even while in jail he could not escape the bitter split that had taken place within the Communist Party.

The dispute over strategy and tactics within the Party boiled over into the wholesale slaughter of hundreds, perhaps thousands of NPA guerrillas in an internal purge while the rebellion's Netherlands-based founder, Jose Maria Sison, pushed the movement back toward its Maoist roots.

"The movement has changed much," said Itaas, who was confused and angered when the rebel split spilled over into the country's prisons.

Here in the Philippines' main jail facility, those who sided with Sison demanded and won transfer to a new compound, while those who challenged his policies were shunned and ostracized.

Itaas, who said he refused to take sides, was nevertheless bundled into the second category.

Itaas and 23 other so-called political prisoners bunk together in a "brigade" or a row of cots measuring 14 meters (yards) by 12 meters.

Ten others who sided with Sison stay in a separate area.

So what does he think of the revolution now?

"History will be the judge," he said simply. "The issues that fire up revolution such as poverty and inequality remain."

Itaas fears he will no longer be there to influence the outcome of the armed struggle even if he walked free now.

Conjugal visits by his wife allowed them to have three children, now aged between two and 11 years old.

"For me, my three children come first. After that I do not know," he said.

Itaas said a "change of government" remains his most optimistic chance of winning release. But even then, he says, the US may still exert pressure on its loyal ally against releasing him on parole.



Copyright 2007 Agence France-Presse. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.





Tha Daily Tribune : History will judge Philippine revolution—Rowe’s assassin


02/08/2007

MANILA — Juanito Itaas drums his short, stubby forefingers across his biceps as if itching to squeeze the trigger one more time.

For nearly two decades, Itaas, 42, has been held in the maximum security compound of the National Penitentiary on the outskirts of Manila where he is serving life for the assassination of Col. James “Nick” Rowe, a Vietnam War hero and one of America’s most highly decorated soldiers.

A counter insurgency specialist, Rowe was the highest-ranking US officer killed in the Philippines since the communist insurgency began nearly 40 years ago.

His assassination on a crowded Manila street on April 21, 1989 rocked the government of then-President Corazon Aquino and the US authorities in Manila.

Sitting in the backseat of his unprotected chauffeur-driven limousine Rowe was oblivious to the threat. As his car slowed in traffic another pulled up alongside and his murderers opened fire with an M-16 assault rifle and a .45 cal. hand gun, killing Rowe instantly.

Itaas, a former teenage guerrilla who rose through the ranks to become an important commander in the Communist Party of the Philippine’s-New People’s Army (CPP-NPA), and Donato Continente were tried and convicted of Rowe’s murder.

Continente walked free in 2005 after serving 16 years in jail but Itaas remains behind bars, where he frets that the revolution he fought so hard for is passing him by.

Rowe, a graduate of West Point military academy, joined the US Army’s elite Green Beret special forces and went to Vietnam in the early 1960s.

Captured by the Vietcong and tortured repeatedly, he was held in a bamboo cage for five years before escaping.

In 1985, he was put in charge of the Special Warfare Training Battalion in Fort Bragg before being posted to Manila where he was chief of the Army division of the Joint US Military Advisory Group providing counter insurgency training for the Philippine military.

He worked closely with the CIA and was involved in a programme to penetrate the CPP-NPA which were both undergoing massive ideological upheavals that resulted in bloody purges.

Not long before he was murdered, Rowe warned Washington the communists were planning a series of attacks on high-profile figures and that he was on the list.

Despite the threats, Rowe insisted on taking care of himself and shunned the idea of having armed escorts. As one of his friends put it after his death: “Rowe was a soldier’s soldier.”

While conceding the NPA was behind the murder, Itaas claims that he was not personally involved.

“I have always said I had no personal involvement in that action undertaken by the movement,” Itaas told AFP during an interview at the prison.

Arrested shortly after the murder, Itaas signed a confession that was later used to convict him of the murder, along with the testimony of a bystander who told the court she saw him firing an automatic rifle into Rowe’s car.

He later disowned the confession, alleging it was extracted by police through torture, but his appeal was turned down in 2001.

Standing no more than five feet (1.52 meters) tall, with bulging biceps, Itaas embodies the Maoists’ ideal — a guerrilla leader of farming stock who dropped out of high school at 14 to join the NPA in the Davao Region.

By the time he was 20, he was a grizzled urban guerrilla veteran of Davao’s “Nicaragdao,” a bloody NPA experiment to speed up the revolution, along similar lines used by the Sandinistas of Nicaragua, by bringing the war to the teeming slums of major cities such as Agdao in Davao, on the far southern island of Mindanao.

When he was arrested in Davao shortly after the Rowe murder, Itaas was 24 years old.

Even while in jail he could not escape the bitter split that had taken place within the Communist Party.

The dispute over strategy and tactics within the party boiled over into the wholesale slaughter of hundreds, perhaps, thousands of NPA guerrillas in an internal purge while the rebellion’s Netherlands-based founder, Jose Maria Sison, pushed the movement back toward its Maoist roots.

“The movement has changed much,” said Itaas, who was confused and angered when the rebel split spilled over into the country’s prisons.

Here in the Philippines’ main jail facility, those who sided with Sison demanded and won transfer to a new compound, while those who challenged his policies were shunned and ostracized.

Itaas, who said he refused to take sides, was nevertheless bundled into the second category.

Itaas and 23 other so-called political prisoners bunk together in a “brigade” or a row of cots measuring 14 meters (yards) by 12 meters. Ten others who sided with Sison stay in a separate area.

So what does he think of the revolution now?

“History will be the judge,” he said simply. “The issues that fire up revolution such as poverty and inequality remain.”

Itaas fears he will no longer be there to influence the outcome of the armed struggle even if he walked free now.

Conjugal visits by his wife allowed them to have three children, now aged between two and 11 years old.

“For me, my three children come first. After that I do not know,” he said.

Itaas said a “change of government” remains his most optimistic chance of winning release. But even then, he says, the US may still exert pressure on its loyal ally against releasing him on parole. AFP