Did Jose Rizal leave his heart in San Francisco?

Many Filipinos entering the United States for the first time through San Francisco may be surprised to know that national hero Jose Rizal preceded them here more than a century ago.

From Tokyo, he wrote his parents and siblings that "[o]n the 13th of [April 1888] I leave for America on the steamship Belgic of the Oriental and Occidental Company. I intend to stay in America some weeks and afterward depart for London where I should be toward the end of May."

The steamer sailed from Yokohama, and based on the data from the 'Marine Ships in Port' of 'The Maritime Heritage Project - San Francisco 1846-1899', a voyage of the Belgic in 1890 took 15 days 13 hours and 44 minutes before it dropped anchor at the port in San Francisco.

The Port of San Francisco, 1849. (Source: The Maritime Heritage Project.)

On Saturday, 28 April, Rizal wrote in his diary: "We arrived in the morning at San Francisco, We docked, They say that we shall be quarantined, The little customs launch came to visit us. They have unloaded the silk cargo: Each bale costs about $700. They are not afraid of the silk and of the lunch."

The next day, Sunday, he noted: "The second day of the quarantine, We are bored. I no longer know how to amuse myself."  And he wrote to his parents: "Here we are in sight of America since yesterday without being able to disembark, placed in quarantine on account of the 642 Chinese that we have on board coming from Hong Kong where they say smallpox prevails. But the true reason is that, as America is against Chinese immigration and now they are campaigning for the elections, the government, in order to get the vote of the people, must appear to be strict with the Chinese, and we suffer. On board there is not one sick person."

On the third day: "The quarantine continues. I read in the newspapers a statement of the health inspector against the quarantine."  He wrote to his friend Dr. Ferdinand Blumentritt: "We are anchored in this port under quarantine. We don't know how long it will last, although there are no sick passengers aboard and the ship did not come from a filthy port. The reason for this is that we have 643 Chinese passengers and, as elections are approaching, the government wants to be in the good graces of the people. We protest, but it is useless for, as the Spaniards say, it is like exercising the right to kick."

On 01 May, Rizal said they signed a protest against the quarantine and the Englishmen wrote to their consul. After six days of quarantine, in the afternoon of 4 May, they, the first class passengers finally stepped on American soil.  The Japanese and Chinese remained on board.

At that time, the disembarkation point was not the postcard Port of San Francisco we see today. So where did the Belgic docked?  Gary Kamiya provided the most probable answer in his book Cool Gray City of Love: "The thousands of Chinese immigrants that poured into the city disembarked at the Pacific Mail Steamship pier, near what is now First and Brannan."

Marker on the wall of the Palace at the Montgomery St-

Market St. corner.

From there, Rizal could have taken a coach to the first class Palace Hotel on New Montgomery Street, where he lodged at "$4.00 a day with bath and everything included"  Based on the historical data of 1887, he stayed in a sunny outside room with southern exposure that cost '$4.00 per day and upward.'  It was more expensive by a dollar if he stayed in an outside room 'with facing street.' The cheapest were for outside rooms facing open courts: '$2.50, $3.00 and upward.'

There was not much in his diary from which to deduce how Rizal spent his short time in the city,

He simply wrote: "...Stockton St. 312. I saw the Golden Gate ... (one illegible word). The customs-house. A letter of recommendation. On Sunday the stores are closed. The best street in San Francisco is Market Street. Stroll. -- Stanford, the rich man. -- A street near Chinatown."

We must note that Rizal might have been referring to the Golden Gate Strait, the entrance to San Francisco Bay, because the iconic bridge was built in the 1930s. Or, he could have gone to the Golden Gate Park but he could not have walked to this large public park as it was too far from the hotel. He did not mention taking the streetcar that was already running to this place in 1887.

When he stepped out for a walk, the first thing that he could have noticed were the cable cars that had been running along Market Street since 1883. These cars replaced horse-drawn rails. He might have preferred to walk rather than take the cable car; hence, his remark that Market was the best street of the city.

When he strolled on Market, he could have noted at the corner of Geary and Kearny, a short distance from the hotel, Lotta's Fountain: a cast iron sculpture painted in bronze with lion's heads and other ornaments. Historical accounts say that this fountain was presented to the citizens of San Francisco in 1875 by the famous Lotta Crabtree, who started her career as a vaudeville performer in the city during the Gold Rush days.

The Lotta's Fountain in 1901 when Pres. McKinley visited the Palace Hotel.  (Source: Wikipedia)

The Lotta's Fountain today near the Palace Hotel. Photo by the author.

Except for the other buildings and street scenes, the vintage and recent photographs of Palace Hotel with Lotta's Fountain are quite similar except that the original hotel, where Rizal stayed, was gutted by fire in the aftermath of the 1906 earthquake. The reconstructed one was opened in 1909.

'Stanford, the rich man.'  Rizal was referring to Leland Stanford, one of the 'Big Four Millionaires' from the Gold Rush and was also dubbed a robber baron. His farm spawned the Stanford University. Did Rizal hear about his anti-Chinese attitude when he was governor of California? He lobbied for the restriction of Chinese immigration during his term.

'A street near China town,' he wrote. Did he go there? The scene could have been similar to Binondo of his student days in Manila.

He was in San Francisco for two days and two nights, and left for Oakland in the late afternoon of 06 May 1888 on a ferry boat. From there, he would board the train that eventually took him on a coast-to-coast journey to New York City.

From London, Rizal would relate his overall impression of America to his friend Mariano Ponce in his letter of 27 July 1888: "I visited the largest cities of America with their big buildings, electric lights, and magnificent conceptions. Undoubtedly America is a great country, but it still has many defects. There is no real civil liberty. In some states the Negro cannot marry a white woman, nor a Negress a white man. Because of the hatred of the Chinese, other Asiatics, like the Japanese, being confused with them, are likewise disliked by the ignorant Americans. The customs is excessively strict. However, as they say rightly, America offers a home to the poor who like to work."

He cited his sad experience in San Francisco: "There was moreover much arbitrariness; for example, when we were in quarantine. They placed us under quarantine, in spite of the clearance given by the American consul, of having been at sea for about one month, of not having a single case of illness aboard, and of the telegram of the governor of Hong Kong declaring that port free from epidemic. We were quarantined because there were on board 800 Chinese and, as elections were being held in San Francisco, the government wanted to boast that is was taking strict measures against the Chinese to win votes and the people's sympathy. We were informed of the quarantine verbally, without specifying its duration. However, on the same day of our arrival, they unloaded 700 bales of silk without fumigating them; the ship's doctor went ashore; many customs employees and an American doctor from the hospital for cholera victims ate on board. Thus we were for about thirteen days. Afterwards only the passengers of the first class were allowed to land, the Japanese and Chinese of the 2nd and 3rd classes remaining in quarantine for an indefinite period. It is said that in that way they got rid of about 300 Chinese, letting them gradually die on board. I don't know if this is true."

In November that year, the Americans were going to elect their president. The incumbent was Grover Cleveland (Democrat). In California, they voted for the Republican challenger Benjamin Harrison.

The Chinese issue of Rizal's time resonates in the present debates on immigration policy between the Republican Donald Trump and the Democrat Hillary Clinton. Trump had swiped at illegal immigrants particularly the Mexicans, but he also clawed at people coming from what he deemed terrorist nations, and tagged the Philippines as one of them. "We're dealing with animals," he trumped.

Note:  
Rizal's diary entries and letters were taken from the book Jose Rizal Reminiscences & Travels published by the National Historical Commission of the Philippines in 2011.

Recommended reading on the historical and current views of San Francisco:
Kamiya, Gary. 2013. Cool Gray City of Love: 49 Views of San Francisco. Berryville, VA: Berryville Graphics, Inc,

Discovering the Lopez Family of Balayan, Batangas in Boston, MA

The Lopez ancestral house, Balayan, Batangas. Photo taken by the author in 2014.

My fraternity brother based in New Haven, CT and I were on our way to Copley Square of Boston, MA when, out of curiosity, we paused in front of the New England Genealogical Society building and decided to check what can its library be holding. I keyed in 'Manila' to the desktop computer on one of the tables; a list came out including pdf version of the book 'The Story of the Lopez Family, A Page from the History of the War in the Philippines' published in Boston in 1904, and digitized by Google. A copy can be downloaded from Googlebooks. 

The editor Canning Eyot said that the letters of Juliana Lopez formed the backbone of the book, which also included exchanges among her other siblings. These chronicle the friendly-to-hostile turn of events during the Philippine-American war that affected their family, the province of Batangas and the Philippine Republic, all because of their brother Sixto Lopez, a very good friend of Jose Rizal.

The story said the family was from Balayan, Batangas, and this reminded me of visiting an ancestral house there two years ago in July during the annual 'Parada ng mga Litson' (Parade of Roasted Pigs) event there. I reviewed my files and found out that this was the house of the Lopez family which has been converted into a museum. It was full of historical memorabilia like heirloom pieces and pictures on the walls but I was more interested in the architecture and construction of the house, amazed at the envelope of capiz windows around the main floor.

Looking at the picture of the house I took, I noted that there were two large tarpaulin pictures hanging by the windows for passers-by to see. These are the same pictures included in the book:  that of Sixto Lopez and Jose Rial, and that of Clemencia Lopez.

Photo from page 32 of the book.

The first picture was "from a photograph taken in Hong-Kong on Rizal's return from Europe in 1891. ... It is interesting .. because of an incident which occurred when it was being taken. In response to the customary injunction to "look pleasant," Rizal said to Lopez, "Yes, -- imagine that you are just about to be executed by the Spaniards!" These were prophetic of Rizal's tragic death, which occurred five years later."

Before the outbreak of the war, Sixto was in Washington to seek recognition for the new Philippine Republic. He was also advocating for negotiating peace with the United States. 

At the start of the American occupation of Batangas, the Lopez family extended hospitality to the American officers stationed there, keeping their house in Balayan open to them.

Eventually, the US military forces would turn hostile to them even if Cipriano, who was an officer in Aguinaldo's army, surrendered with his men and arms. Mariano resigned from his post in the Malolos Congress to attend to their businesses, which included shipping. 

But Sixto did not want to take the oath of allegiance to the US. He failed to convince General Malvar and other die-hard generals from Batangas to surrender; they persisted in their armed resistance. The Americans considered Sixto still an enemy, and pursued a scorch-earth policy (water and fire methods) in the province just like they imposed in Panay and Samar. 

Photo from the frontispiece of the book.

Part of the narrative on the Lopez saga mentioned Felipe Buencamino, labelled here as evil genius and Judas, who recommended arrest of wealthy non-combatants, and 'extermination of the entire population of Batangas'

The Lopez house in Balayan, their estates and ships were seized by the Americans, and Lorenzo, Cipriano and Manuel arrested and imprisoned in an island on Manila Bay.

Clemencia went to the United States in April 1902 to "seek justice at the hands of the President [Theodore Roosevelt] for her imprisoned brothers" with the help of their friends in Boston but her petition was denied. 

There were other friendly Americans in Manila who vouchsafed for them, sending testimonial letters to civil and military authorities about the integrity of the family.

Eventually, the saga came to a happy ending, the family honor restored and their business losses incurred in their shipping business compensated by the Americans. 

This is not only the story of one family, It tells us how America made us Filipinos bow under the threat of water and fire in their so-called 'pacification campaign'. 

Rehabilitation of esteros & other Pasig River tributaries

Note: This photo-essay appeared in slightly different version in the 11-17 Jul 2014 issue of FilAm Star, "the newspaper for Filipinos in mainstream America," published weekly in San Francisco CA.  This blogger/author is the Special News/Photo Correspondent of said paper in the Philippines.

Estero de Vakencia: then and now.
Photo from Pasig River Rehabilitation Commission.

The thought that this river should be brought to life again has not left us after enjoying the ferry boat ride on the Pasig from Pinagbuhatan, Pasig City to Plaza Mexico in Intramuros on two fine sunny days in early June (FilAm Star issue 276).

We’ve read about the core program of the Pasig River Rehabilitation Commission (PRRC) chaired by Ms. Regina Paz. L. Lopez, the main thrust being the restoration of the 47 tributaries of the Pasig comprising esteros, creeks and other waterways. 

These tributaries are distributed in nine (9) clusters in “The Strategic Development Framework for Tributaries (2014-2016)” under the Pasig River Rehabilitation Master Plan:  Cluster I (8 Manila esteros); Cluster II (7 Manila esteros, which includes Aviles, Sampaloc, San Miguel and Valencia); Cluster III (8 Manila esteros including Paco and Santibanez); Cluster IV (5 creeks in Mandaluyong and Makati); Cluster V (5 creeks and in Pateros and Taguig); Cluster VI (4 tributaries in Pasig); Cluster VII (3 creeks in Mandaluyong and San Juan; and Cluster VIII (4 creeks in Quezon City) and Cluster IX (3 creeks in Quezon City). 

The named esteros in the Manila clusters have already been totally or partially completed, and these were what we wanted to see. We’ve had enough of seeing clogged esteros or creeks in going around Santa Cruz, Quiapo or Binondo.

The Estero de San Miguel boardwalk.

Estero de San Miguel. We first did a solo exploration of this estero from the foot of the LRT Station on Legarda to Arlegui Bridge, the gateway to Malacañang.   We walked on the floating boardwalk just like the students going to or coming from their classes at Centro Escolar University or the V. Mapa High School.

This portion of the estero was generally clean and garbage-free, and we noted the floating islands of vetiver grass (Chrysopogon zizanioides) that spell the slogan “Clean Water Soon.” These grasses are phytoremediators; and when planted close together, they can filter out sediments and decontaminate heavy metals. Viviter is used worldwide for slope protection and soil erosion control.  

At the end of the board walk, a block from Arlegui, is an antique-looking stone pedestrian bridge to the mini-park behind Centro Escolar. The view from here is a row of houses all painted green, which we thought to reflect the spirit of environmental protection.

Jericho Von Miranda, PRRC media and communications head, was our amiable guide during our second journey to another sector of Estero de San Miguel.  This time, our pathway was the easement between the tributary and the residential houses. Easements had been transformed into linear parks bordered by green plants and other ornamentals. Through PRRC’s ecological training activities, homeowners became River Warriors who are responsible for making the estero and the linear park ecologically sound.

The rehabilitated Estero de San Miguel was inaugurated on 04 June 2014. Around Php52-Million was spent for dredging, installation of the floating boardwalk, development of linear parks, river bank improvement, slope protection and phytoremediation.

The 2-km long Estero San Miguel has yet to be completely rehabilitated. We noted, for example, that there are still houses of informal settler families (ISFs) built along or over the waterway.  Miranda informed that their relocation is a major component of the PRRC master plan.

Top photos (left to right): Esteros de Sampaloc & Aviles.
Bottom (l to r): Linear parks along San Miguel & Paco esteros.

Estero de Aviles.  Our walk on the linear park was about half-kilometer, the length of the waterway itself, and almost at the end is the barangay hall.  Where this hall now stands, according to Miranda, were the houses of ISFs who amicably accepted to move to relocation sites outside Manila.

The rehabilitated Estero de Aviles was inaugurated on 07 July 2013.  About Php6.2-Million went into dredging works, linear park development, and the construction of the barangay hall and the Materials Recovery Facility (MRF).

.

Estero de Paco.   This estero is more than two kilometers long.  During the walk, we chanced upon river warriors cleaning up areas that were flooded the night before because of the heavy rains.

The rehabilitated waterway was inaugurated on 11 January 2012, the first to be completed and thus serves as template in the rehabilitation of other tributaries.  Php20-Million went to the cleaning and rehab of the estero and of the century old Paco Market.

Tarpaulin posters of the old estero heavily clogged with garbage provide a very strong  contrast to what we saw: clean waterway with active island reactors-aerators surrounded by lush green plants and river warriors on their rafts busy in their cleaning tasks.  The three island reactors worth Php5-Million generate oxygen to help restore aquatic life in the waterway.

River Warriors maintaining cleanliness of the esteros of Paco
(top & bottom left photos) and Santibanez (bottom right).

Estero de Sampaloc and Estero de Valencia.  Our sight-seeing was confined to Estero de Sampaloc via the well-kept linear park along the kilometer-long tributary. We skipped the shorter Estero de Valencia for another time.   Both rehabilitated esteros were the latest to be inaugurated on 11 June 2014.

The rehabilitation involved not only riverbed dredging, desilting works, and riverbank development but also relocation of some 400 ISFs in Bulacan.  We noted a serious commitment among the homeowners to keep their linear park “yards” clean by proper management of their household wastes (“Tapat Ko, Linis Ko”).

Estero de Santibanez. This short tributary (about 400 m long) was the last in our guided tour.  It lies close to the Malacañang Park. 

We found this waterway a refreshing sight.  The water seemed fresher than those of other esteros, concrete planters were built to wall the linear park from the estero, and there were three boats that the river warriors use for cleaning operations.  These boats are also used for livelihood:  for a fee, visitors may have some fun boating around the waterway.

The rehabilitated estero was inaugurated in November 2013. Php13.69-Million was used for infrastructure development.  The estero was dredged, the three-meter easement was restored and developed into a linear park, bioremediation was initiated, and community volunteers were trained as river warriors. The easement restoration involved relocating ISFs.

It was a pleasure to note that homeowners there tended “little gardens” on the concrete planters with signage boasting that “this garden is cared for and loved by this family.”  A friendly ambiance pervades among the residents living near this tributary.

The PRRC spearheaded  the rehabilitation of the above six esteros.  It had the ABS-CBN Foundation Kapit Bisig Para sa Ilog Pasig (KBPIP), Local Inter-Agency Committee (LIAC) and the City of Manila as major partners.  PAGCOR, Metrobank Foundation and DPWH had distinct participation in specific estero projects.  The Department of the Interior and Local Governments (DILG) was involved in the relocation of informal settler families.

PRRC began with 16 esteros in Manila and Quezon City, and seven new project sites were added these year involving 140 barangays in Manila: the esteros dela Reina, Magdalena, San Lazaro, de Vitas, Kabulusan, Sunog Apog and Maypajo.

There are informal settler families to be relocated, and PRRC intends to start the process by the third quarter of this year. 

Relocations pave the way for recovering the three-meter easements and developing them into linear parks, walkways and greenbelts.  PRRC calls them Environmental Preservation Areas (EPAs), which can serve as “buffer for public safety and river protection.”

It will take some time, but the vision is of Pasig River becoming alive once again with the complete rehabilitation of its 47 tributaries.

Postscript. Throwbacks.

Plano de Manila y sus Arrabales [Plan of Manila & Suburbs] 1898 shows the

esteros & other Pasig River tributaries.  [Source: Perry-Castaneda Library Map
Collection, University of Texas at Austin available from

http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/historical/manila_and_suburbs_1898.jpg]

‘There are many canals or esteros emptying into this [Pasig] river,” the American Express Company described in their guide to Manila and the Philippines (1933), and “[t]he strange and brilliantly colored “cascos” and the long and narrow “bancas” move slowly up and down the canals.’

National Artist Nick Joaquin delved farther into the beginning of his “Manila, My Manila” (1999): “...this delta was not a solid hunk of ground ... [but] a jumble of small islands between which ran the rivulets that we call esteros.”

In his “Almanac for Manileños” (1979), Joaquin describes Trozo as “a Little Tondo in the 1870s”, a marshland “traversed by three great waterways: the Estero de San Lazaro, the Estero de la Magdalena, and the Estero de Tutuban or Teneria ... deep running estuaries, navigable, and connecting through the Pasig with the hill country north of Manila. When the mountains there were still densely forested, loggers rolled the timber they felled down the Pasig and into the esteros of Trozo, which became a lumber-yard area.”

It’s the national hero Dr. Jose Rizal who defined the role of the estero, specifically the Estero de Binondo, during his time:  “the Binondo creek ...plays, as do all rivers in Manila, the multiple roles of bathing place, drainage and sewerage, laundering area, fishing ground, means of transport and communication, and even source of potable water, if the Chinese water hauler or peddler finds it convenient (Noli me Tangere, Soledad Lacson-Locsin translation).”

It wasn't called sin tax yet when they smoked a Rizal cigarillo or cigar

On the 20th of this month, President Benigno Aquino signed into law the so-called sin tax bill, which was previously a subject of heated debate in Congress.  While the goal of government is increased revenue, projected at some 20 billion pesos from those who smoke and drink alcoholic beverages, the law, on the other hand, may spell economic doom to tobacco farmers and employees of cigarette manufacturers.

What has this got to do with Rizal Day, this being the centenary of the interment of the remains of the national hero at the Luneta where his iconic monument stands? 

Package label of cigarillos with the portrait of Jose Rizal. Source:  Protocolo Manila 878, National Archives of the Philippines.

It's just that during the early years of the American regime, Rizal became a brand name of tobacco products. In the Navy guide to Cavite and Manila (1908), intended as a 'practical guide and beautiful souvenir' of American service men posted in Cavite,"Jose Rizal" brands were considered one of the few special cigar brands available from the market.

A popular cigar manufacturer at that time was the Germinal where important visitors in Manila were toured around and entertained by the company officials. 

Germinal employed 1,300 men, women and girls to produce a daily output of 100,000 cigars. Cigarettes were made by machines; cigars were hand made.

The company paid a daily internal revenue tax of P4,000 on cigarettes and cigars made for home consumption.  Import duties on cigars and cigarettes were very high at that time.

The Navy guide had a back-to-back advertisement spread for "Jose Rizal" cigars to welcome navy men arriving at the Cavite port, and a map of Manila rimmed with these slogans:  '"Jose Rizal" cigars are liked by eveybody;'  'the best that money can buy "Jose Rizal" cigars;' and '"Jose Rizal" cigars, no other cigar spells like it, smokes like it or is like it."

If Jose Rizal cigarettes/cigars are in the market today, they could be more of 'it's more fun in the Philippines' souvenir items considering that the sin tax bill would make them more expensive.  Lighting up Jose Rizal cigars though could very well fit in celebrating the birth of the first baby (a boy especially) in a new family.

References:

No recorded author. (1908).  Navy guide to Cavite and Manila.  A practical guide and beautiful souvenir.  Manila.   Retrieved from  http://ebooks.library.cornell.edu/cgi/t/text/text-idx?c=sea;idno=sea189

MSS. Protocolo Manila 878. National Archives of the Philippines.

JP Rizal and the "Moros"

We do not know the Philippine national hero as deeply as the chairman of Ateneo's history department, Facebook friend/columnist/history lecturer with a very large fan base, JP Rizal authority Ambeth R Ocampo; hence, whatever we write here is subject to his critical appreciation, which we will most welcome.

Front cover of the satirical weekly Lipang Kalabaw issue of 28 Dec 1907. It says "Rizal healing Moro boys in Dapitan."

We combed through JP Rizal's notes and letters regarding his stay in Dapitan to see if he hinted at giving medical attention to "Moro" children even if he was not a pediatrician but we found none.  He did run some kind of 'boarding school' for boys though, who we take to be the sons of Christian families in the town.

We know that the "Moros" did not figure in the Noli and Fili. The only Rizal work we found where they were major characters was his poem The Battle:  Urbiztondo, the Terror of Jolo that he penned when he was a young Ateneo Municipal de Manila student.  Here he celebrated how Governor-General Antonio de Urbiztundo vanquished the "Moros" of Jolo.

Could the publisher, writers and illustrators of Lipang Kalabaw of the early 1900s, and may be most of our countrymen at that time, thought of Mindanao as largely Moroland, and hence the cover of the December 1907 issue (probably the Rizal Day commemorative number) had JP Rizal "healing the Moro boys in Dapitan"?

Probably still etched in their collective memory were tales of "Moro" pirates, reason why there were watch towers in some coastal towns.  They could also have been thinking of the "Moro Province" comprising Zamboanga, Sulu, Lanao, Davao and Cotabato that the Philippine Commission created in 1903, alongside their demarcation of the Filipinos into Christians and non-Christians.

There were no "Moros" among the indios bravos in the propaganda movement, nor were they part of the revolution instigated by the Magdiwangs and Magdalos against Spanish rule.  It took some more years for the "Moros" to be represented in government and their plight included in the national agenda.

This editorial cartoon of The Independent was reprinted in the December 1926 issue of the monthly magazine Philippine Republic published in Washington DC.

By 1926, when the US Congress was arguing on the Bacon Bill, the Filipinos have already assimilated the "Moros" into the national consciousness.  The Independent, a Philippine newspaper at that time, took up the cause of opposing the bill.  It's editorial cartoon showed how Bacon proposed to "take the Moro provinces containing vast tracts of rubber land away from the Philippine government and administer them as a separate government under the United States."

The cartoon depicted JP Rizal asking his countrymen what they're doing about Bacon's intent.  History tells us that there were mass protests against the bill, and Senate President Manuel Quezon, Speaker Manuel Roxas and Minority Leader Claro Recto went to Washington to convey to the US Congress their country's opposition to it.

This graphic illustration reminds us of the creation of the Autonomous Region of  Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) in 1987 as a result of an accord between the Philippine government and  the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF).  But despite this, peace has yet to prevail in the southern Philippines.

The Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) came around with a different political agenda. New peace negotiations were initiated.  Recently, its officially recognized head secretly met with President Benigno Aquino III in Japan about the possibility of creating a sub-state.  But this idea was met with critical opposition in the public media, and in social networks.  Tragically, talks about the resumption of the peace negotiations had been disrupted by violent encounters between the Philippine armed forces and supposedly break-away MILF groups or lawless Abu Sayyaf elements.  Aquino's response to these recent developments is not to make war but "all-out justice."

Would waging "all-out justice" result in a Moro sub-state?  Is this Aquino's Bacon Bill? 

References: 

• Front cover. (1907, Dec 28). Lipang Kalabaw.1(23). Retrieved from http://name.umdl.umich.edu/aah0606.0001.001

• Reprint, The Independent editorial cartoon. (1926, Dec).  The Philippine Republic. 3(11):16.  Retrieved from http://name.umdl.umich.edu/acc6198.1926.011

• Rizal, Jose. (1875, Dec 05). The Battle: Urbiztondo, the Terrór of Jolo. National Historical Institute. Retrreved from Filipiniana.net at http://www.filipiniana.net/publication/the-battle-urbiztondo-the-terror-of-jolo/12791881729528/1/0

 

In search of our Ylocano ancestors

Source:  Family History Center, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints,13 Temple Drive, Greenmeadows Subd., QC

For the past three weeks we've been poring through baptismal, marriage and burial records of the San Sebastian church of our hometown in Zambales, and these are in six reels of microfilms at the Family History Center of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS) on 13 Temple Drive, Greenmeadows Subdivision, Quezon City.   

We've looked at the real antique documents, all written in Spanish, two or three years ago, but some of the books had deteriorated due to age and the effect of acidic ink on paper, and we were not able to retrieve all the information we would need for our paternal and maternal genealogies starting from 1849 when the church was established in our town.  Hence, we've been enjoying the very friendly assistance of the Family History Center staff esp. Sister J and Veronica in our ancestral search.  They told us that some researchers had done their genealogies for several generations dating as far back as the 1700s.  This is possible since the LDS had all available church records and civil registrations across the country photographed in the 1970s.

We've checked if we can trace back to Paoay, Ilocos Norte, where our ancestors are said to have come from in the late1830s, when Gov-Gen Narciso Claveria approved their migration to the central part of Zambales. But that would entail scouring 12 reels of Paoay church records covering the period 1780-1891!

We thought may be we can go as far as what the Center has done for Jose Rizal (see photo).  There's a big framed copy of this right beside the microfilm readers that has the hero and his siblings at the bottom and more ancestors in their maternal side. They've also done President Noynoy Aquino's ancestry (it's not on display), and it surprised us to know that he also has a Chinese ancestor in his paternal side.

Our search has also yielded interesting insights into the cultural and social structure of those times.

The baptismal records prior to 1865 only indicated the parents of the child, but from then on, the documents had both the paternal and maternal grandparents. The child either had a padrino if he's a boy, or a madrina if he's a girl, ninong or ninang, as we're more familiar with.  One has to deduce the birth date from the phrase that says the child was baptized on the given date "so many days after birth."

In the case of weddings, the bride and groom had only a pair of testigos (witnesses), a man and a woman, and this was true up to the last entry of our reference document (1880-1950).

The baptismal documents confirm that there was no such thing as "reproductive health" during the Spanish regime.  We've been looking at probably teen-age marriages, and couples bearing children while their eldest ones were giving birth as well, meaning some grandchildren older or as old as their uncles or aunts.

It's sad but health care was not also adequate. There was high mortality rate among the children due to fever or dysentery.  Among the adults (and there were young widows or widowers), deaths were attributed to fever, tuberculosis, pasmo (which we read as heart attack), head and stomach ache, and vejez (old age). 

We're engaged in writing the history of our town.  In the founding document of 1846, there were just seven barangays.  From the church records, we noted that these have grown to 32 by 1895.  What's interesting was the seeming exclusivity of becoming a cabeza de barangay among the principalia families.  If the cabeza died, the eldest succeeded him in accordance with the Law of Good Governance.  With the population and economic growth, barangays were split, and we noted that other brothers also became cabezas.  By the 1890s, grandsons along with their father or uncles had become cabezas as well of different barangays.  The so-called political dynasties of the present time are nothing new then?

It may take years before anyone can do their family trees using digitized genealogical data from LDS, and for those interested to check what has been stored so far, they can do an initial search survey by going to Family Search web page.  The site can tell what reference documents in microfilm are available for a particular time and place in the country (or the world), and what Family History Center is nearest to the searcher. 

Centers are open not only to LDS members but also to the public Tuesdays (8am to 4pm) to Saturdays (8am to 2pm).  These past weeks we've helped other searchers read their reference documents from Cavite, Bulacan, Masbate and Bohol.

JP Rizal and Ateneo students: a then-and-now look

We were watching the live TV coverage of the basketball game between archrivals Ateneo and La Salle at the Smart-Araneta yesterday--the Blue Eagles of course walloped the Green Archers, securing their 11th straight wins in the ongoing UAAP season--but were we surprised at half-time by a Jose Rizal among the blue cheering squad!  Then at the last beat, they all stripped their blue jackets to reveal black tees with Rizal's figure on them.

That's now, 2011.  Of course Rizal lovers know that the chairman of the AdMU history department is the Rizal expert himself with a large Facebook following, Ambeth Ocampo. Sir!

But a century ago, the students from Catholic schools like the Ateneo could not participate in the Rizal Day celebrations. The religious orders did not allow them.

The caricature below from the 25 January, 1908 issue of the satirical weekly Lipang Kalabaw tells it all in good humor.

"Why were you not there when Rizal was given honors [the civic parade of Rizal Day]?," a student from the Trade School (a public school) asks those from Ateneo, San Juan de Letran and San Beda.

"Well, because there's no San Rizal, bishop, martyr or even virgin," they reply.

"Oh, yes, I forgot," says the Trade School boy, "you're only allowed when there are processions of saints and friars!"

Source:  Lipang Kalabaw (25 January, 1908).

We're surprised that there are no Thomasians among the students.  The Letran boys probably represented them as well since they're all wards of the Dominicans.

While looking for JP Rizal, we stumbled upon Emilio Jacinto

Frontispiece of Buhay at mga Sinulat ni Emilio Jacinto by Jose P. Santos (1935). This portrait of Emilio Jacinto was done by Guillermo Tolentino for the Philippine Free Press of 20 July, 1929.  The artist returned to the country in 1924 after his studies in Italy.

We were looking for Jose Rizal in the digital library collection of the University of Michigan (The United States and Its Territories, 1870-1925: The Age of Imperialism), and our digital angel led us through a maze of 1,443 matches in 417 records .

We were surprised that the angel led us to ‘Pagsusulatan nang dalauang binibini na si Urbana at ni Feliza: na nagtuturo ng mabuting kaugalian’ (Castro, 19na).  Left clicks showed Jose Rizal in three stanzas of Tagalog poems, but they're not from pen-pal conversations between the two ladies.  They were part of poetic tributes to Emilio Jacinto in Buhay at mga Sinulat ni Emilio Jacinto [Life and Writings of Emilio Jacinto] by Jose P. Santos (1935), son of Don Panyong or Epifanio de los Santos, and two of those stanzas describe an encounter between him and the national hero.

Here Jacinto was portrayed as a poor Chinese impostor in the attempt to reach Jose Rizal --

• Nagdamit-intsik kang/ pagkahiraphirap upang ibalita/ kay Gat Jose Rizal/ ang dakilang mithi nitong iyong Lupa,/ na kung mangyayari’y minsanang lumaya/ sa kamay ng Haring nagpapakasiba./ Dakilang Bayani;/ sa katutuhanan, ako’y naniniwala/ na napakatangi/ ang pag-iisip mo, diwa’t munakala,/ sa kapwa ko tao’y talagang bihira/ ang sa ginawa mo’y hindi pa hahanga. (from “Emilio Jacinto” by Julian Cruz Balmaseda) 

• Humuwad sa isang intsik na mahirap/ upang sa lihiman ay maipahayag/ kay Gat Jose Rizal ang guhit ng palad/ nitong baying ibig kumita ng lunas,/ na kung mangyayari’y sadyang mailadlad. (from “Pingkian” by Romualdo G Ramos)

Epifanio de los Santos (1918) described this episode as taking place in July 1896 when, "disguised as a Chinese cargador, he secretly introduced himself into Dr. Rizal's cabin in order to convince him that he ought to make common cause with the sons of the people."

Jose Santos mentioned two missions from Andres Bonifacio to rescue Rizal.  One was successful, where he and fellow katipunero Guillermo Masangkay pretended to be boat stewards on swab duties --

• Emilio Jacinto upang makausap lamang si Dr. Rizal na nooo'y nasa look ng Maynila, lulan ng isang lantsa, ay nang walang anu-ano'y salalapit sa tabi ni Dr. Rizal na noo'y nakikipaglaro ng ahedres sa tenyente ng mga beteranang tanod niya, ang dalawang taong may hawak na panglampaso at makailang sumagid sa tabi ni Dr. Rizal. Nahulaan naman agad ni Dr. Rizal na may mahalagang sadya sa kaniya ang mga taong ito kaya sandaling nagpaalam sa kaniyang kalaro at, nagtung o sa kaniyang silid. Nilapitan siya ng isa sa mga naglalampaso at ipinatalastas na kaya sila nagtungo roon ay sa utos ng Supremo Bonifacio at ang ibig ay agawin si Dr. Rizal sa kamay ng mga tanod na kastila, mangyari na ang mangyayari. Sinasabi ng ibang nagalit si Dr. Rizal nang marinig ang gayong pasabi sa kaniya, nguni't ang totoo raw, ayon naman sa patunay ni G. Lope K. Santos, ay walang isinagot si Dr. Rizal kundi ang huwag silang gumawa ng gayon at siya ang bahala sa kaniyang katawan. ...Ang patrono ng lantsa na nagaapelyidong Reyes ay kapatid sa katipunan, kaya nangyaring nakapasok doon si Emilio Jaeinto at ang isa pa niyang kasamang si Guillermo Masangkay (Santos). 

and an unsuccesful one where he disguised as a laundryman from Kawit  --

• Nang si Rizal ay isakay sa munting bapor "Otalora" upang ilipat sa  malaking "Castilla" (Isla de Panay," ayon sa namatay na mananalaysay na si G. Manuel Artigas at Cuerva) ay muling humabol si Emilio Jacinto at upang maisagawa ito ay nagdamit labanderong taga-Kawit, nguni't ni hindi man lamang niya nakuhang makalapit kay Dr. Rizal dahil sa ito'y natatalibaan nang mabuti (Santos). 

Cruz (1922) had another version of the first rescue operation. This one had a date, August 5, 1896, and the cast is still the same, Jacinto and Masangkay as sailors (not laundrymen nor in disguise as Chinese) on board the launch "Caridad" that will bring Rizal to the boat "Espana."

• Datapwa, ang nais ni Bonifacio, bagaman si Rizal ay di nila kaayon, ay siya'y gawing pangulong pangdangal at siya'y magawang sanggunian, bagay itong di nangyari. Nang si Rizal ay dumating sa Maynila noong ika 5 ng Agosto ng 1896 na galing sa Dapitan na pinagtapunan sa kanya, ay tinangka nina Bonifacio, Emilio Jacinto at ibang kasamahan na siya'y itanan. Si Emilio Jacinto ay nagsuot marinero. at nagsadya sa lancha "Caridad" na kinalululanan ni Rizal sa paglunsad sa bapor "Espana."Kunwa'y nagliinis, at sa isang pagkakataon ay ibinulong sa ating bayani: "Kung kayo po'y ibibilanggo, ay ililigtas namin kayo. Kami'y nahahanda." Palibhasa'y umaasa si Rizal sa kalinisan ng kanyang budhi sa matapat na pakikisama niya sa pamahalaan noon, sumagot ng gayari: "Salamat. Huwag ninyong gawin iya sa akin. Bayaan ninyo't nalalaman ko ang aking gagawin." Dahil dito, ang nais na yaon nina Bonifacio ay di nga nangyari at sa gayo'y napilitang magkasya na sa sarisarili nilang pamamatnugot ng "Katipunan." 

It doesn't really matter now how many or which of the cited rescue missions took place. But definitely, Jacinto was able to talk to his idol Jose Rizal, ang kanyang uliran sa kabutihang asal at sa panunulat (Santos).

Jacinto wrote both in Tagalog and Spanish.  Because they spoke kastilang tindahan or lenguaje de tienda at home as most of Manila people of that time did, he was not fluent in Tagalog.  It was something learned fast under the tutelage primarily of Andres Bonifacio, and pretty soon he was at the helm of the Katipunan propaganda machine.

Critics praised his Tagalog prose. Bonifacio even deferred to Jacinto's version of the Kartilya and had it officially adopted by the Katipunan.  His Liwanag at Dilim, which embodied his personal political beliefs, had been deemed as the Katipunan political ideology as well.  It may be worth to check if the ideals defined under these section headings--Ang Ningning at Ang Liwanag (Light and Glitter), Kalayaan (Liberty), At Tayo'y Magkakapantay (All Men are Equal), Ang Pagibig (Love), Ang Bayan at ang mga (Gobierno) Pinuno (People and Government), Ang Maling Pagsampalataya (False Belief) and Ang Gumawa (Work)--especially People and Government, still apply to the crusade for Ang Daang Matuwid (The Straight Path) of our government today.

He wrote a few poems in Spanish, but only his A La Patria, which he signed as Dimas-Ilaw, saw print. De los Santos regarded this work "visibly an imitation of the Ultimo Adios and even of the pseudonym of the Great Filipino ... inferior to its model in literary respects but comes up to it in sincerity ..."

Jacinto wrote statutes that provided for some kind "of agricultural, industrial and commercial trust for the rebellious provinces ... [that] would sustain the revolution," which was reflective of Rizal's Liga Filipina (De los Santos).

• Nang kasalukuyang nag-aapoy ang himagsikan ay binalak ni Emilio Jacinto na magtatag ng isang samahan ng mga magkakababayan ukol sa pagsasaka, pagpapagawa at pangangalakal at ito 'y maglalayon ng pagpapayaman sa bayan upang may mapagkunan ng puhunan at lakas sa pakikibaka. Nahahawig ang samahang yaon sa Liga Filipina ni Rizal (Santos).

Idol! That was Rizal to Emilio Jacinto. 

And Bonifacio?  In today's parlance, they were BFFs! More of this in the next blog. 


References:

• Cruz, Hermenegildo.(1922). Kartilyang makabayan: mḡa tanóng at sagot ukol kay Andres Bonifacio at sa Kataastaasan, Kagalanggalang Katipunan ng mga Anak ng Bayan.  Manila: S.P.  Retrieved from http://name.umdl.umich.edu/ADT3553.0001.001
•  Santos, Epifanio de los. (1918, June). Emilio Jacinto. The Philippine Review. 3(6):412-430. Retrieved from  http://name.umdl.umich.edu/acp0898.0003.001 
• Santos, Jose P. (1935). Buhay at mga sinulat ni Emilio Jacinto. Paunang salita ng Kgg. Rafael Palma.  Published by Dr Jose Bantug, place of publication not indicated. 

Note:  Santos's Buhay is accessed as Pag susulatan nang dalauang binibini na si Urbana at ni Feliza: na nagtuturo ng̃ mabuting kaugalian / kinatha nang Modesto de Castro, obviously a catalog error, through http://name.umdl.umich.edu/aqa1997.0001.001.

Rizal@150. Walking with JPR in New York of 1888.

We came to know of a Rizal marker in New York City over a late breakfast of salmon sandwiches and hot coffee in a Queens deli from Rey Lauron, ex-Madz, ex-UP carilloner, Pinoy music man in Paris for almost three decades and New York since the 1990s.  

This Knight of Rizal recalled being around when the marker was installed sometime in May 1995 in a building at the corner of 23rd St and Fifth Avenue occupied at that time by the International Toy Company.  

"They'll let you take pictures," he assured, "just ask permission."  Obviously, Lauron has not visited the place since then.  We found the building alright, but the toy company is gone and the marker nowhere in sight.  The present occupants say they haven't seen it at all.

This is the Fifth Avenue Building facing the Madison Square Park where the Filipinos and friends assemble annually for the Philippine Independence Day celebrations, and neighbor to the iconic Flatiron Building nearby.

When JPR was in New York, Brooklyn was not yet part of the city. The hub of social, political and entertainment activities was in downtown Manhattan, the areas surrounding Union Square on 14th St and Madison Square Park on 23rd St. 

The Madison Square Park was/is right across the hotel where JPR checked in around noontime on 13 May 1888 after his cross-country train ride that started from Oakland, California seven days earlier.       

"A heritage of New York," the marker says of the  building that started as a farmhouse in 1839, then a tavern until 1852 when it was rebuilt as a hippodrome.  In 1859, that was replaced by "the six-storied, white marble Fifth Avenue Hotel, with the first hotel passenger elevator in New York ... and became a center of the city's social and political life."  What we see now is the structure erected in 1909, designed by Maynicke and Franke in Italian renaissance eclectic style, but it is no longer a hotel.

JPR had only one entry in his travel diary describing his impressions from his train window as they rode into New York, New York -- 

"Sunday 13 May –

"We awoke near Albany.  It is a large city.  There are various vessels in the Hudson River, which runs along its side.  We cross it on a bridge.  The landscape is beautiful and it has not much to envy in the best in Europe.  We travel along the banks of the Hudson.  The banks of the Hudson are very beautiful although a little lonely in comparison with the Pasig.  There are steamers and boats, trees, and hills, mostly cultivated.  The Hudson is wide.  There are beautiful boats.  The masses of granite had been cut to give way to the railroad.  In some parts, it is very long.  There are beautiful houses amidst trees.  The day is mild.  Our grand transcontinental travel ended on Sunday, 13 May, at 11:10 o’clock in the morning.  We passed through various tunnels.  The Art Age, 75 W. 23^rd Street. 

-- and as they sailed away for London -- 

"We left New York on 16 May 1888.  There was a crowd at the dock: Those of the 1^st class are separate from those of the 2^nd class at the entrance.  At 9:00 a beautiful spectacle at the jetty!  White handkerchiefs waving among hat bands, red flowers and other colors. . . . ."   

We have no idea what he did during his brief stay in New York.

The entry "The Art Age, 75 W. 23rd Street" clues us on what he possibly first did in the city.  He walked to this place, which was/is just at the west end of the block bound by 23rd St, Fifth and Sixth Avenues.  The artist in him could have sniffed correctly that this company dealt with the art business.  It was a printing company that put out the monthly journal of the same name. 

JPR could have leafed through the April issue of The Art Age, and liked the articles written with accompanying illustrations, critiques of art works, and reproductions of paintings there.  Here's one feature in that issue as described by The Critic --

He knew the English language, which he had been studying since 1884, and with which he used to learn Japanese from O Sei San during his stay in her country before he left her for the United States.  JPR could have also read the weeklies The Critic and The Nation, and the daily The New York Times, among others, and who knows if he could have brought one of these to read on his way to England, and hone his English?

He could have brought a paper with him to read after a walk to Union Square or right across at Madison Square Park.  If he bought the The Nation (issue number 1193, 10 May 1888), he could have read about the civil service in Philadelphia and the Rumanian peasant revolt, among others, as shown by its table of contents below --

Being a botanist, he could have enjoyed strolling to the parks and reading there surrounded by green trees and flowers of various colors in profusion all around him.  He could have rode to Central Park, which in the first decade after its construction in 1863 was not very accessible to the working class residing in lower Manhattan.  

From his readings, he could have learned about city politics and the Tammany politicians of the day, and could have gone to take a look at Tammany Hall.

Austin Craig (1914) wrote that JPR, during his first life in Europe, "frequently attended the theater, choosing specially the higher class dramas ... and for the rest devoted most of his money to the purchase of books."  The New York papers carried advertisements of book shops and books on sale, and JPR could have scanned something interesting that he could afford to buy.

JPR could have been as eager as most of first-time visitors in New York today to see a play or a musical. In the 1870s, the Union Square area near Broadway at 14th Street was the city's main theater district, and by the 1880s as the city grew northward, new theaters were built near Madison Square, the area surrounding the junction of Broadway and 23rd Street.  The Lyceum on Fourth Avenue and 24th St was the first electricity-lit theater with Thomas Alva Edison himself supervising the power installation in 1885.

A brief diversion ... JPR missed an event that could have merited an entry in his travel notes if he got to New York at least a day earlier.  On 12 May 1888, Thomas Alva Edison exhibited his improved phonograph at the Electrical Club in New York. 

Thus, the theaters were in JPR's walking distance.  We may assume that he did not get to see a play but he could have noted the posters displayed at the lobbies of the theaters.  As gleaned from the the review of the New York Times of 20 May 1888, these were  on stage at that time --

“The Still Alarm” was continuing at the Fourteenth-Street Theatre, “Natural Gas” play that was “likely to run well into the summer” at the Fifth-Avenue Theatre, “The Queen’s Mate”, with “magnificent costumes and handsome scenery, had been playing at the Broadway Theatre to large houses, and “likely to run most of the summer”, “The Wife” at the Lyceum was expected to reach its two hundred and fiftieth night by its last performance in June, “The Lady or the Tiger”, an operetta likely on the boards for many weeks being  a “great financial success at Wallack’s Theatre, the comic opera “Nadjy” at the Casino, which has been filled to capacity despite severe criticism, and “Herr Brockmann’s monkeys, dogs, and ponies ... at the Star ... central point of attraction for children of ripe and tender years.”

As a sportsman, JPR could not have ignored the first Madison Square Garden (the present one at the Pennsylvania Station is the fifth) that opened in 1879, which was basically a sports arena.  We do not know what event was being held during JPR's visit, but the usual fare before it closed in 1890 were the PT Barnum circus, boxing exhibitions (boxing perse was illegal), flower and horse shows, conventions, indoor track and field events (first held in 1888).    

It baffles that JPR did not write anything about his stay in New York.  But in his diary concerning an arrogant American in a train ride from Paris to Dieppe in 1889, he wrote that "beginning to be annoyed by the fury of the traveler and I was going to join the conversation to tell him what I have seen and endured in America, in New York itself, how many troubles and what torture the customs in the United States made us suffer, the demands of drivers, barbers, etc., people who, as in many other places, live on travelers…."

What did he suffer in New York?  Did he shut himself away from the New York crowd, the sights and sounds that's why he did not add more to the view he saw from the train and from the ship when he came and left? 

References:

• Craig, Austin. (1914). Lineage, life and labors of Jose Rizal, Philippine patriot. A Study of the Growth of Free Ideas in the Trans-Pacific American Territory. Yonkers-on-Hudson: World Book Company.
• "The Life and Writings of Dr Jose Rizal/Diaries of Rizal" (Dr Robert L Yoder, Webmaster). Retrieved from http://joserizal.info/Writings/Diary/portal_diary.htm
• Critic, The. (July-December 1888, Volume 10).  Google Books.
• Nation, The. (January-June 1888. Volume 46). Google Books.
• New York Times, The.  (20 May 1888).
• Madison Square Garden I.  Retrieved from http://hockey.ballparks.com/NHL/NewYorkRangers/1stoldindex.htm