Ang sumusunod na artikulo ay batay sa orihinal na lathalain na ipinadala ni G. Gomez Rivera.

Para sa mga nanonood na hindi gaano naka-intindi, o nakasunod, ng argumento ng pelikulang TATARIN, na batay sa isang obra ni Nick Joaquin (The Summer Solstice), binibigay namin ang mga sumusunod na pagpaliwanag ni Dra. Belen de los Santos y Sisioco de Arguelles, inampun bilang anak ni Don Epifanio de los Santos y Cristobal  (kung kanino pinangalanan ang EDSA) at dating pangulo ng Division o Instituto de Espanol y Cultura ng DECS. Ang mga pagpaliwanang ukol sa Tatarin binigay ni Dra. Arguelles nuong 1964 pa.

Ang TATARIN ayon kay Dra. Arguelles ay isang ritual upang magkaroon ng anak ang isang babaeng katutubo, lalo na ang mga katutubong Tagala.  Binibigay, nitong mga babaeng nangagtatarin, ang kanilang sarili sa “iilang mga halusinasyon na guinawang mistulang sayaw upang sila’y magkaroon ng anak”.

Pero ang pelikula, na batay sa obra ni Nick Joaquin, maykatha  at pambansang  artista sa panitikan, hindi nagsasabi kung saan, at kung kailan, sumibol  itong ritual ng pagkafertil ng isang babae.

Ang ‘Tatarin’ ay may kaugnayan sa WASP

Hindi rin sinasabi ng pelikula na ang dahilan ng pagsibul ng rito, o ritual, ng TATARIN,  hanggang sa mga taong 1920, may kaugnayan sa pagmasaker ng mga Kanong WASP (White Anglo-Saxon Protestants o mga Puting Protestante) sa mga kayumangguing mga bayaning Pilipino sa panahon ng digmaan ng Estados Unidos laban sa sinalakay nilang unang Republika ng Filipinas na tinatag nuong a 12 ng Hunyo, 1898.

Ang digmaan na inumpisahan ng Estados Unidos, o ng mga Kanong WASP, laban sa unang Republika ng Filipinas nuong  1899 talagang natapos ng mahuli nila ang  pangalawang pangulo ng naturang Republika na si Macario Sakay y De Leon sa  taong 1907.

PINAGPAPATAY ng mga Kanong WASP ang isang milyun at kalahating mga Pilipino  sa pangalan ng digmaang iyon na sinimulan ng mga nasabing Kano ng binaril  nila, sa tulay ng Santa Mesa at San Juan, ang mga walang malay na mga sundalong Pilipino nuong Febrero 1899.

Pinagpapatay ng mga mananakop na mga Kanong WASP ang ikalimang bahagui ng  buong populasyon ng Filipinas ayon kay James B. Goodno, isang historiador na  Kano din. Ang datos na ito makikita sa pahina 33 ng libro ni Goodno na  pinamagatan na: “Philippines, Land of Broken Promises na pinublika sa Nueva  York” nuong 1996.

Ayon kay Dra. Arguelles “ang mga namatay na lalaking katutubo naguing napakarami kung ihambing sa proporsiyon total ng populasyon ng bansa na ang  pakirandam na lumatay sa kababaihan ay ang pangulila dahil pati ang mga  lalaking katutubo na di pinatay, sa digmaang iyon, nagkaroon ng trauma at  parang nawalan sila ng ganang magparami ng lahi. Ang pagkawasak ng kanilang  unang Republika  nagkarron ng malaking epekto sa kanilang pag-iisip at  humina ang kanilang pagnanasa at pakay sa pagkaroon ng mga anak. Dahil sa  kalagayang ito na bumalot sa mga kalalakihang katutubo, nagwala ang mga  kababaihan.”

Ang ritual ng tubig

Patuloy ni Dra. Arguelles: “Pero, ang araw ni San Juan Bautista may isang  ritual ng tubig na siyang pagbabasa sa mga tao maski na sa guitna ng daan.  Dahil sa ritual ng tubig, sumanib dito ang ritual ng TATARIN. At upang  mapagtakpan ang katangiang seksuwal ng ritong ito, pinasiya ng mga babailana  na sumama ang mga nangagsitatarin sa bawat procesion ni San Juan Bautista.”

“Ang pagbabasa ng katawan sa mga dekada ng 20, 30 at 40 may kahulugang  kahalayan na nagbibigay ng estimulasyon sa mga nanood na kalalakihan. Ang  katawang basa ng kababaihan nagpapalitaw ng hubog ng kanilang mga dibdib at  balakang na siyang gumiguising sa mga kalalakihan na nasa mga kalye.”

“Pagkatapos ng pagsama sa prosesyon ni San Juan bilang mga devota nito, ang  mga nangagsitatarin humihiwalay pagkatapos sa isang dakong nakatago kung  saan nila sinisimulan ang mga maiinit nilang sayaw. Mistulang sayaw ng mga  Hitana at mga Flamenca ang mga primitibong kilos at indak nitong mga sayaw  na bunga na kanilang mga halusinasyon at pagnanasa. Ang kahinhinan na dating  katangian ng mga Filipina ay winawaksi. At pagkatapos ng mga ganitong sayaw,  ang mga nagsitatarin ay sumasama sa kanilang mga esposo upang makipagtalik.”

Magpa-tatarin para magka-anak.

“Ang mga babae na mula sa matataas na lipunan at sa panglipunang uri ng mga  may profesyon at edukasyon sa mga unibersidad, may mababang pagtanaw  sa mga  karaniwang nangagsitatarin.  Pero, may ilan din sa kanila ang sumusunod sa  ritual na ito kapag malaki ang kanilang pangangailangan na magkaroon ng  anak.”

Kung naipaliwanag sana ng mas maganda ang kasaysayan ng TATARIN, malamang  na mas malawak din ang pagkakaalam ng madlang nanonood sa kung ano ang tunay  na argumento ng isinapelikulang obra ni Nick Joaquin.
 

*** Webmaster’s Note: Si G. Guillermo Gomez Rivera ay isang awardee ng Premio Zobel at kaanib Academia Filipina. Siya ay dating National Language Committee Secretary ng Philippine Constitutional Convention 1971-73.

By way of background, we are reprinting below an article about the movie:

Filmmaker Tikoy Aguiluz directs Nick Joaquin classic
Posted: 7:33 PM (Manila Time) | November 24, 2001
Inquirer News Service
Source: http://www.inq7.net/ent/2001/nov/25/ent_6-1.htm

 NATIONAL Artist for Literature Nick Joaquin depicted the roaring ’20s in his masterpiece, “Tatarin,” which was first produced as a period play. It presented the ancient pagan dance ritual that is “Tatarin,” a celebration which coincides with the feast of St. John the Baptist.

Through the magic of cinema, “Tatarin” has been turned into a multi-million-peso motion picture, directed by Tikoy Aguiluz and scripted by Ricky Lee for Viva Films. It is intended as an official entry for the Metro Manila Film Festival in December.

To give “Tatarin” a more distinguished credit, another National Artist, Lucresia Kasilag (music), composed the music. Edna Vida of Ballet Philippines choreographed the dance rituals and Dez Bautista was tapped as production designer for the period setting.

Dina Bonnevie and Edu Manzano don period costumes as they lead the stellar lineup of stars in “Tatarin.” Other members of the cast are Raymond Bagatsing, Carlos Morales, Patricia Javier, Daniel Fernando and Rica Peralejo, with the special participation of Tony Amador and Chin-Chin Gutierrez.

“Tatarin” uses the backdrop of the American occupation, the period where the picturesque “Tatarin” ritual awakens the goddesses in the quiet, passive spirits of a mistress of a mansion, Lupe (Dina) and her maid Amada (Rica). Drawn to worship of a centuries-old Balete tree, Lupe and Amada are caught in a trance that liberates them from all their inhibitions.

“Through ceaseless chanting, Lupe and Amada empower the weakest of their sensibilities,” Tikoy explains. “And by some form of erotic pagan dance, they rouse to frenzy the most savage of their desires that from long ago, had been shackled to frigidity by men who dominate their world.”

Both Tikoy and Ricky consider “Tatarin” their most important project to date.

“It is an honor for us to bring to the big screen the work of Nick Joaquin,” Tikoy says.

The director’s film credits include “Boatman,” “Segurista,” “Rizal sa Dapitan,” and “Biyaheng Langit.”

Tikoy is also at the helm of the upcoming Cinemanila Film Festival, to be held next month.
Ricky, meanwhile, wrote the screenplay for memorable films like “Himala,” “Brutal,” “Salome” and “Karnal” among many others.

They were called thus not due to St. Thomas of Aquinas but because they came in a cattle cargo vessel called the “S/S Thomas”.

And they came to teach English as part of the “policy of attraction” after the 1898 Rep�blica de Filipinas was blown up to smithereens by a superior invading military force.

It was obvious that the main content of the so-called policy of attraction was to compulsorily impose English as the only medium of instruction. Benevolent assimilation was to be advanced by “education in English”. If no working knowledge of English was acquired by the native Filipinos, education was unilaterally deemed not to have taken place among them. Without English, a Filipino is deemed illiterate even if he can correctly write and speak in Tagalog or any of his major native languages.

Indeed, before the benevolent Thomasites did come, native children had for their English teachers the McKinley soldiers that claimed to educate “them Injuns with the crank and the kragg”. This claim dovetailed the Mckinleyan motto “to christianize, to educate and to uplift” the Filipino.

But were the Filipinos of the 1900s who were already drinking real potable water; who knew what cheap electricity and silk was; who called friends by note, postcard, phone and telegram, and who grandly celebrated Christmas and Lent, really asking the Thomasites to “educate” them in the English language?

An American linguist of the time, Mary I. Bresnahan, answered that question in the following manner:

“In any case, it continues to be speculative if the Filipino’s purported desire to learn English was genuine or not. Documents tell us about Filipinos trembling with fear inside their huts built on stilts as they expected the intrusion of the cruel Americans reputed to be blood thirsty giants bent on killing even the most trusting among them. Unsure about the real motives of the invaders, the Filipinos did what they thought would please the Americans the most. And that was to learn their language, —English.” (See “The Americanization of the Philippines, The Imposition of English during the 1898-1901 Period” by Alfonso L Garcia Martinez, Law College of Puerto Rico, Vol. 43, pages 237 to 270, May 1982).

To change this general perception, the so-called Thomasites came and were accepted.

Even a secondary Spanish school like Colegio de San Juan de Letran wrote a textbook to teach the English language as early as 1902. This was a help to the beleaguered Thomasites. The book was entitled Manga Onang Turo sa Uicang Ingles written by Tagalog Professor P. Ulpiano Herrero and Spanish Dominican P.Francisco Garcia. (Imprenta UST, Manila, 1902). In this book of 482 pages English language lessons were effectively explained in both the Tagalog and Spanish languages.

But the pro-English language efforts of the Thomasites appeared nil. Too much was expected of them by the American authorities themselves.

By 1916, their hard work was criticized in a report prepared by Henry Ford to President Woodrow Wilson. Wrote Mr. Ford:

“There is, however, another aspect in this case which should be considered. This aspect became evident to me as I traveled through the islands, using ordinary transportation and mixing with all classes of people under all conditions. Although, as based on the school statistics, it is said that more Filipinos speak English than any other language, no one can be in agreement with this declaration if they base their assessment on what they hear on the testimony of their hearing……Spanish is everywhere the language of business and social intercourse…In order for anyone to obtain prompt service from anyone, Spanish turns out to be more useful than English…And outside of Manila it is almost indispensable. The Americans who travel around all the islands customarily use it.” (The Ford Report of 1916. Chapter 3. The Use of English, pp. 365-366.)

What had appeared to be a big deception was the earlier report of Director of Instruction David P. Barrows which said:

“It is to be noted that with the increased study and use of English, there has been an increased study of Spanish. I think it is a fact that many more people in these islands have a knowledge of Spanish now than they did when the American Occupation occurred” (The 1908 School Report, p. 96).”

“Spanish continues to be the most prominent and important language spoken in political, journalistic and commercial circles. English has, therefore, active rivals as the language of trade and instruction. It is equally probable that the adult population has lost interest in learning English. I believe it
is a fact that many more people now know the Spanish language than when the Americans sailed for these islands and their occupation took place…The customary prerequisite for dispatchers is for them to know English and Spanish. Through the great upsurge in numbers and circulation of newspapers and publications, there is much more reading matter in Spanish than before… (Op. Sit. p.9)

But the Thomasites plodded onward. Upon their shoulders was thrown what was thought of as the great task to make Filipinos speak English. This thought was, however, not shared by Filipino educators born out of the Katipunan and the Primera Republica’s Universidad Literaria like Dr. Leon Maria Guerrero and Don Enrique Mendiola, co-founders of the Liceo de Manila, Librada Avelino, founder of the Centro Escolar de Señoritas, Mariano Jocson, founder of the Colegio de Manila, Las Maestras Avanceña and Don Manuel Locsin, founders of the Instituto de Molo, Iloilo, Doña Florentina Tan Villanueva, foundress of the Escuela de Cebu, and Gran Maestra Rosa Sevilla de Alvero founder of the Instituto de Mujeres.

These native educators were for the use of Spanish and Tagalog, with Visayan and Ilocano, as media of national education. They viewed English as “a language of economic conquest”. (See: The Life of Librada Avelino, Bilingual edition in Spanish and English, by Francisco Varona and Pedro de la Llana, Vera & Sons, Publishing Co., 1935, Manila, p.241).

The Thomasites were not only hampered in their task by native resistance, albeit passive. They were also made to know, outright, that English would never become the language of the Filipino masses because it is not written as it is spoken in the same manner that the native languages are done. The century-old Tagalog phrase “mahirap ispiliñgin” (difficult to spell) attests to this reality. Mr. Henry Ford himself refers to this fact when he wrote in his mentioned report the following:

“The use of Spanish as an official language has been extended to January 1, 1920. Its general use seems to be spreading. Natives acquiring it learn it as a living speech. Everywhere they hear it spoken by leading people of the community and their ears are trained to its pronunciation. On the other hand, they (the natives) are practically without phonic standards in acquiring English and the result is that they learn it as a book language rather than as a living speech. “(P.368, Historical Bulletin. Ford Report on the Philippine Situation).

The italicized part is true up to the present time. More so when many children, out of economic hardship brought about by a balooning foreign debt and the increased price of gasoline, electricity and potable water, can not attend primary and secondary schooling. That must be why English is fast becoming a minority language in these islands today. The government and the private schools do not have enough money to pay teachers a truly living wage. And the English speaking elite, as well as the politicians, find themselves forced to campaign in Tagalog, or Filipino, for votes. In other words, the Filipino language ecology has started to self-destruct with the de-emphasis of Spanish, the link between English and Tagalog, Bisaya and Ilocano.

But the Thomasites could not then go on with their task to teach English. The Philippines was not a Tabula Rasa with regard to language. There already was an existing Philippine language ecology with Spanish as its nucleus. The aim to therefore replace Spanish with English as the first step to also replace Tagalog (the actual basis of Filipino or Pilipino) along with Ilocano, Cebuano and Hiligaynon, could not take off with success. And this was the case because the imposition of English was actually going against an existing language ecology that would later get back at even the English language, as it is now starting to happen.

But the early legislative Commissions that ruled the Islands were there to really impose English no matter the cost. And to do so, some draconian measures were inevitably, albeit tyrannically, implemented to help the Thomasites go about their linguistic task. The same Ford Report gives us a glimpse of these measures that came in the form of hard laws.

“Act No. 190 of the Commission (then the legislature) provided that English must become the official language of all courts and their records after January 1, 1906… Act No. 1427 extended the time to January 1, 1911… Act No. 1946 again extended the time to January 1, 1913.” (Op. cit. p. 368).

In short, it was the American WASP regime that started the idea about a language, whether English, Spanish or Tagalog, that must be taught by force of law in order to sink it in upon the psyche of the Filipino. This precedent glaringly belies the much later argument that “the compulsory teaching of Spanish by legislation would not succeed because of its obligatory nature”.

But before January 1, 1913 came, Executive Order No. 44, issued on August 8, 1912, had to allow Spanish to continue as an official language out of sheer necessity. In view of this situation Henry Ford, sounding almost exasperated, concluded that:

“The practical impossibility of substituting Spanish for English in court proceedings and in municipal government was such that even if English was imposed as the Official Language on January 1, 1913, Spanish would still continue in use.” (Op. Cit. p. 369)

Another law was enacted by the Filipino dominated National Assembly on February 11, 1913 further extending the use of Spanish up to 1920. Of this law, Henry Ford reported:

“There is no present prospect that Spanish can be superseded any more readily in 1920 than heretofore. And from all appearances, its place as an official language is securely established.” (Op. Cit. pp. 368-369).

By 1925 a so-called “Monroe Commission” came to the islands to assess the educational system started in English by the Thomasites. With regard the advance of English, this commission concluded:

“Upon leaving school, more than 99% of Filipinos will not speak English in their homes. Possibly, only 10% to 15% of the next generation will be able to use this language in their occupations. In fact, it will only be the government employees, and the professionals, who might make use of English.”

Upon the publication of this result, Modesto Reyes, a Filipino writer in Spanish, publisher and editor of the Rizalist newspaper-magazine ISAGANI, commented that “with the same funding and efforts spent, with the same system and other modern means of instruction now employed in the obligatory instruction of English, if Spanish were instead taught to Filipinos, the proportion of modernly educated Filipinos would have been greater than the number produced with English as the medium of education. Now, because of this failure with English, we have no other just and natural alternative but to adopt Tagalog as the national and the official language.”

And Modesto Reyes bravely added: “In our humble opinion, the Philippines already had a national and official language in Spanish when it formed part of Spain. And we adopted Spanish as our own language because we were in fact Spanish citizens. But came the Americans and without first turning us into American citizens, they just went on forcing us to adopt their language through an educational system paid for by our own tax money.” ISAGANI, P.24, Year 1, No. 5, June 1925.)

The shelling and bombing of Manila in World War Two, as provoked by the landing of the American liberation forces, killed many Filipinos. Among them was a big number of Spanish speakers and writers. And the entry of the liberating American forces suddenly made English a necessary tool of communication for grateful Filipinos who came to adore the G.I. Joe with his chocolates and his pampams.

But right after the grant of the July 4, 1946 independence from the U.S.A. the Soto, Magalona and Cuenco laws were unanimously approved by a still largely Spanish-speaking legislature. Spanish was made a regular subject of the collegiate curricula. Because the older Spanish-speaking generations of Filipinos were still alive, this language continued, in the words of Henry Ford, “as a living language”.

It is because of this that the old U.S, WASP view of Spanish as a threat to English in the Philippines was resurrected. A black propaganda about Spanish being “a dead and irrelevant language” was launched. Parents and students were brainwashed to believe that having Spanish as a 12 unit course was an economic burden. (It was previously with 24 units because the other 12 were for the study of Filipino writings in this language).

With the 1987 Cory Constitution in place, the supposed Spanish threat to the advance of English was at last eliminated from both the official and the educational spheres. Article XIV, Section 7, Paragraph 7 of the Cory 1987 constitution provides that “Spanish and Arabic shall be taught on an optional and voluntary basis”. But while CHED refuses to organize a 12-unit foreign language course for the college curricula, neither Spanish nor Arabic, nor any other foreign language can become a regular subject in the tertiary curricula of this country. But the President of the Republic can remedy the deliberate violation of this constitutional provision by executively ordering CHED and DECS to organize unit accredited foreign language courses.

But, will she?

After one hundred years since the Thomasites landed all that was achieved is the replacement of Spanish as the country’s official language. Aside from this we have the almost secret policy to force into phonetic Tagalog the unphonetic base of English, as pointed out by Henry Ford. This is now being done by ramming the entire English alphabet into Tagalog and into almost all the other major native languages by a DECS circular without any clear objection from the Commission on Filipino.

What could be tragic and funny is that this deliberate alphabetical cross-breeding is resulting into a pidgin called Taglish that may just further deteriorate the common use of English as it definitely and officially damages what used to be standard Tagalog or Filipino.

But the Filipino is said to be profitably entering the global village, albeit as a derided DH and as an entertainer, with English, or Taglish. This slave-like situation of Filipino migrant workers demeans all the previous efforts of the Thomasites. Filipinos today are being “educated” with compulsory English by the tyranny of the Jones law of 1916, the country’s foreign debt and the present Philippine Constitution, just to end up as virtual slaves and prostitutes in other countries that neither have English as their language.

Is this why the teaching of another international languages like Spanish is deliberately being withheld by the U.S. WASP dominated Philippine government of today?.

Is this why a foreign language course, with credits in units in the college curricula, can not be included by the now controversial Philippine Commission on Higher Education (CHED) so that either Mandarin, Spanish and Arabic may be placed within the reach of today’s Filipino student?

Is language tyranny a part of the legacy of the Thomasites?

*** Guillermo Gomez Rivera is a Premio Zobel awardee, a member of the Academia Filipina and former National Language Committee Secretary, Philippine Constitutional Convention 1971-73.

Thus, because of the confusion wrought upon the national psyche of the Filipino people through the implacable requirement of the English language,  —-over Tagalog-Filipino and Spanish—-  the Filipino State has ended up being a virtually lost property to the Filipino people.

The confusion and chaos wrought upon the Filipino language and compulsory English has somehow resulted in  the virtual mortgage of the Filipino State to the U.S. WASP banks and to whatever they may deign dictate over the destiny of Filipinos.

The solution to this betrayal could, perhaps,  be the out-right rejection of the use of the English language on the part of a more respectable Filipino people,——-unless the U.S. government and people take in the Philippines as a State of their Union and assume all the debts, which they themselves did impose upon the Filipino State through slavish Filipino politicians in the first place.

If the U.S. chooses not  take in the Philippines as a State,—-even as a Free Associate state like Puerto Rico—-, the rejection of English must be immediately started by the Filipino people themselves to give way to their own national language as their tool of education, and real freedom and independence, (at least in language and culture) so that the Filipino State will at last acquire a better share of that attribute called “national sovereignty”.

The present ruin of the Philippine economy, and the doormat situation of the Filipino State, —-threatened as it is into becoming a narco-tate—, calls for a  solution such as the one  recommended even if our politicians may still remain as incurably pro-American at their own risk, of course.

Filipinos in general have nothng to lose after all. Anyway, with compulsory English, it is only a few Filipino betrayers and scalawags who can get rich through corruption (i.e. political power) in order to somehow avoid the moral suffering, the actual poverty and the miserable penury imposed upon the majority.

The rest of the Filipino people, as it is now seen and known, are simply being condemned to abject poverty, and stultifying ignorance due to the frequent miseries of over-expensive electricity, over expensive and scarce food, no medical attention, lack of potable water and a deadly environmental destruction through pollution.

In the end, the majority of Filipinos must ask themselves what economic relief, what social benefit can they really get from talking in a mostly fractured English now known as Taglish? Employment as over-sea domestic maids, drivers, entertainers, prostitutes, —-including the child and male varieties?

This degradation upon which the ordinary Filipino job-seeker is forced into, has even turned the name ‘Filipino’ and ‘Filipina’ to mean ‘domestic help’ or servant in the English language.

Is this the reserved place for Filipinos in the English speaking world?

Can the Filipino people ever recover the national honor they once had when they were still a predominantly Spanish-speaking people? Or, will Filipinos need to become totally Chinese in order to recover some honor for themselves?

In time, will Filipinos ever be able to recover their State from its U.S. WASP mortgagees that come as foreign banks and neocolonizing impositions and conditions? Or, will Filipinos just go on being stateless even in their own country because economically marginalized through a whimsical globalization in un-phonetic English?

*** Webmaster’s Note: Guillermo Gomez Rivera is a Premio Zobel awardee, a member of the Academia Filipina and former National Language Committee Secretary, Philippine Constitutional Convention 1971-73.

6.   1900: The Filipino people was deprived of its own State

When the American WASPs had, at last, succeeded in imposing their military and neo-colonial rule, one of them, James Leroy, concluded that the Filipinos became stateless as a result of U.S. expansionism. (See: “Filipinas para los Filipinos”, a book written by Epifanio de los Santos Crist�bal /EDSA/ edited in 1908).

Indeed, the Americans claimed the Philippine Islands as a “territory of the United States of America” but never gave any American citizenship status to the Filipinos as Spain did from the start of her rule.

Thus, while it was the Spaniards who started for all Filipinos the organization of what was later to become their own Filipino State, the basis of their national patrimony and rights, the American WASPs took away from the Filipinos, their own STATE.

This explains what James Leroy said.

This is the reason why the fact about Filipinos having been Spanish citizens is deliberately being silenced in any present history text book of this country.

And this all because our servile educational authorities of today are afraid to recriminate the American WASPs for having withheld the U.S. citizenship due to the Filipinos in lieu of the latter’s loss of their status as Spanish citizens and, later, their own loss as citizens of their own independent 1898 Rep�blica, —which the same U.S. WASP invaders brutally destroyed and robbed.

This is why a famous newspaper writer, Tirso Irrureta Goyena, who was also a lawyer, a political science professor, a poet and a friend of Claro M. Recto, wrote the following critique in 1916 against the unjust American take-over of the Filipino State at the great expense and loss of the Filipino people.

Wrote Goyena:

“The American occupational Government in the Philippines ought to make it known that the Filipinos now live under the American flag but are not American citizens nor can they call themselves Filipinos since no Filipino State is presently allowed to exists; that this people therefore are like the Jew, robbed of National personality; but that under the Spanish rule the Filipinos were Spanish citizens and could occupy, as many occupy still, important posts in the Motherland.

“It ought to make it known that now the Filipino cannot command American troops, white troops, because the brown color of his skin forbids it, but that this color never was an obstacle under Spanish rule to keep a native Filipino from commanding white Spanish troops, as several of them actually continue to do up to now in Spain.

“It ought to make it known that the Filipino, on account of the color of his skin, can neither be a member of a white association of Christian young men, now being organized as such into a common  center but in a separate building for Filipino associates, when there already exists one for Americans and foreign whites.

“This is a reflection of what occurs in the Southern States where the Negroes have to form, if they can, their own circles, their own clubs and societies apart from the whites.

“It ought to make it known that the present U.S. government here is not like that of unfortunate Spain, the old Spanish one being “by and for Filipinos” with the aggravating circumstance that the presently best figs in the budget, the best positions and the best salaries, are, in their majority, primarily being enjoyed by Americans, whilst the inferior posts of clerks, messengers and porters are exclusively reserved for Filipinos, even if better educated and instructed than the Americans.

“It ought to make it known that, formerly, Spanish missionaries used to evangelize the savage tribes of the interior, forming them into village and town communities, converting them to Christianity and infusing into their souls the spirit of civilized beings; but now, a Worcester puts himself to “civilizing” those same tribes with glass toys and with cinematic projections, to get them to fashionably part their hair in the middle, whilst in their interior they remain savages like before; “It ought to make it known that now many more millions of pesos are extracted from the Filipino people than in Spanish times, and a pile of money is spent in Public Instruction only to have those thousands of supposedly instructed young men, that yearly come out of those schools, find themselves unemployed because the have not been given, in reality, any other future in their own country save that of dependents and petty clerks in American concerns that economically exploit the Filipino natural resources; that the lucky student who is sent to America with money wrested from the Filipino people, has to pay for what they tell him is a U.S. privilege when, in reality, the money that was spent for him he really owes to his own people, whom he later betrays when he makes over his personality to become a half-baked American that has to give undue thanks to the American administration.

“It ought to be known that in many public employment positions, competent and intelligent Filipinos are put below incapable Americans, and have to obey American superiors whom these Filipinos must instruct because they really know nothing of their charge.

“It ought to be made known that the miserly pay which the Filipino school master gets in the public schools is a pittance when compared to the splendid salaries drawn by principals, supervisors, superintendents and high American functionaries in the department of education funded by tax money arbitrarily collected from Filipinos.

“It ought to make known that here, it is the American Government itself that functions to the detriment of the interests of individuals, because it is the American government here that goes into the business of freighting vessels, of supplying ice, of manufacturing furniture and of printing textbooks; And that in public bidding and awards, the bid of “the local firms” are accepted, but Filipino money still leaves the country because those bidding firms are, in fact, American companies since the companies which first enjoy franchises and privileges are the American ones, or those enjoying American patronage, whilst the enterprises of Filipinos and other foreigners are without any protection.

“Finally it should make known that all, absolutely all Filipinos who now occupy high positions in the Assembly (Philippine House of Representatives) in the Courts, in commerce, in the arts, and in the administration are products of the Spanish education which the Americans and their lackeys here treacherously attack in newspapers and school textbooks at every turn.

“It is but a fact that all the Spanish-speaking Filipinos who are today’s honored statesmen, noted writers, distinguished priests and recognized artists, —–which is an impressive intellectual phalanx of greatness—–, are precisely the ones who do so much honor to the Filipino nation thereby vindicating for it a high place among the most civilized nations and not the miserably confused lot that have now graduated from this colonial system of mal-education; that, in order to provide intelligent pupils for these present day American schools of reinforced concrete now being built upon American orders, but at the expense of Filipino money, Spain had to first succeed in giving existence here to a cultured, Christian and civilized society; —–And that if Spain had not accomplished this gigantic and sublime work, America would not need to build schools of concrete now, but would have been forced to erect barracks of wood and strongly fenced iron pens to herd in them an uncivilized Filipino people, like they often do to this day with the Red-skins that are still penned up in the so called U.S. State Reservations, because in contrast to what the present Spanish educated Filipinos are in this first decade of the 1900s, Anglo-Saxon Protestant civilization has reached absolutely nothing higher with the original natives of the American continent.” (See P.122: “Por el Idioma y Cultura Hispanos”, Tirso de Irrureta Goyena, UST Press, Manila, 1917).

*** Webmaster’s Note: Guillermo Gomez Rivera is a Premio Zobel awardee, a member of the Academia Filipina and former National Language Committee Secretary, Philippine Constitutional Convention 1971-73.

5.  Maturity of the Filipino State in 1898

Thus, after 337 years, the FILIPINO STATE became so rich and so vibrant that from a mere missionary outpost it went on to become a colony, in the Spanish sense of the word. It went on to become an over-sea Spanish province under a Ministerio de Ultramar until it graduated into the 1898 Republica Filipina which the invading American forces of the 1900s literally destroyed with an unjust war by murdering one sixth of its total population (see: “The Philippines, Land of Broken Promises” by James B. Goodno, page 33) and plundering from it its reserve in gold and silver worth, according to witness Soledad Vital de Luna (in her 1952 letter), over one hundred billion U.S. dollars.

From the full-fledged STATE that it was, the Filipino State was grossly demoted into a servile U.S. neo-colony ridden, from the start, with graft and corruption as aptly described by the El Renacimiento Editorial of 1907, “Aves de Rapida” (Birds of Prey).

The Republica Filipina of 1898, as the legitimate owner of the Filipino STATE, gallantly defended itself against the U.S. WASP invasion in a protracted war that began in the Santa Mesa-San Juan bridge, with one Captain Grayson being the first to treacherously open fire upon Filipino soldiers.

The Filipino-American war formally ended with the capture and execution of the second President of the Republica Filipina, Macario Sakay, in 1907.

*** Webmaster’s Note: Guillermo Gomez Rivera is a Premio Zobel awardee, a member of the Academia Filipina and former National Language Committee Secretary, Philippine Constitutional Convention 1971-73.

4.   The integration of the pre-Hispanic ethnic states

The majority of the local Chieftains that came to the 1599 synod, upon learning of the foregoing benefits, overwhelmingly voted Yes to the proposal about the Spanish King being their sovereign.

Even the Moslems of Manila, of Joló and Mindanao said Yes to this proposition thereby integrating their own local Estates into the recently founded Filipino State. The favorable vote of these early Moslem groups was later affirmed by Sultan Alimuddin of Joló when he later visited Manila.

Thus the local Moros also participated in the establishment of the Filipino State from the start.

The 150 or so Chinese residents in Mayi-in-I-la also said “Sí” to the same proposal and became citizens of Spain.

Thus, the Filipino STATE, started out with three kinds of people as its founding constituents. These are the Spanish Conquistadores and Frailes, the Tagalog, Visayan and Capampañgan katutubô or indigenous (Indios to the Spanish records) and the Chinese that migrated from both China and the destroyed Orang Dampuan settlement in northern Mindadanao.

As the Messianic Spanish Frailes went on with the founding of Catholic pueblos, which they also endowed with maiz, camote, kamatis, sibuyas, ajos, calabaza and the guisado, the asado, the pinirito (frito), the salseado, the enjamonado, the embutido and the puchero and the tinola, they also got the Chinos Cristianos to bring over some Chinese culture, particularly their cuisine.

With the help of their indigenous flock and their Chino Cristiano co-adjutores, the Frailes got to build, through the bayanihan system of both the Polo and the Falla, all those awesome Catholic churches, roads, bridges and Casas-Tribunales and Casas Reales that used to dot every Filipino pueblo of recent times.

Thus, the Filipino STATE became consolidated in fact because of the patient work and determination of the Spanish Frailes at the head of their Indio and Chino Cristiano flock.

Then, Filipinos, with their Indio and Chino Cristiano relations, became full-fledged Spanish citizens. This happened in 1810 when they were given Spanish surnames for identification and tax purposes. Those who wanted to keep their Indio, or Chino Cristiano, surnames were allowed to do so with the condition that these be spelled and pronounced in Spanish.

Thus Indio surnames like Macaspac, Maglaque, Agcaoili and Chino Cristiano surnames like Tantiongco, Cojuangco, Tanjutco, Locsin, Lacson, etcetera, became Spanish surnames with their owners also becoming Spanish citizens.

There were only five kinds of taxes imposed upon them. These were: the cédula personal, the licencia, the amillaramiento, the aduana and the herencia.

There were, then, no such oppressive things as a yearly income tax to pay at source and to file every March and April. There were no oppressive EVAT, no gasoline tax, no electrical and water distribution tax, no amusement tax, no 70% inheritance tax, no confiscatory land and business taxes, no court, litigation, entertainment and prostitution taxes and no cigarette and drink taxes, etc. etc. now collected to mainly pay an atrocious foreign debt and an oversized and graft-and-corruption ridden bureaucracy.

In the Nineteenth Century Filipinos revolted against Spain in their desire for political reforms but were overtaken by the war declared by the U.S.A. in order to grab Cuba, Puerto Rico and Filipinas, the three last provincias de ultramar or Spanish over-sea provinces.

The U.S. WASP invaders did not only downgrade into a mere “insurrection” the Filipino resistance to their war. With the war they cruelly imposed upon the recently born República Filipina of 1898 the unphonetic English language.. The U.S. WASP  invaders cruelly nullified the flowering of the 1571 freely established State in Asia.

*** Webmaster’s Note: Guillermo Gomez Rivera is a Premio Zobel awardee, a member of the Academia Filipina and former National Language Committee Secretary, Philippine Constitutional Convention 1971-73.

3.  What was the status of the Filipino State in 1571?

Its status was that of a Province of Spain administered through the vice-kingdom of New Spain which is Mexico today.

At the beginning, the Filipino State was treated as a missionary and military outpost by its creators. The Spanish military was there to guard and protect the missionaries and the scant Spanish civil population that came to settle in the Islands.

But this situation does not affect the other fact that the constituents of the newly formed Filipino State were primarily the Spanish Conquistadores followed by the indigenous (mostly Tagalog, Pampango and Visayan) and Chinese population that accepted the King of Spain as their sovereign.

Naturally, by accepting the Spanish King as theirs, all those mentioned became Spanish citizens in fact.  And as Spanish citizens they shared in whatever attributes of sovereignty that Spain had at that time.

This is the reason why Spain was referred to as their State’s Mother Country. And this also may explain why Filipinos stood with Spain, for almost four hundred years, against all the several invasions of their islands launched by the Dutch, Limahong and the British.

We may add that under the United States of America, the Filipinos stood by her against Japan because they  lived with the thought of sharing with Americans their country’s attribute of sovereignty even if General MacArthur, unlike Sim�n de Anda, chosed to flee from the Philippines leaving Filipinos to themselves with the phrase ‘I shall return’.

The tragedy of the Filipino war veterans waiting for American compensations in the form of a grant of U.S. citizenship with all its benefits, is a drama that we are witnessing up to now and well into the new millennium. But this fact is merely noted as a footnote to the relative “attribute of sovereignty” due the existing Filipino State.

Going back to the establishment of the Filipino State in 1571, we moreover note that when the reigning King of Spain became Felipe II, the name Felipeno acquired a more pragmatic connotation. It meant ‘one who paid tribute, or taxes’, to Felipe. Thus Felipenos were also the Indios who rendered service in his name and the Chinos Cristianos that paid the necessary licencia  (a form of tax) to him for doing business in the Islas Felipenas. The other Felipenos were, or course, the Spanish Conquistadores and Frailes that served Felipe II.

 (As a linguistic note, we remind our co-Filipinos that the two letters “E” in Felipeno were eventually replaced with the letter “I” because the indigenous Al�bata did not have neither an “E” nor an “O” in its composition. Being influenced by Arabic it only had three vowels or phonemes, —-namely A, I, U).

The form of government that came with the founding of the FILIPINO STATE was monarchial and it had the main feature of being one with the Catholic Church because of the Patronato Real. This was an agreement of unity between Madrid and Rome.

From this Patronato Real, the unity between the Spanish monarch and the Pope produced the first aim of Spanish colonization which is to Christianize.

By 1599, or twenty eight years after the founding of the Filipino State, a Synod was organized in Manila wherein all the Maharlic� Chieftains, R�gulos, Principales, Rajahs and Datus or heads, of the  different Ethnic States that were still existing in the entire archipelago, were assembled in Manila to answer the simple question (called a requirimiento) if they accepted, or did not, the Spanish King as their sovereign. (See John Leddy Phelan’s “The Hispanization of the Philippines”, p. 25 as edited and presented by historian Renato Constantino’s Filipiniana Reprint Series, Manila, 1985).

The Synod had this one simple and main question addressed to all the representatives of the native Ethnic States. “Do you accept the King of Spain as your lawful sovereign?”

The question was translated to them in all their different native languages.

Before answering Yes, the Chieftains conferred among themselves and then frankly asked the Spaniards under Legaspi what benefits they would get if they elected the Spanish King as their sovereign.

The Spanish answers were, more or less, the following:

(1) They would have the organizational benefits of Christianity since their acceptance of the Catholic Religion will not only mean the salvation of their souls but also the conversion of their barangays into sitios, their several sitios into a barrio, their several barrios into a municipio, their several municipios into a provincia with a cabecera, and, their several provincias into a “estado regional” under a Concejo de Indias of the Crown of Spain. By the 1800s, Las Islas Felipenas would fall under the Ministerio de Ultramar as an over-sea province (Provincia de Ultramar) along with Cuba and Puerto Rico.

(2) The indigenous people would become, so to speak, CITIZENS of Spain because “your friends will be our friends and your enemies will be our enemies”, in the tenor of the Requirimiento read to them.

(3) They would also have a better economy, from one that was of subsistence in character to one that was utilitarian. This would occur upon the arrival of new industrial and agricultural plants, root crops and vegetables like the maize, the caf� bean, the chocolate cacao, patties, camotelc, (camote) tobacco, cassava, papaya, man�, lanca, calabaza, tomatoes, onions, sincamatelc, (sincamas) camachictelc (camachile), etcetera, aside from the introduction of the arado (araro) and the azad�n (asarol), the sistema de caj�n of planting rice and a working irrigation system with the introduction of the horse (kabayo), the cow (Baka), the carabao (imported from Vietnam), the sheep and new fowl like the ganza, the pavo and a new breed of pato.

(4) From Manila, the capital city, a national system of government would improve the local pre-Hispanic system of governance for every Ethnic State since with Christianization and the founding of the pueblos or municipios the integration into one, single, Filipino State of all the previously different local, or ethnic, nations would be achieved.

(5) There were other things, relevant to a national Filipino infrastructure, that were possibly mentioned and explained like the organization of parochial schools, colleges and a university (UST), a foreign trade v�a the Acapulco-Manila Galleons, a system of land ownership with the encomiendas that would later become partitioned into haciendas, an inter-island transportation system, etc..

(6) The gradual spread of Spanish, along with the principal languages (Tagalog, Bisaya and Ilocano) as the primary official language of the courts and public documents would be the hallmark of progress. The mentioned principal native languages would also be developed with a common phonetic and Hispanic alphabet in order to convert them into better tools of Christianization and basic European civilization and education for the indigenous people.

*** Webmaster’s Note: Guillermo Gomez Rivera is a Premio Zobel awardee, a member of the Academia Filipina and former National Language Committee Secretary, Philippine Constitutional Convention 1971-73.

Part 1: What is a ’state’?
Part 2: When was the origin, or birth of the Filipino state?
Part 3: What was the status of the Filipino state in 1571?
Part 4: The integration of the pre-Hispanic ethnic states
Part 5: Maturity of the Filipino state in 1898
Part 6: 1900: The Filipino people was deprived of its own state
Part 7: Was the Filipino state mortgaged and hocked? Was it grossly betrayed? Will the Filipinos remain to be stateless even in their own country?

1.  What is a ’state’?

A small dictionary defines state as “a territory with laws”.

The word “laws” in this definition naturally implies that there are people living in that “territory”. This also means that the “territory” is the patrimony of the people living in it for which they have laws.

And the very fact that a territory has its own laws, it also implies that it has a basic attribute of sovereignty to make such laws for itself.

Thus, the word “laws” in this definition also implies that there is a government, with defending soldiers or policemen, existing in the same and referred to territory that enforces those laws upon the people living in it.

That government may be monarchial because the ruler is a Chieftain or a King or by whatever title such a ruler may be called.

Let us now find out the origin and evolution of the State that locals, as well as foreigners, now call as the Filipino State. Ang Estado ng Filipinas.

2.  When was the origin, or birth, of the Filipino State?

When Philippine history is taught now-a-days, the origin, or birth, of the Filipino State is not discussed. It is deliberately omitted.

By whom? - You would ask. And we would answer pointblank:  —– by our White Anglo Saxon Protestant  (WASP) masters who by their undue interference in the language and economic policies of the Filipino State threaten, or violate, its attribute of sovereignty.

Why? - You would again ask.  In order to turn Filipinos into strangers in their own country for the purpose of better exploiting them economically in the midst of their confusion about themselves.

And this charge can be proved true by the un-Filipino results of the educational system principally conducted in English which most often makes relative, or insecure, the attribute of sovereignty of the Filipino State.

But let us go back to the main question. When was the birth of the Filipino State?

The answer is very easy.

At the same instant that Manila was founded and established as its capital city. And the date given to that event is June 24, 1571.

It is, therefore, a fact that the Filipino State was simultaneously founded with the founding of Manila.  For, why should there be a capital city, seat of a Central Government and Law, without a corresponding State to govern?

And due to this fact, we come across a grave error being committed in the manner Philippine history is taught in our schools.

We often tell our students and children that Manila was founded on June 24, 1571 as the Capital City of the Philippines but we always fail to teach that with its founding the Filipino State was also founded and established.

We also fail to underscore that from that day onward, the Filipino State began to exist as a jurisdictional reality up to the present time as we find ourselves talking about it in this year 2000.

 *** Webmaster’s Note: Guillermo Gomez Rivera is a Premio Zobel awardee, a member of the Academia Filipina and former National Language Committee Secretary, Philippine Constitutional Convention 1971-73.

A Filipino dinner will consist of soup, two or three courses, and dessert. Only water is served to drink during meals, although these days soft drinks are sometimes served. Wealthy, Westernized, sophisticated Filipinos may serve wine. Rice is the staple food in place of bread or potatoes. Filipinos eat with spoon and fork, using the fold to push the food into the spoon. At a more grandiose feast, food may also be served buffet style, in which case a great variety is spread on a table and guests serve themselves with minimal formality.

If it is a family gathering such as a birthday party or a wedding anniversary, groups will break up according to generation or age, with the young children, the teenagers and unmarried, the married, and the grandparents tending to form separate clusters. Children are expected to stay in the background; they usually play together outside or in an inner room.

If the dinner guests include many non-relatives, there will still be family groupings, but the guests who are not part of the family enjoy special places, and quite often there is a polarizing of the sexes with women getting together and the men conversing in a group before the feast.

Filipinos enjoy dancing and many private parties culminate with disco dancing. Music - these days from a loud stereo system - is also part of the festive mood. On these occasions the men are offered gin, scotch or beer. Few women will drink alcohol, but for the men it is an exercise in machismo. However, while there is some pressure to be convivial and indulge, there is also the presence of the wives and some teasing to assure moderation. In rustic settings, the drinking may be a bit heavier, the men seem more inclined to prove masculinity, and the alcoholic beverages may be the local toddy (tuba) or its more potent, distilled form, called lambanug.

There is always the pressure of pakikisama, of being one of the boys, to get everyone to drink, and the trick, of course, is to be able to fend off subsequent offers when you feel you have reached your limit. And in spite of the teasing and the gentle jabs at amor-propio, most Filipinos smile and drink moderately.
*** Reprinted from Culture Shock! Philippines, A Guide to Customs and Etiquette. Posted at emanila*pilipino, September 10, 2001

“Be proud of yourself……you can do anything you put your mind to.”

In the Philippines, Filipinos were introduced to  the English language in 1762 by British invaders, not Americans.

What is the world’s 3rd largest English-speaking nation, next to the USA  and the UK? The Philippines.

The USA bought the Philippines, Puerto Rico and Guam from Spain in1898. The Filipino-American Independence War from 1898 to 1902 ensued, killing  4,234 Americans and how many Filipinos? 16,000 were killed in action and 200,000 died from famine and  pestilence. (The Philippines lost and was colonized until 1946.)

Los Angeles, California was co-founded in 1781 by a Filipino named Antonio Miranda Rodriguez, along with 43  Latinos from Mexico sent by the Spanish government .

What antibiotic did Filipino doctor Abelardo Aguilar co-discover?
Hint: Brand is Ilosone, named after Iloilo. Erythromycin.

The one-chip video camera was first made by Marc Loinaz, a Filipino inventor from New Jersey.

The first ever international Grandmaster from Asia was Eugenio Torre who won at the Chess Olympiad in Nice, France in 1974.

This son of two Filipino physicians scored over 700 on the verbal portion of the Standardized Achievement Test (SAT) before the age of 13  -  Kiwi Danao Camara of Punahou School, Hawaii…

Edward Sanchez, a Mensa member, bagged the grand prize in the first Philippine Search for Product Excellence in Information Technology.

Who was the Filipino-American dancer who scored a perfect 1600 on the SAT? Joyce Monteverde of California.

Who invented the fluorescent lamp? Thomas Edison discovered the electric light and the fluorescent lighting was thought up by Nikola Tesla. But the fluorescent lamp we use today was invented by Agapito Flores (a Cebu man named Benigno Flores of Bantayan Island, according to the Philippine Daily Inquirer), a Filipino scientist.

Pure- or part-Filipino celebrities in American showbiz include

Von Flores, Tia Carrere, Paolo Montalban, Lea Salonga, Ernie Reyes Jr., Nia Peeples, Julio Iglesias Jr., Lou Diamond Phillips, Phoebe Cates and Rob Schneider.

The first Filipino act to land a top hit on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart in the 1960s was the group Rocky Fellers of Manila. Sugar Pie de Santo (father was from the Philippines), The Artist formerly known as  Prince (according to the October 1984 article “Prince in Exile” by Scott Isler in the magazine Musician), Jaya, Foxy Brown and Enrique Iglesias followed.

Pure Filipinos who made success in minor charts were Jocelyn Enriquez aka Oriental Madonna, Buffy, Pinay and (Ella May) Saison. Latina-American pop star Christina Aguilera lost to Filipina vocalist Josephine Roberto aka  Banig during the International Star Search years ago. In a mid-1999 MTV chat, she said that competing against someone of Banig’s age was “not fair.”

Besides gracing fashion magazine covers, this international supermodel from Manila had walked the runways since the 1970s for all the major designers,  like Calvin Klein, Chanel, Christian Dior, Christian Lacroix, Donna Karan, Gianni Versace and Yves Saint Laurent - Anna Bayle.

Who is the personal physician of United States Pres. William Clinton? Eleanor “Connie” Concepcion Mariano, a Filipina doctor who was the youngest captain in the US Navy.

The first Filipino-American in US Congress was Virginia Rep. Robert Cortez-Scott, a Harvard alumnus.

Distinguished British traveler-writer A. Henry Savage Landor, thrilled upon seeing a Bicol landmark in 1903, wrote: “Mayon is the most beautiful mountain I have ever seen, the world-renowned Fujiyama (Mt. Fuji) of Japan  sinking into perfect insignificance by comparison. Mayon has the world’s most perfect cone.”

Filipinos had their first taste of Mexican chili and corn during the Manila-Acapulco galleon trade (1564-1815). In return, Mexico’s people had their initial taste of tamarind, Manila mango and a Filipino banana called racatan or lakatan.

Founded in 1595 by Spaniards, the University of San Carlos in Cebu City, Philippines is older than Harvard and is the oldest university in Asia.

University of Santo Tomas in Manila, established in 1611, is Asia’s second oldest.

Who was the first Asian and/or Filipino to snatch America’s Pulitzer Prize? Philippines Herald war journalist Carlos P. Romulo in 1941. (He was also the first Asian to become UN President.)

The first two Filipino-Americans to garner the same award 56 years later were Seattle Times’ Alex Tizon and Byron Acohido, who is part-Korean.

Filipino writer Jose Rizal could read and write at age 2, and grew up to speak more than 20 languages, including Latin, Greek, German, French and Chinese. What were his last words? “Consummatum est!” (”It is done!”)

“What’s still most impressive to me about the Philippines is the friendliness of the people, their sense of humor…,” wrote Honolulu journalist John Griffin in a 1998 visit to Manila.

*** Note: We found this material one evening in our emailbox. We thought we should upload it for the benefit of all and sundry. / webmaster rc 13 March 2000