Monday, February 27, 2012

l. 2063 -- “You taught me language, and my profit on't is, I know how to curse.”


“Three centuries in a Catholic convent and fifty years in Hollywood.” This section of Karnow's book attempts to gauge the accuracy of the first half of this often-used description of modern Filipino history.

The Philippines suffered greatly from the 300-year-long period of “suspended animation” (l. 1275) generated by the medieval mindset and administrative sloth of their Spanish colonial masters, but very occasionally they also benefitted. Civil authorities were sent out for relatively short tours of duty by the king's viceroy in Mexico and were “most confined to scattered towns” (l. 1287). Catholic priests and monks often wielded more actual power by virtue of being present on the ground for longer periods. There were fewer precious natural resources to exploit, so life was quieter and more peaceful than other Spanish colonies.

An example of administrative sloth: in 1762, a British expedition attacked and captured Manila because, even though the Seven Years' War had started nine months previously, no one had notified Manila (l. 1521).

The encomienda system was designed to encourage colonization by distributing land to settlers. On its face, it appears similar to successful schemes from US history, but it quickly bogged down in corruption and abuse. However, the system was similar to its US analog in its disregard for the people who already lived and use the land. The abuses became so bad (“treated worse than slaves” (l. 1352)) they even attracted the attention of King Philip II of Spain, who has not otherwise gone down in history as an enlightened monarch.

“By the early seventeenth century, five religious orders had each carved out its distinct sphere of influence. The Augustians, Franciscans and Dominicans took over Luzon [the large northern island that includes Manila], leaving the Visayas and Mindanao [in the south] to the Jesuits and the Recollects, an austere offshoot of the Augustians.” (l. 1360) This aggravated the existing tendency to tribalism and regionalism.

If the colonial government had purposely tried to design a system which strangled trade and therefore impoverished themselves, they would have been hard-pressed to improve on the “galleon trade”, under which only a single large ship made a once-a-year round trip to Mexico in January. Space on the ship was limited. Result: more corruption. Wrecks and piracy were common, and the crews of ships risked a variety of horrible diseases in pursuit of a slender slice of the profit. For a relative few, great profit was possible. It was impossible to limit this wealth to the Spaniards. Over the hundreds of years of the galleon trade (last trip: 1811 (l. 1542)) and after, there developed a small but steady growth of wealthy native Philippinos (often with mixed Spanish and/or Chinese heritage, like a dynasty now surnamed “Lopez”, but descended from a Chinese named Lo). In a familiar pattern, some of these families sent their children off to Europe where, even in Spain, they were infected with dangerous ideas. This eventually coalesced into an intelligentsia, called the ilustrados.

Karnow compares this class with Caliban from The Tempest, who is educated by Prospero but becomes bitter because he cannot enjoy the benefits of his education (see title quotation, l. 1834).

An ilustrado named José Rizal y Mercado (1861 – 1896) became a national martyr. Karnow equates him with Ho Chi Minh or Nehru. He was the type of young man who, when struck by a police officer whom he had accidentally brushed past, rushed to the governor's palace and was outraged (for the rest of his life) at not getting service, even though it was nighttime. Eventually Rizal studied medicine in Madrid and came back an ardent reformer, advocating a fairer deal for Filipinos within Spanish sovereignty. He wrote novels (“the Philippine equivalent of Uncle Tom's Cabin” (l. 1852) is the description of one) which were officially forbidden but circulated widely. Naturally, conversative forces thought him a dangerous radical. They first exiled him to a remote island (where he worked as a doctor) and eventually killed him after a groteque parody of a trial, during which Rizal repeatedly pledged his loyalty to Spain. The long poem he wrote in his cell during this period is a mainstay of local literature. It was read out during a US Congressional debate in 1916, allegedly moving the members to tears and aiding in the passage of legislation granting the Philippines (very) gradual independence.

Unsurprisingly, future opponents of Spanish rule were less well-brought-up and less enchanted with their colonial masters, as dangerous in fact as Rizal was portrayed in fantasy. Andrés Bonifacio and Emilio Aguinaldo y Famy were two revolutionary leaders who matched the Spaniards in ruthlessness and outdid them in cunning, but eventually turned on each other, weakening the effort as a whole. Eventually Aguinaldo had Bonifacio executed. Aguinaldo continued to fight against the Americans.

The two sides were at a truce when Commodore Dewey's squadron steamed into Manila Bay on 30 April, 1898.

Appearances by the US in this section:
  • “A survey taken by US specialists in 1903 found more than half the population to be illiterate, even in regional dialects” (l. 1403).
  • “The Philippines was first mentioned officially in the United States in 1786, when the Continental Congress meeting in Philadelphia pondered the notion of urging Spain to grant American trading privileges” (l. 1571).
  • The first documented, authorized stop by an American ship was in October 1796.
  • At that time, there were at least two Americans living in Manila. There was at least one prosperous American firm operating in the pre-US Civil War period.
  • Aguinaldo was captured and relieved of his belovéd ceremonial sword by Americans in 1901. In 1960, 92-year-old Aguinaldo received his sword back in a ceremony from Charles Bohlen, the US Ambassador to the Philippines at that time and father of future US Ambassador to Bulgaria Avis Bohlen.

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