To be presented by the Philippine Pavilion on the occasion of its closing at the 18th International Architecture Exhibition at La Biennale di Venezia is a roundtable on estuaries.  As the featured exhibition, Tripa de Gallina: Guts of Estuary, is ending, the conversation on the estuary’s historical relevance and its path through beyond today’s issues deepens. 

“The Estuary in Southeast Asia: Reflections on Ecological and Social History” proposes discourses on the nuanced conditions of estuaries, specifically focusing on the ecological and social history of Manila’s estuaries and the wider implications across Southeast Asia. It takes place today, Nov. 25, at the Philippine Pavilion in the Arsenale in Venice. 

Respected scholars Anthony Medrano and Michael Pante will explore the historical narratives of these crucial waterways but will also navigate the ripple effects of the issues around them.

Manila’s esteros: History, commerce, devastation, decay 

Michael D. Pante is an associate professor at the Department of History, Ateneo de Manila University, and the chief editor of Philippine Studies: Historical and Ethnographic Viewpoints. He is the author or A Capital City at the Margins: Quezon City and Urbanization in the Twentieth-Century Philippines (Ateneo de Manila University Press; Kyoto University Press, 2019). He will present his paper, From Venice of the East to the Warsaw of Asia: The Meanders of Manila’s Esteros in Philippine History, highlighting the significance of Manila’s esteros and their profound ties to the city’s historical trajectory.

According to Pante, “Manila’s esteros have been inextricably tied to the city’s rise and fall for centuries. During the precolonial and early colonial periods, these inland estuaries provided the city with an efficient method of passenger and freight conveyance. When Manila opened its doors to international trade in the nineteenth century, the city’s elites chose to build their homes along these waterways as a marker of affluence. The city earned the moniker Venice of the East from Western visitors. The outbreak of the Second World War, however, changed the course of the city’s ecology. The ravages of war not only turned the capital into the Warsaw of Asia but also set in motion other socioeconomic factors that would contribute to the rapid deterioration of esteros: the shift toward land-based mobility, suburban flight, and environmental destruction, among others. In a kind of reverse haruspicy, the fate of the city’s estuaries has turned these dendritic waterways into entrails that allow us in the present to peer into the complexities of the past and see how we ended up in this situation of ecological and cultural decay.”

Reflecting upon the historical significance and changing dynamics of Manila’s esteros underscores a narrative of evolution and transformation. The legacy of these waterways serves as a testament to the city’s resilience amid adversities, narrating stories of adaptation and change. In this contemporary era, the esteros serve as a significant focal point for discussions on urban revitalization and environmental stewardship, offering valuable insights into sustainable urban planning and cultural heritage.

Estuaries: Birth to bustling cities

Anthony D. Medrano is the National University of Singapore (NUS) Presidential Young Professor of Environmental Studies at Yale-NUS College. He also holds appointments in the Department of History at NUS, the Asia Research Institute, and the Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum (LKCNHM). His writings have appeared in publications such as the Journal of Asian Studies, Journal of Southeast Asian Studies, Forest and Society, and Philippine Studies: Historical and Ethnographic Viewpoints. He is completing his first book, The Edible Ocean: Science, Industry, and the Rise of Urban Southeast Asia for Yale University Press. In his presentation, Creole waters: stories of life and loss in Southeast Asia’s estuaries, he probes into the intersection of history, ecology, and urban development within the context of estuaries in Southeast Asia.

In his paper, Medrano explores how estuaries are “shallow and subtle, turbid and tidal. They are unique because their waters are the result of rivers mixing with seas—fresh mingling with salt. Following the Malaysian scholar Engseng Ho (2002), we might think of estuaries as ‘creole waters’: waters born from histories of ebb and flow, exchange and influence. Monsoons also affect these watery histories, shaping the ecology and salinity of estuaries and their muddy, nutrient-rich bottoms. It is their uniqueness, their creole-ness, as it were, that makes estuaries one of the most productive ecosystems in the world (Monteclaro et al. 2017). As productive ecosystems, estuaries are central to feeding food webs that support the lives and lifecycles of humans and nonhumans alike. Historically, they mattered too, giving form and function to coastal sultanates such as Melaka and Banjarmasin as well as to provincial port-towns like Iloilo and Bagan Si Api Api. Many of today’s megacities are in fact creatures of the estuary—hatched from the creole waters that not only seeded their urban origins but also powered their postwar booms. Manila, Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok, and Ho Chi Minh City are megacities that evolved out of Southeast Asia’s estuaries and whose metabolisms threaten the ecological infrastructures that made these ‘ibukotas’ possible. This presentation thinks across species, languages, cultures, and disciplines to reflect on how the guts of estuaries were crucial to the rise of urban Southeast Asia, and to suggest why their relevance matters today more than ever before.”    

The discussion underscores the urgent need to recognize and harness the delicacy of these vital ecosystems, especially in the face of the threats posed by bustling modern megacities, and calls for a collective awakening on the significance of these waterways, advocating for a reinvigorated effort in their preservation and understanding.

In the convergence of Pante and Medrano’s narratives, substantial insights emerge about the ecological and social histories of Southeast Asia’s estuaries. Pante’s explorations of Manila’s esteros trace a path from the city’s vibrant precolonial and colonial eras to the aftermath of World War II, drastically shifting the city’s ecology, influencing the decline of these waterways. Medrano’s perspective widens the horizon, staging the enduring importance of estuaries in shaping both ecology and Southeast Asia’s cultural and social landscapes.

The roundtable will be moderated by Patrick Flores, consultant of the Philippine Arts at Venice Biennale, professor at the University of the Philippines Department of Art Studies, and deputy director at the National Gallery Singapore. 

The sustained Philippine participation in the Venice Biennale is a collaborative undertaking of the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA), the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), and the Office of Senate President Pro Tempore Loren Legarda.