Felix Laureano: First Filipino Photo-Journalist

Note:  A shorter version of this photo-essay appeared in the 24-30 July 2015 edition of FilAm Star, the weekly 'newspaper for Filipinos in mainstream America.' This author/blogger is the Manila-based special news/photo correspondent of the paper.

Photographs of Felix Laureano in the front pages of these four issues of La Ilustracion
Artistica: 23 Nov 1896, 07 Dec 1896, 11 Jan 1897, and 02 May 1898. (From Biblioteca
Nacional de Espana)

A selection of his photographs, vintage 1880s-1890s, on exhibit at the Ayala Museum brings to the fore that, indeed, Panay-born Felix Laureano was the first Filipino photographer.  After going through his works, in the La Ilustracion Artistica, a weekly magazine published in Barcelona, Spain, in the 1896 to 1898 issues, we venture to say that he was the first Filipino photo-journalist.

In a television interview, Canada-based historian Francisco G. Villanueva called him the first transnational Filipino photographer (OFW in the current political lingo) because he succeeded in professional photography in studios he set up in Spain and in the Philippines.

Villanueva, who hails from Ilolio, started his research on Laureano in 2010; thus, the exhibit is a showcase of his three-year research on the photographer that he also considers an anthropologist, portraitist and landscapist.  

From Villanueva’s documentation, we learn that Laureano was born in Patnongon, Antique in 1866, the son of a wealthy businesswoman and a Spanish friar. He and his six siblings grew up in Bugasong, where their father was the parish priest.

Left photo was about an announcement to a bullfight in the Iloilo bullring (right photo),

The bullring was a bamboo strucrure. (From Biblioteca Nacional de Espana.)

He was 17 when he attended school at the Ateneo Municipal de Manila in 1883. He stayed there for two years.  Not much is known after Ateneo, said Villanueva, until he opened a photo studio in Iloilo in 1886. He could have worked as an apprentice under one of the master photographers in Manila. 

Laureano was 21 when he participated with 40 photographs at the 1887 Exposicion General de Filipinas in Madrid where he received an Honorable Mention. 

In 1892, he returned and visited Iloilo, but he went back to Barcelona that same year. Before then, he had participated in the 1888 Universal Exposicion de Barcelona where his works received Honorable Mention. He travelled in Europe, studied the latest photography developments in Paris, and attended the 1889 Universal Exposicion where the Eiffel Tower was launched.

Back in Barcelona, he received citation at the Exposicion National de Industrias Artisticas, and was singled out by the newspaper La Vanguardia. Between December 1892 and 1901, Laureano opened three photo studios there.  Laureano could have known the ilustrados of the Reform Movement because the La Solidaridad congratulated him for the opening of  his studio in 1893.

The Jaro Cathedral with a bamboo Eiffel Tower in the foreground.

(From Biblioteca Nacional de Espana)

In 1895, Laureano published ‘Recuerdos de Filipinas’ in Barcelona, a folio of 37 photographs, each with an accompanying essay. This is considered to be the first photo book by a Filipino. The book and his other photographs were exhibited in the Exposicion Regional de Filipinas, in Manila that year.

His works began to be published in 1896, and until the end of that century, his photographss appeared in La Ilustracion Artistica, La Ilustracion Espanola y Americana, and Panorama Nacional.  Two of his colored photos were published in an 1899 issue of Album Salon, the first Spanish illustrated magazine in color.

We studied around 90 of his photographs in the La Ilustracion Artistica from November 1896 and May 1898. 

Five issues of the weekly paper featured his works in the front page covers: 23 November 1896 (a mestiza in an elegant and colorful costume of the country); 07 December 1896 (a typical Bisayan fighting game, and the principalia or local consultative body for administrative matters), 11 January 1897 (‘Philippine Views,’ a montage of five photographs taken around Manila), 02 May 1898 (the battleships Pelayo and Infanta Maria Teresa of the Spanish Navy) and 16 May 1898 (the coastguard battleship Numancia of the Spanish Navy).

Cuadrilleros or rural guards. 

(From Biblioteca Nacional de Espana)

His photographs of the Spanish warships anchored in Barcelona during the Spanish-American War in Cuba were commissioned works.  In this sense, he could be the first Filipino press photographer. 

Most of his works in Ilustracion Artistica were in the realm of photo-essays because all the photographs were described in detail, probably in the same manner that he did for the Recuerdos. The essays were not by-lined but there could have been no other Filipinos in Barcelona as knowledgeable of the Philippines, its people and customs, except Laureano. Yes, there were the ilustrados but they were using their pens to agitate for reforms through the La Solidaridad.

The descriptive essays on his eight pictures in the 23 November 1896 were preceded by an explanatory note, probably by the editor, which said that with the attention of Spain focused on the ‘remote archipelago’, it was appropriate to include in the issue ‘some pictures depicting typical scenes and customs, convinced that our subscribers will welcome seeing them.’ These did not have photo credits, but the editor informed that ‘these are taken from photographs provided by Mr. Felix Laureano’.  The whole composition occupies more than one page of the weekly paper.

'Una Boda'- wedding party followed by a music band. 

(From Biblioteca Nacional de Espana)

One of the interesting photographs in this issue is titled ‘Una Boda’ (A Wedding): a couple in a calesa followed by a music band.  The short story on the wedding picture tells about the wedding practices in the villages.  Matchmakers are very much a part of the preliminaries and of the post-wedding practices.  The prospective groom, accompanied by his parents, relatives and a matchmaker, all dressed up, go to the house of his future-in-laws.  The matchmaker begs in the sweetest persuasive tone, through improvised verses, for the hand of the future bride on behalf of the groom. The bride’s parents, also through a matchmaker reciting in verse, disclose the conditions under which they grant the hand of their daughter.  One of these is the usual service for about a year or year and a half, which, of course, can be redeemed for cash to shorten the time.

If the negotiations succeed, a wedding date is set, and the groom’s party commits to pay for the wedding feast. A ritual is also described about the groom walking around for scrutiny, getting accepted by the girl, and turning over a symbolic key to the groom to signify he becomes master of their house after marriage.

Datu Piang, his family and followers. 

(From Biblioteca National de Espana)

Aside from the front page photographs, the 07 December 1896 issue also has photo montages in two full pages: one depicts the views of Iloilo and Panay Island, and the other, views of the city of Manila.

The accompanying long descriptive essay, almost a full page, titled ‘Types, customs and views of the Philippines’ was also preceded by an introductory note from the editor to justify the publication of many pictures which came ‘from the kindness of the well-known photographer of the city, Felix D. Laureano.’  The justification had something to do with the ‘current insurrection’ growing in ‘those islands in the Great Asian Archipelago.’

The accompanying descriptive essay titled ‘Views of the Philippines’ appear on top of the montage of five Laureano photographs in the front page of the 11 January 1897 issue of the Ilustracion Artistica. This one is short compared to the previously cited cover stories.

Towards the end of the century, Laureano and the Spanish photographer Manuel Arias Rodriguez began sharing the pages of the newspapers in Barcelona. “Guerra Filipinas” was the tagged of Arias photographs from the Spanish front in the Philippine Revolution.  Laureano was in Barcelona, and he got commissions to photograph the Spanish Navy warships anchored in the port of the city.  There were scant ‘Islas Filipinas’ views after the Spaniards lost the archipelago.

One of two Laureano photographs taken during the banquet for the Baler survivors.

The other showed them enjoying their dinner. (From Biblioteca Nacional de Espana.)

It seems that Laureano’s last press photography was his coverage in 1899 of the banquet honoring the 32 survivors of the defense of Baler in Tayabas. 

The Philippines: haven for refugees

Note: This photo-essay appeared in the 10-16 July 2015 issue of the FilAm Star, the weekly 'newspaper for Filipinos in mainstream America' published in San Franciso, CA. This author/blogger is the Manila-based special news/photo correspondent of the paper.

UNHCR’s Bernard Kerblat spoke highly of our 

“strong humanitarian tradition.”

Sometime in May this year, the Philippine government announced openness to accept thousands of Bangladeshi and Rohingya people on small boats adrift in the Andaman Sea if ever they reach our territory.  This was met, of course, with positive and adverse reactions from the public through the social media.

Bernard Kerblat, representative of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) submitted that, yes, the Philippines would have given them refuge if they landed on Philippine shores, recalling the country’s “strong humanitarian tradition.”

He said that eleven years before the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, we already had Commonwealth Act 613 or the Philippine Immigration Act of 1940, which authorized the president to allow aliens to come here “for humanitarian reasons.” But even before its enactment, President Manuel Quezon already gave asylum to some 1,300 European Jews in the country.   

 “We discovered that very few people are aware of what your ancestors did to welcome refugees,’’ Kerblat revealed in his lecture on “The Philippines and asylum – a historical perspective” at the National Museum, which coincided with the celebration of World Refugee Day.

About 6,000 “White Russian Refugees” evacuated from Shanghai

 to Tubabao Island, Guiuan, Eastern Samar in 1949. (Photo courtesy

 of the Pres. Elpidio Quirino Foundation)

“Our ancestors” were the Filipino generations from 1923 to 2000 who gave asylum to nine waves of refugees from Asia and Europe: first wave of White Russians (1923), Jews (1934-1940), Spanish Republicans (1939), Chinese (1940), the second wave of White Russians (1949-1953), Vietnamese (1975-1992), Iranians (1979), Indochinese (1980-1989), and East Timorese (2000).

The lectures was part of a series that the President Elpidio Quirino Foundation has scheduled for the year to commemorate Quirino’s 125th birthday.

Kerblat toured us into the nine waves, and focused on the second wave of White Russians who came during the watch of President Quirino. Taking them in was a challenge to the new republic because it was then in the process of recovery and reconstruction from the ravages of World War II.

Refugee children enjoying their snacks and soda. (Photo by 

Nikolai Hidchenko. Courtesy of the Pres. Elpidio Quirino Foundation).

“Tiempo Ruso” was the theme of the parallel commemorative exhibit, which was set up by the Qurino Foundation based on the research of Kinna Gonzalez Kwan for her graduate program at the University of Sto. Tomas. 

Kinna Kwan hails from Guiuan, Eastern Samar, and her mother is the mayor of that town. “Tiempo Ruso” is the term that Guiuan people fondly call the four years when the White Russians stayed in Tubabao Island, which belongs to the town.  The Kwan mother and daughter have started connecting with the former refugees who settled in different countries around the world.

“White Russians” has no racial connotation. It refers to those who opposed the Socialist Revolution of 1917. Those who supported were the “Reds”.

Many White Russians sought refuge in Europe and America. Many also fled to China and settled in Peking (Beijing), Tientsin (Tianjin), Harbin, and Shanghai. They were safely ensconced there until Mao Tse Tung and his liberation army started to rule over China.

Young men and women enjoying their good times at the 

Tubabao camp. (Photo by Val Sushkoff. Courtesy of the 

Pres. Elpidio Quirino Foundation).

The White Russians feared that they may be persecuted and possibly repatriated to the USSR. Thus, in December 1948, in their desire to flee China, the Russian Emigrants’ Association, through the International Refugee Organization (IRO), predecessor of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), sent circular letters to all the free countries seeking help and protection of their governments, relocation of White Russian employees in their firms in China to safer regions, and temporary asylum for 6,000 people.

Many countries expressed sympathies. The only country that was willing to accept them was the Philippines, the young republic under President Elpidio Quirino.

The country opened Tubabao Island for them.  The island was the receiving station for the US Naval Base in Guiuan during the Second World War.

President Quirino visited the refugee camp in October 1949. (Photo by 

Nikolai Hidchenko. Courtesy of the Pres. Elpidio Quirino Foundation)

When the White Russians arrived in the Tubabao aboard rusty ships crewed by Chinese prisoners, the island had turned into a jungle, and what remained were dilapidated Quonset huts of the Americans. They found some fishing families living along the beach.

The White Russians were composed of 12 national groups: Russian, Armenian, Estonian, Germans and Austrians, Turko Tatar, Romanian, Ukrainian, Lithuanian, Czechs and Yugoslav, Polish, Latvian, and Hungarian.  There were teachers, doctors, engineers, architects, ex-military officers, lawyers, artists, performers, and priests, among others.

With the help of Filipinos, the refugees were able to transform the jungle into a “little Russian city” comprising 14 districts with democratically-elected leaders. They had communal kitchens, power stations, Russian schools, hospital and dental clinic, arbitration court, police force and a little jail, and churches for different faiths.  They transformed the church left by the Americans into a wooden Russian Orthodox church.

As their life improved and acquired normalcy, they improvised an open air movie theater, held dance parties, poetry readings, art exhibitions, lectures and performances by acrobats and dancers; they also formed an amateur theater company and an orchestra.

Pres. Quirino was a hero to the refugees. (Photo by Nikolai 

Hidchenko. Courtesy of the Pres. Elpidio Quirino Foundation)

They also had to earn a living.  Some taught piano and ballet to the children of Guiuan. Thus, they became friends of local families. Through these encounters, they left a legacy in Guiuan: piano playing and dancing like ballerinas.

President Quirino visited the camp on 28 October 1949. There was something that he did that former refugees remember: he ordered the barbed-wire fence around the camp removed. To them, that was an act of acceptance, goodwill and trust.

A religious stayed with them for several months: Vladyka (Bishop) John Maximovitch, who served as their spiritual leader from Shanghai to Tubabao. People of Guiuan recall stories about him as the holy man who blessed the camp from four directions every night to ward off typhoons and other dangers. He was canonized as a saint by the Russian Orthodox Church in July 1994.

The White Russians were to stay only for four months. The country extended its hospitality until 1953 because of delays in the resettlement.  

A streamer of gratitude to the Philippines. (Photo by Larissa 

Krassovsky. Courtesy of Pres. Elpidio Quirino Foundation)

Living a free and contented life in Australia, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Dominican Republic, Paraguay, Uruguay, Surinam, USA, France and Belgium today, former refugees continue to remember Tubabao Island, and with gratefulness, the benevolent and timely response of our country to the Philippines to their plight.

From former refugee Contantine Koloboff: “Philippines did a fantastic job of being friends with us, accepting us ... to me, it was a very special time of my life. I appreciate that period, it shaped the rest of my life.”

When typhoon Yolanda struck Samar and Leyte in 2013, the White Russians sent help to the devastated town of Guiuan.

Sunflowers still bloomed in the first June graduation of UP Diliman

Note: This photo-essay appeared in the 03-09 July 2015 issue of the FilAm Star, the weekly 'newspaper for Filipinos in mainstream America' published in San Francisco, CA, where this writer/blogger is the Manila-based special news/photo correspondent.

Applause & cheers upon presentation for graduation.

For the first time, the University of the Philippines Diliman (UPD) held its graduation rites in June, following the shift of the university academic calendar from June to August last year. The University Avenue still blazed with the golden yellow blooms of the iconic sunflower, this time of the species that can tolerate rain.

Class 2015 comprising 4,439 graduates from the 27 degree-granting units in the Diliman campus received their degrees under the burning morning sun during the 104^th  General Commencement Exercises on 28 June. 3,499 received undergraduate degrees while 940 received graduate degrees, of which 84 were conferred their doctoral degrees.  They were alerted that if it rains, they would be confirmed graduates by text.

The four summa cum laude graduates of engineering with theirDean Aura Matias, 

Vice Chacellor Benito Pacheco, Chancellor Michael Tan and UP President Alfredo Pascual

Summa cum laudes. Twenty nine undergraduates who earned a weighted average grade (WAG) of 1.20 or better were bestowed with the highest academic distinction: summa cum laude (“with the greatest honors. They were led by Tiffany Grace C. Uy, BS Biology with a WAG of 1.004. She surpassed that of John Gabriel P. Pelias, BS Mathematics, graduated with a WAG of 1.016 in 2011.

Chancellor Tan congratulates Tiffany Uy
and her proud parents.

In the Diliman Files, a Facebook community group, Uy is listed second, and Pelias third, among the top five summa cum laude graduates in UP history. Number one is Exequiel Sevilla, who had a flat 1.0 WAG in 1927. The fourth and fifth are Emerenciana Yuvienco-Arcellana, 1.020 WAG in 1948, and Gertrude Gwendale Baron-Reinoso, 1.030 WAG in 1982. Among the post-war Diliman campus summa graduates though, Uy would be on top.

Mikaela Irene D. Fudolig was barely noticed during graduation rites. She was one of the 84 who received doctoral degrees. If her name rings a bell, she was this physics prodigy, who at 16 in 2007, graduated summa cum laude, with 1.099 WAG.  She was the girl of 11 who entered the university without a high school diploma and without taking the UP College Admission Test or UPCAT.  After her BS and MS in 2007 and 2013, respectively, she is now PhD, all in physics.

High school buddies Junji &
Mike graduate as engineers.

Based on the university records, there were only one or two summa cum laude graduates or none at all, from 1919 to 1959, although there were five in 1929, and three in 1952. In the 1960s, there were only two. During the years of student ferment, from 1964 to 1972, there was none at all. The double-digit number of summas started in 2005 although there were only eight in 2007.

Many alumni wonder why it was so difficult to earn the highest Latin honor in their time although they had magna cum laudes in their classes.

Chancellor Michael Tan attributed the seeming phenomenon to change, citing factors such as easier access to information from various sources, improvement in the teaching methodologies (the ‘terrors’ are disappearing, he quipped), among others. 

Tiffany Uy was more down-to-earth with regard to her grade. To her, it just a number, only a circumstantial evidence of what [she] has learned.  “A true measure of what you’ve learned,” she averred, “is (its) application toward serving the country.”

Muslim Filipinos are integral part of
the academic community & the nation.

Pag-uugat, Pag-uugnay, Pagyabong.  “This theme,” said UP President Alfredo Pascual in his message to Class 2015, “mirrors your transformation from idealistic young freshmen to accomplished graduates.” He reminded that they were nurtured in integrity so they can proudly stand as “the best and the brightest in the country.” 

He emphasized on “pag-uugnay” in the process of growth as true iskolar ng bayan, in the practice of excellence to achieve honorable ends.

 “Many of our graduates like you,” he said, “have seen how each individual is connected to the whole—that the nation’s issues are your issues. You have been witness to how one can, under the banner of truth, improve the world through strength of mind and will. And this is done through building networks, cooperation, and interconnections.”

The iconic clenched fist in UP rites.

Secretary Armin A. Luistro of the Department of Education, the ceremony’s guest speaker, urged the members of Class 2015 to become living heroes, “mga buhay na Oblation.”

In good humor, Luistro said that he was told he would become a rock star if rallyistas appear while he is speaking.  Placards were flashed while he spoke, and the mass action, which was quite expected, came before the formal closing of the program. The protest principally focused on the K-12 program.

Luistro hurled challenges to the graduates focusing on his turf: the state of public schools in the country. He asked for who can help install solar or micro-hydro power in schools that still do not have electricity. There are also more than 6,000 schools that have no access to clean water, and thus, rain catchment facilities are needed to be constructed.

He cited the Brigada Eskwela program, and he challenged the engineering graduates to volunteer in constructing around 40,000 new classrooms in far-flung areas and islands. He assured that the locations are the most beautiful in the country.

The Colleg of Law contingent singing the UP Naming Mahal with passion.

Luistro would also like the graduates to look at the out-of-school youth.  According to him, there were 2.9 million of them in 2008, and this reduced to 1.2 million in 2013.  “If you see a child who is not in school,” he said, “text or email us at DepEd and we will take care.”

He called attention to other challenges that graduates cannot evade: the turmoil at the West Philippine Sea, the issues on the Bangsamoro Law, which is deemed to achieve lasting peace in Mindanao, and the election of right government officials in 2016.

Response on behalf of Class '15.

Summa cum laude graduate Ma. Patricia Riego De Dios (BS Psychology, 1.139 WAG) spoke on behalf of the graduating class with “Mga Katanungan ng Payabong na Iskolar ng Bayan” vis-a-vis the graduation theme.

She recalled that their growth as iskolar ng bayan was nurtured in the university by information, friendships, experience, failures and interconnections.

“Mga kasama kong nagsipagtapos, tayo ay magiging ganap lamang na mga iskolar ng bayan sa ating pag-angat sa lupa,” she implored. “Magiging ganap tayo na mga isko at iska kapag yumabong na ang ating mga tangkay, mga sanga, at mga dahon sa kanya-kanyang propesyon at karera sa buhay: paghanap ng trabaho, ng boyfriend, girlfriend, asawa, pagpasok sa med school, law school o graduate school, at pagpapalawak ng ating kaalaman.

“At dahil nga tayo ay naka-ugat sa UP, sisikapin nating maging pinakamataas na sanga, pinakaluntiang dahon, at higit sa lahat, pinakamatibay at pinakamayabong na puno na nakapagbibigay ng silong sa nakararami.”

Strung across the front of the stage for all Class 2015 is a giant streamer, a reminder that they should go and serve the people: 'Paglingkuran ang sambayanan.' 

The lightning protest demonstration toward the end of the graduation rites.

Celebrating 50 golden years of BenCab’s visual arts

Note:  This photo-essay was in the 'living' section of the 26 Jun - 02 Jul 2015 issue of FilAm Star, the weekly 'newspaper for Filipinos in mainstream America' published in San Francisco, CA. This author/blogger is the Manila-based special news/photo correspondent of the paper.

National Artist BenCab in front of Soldiers (Heroes of the Past IV),
his work in the Lopez Museum and Library collection.

It’s been fifty years since National Artist Benedicto Reyes Cabrera, the popular BenCab, had his first exhibit in a three-man show at the Art Association of the Philippines Gallery. The next year, 1966, he was 24, and he had his first solo exhibition of oil and acrylic paintings at the Indigo Gallery in Mabini.  In celebration of his half-a-century of art practice, these three exhibitions are ongoing for public appreciation of his achievements: Frames of Reference at the Lopez Museum and Library (until 04 July 2015), BenCab in Multiples: A Print Retrospective at the CCP Main Gallery (until 16 August 2015), and Ode to the Flag at the BenCab Museum in Benguet (until 02 August 2015).

The Philippine Ballet Theatre (PBT) has staged 'Sabel: Love and Passion', a musical inspired by BenCab's Sabel, his most iconic subject, with music by Louie Ocampo, and book and lyrics by Freddie Santos. She also inspired Agnes Locsin, back in 2010, to create the dance 'Sayaw, Sabel.'

Sabel, 2005

The Sabel theme can be seen in various transformations in the artist's paintings and prints. She dates back to 1964 when she was a bag lady, a scavenger that he observed and sketched from the window of their family house in Bambang in Tondo. To BenCab, according to the BenCab Museum webpage, Sabel is "a symbol of dislocation, despair and isolation - the personification of human dignity threatened by circumstances."

Sabel is not the only element of BenCab's personal interest that permeates his art.

The Frames of Reference exhibits enable us to look at BenCab as artist (photographer, painter, printmaker), lover, family man, bibliophile and collector of historical and cultural artifacts. 

Glimpses into BenCab’s life can be gleaned from about 15 of his art-books that comprise compilations of collages (clippings and cut-outs), drawings and sketches interspersed with his handwritten notes. These prominently feature his love for nostalgia, handmade paper and bookbinding. His small scrapbooks look like diaries containing his aesthetics, letters, mementos and other keepsakes.  

Rizal’s and Leonor’s Letters. 1998. 

Lopez Museum & Library Collection.

His other hand-crafted books show early studies and iterations of some of his most important series of works: Sabel, Larawan and Japanese Women (ukiyo-e). Also on exhibit are his early folios of prints he was a part of, along with other Filipino and foreign artists.

We had an amusing time poring through BenCab’s notes, scribbles, and studies, which he did in a playful or studied manner, by using a magnifying glass or viewing the enlarged screen images of pages of his digitized art-books: Embossed Prints, Book of Collages, Small Prints, and An English Scrapbook. 

Among the Collages was one of Ninoy Aquino with the Philippine flag and the date Agosto 21, probably his memento of his participation in the EDSA  I revolt. We chuckled when we saw a picture of Stalin among those he clipped from newspapers in his English Scrapbook.

Postcard to Annie Sarthou, 08 Feb 1988.

We were delighted listening to him in his two postcards dated February 1988, one with a sketch of himself in a crowd in freezing London, and the other, carrying in the cold a painting. He was speaking of his anxieties in setting up his art exhibition (carpentry work, framing, invitations, guests list, etc) at the October Gallery in London. And here he is being very  fatherly: “The kids are doing fine. Mayumi might do a front cover for Elle Mag. I have to think of what to give to Jasmine for her birthday. She is learning piano. Elisar and I share the evening usually. After cooking meals for him, I watch TV. But usually his choices. Also got hook on his comic books.” 

That exhibit was of his Recent Works that included ‘America Is in the Heart,’ a large painting in oil, “inspired by Carlos Bulosan’s autobiography which describes the racial discrimination against Filipinos in the United States.”

1081. Print, 1975.

He was actually returning to London in 1988.  He had been back for good in 1986 and chose to stay in Baguio.  He arrived in time for the EDSA Revolution, which he chronicled with a painting of two women standing in a rain of yellow confetti.

BenCab’s large Soldiers (Heroes of the Past IV) painting in the Lopez Museum and Library Collection,  which he did in 1998 with charcoal, chalk, acrylic on hand-made paper, reminded us that we have seen the two historical pictures, which  inspired the work.

The biography cited earlier tells us that “a turning point in his work is his discovery of rare Filipiniana prints and photographs in London’s antiquarian bookshops.” Filipiniana materials such as photographs, maps, prints, and illustrated travelogues inspired him to start Larawan series comprising portraits of the Filipina in 19th century attire, nostalgic images of colonial Philippines, Filipino migrants, expatriates and exiles, that explored “themes of cultural alienation and spiritual distancing.”

Painting detail echoing the From Hillsman to Sergeant theme
of a 1978 print.

His other collections comprise Cordillera artifacts like the bulol (representation of the rice god) and tabayag (carved lime container for the areca leaf chewable), among others.  These are housed at the BenCab Museum in Tuba, Benguet, which can easily be reached from Baguio City. 

The Cordillera people and its culture have also been subjects of the national artist’s paintings and prints. He has also documented the Cordillera insurgency. 

In his Ode to the Flag exhibit at the BenCab Museum, the national artist portrays the "flag -- draped, wrapped and displayed with the likes of Andres Bonifacio ... [and] on anonymous human forms that are not seen, suggesting the countless, nameless Filipinos who fought for freedom." It also reminds "that the fight is not yet over, and suggests that our flag, as yet, does not fly in skies that are truly free." This affirms why he has been called an "artist-activist."

Pictures of BenCab’s paintings in the Ode to the Flag exhibit.  (From the BenCab Museum Facebook album).

In 2006, he was conferred the Order of National Artist for Visual Arts by President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.

The citations he received when he was conferred the degree of Doctor of Humanities, honoris causa, by his alma mater, the University of the Philippines, in 2009, basically sum up his achievements in 50 golden years: "his incisive contribution to Philippine Art, lavishly expressed in a visual granary of Filipino imagery, gleaned from the country's inspiring historic past to the penetrating banalities of contemporary art ... and for his pioneering work to uphold the cultural being of the country's indigenous peoples and for spearheading initiatives to benefit the cultural, economic and social life of the underprivileged."

Propaganda in quest of Philippine nationhood

Note: This photo-essay is in the 'living' section of the 19-25 June 2015 issue of FilAm Star, the weekly 'newspaper for Filipinos in mainstream America published in San Francisco, CA. This author/blogger is the Manila-based special news/photo correspondent of the paper.

Propaganda exhibiit at the Lopez Museum & Library: 

The Sol issued in Madrid on 31 Decenver 1892.

As prelude to our personal observance of the 117th anniversary of Philippine Independence, we pored through the Propaganda exhibit at the Lopez Museum & Library, and listened to historian Ambeth Ocampo’s discourse on “(A)lamat at (H)istorya sa Paghahanap ng Kalinangan ng Sinaunang Filipino” during the inaugural Lekturang Norberto L. Romualdez  of the Komisyon ng Wikang Filipino (KWF) at the Court of Appeals auditorium in Manila.

“Propaganda” immediately brings to mind patriotic Filipino expatriates in Spain who fought for reforms in their native land through their fortnightly newspaper La Solidaridad (Sol), which they published in Barcelona and Madrid for almost seven years, from February 1889 to November 1895.

Picture from the Biblioteca Nacional de Espana.
Juan Luna painting can be seen at the Lopez
Musuem & Library.

The reform and propaganda movement of Graciano Lopez Jaena, Marcelo del Pilar, Jose Rizal and Mariano Ponce, among many others, however did not succeed in emancipating “the nation of eight million souls [from] the exclusive preserve of theocracy and traditionalism,”  borrowing from the first Sol editorial.  None of these were realized:  secularization of parishes; freedom of speech; equality of indios, Filipinos and Spaniards before the law; and representation in the Spanish Cortes, among their other aspirations.

Juan Luna expressed the vision of the reformist ilustrados in his España y Filipinas, which he painted in 1886. The Lopez Museum & Library has a copy of this painting that shows a woman in red classical dress (Spain) holding a lady in white baro and blue saya (Philippines) by the waist,  and leading her toward a bright horizon as they ascend a staircase strewn with flowers.

This painting was adapted by the Spanish colonial government as the cover illustration of the catalog of the Exposicion Regional Filipina held in Manila in 1895 to showcase the social, cultural and economic activities in the colony. Propaganda indeed for Spain guiding her colony to a bright future!

The revolutionary movement that came also had its own propaganda press to spread cause for independence from Spain to the Filipino masses. The Katipunan propagated its ideals through the writings of Andres Bonifacio and Emilio Jacinto in the Kalayaan, their newspaper in Tagalog. Thus, the Katipunan gained many adherents in the provinces in Southern and Central Luzon.

After Kawit 1898, the new republic also needed propaganda media to get the respect and recognition of foreign powers and to announce the nation’s aspirations. Its official organ (1898-1899) published the decrees of the government and patriotic literature. The most famous propaganda paper was edited and privately owned by Gen. Antonio Luna: La Independencia. When the Aguinaldo was on the run from the Americans, so was La Independencia with its few fonts of type, and its old Franklin handpress, packed into a carabao cart.

Propaganda exhibit:at the Lopez 
Museum &; Library:

La Independencia of 25 December 1898.

Back in the U.S., the propaganda mills worked to gain public support for their troops at war with Spain in Cuba and in the Philippines.  Harper’s Weekly provided pictorial accounts of how their volunteer troops engaged the insurrecto Filipino armies. [Thomas Alva] Edison’s Manufacturing Company churned out movies at location sites in the Orange Mountains in New Jersey purportedly to re-enact American victories in the Philippine battlefields.  In May 1899, Edison produced U.S. Troops and Red Cross in the Trenches Before Caloocan; Advance of Kansas Volunteers at Caloocan; Colonel Funston Swimming the Bagbag River; Filipinos Retreat from Trenches; and Capture of Trenches at Candaba (‘full of exciting action and excellent detail,’ according to the Edison catalog). Afro-Americans in what seem to be long Johns depicted Filipino rebels.

With the onset of peacetime in the American colony, the Filipinos began exercising their new freedoms, particularly freedom of speech.  The famous “Aves de Rapina” libel case of 1908 was brought about by attacks on the Secretary of the Interior Dean Worcester in the nationalist paper El Renacimiento.

The publicity campaigns of the Philippine Press Bureau in Washington greatly helped the Philippine missions for independence to the United States from 1919 to 1924. The campaigns were intended to develop the interest of the U.S. Congress and the American public in the Philippine issue.  A privately owned monthly magazine, The Philippine Republic (1924-1928) publicized the independence agenda and played up achievements of Filipinos here and those in the United States to highlight their capabilities for self-government.

Picture from the Lopez Musuem & Library.

A poster of great interest at the Lopez Museum is “The Fighting Filipino” that depicts a wounded Filipino about to hurl a grenade while he holds aloft with his left hand a tattered Philippine flagIn 1944, he Commonwealth-in-exile commissioned artist Manuel Rey Isip, who settled in the U.S. in 1925, to make this propaganda poster. According to historical accounts, fifteen thousand copies were smuggled into the Philippines, which provided a boost to the fighting spirit of the guerrillas.

Japanese counter-propaganda in various media vis-a-vis Isip’s Fighting Filipino are on exhibit at the Lopez Museum. Among these are posters hyping on the Asian co-prosperity sphere, movie posters glamorizing Philippine-Japanese partnerships, and cartoons depicting happy relationships between the masses and Japanese soldiers.

Up on the walls too are the editorial cartoons of Gatbonton in the pre-martial law Manila Chronicle. These are drawn commentaries relating usually to current events or personalities.  Gat’s cartoons on our election system and Filipino politicians remain relevant today as ever.

Woven into the Propaganda exhibit are artworks in the museum collection done by our famous 18th century masters, national artists, and contemporary artists.

The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines propaganda as “ideas, facts, or allegations spread deliberately to further one's cause or to damage an opposing cause; [and] also a public action having such an effect.”

Today, we are confronted with propaganda, whether we discern them as such or not, in the social media we seem to have become addicted to.  These may be our own or those of friends or friends of friends shared through various media streams.

Propaganda exhibit at the Lopez Museum & Library: Recreation of installation art
"Pasyon at Rebolusyon", mixed media by the late Santiago Bose.

1734 Philippine map by Fr. Pedro Murillo Velarde, SJ

Note: This is an expanded version of my front page story in the 12-18 Jun 2015 issue of FilAm Star, the weekly 'newspaper for Filipinos in America' where we are the Manila-based Special News/Photo Correspondent. 

The map was downloaded from the collection of the US Library of Congress [Catalogue No. 2013585226; and Digital ID g8060 ct003137].  The detailed pictures were cropped from this same map.

This copy was downloaded from the U.S. Library of Congress map collection.

The map of the Philippine Islands (“Carta Hydrographica y Chorographica de las Islas Filipinas”)  published by Jesuit Fr. Pedro Murillo Velarde in Manila in 1734, is coming home in July. This was reportedly the assurance of Mel Velasco Velarde, chief executive officer of Now Corporation, who acquired the almost 300-year-old map from an auction at Sotheby’s in London on 17 November 2014 with his winning bid of GBP170,500 (USD$266,869.46 or Php12,014,463.09).

Sotheby’s announced that the sale was upon the order of the duke of Northumberland and the trustee of the Northemberland estates. There are still other existing copies: one at the U.S. Library of Congress and another at the Bibliotheque national de France, both of which can be accessed online.

Velarde, according to reports, will donate the antique map to the National Museum on condition that the government would take care of it and allow anyone to see it.  He will also present a certified true copy to President Benigno Aquino III on Philippine Independence Day.

At the lower portion of the map is the notation “Lo esculpio Nicolas de la Cruz Bagay, Indio Tagalo, Manila año 1734,” which refers to the Filipino who did the engraving. Another indio Tagalo name is written below the notations to the map of Manila on the right side: Francisco Suarez, with the note "lo hizo", meaning he made or drew the said map.

The Carta is very relevant today. It graphically affirms the historical fact that Panacot or Bajo de Masinloc or Scarborough Shoal has always been a part of Philippine territory. Thus, it is a strong rebuttal to the nine-dash-line territorial claims of China in the South China Sea. A copy of this Murillo map may have been included in the Memorial reportedly comprising around 4,000 pages of arguments, documents and maps that the Philippines submitted to the UNCLOS arbitral tribunal on 30 March 2014.

For anyone who would like to look at their provinces around that time, enlarging the U.S. Library of Congress copy would reveal the towns that were already existing at that time.  The boundary between Pangasinan and Zambales was not indicated here, We know however that Zambales extended from Bolinao in the north to Subic in the South during the Spanish colonial times. In this map, Pta. [Puerta?] de Bolinao and Pta. de Agno were marked, and likewise, the barrios/towns of Cabatugan, Balca, Sagayan (which became Sta. Cruz), Tambobo, Bani, Masigloc (Masinloc?), Tugui, Castagan (Caslagan?), Banganalala, Playa Honda o Paynauen (Iba today), Banganbucao, Cabangoan (Cabangan today), and Subic. Panacot is shown off Zambales, opposite the towns of Tugui and Castagan. In modern maps, the shoal is opposite Palauig and Masinloc towns. Obviously, the Murillo map erred in the location of Masigloc/Masinloc.

The Murillo is very detailed map.  There are six pictures on each of the vertical sides. The drawings include scenes from the daily lives of the inhabitants of islands at that time, and small maps of Manila, Zamboanga, port of Cavite and the island of Guam.  

There is also medallion at the bottom left of the map which contains a historical line about the arrival and death of Magellan and the foundation of Manila, enumeration of flora and fauna found here, products from Mindanao like pearls, and, most significant of all, the state of the colony as of 1734 --  one archbishopric, three bishoprics, one chancery, three governments, 21 provinces or jurisdictions, etc., and number of towns and total population of the provinces administered by the various religious orders.

In 1894, Trinidad Pardo de Tavera devoted a book to the Murillo maps, the original of 1734 and its subsequent editions. He lamented the loss of valuable documents such as this in the country due to termites but noted that, thankfully, these can be found in archives or libraries abroad. He called the 1734 Murillo the ‘first map of the Philippines.’ In his lectures on the historical truths and lies in the West Philippine Sea, Justice Antonio T. Carpio called it the “mother of all Philippine maps.”