My "Inventing a Hero" Day

I just read Glenn May’s “Inventing a Hero” and I enjoyed it so much, I’ve browsed over it before, I remember wanting to purchase it but not having enough money, I was still in college then, working at some food chain while studying. I passed on many books that I wanted to buy then, even now, great thing that those past titles can be found in libraries, they have been safely deposited for the future generation. Libraries are one of the greatest services that a government can offer its people, for me they’re like the modern day betamax tape renting shop.

No, I won’t attempt any critical book reviews here, I’ll leave it to those who make a living out of dispensing their criticisms, anyway the books has been around for almost a decade - the high and mighty doctors of history have already dissected the book - we already have our work cut out for us , whatever I say here would be just some personal thoughts I wanted to write down, nothing more.

Aside from the memories it brought me, I have sought to read the book in its entirety for years and since I've been a regular customer here in Singapore National Library, why not take the whole day reading it. You don’t need no special ID’s here, you’re free to browse, pick a spot and read the book of your choice. However, that’s all a foreign visitor could do. You could also borrow rare books but you would have pay for it and wait for days but you can’t take it out of course, only residents can do that.

Back to the book, it was a well researched project, no doubt about it. The author, I gather was criticized by the academes back home for his work, but you can’t put a good work down – unfortunately, the three main characters [EDSA, his son & Ago] is no longer with us, but I’m curious to find out what would have been their reaction to all of these, the brilliant Lleto has been included in the book also, with his "Pasyon and Revolution", where he linked the movement to the millinarian Filipino tradition,  what he did, according to May, added to the myth of Bonifacio. In my opinion, May did the work of a true historian, he was not out to discredit anyone, his evidence can not be denied. i can't find any fault in his argument, we should learn from his work.

The patriotism of Bonifacio is not in question, it never was but the motives behind the “reinventing” is. Behind this intentional move to present a sanitized Bonifacio is a nationalist agenda. The intention was good, after all nationalism are known for its three main objective; freedom, unity and building a nation – and during the Revolution and American years, there was  need to raise the consciousness of the Filipino, to arouse their patriotism, so that they'll have a desire to fight for their freedom, but it kept us away from the truths that we ought to know about that critical phase of our nationhood]. The nationalist had taken upon themselves to contribute in this effort, through Bonifacio [and other historical inventions], since he’s the  “masa” type, which is what many Filipinos are during those days,he was perfect for the role. It was in May’s words, “trying to move nationalism from the elites back to the common people”. This is what they did, This is where all the alterations began – the political agenda of the men behind it knows exactly what they were doing, the recreation of Bonifacio is not an isolated case, we had the “Maragtas” of Monteclaro, the Kalantiaw and The Burgos novel, to name a few – and we have not seen the end of this, as long as historians put a political dimension on historical events, well continue to uncover more, its just a matter of time.

“What sense can we make of such willful, wholesale distortions of the historical record in the service of nationalism?”, May asking his reader but conceding that even he does not know the answer, but the obvious is that by having heroes, you have inspiring models that people can emulate, it’s the perfect tool! You’ll have inspired admirers like the militant youths that we see today, believing that Bonifacio was indeed the great plebeian, the literary master and the super patriot.

New documents has resurfaced, and I was told by a friend that Bonifacio was not born in Tondo but in Binondo, near the border – I have not seen anything yet but I would be least surprise if it turns out to be true, they had filled Bonifacio’s life with myths that I could no longer trust the information we have on him, since modern day historians primary source has been the doctored documents presented as original. Agoncillo’s book, considered by many as most authoritative is even questioned by his own student, Ocampo. Even his close associate, who co authored “History of the Filipino People” had some questions about his method, one thing’s for sure, he’s part of this whole nationalist movement that created a generation of historically mis educated Filipinos in the name of whatever political and social change he had in mind.

The only men that questions our standard history lessons [the Agoncillo inspired Philippine history] are those who were outside his influential sphere, for many Agoncillo historians, however, his works presents the true story behind the major historical events of the Filipino but historians like, Joaquin, Gomez-Rivera, Schumacher and mostly foreign scholars are the voices that has been outstanding in correcting his historical inaccuracies. Decades of nationalist schooldominated the historcial establishment, however, had already damaged our historical text, the orthodoxy is widespread and accepted nationwide.

The “plebeian” moniker is undeserved, but this reputation worked for Bonifacio so I doubt it if he'll contest this name. The only reason I see why people try to keep the recreated version of Bonifacio is that it makes them feel good that someone like them made a difference, that a poor and uneducated made the revolution and that it belong to the "masa" not to the rich hero's, it could be inspiring that the person who started the revolution is a common Filipino [I like the idea myself its so dramatic], not the ilustrado and certainly not someone belonging to the propertied gentry, it’s like our peoples illusion that Erap Estrada is maka-masa because he had humble beginning when in fact this man has never tasted poverty all his life, he belongs to a rich Pagsanjan family.

Bonifacio is not the bolo guy in the red pants that monuments, paintings and books tells us, in fact he prefers the pistol - his only picture in our possesion is  taken during his first wedding - and he was wearing an americana with a matching tie. He lost both of his parents at an early age, it could have been hard for him and his siblings, but a glimpse at his activity during his adult life would show us his status in the society he's part of, and its revealing. If there is anything poor about him is that he never had a good education later in life [unlike the highly educated hero's] but what he lacked in formal training he compensated in reading books, as Valenzuela wrote in his memoir, Andres was so into reading that he sometimes skips his sleeping hours. The biographers of Bonifacio tell us that he had in his collection, titles like: The Wandering Jews, Rizals Novel's and literature about the French revolution. We could never know how they were able to tell what’s on Bonifacio’s shelves, but if it was true that he had these titles, he read them in Spanish [Rizal's novel was all in Spanish], this clearly debunks that stupid Rizal movie [with montano playing Pepe] where he was portrayed having difficulty reading, he's certainly not a stupid man, Katipunan is a testament of his genius in organization. He had a elementary education, it was in a private school, the medium of instruction is Spanish, and this should settle whether he spoke Spanish or not [add to this are his maternal relatives which are Spaniards].

How could someone be in the bottom of the society then, when he had been inducted as a Mason, he had been a member of La Liga which brought him rubbing elbows with the ilustrado society, he had been elected supremo when in that group there were professionals, rich, educated and experienced leaders than him and finally, how could he court a daughter of a government official if he was a nobody? – I could go on and on but the simple point that I’m trying to make is that, we had in our historical books – broadsheet editorial like sections, creations of the imagination,  what have we done to this man?

I end this little commentary with Glen May’s words:”Old myths die hard…if it serves vital ideological and political functions.”

Sanctuario de San Pedro Bautista

The Franciscan Garden

Just when you thought that Quezon City has nothing to offer but the metro feel, top schools, colossal malls and trendy subdivisions, think again.

When you reflect on the old Filipinas what comes to mind is Manila and the well-known  provincia's (Vigan, Taal etc) but rarely someone would think of Quezon City as having something similar to the grand old churches and casa's of this enchanted Filipino Spanish towns.

The new fascade of the ol' Iglesia (it still stands on the original foundations of the first church, the rearrangement and renovations has drastically altered the first church)

Well, of course there are fine historical sites in Quezon City, I've always wanted to visit President Quezon's final resting place in Quezon circle but never had the time (or find not to have time). In Bagong Silang you have the site of the "Battle of San Mateo", Pugad Lawin and the Tandang Sora Shrine, just to name a few.

But the most amazing discovery I made recently was the Franciscan church in San Francisco del Monte, and it was a wonderful discovery. For hundreds of years it has served its dominion, not only establishing Christianity, which it has successfully completed but also introduce arts, like music. The town organizer and church builder, San Juan was a gifted musician.

Driving from Manila via España to Quezon City most of the times is a taxing charge(especially if your from the south metro), passing through this major roads are always better during the weekends. I thought for awhile that Sr.Gomez would take us to Santo Domingo, the church that was originally built in Manila but was later relocated because of its demolition during the American's unrelenting offensive of Manila (Liberation?). The La Naval de Manila (in Quezon City?) culture lost its continuity - but there must be some divine explanation we don't know that would explain why, the old site I believe is where BPI now stand in Intramuros.

Going back to this goldmine of a discovery, we headed to the San Francisco del Monte Church and was welcomed by its historical markers, appraising it made me appreciate that I was in one of the oldest church in this once Spanish province, here, in the heart of the metropolis.

The Antillan

I found this brief history of the place and its venerated Spaniard saint, San Pedro Bautista & his Iglesia.

Pedro Bautista Blasquez arrived in 1584 with the 4^th group of Franciscan Missionaries to the Philippines, was not an inexperienced man. He was 42 years old who acquired fame as a preacher in the cathedral of Toledo, Spain. He taught philosophy for three years in Madrid and was an excellent musician. He arrived as the head of the mission and was to preside as the chapter of custody. In a word he was a mature man, educated, experienced and placed in a position of authority.



The fourth Chapter of Custody and the first after the arrival of Pedro Baustista was held in the convent of Manila on September 24, 1584. The conference elected Pedro Bautista, Custos of Superiors of all Franciscans in the Philippines.



Apparently he preferred not to accept the position of authority. After the election Fray Pedro hid and only later when his brethren refused to accept his resignation did he took the position. That was in 1588. having accepted the responsibility he put himself dynamically into his work. He animated his religious to live out their profession and to care the conversion of others. To encourage them he learnt the language of the natives. He counseled his Friars living at a distance and encouraged them with his letters worthy of a holy man.

Because of his  deep concern for the spiritual welfare of his friars, Pedro Bautista saw the need for a secluded place where the missionaries, true to reform spirit of their province, could revive their spiritual vigor by prayer, reflection and discipline. After a long search, he selected a site a little over a league from Manila.



On February 15, 1590 Gov. Santiago De Vera donated "Una Pequeña Encomienda", an estate of some 150 hectares to the Franciscans: Pedro Bautista immediately ordered the construction of a small  bamboo  and nipa convent and church under  the title of Nuestra Señora de Montecelli, which however, was popularly known from the very beginnings of "San Francisco Del Monte".



It was opened as a retreat for missionaries and as a novitiate house from 1580 the novitiate had been in San Francisco De Manila but the noise of the city and the coming and going of the friars to the Provincia headquarters made it less than appropriate for contemplation. The first profession recorded in San Francisco Del Monte took place in December of 1591.

The cave for prayers (yes, this guys are pretty serious with their prayers that they dug a cave where they can pray in complete silence)

In 1699, a church was made of stone was built and the convent restructured. This was dedicated t the newly beatified Blessed Pedro Bautista and his companion martyrs. This church had now become the sanctuary with the Baroque altar that is still preserved today.



In 1895, the friars abandoned the lace and Filipino revolutionary forces occupied the church. In 1898, American Negro soldiers of the occupued the church. the church was left idle until it was repaired in 1912. In 1914, the Church was blessed and a town fiesta was held in honor of San Pedro Bautista.



On November 11, 1932, the Church was declared a parish name in honor of its founder and patron saint, San Pedro Bautista, before the decree, the parish belonged to the parish of Caloocan.



In 1989, the three century old baroque altar was transferred to the main sanctuary. In 1990, a statue of San Pedro Bautista was enshrined at the center of the altar. One February 5, 1997, the parish marked the 400^th anniversary f the Martyrdom of San Pedro Bautista. On February 25, 2007  the parish church was declared an  archdiocesan shrine to be known as Sanctuario de San Pedro Bautista in view of its monasterical and religious significance.



After a successful effort from Padre Gobo left for Manila but he was lost at sea. Gov. Dasmariñnas waited one futile year for his return then decided to send Pedro bautista as his new ambassador. brother Gonzalo Garcia who knew Japanese very well was designated as the new emissary's interpreter; tow other completed the group. after his diplomatic mission Pedro Bautista was to stay on as the permanent representative of the Governor of Manila and labor for the conversion of the Japanese.



That was the plan of the Governor but the "Superior of the Jesuits in Manila" reminded him of the prohibition of Gregory XIII. The Governor called a meeting at the church of San Agustin on May 18, 1593 to discuss with the prominent theologian and authorities what could be done. The outcome was his firm decision to send Bautista's party.



On May 30, 1593 Pedro Bautista and his companions sailed for Japan, their new work and eventually their martyrdom four years later.



Continuing  the policy of his famous predecessor Fray Juan de Placentia, "The Father of Reductions", San Pedro worked to gather  the native of the towns. In Morong, he obliged the numerous rancherias spread throughout the mountains to form the "Doctrinea" of Morong. He was the moving spirit behind the behind the foundation of many towns. In Camarines: Quipayo, Cagsawa, Baac, Oas, Libmanan and Buhi. In Laguna - Rizal area: Tanay, Baras, Longos and Paquil. And in Bulacan: Catangala (Polo). He likewise started churches and convents of Meycuayan and Calilay, centers in the days of Bulacan and Tayabas.

It was a great experience walking around, seeing people celebrate mass on a Sunday, thinking that Catholic tradition here is almost as old as the founding of the walled city, it was alive, surviving the wars (both sectarian and military conflicts). The place is a legacy of the Catholic missionaries. It reminded me how it all happened, the religion and the country.

One of the most interesting historical facts that were not taught in schools is that this Catholic missions, founded almost all of our old towns, paving the way to unanimity, inspiring the shape of the islands into what we know now as the Philippine Islands, christianization and domination, and perhaps its unseen and under valued gift, our identity.

As I was walking along the Franciscan garden I tried to visualize what it was like living their lives, far away from their beautiful mother country, the endless prayers and the remote, often, perilous missions to convert, some say we never desired their interference and Christian convertion but we still remain transformed Katoliko's anyway, to say now that 'all Friars' - are wicked and that they corrupted us, is plainly erroneous.

Let's give credit, where credit is due

...speaking of credits, this two brought me here.

...speaking of credits, this two brought me here.

Gracias, mis amigos...

Pepito, me & the man, the legend GGR

NATIONALISM: THE PHILIPPINES' EXPERIENCE THUS FAR'

In line with the questions raised by some of our friends on the topic below, I'm posting this article.

i would like to apologize that I misquoted Bro. Andrew's book, it was not 1% but 2.8% - that's the percentage of Filipinos according to him that spoke in Spanish (at the turn of the century, 1900's).

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A REVIEW OF BROTHER ANDREW'S BOOK: "LANGUAGE AND

NATIONALISM: THE PHILIPPINES' EXPERIENCE THUS FAR'

By Pío Andrade

(Historian, Researcher and regular contributor of the Philippine-Chinese weekly magazine TULAY published by Teresita Ang See in Binondo, Manila. Author of the best selling book, ‘The fooling of America'.)

Brother Andrew's treatise "Language and Nationalism" was praised in the forword by Cecilio López as "the most exhaustive and up-to-date treatment of the language problem in the Philippines".

It may have been up-to-date when it was published, but by no means could it be described as exhaustive. One look at the list of references shows the absence of very important sources such as the following but which were not consulted at all:

1)The Official Census of 1903;

2)The Ford Report of 1916, which shows that the use of Spanish

was more widespread than commonly admitted, and,3)Velenzuela's History of Philippine Journalism.There are many big and important facts on the language question that are not mentioned at all in Brother Andrew's book, such as the fact about Spanish being the language of the Revolution, the role of Spanish in effecting the unity of the various Filipino ethnic groups which made the 1896-99 Revolution possible; the role of the Chinese Filipinos in disseminating the language of Cervantes all over the country due to the fact that the Philippines was the most thoroughly educated Asian colony in the last decades of the 19^th century, and, the fact about the much higher circulation of Spanish language dailies than either the Tagalog or English dailies in the 1930s.
Brother Andrew González, FSC, uncritically accepted the figure of 2.8% as the percentage of Filipinos who can speak and write in Spanish at the turn of the century given by Cavada Méndez y Vigo's book. This book was printed in 1870, just seven years after the establishment of the Philippine Public chool system in 1863 by Spain.

Surely by 1900, more than 2.8% of the Filipinos were speaking and writing in Spanish and there was incontrovertible proof behind this assertion.

Don Carlos Palanca's Memorandum to the Schurman Commission listed 8 Spanish-speaking provinces in the islands in addition to the 9 Tagalog-speaking provinces which, according to him, are also Spanish-speaking. To this total of 17 Spanish speaking provinces, Don Carlos added that there were only 5 other provinces where "only a little Spanish is spoken". Don Carlos Palanca was the gobernadorcillo of Binondo and the head of the Gremio de Mestizos. (Chinese Christians were the ones referred to as Mestizos since the Spanish half-breed was called Criollo).

William Howard Taft's 1901 statement after his tour of the Philippines clearly says that Spanish was more widespread than Tagalog.
This fact about Spanish being even more widespread than Tagalog in the entire archipelago is further attested to by the well-documented fact that American soldiers during the Fil-American war had to speak bamboo Spanish to all Filipinos, ----not bamboo Tagalog----, in order to be understood without any interpreter. There is still that other fact about the early occupational government of the American Military in the Philippines having to publishe, in Spanish, not in Tagalog, all its official communications in order to be understood by the Filipino people. An English translation was appended whenever necessary for the consumption of the Americans themselves.

This official use of Spanish by the Americans themselves went on up to 1910 when they started to issue communications in English but still followed by a corresponding Spanish translation of the same. In view of this fact, if a national Filipino national language needed to be established other than English, the correct choice should have been Spanish, not Tagalog.

A big fault of Brother Andrew's book lies in his uncritical acceptance of Teodoro Agoncillo's History of the Revolution. Agoncillo's History book has already been proven to be heavily distorted by omission of facts, false interpretation of events and documents and by outright lies.. The omission of these other facts was done because the same could not be reconciled with Mr. Agoncillo's own personal bias in the narration and teaching of Philippines history.
An example of Brother Andrew's fault with regard his uncritical acceptance of Agoncilo's distortion of history is the conclusion that the founding members of the KKK (Katipunan) were Filipinos of lowly origin. The founding Supremo of the KKK is Andrés Bonifacio and it is not so that he is of lowly origin. Bonifacio was definitely not a poor man when he got into the Katipunan. Nor were the other Katiputan charter members. Agoncillo also failed to mention that the Philippine economy was booming during that decade and that Bonifacio, unlike most other Filipinos, approved of the torture of a captive Friar.

The years 1900 to the Commonwealth period (1935-1941) were not well researched by Brother and "Doctor" Andrew Gonzalez. Thus, the language issue affecting the Filipinos then are not well discussed. Had Brother Andrew researched more on the language issue of that period, he would have found out that as late as the 1930s Spanish dailies out-circulated both the Tagalog and English language dailies.

He would have found out also that the use of Spanish during the following decade of 1940 was bound to even get stronger had it not been for the devastating 1943-45 war.
The strength of Spanish is evidenced by the majority of cinema films shown between 1900 and 1940. These films, even if made in Holywood were in Spanish subtitles and talkies. And several of the Philippines produced full-length films had an all-Spanish talkies.
Another important fact not found in Brother Andrew's book is the role of the Spanish language in assimilating and integrating the Chinese emigrants into mainstream Filipino society. The 100,000 Chinese in the Philippines at the turn of the century spoke Spanish in varying degrees of proficiency. The Philippine Chinese Chamber of Commerce since its establishment in 1904 wrote its minutes in Spanish until 1924. When they ceased using Spanish in their official meetings and minutes, they reverted to Chinese, not English. Today, strange as it may seem, the last bastion of whatever Spanish language is left are the Chinese Filipinos, and not those of Spanish descent except the Padilla Zóbel family that maintains the annual Premio Zóbel.

Finally, Brother and "doctor" Andrew González treated very superficially the question of nationalism and language. There should have been more discussions on the point that adopting a foreign tongue, or using foreign words, are not per se against nationalism. If nationalism is love for ones country and foreign words and language can best help literacy and communication, it is nationalistic doing so.

Neither did Brother and Doctor Andrew González realize that nationalism in the question of language can be destructive as has been the case in the Philippines. Doing away with Spanish orthography and the cartilla, the educational authorities did away with a very inexpensive and very effective method for teaching reading skills to the young Filipinos.
Exterminating Spanish in the schools made the Filipinos today estranged to their Hispanic past and made Filipinos prey to nationalist historians who misled several generations of Filipinos in the sense that Spain had done the Philippines very little good when the contrary is true.
What is the prime purpose of language? Is it not to make us understand one another better. Yet, Brother and Doctor Andrew González' book gives the impressions that showing nationalism is the prime purpose of language.
To be fair to Brother Andrew González, we want to think that he is a victim of too many distortions found in Philippine History including the history of language among Filipinos. Thus, the remark of Cecilio López in his introduction to Brother Andrew's book "Language and Nationalism", that the same "is the most exhaustive and up-to-date treatment of the language problem in the Philippines" is only true in the sense that the very few books on the same subject are mostly superficial.
Perhaps it will be correct for us to recall a Spanish saying that prays: En el país de los ciegos el tuerto es rey.

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Thanks to Senor Gomez for sending me this article.