The difference between gossip and history, according to a research at the National Library of Medicine in Bethesda, Maryland, is documentation
It’s been over a month since the passing of Queen Elizabeth II. Sometimes, I still need to remind myself she really is gone. Queen Elizabeth was a constant, having lived long enough to be ingrained in people’s memories the world over. She was an institution. I remember when I was told there were real princes and princesses. One afternoon, I came home from school to see my mom watching a live broadcast of a procession with many horses and coaches. It was Prince Charles’ wedding to Lady Diana Spencer. After that I was hooked! I collected books and even memorized the royal family tree Charlemagne to the House of Windsor. Eventually, I grew out of it but I managed to keep a respectful interest. I have long admired how this family managed to survive being royals through the centuries, and I’m curious how they will manage to continue to do so in the coming generations.
In precolonial times, the datu was the title we gave to local royalty but in an alternate universe, the Philippines could have had a European-styled royal family. Two men in our past declared themselves emperor of the Philippines.
The first was Andres Novales, a mestizo (half Mexican and half Spanish) officer of the Spanish Army. Novales wanted equality and justice for those under Spanish rule. In June 1823, he declared himself emperor of the Philippines and along with 800 Spanish soldiers and Filipinos took over Intramuros. The mutiny only lasted a few days and Novales along with his officers were executed.
The second man to declare himself emperor of these islands was Florencio Natividad a.k.a. Flor de Entrenchado. Granted he was ridiculed by the landed elite of the province and ordered by the court to be institutionalized, Natividad was most favored by the poor for championing their cause against taxes, unfair trade practices of Chinese and Japanese merchants, and some Filipino politicians who, more than the interest of their fellow Filipinos, were favoring the US, of which the Philippines was still a colony then. On May 13, 1927, Natividad and his followers, who called themselves The Entrencheraditas, took part in an uprising. It was quelled by then Governor General Leonard Wood. Wood managed to convince Natividad that he would address all the issues raised. Natividad believed him and surrendered. After agreeing to a mental evaluation in San Lazaro Hospital in Manila, Natividad ended up seeing the world—his would-be empire—only within the confines of a mental asylum for the rest of his life.
The Philippines was never a colony of the British Empire but we were occupied by the British for two years, from 1762 to1764. I never knew, until the British School Manila (BSM) where both my sons, William and Ian Orestes, were studying, had a contest during British-Philippine Week. As part of the contest, one (parent or student) must answer a number of the questions, one of which “What was the capital of the Philippines when the British occupied the Philippines?” I went full on research mode and won the contest.
When I was on the board of directors of the Oriental Ceramic Society of the Philippines, I used to offer my house as a venue for our monthly meetings. I met a lady named Shirley Fish, an American freelance writer, who had lived in Asia for decades. At the time, Shirley was living in Manila. She had written a book entitled, When Britain Ruled the Philippines 1762-1764: The Story of the 18th Century British Invasion of the Philippines during the Seven Years War. The Seven Years War (1756-1763) involved many countries with Britain and Spain on opposing sides. In the end, the British had to return the Philippines to Spain.
One of the lasting legacies of the British Occupation is our role in the world’s abaca production. When they were here, the British discovered that ropes made of abaca weathered better than the ropes they were using. Abaca was found to be more flexible and water resistant, which made it more durable. Soon the use of abaca ropes from “Manila” took off as “the” rope to use in ships all over the world. The Philippines still remains the largest producer of abaca in the world today.
Question: What was the capital of the Philippines when the British occupied the Philippines?
Abaca production in Leyte and Samar was in earnest at the turn of the 20th century. Travelers wrote of the island shores dotted by abaca fibers drying in the wind and rivers filled with hulled out canoes laden with abaca products on their way to market. Business was thriving. When I was researching my family’s history and the role they played in the governance of the island of Leyte in the mid-1800s up till the American colonial regime, I came across documents mentioning the friendship between my family and two gentlemen, Ambrosio Moxica and Vicente Lukban.
To be clear from here on, when we talk about Filipino soldiers during Emilio Aguilnaldo’s revolutionary government (1896-1898) we call them revolutionary soldiers; During the Philippine Republic (1898-1902), they were called soldiers of the republican army. Moxica and Lukban were generals of the country’s revolutionary and republican army up to the end of the Philippine American War (1899-1902). Moxica handed my great grandfather, Daniel Arcilla Romualdez, his appointment papers as Policia de Consejo for Leyte from Aguinaldo’s revolutionary government. He even stood as witness to Daniel’s eldest son Norberto’s wedding. And Daniel’s brother, Miguel Lopez Romualdez, was appointed by Lukban to join as an officer reservist in the Philippine revolutionary army.
Tension grew between Mojica and Lukban when Aguinaldo appointed Moxica as Lukban’s replacement as governor general of Leyte and Samar. Some speculate that the islands’ treasury and control over it had something to do with it. After all, money was needed to fund the Philippine army during the Philippine-American War. Even the Americans wanted in on it. While Lukban was governor general, as historian Emil Justimbaste explains, “Eastern Visayas was producing abaca in large quantities next to Bicol. The Americans wanted to seize control of the trade for the world market.”
He adds, “Tax was collected and money forwarded to Aguinaldo in Manila but in many cases, the money did not arrive safely in Aguinaldo’s hands. There was an incident when Lukban’s army was ferrying the money and it became too heavy when they were fleeing from American soldiers that they had to throw everything into a deep well to escape their pursuers.” Hearing this last detail, I wondered what happened to the “gold” thrown into a deep well. This is the stuff dreams of treasure hunters are made of.
Speaking of gold and treasure hunters, my uncle, the late President Ferdinand E. Marcos, had been linked to Japanese General Tomoyuki Yamashita’s Gold (treasure). As an archaeologist I encounter treasure hunters a lot and the name of my uncle as the reason for such activities.
Not so long ago, I was presented with a photograph with a man that resembled him, albeit thinner, presumably on account of the war. It was taken during a “rallying of the troops” of sorts on April 10, 1945. A man resembling my uncle was standing just behind Guerilla leader Agustin “Marking” Martin just before the attack against Yamashita’s troops, who were deployed along the Marikina River in Rizal in what was to be called the Battle of Ipo Dam. In a tactical move to secure the water supply of Manila, Yamashita deployed over a thousand Japanese soldiers along the river. A battle ensued, which saw Filipino and American forces victorious. Yamashita was hunkered down in Baguio and deployed troops at various points in the country to protect food and water supplies for Japanese soldiers. Eventually, Yamashita surrendered in September 1945.
Although my uncle was supposed to be up north, when I show family members who they think the man in the picture is, they say it looks like Marcos—the stance and the planes of his face… #somanythoughts.
To keep my brother entertained on the seven-hour drive to get to our parent’s house in Camarines Sur, I shared with him the outline of this article and the bits I wanted to connect. My brother declared, “You are a Marites but a ‘Legit Marites’ because you have documents to support your tsismis.”
By the way, the answer to that BSM British-Philippine Week question is Bacolor, Pampanga.